#RolandMartinUnfiltered - Black Votes Matter Election Night 2022 coverage Pt. 3 | #BlackStarNetwork #RolandMartinUnfiltered

Episode Date: November 10, 2022

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This is an iHeart Podcast. Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad. Listen to Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated, on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Clayton English. I'm Greg Glott. And this is Season 2 of the War on Drugs podcast. Last year, a lot of the problems of the drug war. This year, a lot of the biggest names in music and sports. This kind of starts that a little bit, man.

We met them at their homes. We met them at the recording studios. Stories matter and it brings a face to it. It makes it real. It really does. It makes it real. Listen to new episodes of the War on Drugs podcast season two on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you get your podcast.

Sometimes as dads, I think we're too hard on ourselves. We get down on ourselves on not being able to, you know, we're the providers, but we also have to learn to take care of ourselves. A wrap-away, you got to pray for yourself as well as for everybody else, but never forget yourself. Self-love made me a better dad because I realized my worth. Never stop being a dad. That's dedication.

Find out more at fatherhood.gov. Brought to you by the U Star Network's election Night coverage here. Black Votes Matter. We went on the air at 7 o'clock. It's been four and a half hours. A number of races have been called. What we're looking at the most right now is the U.S. Senate race that's taking place in Georgia. Eighty-five percent of the votes are in.

It is 49-49. Hershel Walker with 1,758,016 votes. Incumbent Senator Raphael Warnock, 1,757,310 votes. That's a difference of about 700 votes. The race has been called in the Georgia race for governor. Brian Kemp with 85 percent of the vote in. Brian Kemp is at 53.8 percent. Stacey Abrams is at 45.5 percent. She lost that race by 30,000 votes four years ago. Tonight, she's losing by 300,000 votes.

And again, what's interesting in that race, of course, Kemp is at 1.9 million. She's at 1.6 million. But if you look at the race between Walker and Warnock, it's 1.7, 1.7. And so we're looking at that particular race there. A lot of folks were talking about a potential upset in the New York governor's race. But Kathy Hochul, she is winning there. And so Democrats will hold on to the governor's mansion in New York.

We've also been looking at the U.S. Senate race in first of all, in North Carolina. It was looking good early on for quite some time, but it looks like Sherri Beasley is falling further and further behind, but she's down by about 140,000 votes. Also, control room, please double check. I believe Stacey Abrams is giving her concession speech right now. Please let me know when y'all have that up so we can go to it live. Joining us right now is New Orleans Congressman Troy Carter.

Congressman, glad to have you here. We've been talking about New Orleans. We've been talking about black voters in North Carolina. Gary Chambers, who ran for the United States Senate, put a video out showing the abysmal numbers of early voters there in Louisiana. And the question I have for you, you know, what is it going to take in your state to really activate, organize, and mobilize black voters there? Because when we look at these turnout numbers, they simply are not good. It's way too many black folks in your state for them not to be voting.

Roland, we've got to continue to take our message to the streets. We've got to continue to get into the classrooms, the schoolhouses, the communities, and make people understand that when we vote, we win. And when we stay home, we lose. It's just that simple. Year in, year out, month in, month out, election in, election out, we continue to see the same level of poor participation at the ballot box. And then we see the policies that are born from that. We've got to do a better job. It's very simple. We have to do a better job

at getting into the communities. And I wish I had a magic wand. I wish I knew what the antidote was. We know every election cycle, we push, we go out, we encourage people. They see the damage of what happens when we stay home. Yet we continue to barely reach 50 percent on good years. And that's not good. When 50 percent of the people stay home, we have critical elections that impact policy, that impact the kind of things that are important to people at their kitchen tables, in their homes, in their communities. Yet we continue to see less than energetic people going to the polls. We need to continue to push voter registration and voter participation because we know, again, when we vote, we win. And when we

don't, we get just what we get tonight, results that put us in a position where we lose the gains that we've made. We've got to continue to fight for those things that are important to the American people. Congressman, hold tight one second. Let's go live to Georgia, where Stacey Abrams just finished giving her concession speech. From the moment I got into politics, I have always promised to level with the people of Georgia. And I am here to tell you that what we have architected in this state does not end today. And this woman is one of the reasons why. Lauren Growargo is our champion.

She is our friend. And sheowargo is our champion. She is our friend, and she deserves our praise and our thanks because this is the Georgia she's helping us build. I'm here because my friend Allegra Lawrence Hardy is one of the fiercest attorneys you will ever meet. And she has poured her heart and her soul and her time and her treasure to defending our rights and our democracy. And she will never be demeaned for doing for us what we can't do on our own. Thank you, Allegra Lawrence-Harding.

I see in this crowd women and men who have been a part of this journey since I put my name on a ballot in 2006. And while I may not have crossed the finish line, that does not mean we will ever stop running for a better Georgia. We will never stop running for the truth that we know to be true, for the people we know need to see us, for the ones who don't know they deserve to stand, let alone run. And tonight, we must be honest, even though my fight, our fight

for the governor's mansion may have come up... I don't give a damn about Brian. So if y'all should, go to Stacey's Facebook page or her YouTube channel and see if the speech is there so we can go ahead and pull that up there. Back here at the desk, Larry Walker, Avis Jones, we've got Monique Presley, Michael M. Hotel. We've got our panel over there. We also have Congressman Troy Carter who's with us. Greg Carr is still with us. We have Shannon Wright out of

Maryland. Reverend Jeff Carr who's with us as well. I'll go to you, Avis. Bottom line is this. Here are a lot of people. Really wanted to see Stacey Abrams become the first black

woman elected governor in this country. That's one of the reasons why she was focused on that. She rebuffed efforts by the Biden administration to come into the country. She was a great leader.

