← Independent Americans with Paul Rieckhoff
Independent Americans with Paul Rieckhoff
Can This Independent Win a Deep Red District the Democrats Can’t? Firefighter Mike Thurow Independent for Congress in Wisconsin’s 6th.
00:32:55
Union fire captain and independent congressional candidate Mike Thurow joins Paul Rieckhoff to talk about why Wisconsin's 6th District is "on fire" — and why a firefighter might be exactly what Congress needs. They break down ICE accountability, Trump's threats to strike Iran without congressional approval, tariffs hurting Wisconsin farmers, and what it takes to run and win as an independent in a deeply red district. Country over party. People over politics. This is Independent Americans.
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Mike Thoreau
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Mike Thoreau
I'll be with you every step of the way.
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Paul Rykoff
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Mike Thoreau
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Paul Rykoff
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Mike Thoreau
I think we've dropped bombs on seven different countries at this point. That's not no more foreign wars. Not only that, we've started alienating our partners. Long term partners that want to work with us. That doesn't make us safer. In terms of economics, I think there's a place for tariffs. Absolutely. For national security. Making sure that we're exporting workers rights, environmental rights, and holding companies accountable. Let's do it. Doing it on a whim with no rhyme or reason isn't helping any farmer in the 6th district. Like, it actually seems specially designed to hurt farmers in my area.
- [02:50]
Paul Rykoff
Welcome to Independent Americans. Welcome to episode 446. I am your host, Paul Rykoff, and I am coming to you again from beautiful Tampa Bay, Florida, USA, where the weather is still great. 82, a bit cloudy, but again, hooray, it's Better than the 41 degrees and rainy back home as I continue to power through winter break with my wife and kids. It is Friday, February 20, and since football season is over, there's no more Football Friday on this show. So at least for today, we're going to be replacing it with Firefighter Friday. More on that in a second. As I told you, I will pick a different artist every day to introduce my boys to. Today's artist is the great country legend George Strait. Because he's got two songs that are sort of related to our guests coming up. Number one is the fireman from 1984. It's one of his most famous hits. It's kind of a playful metaphor for rather than actual tribute to firefighting because he wants to cool down women who've been in fights with their partners who are smoldering hot after a breakup. But our guest is gonna try to do that to Congress. And of course, we've got the weight of the badge. Another tribute to first responders from the great George trade. If you don't know, he was in the US army from 71 to 74 as a corporal in the 25th ID. He's one of the highest selling recording artists of all time, over 70 million records and did a lot of work for veterans and troops especially. We're going to need someone who brings it like that. And I'm going to bring you the five eyes to end this interesting week in February. Independence, integrity, information, inspiration and impact. And our guest is going to bring that to and more. It is the latest installment of our Meet the Independent Candidate series. A man who recently declared his candidacy in Wisconsin's 6th district, eastern part of Wisconsin. He is a union fire captain. He is a father. He is, of course, an independent. And when he launched his campaign, he said Wisconsin is on fire. Wages are too low, costs are too high. Politicians in Washington are watching us burn while the billionaires win. And he says he's a trained firefighter because when there's a fire, you don't pick who to save. You show up and do the work. And that's the man who's joining us today on the show, running as an independent for Congress in Wisconsin's 6th district. Firefighter the great and powerful Mike Thoreau is here on Independent Americans. Welcome, sir.
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Mike Thoreau
Hey, Paul. Thank you so much for having me. Really excited to be here.
- [05:19]
Paul Rykoff
You know, we love firefighters on this show. If you've been watching for years, you know, we have a long relationship with the fire department, with firefighters and first responders. The great Rob Serra has been a fixture on this show, but I think you are. We've always wanted Rob Sarah to run. I think you are the first firefighter candidate we've had on the show. So congratulations on your life.
- [05:40]
Mike Thoreau
I feel very honorable. Yeah, we need more of us in there. I think just people that want to serve.
- [05:45]
Paul Rykoff
I would. I would agree. My dad's been a volunteer firefighter for over 40 years.
