Interview Only w/ Josh Turek - Why Democrats Struggle…And Can Still Win In Iowa - The Chuck ToddCast

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Speaker 2 (01:21):
So joining me now.

Speaker 1 (01:22):
Is one of the most decorated Olympians in Iowa history.
Josh Turik is candidate for the US Senate, but I'm
born with spina bifida. He ended up making a name
for himself in playing professionally wheelchair basketball, earning a gold
medal as the leader of a US Olympic team at

(01:45):
the Paralympics. And he's now a politician, not the blazing
a trail that, frankly is actually not a first time
trail when it comes to that people. Certainly we've had
our share of athletes going into politics. Josh is from
the western part of the state. It's the state I'm
the least familiar with council bluffs. He will correct me

(02:07):
if I'm wrong, which also means he's sort of in
that weird No Man's Land, how much Iowan? How much Nebraskan,
which I'm gonna give my hard time about. But with that,
let's talk a little bit about your campaign and who
you are. Josh Turk, It's nice to.

Speaker 2 (02:22):
Meet you, Yeah, Chuck, thanks for having me. First.

Speaker 3 (02:25):
I'm gonna have to correct you on I'm not an Olympian.
I'm a Paralympian. I'm a four time Paralympian, time gold medalist,
the Summer Olympian.

Speaker 1 (02:36):
I mean, it's part of the Olympics, isn't it all
the you know?

Speaker 3 (02:39):
I mean, well, the Summer Olympics is the largest sporting
event on Earth in terms of total athletes and total
countries in the Summer Paralympics, which immediately follows the Olympics,
is the second largest sporting event on Earth. And I'm
a very proud Paralympian and two time gold medalist. And
then the other correction is, you're right, I am. I

(03:00):
am a politician, but I really would define myself as
a representative.

Speaker 2 (03:03):
A politician can be a bit of a pejorative, no,
And I get that.

Speaker 1 (03:07):
I mean just like journalists can be a bit of
a pejorative these days, right, you know, or a member
of the media, if you will. But let me start
with Eric. You know, if let's start with your life
as a professional athlete. You know you're born with spina biffita.
You didn't probably think as a kid you were going
to be a professional athlete. Walk me through that.

Speaker 2 (03:27):
Yeah. Sure.

Speaker 3 (03:28):
I was born and raised in Council BLUs, Iowa. Council
Bluss is a very working class community. Sixty five percent
of my community lives at or below the poverty line.
I grew up to a large family, three sisters, one brother,
and we grew up with a lot of economic struggle.
We went to the Goodwill for our clothes, We shared clothes,
went to the free summer lunch programs. There were times

(03:52):
where my mom put our grocery bill on the credit card.
So certainly somebody is familiar with a lot of economic struggle,
of what a lot of people are going going through
right now, both in Iowa and around the country. And
then I was was born with my condition. I was
born with a condition called spina bifida. This was due
to my father's exposure to agent orange and Vietnam. I
had my first suit do.

Speaker 1 (04:12):
You directly, do you is that's a direct fact that
this has been directly Yeah, actually responsible.

Speaker 3 (04:19):
It's one of yes, it's one of the few times
where the government has had to admit culpability. When when
I was younger, we were part of the lawsuit and
did the DNA testing and yeah, because of that, actually
receive my health care that is related to my spina
bifida through the VA and so.

Speaker 1 (04:37):
So yes, and that's for Lily, right, that's for life.
You're on Tricare for life because of that.

Speaker 3 (04:42):
Is that is correct anything that is directly related to
my to my spina bifida. So in my spina bifida,
I had my first surgery at one day old. I
had twenty one surgeries before I was twelve, almost all
of which took place at Shriner's Hospital, because it was
the only way that my family could afford to do it.
So I'm certainly somebody in a deeply personal way, I
understand the importance of affordable and accessible health care for individuals. Thankfully,

(05:08):
for me, I found wheelchair basketball at a young age.
I went to an adaptive sports program in Omaha, Nebraska,
and it exposed me to all kinds of adaptive sports.
And I come from a big sports family. Actually, both
my mother and sister were basketball players and went on
to play professional basketball, and really that was what I
was struggling. Legitimately, I was somebody that was bullied so bad.

(05:28):
It's hard enough to go through life well as a
kid with economic struggle, but then you had a healthcare
struggle and it was difficult for me and was bullied
so bad. I actually I left public school for a bit,
but it provided me. It provided me really social setting and.

Speaker 2 (05:44):
Everything that I needed to be able to be successful.

Speaker 3 (05:47):
Because of wheelchair basketball, I was ultimately able to get
a college scholarship along with the help of vocation or rehabilitation.
Had it not been for wheelchair basketball, I don't think
I would have even gone on to college. And I've
had a very successful collegiate career and wheelchair basketball. Scored
over four thousand career points and sixty three points in
a game, which are still records at my school. And

(06:07):
then I had the opportunity to do something that I
didn't even know existed, which was professional wheels for basketball,
which doesn't exist in America. It only exist over in Europe,
so spent some time over there.

Speaker 1 (06:17):
Where did you live in europe court where the various
Where was your franchise?

Speaker 3 (06:19):
Where was I was able to play in Outside of Milan, Italy?
I played in the south of France, which was an
amazing opportunity, and then played in Madrid, Spain and in Billbospang.

Speaker 2 (06:31):
Those were the places. Let me played.

Speaker 1 (06:33):
Let me ask you, and maybe you've I don't know
if you've thought about this, but why has Europe been
on the forefront of Why don't we have this in America?
And if you think about it, the first women's professional
basketball leagues were all in Europe.

Speaker 2 (06:51):
Weren't here? Have you?

Speaker 1 (06:54):
I'm just curious why it's to me too bad that
you had to leave America to go through the stream.
Why do you think we don't value it here?

Speaker 3 (07:05):
I think that our sports can be very masculinely driven,
and I think the European ideal for sports is more
open to the idea of female sports and to adapt
to sports in a way that that for whatever reason,
you know, the American paradigm on sports is just dramatically different.

Speaker 2 (07:26):
It is.

Speaker 3 (07:26):
It's it's much more inclusive in that sense. In America,
it was a struggle for us just to be able
to get a handful of individuals just to come in
and watch us, if you're like family and friends. And
yet when we're over and we're able to get in
front of thousands and thousands of folks, So it's.

Speaker 1 (07:42):
A it's just a different culture. Yeah, I mean, it's
a totally totally different sports culture.

Speaker 3 (07:47):
And it was an amazing opportunity to be able to to
live in experience, especially as a poor kid from from
Iowa that had gotten his bachelor's degree in history. It
was an amazing opportunity to be able to see these
places I had only been able to read about in
history books. And to be able to you learn so
much about yourself and about others and societies and social
safety nets when you're when you're living overseas, and yeah,

(08:09):
it was it was an amazing opportunity for me.

Speaker 2 (08:11):
How's your Italian? A Deaco?

Speaker 1 (08:16):
Probably it's better than mine, So don't worry whatever you say.

Speaker 2 (08:20):
My Spanish, My Spanish is good.

Speaker 3 (08:22):
Uh. My wife is Dominican by by birth and Spanish
by passport and met her when I was playing out
in Madrid, and so certainly that one is is pretty.

Speaker 1 (08:31):
Nigh a little bit better than Italian. Right now, what
you learned one more man's language, though you should be
able to understand all the other thing. So to turn
to politics if you weren't a politic.

Speaker 3 (08:42):
Just the one thing I want to I want to
cover on this is we we didn't get to it.
I did end up the highlight of my basketball career
was being a four time Paralympian and two times yeah yeah, correct,
and especially we're a basketball nation, but we had gone
twenty eight years without winning gold and so we went
from nineteen eighty eight all the way until twenty sixteen

(09:03):
without winning a gold medal. So some of I'm really
really proud of. That was the way I ended my
career was with winning back to back gold medals. So
that was the end of my basketball career.

