 Hello everyone, I am here with Adam Christensen running in Florida's third congressional district He just won his primary and he is now facing off against a Republican in November and he's here to talk about his race So Adam welcome to the program Hey, thank you so much for having me. It's nice to have you so for whatever reason like I miss your race I saw your platform. I loved everything you were endorsed by Marianne Williamson and Andrew Yang This was a really important race like you were a candidate that I would have supported But I don't know how you slipped to the cracks and I didn't know about your campaign until after you won your primary But this was a victory that I would have been really excited about and you know excited to celebrate So tell us a little bit about your campaign Yeah, no, absolutely. Honestly It's kind of slipped through the cracks forever It's north central Florida and nobody ever realizes that number one this race is happening here or number two That you should even be paying attention to him at least until about a month ago when Ted Yoho decided to make himself famous And go after AOC and so that at that moment was when everyone was like, oh, oh Oh north central Florida exists like we should care about this And so in a way it was almost a gift that Ted Yoho is such a horrible human being But to be honest I was surprised that nobody knew who he was before that because he had voted against making lynching a federal crime Like he didn't think the Civil Rights Act was constitutional like he went against the ERA like the survivors bill of rights Like this is who the guy was and so he was one of those tea partiers that got in and he's been here ever since Yeah, the Ted Yoho situation that you're referring to was when he you know just out of the blue attacks AOC I believe I talked about this on my program as well But yeah, this is an interesting race here So tell me what's going on because you won the Democratic Party primary You're going up against the Republican and all of my viewers like they know about you know These races and they bring them to my attention and this is no different So I had a viewer actually reach out to me and say hey, you've got I get Adam Christensen on the program Why haven't you done this and I didn't actually know about your race? So I feel really bad and I'm glad that I'm correcting that right now But what was the dynamic in your primary like how many people were competing like was it relatively open? Like how did you manage to win because what we're seeing this time in 2020 is that? Progressive candidates who are you know running on Medicare for all, you know a living wage all of this They're seeing a lot more success this time around then in 2018 Which was kind of our first run where we had you know one big victory with AOC and a couple of other Successes with Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tali, but this time it's completely different. I mean we have Marie Newman Jamal Bowman You now winning your primary Kara Eastman. I mean the list goes on So how did you do it and you know what can you say to other candidates running in primaries in the next cycle? Yes, so ours is a little bit different a little bit special So I am 26 years old So I am the youngest congressional nominee in the country on top of that we started in January we started almost six seven months after everybody else and We had no money. We had no name recognition We had basically nothing and we got a bunch of college kids that basically I mean what I went out and I started trying to get petitions and basically said hey This is what I want to run on I think this can work and I think people need this and One person joined and then another person joined and within a week We had about 10 and then within a couple months We had about 50 and it was one of those things where it almost started organically But the biggest thing that we did was number one We ran on principal and we were able to actually connect with people and so for us We knew that we were never going to against our opponents We had two opponents one is a very progressive guy that has run I think this was his third time running for Congress in a row The other guy had run previously as an independent and had neither of them had done well and in general previously against Ted Yoho, but they had name recognition and they had some money and so for us it was Number one we had to build a field team. We had to actually do the groundwork We had to get in with the activists We had to do everything that we possibly could now most of the people on our team were organizers and activists That's most of that's what our entire team was made up of and so for us The way that we were able to actually get people to understand the number one We existed and number one They should care that we were running was because we actually integrated ourselves Into everything that was going on We had our name out there every single second of the day every single podcast every single news cycle every single Newspaper that we possibly could and it was a lot of hard work But at the end of the day hard work is not what is going to Win you races like this necessarily you're never gonna win just based on Ideology or based on what you believe you have to be able to actually win by coming up with a game plan in a strategy and Capitalizing off of it. So for us immediately What we realized is we cannot do this alone and there are house district candidates that are running here That if they do well, we're gonna do well And so we partnered with four out of the five house district candidates running for Florida house here in our Congressional district immediately one was a 23-year-old named rock Abu Jadi who is running just north of us The other was a 23-year-old named Cynthia de la Rosa who is running just south of us Then we partnered with the lady who had her name was Yvonne Hayes-Henson She ran for Congress in this seat two years ago and lost But she was running for state house and then we