Refried Beans | When Democracy Happens (feat. David Pepper) | Nov 8, 2023

Summary

Podcast Summary: "Refried Beans | When Democracy Happens (feat. David Pepper)"

The Daily Beans – November 9, 2023
Hosts: Allison Gill (AG), Dana Goldberg (DG)
Featured Guest: David Pepper, former Chair of the Ohio Democratic Party

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Overview

This episode of The Daily Beans is an exuberant, post-election recap, highlighting the impressive performance of Democrats in the November 2023 off-year elections across the U.S. The episode blends national results and local victories with in-depth analysis, particularly spotlighting Ohio’s resounding vote for reproductive rights. The hosts then welcome expert guest David Pepper for a sharp, hopeful conversation about what these results mean for grassroots democracy and progressive momentum. As always, the show blends joyful celebration, sharp critique, and some much-needed good news from listeners.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Democrats’ “Ass-Kicking” Night Across the Map

(00:45–05:52)

• Virginia: Democrats held the Senate and flipped the House of Delegates, sharply rebuking Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s agenda.
• Ohio: Issue 1 (abortion rights) and Issue 2 (recreational marijuana) both passed. Even deeply red and suburban counties surprised observers with "yes" votes.
  • "O Happy O Happy O is the word. Now, Ohio voted yes on Issue 1 and Issue 2 because they know they're gonna have to be really high on recreational marijuana to deal with J.D. Vance and Jim Jordan." – Dana (02:40)
• Kentucky: Incumbent Andy Beshear (Democrat) handily won governor, flipping even a Trump+60 county.
• School Boards: Major setbacks for “Moms for Liberty” candidates, with “Moms Demand Action” and progressives sweeping dozens of races nationwide—a major rebuke to right-wing efforts at local takeovers.
  • "[Moms for Liberty] lost 12 of their 13 school board elections in Iowa… I think the total was 49… it's up to 59 today. Just a blowout." – AG (03:26)
• Other Notables:
  • Yousef Salaam (exonerated Central Park Five) wins NYC Council.
  • Record youth turnout in PA absentee ballots.
  • Sarah Inamorado elected first woman Allegheny county executive.
  • Danica Roem becomes Virginia's first openly trans state senator.

"Well done, everybody. Good job. I'm so fucking excited." – AG (05:20)

2. The Importance and Challenges of Democracy

(05:52–08:22)

• Election as rebuke: High turnout, even in traditionally low-interest off-years.
• Defending rights: Ohioans push back on government overreach and anti-democratic tactics.
• Celebration of sustained activism and coalition building, not just a partisan win.

3. Biden Administration News and Media Critique

(07:57–11:50)

• Biden reached his 150th federal judge appointment; two-thirds are women.
• U.S. military strikes Iranian-linked bases in Syria – breaking news coverage.
• Biden’s re-election campaign memo slams media polling panic, citing past polling errors and overlooked positive polls.
  • "No president has ever run for reelection with a record of accomplishment that is as popular as the one President Biden will be running on over the next year." – Michael Tyler, Biden campaign (10:35)
• The hosts roast Republican infighting, impeachment stunts, and the “clown show” debate.

4. Mississippi Ballot Shortages and Voter Suppression

(11:50–14:36)

• Hinds County (83% Black voter area) ran out of ballots, with long waits and legal wrangling to extend voting.
  • "[Why challenge extended voting hours?] Oh, I don't know. Because it's a predominantly Black county." – DG (12:52)
• The incident exposes ongoing, systemic barriers to voting.

5. Other National News Updates

(14:37–21:34)

• Detroit: Suspect in custody for the murder of synagogue president Samantha Wall.
• Former CIA officer Brian Jeffrey Raymond pleads guilty to years-long, cross-border serial sexual assault and abuse.
  • AG and DG stress the importance of accountability, despite the difficulty of the story.

6. In-Depth Interview: David Pepper on Ohio, Democracy, and Fighting Authoritarianism

(22:16–39:14) [STARTS AT 22:16]
Key Topics:

• Ohio’s Cross-Partisan Rejection of Authoritarian Tactics:
  • "There's a level at which government can attack basic freedom and rights and democracy and manage to offend and fire up not just Democrats, but actually Republicans too, and independents." – David Pepper (22:56)
  • Issue 1 (abortion) and Issue 2 (marijuana) passed, even in conservative strongholds.
• August’s “Sneaky” Election to Raise Amendment Threshold:
  • Republicans tried to require a 60% majority for state constitutional amendments—issue failed—but the current win wouldn’t have passed that threshold. A warning for the future.
  • "That 60% thing was a true poison pill for democracy that would have killed direct democracy in the state of Ohio." – David Pepper (26:10)
• The Real Right-Wing Agenda:
  • Not about persuasion, but locking in minority rule via gerrymandering, ballot language games, and undermining direct democracy.
    • "[The GOP]...subvert democracy enough to lock in unpopular views over a long time...an admission we can't win on our ideas. They're unpopular. So we have to subvert democracy." – David Pepper (30:45)
• School Board Races: The Front Lines:
  • “Moms for Liberty” candidates lost 70%+ of their races in Ohio, despite high organization. Importance of grassroots awareness and coordination.
• Big Picture 2024:
  • Message for Democrats: Focus on popular issues — rights, democracy, local organizing, continuation of bottom-up strategy. Avoid panic around national polling.
  • “We have a winning streak going back to Kansas last August… don’t lose sight of the fact that most of these wins… were bottom up led … that bottom up makes us much stronger.” – David Pepper (37:03)

7. Good News from Listeners

(39:14–48:49)

• Listener-submitted election victories across Pennsylvania, Virginia, Bucks County, and beyond—school board turnarounds, anti-Moms for Liberty momentum, volunteer stories, adorable pet photos.
• Blue Wave Postcards praised for easy, efficient get-out-the-vote activism.
• Shoutout to Cat Calvin (“American Identity Crisis”) for voter ID advocacy.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Election Night:

  • “When Republicans can only take, you know, joy in the fact that they didn’t get blown out in Mississippi, that’s their bragging rights. Like, fuck off. We had a great night.” – Dana Goldberg (01:45)
  • “All politics are local politics, and I think that’s where we focus our energy. It’ll trickle up in the right ways.” – Alison Gill (37:37)

• On Anti-Democratic Tactics:

  • "The closer these people get to losing power, it's like Donald Trump on January 6th, right? The closer they get to losing power, the more lawless they get…" – David Pepper (27:29)
  • "The room they've all been sitting in, their whole careers has been not a room of democracy." – David Pepper (28:38)

• On Organizing:

  • “Don’t let the federal election distract us from the state level advocacy. That’s the ground floor of building to these wins.” – David Pepper (37:15)

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• 00:45–05:52 – Lightning round: Democratic wins, school board sweeps, state and local victories.
• 07:57–11:50 – Biden’s polling memo, media analysis, and new judge appointments.
• 11:50–14:36 – Voter suppression and ballot shortages in Mississippi.
• 22:16–39:14 – Interview: David Pepper deep dive on Ohio and democracy fights.
  • 22:56 – Ohio’s cross-partisan rebuke
  • 26:02 – The August 60% amendment
  • 30:45 – GOP’s anti-democratic blueprint
• 39:14–48:49 – Listener good news, grassroots victories, and activism shout-outs.

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Tone, Language, and Feel

As ever, The Daily Beans blends irreverent humor, sharp political analysis, and heartfelt celebration. The hosts—Allison Gill and Dana Goldberg—speak candidly, swearing enthusiastically (“we fucking did it”), celebrating progress, and lamenting the persistence of systemic injustice. Their dialogue with David Pepper is striking for its clarity, urgency, and hope.

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Final Takeaways

• The 2023 off-year elections were a major setback for anti-democracy, anti-choice, and far-right candidates, demonstrating the continued energy, coalition-building, and power of progressive grassroots organizing.
• The struggle against authoritarian tactics is ongoing—wins must be defended, vigilance is still required, especially on issues of gerrymandering and voting rights.
• Grassroots, local races—especially school boards—are now central battlegrounds for democracy.
• The narrative of doom-and-gloom polls often ignores the power of organizing and the real views of the electorate.

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Hosts’ Message:

“We did this, y’all. We did this. So congratulations.” – AG (47:53) “We’re going to do it again next November.” – DG (47:55)

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Transcript

[A]

MSW Media. Hey, everybody, it's Ag. And welcome to Refried Beans, where we play an episode of the Daily Beans podcast from the same week either one, two or three years ago, so we can see how far we've come. So please enjoy this episode from days gone by and note the date in the intro.

[B]

Refried beans. I like refried beans. That's why I want to try fried beans, because maybe they're just as good and we're wasting time. Jelly beans. Jelly beans. Jelly beans. Jelly beans.

[A]

Hello and welcome to the Daily beans for Thursday, November 9, 2023. Today, incredible results for Democrats in elections across several states this week. The Biden campaign has penned a memo to the media asserting disparity in polling coverage. Hinds County, Mississippi, precincts faced ballot shortages on election day. A suspect is in custody in connection with the murder of a synagogue president. Samantha Wohl, a former CIA officer, has pled guilty to sexual abuse charges. And Biden wins his 150th federal judge appointment in the Senate. I'm Alison Gill.

[C]

And I'm Dana Goldberg.

[A]

Hey, hey. Happy day after election day.

[C]

Happy day after election day indeed. Man, you all went out and voted and took a lot of people with you.

[A]

You did. You voted blue over Q. You took everyone with you. And I thought we would do well, but we kicked ass.

[C]

I mean, it was a big rebuke of MAGA of all kind of people that are anti choice. Like, it was. It was beautiful. It was a beautiful thing. I mean, when Republicans can only take, you know, joy in the fact that they didn't get blown out in Mississippi, that's their bragging rights. Like, fuck off. We had a great night.

[A]

Yeah. After nine precincts and an 83%, you know, black voter area ran out of ballots multiple times and they had to get an emergency thing different. We'll talk about that in a minute. I just want to say real quick, later in the in the show, I'm going to actually talk with the former chairman of the Democratic Party in Ohio. His name is David Pepper. You don't want to miss that. And of course, tomorrow is Fugal sang Friday. We'll have John Fugle saying on but man, let's go over some of these highlights. You want to do these like lightning round, like little back and forth.

[C]

Let's do it.

[A]

All right, I'm in. First up, Virginia. Democrats held the Senate and flipped the state house in a huge rebuke of Glenn Youngkin.

[C]

Oh, and Ohio. This made me so happy. O oh, happy O happy oh is the word Now, Ohio voted yes on issue one and issue two because they know they're gonna have to be really high on recreational marijuana to deal with J.D.

[A]

Vance and Jim Jordan and Andy Bashir crushed it in Kentucky in the governor's race, including flipping Letcher county, where Trump won by 60 points in 2020. And, you know, the last time Beshear was elected, he won by 0.4%. This time it was 5%. He crushed it.

[C]

Amazing. And there was a lot of good things that happened last night, but this is one of my favorites. Exonerated Central Park Five member Yousef Salaam won his New York City Council seat. Go fuck yourself, Donald Trump. That is a big fuck you to Donald Mary. Trump was very happy to see that result.

[A]

So was I. Now, over in Iowa, Moms for Liberty candidates lost 12 of their 13 school board elections. And that's probably been updated since then. I think the total was 49 last night across the country of Moms Demand Action beating Moms for Liberty in these school board and city council races, it's up to 59 today. Just a blowout.

[C]

So good. And in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, the Dems swept all five school board seats. That's a 75% Republican county, Allison. That's huge.

[A]

Bonkers. Also in Pennsylvania, the number of Pennsylvania absentee ballot vote returns for voters aged 18 to 35 doubled over the 2021 turnout.

[C]

And Allison Spillman, who is the parent of an amazing trans child, defeated Meg Brice. Who's Meg Brice? That is Justice Scalia's daughter. For a school board seat in Virginia. Whoop, whoop.

[A]

Dems also flipped a Trump plus 35 state House seat in New Jersey. Weren't expecting to do that. And they made gains in both legislative chambers there.

[C]

I love it. Mayor of Indianapolis, Joe Hog set. He won reelection by 20 points. 20 points.

[A]

And in Forest Hills, Ohio, Democrats ousted the Moms for Liberty school board candidates there.

[C]

Love it. Dems flipped tons of local races in Connecticut, including Danbury, Fairfield, Wethersfield, Newington, Old Lyme, Cromwell, Clinton, Brookfield, and Colchester County. Good stuff.