- [05:50]
Mike Thoreau
Awesome.
- [05:51]
Paul Rykoff
All my uncle's volunteer firefighters. I grew up on a block with a lot of FDNY firefighters. But this is a whole new kind of fire you're jumping into, man. This is a whole new kind of heat.
- [06:02]
Mike Thoreau
No, but it's affecting everybody. That's the thing. I think in terms of what we see right now, Congress has been run by two parties that don't seem really interested in making sure working people have a voice. We see them bought and paid for by corporations and billionaires, and in terms of issues that really matter, they're not being addressed. So, yeah, it's on fire, and I think we need to get that cleaned up.
- [06:22]
Paul Rykoff
And I like that you're getting right into it. I want to get into your campaign. I want to ask you to respond to some of the top topics that are happening in America. But let me start by asking you a question I ask everybody. Mike, where are you? Where are you in the world today? And how are you in these interesting times? And now that you've launched your life into a totally different kind of fire?
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Mike Thoreau
It's a whirlwind, my friend. Yeah, no, this is different. So I'm coming to you from Mequon, Wisconsin. So in Ozaukee county, right in the sixth, where I was born and raised, actually, I'm a few blocks away from the high school I went to. Yeah, I'm trying to make it by right now. I have my four kids going through the same school district I went through. We are bad at planning for family pioneers. So actually, I have one in every school. So I have one in the elementary school, one in the middle school, one in the high school, and one's just about ready to get to K4. So we're spread out. Head's kind of spinning, but it's been good. It's been really good.
- [07:12]
Paul Rykoff
So I gave folks a little bit about your background, but explain to folks a little bit more about who you are for sure and why you decided to make this very, very big leap for yourself and your family.
- [07:26]
Mike Thoreau
Absolutely. Well, again, like I said, I was raised right in this district. My dad's a Navy guy, so I was raised with the idea that's the greatest country in the world. The only way it stays that way, though, is people show up and actually do the work. So I knew I was gonna do service from a young age. I didn't know what I was gonna do exactly. When I graduated high school in 05, I was gonna join the military. That was the first step. Went in, took my ASVAB, scored well. Went next day for MEPs, disclosed I had childhood asthma. Automatic DQ. They basically took everybody in 05 except asthma. There was no waiver at the point, so they trying to figure out how I was going to serve became the next focus of my life, like what I was going to do. I worked five years for healthcare for the homeless, trying to help out that way. I was an outreach worker. Then the fire department came knocking again. Coming from Mequon, a smaller town, I didn't know there was actually professional firefighting. I knew it was all volley stuff, volunteers. So when they told me I could get a job, union job, with a pension and healthcare, I was like, yeah, sign me up. So joined the fire department 12 years ago. Went from riding the back of the truck to becoming a lieutenant, ultimately becoming a captain. Right now I run a hazmat team and an engine company.
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Paul Rykoff
So how many guys and gals are in your department? And what's an example of something that you guys have responded to in the last couple of days?
- [08:46]
Mike Thoreau
Yeah, absolutely. So actually, I work for the Milwaukee Fire Department. So we have about 700 members in the Milwaukee area. In my firehouse, we have five on my engine. We actually also have our fire investigation unit based out of the house that I run. And our battalion chief, Milwaukee's constantly going. We always have something as first responders. We go to everything. So if there's a heart attack, we're going car accident, going structure fire. And again, I run the hazmat team as well for Milwaukee. So anything in the state of Wisconsin with the hazmat theme to it, train derailments, terrorist attack, anything like that, we go to all that.
- [09:35]
Paul Rykoff
So you've decided to jump into a district. I'm going to talk a little bit more about that in a second. And who you're. Who you're running against. But you're running as an independent. Yes, I, I asked it of all of the independent and unaffiliated candidates who join us on this show. We've had dozens now. I hope we'll have dozens more. Why are you an independent, Mike? And how do you define independent?
