May 20, 2026 • 50 mins
If you feel like dysfunction in Washington has become a threat to America itself, you're not alone. Freshmen Senators Elissa Slotkin (D-MI) and Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-DE) break down what's at stake and what they're fighting for despite the chaos created by the current Administration.
Plus, hear how the events on 9/11 changed everything for Senator Slotkin and Senator Blunt Rochester opens up about a secret wish that may fire up the internet in the sweetest of ways.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hi, everyone, It's Sophia. Welcome to Work in Progress. Welcome
back to Work in Progress this week, friends, have I
got a whip smart treat for all of you. I
(00:23):
have not one, but two absolutely brilliant guests on the
show today, two women that I look up to as leaders,
as communicators, and frankly, as people I just want to
hang out with. They are good eggs. We are joined
today by Senator Lisa Blunt Rochester and Senator Alissa Slotkin.
(00:44):
I don't know about y'all, but I remember the good
old days when we could talk about the fight to
preserve American democracy and all sorts of terms. They could
be abstract, or theoretical, or even hyperbolic, but we could argue, debate,
and even come up with solutions across the aisle. Sometimes
(01:06):
it feels like those days are over, but there are
leaders that are still doing the work. For the past
seventeen months, our first term Senators Lisa and Alyssa have
spent every single day in office on the frontline of
this battle. Global conflict is escalating, economic anxiety is persistent,
and faith in institutions is at an all time low.
(01:28):
But the decisions that are being made now in this
environment are shaping the country's trajectories in ways that we
know our immedia that can feel dire and that I
think we're all a little scared might be irreversible. These
two women, in their freshman Senate season come to this
moment with such incredible understanding. Alissa slot Can with a
(01:51):
true expertise in global risk, having served as a CIA
analyst and completing three tours in Iraq before briefing presidents
on matters of national stuituitcurity. She was one of the
lawmakers who participated in that now very famous Trump and
raging video reminding troops they must follow the law and
thus refuse unlawful orders. She is unafraid, and it's part
(02:14):
of the reason that I look up to her so much.
And then we've got Senator Lisa Blunt Rochester, whose path
has been rooted in the equally urgent, everyday realities facing
American families. She has led on workforce development, public health,
health care, cost of living issues, all of these things
that directly impact how people live and provide for their
loved ones. Both of these women entered the Senate after
(02:37):
very hard fought races. They carried with them not just
policy and expertise, but a very clear sense of what's
at stake beyond Washington, around the country, for all of us.
And now in their second year, they are navigating an
environment that, to put it bluntly, is defined by volatility.
Whether that's geopolitical threats, or economic pressures or technological change.
(02:59):
All these things are colliding at once. And these women
have perspectives that offer a real inside view of how
decisions are getting made and how we kind of have
to write the playbook ourselves. Guys, they are women I
encourage you to follow, whether you live in Michigan, Delaware
or anywhere else. And when you are looking for a
(03:20):
little bit of hope on how we are going to
write the ship, make the country better, and come out
the other side more fortified, I'm telling you these are
two you want to follow. So let's dive in with
Senators Slatkin and Blunt Rochester. Senators, I'm so honored to
(03:50):
be with you both today. You know, first as a constituent,
not of either of yours, but just out in the
American wilds. Who really is so grateful that we have
you too, you know, fighting not only for your districts
but the country, and it means a lot that you
took time to be here today.
Speaker 2 (04:08):
Thank you, thank you to be here for you.
Speaker 1 (04:10):
I'm really curious, you know, you were talking about the
fact you're in the heart building at the moment. You know,
you're you're on a period of the week where you're
in DC. You all gather together, but you also represent
your home districts. You grew up in very different parts
of the country, you know, Delaware for you and Michigan
(04:31):
for you, Senator Slackin, And I'm just curious, you know,
before we get into the present day of how you
stand up for those places, if you have any early
memories to share from your childhood of your communities that
really still inspire your service today.
Speaker 2 (04:48):
What a great question.
Speaker 3 (04:50):
Well, for me, I was actually born in Philadelphia, which
to me, just as we celebrate the two hundred and
fiftieth anniversary of the founding of our country, I think
it's such like a pivotal place. They call it the
city of brotherly love and sisterly affection, and so first
(05:10):
of all, it's really good to be here with you
speaking of sisterly affection, and also here with my sister.
We sit next to each other on the floor of
the Senate, you do. Probably problematic for a lot of
people because because we have our little signals and things
that we do, our chats and so so it's really
(05:33):
good to be here with Alyssa. And in terms of
early memories in Philadelphia, this is where most of my
family lives. I grew up, you know, I started there,
and I think even being there where community was so important,
where church was so important, where democracy was so important,
(05:55):
I think is foundational to who I am. And also
growing up at the time that I did, like I
grew up in the sixties, and so you know, civil
rights movement, black power movement, the women's movement, cology give
a who don't pollute was like, you know, don't be
a litterbugs seed.
Speaker 2 (06:12):
I'm showing my age.
Speaker 3 (06:14):
But with those things I think are foundational to who
I am today and the work that I get to
work on now.
Speaker 2 (06:19):
And then my family moved to Delaware.
Speaker 3 (06:21):
In nineteen sixty nine, which was after the longest occupation
of police in a city because of the nineteen sixty
eight riots, and so there's also this foundation of you know,
loving my city and loving my state, which is a
real microcosm of the country because Delaware. A lot of
(06:41):
people don't know anything about Delaware, but we are urban, suburban, rural,
and coastal. We have it all, from farmers, you know,
to fishing, to cities and it so might not think
it's a big city life.
Speaker 2 (06:56):
But we like it.
Speaker 3 (06:58):
We like it in Delaware, the first State, and so
I think that has sort of been the foundation for
the work that I do here in the Senate, whether
it's in housing or healthcare or the environment, because we're
the lowest mean elevation state in the entire country, so
when it rains, it floods in environmental justice communities as
well as our farms in our coastal areas. And so
(07:22):
I think we bring all of those experiences with us
to this work. And again, glad to be here and
glad to represent the first state.
Speaker 1 (07:31):
Yeah. Well it's just so cool, I mean, and it's interesting.
You know, when I talk, especially to young people about
political engagement, you know, I will bring up my experiences
in many of the environments that you just spoke about
in Delaware as a Californian, you know, urban, rural, suburban, coastal,
like all of these things, and it's a really nice
(07:55):
thing to be able to point out as someone, you know,
to show my own age, who's like we've done here
the day, Like we know these campaigns can do good
things for our communities. As a person who's been engaged
in democratic you know, activism volunteering for over twenty years now,
like I get to speak to young people, I'm not
one of them anymore. And very similarly to the ways
(08:17):
I reference, you know, importance that's both local and national
talking about California and Delaware. You know, California, Delaware, New York,
we have so many of the same issues you talk about.
You know, we have a connection Alyssa because I've called
Detroit my home away from home for twenty years thanks
(08:38):
to my best friend who's a third generation Detroiter, and
we do so much work in Michigan and the incredible
ecosystems of Michigan, likewise urban suburban, rural. You know, even
at our fund, we're investing in you know the future
of farming, an ag and also space technology. Like what's
happening in these industries is the research industries in Michigan
(09:02):
is so incredible. The environmental leadership because of all the water,
you know, it's really cool to be able to tie
both the really specific and kind of the universal of
what's important for people across all of our states. It
makes me feel really geeked. What are some of the
(09:23):
things that inspired you, you know, from your youth to
do what you do today.
Speaker 4 (09:27):
Well, I mean, you know, Michigan is a place where
I mean I grew up. My dad was a lifelong Republican,
my mom was a lifelong Democrat, and that was completely
normal and completely non contentious when I was growing up
in Michigan. I mean, all of us in Michigan have
this experience of your neighbors have a different political view,
even your families at Thanksgiving dinner, right, And it was
(09:51):
never a big deal. We were much more likely to
fight Michigan versus Michigan State, the Democrat versus Republican growing
up like in a big way. And so it's that
to me, you know, is look, I don't know that
we'll ever get back to that in our lifetime, that
same level of kind of you know, we just ribbing
each other and respectful back and forth. But I still
(10:13):
think that we do our best work when we reach
across difference and we work together on something. That's how
some things are durable and and that's become really hard.
And Michiganders cannot stand how politics has made Thanksgiving uncomfortable.
I mean, is it is a big stressor on people
that they can't at this point, people just feel like
(10:35):
they can't talk around others about politics period, which you know,
stresses me out as someone who believes in democracy, right.
But I think for me, you know, I also just
had the experience of being what's called a nine to
eleven baby, where I happened to be in New York
City on my second day of grad school. I just
(10:57):
moved to New York when nine to eleven happened, and
that my life, I mean, what I decided to do
for a living, going into national security, and so you know,
I think your upbringing, for all of us, you bring
to the job. But also these like pivotal moments, you know,
where you can remember where you were and what you
were doing and who you were with where your life
just like takes a turn. I don't know. For most
(11:19):
people we work with, I feel like they have like
those seminal moments in their life, and certainly for me,
nine to eleven was one of those.
Speaker 1 (11:27):
Yeah, absolutely well, part of what you speak about the
hyper intensification of the debate. You know, it used to
be more of a discourse, and then the intensity that's
really gone up in terms of political difference is becoming ideological,
(11:48):
almost like the idea that a person who believes differently
than you believes in something bad. I think about that,
particularly with your background as a threat to nash security.
Do you think that I'm overstating the issue or does
that feel accurate to you?
Speaker 4 (12:07):
No, I think that's one hundred percent accurate when certainly
in national security for years, for decades after World War Two,
you know, you could have a Democratic president or a
Republican president, and your national security approach was generally the same.
You know, I was a Cold War kid, like we
all wanted to win the Cold War, like different presidents. Fine,
(12:28):
but we had kind of common assumptions. And I think
that's gone and we're living that in real time right
with like what should America's role be in the world.
