 Good afternoon everyone! We are here on a hot, humid summer afternoon on the corner of Archibald and North Winooski in the heart of the historic Old North End at the wonderful town meeting television studios. My name is Andrew Champagne. I'm a member of the Democratic State Committee. I'm very involved in voter registration and Democratic politics. I have a monthly show here and you know, you think in the summer, oh, dull drums. It's, you know, what are we going to talk about? I could talk for three hours talking to, I was talking to Ms. Davidian, the boss here, about that I could talk for three hours today because we have a very, very big primary coming up August 9th. Before I get to that, I need to do what I do every month, what I call my COVID rap. My friends, COVID has not disappeared. COVID has not gone. It has killed over a million, one million Americans. The population of Vermont is 700,000. So that means the whole state plus 300,000 people have passed. So as I always do, please, if you're not vaccinated, let's just start off by getting that first vaccine, okay? It has no side effects. You couldn't even feel it and it's so, so easy. Also, you know, we've been struggling for two years, four months now with COVID and let's say you're having problems with rent, you're having problems finding a job, maybe getting unemployment insurance, maybe getting three squares, which is commonly known as food stamps, maybe trying to get a Section 8 voucher, maybe try to get a car or a bike, maybe trying to get a bus pass, all that kind of stuff, maybe trying to take a college class. Well, we have a number. It's up on the screen and I'd like to thank Kevin, my producer, along with Daniel and Jordan here today, but that number is in Vermont, toll free 2-1-1. Now that'll help you for COVID questions. That will help you for questions about housing insecurity. That'll help you with questions about perhaps getting some assistance with food, oil, gas, electric bills, your mental health. Now as we've gone through two years and three months of this thing, everyone has some kind of stress from this. It was, I mean, there's there's been nothing like this for 100 years in America, since the since the Spanish Flu Epidemic of 1918. So to wrap this up, because we're doing a short show today, 2-1-1, if you have any COVID questions, and please consider getting vaccinated. It's safe. It's healthy. It takes care of other people. For example, if we're around people that maybe are threatened or have immune system problems, you could unwillingly give them COVID. Okay, that's my COVID wrap. 2-1-1. I thank you. Okay, so we, a couple things. Full disclosure, I am working on Congressman Welch's US Senate campaign. Which has really been great. And there he is. He's fantastic. And last Wednesday, we had a very special event. We had a concert with Vermont's own Grace Potter at the beautiful Hula Workspace in the south end for Peter. And Grace played some songs, and it was a blast. It was a big party. Unbelievable catering. Everyone had a drink. It was really fun. I'd like to thank Hula, Russ Scully. I'd like to thank Ms. Potter, her parents. I saw them there. They're wonderful people. And it was a great job by Congressman Welch. He gave a really fired up speech talking about some of the recent developments and what we've seen. Since I've been on last time, Roe versus Wade has been overturned. And I'll tell you, that's hard to even say. Law of the land for just about 50 years, 49 years. And we see what these lifetime appointments on the Supreme Court can bring to our country, these terrible justices we have, some of them. Clarence Thomas, Brett Kavanaugh. Brett Kavanaugh said during his confirmation hearings that he thought Roe versus Wade was the law of the land. So did Amy, Amy Comey Barrett. And we see these terrible, terrible picks by a really awful president have come back to haunt us. I personally, I am in favor. We'd have to change the Constitution. It's very, never easy. But I'm in favor of a 20 year term. I think a lifetime term, you know, back from the founding fathers, the life expectancy of someone was probably in the fifties. Now it's in the eighties. So we see Clarence Thomas is a holdover from the first President Bush. That's 1990. Many people watching this show tonight, including one of my cameramen, was not alive at that time. So we see what's happening. I'm really glad to report that Judge Katanji Jackson was sworn in as a new member of the Supreme Court. She is going to be awesome, the first African-American woman ever on the Supreme Court. Congratulations to her and her family. There she is taking the oath. She is fantastic. And so that was a big victory. So we, you know, I can talk about a lot of things tonight, but I guess I better talk about the primaries. We, we have huge primaries August 9th. That's Tuesday, August 9th. Now, for people watching, if you're not registered, it's so easy to do so. You can give me a call. My telephone number is 