She was a great leader. She was a great leader. She was a great leader. She was a great leader. She was a great leader. She was a great leader. She was of the reasons why she was focused on that. She rebuffed efforts by the Biden administration to come into the administration. And again, she loses by 300,000 votes tonight, a stark contrast from four years ago

when it was 30,000 votes. Absolutely. And it's really unfortunate because, you know, she, along with other key organizations, were really responsible for putting together the infrastructure and the voter engagement that led to the two Democratic senators that sits in the Senate right now from the state of Georgia. And so it's unfortunate that whatever momentum was in the air at that moment seems to have dwindled down, unfortunately, where you have people who have literally split their ticket, not supporting her, but supporting, it seems, Warnock. So there needs to be some focus on what's going on with the black vote specifically,

and black male vote, I would argue, specifically in Georgia, as well as others. We saw some huge pullback with regards to support around Stacey Abrams' campaign. It's also horrible, Nick, when you run against incumbency. The reality is when you're the incumbent, when you're the governor, you have the power of the governor's mansion. There are things that you can do when you're running.

There are stuff that you can dole out, places you can go. And it's always harder to take down an incumbent. You look what happened. Ron DeSantis barely wins against Andrew Gillum 30,000 votes four years ago. Tonight he beat Charlie Criss by 1.5 million. But I mean, it's also

you're looking at Georgia on the backdrop of all of these people who just voted for Herschel Walker. I mean, it's a little bit berserk. Actually, it's you know what? It's not because here's what I keep saying. The other side, they don't give a damn about character, morals, values, ethics, principles. It's about power. And so my point was, I don't think it's incumbency alone.

I think it's the fact that we are dealing with a grouping of people and cultish personalities that are not at all interested in what is for the good of their state or what is for the good of the country. But all that aside, I do have two things I want to say. There's no red wave since Right, it's not. Since we're doing a reset and I feel like we've been, you know, on everything the Dems did wrong for about four hours now, so I'm just going to say, in the due right of it, all of the predictions

of the red wave were wrong. And in fact, Erickson actually had tweeted out earlier, he's like, sorry, I was wrong. And I was like, well, actually, we told you. He's like, sorry, I was wrong. And I was like, well, actually, we told you. He's like, hashtag, we tried to tell you. Because, again, I mean, there have been a lot of bright spots for Democrats.

Lawrence O'Donnell actually tweeted something. He said, Joe Biden probably is going to be the most effective president during a midterm in a very long time because normally in a midterm elections, the party in power controlling Congress and the White House gets crushed. Yeah, I mean, it's looking like Lauren Boebert is going to lose. And so that alone is going to make me sleep just like a baby.

That idiot, Margaret Taylor Greene, she beat the brother of Margaret Flowers. She's still good. But they're counting the numbers now. Boebert losing, yeah, that's a good night. Yeah. And it looks like if they get the house, it looks like it's like 10 or less. And some of them are still too close to call.

So if Kevin McCarthy gets his whole dream, he's going to be unable to do anything. Because at any given time in the U.S. House of Representatives, you can snatch ten Republicans to at least get a budget passed. Right? And also, we're also looking at, and there's going to be some pimp slapping going on, if Patrick Maloney is unable to, Sean Maloney is unable to hold that damn seat because he ran out Mondaire Jones. And when he got carved up. And so Maloney runs even though he was over the D triple C.

Did not step down. And he's going to look real foolish not being able to hold that seat when the brother could have actually held that seat. So, it's going to be a lot of faux Congressman Carter who are going to be asking some serious questions. If you're going to step out there and run the brother off, you damn sure better defend that seat. And so we're following that race very closely.

And so, you know, to Monique's point, the bloodbath many expected has not happened. And again, when we look at the United States Senate, we're still watching the race in Pennsylvania. But this thing may come down to, again, a runoff in Georgia. Congressman Carter. Yeah, listen, it should not be as close as it is. It's unfortunate that we would be talking about a race that should be very clear between two people, one that clearly has the experience, the energy, the commitment to be able to serve and not be a puppet for a party. And it's a shame. And it really speaks to, once again, what we talked about before, and that is the level of apathy in our community.

We saw a few years ago where Stacey Abrams motivated and energized the entire state, and we saw the result of that. Unfortunately, we were not able to replicate it today, and that's unfortunate. We've got to be able to bottle this enthusiasm. We've got to be able to bottle this energy that says when we vote, we win. When we demand excellence and policy changes, we get excellence and policy changes. And we've just got to go back to the drawing board and continue to reaching into the souls of our people to make them understand the importance of voting, of participating, of demanding the best and not letting someone from another state come into Georgia and threaten to take back the gains that we've made. It's bigger than us. It's

bigger than that. And starting tomorrow, starting tomorrow, we have to get back to the drawing board and convince people of the importance of voter registration, voter participation, and demanding better, not just because it's a brown face, not just because it's a brown face or an athletic star that we once enjoyed playing football. We're talking about policy. We're talking about lives. We're talking about someone that can go and fight for the people of Georgia like Senator Warnock has done. And we've got to continue to fight this thing. And if it goes to run. And we've got to continue to fight this thing. If it goes to runoff, we've got to demonstrate that we're going to fight, fight back, and win.