Some people are deep isolationists. Some people think we should
have a strong leadership role. And that's when you don't
have agreement on who we want to be, then so
(12:48):
many decisions become haphazard and conflicted. And you know, yesterday
I was in a briefing. I'm on the Armed Services Committee,
a classified briefing, but it was on the AI race
with China, right something, the classified AI race, and it
is it is as consequential and important as the nuclear
race back in like the Oppenheimer time. Yes, but because
(13:12):
we're so toxic politically right now, everyone's back and forth,
we literally are not talking about it up on Capitol
Hill in a real way, in a substantive way.
Speaker 2 (13:22):
So we owe to the.
Speaker 4 (13:24):
American people, especially those of us in these positions, to
be thinking around corners at like the next threat that
can come to us. But we're so busy, like fighting
about like Greenland or some tweet that went out or whatever,
that we're not We're focusing only on the day to day,
not on the long term issues. And that is absolutely
a threat to national security because our job in the
(13:48):
dark of night is to be thinking about, you know,
what the bad guys want to be doing to us next.
And it is a it is a real problem, this
fighting that we have going on, because it prevents from
doing what we need to do to prevent new threats.
Speaker 3 (14:03):
Yeah, if I could just join in on that, because
I was really fortunate, you know, kind of going back
to who you are as a kid. And for me,
you know, there was this whole thing about world peace.
So I went to school to study international relations undergrad
and I've been fortunate to live or work and travel
to over thirty three countries. I have an app on
(14:24):
my phone. It's called ben Bee, and like all the places.
Speaker 2 (14:27):
I've been, I love that app. I love that app.
So and so I love the world.
Speaker 3 (14:34):
But the last place I lived before running for office
was actually in China. I lived in Shanghai for five years,
and I was hearing the conversation then about AI, you know,
and them matching the United States, you know, by like
(14:55):
twenty twenty five, and exceeding us by twenty thirty, Like
we are here now. I just sat on a panel
with one of our Republican colleagues, our Republican colleagues yesterday
on AI and the fact that the technology is moving
so quickly and we are moving so slowly. YEP is problematic.
But to Alyssa's point, the underlying threat is our division,
(15:20):
because then we can't solve these big problems. We can't
work together. The weird thing, though, is that there are
some strange bedfellows that are working on things in this space,
but that bigger, overarching division is truly a threat to us.
And so, you know, I think you'll find in the
(15:41):
two of us that we're both like pragmatic, you know,
like I'm an optimist, but I'm a pragmatic optimist, you know,
And so we fight the battles that we need to fight,
but we also recognize that there are things we have
to come together on, like if we had if we
had not come together even on the Chips and Science Bill,
(16:02):
that was major legislation that was important for the national
security of this country but also our economy. I work
a lot on supply chains, like nobody knew what the
heck of supply chain was, you know until COVID, and
you couldn't get toilet paper, you couldn't get baby formula,
you couldn't.
Speaker 2 (16:21):
But those are the things that.
Speaker 3 (16:22):
Affect our health, our wealth, and our national security that
we have to work on. And I'm glad there's a
venue for you to even allow us to talk about.
Speaker 2 (16:31):
Stuff that, yeah, people don't know we're working on.
Speaker 1 (16:35):
Well, I think to your point, a lot of people
who you know are either too busy or not interested
in the way that a deep research nerd like I
am is in terms of learning how all these things
work together, might not have had the time to start
(16:55):
connecting some of these dots. You know, the fact that
what's happened with the division is a national security issue.
What's happening with frankly, the absolute lack of professionalism and
expertise of the people who now occupy some of the
most important offices in the largest superpower in the world
is alarming. And then you start to kind of go, oh,
(17:18):
everything's interconnected. You know, Senator Slotkin, you brought up being
a Cold War kid. There are people talking about how
what's the destabilization of our allied powers right now is
launching us into the next Cold War, which we understand
is actually going to be a technology war with China,
and that what's happening with the current administration destabilizing NATO,
(17:40):
turning our back on our allies, is that the people
who would help us fight that war aren't going to
And not only is it on the forefront of technology
and AI and many of the things again that in
our own communities, you know, as investors and as advocates,
we're excited about both in terms of how to build
the technology and how to establish guardrails for it. But
(18:03):
then there's all of the layers on top of it,
Like you're saying, in every single sector in energy, they're
beating us in energy. The Trump administration's canceling green energy projects,
which means we're going to be global energy losers instead
of leaders. And not only is that a problem for
our position in the world, but it's a problem for
the fact that we're going to lose all these great jobs.
(18:24):
And that's in states like all of ours. And so
when you think about the roles you all serve in
pursuing positive outcomes for public health, you know, as labor leaders,
you know, Lisa, you in all those sectors, and even
as a nonprofit CEO like you. Guys, see how all
of these things are so interconnected. I believe part of
(18:48):
my calling is to help translate these policy things into
personal conversations for people. How are you all trying to
do these moments? And all so lead because from the
outside it looks like you're now being asked to do
six jobs, But I'm so grateful you're willing to take
the time to try to do them. All so that
(19:10):
you know, lay people like me can really feel as
educated as possible to the full picture of how everything
you guys are doing in politics is actually so personal
to the rest of us.
Speaker 4 (19:24):
Yeah, I mean, I would say, look, there's no doubt
that the role of the Senate of elected leaders is
changing like daily under our feet. And the truth is,
particularly with social media and then how toxic the politics
are in general. There are plenty of people who would say, like,
(19:47):
we just need you working on whatever's hot, whatever's popping,
responding immediately if we're talking about buying greenland or taking
Greenland by force, we want you talking about Greenland. Like
there's a demand signal to be very knee jerk responsive
to whatever is going on in Washington on a daily basis,
(20:08):
But it actually.
Speaker 2 (20:08):
Isn't the role of a leader.
Speaker 4 (20:10):
The role of a leader is not to jump at
every you know, pitch or hit it every pitch. The
role of a leader is also to say, it is
my job to prevent bad things from happening and to
help my constituents succeed by playing a long game and
putting the pieces in place to help my constituents. And
sometimes that's very un sexy sometimes that's very wonky. Sometimes
(20:34):
that you know, it is really hard to convey. And
so I think all of us, I mean, Lisa and
I are freshmen, so we're just starting, we've just finished
our first year as senators, and I think to me,
there's how do you make sure, as we say at
the Pentagon, you always give the future a seat at
the table. How do you make sure in your week
(20:56):
the amount of work that you're doing is not just
being responsive to the last saying that Donald Trump tweeted about,
but to actually pick and place bets on important long
term things that you're working on because you know they
will help your constituents, even if they don't know it.
And that's that. You don't get a lot of clicks
for that, you don't get a lot of likes for that,
(21:17):
But it's still the responsibility of people who are you know,
have the kind of power that we have, sou But
you also got to figure out how to communicate, right.
I mean there was a time where, you know, maybe
ten years ago, if you said to a senator, like
you really got to up your podcast game exact right,
and you got to get on with Sophia Bush and
like get your podcast game. Senators here would be like
(21:40):
what do you what like what you have? No, just
can't for some people it's still happening. But if you
are like you know of this world, you understand that
media is changing, and if you want to reach people,
you can't just like sit in your office and do
that long term work and not communicate. So it's a
constant balance, says a leader, between communicating to the public
(22:03):
and working on those long lead items that can actually
help them live good, middle class and beyond lives.
Speaker 2 (22:08):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (22:09):
I mean, I have to say, Sophia, like, it cannot
be understated how important your role.
Speaker 2 (22:15):
Is in this moment.
Speaker 3 (22:17):
The ability to translate what we're doing here and make
it real and tangible for people when they're the attention economy,
like everything is coming at them from everywhere, and so
to be able to do that is such a service
not only to the individual but to our democracy in
(22:39):
this moment. I think that's one of the biggest challenges
that we face, is breaking through in a time where
you know, you got like the president putting up pictures
of himself as Jesus.
Speaker 2 (22:52):
Like how you know?
Speaker 1 (22:54):
So, so let me tell you what. As a kid
with a Catholic mom. It has been a very intense
week in the family group.
Speaker 2 (23:01):
Oh mymagine.
Speaker 3 (23:02):
I mean, it's bad enough, it was blasphemous, but it
was also messy, looking like it was just a weird thing.
But the fact that you create a space for people
to kind of hear and understand what we're doing is
really important. The other piece that you mentioned is the
hats that we're wearing. I sit on for committees, for
(23:28):
a level committees. I'm on environment in Public Works, So,
like I said, for Delaware, we care about what happens
right now. I just attended a session on the cost
of climate change.
Speaker 2 (23:41):
Right now, people's energy costs are going up. We got
a war.
Speaker 3 (23:45):
It's making it more unaffordable for folks. I mean your home,
your flood insurance. For many of these folks, they're getting
priced out. They can't even live or buy a home.
So I'm on environment and Public Works. I'm on Banking,
Housing and Urban Affairs. The one committee everybody said was
going to be Oh, that's a sleeper. You won't be
(24:06):
doing a lot in banking.
Speaker 1 (24:07):
Not in twenty twenty six, Not.
Speaker 2 (24:09):
In twenty twenty six.
Speaker 3 (24:10):
It's the committee where we have a first of its
kind in a long time, a housing bill that is
a comprehensive package, bipartisan, a bi cameral. They've got theirs
in the House, we've got ours in the Senate. But
it's the first time people are recognizing that we have
a housing crisis in this country. And so for me,
(24:31):
my first piece of legislation was on housing because that's
what Delawareans told me. Whether you're fifty and still living
with your dad or whether you're a first time home buyer,
people are struggling banking. Yes, I'll tell you my last
two committees because they it's my hats, Commerce, Science and Transportation.
Speaker 2 (24:50):
Yes, so to.
Speaker 3 (24:52):
Again my whether it's supply chains, whether it's dealing with AI,
whether it's dealing with our economy.
Speaker 2 (25:00):
Or even it's NASA.
Speaker 3 (25:02):
Mm hm, you know all of this Yay Artemis, yay
artimist makes me want to solve.