802-540-0717. You can go to City Hall in Burlington or any of the city or town clerks in the state of Vermont. While you're doing that, you can also request an absentee ballot. Ballots are not being sent for the primary. They will be sent in November, but they are not being sent in August. A lot of people, even people who are political statistics do not know that. So if you think a ballot is coming for the primary, it is not. You have to request it. You can do that by filling out a form online, filling out a paper form, calling city clerks, emailing them. You can also request a ballot for a family member, your father, mother, grandmother, anything like that. We also have, thanks to the legislature and retiring secretary of state, Jim Condos, we have same day registration, which means on August 9th, you can go to your polling place and register to vote and vote right there. Now, I have to admit, when same day registration started, I was, I said, wow, is this going to be disorganized? Is this going to be crazy? And it's worked out so, so well at each polling place or someone whose job is to register voters. And so same day means that you can come register and vote that day. Also, to anyone watching that does not have Vermont identification, we can register you to vote on with the last four digits of your social. Now, that's how the Republican states stop people from voting. What they'll say is, oh, you don't, for example, Texas, you don't have a Texas ID. I'm sorry, we can't register you. Now, we know any efforts to stop people from voting or limit voting is just straight up racism, okay? Because it's the people who are challenged in this world, the poor, the elderly, people who maybe aren't familiar with voting. And we see what the Republicans have done. It's classism, it's racism. Trying to stop someone from voting is taking away their constitutional rights. Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Now, that's in the Declaration of Independence. Now, how can you be happy if you can't vote? That leads me, I'd like to thank the city, did a great job on the second annual Juneteenth celebration. Fantastic events at the Flynn Theater, the hip hop museum was there. And then great stuff in Roosevelt Park, Battery Park, and then a big, big hip hop show and speeches and free food in City Hall Park. The biggest stage I've ever seen in City Hall Park. I'd like to thank Atomic Pro Audio, a lot of Clarendon, Vermont for doing that. It was fantastic. I'd also like to thank my friends at BCA for helping with that. And it was an excellent, it was an excellent, now it's now a national holiday. But what got me talking about Juneteenth was that was an era where people weren't able to vote at all. And we see them chipping away at that when they stop drop boxes, when they stop early voting, when they stop weekend voting, when they stop the ability for you to pick up a friend's ballot. This is all a way to decrease the turnout. The Republicans are afraid of the people. They've gerrymandered themselves in so tightly, it looks like they're going to grab the U.S. Congress and that's a real tragedy. We are going to hold on in the Senate. Hopefully we can pick up some governorships. But the one thing that the Republicans did during the second term of President Obama was focus on local, local races. And Democrats have always done that, but they have done very well and they're able to change rules to negate people's presence at the ballot booth. So anyone who tells you anyone trying to limit voting is not for the people. Okay. I do a lot of voter registration. I just registered my 1600th voter and I believe in the process. I believe in Vermont. I better now thank retiring Secretary of State Jim Kondo's because he's been so helpful to me, but also getting all these changes through. Really, really great job. So let's get to the primary. Where are we? We have 19 minutes. Okay. That's perfect. Let me take it from the top. From the governor's race. We have a very, very popular Republican governor who looks very short of victory. I have to be honest. There he is. I wish he was doing more for the people. He's a nice guy, but status quo doesn't cut it, Governor Scott. I want you to take a look at an economic new deal for the North Country. Too many young people are leaving. More people are dying than are being born. And just holding the line on taxes and being a nice person isn't quite enough. We saw the vision that Governor Shumlin had, Governor, Governor Dean. And so we have a Democratic candidate. We have Brenda Siegel, who's a activist from the southern part of the state. She first started getting involved in politics because her nephew, unfortunately, passed away from an overdose. And fighting the opiate addiction has been her passion and her mission. And she has stepped up and decided to run for governor. And I'd like to thank her. It's not easy. There's a lot of towns, 251 towns you have to travel to. The governor is very popular. But so Brenda Siegel, you'll