were able to help and find somebody to run in the other District because for us you have to be able to attack every single acre of ground You have to fight for everything in these rural districts And what we also realized was we were never going to win the Democratic vote out of Alachua County No nominee for this seat has ever not won Gainesville University of Florida area and gone on to be the nominee We didn't win Gainesville. We had to win the rural counties in the rural vote in order to win this nomination And that's what we focused on. We knew we had to get at least 33% and we got 34% And we were able to do it and so number one we executed the game plan We came up with a game plan that was going to work and we built the coalitions that we're gonna actually get us across the finish line And that's exactly what it's gonna take to win in November as well Yeah, so this is what I think you represent to me So back in 2016 it was exciting to see congressional candidates who were kind of running on the same platform that Bernie Sanders was running on but my hope then was that by 2018 we'd see more candidates and We did and now in 2020 There's so many candidates running on the same platform of Medicare for all and whatnot I can't keep track of them and my hope for 2022 and 2024 is that there's so many candidates that are winning That that's what's difficult to keep track of and you kind of represent this to where I didn't even see this You came out of nowhere and it's so exciting Like I was really demoralized after the results from Florida because all of the candidates that I had followed You know Melville Pearson a Jen Perlman had lost their races So I thought I'm not even gonna make a video and cover this because I don't think there's any victories And then here you come along with my one of my viewers saying Mike. We just got a victory. What are you doing? So it's it's nice to see this like it's a good problem to have when you're winning and you don't even know it Right. So let me ask you about your opponent because you're facing off against the Republican Kind of alluded to this race a little bit earlier But talk about your opponent your opponent who this individual is and how you plan to beat them Yeah, so the first thing is and one of the reasons it was a huge victory is we had a staff the entire staff all 50 People were under the age of 23. Wow and I early youth led and the youngest nominee for Congress on the Democratic side Maybe ever just won a race in North Central Florida going for Ted. Yoho seat. That's awesome So, yeah, it was a victory and nobody saw it come I mean, we knew it was gonna happen We were excited about it We thought it could and we thought we would shock everyone and it happened and that was what was incredible But at the same time we knew that it was going to be a warm-up because the real battle in the real fight is the general election Ted Yoho is resigned or retiring For reasons that he claims. I don't think those are the reasons But you know what let him have it fine Yeah, his campaign manager former chief of staff who he demoted to deputy chief of staff and then Basically got rid of because he said quote. She had no moral character That is who is running in his stead with his backers with his donors with everything that that he has built for the last eight years So we are going against the Ted Yoho machine. It's just not his name on the ballot They had 10 Republicans on that side That was their primary the person who won which was her got 24% of the votes We thought it was gonna be another guy named Justin sap who had the backing of Roger stone Matt gates all of these People and he did not she won at the same time which was incredible was the fact that We thought she might get fourth or fifth Now what it's going to take to actually win We basically ran a general election strategy in a primary that almost never works for us We have to cut the margins in the rural counties We have to win a couple of the rural counties and we have to actually compete there No Democrat has ever really tried to compete there We're gonna run up the score in Gainesville in Elaccio County in the University of Florida area with the Democrats with the progressives Just because that's what's gonna happen But for us the biggest inroads have to come in the rural counties specifically Clay County Their sheriff was just arrested And about a month ago He claimed that he was going to deputize every gun owner and send them after the Black Lives Matter protesters So this is the kind of like place that we have to make inroads in The way that we were able to do that we actually won Clay County in the Democratic primary the way that we do that number one You don't water down policy But what you can do is you can frame it in a way Not just to make it financial but emotional and that's something I feel like Progressives especially here have never been able to do it something Republicans do phenomenally well They make everything emotional where they don't have a good product But they make people want it despite the fact they don't even have a product and so for us You know, we talk really about almost classical Conservative values. I'm talking the original progressive Republicans. I'm talking like going after Monopolies going after middlemen going after people like the insurance companies who nobody likes insurance companies Nobody likes cable companies. Nobody likes towing companies These people are just they're designed to take our money and that is who we're gonna go against is these predatory companies And so we talk of a lot like that I call Medicare for all a small business tax cut because small businesses are on the line For health care and it's almost eight thousand dollars per employee per year. You get rid of that cost on small businesses Small businesses can now raise wages. They can now compete with the big guys They can now recruit and on top of that you just lower the amount of cost They have so it's a small business tax cut because you're removing