- [09:54]
Mike Thoreau
Yeah, so I'm an independent because I believe we should put our country ahead of anything else. Honestly. We got to make sure that our people are taken care of and represented. I'm not interested in what some kind of party boss tells me I have to think. I'm not interested in trying to toe a line for a larger group. I want to make sure that we actually put working people front and center. That's what it's supposed to be. George Washington warned against the two party system when he left. I wish we would have taken more heed of that because what we see right now is we see mud being thrown on both sides. Basically everybody's wearing New Jersey. They're more interested in saying, my side's right, your side's wrong, and no one's listening anymore. So what this country's supposed to be about is compromise, making things work. That's why I'm independent, because that's what I'm really interested in. In the fire service, we don't ask people if they're Republican or Democrat when we go to put up their house fire or go help with an EMS run. We do the work. That's what we're supposed to do. And that's what I want to see our Congress do as well.
- [10:50]
Paul Rykoff
I know, you know, I've said this a lot. We've seen the numbers trending in the military and veterans community are majority independent, increasingly independent. We've talked to folks in law enforcement and adjacent organizations. How do you feel like the politics are? I know it varies, you know, by region, but at least in the Milwaukee Fire Department. Do you feel like they're, you know, more.
- [11:12]
Caller/Listener
More.
- [11:12]
Paul Rykoff
More Republicans, more Democrats, more independents? I know you don't do a survey, but what's your sense of where the politics of the fire department is right now?
- [11:21]
Mike Thoreau
Yeah, no, I'd say the fire department is really strongly independent. There's some conservative views, there's some Democratic views. Again, like we have in the fire service. We've been tasked to go help anybody and we see a lot of different things. I think some of that trauma leads to people taking views that might be more conservative or thinking that we need to do more in different ways. But really I think there's more of an independent streak. I can tell you as a union member coming in, I would expect naturally there'd be like a more democratic tone. That's not like our union rank and file of the union. They're frustrated. We see a lot of words coming from the left saying they're going to get the backup unions, they're going to help labor. We haven't seen action, um, as growing up, if your dad was in the service, you know, like in terms of firefighting, actions was matter. It's easy to talk. Actually making things happen for people is how we judge people in the fire service.
- [12:14]
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- [14:15]
Mike Thoreau
The left hasn't really been getting it done, so there's a lot of people that are really frustrated in that.
- [14:21]
Paul Rykoff
Yeah, I think, you know, this is we. We.
- [14:22]
Mike Thoreau
You.
- [14:23]
Paul Rykoff
You're singing a lot of our, of our song here that we've talked about for years on this show and the messages that I've echoed. But I really feel like now is a moment where rank and file in, in especially service unions and first responder unions are up for grabs like, like so many in the veterans community. Now you've got, you know, unions that go to the right, you've got unions that go to the left. But, but not every union member agrees with where the union's going any more than every resident does in this country agrees with where the President's going. So I think it's, you know, it's another jump ball that independents are uniquely positioned to capture. But you're also running in a district that is overwhelmingly Republican. Like I looked it up. They haven't elected, they've elected a Republican every year since. There's one exception in 1967 where there was a Democrat for a couple years, but then before that it was 1930. So this is overwhelmingly been a Republican district. Went to Trump over, over Biden. And now you've got the Republican incumbent, Glenn Grothman. Right. Who's going to, going to be the Republican nominee. And then you got a kind of a free for all here with, I count 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, maybe 8 and counting Democratic candidates. They're going to have a primary, I think in August. Right. So do you expect to see one Democrat candidate that the Republican incumbent and yourself, or do you expect other independent unaffiliated candidates to be in the race as well?