see her. She has a lot of energy. She cares about people. I saw her in the park the other day talking to some people and working on registration of vote and working on trying to help them with some social services. So I'm just going to talk about the Democratic primary tonight. The Democratic primary for governor, Brenda Siegel, and she's facing no opposition. Now the big, big race that's really going to change things is the congressional primary. We have never had a woman congressman in our from 1791 till present ever. And that's going to be broken because Congressman Welch is running for the U.S. Senate seat vacated by our great friend, Senator Leahy. And before I go any further, I'm I've got to wish Senator Leahy the best. He, he took a fall and he had some hip issues. And Senator Leahy, you are the best. I know I'll see you soon. I'd like to think say, say hi to Mrs. Marcel Leahy too. They're very, very fine people. And that man is a fighter and strong. So he's going to be back soon. You'll see him in Vermont soon. He is retiring after 47 years as U.S. Senator. He took his office in January 1975 when President Ford was president. So an amazing, amazing man, perhaps the best Senator Vermont has ever had. Some people might say Justin Morrill. Some people might say George Akin. But I think I think it's Senator Leahy. And I'd like to thank he and his staff, such wonderful people. They've done so much for Burlington and Vermont. I hope you get well soon, Senator Leahy. I'll see you in Burlington soon. And I just like to thank you for your lifetime of service to Vermont and America. So thank you, Senator Leahy. Senator Leahy is retiring. Congressman Welch is running in his spot. He faces token primary opposition. And as I said, I'm working on Congressman Welch's campaign. I enthusiastically endorse him. I think he's fantastic. So that's the U.S. Senate. So we've done Governor Brenda Siegel. And then I will definitely be voting for Congressman Welch. Now we get to the big one, where I'm going to stay neutral on television here and just going to spell out to you your options. We have two very fine candidates. The first one is Ms. Becca Ballant, Senator Becca Ballant. She is pro, there she is. She is pro tem of the Vermont Senate. Former teacher, professor, lives and represents Brattleboro. Wonderful, wonderful person. She's running a great campaign. Now her opponent is Lieutenant Governor, Molly Gray. Hey, there she is. There's Molly. Molly's from Burlington. Molly is Lieutenant Governor. They are, they are facing off in a, I'll have to say, very spirited congressional race. And I like how they focused on the issues. They're two excellent candidates. And so, you know, as I talked to anyone about this race, I say, please do your research, because you have their, I have to say they are quite similar on the issues. They're both liberal, progressive Democrats, small P progressive Democrats. So I think we'll be very well served with both of them. I cannot tell you who's going to win. I feel like the race is very close. Now we're, now we don't know how turnout is going to be. So if people stay home and don't vote, the turnout will be very low. But again, we have more races. So I'm not finished. Secretary of State Jim Condos is retiring. And I'd like to thank him. Boy, he's a good guy. We have a few candidates. We have four candidates to replace him. Chris Winters, Deputy Secretary of State, Representative Sarah Hoplin, Sarah Copeland-Hansis, Patricia Preston, part of the World Affairs Institute, and State Rep Charlie Kimball. Charlie's from Woodstock, Patricia's from Burlington, Sarah is from Bradford, and Chris is from Berlin. They're all very fine candidates. And, you know, the work that the Secretary of State does, I've, as a winter project, I looked at all the voting rules for all 50 states. Believe it or not, Vermont is the absolute best. So the Secretary of State is a very, very important position. Thank you, Secretary Condos. Enjoy your retirement, my friend. You and Annie, you are a good man. We've had so much fun together. You're always for the people and I appreciate it. Okay, going while there's more positions. Attorney General, TJ Donovan decided to resign. There he is, my good buddy. I'd like to thank you for all your good work. Also say hi to your great mom, former rep Joey Donovan, who's an awesome friend of mine. The Donovans have been involved in politics in Burlington for 60 years, 55 years. TJ is doing something else. He resigned. He's doing a change of pace. He's changing his life around. We have some candidates. We have two candidates for Attorney General. The first one is Charity Clark. She's a deputy Attorney General. And also the second one is Rory. Oh, my Rory. Tibodeau. Sorry, Rory. I took me a second. He is state's attorney in Addison County. Those are both two good people. Again, we'd be well served with both of them. They're both going to continue TJ's work, but please do some research here. Okay, now getting back to