| Speaker | Time | Text |
|---|---|---|
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unidentified
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unidentified
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| C-SPAN spoke to freshman members of the U.S. House about their life experiences and why they decided to run for Congress. | ||
| We bring you our interviews with Arizona Democratic Congresswoman Yasmin Ansari, Republican Congressman Mike Haradopoulos of Florida, Democratic Congressman Cleo Fields of Louisiana, Republican Congressman Jeff Crank of Colorado, Democratic Congresswoman April McLean Delaney of Maryland, and Republican Congressman Jeff Heard of Colorado. | ||
| Representative Yasiman Ansari of Arizona is one of 60 new members of the U.S. House. | ||
| The Democrat has served on the Phoenix City Council and at the age of 32 is the youngest female member of Congress. | ||
| She talks here about her life and career and the story of her parents emigrating to the U.S. from Iran. | ||
| I am the proud daughter of two Iranian immigrants. | ||
| So my parents came here in the 70s. | ||
| My dad came to go study civil engineering at the University of Oregon, always with the intention of going back home. | ||
| My mom has a little bit different of a story. | ||
| When the revolution hit Iran in 1979, they had grown up in a monarchy in Iran, but with more freedoms. | ||
| A theocratic regime, the Islamic Republic, took over and my mom's family was at risk. | ||
| Her father was imprisoned for supporting the prior government and being anti-the new regime. | ||
| And so she fled Iran by herself and was able to come to the United States and stayed with a family friend here. | ||
| So they met here in the United States. | ||
| And of course, my dad later, you know, was unable to go back for the same reasons, safety and security. | ||
| So I grew up with that being a big part of my upbringing. | ||
| My parents always emphasized how much we cannot take democracy for granted. | ||
| And we always talked about politics at the dinner table simply because their lives had been uprooted because of politics. | ||
| What were those conversations like at home? | ||
| Really just about how like you can feel secure in a democracy and feel like you know you have all of the freedoms in the world, but that doesn't mean that they cannot be taken away. | ||
| That doesn't mean that your life could not change overnight. | ||
| And so civic engagement was a big part of our upbringing. | ||
| My mom always took us to volunteer with refugee communities locally and support them, took us to volunteer on campaigns. | ||
| I'd see her at 10 o'clock at night calling our senators and leaving voicemails in their inboxes about how she felt they should vote. | ||
| So being involved in my community and in the political process was something that I got used to from a very, very young age. | ||
| Did you always think about public office? | ||
| You know, I was interested in the idea, but when I was growing up, there were no role models for me to be able to look at who were young and women and who looked like me. | ||
| So I really didn't think it was possible. | ||
| Like I thought only older men with law degrees could be members of Congress, right? | ||
| That changed for me in 2018 during the first Trump administration and in 2018 when we really saw that first wave of young progressive women running for office at all levels of government and seeing that and seeing that it is possible and that we are just as American as everyone else, just as qualified and capable and smart as everyone else. | ||
| I felt inspired to run for office in my home state of Arizona. | ||
| Tell us about your formal education and your early work experiences. | ||
| Yeah, so I, as I mentioned, was always interested in public service. | ||
| So in undergrad, I went to Stanford University and I studied international relations. | ||
| I did work on some campaigns at the time. | ||
| It was President Obama's second reelection, so worked on that campaign in turn for Nancy Pelosi as well. | ||
| So it's funny that now we are colleagues all these years later. | ||
| And then following my undergrad, I went and worked at the United Nations through a fellowship and served on the Secretary General's climate action team. | ||
| And that was the team that really helped to advise Secretary General Bon Ki-moon in the lead up to the adoption of the Paris Climate Agreement. | ||
| So I got a behind-the-scenes look at what kind of diplomacy work is needed to make an accord of that magnitude come to life. | ||
| What got you interested in that field, climate? | ||
| It actually was a link with international security issues that I was interested in. | ||
| This fellowship, the person that was mentoring me, really broke it down for me in a way that was digestible. | ||
| Like if you care about issues of international security, natural disasters, migration and refugee crises, all of that stems from the climate crisis and climate change is such a threat multiplier in our world. | ||
| That's actually why the U.S. military is one of the first institutions that started sounding the alarm on climate change back in the 70s. | ||
| So I think that recognition early on in my 20s that this impacts all aspects of our life. | ||
| It's a public health crisis. | ||
| It's a jobs issue. | ||
| It's a national security crisis made me realize that that is the issue I wanted to work on. | ||
| You served on the Phoenix City Council. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Correct. | |
| When did you serve there? | ||
|
unidentified
|
And what would you be known for if we asked one of your constituents? | |
| So I served, I was elected in 2021 and I, again, was inspired to run for office during the first Trump administration. | ||
| And I would say I would be known definitely for the work I did on climate policy, did a lot of work on heat mitigation, started the first heat office in the country, a lot of work on transportation electrification. | ||
| I feel that it's extremely important that we move away from fossil fuels and towards clean electric vehicles because especially in Phoenix, most of our emissions are due to the transportation sector. | ||
| So the electric buses you'll see on our streets in Phoenix, that's part of the work that I led. | ||
| So I know a lot of people know that. | ||
| And then also I would say just being very proactive in the community. | ||
| We were very accessible, constantly doing community events and really trying to bring people together towards bettering our city. | ||
| What sparked you to make the jump to run for a seat in Congress? | ||
| It was a tough decision, but I think that we are in such an urgent moment in our country. | ||
| We're seeing so many massive shifts and it is imperative within our party to see younger folks and people from different backgrounds who represent the American people being elected office to fight for the issues and pass policy on the issues that matter most to us. | ||
| So from climate change to housing affordability to gun violence prevention, feel that the issues that my generation cares about are the issues that I'm now directly able to work on. | ||