- [15:45]
Mike Thoreau
Yeah, I think that's kind of basically what I see kind of shaping up to as of right now, it looks like it's going to be just the Republican, a Democrat and myself. Going to your point, it's been a very conservative district, but it's a lot of district that basically just doesn't feel heard again. We're a very suburban, rural area. A lot of people want to see government do something for them or get out of the way. And in terms of what we have, it's been a lot of talking at our farmers, not actually working with them to be stewards of the land. We had a huge manufacturing base, same thing. But we've seen NAFTA passed by the Democrats. TPP passed that by the Democrats. A bunch of things that just promoted offshoring of jobs and offered really no protection for workers rights, making sure wages stayed up. So people are frustrated. So it's a district that definitely has gone one way, but I'd say more than being like a red district or blue district, we're basically a district that's fed up and wants an off ramp from this two party system that just hasn't worked for anybody.
- [16:40]
Paul Rykoff
So yeah, we're going to find out how many districts that is true for this fall. Right. I think there are a lot of districts that are fed up and a lot of people who want none of the above. I encourage folks to go through your campaign site. It'll be linked in the show notes like we always do. And you talk about priorities like dignity of work, Main street, now Wall street, affordable healthcare, community safety, making life affordable, government accountability. But let me ask you to address an issue that's front and center across the country and must be in your area. Ice. What's your reaction to the expansion of ice? I've called it unlawful, unconstitutional. Obviously you're in a farming area where there are inevitably migrant workers, migrant folks that are maybe under attack. What's it been like facing ICE in your district? And, and what's your position on responding to ice?
- [17:27]
Mike Thoreau
Yeah, no, I think in terms of what we see with ICE right now is a huge increase. Like basically their budget is on par with Turkey's military and Spain's military with no accountability. We haven't seen actually people held accountable for the way they're like policing streets, which again isn't their job to be policing streets or be going into protests. We've seen a lot of people swept up into this that have no criminal record whatsoever, being detained for days at times. Green card holders, US citizens. This isn't the way this country is based. We believe again, we're a country, we need to have a border for sure. We need to enforce that border. Absolutely. Doing it within our values though should be the number one thing that we're going for. And what we're doing right now isn't that it's a massive hiring spree with no vetting of the people that are coming in and the training's been wrong. So if we're hiring people not doing a proper vetting job, we're not training them effectively and we see no actual accountability. That's a result that's really dangerous. And really being in public safety, the number one thing we need to do is have trust with the community. That's the only way we operate. When I go on a fire scene, I let everybody know. We need to show empathy. We need to make sure that we're respectful, and we need to be professional, because that's how we maintain trust. That's how I keep my crew safe when we go out, and that's how we do our job effectively. You lose that trust. My crew's not safe, first off, and we can't do our job. So we need to obviously address this in a very strong way. That's where I stand there.
- [18:58]
Paul Rykoff
So. You know, you seem like the kind of guy I wish was a firefighter in my town. Most folks would be happy to have, you know, coming in with that understanding of professionalism and empathy. It's the opposite of what we see with ice. Let me ask you to get more specific. Should Kristi Noem be out, and if you were in Congress right now, would you vote to fund ice or what would be your solution to rein them in? Are you okay with them not wearing masks and not having badges, or what specifically would you do to tackle ice? And how do you feel about Noem?
- [19:26]
Mike Thoreau
Yeah. So in terms of the way Noem has conducted herself, we've seen her go ahead of the facts multiple times, painting US Citizens as terrorists when there's nothing to support that. Um, that should be disqualifying to me in terms of the way you handle yourself at the top. Needs to be the way you expect. Everybody rank and file to hold yourself. As a fire captain. I wear my uniform every day. I make sure again, I lead from the front, and I show how I want my people underneath me to act. And they know that what we've seen from her at the top has not been what we'd expect. And, yeah, I think she needs to be gone. In terms of ICE again, I think we need to have an agency that enforces our laws. Absolutely. What we've seen, though, is a complete abandonment of due process, making sure we honor just those basic humanity that we have in this country. That's not with America, that I want my kids in again. Raising four kids, people going around with masks, not showing badges, grabbing people. That's terrifying. My kids come home scared. If that comes back to our streets, that's gonna leave a mark on all of our children. Across this country, police have a crazy hard job. Again, I'm very happy. I'm a firefighter every day, because that's rough work. But a part of that rough work is you gotta be able to go in and do it with integrity. And that's why Milwaukee Police, Mequon Police, all the police in my district, they don't wear masks and they have a badge because they know what that means. And they want the citizens that they serve to know they're there for them. ICE needs to be held to that sane account.