Speaker 1 (09:13):
Before we jumped to you, actually your next it is
you had such success in that phase of your life,
how hard was it to walk away?

Speaker 2 (09:24):
Not hard at all.

Speaker 3 (09:25):
Actually, for me, from the very beginning, the goal was
just to be able to represent my country and one
Paralympics and to maybe have the opportunity to win one
gold medal was always the goal for me. So the
fact that I was able to represent in four Paralympic
Games and win two gold medals. Ultimately Father Time is
undefeated too. By the time I got to my last Paralympics,

(09:49):
I mean, right that the athlete is Unfortunately we have
to die to death and we spend tens of thousands
of hours at trying to become great and become an
expert in a field and then it gets taken away
from you. But by the time that I got to
that last Paralympics, which was in Tokyo twenty twenty, which
ended up being twenty twenty one because of COVID, I
knew that that was going to be the last basketball

(10:09):
game that I ever was going to play. And I
was really really clear too that I wanted to have
as successful of a part B of my life as
my part A was, and my part A was pretty successful.
So it was beautiful actually because in Tokyo, I knew
that was going to be the last games I ever
was going to play, so I was able to smell
the roses a little bit and appreciate it being.

Speaker 1 (10:28):
The How what was it like to watch to be
a spectator.

Speaker 2 (10:32):
In twenty twenty four.

Speaker 3 (10:34):
It's one of the only times actually that I missed it, truthfully,
But you know, because because there were so many of
those guys that are still on that team that I'm
very very close with. You develop a genuine brotherhood with
these guys that you go through so much struggle with.
But it was beautiful to be able to see them
they actually won. It was the we became the first
team to ever win three gold medals in a row.

(10:55):
So I was it was amazing to be able to
watch them and support them as I was going through
It was nice. Actually it was kind of cathartic for
me and watch a little bit of their games as
I after I was going out knocking doors and crawling
stairs trying to win my reelection.

Speaker 1 (11:10):
Right, So tell me about the decision to go into politics.
Was there other fields that you were contemplating and you
know why what drew you to the political space?

Speaker 2 (11:23):
Yeah? Well, two things.

Speaker 3 (11:26):
One is I've been a director of a nonprofit organization
for ten years and what we do is we provide
free summer camps to disabled kids and adaptive sports opportunity.
Just to be a role model to that community and
to be able to give back. When I finished with
my basketball career as well, I got certified and what's
called an assistive technology professional. So I was federally certified

(11:47):
to be able to assist, to assess and provide mobility devices,
manual wheelchairs and power wheelchairs for individuals with disabilities. And
I was working with children, I was working with newly
injured individuals. But where I was really spending the vast
enjoity of my time where with individuals with progressive conditions,
conditions like muscular dystrope and Lugarry's disease. And what we

(12:07):
were showing was every single day we were dealing with
unnecessary denials and delays. And what we were showing internally
is since Iowa and Nebraska had privatized their Medicaid system,
a one thousand percent increase in denial rate. I thought
that this was fundamentally wrong and immoral, and that somebody
should do something. I mean, it's literally maximizing profits off

(12:27):
the backs of the most vulnerable. I mean, in the
case of als, oftentimes it's eighteen months or even shorter
from assessment all the way, these people don't have time
for denials and delays. And then I had found out
that Iowa had never had a permanently disabled member of
the legislature, even though we're a state of one hundred
and fifty years and a governing body of a one
hundred and fifty members. We've got one in five islands

(12:50):
that either blind, death, intellectually disabled, or physically disabled. And
I thought to myself, this is probably why we're seeing
these barriers to healthcare and to employment is because of
the complete and total lack of representation. And although I
was out in very red western Iowa and they said, Josh,
you can't win as a Democrat out here, I said,
I'm going to do this the same way that I've

(13:10):
done with my basketball career, try to win gold medals.
I'm going to go out and I'm going to outwork
my opponent every single day.

Speaker 2 (13:16):
And that's what I did. For me.

Speaker 3 (13:18):
That meant going out every day Raynorsheine, hot or cold,
and dragging my wheelchair upstairs to have conversations with Republicans
and independence because it didn't work any other way.

Speaker 1 (13:29):
You know, it's interesting for you to say that about
Iowa because given that Tom Harkin the former Senator, and
Bob Dole were basically the godfathers of the ADA Act.
And in fact, I mean, look, when I was growing
up there, it weren't very many ramps. You know, I
had an elderly grandmother who we were constantly lifting a

(13:49):
chair and all this stuff. I mean, I don't think
people realize as and we are a long way away
from everything being accessible for somebody and who needs to
use a wheelchair these days. But to think where we
were in the seventies and eighties compared to where we
are today is because of an Iowa senator and a
Kansas Senator from each side of the aisle. And there

(14:13):
was a lot of momentum for that. And it does
feel as if even the that the eightya feels like
something that hasn't that sort of hit a wall a
little bit. I imagine you have a lot of opinions about
the ADAI.

Speaker 3 (14:25):
Yeah, you're certainly correct. I mean a handful of things there.
One is he's a good friend of mine now, but
he really is my political hero is Senator Tom Harkin.
And this, in truth is one of the reasons why
I'm doing this, is this is his seat that is
up now after twelve years, you know, thirty years he
was our Iowa senator and now it's been held by

(14:46):
a Republican for the last twelve years. And myself, in
so many disabled Iolands, so many disabled Americans.

Speaker 2 (14:54):
I'm only here.

Speaker 3 (14:55):
All the opportunities that I've been given for occupation educationally
is only because of the work that Senator Harken and
Congressman Tony Coeo and as you said, Bob Dole ended
up doing on the American with Disabilities Act. They literally
provided me in so many disabled Americans and on ramp
onto society to be able to be successful. And one

(15:16):
of the reasons why I'm doing this is because here
in Iowa, we deserve to once again have a senator
that is going to fight for the people and fight
for the middle class, and fight for social and economic justice,
and fight for these social safety nets that have allowed
me to be successful in my life Medicare, Medicaid, social Security,
and not just look out for billionaires in large corporations.

(15:37):
It really is, I'm only here because of Senator Harkin,
and I want to be able to continue his legacy
and champion and carrying that flag and fighting for the
people and fighting for healthcare.

Speaker 1 (15:47):
It's possible that our friend Tony Coelo might even be
listening right now. He's somebody that I've known a long
time in politics and very I mean, look this is
the passion was ultimately one of the most passionate things
he worked on.

Speaker 2 (16:00):
I know that. And and uh, he's very sensitive.

Speaker 1 (16:04):
I mean, I would get grief from him if he
ever thought I wasn't giving somebody, you know, if I
if I wasn't giving a benefit of doubt due to
some sort of physical issue, you know, whether it was
somebody with a with a verbal issue or something with
their physical traits.

Speaker 2 (16:21):
And uh, he's a I.

Speaker 1 (16:24):
Consider him a longtime friend, and I imagine you he's.

Speaker 2 (16:28):
He's filled with advice. I bet in your campaign he
absolutely is.

Speaker 3 (16:33):
And I've been I've been grateful to to be able
to have now a friendship with with both Congressmen Coeo
and and and Senator Harkin. And this is, this is
this is certainly one of the reasons why I'm doing
this is to continue on that legacy. One of the
things that Senator Harkin talks about is one of the
beauties of the American with Disabilities Act is that not
one Nickel actually went to an individual with a disability.

(16:55):
Is all it was doing was just evening the playing field.
It was just providing an equality of opportunity to individuals.
And that's what certainly, that's what we're fighting for.

Speaker 1 (17:06):
It was equal access, not equal outcomes. Equal access, that's right,
that's correct, you know, which.

Speaker 2 (17:11):
Seems to be.

