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- [00:00]
A
So, as House Speaker Mike Johnson has announced here on that cesspool called X in a hundred days, the people of this country have a critical choice. Common sense or crazy. The rest of it is stupidity and bullshit. And then I'll get to the end. It's a contrast for America and the choice is yours. And look, it's a 44 second election ad for Mike Johnson. It's not worth playing. As you can see right now, it shows convicted felon Donald Trump with that maxi pad, the miracle maxi pad on his ear. And it also shows, most importantly, Trump surrounded by sycophantic Republicans celebrating the signing into law of the big bullshit bill last July of 2025. And the reason why I am actually agreeing with just the two sentences from Mike Johnson's Twitter post is he's right. In a hundred days, in the November midterms, as they are called, this country has a choice between common sense or crazy. And yet Mike's got the parties all wrong. Because the crazy party are the MAGA Republicans and the common sense party are the Democrats. And that is why when you hear that there is very strong campaign messaging from the Republicans of promising more of nothing, promising more insanity, promising more expensive life and our children being sent overseas to die in illegal wars, that's the campaign messaging that's coming from the Republicans. Contrast that to, as Mike Johnson says, it's a contrast for America and the choice is yours. Contra, contrast that to the messaging from the Democrats fighting for an affordable America. Makes sense, right? I think the choice is a no brainer. I couldn't possibly imagine why you as an American would vote for a Republican in November when there is no daylight between Republicans and convicted felon Donald Trump. One of the DCCC recruitment co chairs is Congresswoman Lauren Underwood, and she is a spectacular young fighter, fighting voice for us in D.C. right now, doing incredible things and actually moving the needle in a bipartisan way on major legislation. But in her role as one of the co chairs for recruitment, she is helping flip from red to blue, at least 26 seats. And these are competitive races with spectacularly authentic and very good candidates that are Democrats. And I was excited to be able to speak to her about the common sense choice to jettison the crazy majority that we see not only in the Senate, but in the House. And we'll get to jettisoning and kicking out crazy in the Oval in just a couple years, but if not sooner, maybe. But I thought it was important for us to understand the lay of the land. Where are we 100 days out from The November midterms. And what races should we be focusing on? How should we be helping? What should we be doing? Take a listen. Joining me now is the incredible Congresswoman Lauren Underwood, who represents Illinois's 14th. Congresswoman, it's so good to have you here at the Katie Fang News Channel. How are you doing?
- [03:42]
B
Hi, Katie. Thanks for having me. I'm excited to be here.
- [03:45]
A
Look, you know, there's no shortage of things for us to talk about, but I really wanted to center the beginning of our conversation today on what November looks like. And I don't want to be myopic. I'm also looking at Beyond November into 2028. But, you know, one of my favorite sayings is, how do you need an elephant one bite at a time. So let's talk about November. Give us a little bit of an update on on the Lay of the Land from your perspective from the DCCC in terms of how those races look for November.
- [04:13]
B
Well, we are now inside 100 days, and so this is the final sprint. On the congressional side, we rolled out our new message frame, fighting for an affordable America. And that just speaks to the heart of the issue at stake in this election. We have a Republican majority that's unfailingly loyal to Donald Trump, raising costs on working families and ignoring the high cost of health care, the high cost of gas and groceries and housing. And then they're just continuing to perpetuate the corruption that working people see every day, and they have rejected every time there has been a special election or an opportunity to make their voices heard at the ballot box. But we don't win elections on message alone. As you know, candidate quality matters. And I am working with the DCCC this cycle as one of their Red to Blue co chairs. And we have an amazing cohort of 26 candidates on red to Blue. We're talking about fighters like Joanna Mendoza and Jamie Aker. We're talking about Randy Villegas in California and Christina Bohannon in Iowa. We have these great folks who are battle tested, they're raising a lot of money, they reflect their districts, and they will win in November.
- [05:24]
A
You know, Congresswoman, one of the things that I love to emphasize here at my channel is the individuality of these candidates.
- [05:30]
B
Right?
- [05:31]
A
Like, look, we see a letter in front of their names, and we understand that's a party affiliation. But I suspect that you, as well as others at the dccc, have, have kind of picked up on the reality, which is voters have become incredibly discerning, and they really care about the authenticity of who they are trying to send to Congress. To your point that you just said, you know, framing it as fighting for an affordable America makes sense for regardless of what your party affiliation is. And so really what is it about these specific candidates on the red to blue slate, I'll call it, that really are, you know, giving those siren songs for voters to pay attention to and want to support?