Congressman Troy Carter, always glad to have you here. We appreciate it. I really believe that there needs to be folks in Louisiana that need to be sitting down and bringing in the folks in Georgia, saying let's replicate what y'all did in Georgia here in Louisiana need to be sitting down and bringing in the folks in Georgia and say, let's replicate what y'all did in Georgia here in Louisiana. The potential is there, especially when it comes to the need. Hopefully the Supreme Court won't act a fool and will give

Louisiana that second, that another black congressional district, but it's just waiting. And we're going to be fighting to make that happen because we, the math is very clear. We need, we deserve, it's basic math that Louisiana should have two minority-majority districts, and we'll continue to fight and take our message to the

courts and ultimately to the people. And it's also basic math that not enough of us are voting black folks in Louisiana, so let's do something about that. Congressman, we appreciate it. Thanks a bunch. God bless you, brother. Keep up the great work. Thank you very much. Larry, here's a perfect example of what happens

when you focus on local elections. Go to my iPad. A criminal justice reformer wins the DA's race in Iowa, Polk County, where Des Moines is. And folks at VoteMag said in June she told votes that she was inspired to run after hearing Rachel Rollins, the former Boston, former reform DA. She's now Rachel Rollins, the former Boston former reform DA. She's now, of course, the U.S. attorney there. And this is a perfect example. When you talk about

mass incarceration, criminal justice reform, here's a perfect example. You have to take those DA races. And yeah, you got these people who are targeting Alvin Bragg in New York. They targeted Chase in San Francisco. They've been targeting different people. Unfortunately, Amos Ayala tonight lost as attorney general there in Florida. But that's one of those. It will not be a sexy race. It's not going to be talked about a lot of different places, but it's important to win those down ballot races. Yeah, I know. We've talked a lot about down ballot races in your show a lot because we talk about the governorship, House and Senate, et cetera.

But a lot of these local elections you talked about in various states, you just highlighted Iowa. We have to remember that we're really cultivating political leaders for the future. So you start off small, and then as you get more experience, maybe you run another election or two, then maybe you run for governorship or the House or Senate. And particularly, I think, Roland, this is important. We talk about black and you talk about women and other minoritized groups. We have to cultivate them early on. We have to encourage them. I think also the other thing that's important, Roland,

is we have to be able to counter this nonsense in terms of if you're progressive, that could harm chances to hold on to various seats. We found it, as we see tonight, it's not the case. You just talked about Iowa, but we're also seeing progressives in various other areas. We're seeing in Michigan, in terms of how well the governor's doing there, it's a possibility in Michigan that Democrats may take the Senate. So, listen, if we stay with a message that's consistent with the needs of people, you can

expect voters to turn out. That's why we need to stay, keep it progressive, focus on economic issues and various other issues that are important to other communities, particularly when we talk about bail reform and various other issues in New York State and in Michigan and other areas. So it's important to focus on issues that voters care about.

Be consistent, as we talked about earlier. Encourage them to vote. like I said, 365. I want to make sure that I'm going to put this on a t-shirt, because we have to be consistent with our message. And if we do that, then we can also win some of these other elections that we lost this time, Stacey Abrams, et cetera. REV. JEFF CARR, we've been looking at what's happening

around this country. And look, Republicans in your state made a mess of Nashville. All sorts of problems, wrong ballots, wrong congressional seats in different precincts, folks going to three and four different precincts. That's what happens when you split up Nashville into four different congressional districts because you already had an eight to two majority

with congressional seats in the delegation, but they wanted to be 9-1. This is also what happens, Roland, to the point that you've been making all night and to the point that this prestigious panel has been making. This is what happens when Republicans have a plan that they enact 20, 30 years in advance. I think Dr. Malveaux pointed out that they've been working on it for 50 years. You're going to have these hiccups, yet and still this gerrymandering that has happened in the state of Tennessee and Nashville being carved up into four different districts.

Yes, it has produced four districts that are completely red, and insanely so, but it's also produced some quirks. It has produced some hiccups. Prior to that, 438 people yesterday realized that they filled out the wrong ballots. There were about 600 people who were turned away from districts, from their voting precincts today on Election Day alone. So there's chaos there. It really doesn't net much when we talk about how that's going to affect us, Democrat versus Republican, because it's been so carved up the last year or so. But one of the things that is continually coming out that we've heard all night tonight that we're going to continue to hear,

and that is messaging. How do we get to the messaging that is going to trickle down to people who we need to activate vote to get in the room? The state of Tennessee, just a few years ago when I was in college, I'd say a few years ago, I realize it was about 30 years ago. But when I was active in student government and in between focusing on being colder than the bubbles on a champagne glass, I was also in a blue state, an overwhelmingly blue state. How did we go in just the three decades

from an overwhelmingly blue state to an overwhelmingly red state? It began with a plan at the state level. People take the state races for granted. State level is where you redraw these districts. State level is where you build political power. State level is where you redraw these districts. State level is where you build political power. State level is where you begin to influence everything from school boards to secretary of state's offices. And at that level, those of us who are in spaces where there are a

number of people who are voting blue, but because of gerrymandering, they are not able to have their voices heard. You have to, and I'm saying this to the Democratic Party all over the country, but especially here in Nashville. There's an African proverb that says, he who cannot dance will say the drum is bad. Listen, the party has some broken legs and they aren't dancing. And it's not the people, it's the people who are not being brought to the table. It's when you walk into a room of Democratic leaders and you walk in and you try to be involved and you're sitting there with people

who are claiming to be progressive, but in truth, they are what I call fougressive. That means that as long as you are voting for the candidates they choose for you, then they are going to support you. They're going to bundle. They're going to bring in fundraising. They're going to energize the money portion, but they're not listening to people who are out there on the ground doing the work. They are intimidated by strong Black voices, both female and male. And as long as you are not

willing to exceed that power and to listen to the people who are telling you the messages that are connecting with people, and you act as if you know everything, and you are not going to see the power for leadership on the grassroots, we're going to continue to see this happen. We've got some great opportunities with this space, because as Attorney Pressley pointed out, it was not the red wave that people predicted. So we have a critical moment right now in history where we have the opportunity to figure out

how to make our sometimes high-end issues relate to everyday working people who can and should be activated to come out and vote. Let me introduce Pastor Shannon Wright, CEO of the Urban Engagement Initiative, Deanna Baz Williams, co-host, Policy and pound cake. Partner with Bass Public Affairs. Also activist, Tiffany Lofton. Glad to have all three of you here.