- [21:00]
Paul Rykoff
So let's talk about a different kind of fire that by the time this drops. We're recording this late on Thursday, this will drop on Friday. Ships are aligned in the region around Iran. Right now, Trump is banging on the drums of war. It looks like we could have more war with Iran as early as this weekend, even before this drops, or in the next. Let's call it a couple of weeks. Trump has said he wants to strike Iran again. In my view, the most dangerous and the most important story in the world is that Trump can do anything he wants with the most powerful military the world has ever seen, and nothing is stopping him. If you were in Congress right now, what would your response be to his threats to blow away Iran without even counseling with Congress, much less getting congressional approval? Would you want him to come to Congress for a formal declaration of war? How would you respond to.
- [21:54]
Mike Thoreau
I don't mean to cut you off. No, absolutely, though. Yeah. The role of Congress is to declare war. If we're going to do this, we need to make sure we have all the subject matter experts, show us why this is in our interest to put our sons and daughters in harm's way. To your point, we have the strongest military in the world, and that is outstanding. I'm glad we do. To prop it up on the whim of one person without making sure Congress is holding them accountable doesn't keep us strong and actually alienates us from actually being the strong nation we need to be. We're strongest when we work within our allies. We've seen that. And going along with this because he wants to strike versus actually the intelligence says we need to strike, is dangerous in a huge degree. So, yeah, no, he would have to come before Congress. That's the way this nation's set up. Everybody, Republican or Democrat, wants to follow the Constitution, the ones I've talked to at least, and that's what we need. So follow the Constitution, come to Congress, make your case again. If there's national secrets, fine. Make sure it's off the record, we can talk about it. But if we're putting our sons and daughters in harm's way, we gotta make sure there's actually a reason for it, not just because the President wants to.
- [23:06]
Paul Rykoff
So, Mike, I appreciate your campaign's focus on a lot of the local issues and the economic issues and a lot of populist issues. But anybody who's running for Congress and is elected Congress is going to have one issue above all else, which is Trump. Right. Whatever Trump doing on a daily basis, whether it's threatening to invade, Greenland, tariffs, now Iran, it could be any number of things. The Epstein trial, you know, when people hear about independence, they don't know necessarily where you stand on the president. So what's your position on Trump? So, yeah, please.
- [23:36]
Mike Thoreau
Yeah, so my position on Trump is Trump got elected because there's a lot of rage in this country and frustration that people aren't being heard. Okay. He campaigned on no more foreign wars. He campaigned on law and order. He campaigned on making sure immigration gets cleaned up. And that's the thing. And making America great again. So a lot of people in the 6th district, that's what they want. And that's fine. I get that. If we're going to be doing things in that line, terrific. Okay. Due process, making sure we actually follow the rule of law again, the fact that we had to fight that hard to get the Epstein files out and then the lack of accountability after they're out, that's not law and order. That's a frustration for a lot of Americans on both sides of the aisle. So we need to make sure we actually do that. In terms of no more foreign wars, I think we've dropped bombs on seven different countries at this point. That's not no more foreign wars. Not only that, we've started alienating our partners, long term partners that want to work with us. That doesn't make us safer. In terms of economics, I think there's a place for tariffs. Absolutely. For national security, making sure that we're exporting workers rights, environmental rights, and holding companies accountable. Let's do it. Doing it on a whim with no rhyme or reason isn't helping any farmer in the 6th district. Like, it actually seems specially designed to hurt farmers in my area. So we need to make sure that we reign that in and that goes back to Congress. So in terms of the president writ large, I understand why people voted for him. I can see the frustration. I can see a lot of reason to vote for that message of making sure that we put rule of law front and center, make sure we secure our borders, make sure we have no more foreign wars. If those actions aren't in line with it, you need to hold them accountable. The most patriotic thing you can do is call out when we're Falling short of our principles. So anytime he falls short of the principles he told America he was running on, I will gladly call him out because that's the patriotic thing to do.