Speaker 2 (25:08):
Right, I mean, I actually was like watching this.
Speaker 1 (25:11):
I like too.
Speaker 3 (25:15):
And the last one that I'm on is help health, education, labor,
and pensions, which again we've seen throughout this year what
has been one of the major issues for us as
Democrats is fighting for health care. We have been fighting
for health care and we continue to fight for health
care for the American people. And so again, these are
(25:36):
the things that we're doing every day, in addition to
trying to communicate, in addition to fighting for democracy. This
woman fighting for our national security, you know, and so,
and then trying to live a life outside of here.
Speaker 1 (25:50):
Yes, and now a word from our wonderful sponsors. Something
I want to make sure I say for our friends
at home, because obviously I know this about you both.
You are governmental like girl crushes for me. But when
(26:13):
you talk about being freshmen in the Senate, your expertise
comes from such long, like incredible, I don't even want
to call it a resume. You both have a laundry
list of public service. And when I think about how
those roles shape your pathway into these Senate seats. You know, senators,
(26:34):
thought can your career in national security, working at the CIA,
three tours in Iraq, you know you have such expertise.
And Lisa, you know, I think about you being Delaware's
sole representative in the House, like literally having to carry
the concerns of an entire state by yourself, and you
(26:57):
manage to be such an optimist. I just am so
amazed by all of the haaps you've worn that enable
you all to wear the ones you wear today. And
you said something that I find really pressing in this moment,
(27:17):
because in each of your states you emphasize the importance
of rebuilding, manufacturing, You talk about economic opportunity. We know
that jobs matter for people. We know that until we
do pass better or universal healthcare, often people's healthcare is
tied to their jobs. But housing in particular everywhere is
(27:37):
a problem. And not only is private equity buying up
most of the housing in the country a problem, but
you really talked about something I want to connect for
our listeners, which is that what's happening with climate is
creating a vacuum of problems for people, whether it's in
(27:58):
a coastal city and we're talking about flooding, whether it's
on the West coast and we're talking about wildfires, whether
we're talking about you know, particularly in the Midwest, northern Midwest,
like these crazy superstorms. How do you see climate as
this kind of big umbrella that maybe everyone's not talking about,
(28:20):
Maybe they don't know about all the little wins you're
achieving for your states in terms of shoring up support.
It feels like such a big issue to think about that.
I think a lot of people's reaction is to put
their heads in the sand because it feels scary. But
you both don't get to do that. You have to
come up with solutions. So when you look at a
(28:41):
big issue like that and how it affects housing, jobs,
et cetera, how do you begin to tackle that and
how do you do that in partnership across your states?
Speaker 4 (28:50):
Well, I'll start and then kick it over to Lisa,
and you know, I think, Look, I feel like the
lesson that we learned in the last presidential election is
that people are sort of existentially focused on their pocketbooks,
their kids and whether the next generation is going to
have the keys to the middle class and the American dream.
(29:11):
Like I think that's the issue. I actually think Trump
is a symptom of the problem. The problem is we
have a shrinking middle class in America and that is
a big old problem in the diverse country like ours. Yes,
and so I you know, in Michigan we care deeply,
like you said, about our great lakes, our watersheds, our
local environment. We've had a rise in extreme weather that
(29:32):
cost people, and so my entry point into climate is
not like climate qua climate Like, let's have a discussion
of the Paris Climate Accord. That's people are not They're
not there. But if you want to talk about their
energy prices, right, if you want to talk about how
many times right now, I've got floods going on across Michigan.
(29:54):
I've got dams bursting, people are texting me their pictures
of their backyards. There's real financial costs to where we
are with these extreme weather events, and I think people
care about their pocketbooks right now, and so that is
my entry point. So when I have, like a Republican
mayor call me and his town is flooded for the
(30:15):
third time in a year, right, These once in a
generation floods are now like all the time. And he says, look,
I know we're going to get more floods and they're
going to be more severe. Can I talk to you
about infrastructure planning. That's a Republican mayor talking to me
about climate change. And I don't give a crap if
he says the word climate change, I don't. I just
need to hit have him on the at the table
(30:36):
to have the conversation. So for me, the way that
you tackle an enormous issue, an existential issue like climate
is like you can't eat the elephant all at once.
You know, you have to figure out your entry point,
and for me, it's extreme weather and your pocketbook.
Speaker 2 (30:52):
Yes, I totally agree.
Speaker 3 (30:56):
I think the one area that we didn't mention that
also is impacted is healthcare. I mean to the extent
that this extreme weather, even the wildfires and the toxicity,
it doesn't stop at the Canadian border, that that affects
(31:18):
our health status. Living in communities like we have in Delaware,
there are some places where the the the whole issue
of that flooding affects again people's health status, and that
goes back to our health costs. I also think that
(31:40):
to Alyssa's point, you know, when I started in the House,
I was able to my freshman term I wanted. I
was like you know, when you're when you're running, people
ask you.
Speaker 2 (31:52):
And I ran.
Speaker 3 (31:53):
When I ran for the first time because I had
never run for anything before, I ran for Congress.
Speaker 2 (31:57):
And people kept saying, what committee do you want to
be on? What committee? I was like committee? So I
googled all the committees and that's how I figured.
Speaker 3 (32:03):
Out, like, you know, what committee do I want to
be on, and so it was like, I want to
be on. I found out Energy and Commerce was the
committee where you are going to be dealing with climate, health, energy,
all of these different things. So I was like, I'm
going to get on Energy and Commerce and then I
said it out loud and people laughed at me. They
were like, oh, they don't let freshmen on Energy and Commerce. Well,
(32:25):
I was like, I'm going to get on it the
next term, and I did. And part of that goal
was that intersection between climate, jobs, healthcare, housing.
Speaker 2 (32:39):
Food, instability, all of these.
Speaker 3 (32:41):
Things you know are tied to that. Not to mention
the quality of life.
Speaker 2 (32:48):
I mean, my team, they we talk about this all
the time. We have three piece purpose, piece and planet.
That's that's that's what we're here for. Purpose. That's jobs.
That's making sure you've got health care and a house
to live in that you.
Speaker 3 (33:05):
Can afford back to that middle class, that aspiration of
what we are here for.
Speaker 2 (33:10):
Purpose. The next one is peace. That's peace of mind
and mental health.
Speaker 3 (33:16):
Because we've seen part of this just since I talked
about BC before COVID, we were one way. I don't
think we've recovered mentally from COVID. Still, I don't either
mental health, but also the peace in our communities. Gun
violence was rampant in our major city. And when I
(33:39):
decided to run and so to be able to be
a part of the Safer Communities Act and bring dollars
to communities like they have their own agency, they know
what works in their community. And then peace globally. That's
why I was an ir major. And then the planet
without a planet? What are we talking about? Like it's
a moot point. We're not even here now.
Speaker 2 (34:00):
I know.
Speaker 3 (34:00):
I think there's some people that are planning to go
up on their own planet and do some things, or
they've got like bunkers, like and show paradise.
Speaker 2 (34:07):
I don't know, but I'm a big on paradise. I
don't know.
Speaker 1 (34:11):
I for me too, I love it, Oh, me too.
Speaker 2 (34:13):
But that's it peace, planet and purpose.
Speaker 1 (34:16):
But you know what's really interesting, And I'm curious to
know what you two think of this because I think
for many of us who have spent lifetimes in service,
who understand the importance of the planet, who know that
there's plenty we talked about this Artemis, there are planets
out there in the galaxies where literally diamonds rain down
(34:38):
on them. People think diamonds are rare. We're the only
planet with trees, like the only one. Trees are actually
the miracle. We are so lucky to live on Earth.
And when I see some of these people, you know,
the guy who bought the rocket company whose name I
don't like to say, and the rest talking about like, oh,
let's go live on Mars or the moon or in
(34:59):
a bunker, I'm tell me you've never ever done any
volunteering in a carceral system without telling me, because what
you're actually talking about is building yourself a bougie prison,
and you've just never been in prison, and you don't
know how hard it is on people.
Speaker 2 (35:14):
Bugie prison, I'm writing prison.
Speaker 1 (35:17):
I'm like, every single thing you think you love about
being alive won't be there. And no amount of Frette
sheets or whatever else you're going to put on your
rocket are going to make you feel better. Sir, You
know some of that is so crazy to me. I
think for me, the goal is always to bring it back,
(35:37):
as you ladies are saying to how these things are related,
because helping a constituent community in your state, regardless of
what team their mayor is, matters, no matter what language
you're using. If you want to call it a climate issue,
if you want to call it a disaster issue, these
are human issues. Affordability is a human issue, you know,
(36:01):
even when we think about something as large as the
space race, which AI is our new space race, right
like we started talking about that. Something I want to
thank you both for and let people listening know, is
that you are both very passionately working to keep AI
misuse in check. And I know this matters to my
(36:24):
audience because actually, at the top of this year, when
I talked about the Defiance Act passing its first round
of votes unanimously, and the advocacy that myself and other
you know, civilians who know about this work have been
entrenched in for many years, I got a lot of
feedback about that, you know, from young women, from moms
(36:45):
who want to protect their kids. Everyone really wants to know.
You know, this thing that might identify breast cancer five
years earlier sounds great, but we don't want it to
be used to abuse women and children, which we also
know it's doing. You know, do we want to develop
science and go to the moon, Yes, Do we want
to burn Earth to do it? No? You know, should
(37:07):
we be able to have nonpartisan conversations and prioritize national
security instead of subtweeting each other. Yes, when you think
about some of these things, especially something like AI, that
is a big concept, but that has very immediate opportunity
to personally affect people and also is a big, you know,
(37:31):
blaring question mark of the future of technology and security.
How do you work on that as an elected official,
Like what are your priorities in terms of the law,
and how do you help educate people about what it
is in the first place. That's a big one, just
(37:51):
a casual question for you.
Speaker 2 (37:53):
Yeah, that's a big one.