| You mentioned not necessarily having a lot of role models growing up in your interest in elective office, but you are now the first Iranian American elected to public office in Arizona. | ||
|
unidentified
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What does that distinction mean to you? | |
| It means a lot to me. | ||
| I think I think a lot about my parents and how hard they worked to be here and to become successful in the United States. | ||
| My dad went from a civil engineer, public servant for 17 years to starting his own company, to being able to support his daughter's education and being successful in this country. | ||
| And I think the fact that in one generation that can happen in the United States of America is something to be incredibly proud of, something that we should keep fighting for to make sure the next generation of Americans have that. | ||
| And I always want to make sure that I'm using my role to be able to encourage other young women to do the same. | ||
| You're also one of the youngest members of the House, in fact, the youngest female member, correct? | ||
| What does your voice from your generation mean to the debate here in Washington? | ||
|
unidentified
|
What do you want it to mean? | |
| I think it means that young, like women have a place and our voice matters here. | ||
| We are living in a time where our rights are literally being stripped away from us at every turn. | ||
| The overturning of Roe v. Wade was something that I never thought I would see in my lifetime. | ||
| The dismantling of Democratic institutions from U.S. aid to likely the Department of Education is something that I never thought I would see. | ||
| And I can say young women across the board do not agree with these actions. | ||
| And having more young women here in the halls of power where policy is being made for the country, we need our representatives to reflect us. | ||
| One last question, your Democratic freshman class president. | ||
|
unidentified
|
What does the job entail? | |
| What do you want to bring to that role? | ||
|
unidentified
|
Well, the most important thing is that I want to be able to represent this class of 34 freshman House Democrats in a way that meets this moment. | |
| We have a very, very talented class, a diverse class. | ||
| We have multiple doctors. | ||
| We have former chiefs of staff from NASA, lawyers, people who have been on the front lines of major civil rights issues in this country. | ||
| So we can bring a lot to this table in this moment. | ||
| So making sure each person is able to do the work that they came here to do is my top priority and just bringing that voice to our House Democratic leadership as well and communicating effectively what our class needs and what we want to see moving forward. | ||
| One of the more than 60 new members of the U.S. House is Representative Mike Haradopoulos of Florida. | ||
| The Republican has taught history and political science and has served in the Florida House and the Florida Senate. | ||
| He talks here about his career and his family history. | ||
| I am a proud son of an immigrant from Greece. | ||
| My dad was born in Athens, Greece. | ||
| And of course, he and my mom actually met in the FBI where they both served. | ||
| And I grew up in New York and of all places, Arkansas, where my dad was doing some deep undercover work on the ABSCAM cases, the famous case of Court dealing unfortunately with Capitol Hill. | ||
| Eventually went off to college at Stetson University, which is a central part of Florida, studied history and political science. | ||
| And later I earned a master's degree from history from the University of Arkansas. | ||
| Back to the childhood and the parents in the FBI. | ||
|
unidentified
|
What was that like growing up? | |
| Well, it's pretty wild. | ||
| You know, I'm really proud to say that my parents were the only couple still together after working through a lot of these cases. | ||
| Sadly, they're gone a lot. | ||
| My dad was undercover. | ||
| He'd be gone for two weeks, home for two weeks, but he was always there to watch my basketball games or football games, whatever it might be. | ||
| And so it was just a great way to grow up. | ||
| And in that time period, I learned a lot about politics. | ||
| Unfortunately, my dad said, turn on the TV. | ||
| I go, I'm going to be on TV. | ||
| He was one of the undercover agents called AbScam, Abdul Scam, that sadly arrested a bunch of congressmen and senators because of their, let's just say, illicit activities. | ||
| I have to ask, what could you talk about and not talk about at the dinner table? | ||
|
unidentified
|
Well, it's the truth of the matter. | |
| I knew my dad was an FBI agent. | ||
| I didn't know exactly what he was doing when I was younger. | ||
| The cool thing was, and later in life, of course, he told me about the challenges, of course, being a special agent for the FBI, going after the bad guys, used to arrest bank robbers, let alone people who are dealing in narcotics, gambling, you name it. | ||
| And it was a fascinating thing. | ||
| And I always was trying to encourage him, write a book. | ||
| People want you to understand the challenges and really the excitement of being an FBI agent. | ||
| After graduate school, tell us about your professional career. | ||
| Well, I wasn't sure what I was going to do right after graduate school, but I was able to land a job at what's called now Eastern Florida State College. | ||
| I taught history and political science classes and I really tried to focus on not dates or the minutiae. | ||
| I really wanted to understand how the political system works. | ||
| And in history, I wanted to make sure that people understood why something happened and who was involved. | ||
| Make it a lot more like a psychology class as opposed to a math class. | ||
| I eventually wrote a few books while I was there and was elected to the State House in Florida back in 2000. | ||
| What is it about teaching history that informs you while holding elective office? | ||
|
unidentified
|
Well, I think we should always learn from our past and we are standing on the shoulders of giants. | |
| We're the greatest nation the world has ever seen and I always want to look back and see what those people who made this American dream possible, what did they do in challenging times? | ||
| And the best thing I learned from history, the most capable people were not just bright, intelligent people, but they were great listeners. | ||
| They took on all the information. | ||
| I'm a big fan of Henry Clay, Alexander Hamilton. | ||
| They weren't presidents, but they really helped shape our nation and come up with some of the policies that weren't necessarily popular at the time, but knew that they'd have great long-term impacts for our country. | ||
| You spent how many years in the legislature in Florida? | ||
| I served a total of 12 years in the legislature, a couple years in the state house, quickly moved to the state Senate, and I was honored to serve as the president of the Senate. | ||
| That's the presiding officer. | ||
| And my time was a very challenging time because that's when we had to make real cuts in our budget. | ||
| We actually spent less money than the previous year when I was the leader of the Senate. | ||
