 Hi, everyone. I'm here with a fantastic candidate running to represent New York's 11th Congressional District. Her name is Brittany Ramos de Barros, and she's here to talk about her campaign. Brittany, welcome to the show. Hi, everyone. Thanks for having me. Really, really excited to talk about your campaign. I think you've been running a really good campaign, and your race is very interesting. So just to give everyone a little bit of background, Max Rose is the former incumbent of this seat. He's a one-term member of Congress who lost in 2020 to a Trump-like Republican. Nicole Miliotakis is her name, I believe, and you've been running a great campaign. And rather than endorsing you or trying to support you, he's jumping in to have a rematch after he's already proven that he can't win. So talk about your race, why you decided to get involved, and the dynamic overall, because this is a really fascinating race to watch. Sure. Yeah. Thank you for starting with that background. For anyone who doesn't know, New York 11 is Staten Island in South Brooklyn and here in New York City. We're the only district that right now has a congressional representative that's a Republican. And as you mentioned, she's a Trump Republican. And to your point, I actually, I sat down with Max, and I asked him, he said to me, he said the most important thing is beating Miliotakis. And I said, Max, if you believe that, then join with me and support me. And let's be a united front to remove her because we both believe that. And, you know, truthfully, I think it's going to take a bold, working-class woman, and particularly woman of color, to be able to galvanize and connect with enough people to really unseat her. And that is really important to our communities. But the reason I'm running is because, you know, I've spent my whole life seeing the ways that our systems have failed us. And being told that, you know, you don't belong in this space or you're not good enough or whatever. And watching other people like me be told the same things. And yet I really believe that the people closest to the pain are the people who already have the solutions. And we just need access to be able to be in the positions of power to make decisions to actually advocate for our people and advocate for every single member of our communities. And so I was focused on organizing and particularly anti-war work. You know, I was the co-director of About Face Veterans Against the War. We're all post-911 military veterans. And I also was one of the founding coordinating committee members for the New York Poor People's Campaign and had worked on the National Poor People's Campaign for a while. And, you know, was really just focused on doing my organizing work and never thought that I would run. But folks in my community who are organizers who know me from that work came to me and asked me to. And I said, I can't run. I curse like a sailor. I say exactly what I see all the time. I like burlesque, like there's a video on my, you know, thing of me doing a burlesque, which I rip off my military uniform. And, you know, like all of these things. That's epic. That sounds incredible. Yeah. And they were like, yeah, yeah, yeah, that all sounds great. I think people want a normal person, you know, someone that they can really relate to in this district because we really have a turnout problem. And, you know, the more I thought about that and the more I thought about knocking doors in 2018 to help Max get elected because we wanted to get Dan Donovan, the Republican then out. The more I thought about how much I when I was at the doors, what I heard were not ideological concerns. They were, I can't even tell the difference between Democrats and Republicans who run here. So why bother? Right. Or, you know, maybe that guy sounds nice, but someone like that can't win here this sense of defeat this this feeling that we're not powerful enough and we can't have nice things. And yet in the district the truth is we have almost double the Republicans that are sorry double the Democrats than we do the Republicans in Staten Island alone which is thought of as this deep conservative borough of New York City we have 30,000 more Democrats alone. And you know, people will say, yes, but they're Democrats and name only they're really conservatives and certainly a portion of them are right but in 2018, the Democratic primary turnout then was about 11% rounding up. And so you can't tell me that 90% of the registered Democratic base the reason they're not turning out is because they're really conservatives. And that's before we even get to the almost 200,000 potential voters who are not registered or not a lot affiliated with the party because they feel let down by both political parties which I think is actually the majority in our district and so, you know, we're building a bold campaign that is unapologetic about saying every single person in this district works really hard, and is working, you know, like often multiple jobs just to get by. And, you know, and just as the right of humans and dignity deserves to be able to live with dignity and have health care and have housing that isn't making them sick or you know freeze to death like the Park Hill House is half of the you know don't even have heat right now. And, you know, and that we deserve to have real interventions around the climate crisis that our district is being hit really hard by we have folks on the South Shore Staten Island that are still trying to recover from Sandy let alone IDA that we just you know we're just underwater every time that there's a storm and instead of doing anything about it. People allow developers to build our only, you know, to build a BJs on our wetlands, which is a one of our only natural flood protection so, you know, we've just been told over and over that we have to settle in this district that that the thing that you have to do is run like a Republican as a Democrat and I think that actually Democrats and more importantly the