Speaker 1 (17:12):
I mean, this is you know, it's it's one thing
you know in those that that physically have things that
they have to overcome, but then there are you know,
this is the same conversation we're trying to have about immigration,
you know, the same conversation we're trying to have about
any body that's trying to live a free life, right

(17:35):
and wants to have equal opportunity, equal access, not necessarily
equal outcome. Can you what do you think is the
hardest part of convincing, because I do think when you
explain to anybody left or right that it's about equal access,
not equal outcome. Nobody's against equal access, you know, it's
the equal outcome conversation that becomes the debate about all

(17:57):
these Yeah.

Speaker 3 (17:59):
Absolutely. The way that I would say that is when
I'm out there. I represent the redditest district that is
represented by a Democrat that was won on election day,
so Trump won my county by twenty points. I represent
two communities in the Iowa legislature, Carter Lake, which Trump
won by eighteen points and my hometown of Council Blufs,

(18:21):
which he won by ten points, and I was able
to win by nearly six points, about fifty percent.

Speaker 2 (18:27):
Better than any other Democratic Do you think is the
Trump voter?

Speaker 3 (18:31):
The Turrek Trump voter is someone that Here's what I
would say is that the one thing I'll give credit
to Trump for is that he accurately addressed that the
status quo was not working for the average American and
is seeing a hallowing out of the middle class. And
the Turrek Trump voter is maybe what they would be
a common sense voter to some degree that felt like

(18:54):
the Democratic Party had shifted away too much focusing on
culture war issue or didn't feel like it was looking
out enough for the middle class or the average American.
And whereas for me, I'm a common sense prairie populace,
much like Senator Harken. And when I'm out there, what
I'm talking about are the kitchen table issues. It's the

(19:15):
way that I was very disciplined about that, both not
only in my legislative races, but in the Senate race
of talking about that. This what matters the most is
the kitchen table issues. It's about affordability. It's about driving
down cost a livable wage. It's about affordable housing, it's
about affordable healthcare, pharmaceuticals. We have some very specific issues

(19:37):
to Iowa too that I would talk about. We were
number one in public education and now we've precipitously dropped
to the middle of the pack. So I would talk
about public dollars belonging to public schools, talk about doing
something about our cancer rates. In Iowa were the only
state with the growing cancer rate, second highest rates to
only Kentucky. And I would talk about the need for
clean air and clean water because that's something certainly something

(19:59):
that touches everyone, regardless of where you sit on the
political spectrum, doesn't matter Democrat or Republican. And those are
the things that I talked about, and I think that
there were some voters in there, certainly because of fourteen
percent over performance that that resonated with. But I think
that the way that we can once again win elections
in state like Iowa is through genuine economic population them

(20:20):
what I call cerry populism.

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couple of with the South Dakota former South Dakota Democrat
who is running for the US Senate.

Speaker 2 (22:09):
Now is an independent.

Speaker 1 (22:12):
I had Rob sand on this podcast a few months
ago and he said something. I said, why are you running?

Speaker 2 (22:18):
You know?

Speaker 1 (22:18):
He talked about the problems of the Democratic brand, and
I'd say, so, why are you running as a Democrat?
And he said, well, if there was another way, maybe
I would run as an independent, but this is the
most viable way to get on the ballot. The South
Dakota Independent made the case. He said, the reason he's
running as an independent set of a Democrat is that
there are some people that won't listen to his pitch

(22:39):
if they find out he is a D next to
his name, and the minute he doesn't have a D
next to his name, he's suddenly having these conversations with
a whole bunch of voters going, yeah, I agree with you, Yes,
I agree with you, Yes, I agree with you. Does
the D next to your name? What happens when somebody says, hey,
I like what you're saying, but why do you have
a D next to your name? What's your answer to that?

Speaker 2 (22:58):
Yeah?

Speaker 3 (22:58):
I mean, I'm really really clear of why I have
a D next to my name. I'm always reminded of
the quote from John F. Kennedy when he said, you know,
why are you a liberal? Why are you a Democrat?
And it's because I believe in looking forward not backwards.
That I believe in and I care about people's jobs,
about people's health care, about people's schools. This is why,

(23:21):
ultimately I'm a integrammer. I say that I have two
north stars politically. The first is a quote from Franklin
delan and Roosevelt, which I think is the greatest president
of the twentieth century and also the only disabled president
that we've ever had, And he said that the test
of our progress of a society is not whether we
add more to those with abundance, but whether we have
enough to those with the least. And then the other

(23:42):
would be Matthew twenty five forty, which is, you know,
as Jesus said, what you do to the least among you,
that you also do to me, And that, to me
is the essence of what a democrat is. Is that
we care about people's schools and jobs, in livelihoods, and healthcare.
And that is really really clear of why I'm a Democrat.

(24:03):
I don't think necessarily that Iowa is like these other
states and that you get out of the urban communities,
and the term democrat or democratic is a pejorative. I
think we have a very very long history of being
a progressive state. Third state to legalize gay marriage.

Speaker 1 (24:21):
I say, I have a friend of mine that refers
to Iowa as the organ of the Midwest. We used
to do that about ten years ago. A little less
so lately, given that it's been a little less purple,
although I still think Iowa just was uniquely open to
Trump at a period of time when this economy was
just transitioning. I suspect Iowa was going to go back

(24:43):
to its swing swinginess pretty soon.

Speaker 3 (24:46):
I mean, we could certainly get into one of the
reasons why Iowa has shifted more than almost any other
state over the last ten years.

Speaker 1 (24:52):
And there's no state with more Obama to Trump counties,
no state. They're all in eastern Iowa. It's fascinating.

Speaker 3 (25:00):
You are absolutely correct. But here here's what I've said.
I've said that Iowa is a common sense state that
has masquerrated as a red state. And for you, you
have to remember that for thirty years we had we
voted for Senator Harken, and that he ended in twenty fourteen.
That's not that long ago. But even more recently, in

(25:20):
Trump's first midterm twenty eighteen, we won three of the
four congressional seats, and we were only three points away
from winning every single one of the congressional races. And
I actually feel even more energy and excitement right now
for chance, particularly in the rural communities which they have
just been absolutely decimated and betrayed by the tariffs and
where the commodities prices are. You go to even more

(25:41):
recent history. Twenty twenty two, we were only one point
five percent away from having three of our six state
wide officials being Democrats. That means the average Iowa voter
went in there in twenty twenty two and voted for
three Democrats and three Republicans. We are not a red state.
We're a common sense state that has masqueraded more than
what we actually are. And because everything has perfectly aligned

(26:05):
and we needed about ten things to happen, but the
fact that we've got, for the first time since nineteen
sixty eight, an open Senate race, and an open governor's
race and two open congressional races. I really do believe
that Iowa was the center of the political universe in
twenty twenty six, and you were going to see the
state shift.

Speaker 1 (26:22):
I've had some say to me, let me curious what
you think of this, And I'm probably playing to the
crowds on this one, which is the Iowa Democratic Party
got a little too Deminish and not enough everywhere else
that it was almost too concentrated in Des Moines. Do
you accept that premise? Do you think that was part
of the problem over the last decade.

Speaker 3 (26:43):
Yeah, I think that the not not only in Iowa,
but I think nationally, I think the party has has
lost touch with the plights of real Americans or the
middle class or just the average worker.

Speaker 2 (26:56):
We're all real America.

Speaker 1 (26:56):
Other way, I always get a little sensitive to that
in fairness, urban Americans in rural America. But I think
what you're trying to say, and what I would say
when I would say this and I got and I'd.

Speaker 2 (27:08):
Fall into the same trap so I didn't mean.

Speaker 1 (27:09):
To which is it's really rural America that Democrats just
stopped showing up in and it's showing up. This is
why they've been alienated from rural America. It's not that
they've like, if you'd show up, they'd have no problem.
But this is where I think micro targeting and the
quote efficiency of use of dollars. Well, there's more Democrats

(27:31):
in the urban area. You got to get out the
got to get out the base vote. And you're like, yeah,
but if you shave three points in rural America, then
you have a better shot at urban America, putting you
over the finish line.