| And those are not easy decisions to make, but as I mentioned before, because we took in all that information, made sure that everyone had a voice, we made those challenging cuts. | ||
| And I think Florida is better off because they were able to rebound from that recession back in 2010, 11, and 12. | ||
| What did you take overall from that experience that you'll apply here in Washington? | ||
| Well, I think, first of all, I'm a proud Republican. | ||
| I'm a conservative, especially on financial issues. | ||
| But I also recognize that a lot of issues, Republicans and Democrats can actually get along. | ||
| I serve on the Financial Services Committee. | ||
| I like to think that's not a partisan institution. | ||
| We need to make sure that people have access to capital and that people want to invest in America. | ||
| And I proudly represent Kennedy Space Center. | ||
| That also should be a nonpartisan issue. | ||
| And so I think those two committees that I serve on will hopefully serve me well. | ||
| And my experience in the legislature and history should provide me with that background so that we can figure out where we can get along and where we can't. | ||
| There's some issues I know I can't bring a Democrat along, but on space issues and on financial issues, we should be able to find some common ground. | ||
| You mentioned you're a proud Republican. | ||
| Were you always Republican? | ||
| And how did that come about? | ||
| How did you know? | ||
|
unidentified
|
Well, it's interesting. | |
| Again, going from history, I always felt like the best governments in the world were the ones that empowered the individual, not the state. | ||
| And history shows, of course, the communists and socialistic regimes never worked. | ||
| So I learned that slowly but surely. | ||
| I had my favorites along the way. | ||
| Remember, if you ever look into it, I actually wrote my master's thesis on John F. Kennedy, A Democrats Rise to Power. | ||
| I lived in Arkansas when Bill Clinton was elected president of the United States, and I grew up part of my youth when he was governor of Arkansas. | ||
| And so I wasn't sure if I was a Republican or Democrat at that time period. | ||
| But really when I was in graduate school, it really opened my eyes to some of their challenges. | ||
| And I really felt like a limited government, especially when you keep taxes low, that it does better. | ||
| And if they live within its means, it gives the individual the power to make these decisions in their lives. | ||
| And I think that's what Republicans are all about. | ||
| I also read that you're an author. | ||
| You've written a book. | ||
| Tell us about that. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Well, I've co-authored four books. | |
| My most recent book is on the modern Republican Party of Florida. | ||
| Everyone looks at Florida today and says, oh, it's a big red state. | ||
| Well, it wasn't always the case. | ||
| Going back to the 1950s, there was not a single Republican in the House or the United States Senate. | ||
| And our book tracks how the Republican Party eventually gained power. | ||
| And today they have a super majority in both the House and the Senate, all the cabinet positions. | ||
| And of course, here in Washington right now, we have 20 Republicans, only eight Democrats in the Congress. | ||
| Both United States Senators are from Florida. | ||
| And as we all know, the President is in Florida. | ||
| The Attorney General is in Florida. | ||
| The Secretary of State's in Florida. | ||
| Exciting time to be from Florida. | ||
| And finally, tell us about your current family and what they think about all this. | ||
| Well, I'm very blessed. | ||
| My wife is not only beautiful, she's brilliant. | ||
| She's a medical doctor. | ||
| She's a family practitioner. | ||
| She's actually really involved in our local world in medicine. | ||
| She was a former member of the Board of Medicine in Florida. | ||
| She's the current head of what they call Healthy Kids. | ||
| That helps parents afford health insurance for their kids. | ||
| It's an unpaid position. | ||
| She's actually the chairman of the board. | ||
| And our three kids are, one of them lives right here in Washington, D.C. She's involved in politics. | ||
| Our son is a proud member of the United States Air Force. | ||
| He's what's called an EOD tech. | ||
| That means he looks after these bombs. | ||
| And finally, our youngest, in case you don't mind politics, her name is Reagan. | ||
| And she is a freshman at the University of Miami and studying law and politics. | ||
| And she hopefully will come up here in the summer and do some internships and learn what her dad does for a living. | ||
| Representative Cleo Fields of Louisiana was first elected to the U.S. House in 1993 and after leaving his seat after two terms, has returned to the House this year. | ||
| The Democrat had been working as an attorney and was serving in the Louisiana Senate when he made his new bid for Congress. | ||
| He talks here about his career and what he learned from his earlier experience on Capitol Hill. | ||
| Well, I was here 32 years ago. | ||
| I left 28 years ago and now I've returned. | ||
| I represented the old 4th Congressional District, which ran from Monroe to Baton Rouge. | ||
| And the district was challenged the whole while I was here. | ||
| But I served four years and now I'm back. | ||
| I mean, actually, I got here because I was chairman of the committee that redraw lines because Louisiana has a high black population. | ||
| Over 33% of the population in Louisiana is African-American. | ||
| And it just made sense. | ||
| And I'm glad the legislature agreed with me, the governor, and now we're here. | ||
| And now we've got to make a difference for the people back home. | ||
| When was the moment that you decided I do want to do this again? | ||
| What was that like? | ||
|
unidentified
|
Well, it was a tough decision, quite frankly, because, you know, I have had a law practice back home. | |
| It was doing well and was very comfortable being in the state senate because you could practice law and be a state senator. | ||
| But here you got to just do this. | ||
| But, you know, I just think the people of Louisiana deserve good representation, so I decided to do it. | ||
| When we were creating a seat, actually, I wasn't really thinking about running, quite frankly. | ||
| I wanted to create the seat, give a person an opportunity of color to have an opportunity to be elected. | ||
| And then after, you know, we created the seat, a lot of people said, let's do it. | ||
| And I did it. | ||
| And it's a challenging time, quite frankly. | ||
| How does it feel for you to be back here after all this time? | ||
| You know, I feel good. | ||
|
unidentified
|
The only challenge is, you know, when I go back to 28 years ago, and now people, the question, the number one question is, what's the difference? | |
| You know, the process is still the same. | ||
| I mean, which means that this is truly an institution. | ||
| But 28 years ago, I wish to have beepers to go and vote. | ||
|
unidentified
|
I mean, you know, we get a beep and it reminds us it's time to go vote. | |
| We don't have beepers anymore. | ||
| And I felt like, well, where are our beepers? | ||
