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00:00She ran for Senate, of course, finished second in that primary with fewer than 20,000 votes, separating her from
00:05the winner, Abdul El-Sayed.
00:06Thank you very much for being here. Great to have you with us.
00:08And the message very much is, was certainly on the heels of that campaign, unity among the Democratic Party.
00:14And I wonder sort of what your life looks like in terms of politicking here in the weeks ahead.
00:18Will we see you campaigning with the Democratic nominee here in the days ahead?
00:22Well, I can tell you I'm still in my House position, right?
00:25So I'm a Democrat who flipped a long held Republican seat in 2018.
00:30I held the seat in 2020 with Trump on the ballot.
00:33It was a district that had voted for him, actually, back in the 16 election.
00:39And I'm really focused on the House.
00:41You know, I've talked to Democratic House leadership, Hakeem Jeffries, Pete Aguilar.
00:47And I am very eager to to just flip some of these congressional seats like Christina Hines in Michigan's 10th
00:56District.
00:56You know, Congresswoman Hillary Skoulton out in Grand Rapids.
01:00You know, it's amazing that we've got her leadership out there and we've got another seat in Michigan's 4th District.
01:07You know, Sean McCann, these are good, just middle of the road, common sense Dems, really excited to be sleeves
01:15rolled up alongside them.
01:17And the party knows, you know, all the nominees, the whole ticket knows, you know, here in Michigan, I'm going
01:23to do whatever they want as I finish out the remainder of my congressional term.
01:28And I know that, you know, Abdul, right, we campaigned against one another for a good year and a half.
01:36So I don't you know, he maybe he's sick of hearing my voice.
01:38I don't know. I'm just kidding around.
01:40But but he hasn't asked you he hasn't asked you to join him.
01:43He hasn't made that overture.
01:45Look, I'm not trying to drum up drama.
01:47I don't you know, I'm he look, we were we did a big unity breakfast.
01:53There was, you know, my friend Keith Williams was there.
01:55He's the chair of the Michigan Democratic Party Black Caucus.
01:59You know, I'm really proud to, you know, have had his support in my race.
02:03But we all know, you know, we're team Dem.
02:06So, you know, they're going to be figuring it out.
02:08They've got a, you know, a quick runway.
02:11And I'm I'm not I think America, truthfully, if I can just speak candidly, I think people here in Michigan
02:17and across this country,
02:18they are just so sick of this negative, nasty, constant campaigning, butthurt if you don't win.
02:26I mean, I've had a great ride.
02:28I mean, I honestly I was 18 years old and knocked doors for the Democratic Party.
02:33You know, I was motivated to run because I saw Trump win in 16.
02:37I was working in an R&D lab and I'm thinking, oh, my gosh, there goes the scientific research budget.
02:42And so I put up my hand for a long shot run for Congress.
02:46I won.
02:47You know, I won a six way primary, 7000 votes, similar to this one.
02:51Who are those, you know, 15,000, 7000 people in these, you know, in these primaries?
02:56I don't I don't know if I'll ever know.
02:58But, you know, I'm proud that my name and my message was out there.
03:01I'm proud to be a Democrat.
03:02And certainly some of the differences between my former Democratic opponent and I, they're they're out there.
03:10They're on full display.
03:12Everyone knows that what was said in the primary was said, you know, I am a passionate, you know, industrial
03:19policy, geek Democrat.
03:20I'm a Zionist.
03:21You know, I'm certainly going to continue to say that loudly and proudly, particularly as I'm leaving the halls of
03:28power.
03:28And I think that many fellow Zionists in both parties and maybe in that independent column, you know,
03:37they've got to know that they're protected and that their security is important as well.
03:42But do you think that will be an issue for your former opponent, as you refer to him, in the
03:46general?
03:46I mean, this is from The New York Times.
03:48Some Democrats who supported you are clearly reluctant to rally behind al-Sayed because many Jewish Democrats in particular were
03:56dismayed about the way he criticized the Israeli government
03:58and APAC committees whose super PAC spent a lot of money to support you when it comes to the general.