the private taxes. That is the shift We have made we have made the connection between there are two types of taxes Government taxes and private taxes and right now you are paying far more to private corporations than you ever would be to the government and most people here they only care about what it's gonna cost them and whether or Not it's gonna be a good investment and you connect those dots You connect it with the original like Teddy Roosevelt going after billionaires going after scammers going after people that we bailed out But we never got money back from and that's a solid argument to make especially in the conservative counties And you can do that with it with with left progressive values That actually resonate in fact one of the craziest kind of like coalitions that we've seen is almost the far right John Berger society kind of people pairing with environmentalists to go after Nestle Nobody would think that's possible because Nestle is coming in to destroy basically bottle water out of our springs Which would destroy a town called high springs in this area Which would destroy their way of life and so now you're seeing all these conservatives rise up with environmentalists and say no We don't want that and so you're seeing kind of this crazy almost coalition forming That I don't think would have happened five to ten years ago Yeah, I would agree with that and your strategy makes sense because you're meeting people where they are Which is crucial like what we see from the National Democratic Party is that they often times will try to Adjust their message to appeal to Republicans But they water down their own policy and you know, they talk about how they are a big tent party But that's not a winning message like people don't want to vote for Republican light candidates They want to vote for people who are authentic that are you know addressing their specific needs And so when we see candidates like you and Donna. I'm in you know in the 31st congressional District of Texas winning but not watering down your message and actually appealing to people who the Democratic Party is trying to get right now It's frustrating to me and I'm like banging my head against the wall because why don't they get this message Why can't they do what you all are doing like what is your critique of the National Democratic Party? Because I think that it's so simple when you break it down about the way you appeal to conservative voters Like saying that Medicare for all is a small business tax cut. It's brilliant Why can't they get this you know through their heads at the national level? You know, I and this is one thing that I think has really helped us is you know I grew up a conservative a lot of people on our campaign grew up Republicans and what they saw is a shift where the Republican Party number one didn't care about them But also didn't care about people where I grew up what I believed and what my family always believed was that neither party Cared whether or not we lived or died. They just didn't and at the end of the day It was the corporate Democrats and the corporate Republicans and to most people they're one in the same There is no difference between them because at the end of the day, they don't do anything for us and so My opponent cat Kamek is is the embodiment of that. I mean that is her She worked in Washington for eight years, but did anything change here? Did anything get better? No, she didn't stand up to Ted. Yoho when he voted against making lynching a federal crime She said nothing he didn't she didn't stand up when he verbally assaulted a woman on the Capitol steps She said nothing So if she's not gonna stand up to her former boss when he does something outrageous like that Who is she gonna stand up for it's definitely not us And so at the end of the day what people care about and what I was always taught to care about is that Actions always speak louder than words and it doesn't matter what somebody tells you it matters what they're going to do And what they're actually gonna put into motion and so that's the biggest thing I think the Democratic Party needs to do I am tired of this ROM Emmanuel I don't I would advise Joe Biden not to go for Medicare for all I advise him not to go for a green new deal No, nobody respects you ROM and the reason is you have no morals You have no character in every single independent and Republican sees right through it What happens to Democrats is when you water down your message and you no longer stand for anything nobody respects you At least people respect other people that have values and are willing to fight for them They may not agree But they can actually find common ground because they respect the fact that you care when you don't care about anything There's no common ground to be found and right now I think the Democratic Party has struggled with that for 40 years Because when you only care about donations and corporate packs and how much your donors are gonna give you and what they care about You don't care about anybody else and at the end of the day the only person you care about is yourself and nobody likes that Yeah, absolutely And I want to like pick your brain a little bit because I think that you really you've nailed how to appeal to voters in rural areas so One thing that I see one thing that we heard during the primary The presidential primary that is is that you know You can't go too far left and support something like Medicare for all because Republicans are gonna call you a crazy socialist Well, Joe Biden isn't going far left. He doesn't support Medicare for all and guess what Republicans are calling him a crazy socialist So I mean how do you yeah exactly and that's always gonna be the playbook So what is your response to that like if you you know come into contact with a voter that says I don't want you know Socialism that's crazy like how do you respond to that because a lot of this is just they are basing their assumptions about people who support Policies like Medicare for all off