- [25:31]
Paul Rykoff
You will be busy if that is the case.
- [25:33]
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- [26:07]
Paul Rykoff
So. So let's talk about how you plan to win this, Mike, because you're running up against a Republican incumbent that's gonna have a lot of money. He's on the Oversight Committee, he's on Ed Workforce, he's on the Budget Committee. Right. This is a guy with a lot of power. He's pretty deeply entrenched. And you're in a, you know, in a Republican district. So for you to win, you're going to have to peel away Republicans who are pissed off at Trump. Maybe more moderate Republicans, more independent minded Republicans. Then you're going to have to get Independents and you're going to have to get Democrats. What's your strategy to win here? I mean, you're still working at the fire department.
- [26:41]
Grainger Announcer
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- [26:41]
Mike Thoreau
No, I still.
- [26:42]
Paul Rykoff
How are you going to. Yeah, how are you, how are you going to raise money and be competitive and, and take a real shot at this race, Mike?
- [26:48]
Mike Thoreau
Well, hopefully just getting our message out. I think the more people that hear this is an option, we can have a representative that's actually interested in listening to the constituents. Actually worth holding people accountable. I think they'll be excited by that. We have a lot of people frustrated in this country right now because times are really dark. One good thing about times being really dark, people decide, maybe I can try something different. They get involved. We see more people involved than we ever have. So. So I think hopefully interviews like this, talking to people, getting our message out there, will do a lot to make sure that we can actually compete on the financial footing. Also in our favor, Glenn Grothman has done no favors to himself in our district. He has his virtual town halls where he can call in if he doesn't like what you're saying. You get muted and hung up on that's not representation. And people are frustrated, Republican and Democrat, that we have a representative that's more interested in demeaning our constituents in our district than actually talking to them and listening. Again, that's what a representative is supposed to do. Listen to your constituents, bring that to D.C. and make a case. We haven't seen that from Glenn Grossman in a long time. So in terms of peeling people off, there's frustration already there. He's made all by himself. If we can show people that they can have a representative that's interested in representing the 6th, not interested in corporate donors, not interested in any party bosses telling them what to do, but really just talking about what's important to the 6th, I think we can get a lot of traction.
- [28:11]
Paul Rykoff
Mike, are you on the ballot or what do you have to do to get on the ballot as an independent in Wisconsin?
- [28:17]
Mike Thoreau
Yeah. So in Wisconsin, I get signatures. I can't get them yet. It starts in April. I get my signatures. Once we get enough signatures, we're on the ballot. We're in the general. So luckily we have a lot of labor that's behind us and excited. We started talking a lot of different places. I think signatures are going to come very, very quick, so we'll be there in November.
- [28:35]
Paul Rykoff
And how many signatures do you have to get as an Independent? Is it different or higher than what the Democrats and Republicans have to get?
- [28:42]
Mike Thoreau
Yeah, it's a thousand signatures. They have to be validated. I can submit up to 2000 signatures, but that's all I can do is only 2000 and then we're on the ballot. They go through, make sure all the names are in district, they haven't signed anybody else's nomination paperwork, and then we're good.
- [28:58]
Paul Rykoff
So that's it. And they have to be people from the voters from the district, right?
- [29:01]
Mike Thoreau
Yes. Yep.
- [29:02]
Paul Rykoff
That's only a thousand, but that's. That's. That's doable.
- [29:05]
Mike Thoreau
I mean, that's very doable. Yeah. And again, just going around, we've talked to a lot of the locals as a firefighter. Actually, I'm also hazmat instructor, so I teach all in the district. I've been to, I think to every fire department in my district. We have a lot of people that know me already, and we get. They're excited to get out there and get some signatures. So I think we'll be in. Good.
