 Hello, everyone. I am back with a phenomenal candidate. You already know who she is. Her name is Donna. I'm running in the 31st Congressional District of Texas I didn't think about that number because there's so many candidates that I've talked to lately Donna. Welcome back to the program Thank you so much for having me Mike. This is so exciting to be back with you this late in the cycle Really appreciate it. I really appreciate you coming back The last time we talked was before your runoff election You won that election and on the night of the election I was blowing up your Twitter DMs trying to figure out what was going on because I couldn't see the results and I couldn't figure out if you won or not and then I saw your live stream and You had like a little bit of tears in your eyes and I'm like wait Are these happy tears or sad tears like I need to know and I'm going crazy But you won and we're super close and now so much has changed to where you've been endorsed now by Bernie Sanders Andrew Yang Elizabeth Warren Julian Castro Beto O'Rourke and even though I don't like him personally I think that he has influence in Texas which we need so talk to us about your campaign and everything that's happened because so much has changed This is true so much has changed yet so much is very similar in the way. We're running our campaign our campaign is still one of the most grassroots campaign ever and I want to start off by thanking all of your viewers Because when we were in the primary one among twelve candidates It was your viewers with their small donations with their support that Really really pushed us over the edge and got us here and to this day Mike. I can count easily how many people have maxed out on our campaign and We have thousands of donors. They are all small donors And I'm so proud to say that we have one of the most grassroots campaign And I owe it really a lot to folks like yourself who've gotten involved who have taken interest in our campaign And we are here and remember before the runoff. I said we are on a winning path I feel that we're gonna flip this district. We're gonna make you guys proud and I'm so excited to be here with you today Well, it's just it's so incredible because when we first talked almost a year ago now I was so excited about your campaign because you had like this really phenomenal pitch You're saying look this district is like 2.9 points away from being flipped from red to blue and nobody's paying attention to it So I'm running I'm trying to flip this district and it was astonishing to me that like this Opportunity potentially to get a progressive in the seat wasn't being taken up by anyone So, you know, I had to jump on that opportunity to elevate your campaign My viewers saw it and they obviously saw something because you're a phenomenal candidate You check all the boxes Medicare for all UBI. So, you know, it's nice to see that like everything that we've done It hasn't been in vain right because I think a lot of progressives felt so demoralized myself included after the primaries when Bernie Sanders lost But now we're to a point where we're seeing so much success at the lower levels with with candidates such as yourself And Cory Bush Jamal Bowman that it feels like what we're doing is starting to pay off and it's a really good feeling But before we go any further, I want to show my viewers an ad that you just put out called a brighter future This is an incredible ad and I think that if you haven't seen the interviews that I've done with Donna before speaking to the viewers. Here's a little taste of her When I started out my career really early on I watched the parking lot empty out completely Every manufacturing worker laid off their jobs sent to Mexico You could work 40 50 60 hours every week for years and one day everything disappears Just like that You don't know where you're going to get your rent from Or how you're going to get your groceries and you have no health insurance That makes no sense to me Over 55 million people file for unemployment in this pandemic While billionaires got wealthier by hundreds of billions of dollars Something doesn't add up My name is Donna. I'm an I'm a computer engineer and I'm running for U.S. Congress I'm just a regular person that gets up every morning to go to work and I've never thought about running for office But every day my mom calls me and she tells me about some woman who's been brutally killed or has been exploited Asking me to do something That's why I'm running I've helped others find better jobs I led a non-profit that provides free training and education to anybody who wants it We helped thousands and what I realized is we could do much more But this election it's not about me or my story It's not about democrats or republicans It's about our future and how we're going to bring together everyone who's being left out Into our political process because that's what makes us americans. That's our american dream We can get healthcare for every single american. In fact, we've already paid for it Technology should be driving down the cost of education to nothing Not putting our kids in debt And americans who have worked their entire lives to build wealth for this country Should be able to put a down payment on their home and retire someday We can't wait for someone else to solve our problems We've risen to every challenge neighbors help neighbors during hark and harvey Americans across every state stood beside black americans against police brutality Healthcare workers put their lives on the line so we could survive this pandemic Together we will bring solutions