 Hello everyone, I am here with Paula Jean Swearingen who just won her primary in West Virginia And she is facing off against Shelly more capital or a Republican and I think she's gonna pull this one off Paula welcome back to the program. Hey Mike. Thank you for having me back. It's always good to be with you It's always glad to I'm always glad to have you on and talk about your campaign So we have some excited news You were just endorsed also by Bernie Sanders So give us the update. There's lots of big things happening currently. What's going on? Tell us about the race We've had incredible national endorsements We've iron stashes is helping us Senator Bernie Sanders and Senator Nina Turner Andrew Yang has endorsed us So we've had endorsements across the aisle and people really stepping up for West Virginia and right now It's really incredible. We have a comprehensive campaigning we have about 12 on staff and If people say that people funded campaigns do not work We have raised over a million dollars. The average donation is twenty six dollars and thirty cents And we almost out raised my opponent last quarter even though she is funded by those dark funders So, you know, if anybody says that money is not an issue We've had so many people across the country People that have had to leave the state that want to come back home that have donated dollars and volunteered and You know, it's just it's up to West Virginia now To help win this race because everybody has pulled out all the stops for West Virginia and I'm just so incredibly humbled and proud and our team has a comprehensive digital strategy and We sent over 8,000 80,000 texts last week We have a lot of secret weapons behind the scenes that I don't want to talk about But everybody has been absolutely incredible and the thing is about this campaign. It's led mostly by West Virginians You know, I'm from Wyoming County. My campaign manager is a black cat coal miner and a trucker And he is from Logan County and he's Leading the ship and I can't tell you how proud that makes me To show that folks in the coal fields have T shoes and brains and you can actually accomplish something and I'm incredibly proud of my team Yeah, this is astonishing. I think you're running a phenomenal campaign You're putting out ads all of the time like this is a very very active campaign You could just see it like you're you're hungry. You all want to win And I think that you guys are doing a phenomenal job I do want to ask you though about the dynamics of this race because knowing that there's an Open supreme court seat since Ruth Bader Ginsburg passed away. Has that changed anything? I know that Democrats collectively got over a hundred million dollars after RBG passed away last week and I'm wondering if there's been any extra attention paid to this race now because Now Shelly more capital is likely, you know, she's gonna vote to approve Donald Trump's Nominees so have you been able to use this is this an effective strategy that will play well in West Virginia? Like what's your take on this situation? Well, my opponents kind of cut off her own leg and all eyes are on her and we don't hold her accountable enough because you know She sucks and we expect her to suck but what she did in 2016 She said that we should not have Denomination process happening during election and she said that West Virginia voters should Be able to put their vote in at the ballot box But now she's saying that she's trying to push a nominee down their throats and she says she's going to do with what? Whatever Mitch McConnell Donald Trump wants to do so West Virginia is a pretty ticked off Because we know with her voting record in the past and voting for nominees That she's voted against the working class and I see you know, we see a lot of Republicans that are noticing not only she a hypocrite, but she's alive and and She's pretty much cut off her leg She's actually helped us and you know, we've had more support because of her poor decisions and her flip-flopping like she does Even with COVID relief She had the heroes act sitting on her desk for three months She was drafting legislation and helped in craft the heels act Which would take this it would which took away the $600 benefit to people that are unemployment on on unemployment And it was basically a slap in the face because she said That it just was not an incentive for people to go back to work So she essentially to me said that she was calling hard-working Americans lazy when they needed help the most Also, she wanted to push people back into unsafe working conditions and not hold any liability to employers If someone got sick when she came home They went into recess till after Labor Day having that legislation on her desk not pushing for anything She came home with our governor Jim Justice had a $25,000 plated fundraiser $11,500 for a photo op while she was talking about pushing their children our teachers our public service personnel Back in the schools while she was having digital press briefings with our governor Pretty much saying that she was out of touch and only thing she was worried about was serving her corporate, you know Her corporate donors. She's never had to have a real job except for her political career She's never had to wonder where her next meal is going to come from So many things she's proven over and over and over That she's out of touch with West Virginians even tying into Economic diversity, which you've talked to but you know, you've heard me talk about it over and over and How broadband comprehensive broadband in this state plays a role in that? We we know digitally it ties into our educational system Pre-COVID and especially since COVID