Speaker 4 (37:54):
I mean, I'll just tell you very quickly that you know,
we to me again, if we were healthy as a country,
Democrats and Republicans would be hammering out the left and
right limits of AI every day, all day, on our
economic future, future of jobs, on our national security, on
(38:16):
all the benefits, the health part of it, like all
the research benefits, Like we'd be talking about that twenty
four to seven. I honestly feel like we're It's like
nineteen eighty nine and someone takes like a transport back
and tells everybody there's this thing called the Internet that's
going to totally change everything, and you're just like what,
And I feel like we're We've got that time traveler
telling us like AI is about to really change so
(38:39):
much about our world, and yet we're not doing anything concrete,
you know about it as as a nation. I think
for me, I'm just being in the military world, you know,
I think it is important that on matters of life
and death, we have a human being that's in the loop.
Speaker 1 (38:55):
Thank you.
Speaker 4 (38:57):
Just I think and they're like, we should just let's
be in agreement that when it comes to deploying nuclear weapons,
we should always have a human being in the loop,
Like we just don't know where this technology is going.
And so I think that there, you know, I just
put up a bill a couple of weeks ago to
put in those left and right limits at the Pentagon.
Just but I think also what you were getting at
(39:19):
in terms of the abuse of AI, particularly targeted at
women and girls, is like we're going to all have
to understand like that, And frankly, I think demand more
autonomy over our name, image and likeness, yes, like our
data like we always have, you know, we always talk
about like bodily autonomy, right that you can't no one
should be telling you how you use your body. I
(39:43):
think we're going to have to start having the same
conversations about your data and when they're taking videos, you know,
and certainly you me, Lisa, We're all on video all
over the internet, right and so you know you shouldn't
be able to take a bunch of videos and do
something le leude with with that imagery and then just
(40:04):
like that's no problem, no consequences, It's fine. And I
think that we're going to have to as the public
is going to have to demand more action from Congress
on this name image, likeness, on your data or else.
It's just going to become like what can we believe?
What can we not? What's actually true?
Speaker 2 (40:25):
What's not?
Speaker 4 (40:25):
What are people saying? What are they not? And I
think people feel that we're already on the edge of that,
and there's just so many issues out there. They're not
sending a clear demand signal. But give it another six
months and it is I think going to become a
bigger and bigger issue in the next year.
Speaker 1 (40:46):
We'll be back in just a minute after a few
words from our favorite sponsors. So with that bill you
put up, I'm curious you know, I want to watch
our time, and I know you ladies both have to go,
and actually, you know, govern I would love to leave
(41:08):
listeners with a few things that they should be calling
their representatives about. I will go ahead and say, and
you tell me if you think it's a top three
issue this week, this month. I want everyone to keep
calling and absolutely demanding that we not pass the Save Act.
It is voter suppression and it is particularly targeted at women.
(41:29):
And I can say it so you don't have to
pardon my French. It's insanely up that we're even having
this conversation in America in twenty twenty six. I would
love to know what is your bill, Senator? You know,
what should people be saying, this is the bill we
want you to pass on AI and then we want
you to keep going. You know, is there, likewise some
(41:50):
sort of great environmental bill that we should be pressing for,
Like We've got one up in California right now that
I'm advocating for on social media. But I would just
love to know, are there are a handful of things
that you would like everyone listening to this podcast to
get on that congressional switchboard to call their senators about
like how do we help keep the pressure on from
(42:11):
the constituents, because as much as I think people feel
a little helpless or hopeless right now, it does matter
the more of us, you know, make noise, right.
Speaker 2 (42:20):
Yes, definitely.
Speaker 3 (42:21):
Well, first of all, I do want to say something
about AI and also because AI is here, quantum is coming,
and I think there's not a lot of conversation about
that yet. You took a deep breath, but yeah, I know,
I know, and so I want to kind of put
(42:42):
a plug there. And one of the bills that I,
you know, have focused on is first of all, AI
literacy in general. People across this country don't even know
sometimes that it's being used on them, that they're using it,
And so part of it is also to give people
agency them so else, even our educators, and making sure
(43:02):
that they know so that we don't lose critical thinking skills,
that we don't use lose creativity. I mean, right now
we've got a soul singer who's AI generated and one
of the number one country singers with no soul and so,
you know, so part of it is to think about
we're looking at those guardrails.
Speaker 2 (43:22):
We've got a slate of bills.
Speaker 3 (43:25):
But to me, like the five alarm fire, for me
is the same act. It is making sure right now
we're seeing Americans, whether they go to No King's rallies,
whether they are writing postcards, those things still matter. And
(43:46):
I would encourage people. You don't have to write to me.
I know where I am on this, but if you
got family in states where those legislators, those Republican legislators
aren't getting it, then have those folks spread the word,
continue to do that kind of outreach. Amplify things like
(44:07):
what you're doing this show, these messages, because again, the
breakthrough is going to happen because of.
Speaker 2 (44:14):
The power of the people. We're you know, forty seven
how many of us are Gran's pretty yeah.
Speaker 3 (44:21):
Yeah, and so what when you amplify that and when
you multiply that, that's the power of the people.
Speaker 2 (44:28):
We got to be.
Speaker 3 (44:29):
Focused until we get to the mid terms, until we
get to twenty twenty eight, not to.
Speaker 1 (44:36):
Be yes, ma'am, I'm ready, just a little oh, I'm
so ready. Listen. I have a lot of cause to
be in Michigan very regularly. But you need me for
anything in Delaware, I'm there. You just let me know
we will take you good. I'm ready to go. Well,
thank you all so much. I really cherish the time
(44:56):
with you. My favorite question to ask everyone who kind
enough to join me on this show is the following
and whether it's you know, something in the political sphere,
the personal sphere, something that gives you hope. I'm curious
for each of you, ladies, what feels like you're work
in progress right now?
Speaker 4 (45:16):
Well, I don't know. I don't know if it's a
work in progress, but I think what is given me,
giving me hope is watching people fight for what they
love and it actually working, you know. I mean, I
think you know, for us, we are our friends from
the House of Representative just became the governor of Virginia
(45:38):
and the governor of New Jersey in twenty twenty five.
Speaker 2 (45:41):
Yeah, I'm so problem.
Speaker 4 (45:43):
We were just talking, you know, beforehand about them, and
I think we had a goal in those states and
the off year elections. They worked hard on it and
they were successful. It gives me hope for twenty twenty six.
I think we have. It's a work in progress, because
just doing well in a midterm, which we are going
(46:05):
to have to work for, does not mean you win
in a general presidential election. So we have work to
do on playing offense and having our agenda and our
value proposition to the American people, not just pointing at
Trump on.
Speaker 2 (46:19):
How bad he is.
Speaker 4 (46:19):
We know that, but we got to have our own
platform that people can find themselves in. But I think
you know, I was in Ohio. You know, I've been
traveling the last couple of weeks, and people understand that
they got to get engaged in order to have this
go the right way. And watching that happen in places
like Toledo is to me gives me hope even if
(46:43):
the project isn't finished.
Speaker 3 (46:46):
I'll say, I'll say my work in progress is probably
more personal work in progress that's connected always to the
work as well, and.
Speaker 2 (46:59):
I think it is.
Speaker 3 (47:02):
Maintaining bright hope in the midst of what can feel dark.
Speaker 2 (47:08):
Sometimes.
Speaker 3 (47:08):
My theme of when I ran was bright Hope because
it was the name of the church my grandmother attended
for seventy years in Philly. And so while like I
have my granddaughter on the back of my phone that
I carry all the time.
Speaker 2 (47:24):
It gives me hope.
Speaker 3 (47:26):
But the work in progress is to make sure that
while we're wearing all these different hats.
Speaker 2 (47:31):
I would love to find love again.
Speaker 3 (47:35):
My husband passed away in twenty fourteen, and he was
kind of the inspiration for running for Congress in the
first place. And I feel like I've been so busy
that I haven't thought about, you know, love. And it's
funny because when Alyssa and I sat down here, we
(47:56):
looked at all these colors and we said, we look
like a Valentine's sing up here. But but but but
but continuing to have bright hope and joy in this moment,
I think is such a superpower that all of us need,
because that's what's going to sustain us, that's what's gonna
make sure we make it through. And I keep telling
(48:17):
people that are coming up to me, hugging me, saying.
Speaker 2 (48:20):
I'm praying for you.
Speaker 3 (48:22):
Stay strong, I say the people, it's it's biblical. We're
in the fire, but we don't smell like smoke. We
are in the fire, but we do not and we
have all kinds.
Speaker 2 (48:34):
Of things that we do to maintain.
Speaker 5 (48:38):
But my work in progress is let's let's save this democracy,
let's save this planet, and uh, you know, and then
from there maybe I'll find love.
Speaker 1 (48:49):
Let me tell you what this is why I love
this show and why I love this community, because we're
going to have a gaggle of women listening to this
and shout out to the men who listen to we
love you for being here. And we are going to
work on constituent education, we are going to work on
civic engagement, and we are going to play Cupid. And
I just like, I can't wait to see the dms
(49:11):
that come in from Delaware listeners that are like, oh
my god, my dad, oh my god, my uncle, Like
I actually.
Speaker 4 (49:18):
Let's find Lisa Love. Let's find people.
Speaker 3 (49:21):
Let's find Lisa Love Love.
Speaker 1 (49:26):
Yes, oh my god. I love this. Ladies, thank you
so much. I just I really, I really mean it
when I say I look up to you both so much,
and I yeah, you're just You're wonderful as leaders and people,
and I feel really lucky that you know you're you're
(49:46):
in the fight. You talk about Hope being bright. I
sometimes I think about Hope as like a boxer, and
I'm like, yeah, we're bloody, we lost a tooth, but
we're still getting up, like we're not going to give up.
We follow in the tradition of so many amazing women
who never gave up and we won't either, and that,
I think, reminding myself that it's also really bright is
(50:09):
a is a good work in progress assignment from the
two of you for me.