of fear mongering But to me like and you can correct me if I'm wrong the way that you get them to get off of that mindset is just by Educating them and informing them about these policies. So how do you respond to claims of oh? I'm a crazy socialist because I'm sure your opponent is already doing that about you My opponent doesn't have an attack line that she can actually stick to she talks about socialism But then she's okay with giving the biggest companies in the world corporate welfare Like my opponent says that I'm a socialist But at the same time she's been okay with for 40 years having corporate socialism like it makes no sense they're going to call you whatever they're going to call you and What I don't understand is why people believe that by giving ground in a negotiation You're actually helping your side That's not how that works. That is not how negotiations work if you go in With a small business and you're trying to get investment you ask for more than you everything They're going to give you because at the end of the day They might give you what you wanted at the first point the same thing with any negotiation You always go in with things you don't want that you think are pie in the sky that you may will never get but when you give up those things when you actually Compromise some things that you never wanted in the first place, but you put in there So you could compromise them you end up where you wanted you start with a national health care system You'll get Medicare for all you start with Medicare for all you'll get a public option You start with a public option you get the ACA you get a right-wing Republican health care plan and So people like Rahm Emanuel These people don't know how to negotiate They've never known how to negotiate and they give ground before they're even forced to and what we know is that is the last thing That you should do you always go in farther than you believe you'll ever get and then when you Compromise you end up where you wanted Rahm Emanuel doesn't understand that Rahm Emanuel is the reason that we don't have progress in this country People like him. That's the reason that the people that I grew up with hated the Democratic Party They don't stand for anything They're not willing to fight for anything at the end of the day They're only caring about themselves and whether or not they're gonna keep their position and their money and their donors Nobody likes that. Yeah, it's the smug elitism while simultaneously claiming that you have, you know, the moral high ground which As you stated like people see through that like it's inauthentic. We know that they're being disingenuous So you alluded to this you also referenced this on your website, but you were Someone who grew up as a Republican so I think that your perspective kind of gives you that extra insight that's needed like you can appeal to people who you know the what do they call it the West Coast elites or the you know coastal elites. I think that's the phrase. I'm blanking on it You know you appeal to the people who those types of Democrats aren't able to appeal to so can you walk us through like what was it? That was the spark that you know Got you to leave the Republican Party and become a leftist like what was it for you because we kind of all have our Same story like I reference how I grew up as an evangelical But like what is your story like how did you become a lefty? You know, I think you're in my story is probably probably pretty close. I grew up in the church I mean I was in the church from like the day I was three years old or whenever my parents could get me out of there out Of the hospital I grew up believing, you know, the people that you're supposed to care about You know morally the way you're supposed to live your life your character is what matters whether or not people see it or not And the people that taught me that is I was growing up You know, I fully believed it and I believed that the way that you know You look at politics the way that you look at anything is supposed to help people Well, what I realized as I was growing up is the people that were telling me this they were not fulfilling the message of the church They were not fulfilling the message the mandate of what we were supposed to do I mean the greatest radicals that I learned about in history books in the church They were the ones that did not spend time with the elites. They did not spend time with the religious leaders They spent time with the people with the poor with the hungry with the sick and they said that how you treat those People is a reflection on who you are and what society live in Well, what I saw is the church was not living those values the people that I grew up with and taught me that They didn't care about those people except for when they were at church on Sunday reading the Bible And so for me when I looked at both parties. I number one realized that the Republican Party. I could not reform There is nothing I could do there, but the Democratic Party at least Stated or at least they originally stated or at least they used to be for Workers for people for the people that mattered for people like me That's something you can reform it may not be perfect and no party is gonna be perfect And no leadership is gonna be perfect, but at least there's a shot there And so for me as I was going through college. It was that it was that transition of well, what kind of life do I want to be? What what do I want people to see from me? What kind of character morals do I want to have? And I believe at the end of the day that left politics that populist politics that the way that I grew up It is better reflected through things like Medicare for all and making sure that Parents don't go bankrupt because their kid gets cancer than it is to just say that well if you get sick you're on your own and hopefully you don't die One of those is moral the other isn't and so for me really the moral argument took over But now even the economic argument is taken over because all