to our communities To our towns to our city and to our country Join me. Let's build a brighter future So donna tell us a little bit about the ad and uh, what you were trying to communicate if it wasn't already obvious But you're thinking and why you think this is the right message to the uh voters in district 31 Yeah, so, you know, you started off pointing out the spectrum of individuals that have gotten behind our campaign, right All the way from bernie sanders to beto or rork and andrew yang And it just shows that when you run a campaign that's open minded That's really reaching out to every single person In this district across this country trying to appeal to them in the way that they feel like they Their challenges are being addressed and that's what we're trying to do with this small ad as well We're trying to tell people look We just cannot wait for other people to come in or longtime politicians to necessarily solve our challenges Sometimes many of these people who have been in congress a long time forget and become disconnected with Challenges of the everyday person getting up going to work for a living trying to live a decent life And as you know right now we are at a crossroads in the history of america We have a very divided country which we've been hearing over and over again over the last four years And what I believe is that all of us at the end of the day are trying to raise our families trying to have a decent life And trying not to have Daily economic anxiety This is the story we're telling in our ad and what i'm saying is we have a lot of things to look forward to We have always risen to every challenge and if we come together we can do this And I know that a lot of candidates and challenges first time candidates For example like myself. We are still challenged, you know, we are still an inexpensive campaign because We just don't have the Hundreds of you know people that can get behind us with 28 hundreds I'm a first time candidate as your viewers know that it's never ran for office before But we try to run a very strategic campaign. We were very careful and Focused on how are we using our money to be the most effective? And that's how I use all of my background to do that And I think a lot of first-time candidates Often will want to take the same path as other politicians and we can't do that So we have to find our own path to succeed and to represent our district And I think our campaign has found that and that's what we're trying to reflect In this, you know small video Yeah, and I think you're doing a phenomenal job I wanted to ask you because you're running against Republican John Carter And what I've seen now with a lot of uh progressives facing off against far-right Republicans Is they're getting really really viciously attacked, you know, they're subjected to Um Horrible, I won't you know, uh repeat some of the things that they've been saying, you know calling them names even slurs Uh lying about them How has your opponent responded to you like is he willing to debate you? Is he in that phase where he's trying to pretend like you don't exist? What have you been dealing with in terms of like going up against the Republican? So my jlp opponent is a nine-term opponent. This district has never been respond Represented by anyone but him. They say that this district was cut out so that he could be here and the interesting thing about this race is that They all the Republicans in texas all the jlp candidates in texas including my opponent They have not backed down. They are running hard campaigns. So even though i'm a first time candidate I have very little name recognition, you know when I started out, uh, you know almost two years ago now My opponent is campaigning extremely hard and trying to get His message across and here the interesting funny things that have happened number one In all the mailers that he's sending people. He has removed the word conservative So you can tell that they're afraid of their own branding that they've embraced for years Secondly, he's telling people that he is uh protecting um pre-existing conditions Even though my opponent has voted against protecting pre-existing conditions probably about eight times He's now advertising that he has he supports the protecting pre-existing conditions He is touting, uh, the fact that uh cares act was passed Even though the cares act was wasn't the perfect act, but it was mainly You know the house that's overwhelmingly democrat that crafted it and got it through But he's taking the taking that credit and trying to tell people look i've done things for covet He's taking credit for ppp loans even though we know for a fact that people of color minorities in My district were not able to get ppp when they when they went to get ppp. They were denied it because they didn't have the connections they didn't have the uh the The resources in place to be able to go get it in a timely fashion so The interesting thing is that the GOP is worried about their stance they've ran this You know this campaign this very right-wing stringent campaign, which is very friendly to You know multi-billion-dollar corporations has never been there for small businesses But now they're trying to say well, we did this for you Because they can see that they haven't served the people of texas and i think that is extremely telling About what's going on in texas right now. Yeah, that is very telling and i'll tell you you know as someone in orgin We are basically a blue state I live in a very blue area and whenever republicans run against democrats They kind of do what you describe john carter