Speaker 2 (50:12):
Thank you for that, Thank you, Thanks Sophia.
Speaker 1 (50:15):
Thanks you have a wonderful rest of your day. Absolutely
thanks for being here.
Speaker 3 (50:21):
M M m
Hi, everyone, It's Sophia. Welcome to Work in Progress. Welcome
back to Work in Progress this week, friends, have I
got a whip smart treat for all of you. I
(00:23):
have not one, but two absolutely brilliant guests on the
show today, two women that I look up to as leaders,
as communicators, and frankly, as people I just want to
hang out with. They are good eggs. We are joined
today by Senator Lisa Blunt Rochester and Senator Alissa Slotkin.
(00:44):
I don't know about y'all, but I remember the good
old days when we could talk about the fight to
preserve American democracy and all sorts of terms. They could
be abstract, or theoretical, or even hyperbolic, but we could argue, debate,
and even come up with solutions across the aisle. Sometimes
(01:06):
it feels like those days are over, but there are
leaders that are still doing the work. For the past
seventeen months, our first term Senators Lisa and Alyssa have
spent every single day in office on the frontline of
this battle. Global conflict is escalating, economic anxiety is persistent,
and faith in institutions is at an all time low.
(01:28):
But the decisions that are being made now in this
environment are shaping the country's trajectories in ways that we
know our immedia that can feel dire and that I
think we're all a little scared might be irreversible. These
two women, in their freshman Senate season come to this
moment with such incredible understanding. Alissa slot Can with a
(01:51):
true expertise in global risk, having served as a CIA
analyst and completing three tours in Iraq before briefing presidents
on matters of national stuituitcurity. She was one of the
lawmakers who participated in that now very famous Trump and
raging video reminding troops they must follow the law and
thus refuse unlawful orders. She is unafraid, and it's part
(02:14):
of the reason that I look up to her so much.
And then we've got Senator Lisa Blunt Rochester, whose path
has been rooted in the equally urgent, everyday realities facing
American families. She has led on workforce development, public health,
health care, cost of living issues, all of these things
that directly impact how people live and provide for their
loved ones. Both of these women entered the Senate after
(02:37):
very hard fought races. They carried with them not just
policy and expertise, but a very clear sense of what's
at stake beyond Washington, around the country, for all of us.
And now in their second year, they are navigating an
environment that, to put it bluntly, is defined by volatility.
Whether that's geopolitical threats, or economic pressures or technological change.
(02:59):
All these things are colliding at once. And these women
have perspectives that offer a real inside view of how
decisions are getting made and how we kind of have
to write the playbook ourselves. Guys, they are women I
encourage you to follow, whether you live in Michigan, Delaware
or anywhere else. And when you are looking for a
(03:20):
little bit of hope on how we are going to
write the ship, make the country better, and come out
the other side more fortified, I'm telling you these are
two you want to follow. So let's dive in with
Senators Slatkin and Blunt Rochester. Senators, I'm so honored to
(03:50):
be with you both today. You know, first as a constituent,
not of either of yours, but just out in the
American wilds. Who really is so grateful that we have
you too, you know, fighting not only for your districts
but the country, and it means a lot that you
took time to be here today.
Speaker 2 (04:08):
Thank you, thank you to be here for you.
Speaker 1 (04:10):
I'm really curious, you know, you were talking about the
fact you're in the heart building at the moment. You know,
you're you're on a period of the week where you're
in DC. You all gather together, but you also represent
your home districts. You grew up in very different parts
of the country, you know, Delaware for you and Michigan
(04:31):
for you, Senator Slackin, And I'm just curious, you know,
before we get into the present day of how you
stand up for those places, if you have any early
memories to share from your childhood of your communities that
really still inspire your service today.
Speaker 2 (04:48):
What a great question.
Speaker 3 (04:50):
Well, for me, I was actually born in Philadelphia, which
to me, just as we celebrate the two hundred and
fiftieth anniversary of the founding of our country, I think
it's such like a pivotal place. They call it the
city of brotherly love and sisterly affection, and so first
(05:10):
of all, it's really good to be here with you
speaking of sisterly affection, and also here with my sister.
We sit next to each other on the floor of
the Senate, you do. Probably problematic for a lot of
people because because we have our little signals and things
that we do, our chats and so so it's really
(05:33):
good to be here with Alyssa. And in terms of
early memories in Philadelphia, this is where most of my
family lives. I grew up, you know, I started there,
and I think even being there where community was so important,
where church was so important, where democracy was so important,
(05:55):
I think is foundational to who I am. And also
growing up at the time that I did, like I
grew up in the sixties, and so you know, civil
rights movement, black power movement, the women's movement, cology give
a who don't pollute was like, you know, don't be
a litterbugs seed.
Speaker 2 (06:12):
I'm showing my age.
Speaker 3 (06:14):
But with those things I think are foundational to who
I am today and the work that I get to
work on now.
Speaker 2 (06:19):
And then my family moved to Delaware.
Speaker 3 (06:21):
In nineteen sixty nine, which was after the longest occupation
of police in a city because of the nineteen sixty
eight riots, and so there's also this foundation of you know,
loving my city and loving my state, which is a
real microcosm of the country because Delaware. A lot of
(06:41):
people don't know anything about Delaware, but we are urban, suburban, rural,
and coastal. We have it all, from farmers, you know,
to fishing, to cities and it so might not think
it's a big city life.
Speaker 2 (06:56):
But we like it.
Speaker 3 (06:58):
We like it in Delaware, the first State, and so
I think that has sort of been the foundation for
the work that I do here in the Senate, whether
it's in housing or healthcare or the environment, because we're
the lowest mean elevation state in the entire country, so
when it rains, it floods in environmental justice communities as
well as our farms in our coastal areas. And so
(07:22):
I think we bring all of those experiences with us
to this work. And again, glad to be here and
glad to represent the first state.
Speaker 1 (07:31):
Yeah. Well it's just so cool, I mean, and it's interesting.
You know, when I talk, especially to young people about
political engagement, you know, I will bring up my experiences
in many of the environments that you just spoke about
in Delaware as a Californian, you know, urban, rural, suburban, coastal,
like all of these things, and it's a really nice
(07:55):
thing to be able to point out as someone, you know,
to show my own age, who's like we've done here
the day, Like we know these campaigns can do good
things for our communities. As a person who's been engaged
in democratic you know, activism volunteering for over twenty years now,
like I get to speak to young people, I'm not
one of them anymore. And very similarly to the ways
(08:17):
I reference, you know, importance that's both local and national
talking about California and Delaware. You know, California, Delaware, New York,
we have so many of the same issues you talk about.
You know, we have a connection Alyssa because I've called
Detroit my home away from home for twenty years thanks
(08:38):
to my best friend who's a third generation Detroiter, and
we do so much work in Michigan and the incredible
ecosystems of Michigan, likewise urban suburban, rural. You know, even
at our fund, we're investing in you know the future
of farming, an ag and also space technology. Like what's
happening in these industries is the research industries in Michigan
(09:02):
is so incredible. The environmental leadership because of all the water,
you know, it's really cool to be able to tie
both the really specific and kind of the universal of
what's important for people across all of our states. It
makes me feel really geeked. What are some of the
(09:23):
things that inspired you, you know, from your youth to
do what you do today.
Speaker 4 (09:27):
Well, I mean, you know, Michigan is a place where
I mean I grew up. My dad was a lifelong Republican,
my mom was a lifelong Democrat, and that was completely
normal and completely non contentious when I was growing up
in Michigan. I mean, all of us in Michigan have
this experience of your neighbors have a different political view,
even your families at Thanksgiving dinner, right, And it was
(09:51):
never a big deal. We were much more likely to
fight Michigan versus Michigan State, the Democrat versus Republican growing
up like in a big way. And so it's that
to me, you know, is look, I don't know that
we'll ever get back to that in our lifetime, that
same level of kind of you know, we just ribbing
each other and respectful back and forth. But I still
(10:13):
think that we do our best work when we reach
across difference and we work together on something. That's how
some things are durable and and that's become really hard.
And Michiganders cannot stand how politics has made Thanksgiving uncomfortable.
I mean, is it is a big stressor on people
that they can't at this point, people just feel like
(10:35):
they can't talk around others about politics period, which you know,
stresses me out as someone who believes in democracy, right.
But I think for me, you know, I also just
had the experience of being what's called a nine to
eleven baby, where I happened to be in New York
City on my second day of grad school. I just
(10:57):
moved to New York when nine to eleven happened, and
that my life, I mean, what I decided to do
for a living, going into national security, and so you know,
I think your upbringing, for all of us, you bring
to the job. But also these like pivotal moments, you know,
where you can remember where you were and what you
were doing and who you were with where your life
just like takes a turn. I don't know. For most
(11:19):
people we work with, I feel like they have like
those seminal moments in their life, and certainly for me,
nine to eleven was one of those.
Speaker 1 (11:27):
Yeah, absolutely well, part of what you speak about the
hyper intensification of the debate. You know, it used to
be more of a discourse, and then the intensity that's
really gone up in terms of political difference is becoming ideological,
(11:48):
almost like the idea that a person who believes differently
than you believes in something bad. I think about that,
particularly with your background as a threat to nash security.
Do you think that I'm overstating the issue or does
that feel accurate to you?
Speaker 4 (12:07):
No, I think that's one hundred percent accurate when certainly
in national security for years, for decades after World War Two,
you know, you could have a Democratic president or a
Republican president, and your national security approach was generally the same.
You know, I was a Cold War kid, like we
all wanted to win the Cold War, like different presidents. Fine,
(12:28):
but we had kind of common assumptions. And I think
that's gone and we're living that in real time right
with like what should America's role be in the world.
Some people are deep isolationists. Some people think we should
have a strong leadership role. And that's when you don't
have agreement on who we want to be, then so
(12:48):
many decisions become haphazard and conflicted. And you know, yesterday
I was in a briefing. I'm on the Armed Services Committee,
a classified briefing, but it was on the AI race
with China, right something, the classified AI race, and it
is it is as consequential and important as the nuclear
race back in like the Oppenheimer time. Yes, but because
(13:12):
we're so toxic politically right now, everyone's back and forth,
we literally are not talking about it up on Capitol
Hill in a real way, in a substantive way.