[A]

And probably more. That's probably not all of them. They also had Democrats had a huge school board win. Multiple huge school board wins in Minnesota. So congrats there.

[C]

And 49, 49 moms demand action candidates we talked about. They won their city council and school board races across the United States.

[A]

Yep, that's up to 59 as a recording of this show. And Bucks County, PA01. Bucks County Democrats swept the Pendridge School District, ousting all The Moms for Liberty candidates, so good.

[C]

And Democrat Sarah Inamorado was the first to be elected an Allegheny county executive.

[A]

First woman there. And Danica Rome, our friend, was elected Virginia's first openly trans state senator. So this is just these. This is a small handful of highlights of all the wins that happened last night or, well, last night, but for you, two nights ago. I can't believe it. It's amazing. Well done, everybody. Good job. I'm so fucking excited. Thank you so much.

[C]

I mean, this is, yeah, huge turnout on what they would call a non election year, even though, you know that it was an election year. Because these were big. These are big. We kept abortion legal in the state of Ohio.

[A]

Enshrined it.

[C]

Enshrined it. And made sure in Virginia that Youngkin wasn't going to be able to sign shit because he wasn't going to go to his desk. It's an amazing thing.

[A]

And he also just announced he's not running for president. Womp, Womp.

[C]

Oh, really? I can't imagine why. Because you got your ass handed to you.

[A]

Yeah, that and he's not gonna get shit done in the next two. Fuck that guy so hard. Oh, I'm so. This is so great. And on top of all that, Biden has nominated and has been confirmed his 150th lifetime federal judge to the bench. 100 of those, 150 are women. So well done there. Also some breaking news. This is just right now breaking, US Forces have carried out airstrikes in eastern Syria. They've hit the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps weapons depots. And we'll have more on that story as it develops. It's just coming out right now, so I want to tell you about it. And also, Ivanka testified today, and it was not a good day for the Trump Organization. Pete and I are going to cover that. On the next, cleanup on aisle 45. And Jim Comer has subpoenaed Hunter and Jim Biden and nobody cares. I hope they sue. An appeal to block these subpoenas and then we flip the House before it's resolved. That'd be fun. Also, there's a Republican debate tonight. Blah, blah, whatever.

[C]

It's a clown show.

[A]

I probably won't mention it tomorrow unless someone says something scarier or more hilarious than the same old shit. So. But yeah, there's a thing tonight I'll probably watch to see what Matto has to say about it. She's going to be on live after the debate.

[C]

I want to see who did what is the horrible desantis makeup. That's who I want to see. So much makeup. So much heel lift. More than a drag queen.

[A]

Yep. Yeah, that's all gender affirming care. All right, thank you very much everybody for your incredible election results. I'm so proud of everyone. I'm so proud of all of us. We fucking did it. All right, we have a lot of news to get to. Let's hit the hot notes. Hot notes.

[B]

You were the only one who really had faith in the voters, Batman. I'm ashamed of myself. We're all ashamed, Batman. While we were ready to desert the ship, you never lost your courage. You brought us safely through. I never would have believed that the.

[C]

Polls could be wrong.

[A]

There have been other candidates who trusted too much in the polls.

[B]

Mayor Linseed, and they found out that.

[A]

It'S the votes that count.

[B]

Smart politicians trust the voters, not the polls.

[A]

After all, if you can't trust the voters, whom can you trust? That's right. One in one. Batmans agree. So let's talk about polling. This story is from the Hill. President Biden's reelection campaign sent a memo to news outlets Tuesday asserting that there's disparity in the way the media has been covering polling so far following the coverage of the latest set of polls that show Biden trailing former President Trump in a hypothetical 2024 rematch. The memo from the Biden Harris 2024 communications director Michael Tyler was sent first exclusively to the Hill. Nice scoop, the Hill. It will be sent to political directors, editors, producers at major media outlets and television networks, according to the memoir. Despite the hair on fire, sky is falling tone we've seen from media coverage over the last few days. Political predictions more than a year out tend to look a little different a year later. Gallup predicted an eight point loss for President Obama, only for him to win handedly a year later. A year out from the 2022 midterms, every major outlet similarly predicted a grim forecast for President Biden. That's from the memo. Tyler cited polling that showed Biden leading Trump or is tied with the former president from October 17 through November 6, including polls from NPR, PBS, Marist, Yahoo News, YouGov, USA, Suffolk and Quinnipiac University, among others. Quote, in recent days, the New York Times Siena College Poll has gotten nonstop attention to the exclusion of nearly every other poll. But if you zoom out, you'll see a more complete picture. There have been eight polls in the past three weeks showing President Biden leading or tied with Donald Trump. That's what Tyler said in the memoir. Much of the polling coverage this week by major media outlets have picked apart the New York Times Siena College poll published Sunday that proved dismal to Biden in a number of ways, including Trump leading Biden in five out of six critical battleground states that will likely determine the outcome of the 2024 election. The poll also found Biden losing support among young voters and black voters, two key demographics. Now, a CBS News poll released Sunday also found Trump leading Biden in a hypothetical matchup, 51, 48. Now, Tyler, in the memo highlighted that voters are supportive of Biden's accomplishments, such as capping the price of insulin, making investments in infrastructure and lowering the price of prescription drugs. And here's a quote, another critical point being overlooked. No president has ever run for reelection with a record of accomplishment that is as popular as the one President Biden will be running on over the next year. The Hill says Biden is consistently pulled badly when voters are asked about his handling of the economy. With stubborn inflation easing very little over the last year, it's actually been halved. But okay. The Hill Tyler claimed in the memo that media outlets are fretting over the same polls that have gotten it wrong time and time again and highlighted the campaign's paid media campaigns and outreach to Latino, black, young and women voters. Now, earlier Tuesday, White House press secretary that's Karine Jean Pierre also argued to reporters during the daily briefing that the latest set of polls should be treated with skepticism, pointing to recent examples of surveys failing to predict what would actually happen at the ballot box. Biden allies have been looking to mitigate the fallout over recent polling, working to tamp down Democratic anxieties. While some current and former Biden aides acknowledged the latest poll painted an unflattering picture, they dismissed the idea that the sky is falling on the president's chances. Keep in mind this is before what happened on Tuesday night. Now, the latest memo is reminiscent of the one the White House sent to the media outlets in September, urging them to ramp up scrutiny of the House Republicans impeachment inquiry into Biden. So there we go.