| And now everybody uses iPhones. | ||
| So technology has changed. | ||
| But the process is still the same. | ||
| It's a little bit more partisan, well, a lot more partisan than it was when I was here 28 years ago. | ||
| But the process is the same. | ||
| Take us way back. | ||
| Born in Port Allen, Louisiana, correct? | ||
|
unidentified
|
Port Allen, Louisiana. | |
| Talk to us about your early life, your education, key people who might have influenced you growing up. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Yeah, I was born in Port Allen, a little town in West Baton Rouge Parish. | |
| My mom and dad had 10 children. | ||
| I'm number nine of 10 siblings. | ||
| We grew up very poor, but we didn't know we were poor. | ||
| We just had fun. | ||
| We worked hard. | ||
| My mama taught all of us the value of an education and to work with everybody. | ||
| And I believe that. | ||
| And then, you know, I grew up in very humble circumstances. | ||
| And people say, well, why did you enter politics? | ||
| It all started with a laugh. | ||
| You know, the first day of school, sixth grade. | ||
| Everybody stand up, state their name, and what they want to be in the future. | ||
| And all I wanted to be was a police officer because in elementary school it was either a police officer or a fireman. | ||
| And when my turn came around, students before me were saying things like doctor, lawyer. | ||
| And I was like, well, I want to say something bigger than everybody else. | ||
| And when I stood up, you know, I said, my name is Cleo Fields. | ||
| And it just came to my mind. | ||
| I want to be president of the United States of America when I grow up. | ||
| And everybody laughed. | ||
| And it was that day I said, you know what? | ||
| I'm going to find out how to become president. | ||
| And I went home and we didn't have web and internet. | ||
| We had encyclopedias. | ||
|
unidentified
|
And I went and I studied and I, you know, they had many modern presidents finish law school. | |
| That drove me to law school, drove me to Southern. | ||
| It drove me to run for student body president. | ||
| It drove me to run for freshman class president. | ||
| It drove me to be a member of the board of students, member of the board of regents. | ||
| Then it drove me to be the youngest state senator in the history of Louisiana. | ||
| And then after that, you know, the youngest congressman at 28. | ||
| People say, well, wow, you know, you got to be the longest, the member who set out the longest. | ||
|
unidentified
|
And I thought about it, and they're right. | |
| I mean, who else come here at 28 or 29, elected at 28, and then set out 28? | ||
| Who can do that? | ||
| 28 years, but the people have blessed me to have a second opportunity, and I want to do the very best I can. | ||
| But it all started with a laugh. | ||
| You come off your latest round as a state senator prior to this position. | ||
|
unidentified
|
You served three different times at state senator, correct? | |
| Yeah. | ||
| I'm the only state senator who've returned three different times. | ||
| What would people remember you for as a state senator? | ||
|
unidentified
|
Hard worker, education. | |
| You know, that's always been like my primary objective, irrespective of what committee I serve on, education. | ||
| Because, you know, that's the difference maker. | ||
| That was the difference maker in my life. | ||
| And now I'm really concentrating on early childhood education. | ||
| When I was chairman of education back home in Louisiana, I introduced a bill that would make kindergarten mandatory. | ||
| Most of my colleagues didn't know it wasn't, but we made it mandatory because the brain developed between birth and five years of age, the most, about 90% development. | ||
| So we got to intervene in these kids' lives early, and it pays dividends. | ||
|
unidentified
|
That means we spend less money on prisons and jails. | |
| You know, people, kids don't do well in school because they just, they don't do well in school because we have handicapped them. | ||
| We didn't give them a shot at early childhood education. | ||
| So when they get to the third grade and they can't read on grade level, they don't want to be there anymore. | ||
| It's like everybody else is reading. | ||
| I can't, school is not good for me. | ||
|
unidentified
|
It's like playing sports. | |
| You know, if you're not good at football, you're not going to want to show up at a football practice. | ||
| You know? | ||
| If you're not good at math, you're not going to want to go to math class. | ||
| So then it adds to kids dropping out of school. | ||
| So we just got to deal with it early. | ||
| What is your family and what do your colleagues back home think about all of this, your new job here? | ||
|
unidentified
|
Oh, well, when I was here last, I had one child. | |
| Brandon was born when I was a member of Congress. | ||
| And now Brandon is living in England. | ||
| He just got his Master's of Law. | ||
| And I'm trying to get him back to the States. | ||
| And then Christopher was born after I left here. | ||
| And he's living in California. | ||
| And so Deb and I, we, you know, we got two young, we can't see boys anymore, two young men. | ||
| And so that was another thing that gave me an opportunity to come back here. | ||
| And I like to say finish what I started because my kids are grown. | ||
| And it gives me, you know, the opportunity to actually come here every week. | ||
| And finally, as you say that, Congressman, someone who was here 30 years ago, what advice would you have for today's freshmen, the new members? | ||
| Well, I mean, you know, my advice is, you know, to the extent that you can, work together. | ||
|
unidentified
|
I mean, at the end of the day, you know, 32 years ago, we would fight very hard, very passionate on that floor. | |
| But after that fight, you know, you would see us having dinner together, you know, both sides of the aisle. | ||
| Just sitting down trying to, because we can't get things done if we don't, particularly with this margin. | ||
| I mean, 218, 215. | ||
| It forces us to work together. | ||
| And I think that's good for the American people. | ||
| You know, let's work together to the extent that we can to solve the problems. | ||
|
unidentified
|
And we have a lot of time to debate and discuss, but, you know, we have a bunch of crisis, crises on our hand, and it's going to require us to work together to move the American people agenda forward. | |
| One of more than 60 new members of Congress is Jeff Crank of Colorado. | ||
| The Republican has work experience on Capitol Hill, spent time with the Colorado Chamber of Commerce, and has a career as a radio talk show host. | ||
| He talks here about his early life and professional work. | ||
| Well, I was born to kind of a middle-class family in Pueblo, Colorado, and the youngest of five kids. | ||
|
unidentified
|
I've got three older sisters and an older brother. | |
| And, you know, my dad probably never made more than $35,000 a year, just kind of middle-class guy. | ||
| And just have lived really my whole life in Colorado, except for eight years where I worked here on Capitol Hill as a staff member. | ||