Speaker 2 (13:22):
So we owe to the.
Speaker 4 (13:24):
American people, especially those of us in these positions, to
be thinking around corners at like the next threat that
can come to us. But we're so busy, like fighting
about like Greenland or some tweet that went out or whatever,
that we're not We're focusing only on the day to day,
not on the long term issues. And that is absolutely
a threat to national security because our job in the
(13:48):
dark of night is to be thinking about, you know,
what the bad guys want to be doing to us next.
And it is a it is a real problem, this
fighting that we have going on, because it prevents from
doing what we need to do to prevent new threats.
Speaker 3 (14:03):
Yeah, if I could just join in on that, because
I was really fortunate, you know, kind of going back
to who you are as a kid. And for me,
you know, there was this whole thing about world peace.
So I went to school to study international relations undergrad
and I've been fortunate to live or work and travel
to over thirty three countries. I have an app on
(14:24):
my phone. It's called ben Bee, and like all the places.
Speaker 2 (14:27):
I've been, I love that app. I love that app.
So and so I love the world.
Speaker 3 (14:34):
But the last place I lived before running for office
was actually in China. I lived in Shanghai for five years,
and I was hearing the conversation then about AI, you know,
and them matching the United States, you know, by like
(14:55):
twenty twenty five, and exceeding us by twenty thirty, Like
we are here now. I just sat on a panel
with one of our Republican colleagues, our Republican colleagues yesterday
on AI and the fact that the technology is moving
so quickly and we are moving so slowly. YEP is problematic.
But to Alyssa's point, the underlying threat is our division,
(15:20):
because then we can't solve these big problems. We can't
work together. The weird thing, though, is that there are
some strange bedfellows that are working on things in this space,
but that bigger, overarching division is truly a threat to us.
And so, you know, I think you'll find in the
(15:41):
two of us that we're both like pragmatic, you know,
like I'm an optimist, but I'm a pragmatic optimist, you know,
And so we fight the battles that we need to fight,
but we also recognize that there are things we have
to come together on, like if we had if we
had not come together even on the Chips and Science Bill,
(16:02):
that was major legislation that was important for the national
security of this country but also our economy. I work
a lot on supply chains, like nobody knew what the
heck of supply chain was, you know until COVID, and
you couldn't get toilet paper, you couldn't get baby formula,
you couldn't.
Speaker 2 (16:21):
But those are the things that.
Speaker 3 (16:22):
Affect our health, our wealth, and our national security that
we have to work on. And I'm glad there's a
venue for you to even allow us to talk about.
Speaker 2 (16:31):
Stuff that, yeah, people don't know we're working on.
Speaker 1 (16:35):
Well, I think to your point, a lot of people
who you know are either too busy or not interested
in the way that a deep research nerd like I
am is in terms of learning how all these things
work together, might not have had the time to start
(16:55):
connecting some of these dots. You know, the fact that
what's happened with the division is a national security issue.
What's happening with frankly, the absolute lack of professionalism and
expertise of the people who now occupy some of the
most important offices in the largest superpower in the world
is alarming. And then you start to kind of go, oh,
(17:18):
everything's interconnected. You know, Senator Slotkin, you brought up being
a Cold War kid. There are people talking about how
what's the destabilization of our allied powers right now is
launching us into the next Cold War, which we understand
is actually going to be a technology war with China,
and that what's happening with the current administration destabilizing NATO,
(17:40):
turning our back on our allies, is that the people
who would help us fight that war aren't going to
And not only is it on the forefront of technology
and AI and many of the things again that in
our own communities, you know, as investors and as advocates,
we're excited about both in terms of how to build
the technology and how to establish guardrails for it. But
(18:03):
then there's all of the layers on top of it,
Like you're saying, in every single sector in energy, they're
beating us in energy. The Trump administration's canceling green energy projects,
which means we're going to be global energy losers instead
of leaders. And not only is that a problem for
our position in the world, but it's a problem for
the fact that we're going to lose all these great jobs.
(18:24):
And that's in states like all of ours. And so
when you think about the roles you all serve in
pursuing positive outcomes for public health, you know, as labor leaders,
you know, Lisa, you in all those sectors, and even
as a nonprofit CEO like you. Guys, see how all
of these things are so interconnected. I believe part of
(18:48):
my calling is to help translate these policy things into
personal conversations for people. How are you all trying to
do these moments? And all so lead because from the
outside it looks like you're now being asked to do
six jobs, But I'm so grateful you're willing to take
the time to try to do them. All so that
(19:10):
you know, lay people like me can really feel as
educated as possible to the full picture of how everything
you guys are doing in politics is actually so personal
to the rest of us.
Speaker 4 (19:24):
Yeah, I mean, I would say, look, there's no doubt
that the role of the Senate of elected leaders is
changing like daily under our feet. And the truth is,
particularly with social media and then how toxic the politics
are in general. There are plenty of people who would say, like,
(19:47):
we just need you working on whatever's hot, whatever's popping,
responding immediately if we're talking about buying greenland or taking
Greenland by force, we want you talking about Greenland. Like
there's a demand signal to be very knee jerk responsive
to whatever is going on in Washington on a daily basis,
(20:08):
But it actually.
Speaker 2 (20:08):
Isn't the role of a leader.
Speaker 4 (20:10):
The role of a leader is not to jump at
every you know, pitch or hit it every pitch. The
role of a leader is also to say, it is
my job to prevent bad things from happening and to
help my constituents succeed by playing a long game and
putting the pieces in place to help my constituents. And
sometimes that's very un sexy sometimes that's very wonky. Sometimes
(20:34):
that you know, it is really hard to convey. And
so I think all of us, I mean, Lisa and
I are freshmen, so we're just starting, we've just finished
our first year as senators, and I think to me,
there's how do you make sure, as we say at
the Pentagon, you always give the future a seat at
the table. How do you make sure in your week
(20:56):
the amount of work that you're doing is not just
being responsive to the last saying that Donald Trump tweeted about,
but to actually pick and place bets on important long
term things that you're working on because you know they
will help your constituents, even if they don't know it.
And that's that. You don't get a lot of clicks
for that, you don't get a lot of likes for that,
(21:17):
But it's still the responsibility of people who are you know,
have the kind of power that we have, sou But
you also got to figure out how to communicate, right.
I mean there was a time where, you know, maybe
ten years ago, if you said to a senator, like
you really got to up your podcast game exact right,
and you got to get on with Sophia Bush and
like get your podcast game. Senators here would be like
(21:40):
what do you what like what you have? No, just
can't for some people it's still happening. But if you
are like you know of this world, you understand that
media is changing, and if you want to reach people,
you can't just like sit in your office and do
that long term work and not communicate. So it's a
constant balance, says a leader, between communicating to the public
(22:03):
and working on those long lead items that can actually
help them live good, middle class and beyond lives.
Speaker 2 (22:08):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (22:09):
I mean, I have to say, Sophia, like, it cannot
be understated how important your role.
Speaker 2 (22:15):
Is in this moment.
Speaker 3 (22:17):
The ability to translate what we're doing here and make
it real and tangible for people when they're the attention economy,
like everything is coming at them from everywhere, and so
to be able to do that is such a service
not only to the individual but to our democracy in
(22:39):
this moment. I think that's one of the biggest challenges
that we face, is breaking through in a time where
you know, you got like the president putting up pictures
of himself as Jesus.
Speaker 2 (22:52):
Like how you know?
Speaker 1 (22:54):
So, so let me tell you what. As a kid
with a Catholic mom. It has been a very intense
week in the family group.
Speaker 2 (23:01):
Oh mymagine.
Speaker 3 (23:02):
I mean, it's bad enough, it was blasphemous, but it
was also messy, looking like it was just a weird thing.
But the fact that you create a space for people
to kind of hear and understand what we're doing is
really important. The other piece that you mentioned is the
hats that we're wearing. I sit on for committees, for
(23:28):
a level committees. I'm on environment in Public Works, So,
like I said, for Delaware, we care about what happens
right now. I just attended a session on the cost
of climate change.
Speaker 2 (23:41):
Right now, people's energy costs are going up. We got
a war.
Speaker 3 (23:45):
It's making it more unaffordable for folks. I mean your home,
your flood insurance. For many of these folks, they're getting
priced out. They can't even live or buy a home.
So I'm on environment and Public Works. I'm on Banking,
Housing and Urban Affairs. The one committee everybody said was
going to be Oh, that's a sleeper. You won't be
(24:06):
doing a lot in banking.
Speaker 1 (24:07):
Not in twenty twenty six, Not.
Speaker 2 (24:09):
In twenty twenty six.
Speaker 3 (24:10):
It's the committee where we have a first of its
kind in a long time, a housing bill that is
a comprehensive package, bipartisan, a bi cameral. They've got theirs
in the House, we've got ours in the Senate. But
it's the first time people are recognizing that we have
a housing crisis in this country. And so for me,
(24:31):
my first piece of legislation was on housing because that's
what Delawareans told me. Whether you're fifty and still living
with your dad or whether you're a first time home buyer,
people are struggling banking. Yes, I'll tell you my last
two committees because they it's my hats, Commerce, Science and Transportation.
Speaker 2 (24:50):
Yes, so to.
Speaker 3 (24:52):
Again my whether it's supply chains, whether it's dealing with AI,
whether it's dealing with our economy.
Speaker 2 (25:00):
Or even it's NASA.
Speaker 3 (25:02):
Mm hm, you know all of this Yay Artemis, yay
artimist makes me want to solve.
Speaker 2 (25:08):
Right, I mean, I actually was like watching this.
Speaker 1 (25:11):
I like too.