these things are cheaper They're better investments if I was a small business owner I would want universal child care because it's a high ROI Like the return on investment of universal child care is 1.25 Which is a great investment every single year education same thing. I mean you talk about Medicare for all It's cheaper than what we do now you can literally make the Republican argument You want to get rid of the scammers the middlemen the bureaucracy the red tape and make sure it's a free market Get rid of the insurance companies make sure that the pharmaceutical industry can't price fix and we can actually negotiate drug prices That's a conservative argument, but apparently I'm a lefty socialist for wanting a free market in the health care system. That's fine And you really see like the arguments that you make reflected even in your pitches like if you go to your website Where you say I support Medicare for all you have a chart that shows the cost and how we're spending more than other countries And this is kind of the same thing that I see with other candidates running in red states or red districts like Donna I'm him and Kara Eastman So it's interesting the way that you guys tweak those arguments and in a way I think that you're selling it better than us because I mean it's really easy and Simplistic to make a moral argument and say hey, do you want people to die if they don't have health care? Do you not like it's common sense, but it's not getting through to the people who already, you know Are susceptible that to that type of argument So you have to take it a step further and you have to defame all of these counter arguments and the economic argument Is the one that we still see even for the people who buy into the moral argument So I think that what you're doing it's it's brilliant honestly, and I'm curious to see how this pans out I think you're really in a good position to win. This race is important because you state that You know, we're gonna be looking at redistricting redistricting and if Florida goes blue then that will change a lot So talk about what could happen in the event Florida actually does flip to blue and how that will impact the future of house in terms of like Where the lines are drawn? Congressionally, yeah, so in case anybody didn't know or wasn't aware for the last however long Florida is very gerrymandered and the years that you can change that is well this year Whoever owns the Florida house controls the boundaries So for us and the Florida Democratic Party, this is something that the Florida Democratic Party has not done And they should have done every single time. This is one of those things that we talked about earlier You cannot play defense anymore. We can't do that. You never play a man down in any sport whatsoever because at the end of the day, you're gonna lose more than you win So the Florida Democratic Party for the last 20 30 years has tried to play 8 v 11. That is what they've tried to do They have not run Candidates in districts. They didn't think would be close Now, what does that mean? That means that the Republicans in those districts, they don't have to spend any money They don't have to spend any time. They don't have to campaign. They don't have to worry about it What that also means is they can go double or triple team the person next door who is in a contested race and pour all their money into that one And what also happens is sometimes you have people that drop out of races But if there's no Democrat in that race to begin with they don't win So what are we doing here? What are we thinking about the number one way to win the Florida house? And it's exactly what Virginia did. There was a group called 90 for 90 civil rights and also voting activists Really famous the the reeds dr. Fergie Reed and his father They said we are going to run a candidate everywhere Every single house district and we're gonna fight for every single acre of land and we're gonna force Republicans to spend money time and Basically create a war of attrition and they did and they flipped the Virginia house now They decided the next one needs to go is for them right before redistricting and here's how we're gonna do it So they as long as well as a group called the Democratic environmental caucus of Florida Janelle Christensen who is not a relation of mine, but I get that question all the time They decided we are going to find and fund Scientists environmentalists for all of these races find anyone that we can get to get in this race At least get on the ballot and give them support to actually be able to run and organize and basically become field organizers And so they did now our race has five house districts within it within the congressional district There was only gonna be three people running in those in those house districts, which means Republicans We're gonna win two of them without even having to try Well that didn't happen and what we've seen now is if we're able to cut the margins in a couple of those house districts We force Republicans to spend money there when they don't want to we force the contested races in other house districts to have an easier shot and not have to focus all their time and resources and effort and So what we are seeing now is if North Central Florida goes blue a couple of our house districts go blue The rest of it will Joe Biden wins the presidency We win our congressional seat and the Florida house flips right before redistricting Which means Democrats have a shot for the next ten years instead of playing defense And so this is the one year that we have decided number one. We're gonna organize We're gonna do this better than we've ever done it before and we're gonna have a new strategy Where we actually can win and not just compete Yeah, and I think that's the key like you can't just play defense You have to play offense and I feel like not a lot of people understand that but you do which is why I'm definitely rooting for you So I want you to tell us what we can do to help you get elected