| And tell us about growing up with those many, several siblings, what life was like. | ||
| Yeah, well, they babied me. | ||
| You know, I was the youngest, so I'm sure my feet never probably touched the ground much with three older sisters for sure. | ||
| You know, it was great, just kind of typical American values growing up and just kind of learning my way in life. | ||
| And I lived, you know, outdoors were a big thing for my family. | ||
|
unidentified
|
I grew up hunting and fishing with my dad, my brother, and my sisters actually a little bit as well. | |
| So it was a good, wholesome life that I had. | ||
| Politics part of the conversation at home? | ||
| It was. | ||
| Actually, I think my dad was at the time probably a Democrat, FDR Democrat. | ||
| He became a Reagan Republican. | ||
| And so I think through that, that's about the time I was coming of political age as well, was during the Ronald Reagan time. | ||
| So I think just kind of watching his growth from FDR Democrat to Reagan Republican kind of helped shape me, I think, as well. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Tell us about your education and early professional experiences. | |
| Yeah, sure. | ||
| So I went to Colorado State University in Fort Collins. | ||
| And as soon as I finished there, and again, this was during the Reagan years. | ||
| So as soon as I finished, I knew I wanted to do something in politics. | ||
|
unidentified
|
And I got a degree in political science. | |
| So I decided that if I was ever going to do it, I needed to come to Washington, D.C. | ||
|
unidentified
|
So I took everything I had, which wasn't a lot, and I threw it in a horse trailer, and I drove out here and literally went office to office, kind of handing my resume out to the young interns probably who were sitting there. | |
| What I didn't know is as soon as I handed it to them, they wanted the same job probably. | ||
| So they just probably stuck it right in the trash. | ||
| But over time, I did get hired. | ||
|
unidentified
|
I did an internship for Congressman Denny Smith of Oregon. | |
| And then Joel Heffley, who held the fifth seat that I now hold, had pity on me, I guess, one day and hired me to open the mail. | ||
| I opened the mail for a little while, then became his defense person, and then became ultimately kind of his chief of staff here on Capitol Hill. | ||
|
unidentified
|
And I did that for about eight years. | |
| You have been a radio host as well. | ||
| What did you do before you became a radio host? | ||
| Well, I was a business guy. | ||
| I was a chamber executive for the Colorado Springs Chamber of Commerce for a while. | ||
| Have done, you know, real estate, residential real estate, flipped houses for a while, and then bought and held some real estate properties. | ||
| So that was kind of what I did. | ||
| And then just kind of by chance got into the radio business. | ||
|
unidentified
|
What made you get into radio? | |
| You know, I had a friend who listened to a radio show in Colorado Springs, and he didn't like the person that they had fill in when he was gone. | ||
| So he literally picked up the phone and he called him, he called the host, and he said, you should have somebody else other than that guy. | ||
| And the host says, well, who would you like me to have? | ||
| And without asking me, my friend said, well, my friend Jeff will do it. | ||
| And I literally got a call from that host and he said, I hear you would host my radio show. | ||
| I said, yes. | ||
|
unidentified
|
I was full of bravado. | |
| I thought, it can't be that hard, right? | ||
| And so I said, yes, I'd be happy to do it. | ||
| When would you like me to do it? | ||
| And he says, how about tomorrow? | ||
| I said, sounds great. | ||
| I said, what do you want me to talk about? | ||
| And he said, I don't care, whatever you want. | ||
|
unidentified
|
So I literally, thank goodness I wasn't so full of bravado that I didn't at least do some show prep. | |
| But went in the next day, did it. | ||
|
unidentified
|
It was an audience of about 60,000 people. | |
| Got through it. | ||
| I think I was terrible. | ||
|
unidentified
|
I don't know why they kept asking me back, but they asked me back and asked me back, and then I got my own show. | |
| What station was this? | ||
| Where was it? | ||
| What was the name of the show? | ||
|
unidentified
|
Sure. | |
| Well, at that time, it was the Joseph Michelle show that I was guest hosting. | ||
| But it led to, the station is KVOR, 7.40 a.m. in Colorado Springs. | ||
|
unidentified
|
It's the biggest talk station in Colorado Springs area in southern Colorado. | |
| And it led to the Jeff Crank Show. | ||
| And so I got my own show in 2008 and literally was on air for 14 years doing that show. | ||
| Are you still going to be on the radio while you're in Congress? | ||
| No, just as a guest, I stopped, I stopped, I actually stopped doing it during COVID because I got, they put a vaccine mandate in place there. | ||
| I just decided I didn't want to, didn't want to do that, so I left and started a podcast at that point. | ||
|
unidentified
|
I started the podcast for Americans for Prosperity, grew that. | |
| That was called American Potential. | ||
| And I was the host of that for about a year and a half. | ||
| We had about 3 million downloads a year. | ||
|
unidentified
|
When did Congress come into your mind? | |
| When did you decide I want to run for that seat? | ||
| Well, believe it or not, I ran 18 years ago in 2006. | ||
| I ran against Doug Lamborn, who held the seat right before me, against Doug Lamborn. | ||
| I ran in a six-way Republican primary and lost by 892 votes. | ||
| I think my time here as a staff member from about 1991 to 98 really put that in my heart, right, to come back here and to serve. | ||
| You can do such amazing things here and, you know, just great stories of helping people and individuals. | ||
|
unidentified
|
And so that's kind of what got me thinking about it. | |
| Again, ran in 06, lost in that race, ran again in 2008 against Congressman Lamborn. | ||
| We were kind of bitter rivals at the time, but over the years, had him on my radio show. | ||
|
unidentified
|
We grew to be friends. | |
| He actually sat down with me just prior to this election cycle and said, I don't know, I'm thinking about not running again. | ||
| You should consider it. | ||
| And so I did, and then won the primary and won the general. | ||
|
unidentified
|
How does one translate a career in radio, hosting, and podcasting into Congress? | |
| Talk about that voice of yours. | ||
| Yeah. | ||
| Well, you know, I've never had that great of a voice. | ||
| I've just kind of gotten along doing it. | ||
| But, you know, to me, there is obviously the communication aspect of it and trying to make sure when you're on the radio, you don't have the nonverbal cues that other, you know, you have when you're in TV or whatever. | ||
|
unidentified
|
So you do have to learn to use your voice a little more to project excitement or project your emotion through your voice, I guess. | |
| And so I think that's helped a little bit in the communication aspect of it. | ||
| And, you know, it's kind of like a town hall meeting every day when you're in a talk show host, right? | ||