an uncontested race. So I'm going to endorse this guy. My friend Mike Pichek is taking over the retiring Beth Pierce as treasurer. Now, Miss Pierce is a wonderful person. I want to wish her the best. I hope you get better soon. I hope you're feeling better. She is really a people's treasurer. And she has decided to step down. And there's only one candidate running. He is the current director of financial regulations. He was appointed under Governor Shumlin, a Democrat, and then again by Governor Scott. So this Mike's got a lot of nonpartisan support. So Mike Pichek for state treasurer. We also have some state house primaries. I hope you'll vote for the speaker, our wonderful speaker, Jill Kroinsky. There's also some primaries for state Senate because we have some new districts. Burlington will be in a three three seat booth now, not six. We actually had the largest in the whole country, six senators for a county. That's been broken up. We'll never have that again. So on your ballot, you'll be voting for three. Also a race for Chittenden County. This is this is important race is state's attorney. We have two excellent candidates, the incumbent Sarah George, who is the current state's attorney, and a friend of mine. Attorney, former public defender Ted Kinney, Sarah and Ted are both excellent. As we've seen in Burlington, we've had some problems. We've had some problems with crime. We had a murder, not more than seven blocks from here. A 20 year old man was murdered. Okay, in broad daylight. We see the opiate epidemic probably at the worst point I've ever seen it. It's really, really sad. And I don't know what's going to happen. There is a lot of treatment options out there for someone. Because, you know, working with an opiate problem is a terrible load to carry. And I wouldn't wish it on anyone. It's really, it's really, you know, devil's burden. And so we have someone. So we now have, we now, Sarah, now this is interesting, that's a four year term instead of a two year term. So you're making a pretty big decision here. And so Sarah George is the incumbent. TJ Donovan, when he was elected to Attorney General, she was appointed by Governor Scott. And she is running for her second four year term. And Ted is a member of the longtime member of Democratic Committee, a public defender, he's on the select board in Williston. So you have two excellent candidates here. We'd both be well served by both of them. Let me think here, anything else? Well, we've got probate judge, my buddy, judge Greg Glennon, good man, honest man. Please vote for him. Okay, so I have nine minutes left. We better talk about the momentous decision that came down about Roe versus Wade. It was a terrible shock. It wasn't a shock. Because a decision was leaked. We still don't know who leaked it. But it looks like Judge Ludo wrote this decision. Boy, is he conservative, man. I mean, this guy wants to go back to horse and buggy. He and Clarence Thomas, they're terrible. And I think a literal interpretation of the Constitution is a big mistake. And as we've seen, these Republican judges are imposing their will on a whole nation. And it's just an unfair attack on women. It's an unfair attack on anyone. Roe versus Wade was the law of the land. It was accepted as precedent. During, as I said before, during several of the confirmation hearings, these people lied and said they had no intention of overturning it. So it looks like the court has almost gotten too powerful. I'm not sure what we can't do. Court packing is not going to do. It's very hard to change the Constitution. But I would, as I said, I favor a 20 year term. We also see their decisions on the EPA stripping the EPA of some rights, which is unbelievable. The Environmental Protection Agency, actually that came out of a Republican administration, a president that was much maligned, but actually had some very interesting social program, President Richard Nixon. And as we've seen in Flint, as we've seen all over places, without clean water, you don't have anything. And if we let these, if we let these big corporations, they will abuse our land, they will take our land and they will destroy our land. I don't trust them. They want to drill in national parks. They want to drill off Alaska. They want to do fracking. We all know that just ruins the land. If anyone's ever been out to North Dakota, see how they like that, see how they like that in 20 years. Obviously, our obsession, our addiction, our Jones for fossil fuels has really cost us. There's some places in the summer today that are 115, 118 degrees in America. People, animals, wildlife flowers can't live under such conditions. With this is coming drought. And these people denying climate change, they're lying. And we see that President Biden has been so strong on this issue. And you know, I'm here to speak up for President Biden. Boy, he takes a lot of grief. I think he's done a great job. We just got a Supreme Court justice in. The stimulus was unbelievable. We are