with her push to put children back into school as well as their communications She's trying to sell broadband to the highest bidder. She's trying to privatize it We have seen over and over with broadband in this state We've had companies that got state and federal funding and sent and spin it out of state and instead of making it into a public utility She's just put a for sale sign on our heads again and especially our children right now that are so dependent on digital learning and We have hotspots across the state where children can go and set in the parking lot and download their work and So it's it's like not taking care of the most vulnerable in our society because we're dealing with the addiction epidemic So many people don't have role transportation. So what are they going to do? They're going to push the most vulnerable children back into the classrooms in buildings that have poor ventilation systems Our educators are doing everything that they can but I know that I've talked to some educators that are talking about Writing their wheels and talking about what they're going to do if they get sick right now and we have seen an uptick of COVID right now in West Virginia and so many people are afraid and we are in the fight for our lives and we know it and When I talked to my neighbor and asking for a wrench He doesn't ask me if I'm a Democrat or Republican He comes over and helps me and he brings that rich and you hear me say all the time We are some of the most united people In the country, I've never seen people united like we are in West Virginia and we've made history Mike I don't know if people know because the national media is not talking about it We had over 93 candidates and candidates in this state with the West Virginia can't wait movement run for office this time 43 of those candidates won their races Every single Democratic nominee for Congress the first congressional district the second the third and United States Senate are women We're all progressive None of us take corporate pack dollars and we're ready to bust the halls of Congress and make sure that West Virginians have a seat at The table it's a pivotal time in West Virginia and I'm just so humbled and proud to be part of this movement That's really encouraging. It seems like in West Virginia. What we're seeing is kind of a political realignment in a sense To where you know this common struggle across the state is really uniting people and these partisan differences that kind of Characterized a lot of the chaos in other states It's not necessarily prevalent in your state And one thing that I wanted to ask you about because you talked about how COVID-19 is affecting your state is the eviction crisis Because Trump's moratorium on evictions expires after December 31st So on January 1st, there's going to be millions of Americans across the country who are going to be expected to pay Months in back rents and if that's not extended if Trump for example loses the selection any kind of chooses not to act as a lame duck president It's just gonna be a disaster So has Shelley Moore capital done anything to attempt to ameliorate this crisis in her home state? Is she offering resources or even information to voters because I feel like this is such a huge disaster That it should be on the minds of every single member of Congress and I just don't see that action I don't see the urgency So can you kind of speak to this because this is something that she has to at least be aware of? Well the heroes act like I said it said on her desk, you know, she's got commercials out now I was there for West Virginia. I voted for the first relief package But also she's been pushing for corporate bailouts and big bailouts for real estate companies in the middle of a relief package And she's not really pushing to help West Virginians And this we're one of the sickest and poorest states in the nation and it's been proven statistically That we are the most impacted by COVID because of addiction because of black lung cancer heart disease Cardiovascular Diabetes We're just these people here are sick and poor and we have a large bulk of our population that is elderly She's even tried to turn Medicare into a voucher program when people ask her about Medicare for all She thinks it's going to be Medicare for none when she tried to privatize Medicare and take You know the Medicare that our elderly already have away from them and privatize it and you know, like I said Put a for sale sign on it. She was the first woman to be elected to the United States Senate to represent the state of West Virginia She's a mother and grandmother. She voted against equal pay for women at least three times And West Virginia see the differences in this campaign and the difference with her Because this country girl does not want to go to DC. It's about survival It's making sure that West Virginians have a seat at the table And she has done nothing as a mother and grandmother and turned a blind eye On the children dying and starving in this state I really want to ask her the question. How does she sleep at night? But she won't even debate me Um, she's shying away from a debate because she knows she's going to be called out For her years and years of being a corporate servant getting rich off our backs in 2008 You can make your own decision about this and your own assessment But when the start the stock market Collapsed her husband was selling stock the day before So We know who she is. We know what's going on with her She's there because of her dad's corrupt dynasty And she continues with corruption across the state and we have not give her enough heat And it's time for a mother and a grandmother to actually