| Because you just never know. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Somebody's going to call in and they can literally ask you any question and you have to be kind of ready to answer that. | |
| So it does kind of prepare you for a life in politics. | ||
|
unidentified
|
And finally, tell us about your family and what they think about all this. | |
| Yeah. | ||
| Well, my family's awesome. | ||
| I married my wife, Lisa, almost 34 years ago, and we've been married 34 years. | ||
| And I met her in college, and she's kind of gone on this wild ride with me. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Any woman that puts up with three congressional campaigns and me at the same time is really a saint. | |
| I have two kids. | ||
| My son, Joel, is 27. | ||
|
unidentified
|
He's a lawyer in Denver. | |
| My daughter, Jessica, is 22. | ||
| She's just getting out of school now, wants to be a dispatcher, a 911 dispatcher. | ||
| They're great. | ||
| I have such a great, close relationship with both my wife and my kids. | ||
| And part of that is I didn't win the race 18 years ago, and I got to spend 18 years with my family and my kids. | ||
| And, you know, they're older now, and so it's kind of that great time in life where I can still do it. | ||
|
unidentified
|
You know, my kids are really proud of me. | |
| My son sends me something about every day telling me, oh, dad, I just saw you on C-SPAN or whatever. | ||
|
unidentified
|
So it's kind of fun. | |
| One of more than 60 new members of the U.S. House is April McLean Delaney. | ||
| The Maryland Democrat is an attorney who's worked with a children's advocacy organization and in the Commerce Department during the Biden administration. | ||
| She talks here about her life and career and about her husband, John Delaney, who once served in the same seat in Congress. | ||
| I was born and raised in Buell, Idaho. | ||
| I'm a farmer's daughter, fourth generation Idahoan. | ||
| The big joke is I'm one in a million because there's only a million of us. | ||
|
unidentified
|
But I actually came to Washington after I went to Northwestern undergrad. | |
| But I came from law school at Georgetown and I wanted to come to see where laws were made and ended up meeting my husband John and we said we'll just stay here for a year and 33 years go by and I'm still here. | ||
| But I practiced communications law and then I worked in the international satellite field as an executive and did international regulatory and then worked for many years with a nonprofit called Common Sense Media, which is how media impacts kids' health and well-being and helped start a whole digital literacy and program for kids and putting bumpers and safeguards on big tech. | ||
| Following that I worked in the Biden administration and I was Deputy Assistant Secretary at Commerce rolling out the broadband plan, $65 billion bipartisan legislation for high-speed internet and working on tech and telecom issues. | ||
| But about a year and a half ago I decided to throw my hat in the ring for Maryland's 6th District and you know it is a beautiful district. | ||
| You know it is the one competitive district in Maryland. | ||
| It's red, blue, urban, suburban, rural. | ||
| It goes all the way from upcounty Montgomery County to the West Virginia and Pennsylvania border. | ||
| So I called a microcrossing of America. | ||
| And it's been very exciting to be here, but I ran on common sense common ground and coming together to get things done for American citizens. | ||
|
unidentified
|
But most importantly, I have four daughters from 17 to 31 and a new grandbaby, baby Charlie. | |
| And so it's really about them. | ||
| At this point in my life, it's really about the future, building a brighter, more inclusive, you know, more prosperous future, hopefully a safer future, and hopefully that we can come back together. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Viewers may remember the last name, Delaney. | |
| You were married to John Delaney, who represented Congress when? | ||
|
unidentified
|
So my husband was a serial entrepreneur after law school, but in 2012 ran for a seat, this sixth seat, and he served from 2012 to 2018. | |
| And then he stepped back and he ran for president. | ||
| He was one of the 20 that did that. | ||
| And then Congressman Trone, David Trone, held the seat, and David Trone was a fantastic member of Congress for six years as well. | ||
|
unidentified
|
What was the moment like for you when you decided to run for this seat? | |
| And what did your husband and others have to say? | ||
|
unidentified
|
You know, I knew what it took. | |
| You know, it's not easy to run for Congress and it's not easy to serve in Congress. | ||
| Both, you know, fundraising and really figuring out your message and why you want to run. | ||
| I did it because I felt like we needed to come together as a country and that I had a diverse background growing up in Buell, Idaho, but having lived here for a long time. | ||
| And I've done a lot of convening my whole life, you know, in nonprofit. | ||
|
unidentified
|
I used to say I was kid partisan. | |
| I wasn't Republican, I wasn't Democrat, I was kid partisan, and I really wanted to come to get some things done. | ||
| But my husband, you know, he supported me, of course, as I had supported him, but he said, if that's how you want to spend your time, and in part, it's because it's hard. | ||
| It's not just me, it's our whole family. | ||
| And every congressional family feels the same way. | ||
| The whole family is engaged because it's all-encompassing. | ||
|
unidentified
|
And it truly is a public service. | |
| What is it about public service that drives you? | ||
| That's a really interesting question. | ||
| You know what? | ||
| John and I used to say, a third of your life you learn, a third of your life you earn, and a third of your life you serve. | ||
| And, you know, I had maybe kind of did it in a different way in terms of working in nonprofit for so long. | ||
| But I think what drove me is that I had worked in nonprofit to help on kids and media. | ||
|
unidentified
|
I then worked in the Biden administration. | |
| But I realized I needed to come to Congress to really make some lasting changes in our laws and how I look at how communications and our media landscape is being unfurled. | ||
| And it's really, I think that I'm a big believer in our driving innovation for our U.S. competitiveness and our national security. | ||
| But I do think that we need to have some bumpers and safeguards with respect to our kids' privacy, with respect to some of our own privacies, and even our mental health and well-being. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Were you always a Democrat? | |
| No. | ||
| Tell us. | ||
| Earlier in my life, I was a Republican. | ||
| But part of my parents were Democrats. | ||
|
unidentified
|
And then, you know, I think following coming to Washington, you know, I think I was very, very young. | |
| I was in my early 20s. | ||
| I started really thinking, and it was really on women's issues, and not just reproductive freedoms, although that was part of it. | ||
| It was really issues concerning women generally. | ||
| And I started looking at myself and how I wanted to engage. | ||