Speaker 3 (25:15):
And the last one that I'm on is help health, education, labor,
and pensions, which again we've seen throughout this year what
has been one of the major issues for us as
Democrats is fighting for health care. We have been fighting
for health care and we continue to fight for health
care for the American people. And so again, these are
(25:36):
the things that we're doing every day, in addition to
trying to communicate, in addition to fighting for democracy. This
woman fighting for our national security, you know, and so,
and then trying to live a life outside of here.
Speaker 1 (25:50):
Yes, and now a word from our wonderful sponsors. Something
I want to make sure I say for our friends
at home, because obviously I know this about you both.
You are governmental like girl crushes for me. But when
(26:13):
you talk about being freshmen in the Senate, your expertise
comes from such long, like incredible, I don't even want
to call it a resume. You both have a laundry
list of public service. And when I think about how
those roles shape your pathway into these Senate seats. You know, senators,
(26:34):
thought can your career in national security, working at the CIA,
three tours in Iraq, you know you have such expertise.
And Lisa, you know, I think about you being Delaware's
sole representative in the House, like literally having to carry
the concerns of an entire state by yourself, and you
(26:57):
manage to be such an optimist. I just am so
amazed by all of the haaps you've worn that enable
you all to wear the ones you wear today. And
you said something that I find really pressing in this moment,
(27:17):
because in each of your states you emphasize the importance
of rebuilding, manufacturing, You talk about economic opportunity. We know
that jobs matter for people. We know that until we
do pass better or universal healthcare, often people's healthcare is
tied to their jobs. But housing in particular everywhere is
(27:37):
a problem. And not only is private equity buying up
most of the housing in the country a problem, but
you really talked about something I want to connect for
our listeners, which is that what's happening with climate is
creating a vacuum of problems for people, whether it's in
(27:58):
a coastal city and we're talking about flooding, whether it's
on the West coast and we're talking about wildfires, whether
we're talking about you know, particularly in the Midwest, northern Midwest,
like these crazy superstorms. How do you see climate as
this kind of big umbrella that maybe everyone's not talking about,
(28:20):
Maybe they don't know about all the little wins you're
achieving for your states in terms of shoring up support.
It feels like such a big issue to think about that.
I think a lot of people's reaction is to put
their heads in the sand because it feels scary. But
you both don't get to do that. You have to
come up with solutions. So when you look at a
(28:41):
big issue like that and how it affects housing, jobs,
et cetera, how do you begin to tackle that and
how do you do that in partnership across your states?
Speaker 4 (28:50):
Well, I'll start and then kick it over to Lisa,
and you know, I think, Look, I feel like the
lesson that we learned in the last presidential election is
that people are sort of existentially focused on their pocketbooks,
their kids and whether the next generation is going to
have the keys to the middle class and the American dream.
(29:11):
Like I think that's the issue. I actually think Trump
is a symptom of the problem. The problem is we
have a shrinking middle class in America and that is
a big old problem in the diverse country like ours. Yes,
and so I you know, in Michigan we care deeply,
like you said, about our great lakes, our watersheds, our
local environment. We've had a rise in extreme weather that
(29:32):
cost people, and so my entry point into climate is
not like climate qua climate Like, let's have a discussion
of the Paris Climate Accord. That's people are not They're
not there. But if you want to talk about their
energy prices, right, if you want to talk about how
many times right now, I've got floods going on across Michigan.
(29:54):
I've got dams bursting, people are texting me their pictures
of their backyards. There's real financial costs to where we
are with these extreme weather events, and I think people
care about their pocketbooks right now, and so that is
my entry point. So when I have, like a Republican
mayor call me and his town is flooded for the
(30:15):
third time in a year, right, These once in a
generation floods are now like all the time. And he says, look,
I know we're going to get more floods and they're
going to be more severe. Can I talk to you
about infrastructure planning. That's a Republican mayor talking to me
about climate change. And I don't give a crap if
he says the word climate change, I don't. I just
need to hit have him on the at the table
(30:36):
to have the conversation. So for me, the way that
you tackle an enormous issue, an existential issue like climate
is like you can't eat the elephant all at once.
You know, you have to figure out your entry point,
and for me, it's extreme weather and your pocketbook.
Speaker 2 (30:52):
Yes, I totally agree.
Speaker 3 (30:56):
I think the one area that we didn't mention that
also is impacted is healthcare. I mean to the extent
that this extreme weather, even the wildfires and the toxicity,
it doesn't stop at the Canadian border, that that affects
(31:18):
our health status. Living in communities like we have in Delaware,
there are some places where the the the whole issue
of that flooding affects again people's health status, and that
goes back to our health costs. I also think that
(31:40):
to Alyssa's point, you know, when I started in the House,
I was able to my freshman term I wanted. I
was like you know, when you're when you're running, people
ask you.
Speaker 2 (31:52):
And I ran.
Speaker 3 (31:53):
When I ran for the first time because I had
never run for anything before, I ran for Congress.
Speaker 2 (31:57):
And people kept saying, what committee do you want to
be on? What committee? I was like committee? So I
googled all the committees and that's how I figured.
Speaker 3 (32:03):
Out, like, you know, what committee do I want to
be on, and so it was like, I want to
be on. I found out Energy and Commerce was the
committee where you are going to be dealing with climate, health, energy,
all of these different things. So I was like, I'm
going to get on Energy and Commerce and then I
said it out loud and people laughed at me. They
were like, oh, they don't let freshmen on Energy and Commerce. Well,
(32:25):
I was like, I'm going to get on it the
next term, and I did. And part of that goal
was that intersection between climate, jobs, healthcare, housing.
Speaker 2 (32:39):
Food, instability, all of these.
Speaker 3 (32:41):
Things you know are tied to that. Not to mention
the quality of life.
Speaker 2 (32:48):
I mean, my team, they we talk about this all
the time. We have three piece purpose, piece and planet.
That's that's that's what we're here for. Purpose. That's jobs.
That's making sure you've got health care and a house
to live in that you.
Speaker 3 (33:05):
Can afford back to that middle class, that aspiration of
what we are here for.
Speaker 2 (33:10):
Purpose. The next one is peace. That's peace of mind
and mental health.
Speaker 3 (33:16):
Because we've seen part of this just since I talked
about BC before COVID, we were one way. I don't
think we've recovered mentally from COVID. Still, I don't either
mental health, but also the peace in our communities. Gun
violence was rampant in our major city. And when I
(33:39):
decided to run and so to be able to be
a part of the Safer Communities Act and bring dollars
to communities like they have their own agency, they know
what works in their community. And then peace globally. That's
why I was an ir major. And then the planet
without a planet? What are we talking about? Like it's
a moot point. We're not even here now.
Speaker 2 (34:00):
I know.
Speaker 3 (34:00):
I think there's some people that are planning to go
up on their own planet and do some things, or
they've got like bunkers, like and show paradise.
Speaker 2 (34:07):
I don't know, but I'm a big on paradise. I
don't know.
Speaker 1 (34:11):
I for me too, I love it, Oh, me too.
Speaker 2 (34:13):
But that's it peace, planet and purpose.
Speaker 1 (34:16):
But you know what's really interesting, And I'm curious to
know what you two think of this because I think
for many of us who have spent lifetimes in service,
who understand the importance of the planet, who know that
there's plenty we talked about this Artemis, there are planets
out there in the galaxies where literally diamonds rain down
(34:38):
on them. People think diamonds are rare. We're the only
planet with trees, like the only one. Trees are actually
the miracle. We are so lucky to live on Earth.
And when I see some of these people, you know,
the guy who bought the rocket company whose name I
don't like to say, and the rest talking about like, oh,
let's go live on Mars or the moon or in
(34:59):
a bunker, I'm tell me you've never ever done any
volunteering in a carceral system without telling me, because what
you're actually talking about is building yourself a bougie prison,
and you've just never been in prison, and you don't
know how hard it is on people.
Speaker 2 (35:14):
Bugie prison, I'm writing prison.
Speaker 1 (35:17):
I'm like, every single thing you think you love about
being alive won't be there. And no amount of Frette
sheets or whatever else you're going to put on your
rocket are going to make you feel better. Sir, You
know some of that is so crazy to me. I
think for me, the goal is always to bring it back,
(35:37):
as you ladies are saying to how these things are related,
because helping a constituent community in your state, regardless of
what team their mayor is, matters, no matter what language
you're using. If you want to call it a climate issue,
if you want to call it a disaster issue, these
are human issues. Affordability is a human issue, you know,
(36:01):
even when we think about something as large as the
space race, which AI is our new space race, right
like we started talking about that. Something I want to
thank you both for and let people listening know, is
that you are both very passionately working to keep AI
misuse in check. And I know this matters to my
(36:24):
audience because actually, at the top of this year, when
I talked about the Defiance Act passing its first round
of votes unanimously, and the advocacy that myself and other
you know, civilians who know about this work have been
entrenched in for many years, I got a lot of
feedback about that, you know, from young women, from moms
(36:45):
who want to protect their kids. Everyone really wants to know.
You know, this thing that might identify breast cancer five
years earlier sounds great, but we don't want it to
be used to abuse women and children, which we also
know it's doing. You know, do we want to develop
science and go to the moon, Yes, Do we want
to burn Earth to do it? No? You know, should
(37:07):
we be able to have nonpartisan conversations and prioritize national
security instead of subtweeting each other. Yes, when you think
about some of these things, especially something like AI, that
is a big concept, but that has very immediate opportunity
to personally affect people and also is a big, you know,
(37:31):
blaring question mark of the future of technology and security.
How do you work on that as an elected official,
Like what are your priorities in terms of the law,
and how do you help educate people about what it
is in the first place. That's a big one, just
(37:51):
a casual question for you.
Speaker 2 (37:53):
Yeah, that's a big one.