Speaker 3 (27:42):
Yeah, I think that that has certainly been a miscalculation. First,
I would say two things. I would say, you know,
quote having done this and winning in very very red areas,
I say that the right candidate with the right message
and the right work ethic, you can win in these
red environments because I've got the electoral experience that that
that I've I've done it, and the quality of candidacy

(28:05):
can't be understated on that. I would also say that
part of the calculus is we do need candidates that
are going to be willing to go out there and
go into all ninety nine counties and go into all
these small communities. I think for far too long here
in Iowa, over the last ten years, we've had candidates say, well,
we're going to maximize turnout in Polk County and Johnson

(28:26):
County and Lynn County, and that's how we're going to win.
But ultimately, where a rules state, and it may not
make a fundamental difference in the outcomes in the statehouse races,
but we've got to trim the margins and we've got
to get out there and we've got to talk to
Republicans in these and independence in these rural communities and
explain why we're different. But we certainly can do that.

(28:47):
I mean, we have the opportunity. In the messaging I've
been able to prove it.

Speaker 1 (28:51):
You've already sort of touched on this issue that I
sort of discovered in twenty.

Speaker 2 (29:00):
Gosh, I think it was. It was I did a whole.

Speaker 1 (29:02):
I think it was in twenty twenty one, twenty twenty two,
we went out to eastern Iowa to talk about sort
of what happened to you know, where did all the
Democrats go in eastern Iowa? And I was in Decora
and in some of these towns, and most of what
we heard was simply, you know, the only Democrat that
showed up in twenty twenty was Pete Bouda Diute. You know,

(29:23):
nobody else did. And you're like, well, no, wonder he overperformed, right,
you know. Now there was sort of a comfort level
for him. He was already a Midwesterner, so there was this,
you know, and he was sort of a fish out
of water in South Bend. And when you start out
as thinking of yourself as a fish out of water,
you sometimes overwork, right, And so he went to all
these places. But the other thing I discovered was there

(29:44):
was a lot of bullishness that well, Democrats are going
to be able to make a comeback because of what
was happening in the schools. And it comes to the
sort of the choicification. I guess of pub of public
schools all over the country. I was sort of following
a blue print that Florida has in some of these
other states in the South. And the problem that I

(30:06):
think Texas Republicans are running into Iowa Republicans are running
into is school choice sounds great, but when you live
where the closest school is thirty is within, you know,
the next clos to school is thirty miles away, what
choice do you have? And so suddenly you're not fixing
my school, but you've given me choice to go find
an alternative thirty miles away or I have to homeschool
my kids. Walk me through the choicification of the Iowa

(30:30):
public school system right now and how it did work
and how it's working.

Speaker 2 (30:34):
At the moment.

Speaker 3 (30:36):
Yeah, this is certainly it was a point of personal
pride for all Iowans. We were number one in education.

Speaker 1 (30:42):
Always Massachusetts in the east, Iowa and the Midwest, and
I think it would be like get out West.

Speaker 2 (30:48):
Those were always the three big, you know.

Speaker 3 (30:50):
Great states for public schools, and this is why people
were moving here. Our test scores were the highest in
the nation, and we prioritize that even when we put
out our state quarter.

Speaker 2 (31:01):
It was it was about the quality of our education.

Speaker 3 (31:04):
And now, unfortunately, we have seen a precipitous drop and
now we're down to the middle of the pack on
this issue. Depending on the metric you're using, twenty six
or even thirty two, what's the drops.

Speaker 1 (31:16):
We spend it on testing, it's un testing and all
across the board.

Speaker 3 (31:19):
Yeah, yeah, tes testing scores predominantly is where you're seeing it.
But one of the reasons is because we're no longer
prioritizing this or funding this. We now spend twelve hundred
dollars less than the national average per pupil here in
Iowa and in the Iowa legislature. Unfortunately, now with what
we've seen with vouchers, last year, we gave our public
schools a two percent increase and we gave our private

(31:41):
schools a forty four percent increase in funding. And in
what you're seeing is you're seeing rural schools that are
legitimately struggling and closing and it I mean, it's it's
it's very very serious. When these rural communities, you only
have really four pillars of these rural community and that

(32:01):
would be your rural pharmacies, which are closing, and then
you're seeing rural schools closing due to the lack of funding,
and we're giving private schools and there are no private
schools in these rural communities.

Speaker 1 (32:10):
No, And what you potentially do is you you almost
incentivize some bad actors who try to open up sort
of you know, essentially government funded private schooling where they
get tax.

Speaker 2 (32:23):
Breaks and all this stuff.

Speaker 1 (32:24):
They grab the money and they don't give your kid
a good education and there's nobody there to make sure
they're following the rules. Or you get parents start homeschooling,
and that's hard.

Speaker 2 (32:35):
You know.

Speaker 1 (32:36):
I think many a parent wants to do that well
and in a dream world in some ways somebody you know,
But it's not as easy as you make it out
to me. And I admire those that do it, but
it's hard.

Speaker 3 (32:48):
It ain't easy, absolutely, and there are so many rural
communities now that are struggling with this. And even more
egregiously is that we can't audit the schools and so
there's no regulation on what they teach. There's no regulation
in terms of it. It's your tax dollars being used there.
You go your tax dollars and yet then there's no

(33:12):
standard on testing. They can spend the money how they want.
They can spend it on pupils, they can spend it
on football equipment if they want. And then most most
egregiously for me, is there's no discrimination policies in place,
and so if a kid needs an IEP or he
has a visible disability or whatever his situation is, the
private schools can say no, sorry, we can't take you,

(33:33):
which just puts that onus more on the public schools
which are having less and less funding, right and department.

Speaker 1 (33:40):
This is one thing people always ask, what does the
National Department of Education do help public schools with the
funding so that they can provide services to students who
may need some extra help in order.

Speaker 3 (33:53):
To get particularly with those with disabilities and special education.

Speaker 1 (33:56):
It's always been a foundational support. So you get rid
of this, and where's this going to go? I mean,
I hate to be politically cynical about this, but I
think this has opened the door to having a different
conversation in rural America than Democrats have been having over
the last decade.

Speaker 3 (34:13):
Yeah, And I mean this is just kind of, unfortunately
a perfect storm in these rural communities where you're just
you're you're seeing young people not stick around. As I
was saying before, you've got four pillars in these rural communities.
You've got the rural pharmacy. That's an interesting issue, you're right,
I mean rural pharmacies. They're being hurt by the PBMs.

(34:33):
And then you've got your public your schools which are
closing because of the lack of funding, and we're putting
the funding towards the private schools where you're only in
the urban areas. And then you've got rural hospitals. And
in a place like Iowa, you've got two and five
is ones in the rural communities that are on Medicaid.
In the last five years, we have closed thirty one

(34:54):
nursing home skilled nursing facilities in rural hospitals due to
lack of reimbursement and lack of FUNDA. It is really
hurting these these communities. Then you exasperate that with what
we're seeing on the tariffs and the commodities prices, where
these you know, we're losing our family farms and you're
seeing farm suicides and foreclosure rates that are going up.
I mean, we really is moving us into almost a

(35:16):
a second farm crisis of what we saw in the
in the nineteen eighties.

Speaker 2 (35:19):
Unfortunately, where are you on tariffs?

Speaker 1 (35:22):
Because I think that you know, in Iowa famously, you know,
you know, ag tariffs were you'd be in one some
some politicians would be on one side of the aisle
for against all tariffs on ag because that was such
a huge export. But then on manufacturing you'd have you know,
particularly a Tom Harkett might be for some of these tariffs.
Maybe it's on washing machines or dishwashers because those things

(35:46):
used to be made. You know, there was a time
that certain towns were known not by their name but
by the plant. Right, Oh, it's a maytag town, right,
you know you'd have that, or oh it's a it's
a popcorn town, or it's a popcorn popping plant. And
where are you? You know, do you think all tariffs
are bad? When are there tariffs that are out there

(36:08):
that you support? Where do you put yourself on the issue.