broader working class base here which are the majority are really hungry for a campaign they can get excited about. They haven't had a viable one in the seat and now they do and I'm excited to, you know, to really build the kind of momentum that we that it's going to take to win. Yeah, I'm so glad that you spoke to this. This inability to distinguish between the Democrats and Republicans because I've screamed about this for so long on this channel now that you know Democrats who run in purple districts. They pretend to be Republicans and they think that's because that's what the people in that district want. But I mean, when you are not mobilizing voters when people see that there's no real meaningful difference between the Democrat and the Republican, they're just going to stay home and you are one of the few people in this entire country who actually are running for Congress that acknowledges that. So I'm curious, because I know that you've spoken to a lot of people you've been running for quite some time now. What's the conversations that you have with people that are basically not necessarily deeply conservative but they identify as conservative but when you talk to them about your platform how do they respond because I've seen a lot of people easily sell progressive and leftist ideals to people who are ostensibly conservative by just having a conversation so how has that gone for you can you can you set any examples of that. Yeah, I mean I Medicare for all is a perfect example right when I start talking to people I don't just throw out a bunch of policy or ideology I just asked going on what would you like to see you know what are you, what are you liking in our political atmosphere what are you not liking and usually people will immediately start rattling off the pain points that they're experiencing, and you know, to use the kind of cliche political language sitting around their kitchen tables talking about right on a given day in plain language and I think that that's, that's the bottom line is that we don't actually have to compromise our values pop, you know, ideas like Medicare for all and agree new deal to invest in more resilient economy and infrastructure. You know, protecting making sure that everyone has a good job and labor rights, good housing and safe housing right or all things that are very, very popular cancelling student debt right all these things come up. When I talk to folks but they don't always use the but right they don't necessarily say Medicare for all they say, I'm struggling to pay for my insulin every month or my mother is struggling to pay for her insulin every month and I don't understand why it's like this. And I say, yeah, I think that we need to raise the floor of the basic medical care that everyone has access to New York City is one of the wealthiest cities on the face of the planet. We work hard, we pay our taxes right why why these are our benefits. We should be getting benefits out of the taxes that we pay and that's all this is is us making sure that those dollars are being prioritized by the leaders that we elect to go back into our communities and back into our families. And people say yeah exactly and I say so I support Medicare for all because I think that that's the best way to do it. And I have yet to have an objection to that to be honest in that kind of conversation. Yeah, it's the same thing that I've seen I mean my mom she's not the most politically savvy person, but she convinced people to go from Trump to Bernie Sanders in 2020 on Medicare for all alone. And just telling people what we don't have and what other countries have I think that there's this like light bulb that goes off in their head and they realize oh, okay it's not that scary it's not that foreign it's not that socialist there I say it's just kind of a humane thing that we can afford as a country. And I think it's important that these conversations happen. One thing that I wanted to ask you about you're running in New York so people on my show and myself included have a very negative perception of the New York State Democratic Party, mostly after the India Walton race and how that went down. So here's what I worry about with regard to your race Max Rose just entered, and I fear that the establishment and leaders in New York would rather get behind him and lose than get behind someone like you, who is a normal person who is a progressive. So if that is indeed the case, how are you working to fix that because it's tough. I mean if you're a grassroots funded candidate you're already kind of running an uphill battle by trying to cultivate grassroots donations and not taking money from these giant corporations. So how do you kind of overcome that advantage because it is something that I think is really difficult that I'm trying to help candidates overcome and maybe if we all talk about it with one another best practices like what's your take on this. Yeah, yeah, and I you know I think that that's that's a very real possibility right is that a bunch of establishment people some of them are already lining up behind him some of them will down the line. And you know when when we decided to launch this campaign. I knew that it was going to be a real fight. You know, I just kind of went into it expecting it to be us. And by us I mean the people against the world, you know, but I think in the in the spirit of labor organizing in the spirit of grassroots organizing and the kinds of campaigns like Cory Bush's and yes like India's even though in the end, you know they're ended up being shenanigans that robbed her of of the nomination that she deserved, and that she fairly won. You know I think that that shows that people are hungry for for Oregon, not just for not just for progressive progressive agenda right that really invests in the people. But for organizers who know how to build coalitions and get things done right who know how to excite people and mobilize people that's what we do when we're doing social justice or or