04:04Are you confident that not just your former opponent, but several of these either self-identified Democratic Socialists or more
04:13left leaning opponents can swing to the middle and get those middle of the road independent voters,
04:18which are really the only votes up for grabs in so many places that are so close?
04:23Well, I hope you don't mind I'm drinking my cola.
04:26You know, it's the good stuff, right?
04:27But it's a good question.
04:30You know, I think the nominee is going to be able to, you know, he knows what he was doing
04:36just as I knew what I was doing.
04:38I mean, I can only speak to, you know, my campaign, right?
04:42Because I was living and breathing it.
04:44I mean, I don't want to get in it all.
04:45I'm not a big speculator of somebody else's internal thinking.
04:49I think we get into a lot of that and it gets negative.
04:53But, you know, I was my beliefs were fully on display.
04:58I was not hiding from them.
04:59You know, I want a two state solution.
05:02I, you know, want a Palestinian state.
05:05I want dignity for Lebanon and Syria.
05:08And I also, you know, want to see a Jewish state that is deeply persecuted continue to be supported.
05:15I'm really honestly proud of my record in the Congress.
05:19You know, on these Middle East issues, I'm co-chair of the Congressional Task Force on Hostages alongside French Hill,
05:27who's a Republican from Arkansas.
05:30We coordinated regularly with the hostages held in the families of the hostages held in the Hamas tunnels.
05:37That was a brutal situation.
05:38You know, look, all Americans want long term peace.
05:42I don't think that's, you know, hard to come by.
05:45And, you know, again, I don't know who these handful of thousands of voters are, you know, in this primary.
05:51The way I look at the primary, I think Abdul, one, he got more votes and Democrats like Democrats, you
05:59know.
05:59And then in terms of this general election, you know, he's got all his, you know, back of the office,
06:06you know, political wizards and people who are going to give him advice.
06:10And he's going to have advice.
06:11And, you know, Gary Peters, Alyssa Slocken, you know, Alyssa Slocken, our senator, soon to be senior senator, she's going
06:19to be campaigning alongside Abdul.
06:21You know, she's, you know, now going to be our senior senator.
06:24And that's just, you know, I'm on my way out and, you know, of the office that I love to
06:31hold.
06:32But I'm OK with that.
06:33And I'm going to help the congressional tickets and do whatever anyone else wants me to do.
06:38You know, I'm just happy to be on the team.
06:40Honestly, I love this country.
06:42I love American democracy.
06:44I love fighting for people to make government work for them.
06:48You know, it's unbelievable how many people need access to Social Security, disability and Medicaid and these programs that, you
06:56know, everyone wants to be fair and accessible.
06:58Full funding for special education.
07:01Right.
07:01Sorry to go on.
07:02But that's OK.
07:02We're going to let our colleague Abby.
07:04Yeah, I'm going to have a squig of my beverage of choice.
07:06And then we're going to bring it out here as a question.
07:07Abby Livingston has a question.
07:09All right, Abby, it's on you.
07:10So, Congresswoman, the race had barely been called and you were out of the gate endorsing Dr.
07:14El-Sayed and you're on television having your morning Coke, making the case for him and the Democrats.
07:21But this is one of the roughest Senate primaries I've ever seen among Democrats.
07:26It was personally rough.
07:27It obviously is real.
07:28And Gaza is a tough issue.
07:29I sometimes find supporters have a harder time coming into the fold than the actual candidate who lost.
07:36Are you confident the entire Democratic coalition can show up after such a rough primary?
07:43You know, I just am setting the tone for myself, OK, and the people around me.
07:49I mean, I will say that there's a lot of energy for Democrats right now.
07:56You know, we've got Jocelyn Benson as our gubernatorial candidate, and she's doing a great job.
08:04And, you know, folks are excited about her.
08:06I mean, there's some just, you know, general, you know, enthusiasm from Detroit to Muskegon and on.
08:14But I will tell you, Abby, we call it pop in Michigan.
08:18Oh, excuse me.