- [06:11]
B
Well, we just look at the candidates themselves. So let's take Jamie Egar in North Carolina. He's a farmer who has been, you know, really touched by the experiences of his neighbors as they've been trying to recover from Hurricane Helene. He has a congressman, Chuck Edwards, who's been missing in action, completely failed his community in the height of a disaster, and then now is embroiled in an ethics scandal. You have someone who is authentically of his community just trying to help folks make ends meet. You know what I mean? And then when I think about when folks step like Jamie step forward and run for Congress, that's not necessarily what they have planned for their whole life, but that's what the circumstances require. Like I'm a nurse and I didn't know that I was gonna be running for Congress, but when our healthcare was threatened, I had to step forward. And here we are. That's the story that we're seeing and in this group of candidates that are on the red to blue list.
- [07:06]
A
And I'm glad that you brought yourself up as a great example because your lived experience led you to co found and co chair the Black Maternal Health Caucus. Right. Which didn't happen before you came and brought your lived experience and what you've centered as a priority for you to the table, which is really what we want our elected to do. We want them to go and be our voices in D.C. but to also reflect things that are priorities for us. I think the timing is perfect for us to have this conversation because we've clocked pretty much a year since what I call the big bullshit bill was passed by convicted felon Donald Trump over the objections of Democrats and with the support of Republicans in the GOP party. And I just wanted to bring up some statistics because you can't ignore the numbers. Approximately four and a half million people have lost their SNAP benefits, one and a half million of them being children. When it comes to things like Medicaid, a lot of those mandatory work requirements don't kick in until January 1st of 2027. There's several other things that kick in courtesy of the Republicans after the November midterms. And so in terms of direct and immediate big number impact. We may not see it now, but we know that it's inevitably going to be looming across the, the, the. My gosh, I'm like brain farting. Just later on, later on, then things like Medicaid. There's an. There's an estimate from the Congressional Budget Office, 10 million additional uninsured people by 2034. I mean, that deals with Medicaid as well as just affordable health care. Affordable health care was a big thing that you worked on. Yes, before Congress. I mean, these are the things that we kind of. We see them as like marquee headlines. Right. And we, like, hammer them in the news and the media. And then if we don't keep on talking about them, I feel like people just get resigned to the fact that this is just kind of what it is, but it doesn't have to be the case.
- [09:02]
B
That's right. So throughout my career, I have seen the importance of the American people having high quality, affordable healthcare. So when I saw my congressman celebrating taking healthcare away from the American people, I wouldn't stand for it. And so I jumped in and I ran for Congress, and then I got to work and I wrote a bill that became law that lowered the uninsured rate to the lowest levels in U.S. history. I wrote the law to extend the ACA tax credits that Donald Trump and the Republicans in charge have allowed to expire. And now we see millions of Americans seeing their healthcare premiums double, triple, quadruple, and it's driving up the uninsured rate. You talked about Medicaid. Well, even if the work requirements haven't gone into effect, guess what is happening? The closures in my community, we're seeing unit closures, PEDs, ICU, mother, baby closing in advance of these Medicaid cuts going into effect. And don't get me started on what's happening in our rural communities. You know, the rural communities are seeing hospitals close, clinics close, and nursing home closures, and that is devastating. These communities can't survive without health care. And, you know, it's all because of Donald Trump and the Republicans in charge wanting to steal from the working class in order to give the billionaires these tax breaks. The American people know it. They don't like it. They have rejected the big, ugly bill and they will vote these guys out in November.
- [10:28]
A
And that's what I wanted to ask you about. So I feel like most, if not all Americans are feeling Trump policies one way or another. My mom and I literally just talking about it this morning, how the price of basic groceries not even like extravagant ones has really gone up. So much so that, you know, for those of us that have been privileged to not have to pay attention to those things, we're starting to pay attention. What is it that Democrats are doing other than having these conversations and amplifying them to the best of our abilities? What else are Democrats doing to make sure that perhaps the people in the red areas, maybe in the areas that are maybe even purple, that they understand what's at stake coming up in November?
- [11:13]
B
Well, what's really interesting is that we don't have to bring up the issue first. Like, the cost of groceries is top of mind for the American voter. I, I mean, we're talking about meat, we're talking about produce, and that's if you're not getting sick because of this outbreak, by the way. But then also like pop, crackers, chips. I'm seeing chips for almost $10 a bag. It is crazy. And so people are outraged and they understand it's because of the Trump tariffs and this war in Iran. You know, people understand when the costs started going up and then when they went up directly like crazy. And at the end of the day, they understand that this is a war of choice, that there's no end in sight. The American people have already rejected forever wars and don't like to see their grocery costs, their gas costs go up as a result of this failed war that Donald Trump has embarked on.