[C]

All right, A.G. i mean, we've seen it. Clickbait. They want to cause. They want to cause. They need people to read their articles. And so what better do that than to cause fear? So hopefully that this does something. But I'm not putting any beans on it. It's the mainstream media right now and unfortunately, that's where we're at. This one's from local ABC affiliate WAPT 16 in Mississippi. We had talked about this. The work continued Wednesday in Hinds county the day after a ballot shortage led to long lines at polling. LOC election workers spent the morning counting absentee ballots after a very late night Tuesday after a judge ruled that voting hours would be extended in Hinds county after widespread ballot shortage, while Mississippi Democratic Chairman Rep. Shake Taylor said the party filed a lawsuit asking a judge to extend voting in Hinds county until 8pm the polls were scheduled to close at 7 statewide, while the Mississippi Republican Party filed a motion to intervene and an emergency appeal with the Mississippi Supreme Court in an effort to vacate Hinds County Chancery court judge Dwayne Thomas's order to extend voting hours in the county until 8pm why would you do that if you believe everyone has a right to vote? Why? Oh, I don't know. Because it's a predominantly black county now. State statute requires the county to have ballots to accommodate 60% of a precinct's voters. Hines county election commissioner said voter turnout has been so high that they have surpassed that percentage, forcing them to print more ballots and deliver them to the precincts that have run out. Now. They couldn't estimate how many precincts ran out of ballots because calls have been coming into Hines County Election Commission all day from poll managers asking for more ballots. District 2 Election Commissioner Ratoya McGee said there were enough ballots delivered for 70% of voters in each precinct. McGee said some poll managers didn't pull out all the ballots they were supplied before calling to ask for more, which is also sketchy now. Voting lines were were long. They were long all day at Wildwood Baptist Church in Clinton. The polling manager there said the voting site is a split precinct with two types of ballots for voters and they ran out of one style of ballot. She said the election commissioner didn't print enough ballots. And Deborah Dixon, who was unopposed on the ballot as District 3 Hines county supervisor, said she waited in line for more than an hour to get a ticket to vote at Timberland Elementary School. Now, Dixon said after voters were given a ticket, then they had to get into another line to wait to get a ballot to vote. She said it at about 6:45pm that just a few minutes before Election Commissioner Jamal Clark brought some additional ballots to try and remedy that situation. So we're gonna keep an eye on the story. It all looks very sketchy and not surprising, to be honest with you.

[A]

Yes, that's what we mean by systemic, my friends.

[C]

Yes.

[A]

This is from Emily Shapiro at abc. There's a suspect now in custody in connection with the murder of a Detroit synagogue president. Her Name is Samantha Wall. Wall was found stabbed to death outside of her home on October 21st. Detroit Police said last month there was no evidence to point to the crime being motivated by anti Semitism. Police did not release the suspect's name. Quote, the details of the investigation will remain confidential at this time to ensure the integrity of the important steps that remain. Okay. Though the arrest is an encouraging development in our desire to bring closure to Ms. Wall's family, it does not represent the conclusion of our work in this case, he said. Now, Wall had a long career in politics. We've talked about her. She worked with several elected officials over the years. She recently served as a political director for Michigan Attorney General Dana Nestle in her reelection campaign. And Dana said Sam was a kind person, as kind as I've ever known. She was driven by her sincere love of her community, state and country. Sam truly used her faith and activism to create a better place for everyone. Now, Wool also worked as a deputy district director for Representative Alyssa Slotkin. She's the Democrat from Michigan. Quote, she did for our team as deputy director, what came so naturally to her, helping others and serving constituents. This is from Slotkin. Separately, in politics and in the Jewish community, she dedicated her short life to building understanding across faiths, bringing light in the face of darkness, unquote. We'll keep an eye on this investigation for you as well.

[C]

Thank you. And this is a very strong warning for this next story. I don't want to say that quickly and then just jump into it. The story's hard to hear, it's hard to read, but there is some justice to be served. This is a content warning for sexual assault. This is from the New York Times. A former CIA officer who worked at the American Embassy in Mexico City pleaded guilty on Tuesday to drugging and sexually assaulting more than two dozen women over a period of 14 years. This is from the Justice Department. Under an arrangement with prosecutors, the former officer, Brian Jeffrey Raymond of La Mesa, California, pleaded guilty in U.S. district Court in Washington to four of the 25 criminal charges that he had faced, one count each for sexual abuse, abuse of sexual conduct, coercion and enticement, and transportation of obscene material. Now, in exchange for his plea, prosecutors agreed to drop the rest of the charges and recommend a sentence between 24 and 30 years with a lifetime supervised release. Sentencing is set for September 2024. Now, Mr. Raymond's crimes date far back as 2006 and as recently as 2020. It took place in multiple countries where he had been working for US government. This is what the prosecutors told him. Mr. Raymond admitted to drugging and photographing or recording dozens of women while they were naked or partially naked at the government provided housing in Mexico and at least one other country which was unnamed in the court documents. Now, three of the criminal counts that he had faced were for crimes that had occurred in the Washington D.C. area. That's according to the indictment. In total, Mr. Raymond abused 28 women over the 14 year period. This is a quote. Many of the recordings show Raymond touching and manipulating the victims bodies while they were unconscious or incapable of consent. This is from the Justice Department. They said that in a news release on Tuesday and went on to say Raymond attempted to delete the explicit photographs and videos depicting the victims after learning about the criminal investigation. Mr. Raymond's lawyer, Howard Bernard Katzoff could not immediately be reached for comment on Tuesday evening. In a statement on Tuesday, the CIA said CIA condemns in the strongest terms the crimes committed by former agency officer Brian Jeffrey Raymond, who was arrested in 2020. As this case shows, we're committed to engaging with law enforcement to ensure that justice is served. The agency added that it had taken significant steps to combat sexual assault among its ranks, including the establishment of an office focused on sexual assault and prevention. Now the U.S. attorney's office for the District of Columbia also declined to comment in the story. Mr. Raymond's most recent assaults, according to prosecutors, they happened in 2019 and 2020 in Mexico City where he had been living while on assignment as an American in American Embassy. He raped six different women while in Mexico with each assault following the same pattern. That's according to the court documents. Mr. Raymond met the women through dating apps like Bumble or Tinder. He spoke to them in Spanish and presented himself as a high level embassy employee in whom the government had reposed special trust. That's according to agreed upon statement of facts filed in court on Tuesday. Now he drugged the women's drinks, led them back to his embassy Lee's department where he was sexually assault and photographed them while they were unconscious, according to court records. And again, I'm sorry, I know this story is very hard to hear. Now in some cases the women regained consciousness as Mr. Raymond was assaulting them. The FBI said the State Department began investigating him in May of 2020 after the Mexican police responded to a call at Mr. Raymond's Mexico City apartment for report of a naked hysterical woman desperately screaming for help from the balcony. Thank God for people who actually pay attention to this now. The woman told the police that she had blacked out after drinking wine that Mr. Raymond had served her and did not remember having sex with him, though she had injuries indicating vaginal and anal penetration. This is from the prosecutors. Investigators said they discovered a trail of damning evidence on his electronic devices, including searches on his phones for passed out girl and multiple videos of passed out women in YouTube search history on his laptop, investigators found searches for passed out Ambien and Ambien and alcohol on passed out along with other similar queries. The authorities also recovered about 400 photos and videos of the victims on his icloud drive, along with dozens of messages he had exchanged with the women. Now, the federal authorities arrested Raymond in San Diego in October 2020 and initially charged him with photographing a woman he met on Tinder in Virginia in 2017 while she was unconscious. That's what so original charge was. Now, he was subsequently charged in connection with the additional victims in a superseding indictment in February of 2023. Thank God.