I'll start with you, Shannon. When we look at the North Carolina race, go to my iPad, please. They're calling this race for Congressman Ted Budd. He beats Sherry Beasley by about 130 some odd thousand votes. He gets 50.7%. She gets 47.1%. Out of 3.7 million ballots cast, that was a race

that many folks were watching. And Democrats have been trying to pick off that North Carolina seat for quite some time, Shannon. And the reality is this. Democrats also put money in late. And Republicans, they understood how critical that seat was going full well that Democrats wanted to expand their majority in the United States Senate. You know, I hear you saying the Republicans put their money in early and knew that was a part of their plan. It seems to be hit and miss when you make a plan and it actually works. There's some

races I expected to come out quite differently than they have. But if I could go back to Pastor Carr, I believe it was, his analogy about Tennessee and Nashville. I'm in Maryland, and Baltimore has the same issue in terms of a city broken up with four congressional districts and listed as one of the top five gerrymandered states in the country. The only difference is it ain't the Republican. So I've been conflicted. I've listened to the show all night. But I want to, if I don't, if nothing I say resonates,

let this one marinate for a minute. It is not so much the parties unless we allow them to have control. It's us taking control of policy and not just sticking to one party, but recruiting, training, teaching, mentoring in both parties. Because my mother used to say, true power comes from the seat at all the tables, not just one. So just as we're seeing a lot of the gerrymandering and a lot of the political gamesmanship in some areas, we're seeing it in other areas, and it's both parties. So until we actually can acknowledge that and recognize that there are those of us

on both sides of the aisle, and just as those of us that share the same skin color don't want to be lumped into one category, nor do us in that political party. We have to address policy. We have to teach folks how to create policy that positively impacts people. And when we do that is when we take. I'm Clayton English. I'm Greg Lott. And this is season two of the War on Drugs podcast.

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Your assessment of what has happened tonight. You know, I've also been listening to the show, Roland, and thanks so much for having me join this conversation. And I never thought that we were going to have a red wave while I wanted a red wave. I think that because we've seen that voters have been so evenly divided on so many very important issues. Like, I'm not surprised about what we're seeing in Pennsylvania, the razor-close margins

there. I'm not surprised about, I'm even, I'm not even surprised about what we're seeing in Georgia, my home state. And the last time I checked just before we came on, I think it was 49-49. So I'm not surprised by these things. But what I am surprised by is this... is the conversation that I've been hearing on your show, which... And I love the rich conversation, but...but what surprises me is this... this shock that Black Americans are all of a sudden...

that Black Americans are, um a sudden, that black Americans are considering other options other than the Democratic Party. And so I think that once I've agreed with a lot about... Actually, there's no shock. I mean, actually, there's no shock at all. Anybody who actually, anybody,

I mean, anybody who's actually covered or done any of the shows that I've done, literally for the last 20 years... No, I'm not saying that there's no shock. I've used the wrong word. I think I... Pardon me, I used the wrong word. I probably should have said it...

For me, it seems like there's dismay, or, um, that Black Americans are not in lockstep with Democrats. And I think as your panelists have talked about messaging, I think that Democrats panelists have talked about messaging, I think that Democrats have certainly missed opportunities to share how things like inflation and those things would actually are impacting black Americans. And those issues have been really important to black people as they have been to all Americans. So I think, you know, again,

I'm not shocked by the pink wave. But I think in the next, hopefully, 12 hours, we'll have more clarity. But I'm definitely not shocked. Here's what I mean by that. I would dare say say going back to, hmm, let's say 1989. 1989. I have laid out this exact same thing.

And that is, as you get further and further away from the Black Freedom Movement, you are seeing African Americans less self-identify. I remember having a conversation with my parents and others of races in Texas when I was in college, and I was relaying the conversations that black college students were having that were different from their parents. The difference... What we're stating, what we're actually stating is that Democrats haven't been listening. They haven't actually been listening to black people.

And what they've done is they've actually ignored what folks have been saying, like Tiffany. You look at, again, the number of young African Americans who do not self-identify as either party. Now, they may lean a certain way, but then when somebody does not self-identify, the usual ways for you to communicate them don't work.

Okay, that's great. the usual ways for you to communicate them don't work. And if you're... And if you're... And... So if you're unwilling to communicate with them in a different way, if you're unwilling to actually meet them where they are, you're gonna have a problem, because the problem they have isn't even a significant number of black folks voting Republican.

Their greatest problem are folks checking out the process totally. And so now, you take those numbers, combined with, uh, targeted effort by Republicans to appeal to certain segments based upon certain issues, such as African Americans who are naturally conservative, who are, uh, who are, um, uh, who are anti-abortion, or folks from an economic standpoint,

or in the last race in Florida, uh, targeting African Americans who believe in school choice. That was a significant issue there, uh, where you had, uh, Andrew Gillum, uh, who was tied to the teachers' union. The Santa's was talking about those, uh, opportunity scholarships. And so, it's understand... micro-targeting.

What Democrats have done is not listen to Black people. And so it's, understand, micro-targeting. What Democrats have done is not listen to black people. And Tiffany, again, I want you to speak to that. You're a senior director of campaigns and advocacy at the Hip Hop Caucus. That right there, again, it's listening to black folks in 2022 and not trying to run a 1982 playbook. I hear you. Can I ask you a question? Actually, no, hold on one second. Hold on.

Why don't you ask her that question. After Tiffany speaks, I need to pull her in, but you can ask the question. Tiffany, go. Okay. Deanna, hold on. Tiffany, go right ahead. Answer while I just lay out to you. Tiffany, I think you're on mute. No, go ahead. Go ahead.