I think that anyone who's watched to this point is already sold on your campaign Tell us how close you are to flipping that seat and what we can do to get you across the finish line We got to pull it within three points. We pull it within three points We're gonna get all the funding we need in the world to be able to get to that three-point margin We need we need money. We need donations. We need volunteers phone banking text banking all of it We are building a grassroots army full of organizers and activists We've even had progressive campaigns that ended in other states that had giant Organizations that are throwing them behind us because they realize that this is the pivot point in Florida And so what we are going to be doing is focusing on independence Democrats turn them out and we are going to be phone banking text banking We are going to do everything possible at a massive scale in order to win when we win things are going to change drastically and so right now we think that this is the pivot point of Florida and I think nationally people are starting to realize that it Could be the pivot point for Florida So you can give donations you can go to our website. You can follow us on Twitter social media You can amplify anything that we put out at the end of the day anything that you're able to do It's going to help us and at the end of the day if the progressive left the progressive the congressional progressive caucus and The left flex their muscle in a deep red state and flip a seat that shows power That moves you from just primarying people to a point where you are on the attack And you are able to show that you are serious and you can move your caucus from 50 members to 100 and Matt is serious political power And so I think that the progressive left needs to be able to start flipping seats like mine And I think we can be the focal point in the start of it started something much bigger So that's kind of that's the pitch. I mean right there especially to people like you is look We can do this we got the plan to do this and I think we're going to I think so too I think that you have the right strategy and the correct approach that you need to win It's just a matter of you know Do we have enough people jumping on board to help you? So I definitely would encourage all of my viewers to do what they can to help you Even if you know you don't live in Florida's third congressional district if you live across the country You know just a couple of bucks if that's all you got can really make a difference because I mean if you were to get elected To Congress this would be huge as you stated it would give us you know The clouds and show that we are capable of getting real political power and affecting change in a meaningful way So I mean this is really an important race So I'm so glad that I am you know that you're on my radar and I'm rooting for you now Well, I really appreciate I really appreciate that it's been kind of great. I met Mark Hamill the other day Did you really were greatest day of my life? I'm not gonna lie. I was interesting. I May have shed some tears or at least our communications director did but yeah So that was cool But at the same time like we've got groups all over the country that are realizing this that this red District is flippable and it's close. The last polling was done two and a half years ago Nobody knows what it looks like now. It was a plus nine then now we don't have now It's an open seat, which is probably a 2.4 percent swing We got felony disenfranchisement which got knocked down in Florida That's a little bit that most people aren't thinking about we got the fact that Florida right now is leading vote by mail ballots And as we all know if you have an absentee or vote by mail ballot You are more likely to vote than actually going to the polls And so across the country if you can lead in those things right there You've got a chance to actually close the gap. We got to close a gap of about 30,000 35,000 votes There are almost 40 to 45,000 Hispanic and Latino voters that nobody has ever asked to come vote for them in the last election We've got conservative and independent women right now They're completely upset with the way that this district has been handled and the fact that people like Kat Kamek won't even stand up for themselves Let alone other women when they are attacked that right there No, not a good thing like our campaign is run by 76 percent progressive women They're all terrifying. They could all kill me and they know they could kill me and so I love it And like our team is phenomenal and and and you've probably seen the tick tocks the videos everything like that But they care and they're willing to do the work and they're not willing to just sit back because for us It has to happen now and we don't have any other choice Because if you don't do something very shortly Lord is underwater Yeah, yeah, you have to act right now and this campaign what I love about it is like it's it's all run by zoomers Which is awesome Like that's where all the energy is coming from and like I am already so much more prouder of zoomers than I am Millennials like I love my generation But like they're just they they had this fire that we didn't have like immediately like growing up We had that, you know excitement of Obama, you know, I was excited about Obama and then for zoomers They're like graduating into the apocalypse so they don't have that false sense of hope So they're just getting to work immediately, you know So it's awesome to see that fire But at the same time I feel bad because they shouldn't have to fight for their lives like this But I mean, you know the fact that they're they're doing all of this and they're seeing so much success already It does give me hope. So look shout out to your team. We're rooting for you We'll put links to the website down below Adam Christian Christensen running in Flora's third congressional district We will be watching this race very closely because I think you're gonna pull this out