- [29:23]
Paul Rykoff
Are you going to have to step away as a firefighter? I mean, this would be like running while you're on active duty in the military. What's your plan, like how long are you going to stay there? Are you going to take a leave of absence? What's your strategy for when it gets hot and heavy here in late summer, early fall?
- [29:37]
Mike Thoreau
Yeah. So basically my plan is right now I got to work again. I'm lucky enough my wife has been a stay at home mom for our four kids. But again, I'm the sole income winner. So I got to make sure we get money in. What's been cool in terms of campaign finance reform, there's now I could actually, the campaign could pay the candidates if need be. So I can actually, if we have enough funds, I can actually just make sure I'm supplementing what my income would have been and then, yeah, I take a leave of absence. Obviously we need a lot of support before that. But our plan is to really keep working throughout. My firefighter schedule is one day on, two days off, so have to work around that. I'm used to sleep deprivation, been doing it for a while. So I think it's gonna be a lot of, A lot of coffee is my plan.
- [30:22]
Paul Rykoff
Oh, man, you, you better, you better, you better buy a coffee company because you got four kids and you're working as a firefighter and you're running for Congress. You know, Mike, it's inspiring to hear your story and I think yours is a great example of where, you know, I want to just teed up and recommend, but then you can tell folks, I mean, people want to help, you know, they obviously can donate, they can obviously spread the word. I would encourage them especially to let other firefighters know. We had the firefighters podcast, you know, years ago in this network we've got folks like Rob, Sarah, but I think the firefighter community is very tight knit and just knowing that a firefighter is running for Congress is important. But you're going to need volunteers on the ground as well for people in Wisconsin. But also people can come in from outside if they want to help you get those signatures when that time comes. But what else can people do to help the campaign, Mike?
- [31:08]
Mike Thoreau
Yeah, really, it's going to be a people powered campaign. Like you said, I'm not taking any corporate PAC money. I'm not interested in it. I want to make sure that people have a voice. So going on thoroughforcongress.com, donate there, sign up to volunteer. We're going to need a lot of doors knocked. We're going to need a lot of people talk to and to show them that this is an option. To your point, I think once people hear that they get excited. We haven't had, I think Congress right now, there's one other firefighter. And that's probably why in terms of getting the 911 bill passed, we're talking 25. Like, it took that long to get this very simple thing passed to make sure that healthcare goes to first responders on America's worst day. We need these kind of issues brought up. We need them fought for. And I think as long as we can get the message out, we can start making changes.
- [31:56]
Paul Rykoff
I gotta tell you, man, as a 911 first responder myself, it's an issue we've covered a lot on the shows. We need someone like you up there who won't forget about it. I mean, just in this last few weeks, we heard, we learned that the city's got additional records about the toxic air around 911 that haven't been disclosed. There's pressure on Mayor Mamdani, but I always remind people it's not just folks from New York who are impacted by 9 11. Almost every state, many countries were impacted. So we're going to need advocates like you, because when we went to Washington, often we heard from folks say, oh, it's not our problem. It's a New York problem. It's not our problem in Alabama, it's not our problem in Texas. But this is really a problem for everyone because of the impact, because of the science, but also because we're all in this together and nobody checked your ID at the door before you went to ground0 on 911 any more than they do when there's some other kind of crisis in your area. All right, let me shift gears and ask you a final question. I am at spring training in Tampa. The Yankees. We're going to watch the Tigers tomorrow, the Mets on Sunday. The brewers, man, the brewers look really awesome. How are you feeling about your brew crew this year?
- [32:58]
Mike Thoreau
I always feel great about the brew crew. Unfortunately, they always get to the playoffs and we always exit way too fast. So I'm hoping we put it together this year. Actually, my firehouse, where Bernie's fire brigade, we're right, right close. They're always in the shadow of it. So the brewers are always on mind. I think we got this year. I think at least put it all together, we'll be good. We'll be good. Just sustained through the playoffs.