popular or community organizing right and that translates really powerfully to the campaign trail, and also to being in office, you know as we've already seen with the kinds of instrumental achievements that Cory Bush, for example, has been able to make because she knows how to take a combination of policy and direct action and coalition building and all of these different things to really bring a lot of power and amplified power to her advocacy as a representative. You know I think people are seeing the value in that and are hungry for that and so what we have to do is, we have to raise enough money to be to be able to compete right that is critical and viability is a real thing right the way we assess viability is often kind of looked at through this establishment, or you know, dare I say, patriarchal or white supremacist lens right that is kind of intentionally positioned to say that women women and women of color are never qualified enough are never good enough are never right like the right ones and you know all of these other things and you know we know that that's a thing, but you know there are real considerations and being strategic about, you know, it's important that we're responsible in running campaigns that really can come compete because I believe as working class people we have to grow our foothold of people's champions in the in the House and Senate and in other elected positions, especially local positions and so we have to we have to raise enough to compete and also we don't have to out fundraise our opponents right we expect to probably be out fundraised about at least four to one, honestly. And but you know but we also have already raised 350,000 and grassroots contributions without taking a dollar of corporate pack money lobbyist, you know lobby money or, or big real estate dollars, and I am so proud of that right that is mostly small dollar donors, who are not just making a donation they are taking, you know, money out of their paycheck the amount of people I call during call time which is where you call lists of potential donors right, that say yes when I get paid next, I'll make a donation and my heart breaks a little bit every time because I'm like man this person is making a real sacrifice to donate to this campaign and I have to remember that it's not for me it's for us. Right. This is about a movement for all of us and I just take those those contributions as sacred. When people make them and that means that we're going to have more organizing skill more momentum more energy that we can bring to the table, even though we will be out fundraised, but that's also why it's so important that whatever people can give they give because and they give early. There are endorsers and other people who that will that will swing them one where the other is is whether they're looking at the finances and thinking that we can that we have a real shot. Yeah. Yeah. Okay, so I want to shift gears a little bit here I want to do a little bit of a hypothetical or role playing role playing if you will. So let's assume we're on a debate stage I'm Max Rose right there's six other people on the stage right but it's really it's between you and I. So here's what I'm going to say so we're at I'm asked by the moderator. Max, you already lost this district. So why not seed, you know this this position to somebody who actually is a young up and comer like Brittany. Here's what I'm going to say. Well, look, I have lost sure, but I've also won. I've proven that I am able to capture this district. And we have this young radical communist and voters in this district are going to reject this radical commie Brittany Ramos to borrows. I mean, do you think that Trump supporters and moderate Democrats are going to go for that. I mean you're playing with fire sure I lost but she's definitely going to lose what people want here is I got to do the thumb point what people want here is somebody who's practical who can get things done who can work across the aisle. How do you respond to that bullshit. Sure. So, you know, I think that where I started say that in Max's own launch video. He says that we can have more we can have the America that we describe that we dream of, but we have to have leaders who are willing to risk everything in order to get there. And here's the reality through that measuring stick. I've risked my career, my future, my freedom as a US Army captain speaking out against corruption, and was nearly court martial for it. And I was advocating for my troops then for what's right. And that's what I'm doing now. And working class people have had politician after politician, tell us that we have to settle that we have to pick the known entity, right that we have to run to the center, but you tell me what is the center of starving. What is the center position on being kicked out of your house, even though you're working multiple jobs and you have kids that you're trying to keep food on the table for. What is the center position on not being able to have your kids get a good education because you can't afford good broadband, or you live in a place that is so poor that the internet companies don't bother to wire that location with good broadband access as we've seen. What is the center position on literally not even having a single public hospital in all of Staten Island, or the fact that all of us are getting flooded every time. This idea of left, right, radical extreme at both ends is fake. It's made up. None of this is about red versus blue. None of this is about left versus right. This has always been about the 1% who are continuing to get wealthier and wealthier off our backs every single day. And the rest of us who work hard, who are just doing everything that we can do to survive and are told that we should be grateful or that we're ungrateful for expecting that our tax dollars would be put back into our own schools, our own housing, our own community and that our jobs would be good enough that we can actually live on them. And so