Roland, you didn't say anything confusing just now. Circles, the report, just came out and said that the national youth vote by choice of race in 2022 midterm elections, so that's this year's midterm elections, 89% of black youth voted leaning Democrat. Since 2020, there are 8 million new voters that can participate in the 2022 midterm elections.

8 million new people have turned a voting age. And in places like Culver City, because I'm in Los Angeles, this year on the ballot, there is a conversation about whether or not voters believe that 16-year-olds should be able to vote in the elections in the city. We are seeing an uprise of young people who are not paying attention to politics as usual. They care about environmental justice, reproductive choice, canceling student loan debt, police brutality. In the city of Los Angeles, 43,000 people are experiencing homelessness. We have marijuana on the ballot, slavery on the ballot, gun violence prevention on the ballot, the list goes on. And these young people who, mind you, just experienced nothing that any of us have ever experienced when we were in school or in college.

They just experienced a two-year pandemic where they had to pay the full cost of tuition, had to pay for rent on college campuses, had to pay the cost of tuition to get food and housing, and didn't experience any of that. These young people who usually have an entryway into organizing the same way that I did, the previous speakers talked about when they were organizing when they were in college, I got

involved in social justice work because I joined the United States Student Association. The post is right here on my wall. It'll stay there forever. Because I saw upperclassmen who were like, we need to register young people to vote. We need to turn out for the presidential elections and the midterm elections. These young people did not have that opportunity over the last two years.

All they have had is Democrats and elected officials who have the House and the Senate and the White House tell them, we'll send you more PP masks. We're not going to cancel student loan debt at this moment. We're just going to delay the repayment pause. We're not going to lower the cost of college tuition. We're not going to give everybody free health care. We're not going to cancel student loan debt at this moment. We're just going to delay the repayment pause. We're not going to lower the cost of college tuition. We're not going to give everybody free health care. We're not going to give everybody bigger checks.

We're going to give you $1,250 three times for the year, and we hope that that helps with the cost of rent, which has skyrocketed, and we've seen no rent control, just out-of-this-world type of rent. And these young people are now making the decision. Yes, I understand the consequences of two party systems and voting Republican and voting Democrat. But what they care about the most, Roland, is not the color of the party, but what the party is going to do. And we have watched these young people scream, protest, march, uprisings, sign petitions, do interviews, vote. They are having conversations with this political party, to your point, which has ignored them and taken them for granted. And I am certain that tonight, with the losses and the wins,

but the losses that we have seen, that these young folks who are getting ready for the 2024 election, these young people are having those conversations right now about what they're not going to do and what they are going to do. There are over 330 million people in America, and we only usually get about 43... Excuse me. There are 330 million people in America and we only usually get about 43, excuse me, there are 330 million people in America. We usually only get about 43 million people to participate in the midterm elections.

There is a gap and more people are falling into that gap where they're like, this political system doesn't even help me. They don't care about me. They don't ask me what I think. They don't do what I tell them to do when I put them in office. They don't listen to me after when they're running for reelection. They don't come to hang out in my hood. They don't talk me what I think. They don't do what I tell them to do when I put them in office. They don't listen to me when they're running for re-election. They don't come to hang out in my hood. They don't talk to me in my communities. And they are tired. And we hear the jargon, vote for us, don't vote for them. Scare tactics.

Don't vote for them because they're going to take away your rights. Well, when I vote for you, you ain't giving no more rights. These young people that I teach at UC Santa Cruz, the folks that I organize at the University of Toledo in Ohio, the student-sec family that I work with, the people at the NAACP who are organizing young folks across the country, the University of California Student Association, the United States Student Association, these folks who are working with these young people, they're tired. They've been tired. Every election season is the most important election season, but they're tired and they want something different.

And I believe, last thing I'll say, that in the spirit and honor of Fannie Lou Hamer, who I love and adore and is on the cover of my notebook, that people who are sick and tired of being sick and tired will do something different. And as a 33-year-old millennial who is supporting the training and development of that apparatus, of that base, whatever that is, it is going to not only help these young people, it's going to save America. Because we can't continue to do this piecemeal stuff where we see incremental changes, where we elect people into office,

and the things that we are demanding, the things that our community needs, life or death, we don't receive. That season has come to an end, I or death, we don't receive. That season has come to an end, I think, in this midterm election. Deanna, you had a question? Yeah, you know, I'm so excited to hear your panelists say these things.

And I also, I'm really... Roland, the thing that concerns me most is that what I hear her talking about in terms of being taken for granted, and I don't want to, I know that's like, Republicans always say that Blacks are being taken for granted by the Democratic Party. I believe that. But I'm on the right, and I want Republicans to begin to invest more in Black press. Dede and I are literally every day working to encourage conservative organizations to invest in black press. We're making a little incremental change.

But we will make... But, Madonna, they won't even talk. I mean, look, I... When I say won't even talk... Listen, but this is what I'm saying. Let me just say, this is what I'm saying. If you on the, not you, Roland, but if people on the left are saying that Democrats are not listening to Blacks

and taking Blacks for granted, or you've been working and working and now you've been shifted. Like, my question is like, I love Black America. I am a Black woman. I want what is best for Black people. I'm working for that on the right side of the aisle. Whether my sisters and brothers on the left side believe it or not, I'm working for that on the right side of the aisle. But I feel like I honestly believe that somehow we on the right and the left have to demand more

because if you're not getting it on the left and we are... Like, the thing that worries me about no the other sis sis sis and I love your sweater sis the alternative is not the right that's the part that these young folks are talking about that when I hear what you're I think I hear what you're saying and what you're trying

to explain like yes we might not find spaces or relationships with us on the Democratic side or on the on the left side the alternative sister is not the right. Because we would have been over there already. And we're not going over there. Wait, wait, hold on, though. The alternative that we have right now is the Democratic Party is not being held accountable.

