00:00You're going to have an event with her this weekend. Is it designed to bring unity to the party?
00:04What's the reason? We're always trying to unify the party. And the more voices
00:08talking about what it takes to get money out of politics, put money in your pocket
00:12past Medicare for All, take on Trump and Trumpism, the better. So grateful that
00:17we get to go out there and build together the movement that we need to win.
00:23Why has it taken until the Sunday before Election Day for you and Congressman Stevens to
00:27have a joint attorney? She's a congresswoman and I'm on the trail, so things get
00:31busy. But we've been happy to campaign with just about everybody and so we're looking forward to
00:37continuing to campaign. Things get busy, come on, that's not
00:40an answer to this. Jeff, you're really asking the questions that people want
00:44to hear, really. This is about the key things. Why can't I afford my groceries?
00:48Why does it take me until Sunday to campaign with somebody? Ask me a serious question.
00:52I think she would call that a serious question.
00:54Yeah. So you talked a little bit about this in your speech, but President Trump was maybe supposed
01:00to come here on Monday. He's canceled that and some other rallies. I mean, could you just talk
01:05about, does that signal anything for your race or? I mean, like he's an old man, he's a loser.
01:09He understands that if he keeps coming out here, he's just, look, so we were, what, up average
01:14polling had us up three and then now the average polling has us up like seven. What's the difference?
01:19Trump came. So if you're a loser like that, you go pack it in, take it back to Mar-a
01:23-Lago and, you know,
01:24sit and feel sad. So I'm sure that's what he's going to be doing all weekend because that's
01:28who he is. So I don't know. I don't know what's in his head. If I knew what was in
01:31his head,
01:32I think anybody knew what was in his head, the world would be a much more explicable place.
01:36I hope he sits there and tries to figure out how to end a war he shouldn't have started,
01:40maybe how to make a peace with Canada on these tariffs. There's a lot he could be thinking about.
01:45I'm sure he'll probably be thinking about the grapes, but I don't know. But I do know that
01:49he now understands that he has fully lost the midterms for his party, right? And he came here
01:56and told everybody that he's on the ballot. And everybody's like, yeah, actually, that's right.
01:59He is on the ballot. So at this point, everyone's like, please just go back to Florida. And Mike
02:03Rogers will go join him in a week. So I'm wondering if you are trying in these final
02:11days to appeal to those on the fence voters still, or more trying to focus on getting those
02:16supporters to show up to the polls. Look, it's both, right? I mean, we campaign like
02:20we're 10 points down. We go everywhere, talk to everybody. You know, we keep one of the busiest
02:25campaign schedules that you will find. I'm sure you guys have had privy to Mike Rogers' calendar.
02:30Have you? Is he doing anything? I think at an event in Marion County, like 50 people showed
02:34up, right? Was that the thing?
02:36It was there.
02:37Ours was like probably about a thousand. Yeah. So, you know, he does maybe one of those events
02:43a day. We keep a busy campaign schedule. So, you know, our job is to go and talk to everybody,
02:48have the conversations about who we are and who we want to be. We want to turn out all the
02:52voters who are excited to vote for us. And we want to give folks who are still on the fence
02:56and it's a reason why. And, you know, I think in this race, really quite clear, Donald Trump
03:00said it best. Trump is on the ballot. A vote for Mike Rogers is a vote for Donald Trump.
03:04It's a vote for the war in Iran. It's a vote for this ridiculous tariff regime. It is a
03:08vote for the big ugly bill. It is a vote against Medicaid. That's the reality of this. And we
03:15just want to make sure people understand the stakes of this race.
03:17We have time for two more questions. We'll go to Alan and Zach.
03:20Hey, Andrew. Ron, what's your Michigan case? Young voters had one of the biggest swings
03:25in Michigan from backing Dems in 2020 to backing Trump in 2024. I'm curious what your experience
03:30has been like trying to win back some of those young voters, particularly young men, and what
03:34do you find is driving their decision this fall?
03:36Well, can't afford much. That's the hard part. People are worried about whether or not they're
03:40ever going to be able to own a home. You know, if you're young in America right now,
03:43it's pretty bleak, right? You look at this and AI is like automating out the jobs that
03:48you thought you were going to be able to have. You know, you got your swimming in debt. The
03:53chances that you're ever going to be able to afford a home are super low. You know, our
03:58politics have turned into a food fight rather than actually focus on substance and issues.
04:02And I think for a lot of young folks, they're saying, who's actually talking about the issues?
04:06And, you know, in a lot of ways, like you look at the way politics is covered, it feels like
04:10this game. It's not a game, right? I mean, that's the thing is that, like, people talk
04:14about the intrigue. Jeff here, who I'm friends with, I've known Jeff for a long time. This
04:18is the reason I balk at a question like that, because nobody cares. That's not what people
04:22are voting. I think she cares. She might, but she's one person. I'm trying to win a vote in
04:26a state of 10 million. You know what they care about? Gas and groceries, the ability to own a
04:30home, the ability to see a doctor. Those are the questions that young people are asking. And the
04:35reason I think we're doing as well with young people as we are is because they understand that I
04:39don't have time for BS. I'm not here because I want to play a political game. I'm here because
04:43I really, really want to solve problems for you. And we started this campaign going to campuses and
04:49doing more listening than talking. And so, you know, I'm proud of the campaign we built. I'm proud
04:53that it's it's been a place where young people see meaning because politics should be a place
04:58where we come together to solve our problems.
05:00Last question. Over here.
05:02What kind of role do you think West Michigan will play in deciding this election?
05:05Critical role, right? This is an important part of our state. And, you know, you think
05:11about places like Kalamazoo and Grand Rapids, Muskegon and Battle Creek. You think about
05:17the challenges that folks are facing very similar to the challenges you face, folks face elsewhere.
05:22So I think West Michigan is going to play a really important role.
05:24Sorry. Last question, actually.
05:26Sorry. Jessica for the Western Herald. What would you say to the young people who killed
05:31struggling with this vote campaign?
05:37All of this is about the world you're going to live in. That's the whole point. The whole
05:40point here is what do we want to be there? And I think we want to build a world where
05:46government protects your rights and provides at least the basic means of a dignified life,
05:51good infrastructure, health care, child care, good schools, affordable housing, an economy
05:56in which you can work one good job and know that that's enough for you and your family.
05:59And, you know, I want young folks out there to know that at least in this campaign and
06:04at least with me, I take very seriously that, you know, this generation is one of the first
06:11to look and say, I don't know that I'm going to have as good of a life as my parents
06:15did.
06:16And the American dream is exactly the opposite of that. So what is it that we're building
06:19to make sure the young people feel safe, secure, heard, and empowered. And we've tried to build
06:24a campaign in which those folks felt seen, knew that there was a role for them, and knew
06:30that the person they're helping to elect was going to be going to D.C. to think about them
06:34every single day.
06:35Thanks, guys.
06:36Thanks, guys. Appreciate you.
06:49Thanks, guys.