coming out of a recession. Of course, we'd have a recession after two years of COVID lockdown. I like his appointments. I like that he's standing up for your crane. I think I was fortunate enough to be a delegate for him in 2020 at the Democratic National Convention. So I really believe in him. I think Dr. Jill Biden, the first lady has been doing a fantastic job. And Mr. Biden's got a great heart. He cares about people. He understands loss. He understands tragedy. He's been through a lot in his life. He's an honest, caring, good man. And, you know, the 24 hour cycle of just constant barrage on the president on anyone is very wearing. I have five minutes left. We better talk about the January 6 commission. It's been fantastic. I'd like to thank them. You know, I very rarely agree with Congressman Cheney or her family on anything. But she has been beyond brave. She stood up for the Constitution. She stood up for the truth. As President Kennedy say, she showed a profile in courage. And we see it looks like the president knew all this stuff was going to go down and encouraged it. And supposedly, and I believe these people they're under oath, wanted to go to break into the Capitol. So we've seen the closest thing that we've come to civil war. We had Confederate flags in the Capitol that day. Don't forget it. Those people tried to take away our rights. They assaulted her, tried to gouge the eyes out of Capitol police. Those poor people are suffering from post traumatic stress. I'd like to thank them and all of law enforcement. I think the police do a fantastic job. But we see that the truth is coming out in the lives of Trump. And it looks like my feeling is he might be convicted of a felony and then he will not be able to run for president. And I think it would be absolute travesty for the two party system to nominate him. He's just very awful person. The closest thing we've had to a fascist in this country ever. I know these are strong words and you try to have respect for the president, but it's just not possible. Now Kevin, did we get a picture of Joe Biden up there on the screen? Oh, no, I don't want him. Forget him. Okay, let's yeah, there he is. Hey, smoking Joe, Uncle Joe, you're the man cares about people getting things through getting judges appointed getting ambassadors appointed getting legislation through Congress. We're working with a very, very divided Senate as you know, I am down to three minutes. So I better wrap it up. Well, the one thing I have to do is thank town meeting television. I'd like to thank Emily, I'd like to thank Jordan, I'd like to thank Daniel, I'd like to thank Kevin, I'd like to thank Miss Davidian, I'd like to thank all the people who make town, town meeting TV what it is. Now, next month we're going to be on a week later. Usually I'm on Tuesday afternoons, the second Tuesday, but we're going to do it the third, because the primary is on Tuesday, August 9th, usually when I do the show. And so the next week, we're going to be able to reflect on the primary, talk about the numbers, talk about turnout, talk about surprises, talk about upsets, and set the compass towards November 8th, the general election. Very quickly, Brenda Siegel is running for governor. I'm in wholeheartedly endowsing Peter Welch for US Senate. Molly and Becca in Congress, very tight race, Becca Ballant, Molly Gray. Chris Winters, Sarah Copeland Hansis. Those are the two for Secretary of State. Lieutenant Governor Kitty Toll, David Zuckerman, Patricia Preston, and Charlie Kimball. That Lieutenant Great Lieutenant Governor's race is too close to call. We'll see what happens with that. They're all been working very hard. Secretary of State, I did that. Attorney General, Rory T. Balt, and Charity Clark. So I'm sorry, it's hard to keep it all together. And also, very important, in Chinden County, the state's attorneys race, Sarah George, the incumbent against public defender, Williston Select Board, Ted Kinney. Two excellent candidates for your term. So that's till 2026. So take a look at that. Please do your research. That's what everyone needs to do. The ballot is quite long. Now, when you get the ballot, if you get an absentee, you're going to get three ballots, Democrat, Republican, and progressive. Really, the actions on the Democratic ballot. You must return the unused ballot. You must put your ballot in the envelope, sign and date. So the polls are open Tuesday, August 9th, from 7am to 7pm. Early voting is at City Hall in Burlington every day and all around the county. In Burlington, it's 8 to 430. They're closed for lunch, 1230 to 130. You can request an absentee ballot by online. You can call City Hall. You can call me 802-540-0717. I am pretty much getting, we're just about done. I'd like to thank everybody. Please vote August 9th. I'd like to thank everyone at Town Meeting Television. I hope you have a great day. Take care of yourself. Be safe. Get vaccinated. Vote. And I wish you the best. I'd like to thank you all very much.