Republicans ain't never cared about Black Lives Matter. Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. Tiffany, finish your, hold on. Tiffany, finish your point. Deanna, Shannon, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait,

wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, have used black voters if we're talking about herschel walker and candace owens since we got a conversation we need to have offline not on public tv because we we are talking about how democrats are not being held accountable for the voters that they take for granted in the black community and the alternative to that is not well let's come on over to the right that is not the

alternative the alternative is these young people are creating freedom dreams and a bigger vision of what these issues that I named, marijuana, women's reproductive choice, student debt cancellation, ending gun violence, slavery, environmental justice, and the list goes on. That conversation is being had, and you are seeing young people like Maxwell Frost, who is a Generation Z Afro-Cuban Democrat who is saying, listen, y'all not listening to me, so I'm gonna run for office

so that I can support my community. He's not running on the right side. This is not even about left and right. If we continue to trap black people... Wait, hold on. 10 seconds, Tiffany. You got it. If we continue to trap black people

in left and right, America will not go anywhere. We need to have a conversation about what we need to do to encourage the people who are not voting, because there are millions of people who don't participate in the electoral process, partially because of the party. Hold on, hold on. Tiffany, Tiffany.

That'll only be ten seconds. Deanna, then Shannon. Deanna, go. Okay, so this is the thing, Tiffany. I am, I worked in my first campaign when I was 11 years old. You say you're a Gen X, Gen Z-er. I'm a Gen X-er. I am about to turn 50. I'm a millennial. I'm a millennial. Go ahead. Sorry, yes, you're a millennial. I'm a Gen X-er.

I worked on my first campaign, elected the first black woman to the city council in Columbus, Georgia, when I was 11 years old. And now my nephew, who is 21 years old, who is at find value in voting and who are on the right side of the aisle. And they and whether it shocks you, I don't think it does. I mean, clearly you are you recognize that there are black people who actually believe in that. That was like reproductive rights. That's not like I am pro-life and there are many black

Okay We have to recognize that there are people there like as a black woman who's proud to be black don't want to be anything other Than this I my political worldview Sit in sit in the conservative camp. It's not going to change. It hasn't changed since I was 11. And that's fine, but I don't believe that your political views are global. Okay, okay, hold tight.

Hold tight one second. I'm going to call a timeout. And hold up, because I got to go. Sherri Beasley is speaking. She's giving her concession speech in North Carolina. Y'all know we hear from black people. The folks who made phone calls and drove people to the polls. I am so grateful, so so grateful that I've met so many awesome folks along the way. And I give my deepest deepest thanks to team Beasley. I thank my husband Kurt whose partnership has been essential in this journey and whose birthday we celebrate tonight.

Happy, happy, happy birthday, Kurt. I love you dearly. And to our sons, Matthew and Thomas, who inspire me every single day. I could not have done it without the support of my men, and I love them so so very much and very very thankful. A few minutes ago I called Senator-elect Budd to congratulate him and I offered him my support and encouraged him to stand in

the tradition of our state to be an independent leader that puts North Carolina first and I hope he will I hope he will I am so proud of the race that we ran I'm proud that all along we stayed true to our mission that this race would be about the people and not politics. And even when others didn't, we believed in North Carolina. And I still do. This isn't the outcome that we wanted, but we have made history in North Carolina. And tonight I'm thinking of those who blazed trails before me so that I can reach this

moment with you all here this evening. I'm thinking of my late mother, Lou Beasley, who showed me the importance of public service, of working for justice for all, and for standing for what's right. She was an amazing example and amazing woman. She knew the importance of staying the course and valuing the right to vote. My mother was granted the right to vote 57 years ago by the passage of the Voting Rights Act, and 57 years later, the work to make voting truly accessible continues. I'm thinking of my granddaddy Clarence and my grandmother Mimi, Rebecca, from Alabama,

who married very young and searched for a better life for their family. With 76 cents in his pocket, granddaddy Clarence hopped a train to Nashville, Tennessee with dreams of a better future in his heart. He worked on the railroad all of his life believing that for all of his sacrifice his children and grandchildren would have it better. Granddaddy Clarence and Mimi believed firmly in the American Dream and despite the challenges they faced and the injustices they weathered, my grandparents worked hard to build a better future for their children and grandchildren. I am my grandparents' American dream.

Regardless of the result, I remain resolved to fight for our beloved state. Because North Carolina is worth fighting for. And we are worth fighting for. Because our American dreams are worth pursuing. This election was never about the names on the ballot. It's about you, the people of this state, and your future. And after two decades as a judge and chief justice of the Supreme Court of North Carolina, I ran for the United States Senate for a simple reason.

I love this state. But I've seen how Washington has failed people here. And over the last 19 months, I've met North Carolinians in all 100 counties. You've shared with me your struggles, from jobs that don't pay the rent, to medication that costs too much, to loved ones who need healthcare but couldn't afford it, to small business owners who are the backbone of our economy and who need leaders with a backbone to do what's best for them. I've spoken with farmers who are-

Sarah Beasley, of course, given her concession speech, she loses in North Carolina. Democrats have been trying to win a seat there since 2008. And I'm going to say this again. Reverend Barber was on earlier, and we make the point over and over and over again. If you do not make the investments into that state and build your infrastructure outside of your large counties, you're not going to be able to win. I can't wait to go inside of that race to start breaking apart the numbers,

see what happened in different parts of the state, see what the black turnout was in that particular state. But that's just at the end of the day. If you want to win in North Carolina, look, you had a Democratic governor there. You've had Democrats who won statewide. But you have to actually focus on those areas. Significant black population in North Carolina.