[A]

Yeah, that's. That's a hard one to hear.

[C]

I just, it just infuriates me. You know, they talk about the grooming of children and throwing innocent people, drag queens, transgender people under the bus, in the bathrooms, all of the stuff. It's these guys that are in high ranking positions in government, that are in the churches, that are men of God. They're teachers. Another one in Florida, a teacher, elementary school. Yeah. I'm grateful there's people out there doing this work. And again, I'm sorry that the story, we chose the story for a reason. It's important that you all know that these, they're being held accountable. The crimes are horrifying, but the son of a bitch is going to be going to jail for a very long time, I hope.

[A]

Thank you for taking that story. I couldn't read that one, of course. But we are now in desperate need of good news. So if you have the good news, send it to us dailybeanspod.com and click on contact. But before that, I'm going to have a very uplifting conversation with the former head of the Democratic Party in Ohio, David Pepper. You may know him from his substack, Pepper, or I think it's Pepper Spectives. Yeah, Pepper Spectives. And I hope you enjoy that conversation. Thank you so much. We'll be right back after these messages.

[B]

We'll be right back.

[A]

Hey, everybody. Welcome back. I couldn't think of anyone I wanted to talk to more today than author, former chair of the Ohio Democrats Democratic Party, David Pepper. Hi, David, how are you today?

[B]

I'm having a great Day after a great night last night. So good to be with you again.

[A]

It's good to see you, my friend. Yeah, huge night for Democrats across the country. And I wanted to talk a little bit about my home state of Ohio and how incredible the wins were for Dems and for bodily autonomy and for school boards, everything. Tell me what the takeaways are today after what we saw last night in Ohio.

[B]

You know, I think the takeaway is there's a, there's a level at which government can attack basic freedom and rights and democracy and manage to offend and fire up not just Democrats, but actually Republicans too, and independents. Ohio's enough is enough of a, you know, of a mixed state that leans Republican in a lot of ways is that when you lose like they've lost in August and again last night, it's not because they only had Democrats against them. We saw last night and again this issue one that was gonna. The issue one which locks in reproductive freedom as an individual right now in Ohio, not to be infringed on by the government. It passed in some very conservative places, Geauga county, very conservative. This isn't sort of suburbia, this is more like almost Tea Party Libertarian, voted yes decisively. A lot of large suburban counties, the ring counties that often Republicans run up big numbers and voted yes. Delaware county, which when I ran statewide was the second biggest Republican county by how much they would gain a margin? Almost 60, 40. Yes. So it really is a powerful, I think, rebuke to how much and this is. And it very much tracks August. People here are getting tired of seeing democracy subverted. And they see it and they're getting tired of seeing a government that already looks corrupt, you know, not only try to infringe on rights like an abortion ban, no exceptions, that led to a 10 year old rape victim going to Indiana. But to defend their extreme policy, attack democracy itself as best they can to thwart majority will, which they did by this thing in August to raise the threshold. Then they rewrite the language of the ballot. So it looks bizarre. We saw through all of it in trounced yesterday. So yeah, it's a really good day and I love that it's again, it wasn't just one party doing it. Although I don't care how we win, let's win. But when you see that it's more than just that, that's even, I think more powerful a rebuke to what they've been doing here.

[A]

Yeah, I mean at least five really red counties went yes on issue one. And there were a handful more that were extremely close, that, you know, very red counties. And yeah, I think that does speak to Ohioans just not wanting their rights taken away. And you mentioned August. Let's talk about that sneaky August election, the one that Republicans, you know, they. They wanted to not have those August specials because no one turned out to them. But then they wanted. They had this one. They changed their own rules to have this one. And I think it's very important to notice that issue one passed by a huge margin, 57%. But that wouldn't have made the threshold that they wanted to change a requirement of 60% of the vote in order to amend the state constitution. And I think that's getting past a lot of people today. But that August election was critical.