make sure That our children have a chance to grow and thrive and have a future in their state for a change Yeah, and I think that the reason why she doesn't want to debate you is because if you if you really juxtapose both of your campaigns and your messages It's night and day. Uh, I think she would Just be uh landslided because like when you speak you speak really thoroughly to all of the specific things that impact the people of West Virginia You talk about how you know, um The issues that are already disproportionately affecting coal miners for example that intersects with covid 19 and creates a bigger disaster So if you were to ask her Healthcare, what do we do? What's your plan? She wouldn't be able to answer that and I wanted to ask you about that as well because you know, she doesn't have a plan for the eviction crisis Um, does she have any sort of idea what she wants to do for healthcare reform because I mean trump Over and over has been saying it's coming. It's coming Meanwhile, we see nothing. So are other republicans such as uh, Capital are they doing anything to ameliorate the healthcare crisis because assuming trump gets his new supreme court nominee approved Then the aca is most likely going to be repealed Which means that protections for patients with pre-existing conditions that goes away people in west virginia Will be affected by that probably more so than others in the country because they are you know, um They experience black lung and whatnot from being coal miners What has she said with regard to healthcare? I mean, has she just been silent? She just keeps on talking about Protecting health insurance companies and framing it as she's going to protect health insurance And even with this administration and with trump's tax plan that went through You know what the bulk of our public population is on medicare and medicaid already And even though we still have the expansion for adult medicaid in the state The income criteria changed under this tax plan and our hospitals were already under red alert Because people were having to go into the er for basics like sinus infections because they were not covered under medicaid anymore uh, so, you know, it's She's talking about putting more food into food banks But she's not talking about how we can get people less dependent on food banks and making sure that they have a living wage And we have a diverse economy in this state Actually, we had an endorsement from the newspaper called the dominion post Which is in mon county and they are very known to be conservative And they really come out against her after we interviewed with them Because it really brought up all the issues and how out of touch she really is And so many republicans have come into the fold with this campaign We are in the fight for our lives And you know, we want basic human rights and we want economic diversity We want long-term solutions to the addiction epidemic Everybody deserves health care and those are basics the three top basics that all west virginians want And we don't have to agree or you know on everything But we've come up to a place in this country Whether we have representatives It's not a football game first and foremost, but if we do have a two-party system We need people that are sitting down and thinking about the people that they are supposed to serve Instead of corporations and lobbyists and making sure that they have our best interest at heart And that's why we've seen a movement on a local level to a federal level with west virginia can't wait and brand new congress because Ordinary people are standing up and saying hey We just want to be representative for represented for a change You know of the people by the people for the people That's what our government should be We can we don't have to agree on everything But we have to make sure that people are intended to represent us Period and that's what's going on with my opponent I mean, I've I've been angry at her for a long long time Because she is a mother and grandmother And she's had mothers knocking on her door trying to get arrested in her office We've had people throw paper airplanes over the top of the door to get her attention because she won't even Her staff won't even answer the door and that's why even here and now My telephone number is three zero four eight nine four seven four seven two Nobody's going to have to get arrested in my office to get attention As a matter of fact when I go to dc I'm going to make sure all these people that have been working in the front lines of our communities trying to solve our problems Have a seat at the table and writing legislation that impacts our daily lives And making sure that we do have true change and they do have a true voice in washington Yeah, and I think that you you really put it perfectly you said we don't have to agree on everything And you know, I think you've been really effective at putting out this message that it's really obvious That she just doesn't care like it's not even like she has solutions that you disagree with She just doesn't have solutions. She's not proposing anything You see this ambivalence from her which is just astonishing to me when we are facing an unprecedented level Of crisis in this country with you know, a global pandemic and the economic Depression resulting from that pandemic. So even if like I didn't agree with anything she proposed At least by proposing something there's at least some initiative Like you're showing to us that you care, but we get nothing from her which is astonishing to me Especially because this is an election year. She's seeking re-election. So it's it's shocking now Basically showing her for photo ops. I think she