The question is, did they maximize their voting power there? We were having a conversation, Tiffany, Deanna, Shannon. Shannon, I want you to comment. And then I saw Greg Carr's reaction, and I thought Greg was literally about to start burning some books. So let me let Shannon make her point, and Greg definitely has something to say. Trust me, Shannon, go ahead. Please put down the match and the lighter first before I continue.

No, no, no, no. Greg didn't have a match. Greg had a blowtorch. Yeah, flamethrower, all of that. Um, so... So here's the thing. When we, um... We... We put ourselves in separate camps and we talk about, well, the Democrats are ignoring us,

but the right's not the answer, this, that, and the other. When we argue against our own interests, those that don't want us to succeed win. So when I said it in my initial statement was, if we can, first of all, I'm a Republican, and yes, I'm a conservative, but before that, I am a Bible-believing Christian. So that means I believe there are certain ways

you need to treat widows and orphans and all sorts of folks that is higher than and very different from either political party. So I'll say again, when we can stop fighting for a label or a color and fight for our own self-interest of our people, that is when we succeed. Why is it that we have to... Shannon, Shannon, Shannon, I got to ask you a question.

I got to ask you a question right here, okay? I heard what you just said. When I looked at when votes were taken in the House, when it came to after the shooting of Buffalo, to condemn. I'm Clayton English. I'm Greg Glod. And this is season two of the War on Drugs podcast. Yes, sir.

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your retirement plan at thisispreetirement.org. Brought to you by AARP and the Ad Council. White supremacy. Republicans wouldn't vote for that. When I looked at the vote to cap insulin at $35, Republicans wouldn't vote for that. When I looked at the demonization of the poor in this country, when Trump was in there and they were literally trying to change the SNAP benefits, Republicans wouldn't vote for that. I get being a conservative, being a Republican,

when you talk about the widows and the orphans, it's amazing how Republicans absolutely ignore those widows and orphans, it's amazing how Republicans absolutely ignore those widows and orphans when it comes to public policy. Yeah, not all of us do that. No, no, no. And I'm saying all of you, but I'm talking about those who are actually in power. I'm talking about those who are in the House, those who are in the Senate.

So my question for you is, being a Bible-believing Christian and believing that, how do you stand with people who call themselves Christians but don't actually represent Christian values in how they vote, but they claim to? By trying to change that from the inside. Got it. You can't... It goes back to what I said. True powers are seated at all the tables,

not just one or the other. So if I want... If I see Democrats are ignoring Black folks, but I see on the Republican side Black folks are invisible, then what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna go over here and I'm gonna say, okay, when y'all lost this race, what was the margin?

What was the margin of Black folks that could have voted in that race? Now, so I'm going to look at it from the inside out to be able to show you what you could have been picking up and how things could have changed, and then talk about how you actually speak to people by speaking to their needs and the policies and issues. But that doesn't happen on the outside. That happens from understanding and then trying to change hearts and minds. You can't always do that from the outside. So my goal is to do that from the inside.

Greg, Greg Carr, you wanted to, you've been waiting to weigh in. No, no, I'm just sitting here. In fact, I really, you know, could have very easily said nothing because I think, you know, the distance between fantasy and real politics is what we're talking about right now.

When the results come in with this election in Georgia, it'll be clear that the overwhelming majority of white evangelicals will have voted for a man that has paid for serial terminations of pregnancies because they believe that he will help the white nationalists in the federal legislature get one step closer to executing a national ban on abortion. That's a theocracy. That's a theocracy. Let's be very clear about this. This isn't about politics.

We're not talking about imposing our will on other people. Wherever we come down on the question of a woman's right to choose, I don't know that anybody would say that they should be able to tell other people what they should choose. Now, if that's the case, then yeah. We're talking about a Marjorie Taylor Greene who is an avowed white Christian nationalist.

Now, you know, in Wisconsin, I mean, I would ask Representative Carter out of Louisiana, you know, why don't you have an infrastructure in Louisiana? And I agree with my sister Tiff. I mean, at the end of the day, the Democratic Party takes black people for granted. However, the answer, as she said, is not going to the right, because we're not talking about principles, we're not talking about culture. We're talking about power. And Ron Johnson, this goal, who is about

to be returned to the federal legislature, is going to be hell-bent to destroy Social Security, privatize it, privatize Medicare. And last I checked, that's not a Christian value. So when somebody can't be healed, somebody can't get health care, because the white nationalists in this country are thoroughly committed to a program, not only of white supremacy, but they are beholden to the corporate interests who don't care anything

about race as long as they get their profits. Those tax cuts, the money I pay out of my check every two weeks, is not going to be given to the tune of a billion dollars being held hostage to the state of Georgia for Medicare. Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but let's be very clear. We're not talking philosophy. Let's get down to the policy we're talking about. So people think they value voters. I've returned to the statehouse in Atlanta, a man who has refused to expand Medicaid, a billion dollars of our tax money

not going to people in Georgia who claim to be Christians but might have a foot cut off because of diabetes or can't get their blood pressure medicine or can't go to a trauma center because the white Nazis have declared that they don't give a damn about human beings.

Finally, I'll just end with this because again, I didn't have to say anything because it's just absurd to me the difference between idealism and the reality. The real politic of the moment is this. The very same people who would say they can't vote for a black person, no matter how hard you try to win their hearts or minds, there are ballot initiatives all over this country right now. You know, right now in South Dakota, they're going to vote for Medicaid expansion.

But they're going to put back in the Statehouse a white nationalist. Somebody on the quote-unquote right explained to me how the same white people who will not vote for Democrats because they're communists and CRT and all the rest of that stuff will, when they understand the

policy value, vote for things like expanding Medicaid, but won't give power to the people who at least are in a party that are trying to push for the types of social programs that would benefit them. Somebody explain that to me, other than racism. Deanna and Shannon, y'all want to take a shot?