doing they they hide their power level if i could reference dragon ball z and by power level I mean how conservative they are in actuality like you don't even know if they are a republican so the fact that You have him in this situation where he's kind of running away from his conservatism and trying to embrace I don't want to call it more populous, but just more reasonable elements of um, you know what people want Of policy that's a really good sign because I oftentimes I get A little bit worried that when you're running against someone who's a hard right republican It's really easy for them to put you on defensive and play offense and say Oh, will you support this radical agenda? But in this situation the way that you've campaigned is you haven't made it seem as if you're just You know this crazy extremist you've been meeting people where they are talking about how they need health care They need education and these are like Individual personal connections that you're making and he can't match that he can't like do away with that by calling you an extremist Because you're not an extremist So it's just it's so fascinating to see the way like the influence that you're having in this race It's incredible and I've seen the same thing take place With other progressives who are running in red districts. Adam christensen is one in florida It's just really interesting. Uh, so we're super close to this election We're really looking at the prospect of congresswoman dana. I'm in which I hope you'll come back once you're elected because that would be awesome That would be awesome. Um, so I want to ask you now Talking about specific legislation. There's one piece of legislation that I've been Screaming about for years trying to get it promoted. It originally was hr 3057 now It's hr 4000 and I feel like this is something that would probably resonate with you It institutes nationwide ranked choice voting It ends gerrymandering and it makes all of our districts in america multi-member districts So we're more proportional, right? It's not majoritarian and this only has seven cosponsors and I've tried to get People from oregon representatives from oregon to cosponsor it and finally we have earl bloom an hour on board Would you be willing to at least look at this legislation and consider cosponsoring it and like kind of bolstering this because I think this is something that Really could enhance our democracy Yeah, so I'm already on the record supporting ranked choice voting So you have me right there. So definitely i'm open to looking at this legislation and making sure That we have the right, you know Resources behind it and we have the right folks behind it, you know one of the interesting things I want to tell you About the g.o.p. Because I know a lot of people especially people who watch your show are concerned that you know, we may be settling for Solutions that we didn't sign up for right? We wanted single-payer health care But we're now we don't really have that at the top of the ticket and there may be challenged by that But one thing I want them to know Is that these candidates even though they have softened their voice as they're communicating to voters because they realize these districts are changing That in essence that their core Values have not changed. They are not good people. I want to remind you that even today My opponent tweeted that he has worked tirelessly with the trump administration to Secure three billion dollars for the u.s. Mexico wall We have people right now in texas That are on the verge of eviction That are going to lose their homes because unemployment is still extremely high Restaurants are not fully opened up bars are not opened up 15 percent of all restaurants in texas have permanently closed Permanently closed and these are mostly mom and pop shops that have some of the biggest challenges In staying afloat playing rent and getting through the pandemic yet The current congressman my opponent is talking about You know making our law enforcement even more militarized He's talking about the border wall at this time in some of his literature that he's sending By the way using our taxpayer funds congress people have the ability to use certain taxpayer funds to send letters He's also doing that. So these people are talking out of two sides of their mouth They are not executing on the solutions that the american people need and I want to urge all of your voters Please do your research go out and vote for the people that are representing you And even if you're not completely satisfied with the With your ballot remember the GOP has absolutely no solutions for healthcare They are not talking about solutions for this current pandemic and we still have Millions of people across this country that are struggling with childcare. They can't go back to work They don't have a good job and they're afraid of going back to the job They had because of the corona virus and we are now on the third wave in many states right now Hospitalizations peaked we heard about a temporary hospital being put together Up in the Midwest just this week. So this pandemic is not over and for many of us We are struggling so when you go out to vote make sure you take 10 of your friends friends with you Make sure you text them. It is important to participate and put in better people in congress and I think I hope very much that your listeners would love to see me in congress Would love to support someone like me and can you proud of the solutions? We're bringing and the way we're executing on them and the way we're educating Voters about these solutions and why they