Speaker 3 (36:13):
No, I would tend to agree with you. I mean,
certainly not all tariffs are bad. I think you can
make the argument that at least in the manufacturing sector,
to have some level of parody or competition they can
be valuable, but certainly what we're seeing right now with
this chaotic terriffs where you know you're seeing shifts from
from day to day, and you know one day it's
one hundred percent tariffs, and they have really really hurt

(36:36):
the gag communities, and that's being doubled down where Trump's
giving forty billion dollars to Argentina to bail them out
so that the Chinese can buy their soybeans. Meanwhile, our
farmers are left there to hold the bag and they're
upside down on their soybeans. It really really is hurting
our bag communities. And I think that when I'm out
there and I've been out to a lot of farms,

(36:58):
we're hearing farmers that are really really concerned that we've
already lost a majority of our family farms and what
few remain out there. Yeah, suicide rates are three times
higher than what they were over the last two years.
Foreclosure rates are double what they were last year. It's
it's moving us towards the farm crisis, and this has
been a self inflicted womb due to this chaotic nature

(37:19):
of the tariffs. I believe that tariffs should be as
the as the founders of the Constitution intended with the
power of the legislature much like the power of the purse.

Speaker 1 (37:29):
So one of the things that frustrates longtime Iowan's is
the idea it's a shrinking population state, right that the
I remember when when you know that there have been
multiple governors who said, you know, my goal is to
you know, I'm during the heyday of the public school system. Hey,
we're educating all these kids and they're leaving. You know,
they're they're leaving the state. They're not staying. What's the

(37:53):
what's your plan to get more folks to want to
stay in Iowa? What's the job what's the job market
looked like the next thirty years in Iowa? And what
is what should Iowa be an investing in to make
it to make it such a because it's always been
seen as a pretty livable, right, it's a it's a
very livable place to moin in particular, so you know,

(38:13):
if you're looking for a small city but want city life,
the Moin's about as affordable a place as you can
live in the Midwest. But what's the next what are
the next thirty years of jobs look like in Iowa?
Because I do think Iowans are nervous about the future.

Speaker 2 (38:29):
Yeah, they certainly are.

Speaker 3 (38:31):
Unfortunately, we're the only state in the last one hundred
years that hasn't doubled in population size. And even for
the for the young people that we have, oftentimes we're
educating them and then they go on. The first thing
is we've we've we've got to start going the right direction,
particularly in rural communities. As I said, you know, we've
we've got to have a healthcare system in place. We're
basically dead last right now in Iowa for every single

(38:53):
economic metric, I mean, for all intents and purposes, we're
already in a recession. We've seen a six percent reduction
in GDP, We're forty ninth in terms of economic growth,
forty eight out of fifty in terms of individual purchasing
in economic growth. By every single healthcare metric, we're basically

(39:14):
dead last. Rural hospitals, obgyns, mental health providers, mental health reimbursements.
You have to have these systems in place to want
for this to be a livable situation as well if
you want people to move here to Iowa. So I agree,
it's a beautiful state when all around the world. I
love Iowa. It's great, Iowa nice, it's affordable even, you know,

(39:37):
it's amazing place. But you've got to have these systems
in place, from education and healthcare, and also what we're
seeing with some of these social issues where we've moved
to a six week abortion ban and in some of
these culture war issues where we've just not made this
state very welcoming to a lot of individuals. And you know,

(39:58):
it's interesting doing on immigration as wells it made it
less welcoming to immigrant communities.

Speaker 1 (40:06):
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(40:49):
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Their fee is free unless they win. You know, it's
interesting with with Iowa and how it's gotten sideways and

(41:12):
cultural issues is that, you know, my father grew up
the you know, the Midwest Methodist, which means, you know,
I always joke Methodists are you know, people who are
Christians but don't want to talk about it. You know,
but but you know, meaning like you know, your your
faith is your faith.

Speaker 2 (41:30):
You don't wear it on your sleeve.

Speaker 1 (41:32):
What you wear in your sleeve is your values, right,
it's it's you know, your values is being good to
your neighbor, empathy, things like that. And yet there's this
perception that i was a very religious state. And yet
I did see something recently that compared to the rest
of the Midwest, it is actually has the least. It's
it's on a downward trajectory of people that go every

(41:55):
week to some sort of religious service. What is What
have you discussed out there campaigning statewide?

Speaker 3 (42:04):
I mean, most states are on a downward trajectory in
terms of that, but I still think that I was
is a religious state. I think the most recent numbers
I had seen was sixty five percent of Violins still
a ten church on a regular basis or would define
themselves as Christian or members of religious organization. And certainly

(42:26):
that's something that I'm going to incorporate in this campaign.
I'm somebody that has born and raised and proudly spiritual
and would define myself as is a Christian in the
true sense of the word.

Speaker 2 (42:38):
And I'm going to go out there.

Speaker 3 (42:39):
There's three things that Republicans that have, as I feel
like they've had a stranglehold on, that they're not going
to be able to use against me. The first is
hard work, because every single part of my story from
overcoming economic situations, the healthcare situations that I've gone through,
also to win Gold Medals, but then even to win
my election, a very very deeply read district.

Speaker 2 (43:02):
Going out there.

Speaker 3 (43:02):
Every single day and dragging my wheelchair upstairs has been
about hard work. The second is I think that Republicans
have felt like they've been able to have a stranglehold
on patriotism. And I'm someone that is deeply patriotic. I
love Iowa, I love my country. I have proudly represented
the United States in four Paralympic Games and one gold medals,

(43:24):
and so I don't think they'll be able to use that.
And the third is, as we were talking about with this,
is on spirituality or on religion. I feel like there
has been this push that if you're a Democrat you
cannot be religious or spiritual, if you're a Christian, you
must have to be Republican. And I'm going to go
out there and actively talk about, you know, Matthew twenty

(43:44):
five forty, and that the true message of Jesus is
taking care of the most vulnerable in society and the
poor and the elderly and the disabled. It's one of
the main reasons why I am a Democrat.

Speaker 1 (43:55):
Let me go through a few questions that you're look,
you know that could get WEAPONI against you, fair, unfair.
The issue of trans sports and access? What what what
should that? What's fair to the trans community when it
comes to access to organized sports, school, college, et cetera.

(44:17):
I mean I say this and I feel like you
actually have a in some ways of a better you know,
you benefited from having access.

Speaker 2 (44:25):
For for adaptive sports.

Speaker 1 (44:27):
So what's the right I don't know if there's a
right answer. What do you think is the right way
to think about this issue?

Speaker 3 (44:32):
I mean the first is I think we need to
be empathetic on this issue. I mean, the children that
are involved in this, they're they're really in a no
win situation. Is somebody that you know has gone through
a lot of bullying and adversity in my life, you know,
being different with the disability.

Speaker 2 (44:46):
We need to recognize.

Speaker 3 (44:48):
That, you know, sports is a unique area of dedicated
a lot of my life to this, and we certainly
need fairness and involved in this. However, I would say that,
you know, I have personal experience with this. I actually
I wanted to try out for my team in high
school and play basketball, and yet there was an equipment
rule that prevented me from being able to play. And

(45:11):
yet it was not my congressman, or my mayor or
my senator that was making the decision on this issue.
It was the sports governing bodies. And so my position
on this is that this should be decided by the
sports governing bodies.

Speaker 2 (45:28):
And politicians shouldn't be involved in this conversation. I don't.
I don't.

Speaker 3 (45:31):
I don't think my position is a United States senator
I should be involved in this, that it should be
Should a high school principal have to make sports governing bodies?
I don't think it should be left up to local control.
I think you leave it up to sports governing bodies.