[B]

It was. And they knew that the polling was always around high 50s. And in a state like Ohio, like not all states, but most states that are somewhat swingy, 60% these days in the very polarized world we're in is so hard. They knew that would basically kill almost anything that had any contest to it. And obviously this issue does. So, yeah, this is an absolute shellacking. I mean, they lost in Butler County, Delaware county, as we talked about, but they, but we still didn't get to 60. And that's how much that 60% thing was a true poison pill for democracy that would have killed direct democracy in the state of Ohio. And that's what they want. I mean, that's what they clearly want. And they know in states like Ohio that they are in unaccountable power because of gerrymandered state houses. The biggest threat to that unaccountable power is the people. The people don't agree. And so if they can get rid of our ability to go to the ballot like we did yesterday, they want to do that because that is, in the end, their biggest threat more than anything else. And so, yeah, August was an end run, an illegal one that was on a day that was actually illegal to have an election. Believe it or not, that was their end run to try and not just kill this measure midstream, which it would have done, but also kill future measures where the people again and again, you know, we legalize marijuana as well, are saying to a state house, you're out of touch, you're gerrymandered, you're corrupt, you're not doing what we as a strong majority believe we're going to do it ourselves. That's a threat to them. So they tried to kill in August. And my guess is in other states and Here, they're going to keep trying to do that. One thing I always try and preach is celebrate for about a moment when you win. But the closer these people get to losing power, it's like Donald Trump on January 6, right? The closer they get to losing power, the more lawless they get, the more defiant they get, the more dishonest they'll get and worse, the more they'll abuse power. That's what you need to expect. And so I don't expect them to all of a sudden now say, oh, okay, they're already not saying this. The voters have spoken. We now respect the mandate that a woman has an individual. Right. They're already saying we're going to defy it and we have to expect that. And the fight we are in is to overcome people who are willing to do that. And we'll do it every single time.

[A]

I want to ask you about that because your speaker of the House is saying, we're still going to fight this fight, the one that they just got clobbered on.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Talk about being toned out. Like, read the room, bro.

[B]

The problem is their room is gerrymandered districts. They don't care. They did this. We passed constitutional amendments to end gerrymandering. 70, 30. They ignored them completely. They defied them. So we're talking about a group of people and this is why I did a thing the other day. This Mike Johnson, he's the same type. These are people who've literally come to power. Their entire rise to power has been through gerrymander districts where they often have no opposition. Mike Johnson didn't have an opponent until he was in Congress. His state House runs were unopposed. So their entire worldview is actually not democracy. They haven't been part of it. So everything they do that we think is so strange and like you said, read the room. The room they've all been sitting in, their whole careers has been not a room of democracy. It's been they get to be in power without the people mattering. And so that's what. Until we fix some of these deeper issues of gerrymandering, voter suppression and all that, that's the kind of politician that we're going to be dealing with. We have to run against them all and we have to be committed. So committed. And we're going to do this in a while next year, one year from now, my hope is we are celebrating that we ended gerrymandering here by putting a citizen led commission in place. That in the end is the only way you're going to Change their instinct, which is to be lawless and to defy majority will. But yeah, right now, that's exactly what they're planning. And they don't even pretend to hide it because back in their districts, they don't think it matters what they say. They get to stay in power no matter what.

[A]

Yeah, I mean, we saw it. It worked in Michigan. We're seeing it now in Wisconsin. You know, all these incredible, you know, Mark Elias and his team getting these maps thrown out that were SCOTUS allowed to be used in 2022. It'll probably happen in New York, all kinds of places. But yeah, even Rick Santorum admitted on Fox last night this is why. He said this is why pure democracy is dangerous. Because what? Because the ideas of the people win the day? Like your shitty candidates and your shitty ideas don't win when democracy happens? Is that, Is that your actual complaint, Mr. Santorum? I mean, he literally quiet part out loud.

[B]

Well, the whole point of my books has been to say that that's what they're about. They literally we. We on the left. And I don't. It's not just left like mainstream America. We think it's about elections. You say what you're for, you're confident the majority will agree with you. You say what you're for, you go win, and then you get to do what you say. The far right, actually, that's not their game, folks. That's not their battle. They know that their viewpoints are unpopular. They know it. Mitch McConnell knows it. The Koch brothers know it. They're not trying to get elected on what they're for because that's a loser for them. Their goal, as you said, Santorum sort of acknowledged it. Subvert democracy enough to lock in unpopular views over a long time. That's why they gerrymander. That's why they tried issue one in August. It's an admission we can't win on our ideas. They're unpopular. So we have to subvert democracy enough so that we win even when we lose. That's literally what their goal is. And so, of course, direct democracy, fair districts, 50% plus one rules, scare the hell out of them because they know they're somewhere in the low 40s or lower on most issues that they, that they advocate.

[A]

Yeah, that's something else that was pretty incredible, not just in Ohio, but across the country in these elections, the school boards, the rebuke of, of the, of the Christo fascist and Christian nationalist school board takeover. You know, last week I had a gentleman on named Dallas McLaughlin who is working on a recall here in Temecula Valley in California. We're seeing it in Glendale, we're seeing it in Los Angeles where people asleep at the wheel and they're just taking over these school boards. Huge rebuke of that in Ohio. Talk about that.

[B]

Yeah, I'm still getting all the numbers. But I did this little thing the other day in my own community because the sneak attack here is they know their book banning and extremism is not what people want in their schools. So their new strategy is organized really well, but for the most part just try and get people to not pay attention. And you vote for people who had nice looking yard signs. So the good news is you can figure it out pretty quickly if you do a little research. Who Moms for Liberty and these other. We had one Ohio called Values Voters Supported. And so I did a little experiment. I picked a neighborhood near me and I walked and took a picture of the yard signs. In five minutes you could see, oh my God, this person was a January 6th, this person's a total book banner. And here's the great news. All across Ohio, people do that research. And the one area I looked at one of the best school systems in Ohio, the two bombs of Liberty people destroyed, it was three to one, absolute blowout. Very high turnout in that community. I think driven by that. And someone who's done this work across Ohio is saying that I think now I don't want them to win anywhere. So any loss is painful for that community. But I think somewhere north of 70% of them lost yesterday, so they did win in some places. I feel for any community to get some of these folks on their boards. But this day and age, when you're winning 70% more, when they're the ones who are more organized, our candidates are often just, you know, local people who want to do a good job. They don't have the money, they don't have the political operation. So when they're winning 70% of the time, that's also clearly something happening. People do not want this extremism in their state level and they clearly don't want it anywhere near their local schools. So I'm going to send out more information on that. But and the lesson though is we've got to build stronger here. We can't say to people, yes, do your own research, but we've got to have more of an apparatus that. So we don't only win 70% but we really keep it very minimal whenever these people go to these school boards because anywhere they Win, they will turn things upside down, I'm afraid to say, 100%.

[A]

So without abortion on the ballot in 2024 in Ohio, what is, what is the message? And this is going to be true not just for Ohio, but everywhere. What, what is the message for Democrats in 2024?