| And I realized that, you know, I'm pretty much a centrist, but I'm definitely about equality, equality, not only for women, for, you know, equal access for everyone to opportunity. | ||
|
unidentified
|
And I realized that I resonated more on the Democratic side of the ledger. | |
| You mentioned that you're a centrist. | ||
| Where does a centrist fit these days in a place like Congress? | ||
|
unidentified
|
And what voice do you want to bring to the table? | |
| You know what? | ||
| I think we have to be really radical and like, you know, and be centrist, right? | ||
| I mean, it's radical being a centrist right now, right? | ||
| Because of our polarization. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Where does it fit? | |
| I think we have to fit. | ||
| We have to have this new middle ground because if we don't, we're going to kind of unravel as a country. | ||
|
unidentified
|
But what does it mean? | |
| I think it means that you have to meet people where they are. | ||
| And you know what? | ||
| I am, I am, I did really well in my district, even though it's a very purple district. | ||
| I always say it's very blue and very red with very little purple in my district. | ||
| There's not a lot of purple people in my district. | ||
| But I am nice to everyone. | ||
| I listen to them. | ||
| I really approach ways in which you can find issues that drive you together. | ||
| And I think that if we listened more and didn't quite go to the political jargon on the left or the right, and we really focused on some of the biggest issues, because most members of Congress actually want to get things done. | ||
| And it was funny because I was in the orientation, there was several orientations, but there was one in Williamsburg. | ||
|
unidentified
|
And several of the Republicans said, you know, I'm not really radical. | |
| I want to work across the aisle. | ||
| I want to get things done. | ||
|
unidentified
|
And there's been a lot of friendships that have been forged within our 119th class. | |
| So I think that there is opportunity, but obviously tone starts at the top, whether it's at a corporation or a nonprofit or in government. | ||
| And right now we have very much a pretty unstable, chaotic landscape. | ||
| And I am trying to navigate that for my district and for my staff and for myself. | ||
|
unidentified
|
And it is hard because it is not a bipartisan humbuy landscape that we are in, but we have to make it so for the American people. | |
| So I'm very much focused on, in fact, I have 35,000 government workers in the 6th district, including NIST, which is National Institute of Science and Technology. | ||
| It's our nation's gem in research and development. | ||
| Fort Dietrich, which does incredible work in terms of biomedicine and pathogens and threats actually to our national security. | ||
| It's through our Army. | ||
|
unidentified
|
A lot of work on cancer through the National Institute of Cancer. | |
| And when you look at all of those scientists and technicians and people who've been decades long of public service, it's really hard for me because I think it's foolish and rash to really, I know this is not a political, this is more of a get to know you, but to me it's really important that we invest in our country and invest in the resources for our national security, but our health and well-being. | ||
| And so I'm going to fight for those scientists and those researchers and those public servants who really are lifting up and care about our country and care about our citizens. | ||
| So it is a dynamic time, but I've decided that you just got to keep on swimming. | ||
| But I do think if you come from the heart and you are doing it for the right reason, people know it. | ||
| And I am blessed because John and I have lived in this town for 35 years. | ||
|
unidentified
|
I have as many friends on the right as on the left. | |
| I know many members of Congress from when he was in Congress as well as their spouses. | ||
| And I'm just going to lean deep into relationships, into issues that are impacting all of us. | ||
| You know, immigration, good living wage, some of our national security issues, and really figuring out how we look at our deficit. | ||
| And yes, we have to look at ways that we can be more efficient and economical with our taxpayer dollars. | ||
| But I think going back to public service, businesses, the greatest thing about America is that we are able to marry public and private. | ||
| Private enterprise is unbelievable in how you invest and you are in a competitive capitalistic system. | ||
| But that is different than government. | ||
| Government does things that private companies will never do because they will never be able to turn a dollar on it. | ||
| Our electrification of our grids, our national highways, deep going to the moon, deep research into cancer, those things will never be done by a private company. | ||
| And so it's about the health and well-being of our citizens vis-a-vis the privatization and I think of a business. | ||
| And so conflating those two, I think, can be very dangerous. | ||
| And we really have to look at how we can actually work with public and private together. | ||
| And that is a thing that I'm going to focus on this year so that I can uplift the best of what we do in America. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Republican Jeff Heard of Colorado is one of more than 60 new members of the U.S. House. | |
| He's an attorney who began his career at the Grand Junction, Colorado Chamber of Commerce. | ||
| He's been an appeals court law clerk and has worked at various law firms. | ||
| He talks here about his path to Congress. | ||
| I jokingly say that I must have hit my head and fallen because anyone with sensible judgment doesn't run for Congress. | ||
| But I ran for Congress fundamentally because I come from a rural district in western Colorado and I felt like rural America was being left behind and my district was being left behind. | ||
| And our greatest export are our kids, unfortunately. | ||
| They grow up and they leave and they don't come back. | ||
| And my fundamental why for running is because I want to create economic opportunities so that families can, if they want, stay and live and thrive in rural Colorado. | ||
| So that's why I ran and that's my fundamental why. | ||
| Tell us about your own early life, where you were born, how you grew up, what life was like for you. | ||
| So I'm a Colorado native. | ||
| I grew up on the Western Slope in Grand Junction is my hometown. | ||
| I went to Grand Junction High School. | ||
| I was a little bit of a nerd in high school. | ||
| I did play a year of high school football. | ||
| We went to the state championship that year, but it was not because of me. | ||
| I was more comfortable in the academic setting. | ||
| I was on our academic team in Quiz Bowl, so it was tough dealing with the fame and the popularity of being a Quiz Bowl champion in high school. | ||
| But then went on to graduate from Grand Church High School and then went to college in the Midwest at Notre Dame and went to law school and ended up coming back home. | ||
| Were politics part of the conversation growing up? | ||
| Not really. | ||
| No. | ||
| My dad was a psychologist. | ||