- [33:21]
Paul Rykoff
Well, you know, the brewers are bringing, bringing the fire. And I'm always rooting my little boys. T ball team was the brewers. And we've always been brewers fans. We got lots of friends in that area that we root for all across Wisconsin and we're rooting for you, man. I really just want to thank you for stepping up. You got a young family. You got a great career. You're the kind of person that George Washington envisioned running for Congress and being a leader in Washington. So I'm really grateful that you spent so much time with us. Mike, congratulations on the launch. I encourage everybody to check out Mike Thoreau, support his campaign and help us get a firefighter in Congress, an independent firefighter, to bring a different kind of fire to Washington when they need it. Thank you so much for joining us, man. We'll let you get back to work.
- [34:05]
Mike Thoreau
Thank you.
- [34:05]
Paul Rykoff
Back to the campaign.
- [34:06]
Mike Thoreau
That was great. I really enjoyed it. Hopefully we can talk more as this goes on.
- [34:10]
Paul Rykoff
Absolutely, man. We'll have you back soon. Deeper into the baseball season. We'll see how the Yanks and the brewers are doing.
- [34:14]
Mike Thoreau
I like it. I like it. Thank you.
- [34:16]
Paul Rykoff
All right. All right, folks, there you have it. There's Mike Thoreau running for Congress, Wisconsin 6th District. He is the kind of leader that we've been looking for. Many of these folks are stepping up. I told you that there are more independents coming. You heard from Adrian Bronneberger earlier this week who's now running for governor in Connecticut. You also heard my special episode with Open Primaries with John Optike. You heard from Ty Pickens down in Mississippi. You heard from Todd Achilles in Idaho. They're coming and they're going to be more coming. If you want to run like them, check out Independent Veterans of America. We continue to recruit veterans especially, and you can support independents of all kind and be a part of that movement. Next week. We got Trump's State of the Union is coming up, so that'll be interesting. We also on Tuesday, we'll have another independent candidate, Detroit mayor, independent candidate for governor of Michigan, Mike Duggan will be joining us next week, so stay tuned for that. And we're daily now, so we're cooking. We're trying to bring our own kind of fire. Follow subscribe, especially if you're listening on Apple Podcasts. Rate us. Leave a review. Check us out on Spotify and of course on YouTube where we continue to see huge growth, especially around the episodes with Rachel Maddow and Jesse Ventura. Jesse Ventura might be our most watched episode ever on YouTube. You can also get clips and see my conversation with Mike and any others. Be sure to subscribe. Get the IA merch, join our Patreon community and look out for other surprise episodes. If news breaks in Iran, I will have a response. If other stuff breaks, I will have a response. America's divided, but here at Independent Americans, I'm working to change that, trying to add light to contrast all the heat and the cold that's out there, like spring training for our democracy. So if you're among the now 45% of Americans who are independent, this is your show. You heard that? Now with Mike Turro. Country over party, people over politics, light over heat. Our independent movement is bringing hope for the future and it is growing. It is the hope for the oxygen that is the oxygen of our democracy. If you enjoyed this episode with Mike Turrot Thoreau, please share it far and wide. Invite others to declare their independence and stay vigilant, my friend, because eternal vigilance is the price of freedom. And no, you're not alone in your vigilance. We're all in this together. We are all vigilant in these final days of February. We're going to push through. Warmer, better days are coming, just like the start of baseball. I'm your host, Paul Rykoff. Thank you for tuning into Independent Americans. I will see you next week. Enjoy your weekend. I am off to enjoy the Yanks this weekend and try to soak up a little bit of sun before I go back to the rain and the snow. Happy Friday and stay vigilant, America. Stay vigilant.
- [36:50]
Caller/Listener
He tells me the left and right are dreams for those without a clue and when you wait it's time to grow and it's not cool to believe in school but if I can say one thing I've seen the children of the revolution and the good trouble they can bring he says the red and blue are dead and independent is an attitude an island in the sea of rhetoric and I can probably go he tells me the laughing Write our dreams for those without a clue and when you wait it's time to grow Power by Righteous media.