Speaker 1 (45:46):
Socialism versus capitalism. You know the excitement that the progressives
have about the victory of Zoon Mamdani, he's a self
described democratic socialist. There's the every political party claims they're
a big tent when they have people in there that
that they that not everybody agrees, and I get that,

(46:06):
But where are you on socialism versus capitalism? And I
ask a plurality the most recent NBC News poll, it's
a poll that I'm very familiar with, and I know
it's really well done. Democrats were the only group that
had a net positive rating on socialism and a net
negative rating on capitalism. A Why do you think that

(46:27):
is and where do you put yourself on that spectrum?

Speaker 3 (46:30):
Well, I would define myself as a capitalist. I think
capitalism is the greatest vehicle ever devised by man to
be able to generate capital. However, it's very inefficient at
being able to divide that that capitalis. So I'm certainly
not a las Fair capitalist. I think that you know,
you need a regulated capitalism and a progressive taxation rate.

(46:52):
I mean, honestly, when something's been fascinating to me, again
representing very red district, and you talk, I'm not talking
most exclusive Republicans, this whole entire MAGA movement make America
Great Again. Well, what they're talking about with that is
they're talking about America post World two, arguably at our zenith.
And I'm sure and preaching the choir to you on this,

(47:14):
but when you're talking about America post World two nineteen fifties,
you're talking about the where we had the most amount
of union membership and the strengths of our unions, and
the unions built the middle class. But we also had
the most progressive taxation rate. That was when the highest
earners were paying a marginalized tax rate of ninety one

(47:34):
percent and during the Eisenhearer administration and the largest corporations
where we're paying fifty one percent, and we've eroded that
we are literally living through a second Gilded Age right
now in this country. And it has I mean all
the way back to John Edwards when he talked about
we're living in two Americas, the haves and the have nots,
and it was a.

Speaker 1 (47:52):
Bit of had that speech is funny when you think
about that speech. He gave an four and oh eight
constantly and being in Iowa and right, you heard it
a millillion times. We all heard it. You know, we
live into Americas.

Speaker 2 (48:03):
We are now, we are living in it's more.

Speaker 1 (48:05):
I was just going to say the speech, weirdly is
more resident now than it was then.

Speaker 3 (48:09):
If you make over one hundred thousand dollars right now,
I think you're feeling pretty good.

Speaker 1 (48:12):
And especially a little money in the stock market, you're like, hey,
this is great, my savings is working for me.

Speaker 2 (48:17):
But what if you don't have savings?

Speaker 3 (48:18):
That's right, but you can't have a more disconnected The
disconnect between Wall Street and Main Street can't be more clear,
And it really is the haves and the have nots
and and there's too many people right now in Iowa
right now that are in the have not section that
are struggling just to keep food on the table and
pay their bills, and struggling with affordability of healthcare and

(48:41):
pharmaceuticals and all of it. And this is what we need.
We need a genuine prairie populist. And you know, we
used to have prairie populous We no longer in the
US have those because we don't have senators from Iowa
and the Dakotas in Nebraska. And we need somebody that's
going to go out there and fight for the people.

Speaker 1 (48:58):
The issue of climate change is thing that's really important
to a certain subset. Look do I think it should
be important to a large subset of hepe, but but
politically it's important to a smaller subset these days. And
I'm sure you're getting plenty of advice that says, hey,
don't you know these issues, these are not these are
not front and center. And yet I think rising electric bills,

(49:20):
the data centers that are that are going to be
going online, that are going to impact our ability to
that are basically going to a competition for electricity, which
is inevitably is going to raise rates. Is there is
there a way to be sort of to to mitigate
the damage coming from extreme weather and at the same
time not look like you're coming out against the economy.

Speaker 3 (49:44):
If you get my drift, I think, like with most things,
how I define myself as a common sense I mean, one, yeah,
certainly climate change exists, and it's and it's happening in
where you may see those effects most most directly is
actually in the Eag commune and where we're seeing.

Speaker 1 (50:01):
Okay, southwest Iowa, the flooding, you know, one hundred year
floods that come every couple of years.

Speaker 3 (50:05):
It's it's it's it's the flooding, it's the extreme heat.
And then when you're seeing these rain showers which which
are just coming down in torrents and knocking down the
road crops. It is affecting us in a very very
serious way. And also Iowa we have always been a
leaders in renewable fuels, renewable energy. We have the second

(50:28):
most amount of our energy grid that is from renewable energy,
the most of the vast majority of that is through wind.
And I think that there's a way where we can
address this without uh without stifling growth or innovation or
or the economy. And certainly one of the best ways
is certainly through that through through wind energy, and continuing

(50:49):
those incentives and subsidies through the through the federal government,
certainly at the state level.

Speaker 1 (50:53):
Two, being a US senator means you're going to be
dabbling more informed policy than the campaign itself will be about.
And I imagine if a foreign policy issue comes up,
it's going to be the issue of Israel. Where are
you on US support for Israel?

Speaker 3 (51:08):
Yeah, I mean, certainly, I'm hopeful that we're going to
see a peaceful end too that I think we're all
hopeful for that. What has happened there in Gaza has
been horrific. The amount of loss of life into civilians
and two children, it really has been horrific. I think

(51:28):
that Israel certainly had the right to defend itself, but
I think that now the response is certainly, by any metric,
been disproportionate. And I think that we need to make
sure that any sort of support or arm cells comes
with the insurance that we're adhering to international law.

Speaker 2 (51:50):
You put a little more a few more guardrails on arm.

Speaker 3 (51:53):
Sales, Yeah, particularly put particularly on offensive weapons.

Speaker 1 (51:59):
And as you crane our fight, what would you say
to somebody, is that our fight? And if it is,
why is it our fight? In your in your words, I.

Speaker 2 (52:07):
Think it's I think there's certainly a distinction there.

Speaker 3 (52:09):
I think that what's happened is they they have been
invaded by but an authoritarian regime with with Putin, and
I think that that is one of the examples where
we should probably stand in in in and fight with
them and uh, because.

Speaker 2 (52:27):
That that is, that is a distinction they have.

Speaker 3 (52:29):
That is a sovereign country that has been invaded by
a foreign power, and and that is that is an
area where we should.

Speaker 1 (52:36):
Support one that might be a little closer to home.
College sports, it is gone through dramatic changes.

Speaker 2 (52:46):
Iowa was on the halves.

Speaker 1 (52:47):
I worry that Iowa state, where my grandparents both got degrees.
By the way, are their cyclone alums there They might
be have nots because they're in one conference and I
was in a super conference. There's always been this talk
that Congress is going to have to get involved.

Speaker 2 (53:05):
Do you think they need to?

Speaker 1 (53:07):
And as somebody who's you know, look, you know, one
side of the state loves their Hawkeyes.

Speaker 2 (53:13):
The other side of state loves their cyclones. But the
fact is Iowa State is is is.

Speaker 1 (53:18):
Essentially getting punished because Texas left the Big twelve. Is
there a role here for the Senate? And do you
think there should be?

Speaker 2 (53:27):
Maybe I'm i'm I'm I'm torn.

Speaker 3 (53:29):
I maybe sports should be separate, But I do know
the history of the n c a A. You know,
one of the reasons why that was created was just
because of with football, we are seeing all all the
violence in the you know, unfortunate even loss of life
early on.

Speaker 1 (53:45):
Sure they were trying to wring Teddy Roosevelt. It basically
was created you know, by ted in order to.

Speaker 3 (53:49):
Say that that is exactly correct. I mean what we're
seeing with the the n I L. I mean we
this this is just turned into the las A fair
there and there's no regulation, and I think honestly that
they missed an opportunity. You know, my brother and sister
both played professional able body basketball. My sister had a
brief cup of coffee with the WNBA, and so they
both were four year starters. My brother at Nebraska, my

(54:11):
sister at L. Robert University, and they honestly, they struggled
just to have money just to do their laundry.

Speaker 2 (54:19):
And we missed an.