to me, Max lost not because of, you know, whatever he tries to claim, he lost because he got into office and he betrayed the communities that got elected. He stood next to Trump and smiled as Trump targeted Palestinian youth activists despite the fact that we have the second largest Palestinian diaspora community in the country in this district. He smiled and celebrated. He literally ran ads celebrating an extra judicial assassination that could have started World War Three. He refused to rein in Trump's war powers on vote voted against that twice. After that, he ran pro Trump Trump ads with racist xenophobic language blaming several blaming the opioid crisis on Chinese people in China. And celebrating that when we also have a massive Chinese and Asian community here. And so the reality is, is Max had his chance and he blew it. And we can't expect that we're going to keep running the same candidates on the same strategy and get a different result. We can't afford to do that and just hope that we're going to have to we're going to we're going to get a result. And so instead, I'm actually asking people to pick the safe bet, which is the campaign, the movement that we're building that connects with people from all different walks of life. That is a broad diverse coalition of many of the people that helped him get elected in 2018 and were betrayed by him and recruited me because they said this time we need someone who is who is already rooted has already demonstrated that when she is up against something that could cost her when she's being pressured, etc, that she's going to stand up for what's right. And I believe that that's the kind of leader that I will be in Congress. Okay. Honestly, that was one of the best responses to the radical argument I've ever heard. Not to like bias the audience, but I think they've been one over as well. And if we're in that hypothetical situation, you're getting a standing ovation the moderator is scolding everyone please remain silent. It's, that's, if you run ads calling him a politician talking about how you're the safe bet. Oh, just just fantastic like I'm blown away. That was so good. Okay, okay, I'm very thoroughly satisfied. Okay, at this point, you've won over everyone in the audience myself included. So, basically, what we need is to make this a sure bet. What do you need? Do you need donations? Do you need volunteers? Let us let us know how we can help you basically if you live in that district if we don't live in the district how can we assist you help us help you. We want you in that seat. Absolutely. So money. Every day right now I'm waking up how do I raise more money to make sure that we can pay the bills pay a living wage on our campaign and do what we need to do. Right. And so it's gross. It's annoying. I hate our campaign finance system, but that sucks up against right. Yeah. And so by December 31. We, you know, people making donations of whatever amount as much as you can do before December 31 in particular will help us make sure that we end this year strong and can go into January and then petitioning and all of these things with the resources to really scale and really build this at the level that it needs to be built. The second thing is yes to volunteering. So if you want to just volunteer as a general volunteer there are both virtual, you know, phone banks, texts banks, other ways that you can get involved and you can sign up on our website, which is Brittany for Congress dot org all spelled out. It might redirect you to Brittany for the people dot org both of them are us. And you can sign up to volunteer either and then there are also in person volunteer opportunities for door knocking and tabling we've been already canvassing weekly since April and we run two phone banks a week already so those are all really needed and then the third way is if you have special skills that you can bring to the table on a volunteer basis whether that's graphic design copywriting email writing and experience fundraising experience right or whatever those are you know those are all really needed and really appreciated we have a research and data team volunteer team you know we have different volunteer teams like that that are really appreciated and helpful. And then the last thing I'll say is you can also host a zoom razor and invite folks friends and family and colleagues from your network. And I will come and you know you can share why you're supporting me and we take care of the graphics and the zoom and everything and to make it as simple as possible you just have to invite your people. And that has been a grassroots small dollar way where we're raising a couple thousand here 500 here but it all really adds up for us and we can do 30 minutes to an hour. Your friends can ask their questions get to meet me virtually directly and then you know we get to pitch you know why we think that they should support our campaign whether they're in the district or not so that's another way to help. Well hang on Brittany you're telling me that I don't have to spend $500 for a plate at a private event to talk to you that seems a little weird like what is this sorcery like. I know I know I can't even afford to go to those events. Right right nobody can it's it's ridiculous. Well thank you so much. Yeah of course. We are going to watch your campaign very closely. I know that this is going to be a race that gains a lot more prominence. There's going to be a lot of eyeballs on this particular district. So if you're watching this get involved right now and I've got a good feeling about this race. Brittany I hope that you will come back on the show and give us some updates. Thank you so much for coming on the show. Thank you so much for having me and yes anytime I would love to. Do yourself a favor and click the join button on YouTube to become a member. Because Mike's doing a great job getting to watch his videos before everyone else is tremendous. Many people are saying this. Join today folks you won't regret it.