08:19Yeah, it's not soda.
08:20I'm a good tax and it's a couch and even if it's Dr. Pepper.
08:24And look, I don't want to be all Pollyanna.
08:27I mean, politics is a blood sport, OK?
08:30I knew what I was signing up for when I put up my hand to run in this primary.
08:35I knew it was going to be a primary.
08:37Congresswoman Hillary Skolten and I, you know, spent a lot of time chewing on it.
08:41She was a very close ally of mine in this race.
08:44She was with me on election night.
08:47And, you know, we knew it was.
08:50And then she said, Haley, the reason you do these primaries, I've had a few of them, OK?
08:54I had one with Andy Levin in 2022, and that one was major.
08:59I mean, oh, my gosh, the scion of Michigan Democratic politics.
09:03Now, that one I won by 20 points.
09:05I mean, it's this is just American democracy.
09:08But Hillary did say to me, she said, look, you know how to do these primaries.
09:12You know how to bring people together when it's over.
09:14So I'm just doing it in the in the Haley way, I guess, in my way.
09:17Not to talk about myself in third person.
09:19I love that, though.
09:20That's good.
09:20You know, I mean, I'm just.
09:21David does it all the time.
09:22It's fine.
09:23I come in and, you know, it's David Gurra wants this.
09:25David Gurra wants that.
09:28Thank you, guys.
09:29Let me look beyond.
09:29I think David Gurra has a question.
09:31Let me look ahead to the challenge that Dr.
09:34Sainz is going to face here.
09:35And that's from Mike Rogers, the former congressman.
09:37And he talked about sort of how he sees this campaign play out.
09:39Let's play a little sound for him.
09:40And I'll ask you about sort of the path forward here vis-a-vis that coming up.
09:43To the vast majority of people across Michigan who do not want to throw their support behind a campaign filled
09:50with anger, divisiveness, calls for violence and the views that are out of touch with your values.
09:56Well, you have a home with us.
09:58The fight is far greater than just left versus right.
10:01The fight is for the very soul of our nation.
10:05They're the congressman, former congressman, sitting on a couch with his wife making that case.
10:09How do you respond to that?
10:10The way the Republicans are painting this is an example of there being an extremist candidate versus the more traditional
10:16American candidate.
10:17I mean, there's a lot of invective and insinuation here in the comments we've heard from, yes, Congressman Rogers, but
10:22from the president as well.
10:24What is your counsel for how Democrats in Michigan should respond to that?
10:28You know, look, the parties exist.
10:32And Mike is in the MAGA Republican wing.
10:34And he's got to, you know, answer for how he's going to lower costs for people, how he's going to
10:39deal with their rising health care costs.
10:43I'm going to tell you right now, everywhere I turn, I'm meeting, you know, amazing Michiganders.
10:49I still am because they just saw me all over their TV, you know, for the last handful of months.
10:54And there's joy here for sure.
10:58You know, Detroit's on the rise, Motor City's on the rise.
11:01But folks are, you know, they're getting less money.
11:06You know, I really mean that.
11:08I've talked to people who've been unemployed on occasion.
11:11Actually, there was a gal who just brought me DoorDash.
11:14And we had a whole big confab last night about her situation.
11:19She was all happy.
11:20She was.
11:21She's resilient.
11:22But she's like, you know, I've been out of work for a year.
11:24And she had a stroke, you know, a couple of years ago in 2021.
11:27And just trying to kind of connect in.
11:30And that's not, I know that's her individual story.
11:33But that individual story matters so very much, right?
11:38I mean, and that's always what I tried to do as a rep is just, you know, help that one
11:43person, you know, and do it in ones and twos and that works.
11:47So I think when you ask me that question about Rogers, he's got to figure out what case he's making
11:53to people on what he's going to do for them.
11:57I'm not out here trying to give him advice.
11:59I, you know, that's not my industry or my profession, really.
12:03But, you know, I did want to answer and, you know, Abdul has come out of a major rough primary
12:10and, you know, and look, he's going to be out there making, you know, his case to voters, too.