| My mom worked at the local phone company. | ||
| It was a pretty middle-class background, but I was really blessed because I had two parents that loved each other and took care of me and my brothers. | ||
| And pretty middle-class, ordinary background. | ||
| Never dreamed that I'd be in politics. | ||
| I guarantee you that both of my parents have passed away, but if they knew that I'd be in Congress when I was little, I think they'd be surprised. | ||
| Do you remember the age, though, where you first became politically aware? | ||
| I would say it was probably when I was in college. | ||
| That was around the time of the George W. Bush Al Gore election. | ||
| That's the time that I was kind of really paying more attention to politics. | ||
| My first presidential election was Bob Dole and Bill Clinton in 1996. | ||
| I think that was the first time I was able to vote, but I didn't really become politically aware until college. | ||
| Tell us about your legal career. | ||
| So my law practice first started in, well, in Colorado, I was a law clerk to a federal appeals court judge named Tim Timkovich on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit in Colorado. | ||
| And then I went on and did more law school. | ||
| I went to law school in Colorado, clerked for this federal judge, and then went to more law school in Washington, D.C., much to my wife's chagrin. | ||
| Actually, in New York City, I should say. | ||
| And then I ended up working at a large firm in New York City, Sullivan ⁇ Cromwell, for a number of years as a small-town country lawyer at this big fancy law firm. | ||
| Learned a lot there, got better at it, and then at practicing law, and then came back home about 11 years ago to western Colorado. | ||
| Most of my law practice is representing rural electric cooperatives in western Colorado and in southern Colorado. | ||
| I should say was representing. | ||
| I'm no longer practicing law now that I'm in Congress. | ||
| How will that law background help you here in Washington? | ||
| Well, a couple ways. | ||
| First, in terms of just understanding the law, understanding how the law impacts families and communities in my district, making sure that we have thoughtful, sensible regulations that help and don't hinder rural Colorado. | ||
| But also it gives me an insight into how bad public policy effectively operates as a hidden tax on rural families. | ||
| And so both from the legal perspective, understanding how the law works, how regulations work, but also from the practical human perspective, seeing how bad law and bad public policy hurts small businesses, hurts families. | ||
| So I think in those two ways, my legal background will be an asset to me in Congress. | ||
| Were you always a Republican? | ||
| Yes, that's right. | ||
| Always a Republican. | ||
| This is just as long as I can remember, a Republican. | ||
| And why? | ||
| What did you think or feel? | ||
| How do you know? | ||
| Well, I think limited government is something that always appealed to me. | ||
| Limited government, individual rights, free markets, the rule of law, those sort of classic Reagan principles were something that resonated for me as a kid growing up in the 1980s. | ||
| In the early 90s, sort of that Reagan, George H.W. Bush era was kind of when I was raised and grew up, and that always just seemed more common sense and sensible to me. | ||
| You have your own big family. | ||
| Tell us about them. | ||
| Yes, I have five kids. | ||
| My wife, Barbara, is originally from communist Czechoslovakia. | ||
| She's a naturalized citizen, and so she appreciates in a deeply personal way the blessings of living in our Republic and being an American citizen. | ||
| But she and I have five children. | ||
| Our oldest is a sophomore in high school, and our youngest is in the school of hard knocks. | ||
| He's three years old, still at home with mom. | ||
| But they're great. | ||
| They're a real joy to us. | ||
| They were an asset on the campaign trail. | ||
| They even made phone calls and were knocking doors and things like that. | ||
| And we try to get them out when I'm traveling the district now as a congressman to keep that family together. | ||
| They're awesome. | ||
| They're a great support. | ||
| My wife is amazing. | ||
| She's the one that holds our family together and I'm truly blessed. | ||
| Well, later today, we'll have live coverage as the SpaceX Crew 9 returns to Earth after departing the International Space Station. | ||
| The mission includes astronauts Barry Butch Wilmore and Sonny Williams, who've been living in space since June after their Boeing Starliner spacecraft was deemed unfit to return them to Earth. | ||
| Our coverage via NASA TV begins at 4:45 p.m. Eastern with the expected splashdown at about 6 p.m. Eastern. | ||
| And shortly thereafter, NASA and SpaceX officials will hold a news conference following the astronauts' long-awaited return. | ||
| It's all live on C-SPAN, also on C-SPAN Now, our free mobile app, or online at c-SPAN.org. | ||
| With Congress in recess this week, a number of members are taking time to gather with constituents at town hall meetings back in their districts. | ||
| And later today on C-SPAN 2, we'll have live coverage of Republican Congressman Mike Flood holding one of those events in Columbus, Nebraska. | ||
| That's expected to get underway at 6 p.m. Eastern. | ||
| And then at 6:30 p.m., Democratic Representative Glenn Ivey has a town hall in Forestville, Maryland. | ||
| You can watch that live on the free C-SPAN Now video app or online at c-SPAN.org. | ||
| We have Yankton, South Dakota. | ||
| Come on. | ||
| Yes, sir. | ||
| Come on, C-SPAN. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Go ahead. | |
| Celebrate C-SPAN's 46th anniversary with a conversation on the beginnings of Cable's Gift to America. | ||
| On Wednesday at 8 p.m. Eastern, C-SPAN founder Brian Lamb joined C-SPAN's new CEO Sam Feist and former co-CEO Susan Swain to talk about his quest to bring live gavel-to-gavel coverage of Congress to every American home. | ||
| A lot of people are surprised that C-SPAN doesn't receive any government funding. | ||
| They just assume it's public service, it's a nonprofit, must get some government funding. | ||
| Never thought about it? | ||
| Not only never thought about it, I would have never been involved in it. | ||
| I think it's a very bad idea to have a government institution fund media in any way. | ||
| From the very, very beginning, viewers who were part of this and understood that it was important to them to preserve and expand what we were doing. | ||
|
unidentified
|
And I think that's so true today, even with the work that we're doing here with participants in the call-in program, how active our social media channels are. | |
| For those people that get it, it matters. | ||
| Hear stories of C-SPAN's earliest days. | ||
| Learn about the people and work that went into bringing live coverage of the House of Representatives and eventually the Senate, White House, Supreme Court, and more to televisions across the country. | ||
| They'll also reflect on the network's five decades of coverage, including many of its signature projects, and C-SPAN's continued role in delivering democracy unfiltered in the years to come. |