- [12:08]
A
And for those of you that are tuning in, watching and listening, that aren't from Illinois, pop is soda. So just in case you were wondering, I'm like, are people gonna know that she's talking about pop mean soda?
- [12:23]
B
Well, I was.
- [12:24]
A
Well, listen, some people put ketchup on their hot dogs. I mean, hello.
- [12:27]
B
Right?
- [12:27]
A
So let's go. But anyway, you know, Congresswoman, for me too, I am a mother and I am, you know, a sandwich generation as, as I call it, I have an 11 year old daughter who I tell anybody who listens is 11 going on 30. But that's a whole other conversation, you know, I could have. But then my mom just turned 84. And so I am juggling all of the concerns I have of raising a young woman, right. And then taking care of a mom who I won't use the adjective elderly to describe because you would never see me again. But you know, there are very real concerns though, about her Medicare, right. About her insurance coverage, about her, her ability to go into assisted living if necessary.
- [13:16]
B
Right.
- [13:16]
A
I mean, there's all this stuff and just, just decent health care, just basic, decent Health care. I mean, talk about why it's so important for members of Congress like you, who are looking at things like seniors and their needs, but also juggling it with what our future are like, our children like what they are having to deal with as well.
- [13:37]
B
Well, it just means that concepts like Medicare and Social Security are not foreign or abstract. They're deeply personal to us. And we know what it means for a senior who lives on a fixed income, who needs to be able to stretch that Social Security payment to be able to afford their utilities. And a lot of folks no longer can do that. You know, this affordability conversation is not something that is disconnected from our everyday lives. You know, I'm having the conversation with my mother about, girl, you need to get off of Medicare Advantage, okay? And like, you need to just move on because this is not going to be a long term solution for you. And then for folks, you know, your daughter might be getting to the age where maybe she can, you know, look after herself for a bit of time, but this childcare situation, and it is, it is unreasonable beyond a mortgage payment for too many families in this country. And the thing is, we have a solution. We know how to solve for this childcare affordability. We know how to grow this early childhood education workforce and how to support those professionals. The question is about political will and prioritization. That's what you will see with the Democratic majority is lifting up these issues that are most important to working families and prioritizing getting them done.
- [14:58]
A
That's the perfect segue to one of, I think is the most important conversation topics always, which is black maternal care.
- [15:05]
B
Right.
- [15:06]
A
Because, you know, I saw Todd Blanch, who you, you know, I have gone after, but I saw Todd Blanche testify in front of Senate Judiciary, right? And I saw people like Ashley Moody and Josh Hawley spend a lot of their time, of their allocated minutes asking about mifepristone and medication, abortion. And I'm hearing them trying to exact extract a commitment from Todd Blanche, who was doing laps, talking about how he's the greatest pro life president in the history of the United States is, you know, convicted felon Donald Trump, blah, blah, blah, and how, you know, everything has to be done this way and these are the right policies, et cetera, et cetera. I didn't hear a single question, though, about making sure that existing laws are enforced to make sure that they're not having indiscriminate or even intentional impacts, right. Disproportionate impacts on black women, on minorities. You know, I, I'm not hearing that. I'm hearing how do we do and prioritize what Donald Trump wants? And those are the types of questions I'm hearing from Republicans either in the Senate or in the House.
- [16:23]
B
I think that's true. You know, they have not been quiet or shy about their quests to eliminate our reproductive freedom. And they had taken every opportunity to insert new barriers, new restrictions, more chaos and confusion as folks are trying to get health care. Listen, I'm from Illinois. We have been the destination state for reproductive health care. Folks are coming into Illinois to get the life saving health care that they need and we are happy to welcome them. However, at the same time that this Republican majority is embarking on an explicitly anti abortion agenda, we are also having quiet conversations around tackling maternal mortality. And that's how we were able to pass, with unanimous bipartisan support off the floor of the House, the NIH Improve act earlier this week or last week, a week ago on Monday that would allow for the NIH to spend tens of millions of dollars every year to identify the root causes of preventable maternal death and scale up the solutions and interventions that are saving lives. We were able to do that with my MAGA colleagues saying nice things on the floor about the program. And so there's a duality here. You know, in these red states, they have seen a dramatic increase in preventable maternal death as a result of the pandemic, the Dobbs decision and these looming Medicaid cuts. And these guys who proclaim to be pro life are deeply, deeply worried and disturbed about the increase in maternal death. Because guess what? It's not just the black women who are dying. Well. And they're looking for solutions.