Speaker 4 (37:54):
I mean, I'll just tell you very quickly that you know,
we to me again, if we were healthy as a country,
Democrats and Republicans would be hammering out the left and
right limits of AI every day, all day, on our
economic future, future of jobs, on our national security, on
(38:16):
all the benefits, the health part of it, like all
the research benefits, Like we'd be talking about that twenty
four to seven. I honestly feel like we're It's like
nineteen eighty nine and someone takes like a transport back
and tells everybody there's this thing called the Internet that's
going to totally change everything, and you're just like what,
And I feel like we're We've got that time traveler
telling us like AI is about to really change so
(38:39):
much about our world, and yet we're not doing anything concrete,
you know about it as as a nation. I think
for me, I'm just being in the military world, you know,
I think it is important that on matters of life
and death, we have a human being that's in the loop.
Speaker 1 (38:55):
Thank you.
Speaker 4 (38:57):
Just I think and they're like, we should just let's
be in agreement that when it comes to deploying nuclear weapons,
we should always have a human being in the loop,
Like we just don't know where this technology is going.
And so I think that there, you know, I just
put up a bill a couple of weeks ago to
put in those left and right limits at the Pentagon.
Just but I think also what you were getting at
(39:19):
in terms of the abuse of AI, particularly targeted at
women and girls, is like we're going to all have
to understand like that, And frankly, I think demand more
autonomy over our name, image and likeness, yes, like our
data like we always have, you know, we always talk
about like bodily autonomy, right that you can't no one
should be telling you how you use your body. I
(39:43):
think we're going to have to start having the same
conversations about your data and when they're taking videos, you know,
and certainly you me, Lisa, We're all on video all
over the internet, right and so you know you shouldn't
be able to take a bunch of videos and do
something le leude with with that imagery and then just
(40:04):
like that's no problem, no consequences, It's fine. And I
think that we're going to have to as the public
is going to have to demand more action from Congress
on this name image, likeness, on your data or else.
It's just going to become like what can we believe?
What can we not? What's actually true?
Speaker 2 (40:25):
What's not?
Speaker 4 (40:25):
What are people saying? What are they not? And I
think people feel that we're already on the edge of that,
and there's just so many issues out there. They're not
sending a clear demand signal. But give it another six
months and it is I think going to become a
bigger and bigger issue in the next year.
Speaker 1 (40:46):
We'll be back in just a minute after a few
words from our favorite sponsors. So with that bill you
put up, I'm curious you know, I want to watch
our time, and I know you ladies both have to go,
and actually, you know, govern I would love to leave
(41:08):
listeners with a few things that they should be calling
their representatives about. I will go ahead and say, and
you tell me if you think it's a top three
issue this week, this month. I want everyone to keep
calling and absolutely demanding that we not pass the Save Act.
It is voter suppression and it is particularly targeted at women.
(41:29):
And I can say it so you don't have to
pardon my French. It's insanely up that we're even having
this conversation in America in twenty twenty six. I would
love to know what is your bill, Senator? You know,
what should people be saying, this is the bill we
want you to pass on AI and then we want
you to keep going. You know, is there, likewise some
(41:50):
sort of great environmental bill that we should be pressing for,
Like We've got one up in California right now that
I'm advocating for on social media. But I would just
love to know, are there are a handful of things
that you would like everyone listening to this podcast to
get on that congressional switchboard to call their senators about
like how do we help keep the pressure on from
(42:11):
the constituents, because as much as I think people feel
a little helpless or hopeless right now, it does matter
the more of us, you know, make noise, right.
Speaker 2 (42:20):
Yes, definitely.
Speaker 3 (42:21):
Well, first of all, I do want to say something
about AI and also because AI is here, quantum is coming,
and I think there's not a lot of conversation about
that yet. You took a deep breath, but yeah, I know,
I know, and so I want to kind of put
(42:42):
a plug there. And one of the bills that I,
you know, have focused on is first of all, AI
literacy in general. People across this country don't even know
sometimes that it's being used on them, that they're using it,
And so part of it is also to give people
agency them so else, even our educators, and making sure
(43:02):
that they know so that we don't lose critical thinking skills,
that we don't use lose creativity. I mean, right now
we've got a soul singer who's AI generated and one
of the number one country singers with no soul and so,
you know, so part of it is to think about
we're looking at those guardrails.
Speaker 2 (43:22):
We've got a slate of bills.
Speaker 3 (43:25):
But to me, like the five alarm fire, for me
is the same act. It is making sure right now
we're seeing Americans, whether they go to No King's rallies,
whether they are writing postcards, those things still matter. And
(43:46):
I would encourage people. You don't have to write to me.
I know where I am on this, but if you
got family in states where those legislators, those Republican legislators
aren't getting it, then have those folks spread the word,
continue to do that kind of outreach. Amplify things like
(44:07):
what you're doing this show, these messages, because again, the
breakthrough is going to happen because of.
Speaker 2 (44:14):
The power of the people. We're you know, forty seven
how many of us are Gran's pretty yeah.
Speaker 3 (44:21):
Yeah, and so what when you amplify that and when
you multiply that, that's the power of the people.
Speaker 2 (44:28):
We got to be.
Speaker 3 (44:29):
Focused until we get to the mid terms, until we
get to twenty twenty eight, not to.
Speaker 1 (44:36):
Be yes, ma'am, I'm ready, just a little oh, I'm
so ready. Listen. I have a lot of cause to
be in Michigan very regularly. But you need me for
anything in Delaware, I'm there. You just let me know
we will take you good. I'm ready to go. Well,
thank you all so much. I really cherish the time
(44:56):
with you. My favorite question to ask everyone who kind
enough to join me on this show is the following
and whether it's you know, something in the political sphere,
the personal sphere, something that gives you hope. I'm curious
for each of you, ladies, what feels like you're work
in progress right now?
Speaker 4 (45:16):
Well, I don't know. I don't know if it's a
work in progress, but I think what is given me,
giving me hope is watching people fight for what they
love and it actually working, you know. I mean, I
think you know, for us, we are our friends from
the House of Representative just became the governor of Virginia
(45:38):
and the governor of New Jersey in twenty twenty five.
Speaker 2 (45:41):
Yeah, I'm so problem.
Speaker 4 (45:43):
We were just talking, you know, beforehand about them, and
I think we had a goal in those states and
the off year elections. They worked hard on it and
they were successful. It gives me hope for twenty twenty six.
I think we have. It's a work in progress, because
just doing well in a midterm, which we are going
(46:05):
to have to work for, does not mean you win
in a general presidential election. So we have work to
do on playing offense and having our agenda and our
value proposition to the American people, not just pointing at
Trump on.
Speaker 2 (46:19):
How bad he is.
Speaker 4 (46:19):
We know that, but we got to have our own
platform that people can find themselves in. But I think
you know, I was in Ohio. You know, I've been
traveling the last couple of weeks, and people understand that
they got to get engaged in order to have this
go the right way. And watching that happen in places
like Toledo is to me gives me hope even if
(46:43):
the project isn't finished.
Speaker 3 (46:46):
I'll say, I'll say my work in progress is probably
more personal work in progress that's connected always to the
work as well, and.
Speaker 2 (46:59):
I think it is.
Speaker 3 (47:02):
Maintaining bright hope in the midst of what can feel dark.
Speaker 2 (47:08):
Sometimes.
Speaker 3 (47:08):
My theme of when I ran was bright Hope because
it was the name of the church my grandmother attended
for seventy years in Philly. And so while like I
have my granddaughter on the back of my phone that
I carry all the time.
Speaker 2 (47:24):
It gives me hope.
Speaker 3 (47:26):
But the work in progress is to make sure that
while we're wearing all these different hats.
Speaker 2 (47:31):
I would love to find love again.
Speaker 3 (47:35):
My husband passed away in twenty fourteen, and he was
kind of the inspiration for running for Congress in the
first place. And I feel like I've been so busy
that I haven't thought about, you know, love. And it's
funny because when Alyssa and I sat down here, we
(47:56):
looked at all these colors and we said, we look
like a Valentine's sing up here. But but but but
but continuing to have bright hope and joy in this moment,
I think is such a superpower that all of us need,
because that's what's going to sustain us, that's what's gonna
make sure we make it through. And I keep telling
(48:17):
people that are coming up to me, hugging me, saying.
Speaker 2 (48:20):
I'm praying for you.
Speaker 3 (48:22):
Stay strong, I say the people, it's it's biblical. We're
in the fire, but we don't smell like smoke. We
are in the fire, but we do not and we
have all kinds.
Speaker 2 (48:34):
Of things that we do to maintain.
Speaker 5 (48:38):
But my work in progress is let's let's save this democracy,
let's save this planet, and uh, you know, and then
from there maybe I'll find love.
Speaker 1 (48:49):
Let me tell you what this is why I love
this show and why I love this community, because we're
going to have a gaggle of women listening to this
and shout out to the men who listen to we
love you for being here. And we are going to
work on constituent education, we are going to work on
civic engagement, and we are going to play Cupid. And
I just like, I can't wait to see the dms
(49:11):
that come in from Delaware listeners that are like, oh
my god, my dad, oh my god, my uncle, Like
I actually.
Speaker 4 (49:18):
Let's find Lisa Love. Let's find people.
Speaker 3 (49:21):
Let's find Lisa Love Love.
Speaker 1 (49:26):
Yes, oh my god. I love this. Ladies, thank you
so much. I just I really, I really mean it
when I say I look up to you both so much,
and I yeah, you're just You're wonderful as leaders and people,
and I feel really lucky that you know you're you're
(49:46):
in the fight. You talk about Hope being bright. I
sometimes I think about Hope as like a boxer, and
I'm like, yeah, we're bloody, we lost a tooth, but
we're still getting up, like we're not going to give up.
We follow in the tradition of so many amazing women
who never gave up and we won't either, and that,
I think, reminding myself that it's also really bright is
(50:09):
a is a good work in progress assignment from the
two of you for me.
Speaker 2 (50:12):
Thank you for that, Thank you, Thanks Sophia.
Speaker 1 (50:15):
Thanks you have a wonderful rest of your day. Absolutely
thanks for being here.
Speaker 3 (50:21):
M M m
Host
Sophia Bush
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