should embrace them Yeah, I know that my viewers are already sold and let me just say it's infuriating that during a pandemic And when people are struggling to pay the bills, he's focused on a border wall funding for that like where are your priorities? Like it's honestly astonishing That they're this out of touch and it's funny I'm glad that you brought up like the things that he talked about that you wanted to do that are seemingly more reasonable You know about ppp and whatnot because I'm sorry But that's just you sound like you're pandering because we know you don't care about that like what you're doing It's all at the behest of your donors the border wall. I mean who? Has this at the forefront of their minds right now. This is the furthest thing from people's minds So it's just it's astonishing that people like this continue to get Re-elected but hopefully that's going to change finally. So before we go Can you basically give us your one last pitch because I don't know that we'll have time to talk before the election It's like weeks away, which is crazy to me. Um What can we do to get you across that finish line because we want you in con we need you in congress So how do we make this a reality? Yeah, so I this is what I want to leave you with I have always said on your show that I've been reaching out to every type of voter. We have over 200 000 voters Just in my district that have never voted and our campaign has asked for their vote We have reached out to them and we've been able to do this because of people like you and people That are watching your show that have generously donated to our campaign over and over again, even if it's small amounts Even at this 11th hour, we need your help if you can donate, please do and I want to leave you with an uplifting story I got an email like I get many emails from voters who are doing research on who to vote for And this person said that he had been a restaurant owner and he's a lifelong republican But he wanted he had gone through my platform on my website And he found it found many of the solutions Quite intriguing and he thought they were well thought out But he wanted to talk to me about a few of them and so I called him this morning And we had a conversation and I explained to him how some of our earnings the wealth that we create as working individuals Which a lot of times we refer to as taxpayer, right? So we pay taxes the taxes come from wealth that we create remember that So we talked about it and at the end of the conversation, this is what he told me He said Donna You know, I was going to vote for you because I really liked a lot of the solution of a lifelong republican But I really love the fact that you are focusing on root cause Not just some sort of solution to tell people. Oh, I'm going to do this for you or I'm going to You know lower taxes for you You're going to some of the causes when I explain to him that we don't have enough primary care physicians And yes as much as we need single-payer healthcare We need to be able to scale the healthcare infrastructure something that I've been talking about You know so many times to you and he really got on board and this republican said I and my wife would like to do something to support you What can we do to volunteer on your campaign now? I know there are a lot of people that are going to vote for our campaign But it's always amazing to hear the other side to say I actually want to support you because I believe in some of the things that you're doing and this is the impact This is why you see people from the entire political spectrum getting behind us I want you to know that we're working hard around the clock. There's less than three weeks We can win this if we get out the vote I urge your listeners if you can't donate Maybe if you can make some phone calls for us even if it's half hour a week an hour a week We need you we want you and we can do this So donate if you can volunteer if you can go to vote for donna.com And there's a volunteer page right there and we'll get in touch with you And we're grateful for everything you've done by the way mike. You got us over the line twice This is now that was all you and uh, I really really appreciate you giving me this time on your show Well, look, I it's always a pleasure to talk to you. I'm so glad that you shared That anecdote because to me it kind of feels like even though it's really easy to be down and be cynical right now It does feel like we are on the cusp of a paradigm shift in this country And you know stories like that kind of confirmed this so let me just say this Um anyone who's listening do everything in your power to get donna elected because this is more than just about that 30 first district even though those will be your constituents like what you do affects All of us and we know it'll be positive And so when you win, I'm going to probably scream at the top of my lungs and I might blow up your dms again So just the forewarning, uh, but you know, we're looking forward to it and I know that after this election Uh, I hope you take a break. I know you'll want to take a break I hope you take a break because you've been campaigning so hard So, you know, just take time for self-care if you can and I just know that we're all so proud of you We're all rooting for you and we're gonna be there till the end And mike, I promise I'm gonna be back on your show and I want to come back and tell everybody we did it That'd be ah, that's gonna be awesome. That's gonna be awesome. Well, thank you so much donna. Uh, it's always a pleasure You are welcome back anytime Thank you mike you take care