12:16It seems like he knew how to do it because he just came out of this big one.
12:21So I don't, you know, and, you know, there's certainly some questions and voters will start voting in about a
12:26month's time.
12:26We get early vote here.
12:28We'll see.
12:28And, you know, pay attention to the votes that get cast.
12:32You know, we just have so much prognosticating in American politics.
12:36I mean, people were calling this one.
12:38I voted on my my polling location on primary day and they were they were calling my race as I
12:45was coming out.
12:45Now, there was a swarm of press, you know, Congresswoman, you're down 15 points.
12:49What are you going to do?
12:50I said, well, you know, let's just get, you know, I'm I'm in this mode.
12:54You know, Abdul says he's not a socialist.
12:57I condemn socialism.
12:58You know, this and that again, not trying to I don't really know Rogers.
13:03OK, he went to Florida.
13:04I never served with him.
13:06Seems like he made a bunch of money.
13:08He's like you said, he's sitting on the couch.
13:10So, you know, maybe he's trying to go to the Senate now.
13:14All right.
13:14Well, let me ask you about what you just referenced, where you're saying, you know, I'm not a socialist.
13:19You said Mike Rogers needs to decide what he's for.
13:22But there's a little bit of that within the Democratic Party right now.
13:25Right.
13:25We've got this next phase in the progressive versus moderate fight that's coming up, particularly in Wisconsin.
13:30You've been talking to us about how long you've been in Democratic politics, all your successes.
13:34You flip the seat.
13:35You served your constituents.
13:36But you lost.
13:39Do you think that the Democratic Party is really taking these lessons to heart or do you think they're continually
13:45making the same mistakes, especially in these primaries?
13:49I don't I wouldn't go into any of that.
13:52I mean, honestly, I think that we've just got this incredible, you know, race that was just had.
13:59I think my coalition is awesome.
14:02I'm really proud of it.
14:03You know, I won Detroit by 67 percent of the vote, but I wouldn't be getting into mistakes.
14:10I mean, people just want health care.
14:12OK, I mean, I want to fix government.
14:16I want to make government services work better for people.
14:19I was chief of staff on the U.S.
14:21Auto Rescue.
14:22It was an emergency situation.
14:24My goodness gracious.
14:26That worked really well.
14:27You know, an 80 billion dollar managed bankruptcy of General Motors and Chrysler, saving 200,000 Michigan jobs, of which
14:35we were repaid on interest as the, you know, government, as the American taxpayer was repaid on interest.
14:42I'm looking at our debt and our deficit and I'm thinking, OK, well, why is our debt growing faster than
14:48our gross domestic product?
14:50Why is it growing faster than our economy?
14:52You know, I want to lessen our dependence on China to create jobs and lower costs.
14:58We got to focus on critical minerals.
15:00I did that with the Chips Act.
15:02You know, I'm a voice in the Democratic Party saying those things.
15:05And I think sometimes I get why you're asking the question.
15:07But one person doesn't define the Democratic Party.
15:11We are a big group.
15:13Just I mean, the Republicans are a big group.
15:16And then there's this independent chunk just kind of swings.
15:19And we got to I mean, honestly, at the end of my primary, I was saying no American is my
15:25enemy.
15:25I mean, truly, I just look, I'm there in the Congress.
15:30I mean, I used to talk.
15:31I talked to everybody, you know, except for the one from Georgia.
15:34OK, but I don't want to poke her because she gets she's tempestuous and she resigned.
15:39OK, but everyone else was by and large.
15:43You could talk to them, duly elected member of Congress.
15:45I mean, I came in, I don't know I'd never served in Congress and I got my first bill signed
15:53for early childhood education in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.
15:58Christmas Eve, 2019, signed by Trump a week after the first impeachment.
16:03He still signed it.
16:04Hey, that's America, baby.
16:06I guess we're going to leave it there.
16:08That's America, baby.
16:09I think it's a good way to leave.
16:10Really great for coming on.
16:11Thank you for coming on.
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