Speaker 3 (54:20):
Opportunity there to find some happy medium where we could
at least take care of our athletes or at least
that they had some level of control over their name,
image and likeness. But what we're seeing now, which is
millions and millions of dollars dumping into this and no
guardrails and no regulation, it may be a need for
the Senate or for the government to get involved.

Speaker 1 (54:42):
Do you get a sense that Iowa State, basically partisans
are nervous that you know that suddenly you know, if
Io and Iowa State can't play every year because of
the financial demands of the Big ten that want them
playing in other games like that, that is something that's
really good at tick Off Islands.

Speaker 3 (55:00):
Yeah, I just it's it's it's interesting. It's almost I
feel like our college sports has almost moved into what
we're seeing with UH, with our country and our economics,
where we've got a handful we've got a handful of these,
and with football in particular, it's the SEC and it's
the Big ten that are the haves and they've got
all the TV money and those are just going to

(55:21):
continue to generate more and more fun.

Speaker 1 (55:24):
It's kind of a monopoly. It's not even a meritocracy.
It feels like a monopoly. And that's of course what
what what we're seeing here with AI and and and
what we're seeing with the big tech in the moment.

Speaker 3 (55:35):
Correct And I mean look again to get back to
us talking about the second as being in Gilded Age
at least one hundred years ago. In the first guilded Age, Uh,
we had legislators that stood, that stood up to this
and to the Rockefellers and the Vanderbilts and and the
JP Morgans, and we we broke up standard oil, and
we know, we recognize that these monopolies were no good

(55:56):
for society to have one percent controlling all the economic wealth.
And of that Gilded Age, we ended up coming up
with Franklin Delan and Roosevelt and the New Deal and
you know, the advent of social security and social safety
nets for individuals. I'm hopeful that this is an opportunity
here for us in this country, and particularly in this
upcoming election, for us to make that shift and to

(56:17):
to to actually have more people that are going to
be genuine populous. They're going to fight for the middle
class and fight for economic populism and we can change
our country.

Speaker 2 (56:28):
All right, totally.

Speaker 1 (56:32):
Easy questions for you know, he's got the best. Who's
who's going to be the best college basketball team from
Iowa this year? Who's going to go the furthest in
the tournament?

Speaker 2 (56:41):
I would probably guess the Hawk guys is that.

Speaker 1 (56:45):
That's yeah, i Awowa State doesn't have as good of
a ball.

Speaker 2 (56:48):
Club this year.

Speaker 3 (56:49):
They may they they may it's.

Speaker 2 (56:52):
But I'll say who I think is going to go
furthest in the in the tournament? I think the Hawk guys.

Speaker 3 (56:57):
However, I'll say this Drake Man, oh Man, They've they've
had they've had good results with at least making the tournament,
which is drink.

Speaker 2 (57:04):
And you and I.

Speaker 1 (57:05):
There's some pretty good supposed mid major teams right now,
that is right.

Speaker 3 (57:09):
I mean half the battles just get into the tournament.
I mean that that has been also interesting too with
this shift in sports on the on the football you've
seen more of but have and have not actually on
the basketball side of things. I think you can make
the argument where some of these teams, because you're seeing
guys that are going in there and they're just staying
for one year and then they're entering the transfer pooral

(57:29):
or the better athletes are going off to the NBA.
I think you can make the argument that some of
these mid majors that are able to keep their guys
for three or four or five years, they're able to
compete in an interesting way against these you know, the
Havels so.

Speaker 1 (57:42):
Seniors four years guys that grow up together for four
years in the same program. One hundred percent. I'm a
which at GW matters. That's that's our plan, that's the
GW blueprint. That's how they think we can we can
be the next you know, the next Gonzaga, the next
Wichita State, right r that can pop in there. Let
me get you out of here on this. What's uh

(58:02):
on the NBA level? Who's your favorite basketball player to watch?

Speaker 3 (58:05):
Oh, I'm I'm a big fan of Jo Kich what
he's been able to do.

Speaker 1 (58:10):
You like that, you like the the the high IQ player, right.

Speaker 3 (58:16):
I just kind of like unicorns. I just like watching
anything at the very highest level. I'm a shooter, you know.
I mean, I think I had said to you, I
in my collegiate career four thousand career points sixty three
points in the game.

Speaker 2 (58:28):
Uh so that was always my skill set.

Speaker 3 (58:30):
So watching somebody like Steph Curry that has been able
to master that that unique skills the.

Speaker 1 (58:37):
Mayor Fred Hoiberg, right, he was a big shooter back
in his day.

Speaker 2 (58:40):
Yeah, that's right, Yeah, of course.

Speaker 3 (58:42):
But I mean it's like these the viduals that are
able to do it in a in a very unique
way at a high level. In Yo Kich, particularly with
his physical appearance and you know, as he's just kind
of lumbering down the court, but that level of coordination
that he that he has, it really is it's it's sensation.

Speaker 2 (59:00):
I really love watching him.

Speaker 1 (59:01):
It's such a high flying sport. To see him not
get an inch off the ground is fantastic. It's my
favorite gree I love that.

Speaker 2 (59:08):
Who's your goat for the NBA? Yeah?

Speaker 1 (59:12):
Who do you put in the goat? Do you have
a goat? Do you have a hot take? Goat between
Jordan Lebron, I got a hot take that involves Magic Johnson.
But that's my hot take or you know.

Speaker 3 (59:23):
Well, here I will tell you my goat, but I'll
tell you my Mount Rushmore, my goat without a doubt
is Jordan. I mean as a kid watching growing up
watching him play six championships, six and zero. But I
also think you can make the argument for someone like
Bill Russell eleven championships in thirteen years. I don't know
if we'll ever see anything like that. Wilt Chamberlain. I mean,

(59:44):
if you just look at the individual stat lines, he
averaged fifty points in a season, scoring over one hundred.

Speaker 1 (59:50):
And was one of the greatest volleyball players of all
time as well, by the way, without a doubt.

Speaker 3 (59:54):
I mean, this was a guy that for a season
actually averaged more minutes than even an NBA game has average,
like forty eight point three minutes in the game. Those
would be those would be the ones that would be
up there for me.

Speaker 1 (01:00:08):
Yeah, well, Josh, this was great. Good luck out there.
I mean, are you any questions quickly hit me up.

Speaker 3 (01:00:16):
What do you think about Iowa? I mean, like you,
I mean, you're you're You're as close to this as
is almost anybody. You're seeing this unique opportunity that we've got,
you know, first time since nineteen sixty eight, open governor's race,
open race, two open congressional races. In Trump's first midterm,
we won three of the four and we've got a
great candidate with somebody like Rob sand that is similar

(01:00:36):
to me in terms of leaning into the middle. What
do you think about Iowa and us being the center
of the political universe or this being a fundamental change
in our electorate.

Speaker 1 (01:00:45):
Well, I think it is one of those where if
if the Democrats want to be a national party, and
I would argue that they've not been a national party
since Obama and the and this sort of the got
taken over by a consultant class that got I've always said,
you know, analytics was a you know, the analytics revolution

(01:01:07):
that hit politics and sports and all this stuff where
people let data drive decisions. Sometimes data can be exclusive,
meaning it excludes people because it's efficiencies that analytics is
looking for. Well, we found out the efficiencies of baseball
made the game suck and so we had to like
get a and the efficiencies of politics actually made got

(01:01:31):
rid of persuasion. We start the art of persuasion. Iowa
only works with persuasion, right. It's why the caucuses, I
think are such a unique thing and why Iowans took it. Seriously,
I'm sorry, the Democratic Party only views Iowa through an
identity issue, and I think that is what offended some islands.

(01:01:51):
I really believe that that when the Democratic Party nationally said,
you know, I was too white, Well what do you
think that said to the resident?

Speaker 2 (01:02:01):
You don't want us in your club? Okay?