[B]

I think we see where the people are on some of these key issues. You know, this, we, we had a legalization of marijuana on the ballot as well. It passed. Similarly, we saw a vote that was sort of a straight up or down democracy vote in August. And I think the candidates running, you know, we've had this bizarre week where like that New York Times poll made it look like Trump's gonna get reelected, then we absolutely destroy Republicans in Virginia, New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania. Andy Beshear. I literally am looking at Kentucky from a great public servant wins without apology for being pro choice and other things he's done. I think it's sort of, you know, if our brain is broken in a way that sometimes in national polls it looks bad, don't run around and panic, but do look at it and think our issues, like I said, their extremism is not where the people are. Our issues are mainstream. And make sure that how we run, people see that, People see that we're the ones who supported your freedom, whether it was democracy itself or whether it was legalization, whether or not it was reproductive freedom, and to somehow make sure, especially in tougher states, that we're translating that better through our candidates, whether or not it's on the ballot. Because I think it's pretty clear this isn't just last night. We have a winning streak going back to Kansas last August in a very year, and I was a candidate in 10 and 14. So I lived this painfully. This is the year, these are the cycles that we're supposed to be losing everything because we, the White House, we won in Kansas last August, we flipped state houses in Michigan, Pennsylvania last November. Every election denier running for secretary of state in a swing state lost last November, got trounced. We win Wisconsin in April. We now saw last night we got a winning streak going. And so my main advice is don't let the federal election distract us from the state level advocacy. That's the ground floor of building to these wins. So go into next year. Make sure the people see where we are and issues they value and don't lose sight of the fact that most of these wins in, in states that we're talking about were bottom up led state House races, grassroots people getting signatures, you know, school board races that bottom up makes us much stronger than than if all we do is focus at the highest level on down and then we end up not running in half these places. So there's a lot of lessons to learn about messaging and a lot of lessons to learn about organizing. The reasons that we have this winning streak going need to continue going to next year and build on it and don't get ourselves into where we often go in the past, which is all of a sudden we only care about a few swing states and a few federal races and we forget about everything else that hasn't worked and what's working. We just need to keep rolling and making it even bigger and scaling it up going to next year.

[A]

Yeah, I agree. And yeah, it's just like trickle down economics. That's, you know, you need a bottom up middle out. As President Biden says, all politics are local politics and I think that that's where we focus our energy. It'll trickle up in the right ways. So thank you so much. Can you tell everybody where to find you, where to follow you? Tell them about Pet Perspectives because your information is so valuable if you really.

[B]

Like everything I've said. I've written these books that walk through a lot of it. Saving Democracy and Laboratories of Autocracy, which is when we first met. I'm on Twitter. I'm quite noisy on Twitter so I'd love it if you follow me at davidpepper. But the place I'm really getting a lot of this stuff through these days versus getting caught up in Twitter algorithms. But I'm not leaving Twitter. But you just don't see everything. If you want to hear more on this, I have a thing called Pet Perspectives at Substack. It's free. Unless you're taking my voting rights class. Almost everything I do is just free. And so just look up David Pepper at Substack and you'll find it. And it's a way to get a lot of this sort of day to day democracy. And I don't just focus on Ohio. I try and Ohio is often a bellwether, unfortunately for tax and democracy. But my goal is to really keep talking about this nationally. And so whether I'm in Florida, Iowa, Oklahoma, I'll be in California this week. I'm trying to get people to really focus in on these state level battles for democracy which if we win those is how we really win the long term battle for democracy.

[A]

Well David, thank you so much for your work. Congratulations and I hope to be speaking to you again across and over 2024 with the same kind of results.

[B]

Awesome. Thanks so much. Take care. Thanks for doing all you're doing.

[A]

Thank you, everybody. Stick around. We'll be right back with the good news, everybody. Welcome back. It's time for the good news, everyone.

[B]

Then good news, everyone.

[A]

Good news, good news. And boy, do we need it today. If you have any good news confessions, corrections. You want to play? What the. You want to tell me whatever animal you have. I'll just guess what kind of animal it is. And that seems like a much easier game, Dana.

[C]

I think so too. What if we got something wrong?

[A]

But I can imagine now people are gonna try to stump us with like capybaras and axolotls and shit.

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

Yeah, for sure. If you want to tell us a story about the elections, where you are, what happened on Tuesday, where you live, those good news stories we want to hear, those would be stories. Shout outs to local businesses, shout outs to people you love, family, friends, your small business, whatever you're doing. Anything, anything at all you want to send to us, please do [e-mail] and click on contact. First up from Kirsten in PA1 pronoun she and her. Is it PA01? PA01 PA1. How do you guys say it? I'm interested. Hey, Leguminati. Kirsten says I had to send over an update from the swingiest county in the country, Bucks County, Pennsylvania. We brought you up at the beginning of the show, Kirsten. After an incredibly hard fought election season, the results are in. Dems won the county commissioner's majority, which is key as that determines who controls the Board of Election management. Since Trump filed several lawsuits in our county after the 2020 election, we could not afford to have MAGA folks in charge for 2024, so we're excited to have turned back that threat. Also, Dems sweep the Central Buck school board was one of the areas that had been taken over by Moms for Liberty in 2021 and had done stuff like ban Pride flags and ban books and make life miserable for LGBTQ kids. They got handed their hats. Also, Dem swept the Penridge School board seats. That's what I was talking about earlier. That's where Hillsdale College affiliated company Vermillion Education was contracted to whitewash the curriculum at the behest of M4L Moms for Liberty board members. Pretty sure that Vermillion, whose owner told Moms for Liberty he was the fox in the hen house, is going to get the heave ho in December. We also ensured that Moms for Liberty candidates did not take the majority in several other school boards and the county ROW offices were swept by Dems. It's a good day here. Massive thanks are due to the thousands of folks who turned out to help sanity regain control here in our community. Thanks for all you do, AG and dg. Look at this picture.

[C]

That's fantastic. Joy and happiness right there. That's democracy working.

[A]

Hell yes. Congratulations, Bucks County. Congratulations everywhere are in order.

[C]

Got it. All right. It's from Nancy. Pronouns she and her hello Leguminati Love. Listening to the pod gives me hope. I'm from Virginia and was at the polls on Tuesday handing out sample ballots for the winning message. Just wanted to say that Henrico county is pronounced Henrico, which we learned yesterday as well. Attaches a picture of my neighbor's adorable English bulldogs. Boomer is a larger one. And Wheezy. I love them. I'm giving names. I'm giving the butt massage. Oh my God, this is so cute. Bulldogs are also the cutest freaking puppies on the planet.