got some legislation Uh Passed for commemorative coins, but what does that do for the people in west Virginia? You know, she has that you know, we hear Capitol connect for five and a half years. She's been talking about broadband in their state Where is it? You know, she's been in office in congress for a long time And look, you know, anybody with common sense can look around and look at our neighbors and look in our communities and say if she really Means what she says during election season, then how come we don't see it every day and it's not happening That's happened with so many of our incumbents in their state And that's why so many people here are stepping up and running for office and raising hell because these people are not doing their jobs And my slogan investing in ourselves. That's what west virginians are doing If they're not going to do their jobs, we're coming to take them. We ain't taking it no more Yeah, that's beautifully put. So I think that anyone who has been watching the humanist report for a while is already familiar with your campaign They know about you. They support you. We're all rooting for you. So please help us help you Let us know what you need from us. How can we help you if we live in west virginia or not? What can we do to make sure that you beat her in november? We have to keep making those impressions. We need volunteers first and foremost We sent over 80 000 texts last week We need more people on the horn making those phone calls, you know every dollar counts if people can still donate We need to fundraise so we can get broadcast television We know that she's going to take off her money and invest in that to reach voters And you know, it's not a problem of reaching voters. It's it's you know reaching voters to To we have to get them motivated to the polls as well as learning this campaign And knowing that i'm not a polished politician I'm not here making campaign promises. I'm a mother and grandmother too And I want to make sure that my grandchild can stay here and live here and grow So, you know, let's get on the horn. This is go time. We're in the fight for our lives I will be a federal representative. So I'll represent everybody across this country And so this is not just about west virginia. This is making sure No matter who our president is we have a good strong congress, especially the senate Especially with everything that's going on with the supreme court right now We don't need a rubber stamp for blue or red. We need somebody that is going to put somebody in that seat That is actually going to do their job and make decisions for the american people So there'll be links in the description box to paul's website for those watching. Please. I would encourage you to support her This is a fight for our lives. I think that there's no other way to describe it and by by, you know, explaining it the way that you did You really are phenomenal at articulating what's at stake like This is this is everything so much Is at stake. So, uh, we are going to be rooting for you. Thank you so much for coming on the program I look forward to speaking to you after you win I think that's gonna be um really exciting and it gives us a little bit of hope like you running you winning your primary It gives us hope. So thank you for that and thank you for fighting for everyone Not just in west virginia, but around the country. We are absolutely looking to you, you know as a source for inspiration So, uh, we love you paula. Thank you so much for coming on We love you too mark. Thank you for raising the voice of the voiceless and making sure That these campaigns get the coverage that they need because we you know, the status quo they're going to do everything they can to fight against us and it's people like you that uh, we get the word out and Uh, you know and people know about campaigns like ours and you work so hard and I've watched you grow since 2018 And I can't thank you enough You inspire me. Oh, thank you. Thank you. That means so much coming from you. You know, it's It's a little bit shocking that um campaigns like yours Aren't getting national attention. You know given What's at stake? Um, and it's frustrating to me So, you know, I feel like I have to try to fill that role as much as I possibly can and you know It's just it's nice to be able to um Even just do a little bit and talk to you and hopefully get people to recognize the importance of this race because It's it's everything. It is everything. It's so important Well, you know, I'm only one vote so everybody needs if they're looking at the dynamic in congress go to brand new congress Scott or Look at all the candidates that went through the primary Because I can go to dc and I can raise all the hell that I want We need votes to pass legislation And so look at all these candidates and make sure that we are putting our support behind them So we can work with each other and actually bring change for a change. Yeah, absolutely It's it's not just like getting one or two more people elected like this is changing the makeup of congress Like this is we're we're thinking long term. We're playing the long game now and your victory is absolutely crucial Um, and I think that my viewers at least, you know, uh, they acknowledge that it's just a matter of getting Everyone else to understand Why these races are so important and why we have to elect people who are actually fighting for working americans That's why we're rooting for you. So thanks so much for coming on I won't keep you any longer because I know you've got a jet to your next interview But thank you so much paul. It's always a pleasure talking to you Thank you mark. Have a good night. You too