- [17:59]
A
Well, yeah. And then you see like Kat Kamek from Florida who sits there and says, I had this, this experience where I needed to get an abortion. I was like hollering at Ron DeSantis. Right. His office. Right. I mean, you know, and listen, reproductive freedom is a very big deal in terms of one of my, my priorities. And I always say Republican women get abort number one and Republican women are on birth control too. Right. I mean, it's just not a party thing. And when I see though, these mortality rates, it is not just startling, it's it. I feel like we're going in reverse. And I don't think the priorities reflect the priorities of this administration and specifically Republicans in office. They don't necessarily, as a whole reflect the way that Americans are thinking, though, about privacy rights and about small government and about, you know, Republicans being out of my doctor's offices and stuff. And I feel like it also deals with, now we have big government in our homes, at our dining tables, right. Like controlling the prices of our food and controlling the price of our gas and taking our, our, our, our children and they're dying in wars in places that were never supposed to happen. I mean, these are the things that I feel like we all kind of have to tie together as Democrats and have people understand that these aren't one offs. These are not like outlier events. These are all of a part of a bigger scheme and plan by Trump in this administration and that really it's just kind of the dominoes falling into place from Project 2025.
- [19:27]
B
Yes. However, I just want us to remember, Katie, that the average American does not view these things in a partisan lens. Right? Like they don't contemplate the idea of being able to start a family in a partisan le lens. They don't think about being able to survive childbirth or make it to your baby's first birthday in a partisan lens. They don't think about being able to afford childcare as Dems versus ours or being able to afford eggs or being able to afford gas. They don't think about it that way. They just think about why is this so tough and it should be a little bit easier.
- [20:02]
A
So how do we convert that then? So then how do we convert that into having them think about it through the partisan lens of it that Democrats will deliver for them?
- [20:10]
B
Well, we present a choice. We have one party that doesn't want to talk about it. Donald Trump says he doesn't care. He loves the inflation. We have the Republican Party who has taken advantage of every opportunity to raise costs on working families. And then you have House Democrats who are fighting hard every day, who want to force the conversation, who want to lift up the stories of working families, who are working people, ourselves running for office and who are championing our communities and these issues to advance solutions that will save lives and save folks money, like that's what this is about. And I just think, you know, if we assume that that hard working mom who's working one or two jobs is sitting here thinking about, you know, team Red versus Team Blue and that's the lens that they approach every question or decision point. I think that we're missing a chance to connect with our neighbors and our voters.
- [21:03]
A
And I love that. That's incredibly grounding and thank you for kind of that correction for me because you're right, it doesn't have to always be partisan. It just has to be about the people and who's going to best deliver for the people, I guess. Congresswoman, my final question for you is where could people go to? How do we manage this? Like, where could people go to learn more about these red to blue candidates that they want to go learn more about their platforms, want to give them help. Right? Want to make sure that they are contributing towards getting these people the finish line and to succeed in November?
- [21:37]
B
Well, officially, they can visit the DCCC's website, dccc.org redtoblue but unofficially, y' all can tag along with me. You know, I launched a substack, it's called Big Democratic Victories. And I'm taking you along on our journey, supporting our red to blue candidates so that you can get to know them as I have. And I know that you all will be so impressed, and you'll be excited to donate, you'll be excited to make calls and texts and help support their victories, because we only have 99 days until this election, and this is an all hands on deck kind of environment. And, Katie, I just got to tell you, I know a lot of folks were, you know, kind of upset with Democrats talking about, fight harder, do something. This is fighting hard, and this is doing something and winning the election is how we get this done and save our country. And we need people to join us.
- [22:24]
A
So what is the name of the substack again?
- [22:27]
B
Big Democratic Victories.
- [22:29]
A
Alrighty. So what we'll do is we will also include a link to your substack in the caption here. Congresswoman Lauren Underwood, it is always a pleasure to spend time with you. And I appreciate. I. It's incredibly refreshing to have these conversations, especially with a fighter like you. You know, when I say that we want fighters, it's not just to fight. To fight. Right. It's to understand, like, what are the things that are important to really stand our ground on? Because I keep on telling people, this is the moment. The world's burning. Like, this is the moment where we really have to say that we're going to be on the right side of history for this one. So I appreciate all the work you're doing to get that to happen for us. Thank you.
- [23:08]
B
So it's really good to see you.
- [23:11]
A
Good to see you. Katie Feng here. We launched the Katie Fang News Channel in partnership with the Midas Touch Network, so we could bring you the latest in legal and political news. Straight, no chaser. So if you're a fellow truth teller, hit that subscribe button and share the word about this channel. So we can build a high information America together.