[A]

Oh a police. They're so adorable. But Boomer and Wheezy are fantastic names. Look at Wheezy. She's so beautiful. What a beautiful little face they both have. Thank you for that. Next up from anonymous pronoun she and her hi ladies. I'm ready to let you know about the get out the vote postcard that I received. Oh, that I received. I think the writer may be a beans listener. I live in the Deep Creek section of Chesapeake, Virginia. The card was written with many different pens of different colors and looked amazing. The writer signed off by saying, bring five people with you. I voted a straight blue ticket today at the Chesapeake Central Library. I'm a goober who didn't snap a picture of the postcard to show it to you. To you. So instead, here's Clancy the cat and Rocky the dog. That's me under the dog. I'm sure you'll have no trouble seeing that he is a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel. By the way, I'm pretty sure that's the kind of dog that Pete struck has, my anonymous friend. Love to all look at the sweetness.

[C]

I just want to appreciate the faith you have in us. I am sure you'll have no problem saying that this is the Cavalier King Charles Spaniel. You are correct. That would have been my first guess.

[A]

Only because I see Pete's every other week. I I've had probably maybe like a 60 chance of getting it right.

[C]

I love that you're like, I see one every day And I'm still at 60%. Okay, Sherry. This is from Sherry Pronoun. She and her hi beans queens. Here's my cat, me if you can. I sent a good news a while ago, so I've added a picture of my tripod Bucky to remind you. Here's my captain. He's the dictionary under fraidy cat, but it's also a super cat protecting us when random cats come to the back door. He's not so good at hiding.

[A]

Oh my God.

[C]

Look at his face.

[A]

My cats hide like that too. They're like, you can't see me and the whole ass is hanging out of this. Whatever it is. How adorable. Beautiful babies. Thank you. You want to take this next one too? It's pretty short.

[C]

I mean, sure, but you're gonna have to guess. This is from Kevin. This is from Kevin. Pronouns he and they. What the hell is in that shell? A few clues to help you ID my girl Mallory. She's 18 years old, will never grow bigger than your palm. Her native habitat includes Ontario, Quebec and eastern United States. When threatened, she can release a nasty smell that her species is famous for.

[A]

The stinky ones are the musk turtles. I know this, right? I think so.

[C]

Totally.

[A]

Stinky turtles. Let's see, let's see. Common musk turtle, Eastern musk turtle. I am two for two. And what the hell is in that shell?

[C]

I had a girl. Stink pot turtle or Sternothoris odoratus if you fancy.

[A]

If you're fancy.

[C]

Kevin.

[A]

Kevin. Thank you, stinky turtle. All right, next up from Eva. Pronoun she and her. Or Ava. I'm sorry if I'm pronouncing that incorrectly. Hi Ag and Dana. A few weeks ago you had someone on from Blue Wave Postcards. I've been writing letters and sending postcards with other organizations for years, so I thought I would try Blue wave. I ordered 100 postcards. I didn't realize this, but the postcards are pre printed with the message they want to communicate. Plus they provide pre printed address labels. Holy smokes. This is a game changer for me. All I had to do was affix the address labels and stamps which I bought myself, write a couple of encouraging words to vote and sign my first name. I completed 100 postcards in just under an hour. I will be writing with them again and again. Everybody, that's Blue Wave postcards. My question. A while ago you had someone on your show who works to register folks to vote who have difficulty registering due to issues with identification, etc. I don't remember enough to say more, but I do remember she wrote a little pink book. Ah, yes, yes, yes. This is the voter id.

[C]

Ugh.

[A]

The voter ID book. Lady Cat Calvin. That's it.

[C]

Look at you. Well done. I was just waiting patiently.

[A]

The little pink book, Cat Calvin. American Identity Crisis, I think is the name of the book. No Pod Vet Tax. Today we have three cats, but it's impossible to get them all in the same photo. I know your pain. I could comb through the hundreds and hundreds of photos I have of each of them, but instead, I've attached a photo of Lake Tahoe and Sand harbor from the Nevada side. Lake Tahoe is my sole place. And a couple of very amateur shots of the eclipse taken in, oh, Winnemucca, Nevada, which we traveled to from Santa Cruz because it was the closest place for us for full annularity. Thanks for all you do, both of you. Oh, very cool pictures. Oh, Lake Tahoe is beautiful.

[C]

Isn't really is.

[A]

Oh, there the answer. Cat Calvin.

[C]

Oh.

[A]

American Idol. Job Ag In Crisis Notes from an Accidental Activist.

[C]

Yeah. Yeah.

[A]

She's truly amazing. So check out her book. Little pink book that's called American Identity in Crisis Notes from an Accidental Activist. Okay, than all. So much for sending in your good news. I really needed that today. I know Dana did, too. But we did get such incredible good news from these elections. I'm going to be riding this high for a while, so I appreciate all of you and all of the work that I know you all put in to make this happen. We did this, y'. All. We did this. So congratulations.

[C]

We're going to do it again next November.

[A]

Oh, we're going to do it again. Every time we have an election is what we're going to do. But, yeah, this is a lot of momentum for us over the last year, so congrats. Do you have any final thoughts before we get out of here today, my friend?

[C]

Honestly, I don't. I'm still. If you get the vaccines and you get them together, just be prepared. I cannot lift my left arm. Like, it's been a. It's been a comedy of errors today, but also, it just sort of wiped me out. But I'm grateful I did it. I'm grateful for science, and I know I'm going to be more protected going into the winter months. So those are my final thoughts. Just take care of yourself. Get vaccinated. It's worth it.

[A]

Yep. And all your upcoming HRC galas and campaigns to raise a bunch of money for really incredible causes, because you are a beautiful person, my friend. I love you.

[C]

Thank you. I love you too, everybody.

[A]

I love you also. We'll be back in your ears tomorrow. Until then, please take care of yourselves. Take care of each other, take care of the planet, take care of your mental health, take care of your family.

[C]

You voted blue over Q and you took everyone with you.

[A]

Thank you. I've been AG and I've been dg. And them's the beans.

[B]

Refried beans. I like refried beans.