Speaker 1 (01:02:03):
And then you wonder, oh, well, now I was out
of range. Well you just told eighty percent of the
population you didn't want them involved because they were too white.
It was a strange, and I know that isn't I
understood what the DNC was trying to say. But anyway, look,
I'm I think that if not now, when, right, if

(01:02:24):
the Iowa Democrats can't make a comeback in this environment,
under these circumstances, with everything that's there, right, if it
doesn't happen, the party's brand is even in worse shape
than I thought. I look at Iowa as this test
if the Democrats are and I most look, I'm a believer.

(01:02:44):
I live in history, So everything is cyclical, right, It
just is. You know, Harkin first got elected in the
seventy four Watergate class, right, and it was Iowa had
a very Republican reputation before then. And that's sort of
when sort of the Iowa Democrats started to to get
more competitive.

Speaker 2 (01:03:02):
But it is a if.

Speaker 1 (01:03:05):
If there isn't success this time, then it is not
your fault or Rob's fault, or or the fault of
the folks on the ground. It really is the national brand,
right if you can, if you can rebrand an Iowa
Democrat is something that isn't associated with the national party.
I think you have a boxer's chance because if you

(01:03:28):
but you have to show up everywhere in the beauty
of Iowa. Is it's kind of expected, right, the ninety
nine counties, the fact that everybody that covers not Iowa politics,
even if you're not from Iowa.

Speaker 2 (01:03:39):
You know there are ninety nine counties.

Speaker 1 (01:03:40):
Do you know how many other states people know that
they're the number of counties are in that state outside
of people that live.

Speaker 2 (01:03:46):
In that state. Nowhere right, Iowa has it.

Speaker 1 (01:03:48):
And so I do think, you know, for whatever reason,
you just had a and I think if you look
at the leadership of the Democratic Party, it's too coastal.

Speaker 2 (01:03:57):
Right.

Speaker 1 (01:03:58):
It wasn't that long ago that the Democratic Party was
first that had a Senate Democratic leader from South Dakota,
and then it was replaced by a Senate Democratic leader
who was born and raised in rural Nevada. Like, literally
the towns are outside of Vegas. There are five of
them that exist, right, I'm being a little facetious, So
you know, this is one of those things where literally

(01:04:19):
the Democratic Party left Iowa. Iowa didn't leave the Democratic Party.
And we'll find out if Iowans are open to this
version of the party. But I look at it, I
think what's happened with the schools and the funding cuts.

Speaker 2 (01:04:34):
I hear it from a lot of.

Speaker 1 (01:04:36):
My friends in rural Iowa about how you know, even
if culturally they were supportive of the idea of private
schools and there was the skepticism of the public schools,
the way this is work doesn't work for people, right. Ultimately,
people want their local school to work and they want
to have a say over their local school, right, they
want both things. So look, I mean, I'm I'm biased.

(01:05:00):
I've spent a lot of time in Iowa. My my
wife worked in Iowa. We've you know, we both care
about the state a lot. Like I said, I've got
more family buried in Iowa than any of the state
in the Union. So I've always taken pride on what
sort of a bipartisan state. It's always has been, and
it was always a point of pride. My father's was
a big conservative, grew up in Waterloo. It was a

(01:05:20):
point of pride that Iowa was this swing state. That's right,
because Iowan's worry about the person at the party, and
there was always that there was a bit of a
there was always pride in that the independent streak of Iowa.
So look, I'm a I'm bullish in theory, but you
got to have good candidates.

Speaker 2 (01:05:41):
Without a doubt.

Speaker 3 (01:05:42):
This is one of the things that I've learned representing,
you know, such a red district, is this comes down
to right candidate, right message, and that message is genuine
economic ti mat Yeah, and in the right work ethic,
I think you can win.

Speaker 2 (01:05:56):
And we do.

Speaker 3 (01:05:57):
I mean, we're basically dead last by every single economic
and health care and as you said, this is a
huge opportunity. But it's a lot of responsibility we get
this right because if we cannot win in this environment,
then this state may be gone for a generation.

Speaker 2 (01:06:10):
And yeah, because.

Speaker 1 (01:06:12):
If Republicans can win in this environment, then then they're
going to govern for quite some time. I Mean, I
don't know if you've spent much time with Mike Frankin
in the race he ran. You know, he was just
totally I mean, you want to talk about identity politics,
just eliminating him from consideration by the national Party. And

(01:06:32):
it turned out he was the stronger candidate because he
won the primary despite the National Party supporting somebody else.
So what I would say is be careful when that
when you think the national parties on your side, they
don't always make the smartest decisions.

Speaker 2 (01:06:45):
That's fair.

Speaker 3 (01:06:45):
In the other thing that you said that one hundred
percent agree with is that we've got to make our
own identity of what is an Iowa Democrat. I think
that one of the one of the advantages that like
a state above us in Minnesota has had is they've
been able to make the distinction with we are the
arm and Labor party. And I think that if we
had that ability to say we are the party of
the American class, that.

Speaker 1 (01:07:05):
John who says you have to keep the name Iowa Democrats,
who says you can't become the Iowa Democratic Farm Labor
I mean, I you know, I've had a few people
ask me this and I'm like, yeah, I you know,
rebrand if the part if the Democrats are going to
be a coalition party and most look, we're we're a
country two parties. Nobody goes to the store and only

(01:07:27):
takes and there's only two choices of t shirt sizes,
extra small and extra large. Right, Like the idea that
we try to squeeze everybody into two parties is absurd.
We probably should be a four or a four party system.
I think it would frankly sort of ease the ease
some of the tension inside both parties. You know where

(01:07:47):
you have these giant where the tent is so big
it rips a hole in the middle, right, And that's
kind of what I think has happened to the Democrats.

Speaker 2 (01:07:54):
You've got these.

Speaker 1 (01:07:55):
Pro democracy Extrapublicans on one side, and you've got the
Bernie Sanders Democratic social on the other. And they only
agree on one thing, Trump is bad for democracy.

Speaker 2 (01:08:04):
Other than that, they've got nothing else in common. That's
a tough.

Speaker 1 (01:08:08):
Coalition to win with on bread and butter issues. And
I don't know why other state parties haven't actually followed
the lead of Minnesota. Now, Minnesota, there used to be
separate parties. There was a Democratic Party, and there was
a farm Labor Party and then they merged. That's sort
of the history of that. But I've been surprised, Like,
if I were an Idaho Democrat, I just rebranded the
party the Idaho Freedom Party or something, you know, where

(01:08:30):
you know, sometimes words you know are words you don't
use anymore in certain locations. Okay, move on, your ideas
can still work.

Speaker 3 (01:08:39):
It is interesting though, because we were I think we're
seeing a schism actually on both parties. I mean, the Democrats,
as you indicated, are but you also see this amongst
classical conservatives and also what is a maga Republican and.

Speaker 1 (01:08:52):
So divide, you know, Josh, that divide existed before. It
just was so dormant during the Cold War. The isolationist wing,
you know, which was borderline xenophobic back in the nineteen thirties,
and they were like, hey, we're not going to get
involved in other people's wars. And they were the ones
that held the Americans back from participating in World War

(01:09:13):
Two until it came to our shores. Right, we wouldn't
have gotten involved until it hit us because that Republican
Party was more trumpy in the FDR era than Eisenhower.

Speaker 2 (01:09:25):
Right.

Speaker 1 (01:09:25):
And then the Eisenhower to Romney, run of Republicans. They
were all sort of internationalists, and yet they're the Yeah,
I don't think they're dead.

Speaker 2 (01:09:36):
They're just in hibernation at that wing of the party.
I enjoyed this.

Speaker 1 (01:09:40):
Thank you so much for good to get to know you.

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Interview Only w/ Josh Turek - Why Democrats Struggle…And Can Still Win In Iowa

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}Interview Only w/ Josh Turek - Why Democrats Struggle…And Can Still Win In Iowa