You know, I think I'm highly confused, and I'll openly admit, when you say that we are talking about things that are not real and when values voters actually vote for issues like pro-life issues. And so for me, and I'm not a one-issue voter, but I will say that for me, the issue of whether or not what lives within a woman's womb is actually a life, to me, that is enough. That's as real as diabetes, and I agree with Shannon in that on the right side of the aisle, Christians, and I count myself one, we need to hold our party accountable for votes and values that do not line up with the things that we support. And so Shannon, and I know Shannon well, she's vocal and she's outspoken about these things. And so on the right side of the aisle, we as Black Americans, we as Christians, we as people who value life and who respect humanity, yes, we need to be vocal on the right.

But I would argue that on the left, the same is true. And so I'm not, like, I refuse to be made to be the, like, because we vote for conservatives or Republicans, every single thing that they do is great. Absolutely not. But I'm certain that on the left, you can't tick down the list and say that you support everything that your candidates on the left vote for either. So for me, and this is something that is without question, for me, my values match most without question conservative values. So I have no problem with that. But I do have a problem with this idea that I have to agree with every single thing that Republicans do. And I do

have a problem with this idea that somehow I am disconnected from the black community or reality, because I think that there should be blacks advocating for blacks in the conservative movement and in the Republican Party. Tiffany, I think, Tiffany, you wanted to go ahead and hop in there and make a... Yeah, I'm enjoying y'all conversation. Let me eat this cupcake while I'm doing this. What are you eating?

I'm eating a red velvet cake, cupcake. Who made those and brought them to the studio? Why we didn't get mailed a cupcake? First of all, that's what happened when your ass moved to California. You should have kept your ass in D.C. But you want to go to L.A. Go ahead and make your little comment. Yes, and y'all, it's a black caterer who did our food.

Uncle Roland said make your little comment. Now, you know when black people put little in front of anything. Hey, little. I didn't say little. I said little. I said little. Little comment. You didn't even give it a two-team. anything. Hey, little. I didn't say little. I said little.

I said little. Little comment. You didn't even give it a two-team. Little. So go ahead. Let me get my cupcake. Go ahead and make your comment. Go ahead.

Let me say this. What you want? Monique. Whether or not you are right or you are left in this moment is actually irrelevant to me since there are people in this panel and maybe even in the space that do not believe that women should have the autonomy

of what they're going to do with their own bodies. So, yes, we have a mutual problem. You don't like everything your party do, and I don't like everything the party that I'm assigned to does. But what I am clear on is that some of us in this space are not even on the same team, even though we are black people. I do not believe because I'm I am a Christian inclusivist. I do not believe that my Christian values should become the policy that determines how everybody in America should live. I don't believe that there are other people in this country...

I don't believe that at all. I do not believe that my Christian values should dictate what anyone does. And I make it a point... And that's not what either one of us is saying. I make a very clear... Both of y'all said that... No, ma'am. No, ma'am. You need to listen to...

Both of y'all said that abortion rights and pro-life... First of all, that's... I am not important as diabetes. So I'm trying to figure out... Hold up, ain't nobody here, nobody talking. So, Tiffany, Tiffany, you're gonna go for 30 seconds, then Shannon, then Deanna.

I'm gonna pull in Reverend Jeff Carr. But go on right ahead. Tiffany, go. 30 seconds. I can do this in 10 seconds like I did last time. Last time wasn't 10 seconds. Help me understand, help me understand why you made the comparison between being pro-life and diabetes as policy and decision and values that we are making as Black people in the elections. We're talking about elections and people voting.

Why did you make the comparison? Deanna, go. I specifically made that analogy because Mr. Carr mentioned diabetes and the moral decision to not support expansions that

would help people with diabetes. So to me, I made that comparison. But as it relates to my faith, our house, we operate under a pro-life model, right? But I don't believe that. And I do that because I believe, as a Christian, that is my belief. But I should not take my belief, my faith belief, in the public square and force other people to live out my faith belief.

But your party does that. No, but I believe it is science for me. I believe that if, and I want to have open, legitimate, fair conversations about life, and for me, I want to be clear about what lives inside of a woman's womb,

and at some point, I believe... I don't believe it's your party's job to do it. Other women's wombs do it. Hold on, Tiffany. Hold on. Hold on. Hold on. Hold on. Deanna, you got 20 seconds. You cheat. I'm falling. Cheating is so much fun. Other women's wombs are doing it. Hold on, Tiffany. Tiffany, hold on, hold on. Hold on, hold on. Deanna, you got 20 seconds. You win a minute. You got 20 seconds.

I'm going to let Shannon speak. I'm going to pull in Reverend Card, and then I'm going to wrap this up because I'm going over to the wild bunch over there. So for me, if at any point we as a community can decide that what lives inside of a woman's womb is actually a life, I believe it's a life at conception. I know most people don't. But at some point,

what is in a woman's womb is actually a human being. And if it is, in fact, a human being, then it deserves a voice and it deserves to be protected. And so the science says at some point it's a human being. And so I don't argue this from my standpoint as a Christian. I argue it from science. And I don't believe we should kill humans. So that's where I come to this point of view. And, you know, again, my faith is hugely important to me, but I don't believe that I should force it on anyone.

All right, Shannon. Just did. So to be clear, to straighten it out and review some of the confusion when you believe that when you are a christian and you have your beliefs if you believe the whole bible one of the things that you don't do is try and browbeat or convince people my job is to plant a seed whether you pick it up and water it is your business you're gonna deal with that with whoever you believe in when you get wherever you go so that's not job. My job is to make sure that you have all the information you need on

both sides to make an informed decision on whatever the issue may be. That's number one. Now, number two, where Deanna equated what's in a woman's womb to the diabetes and the foot amputation was her correlation that they are all medical issues that need to be addressed

in a scientific matter. Now, when we go back to Medicaid, let me ask you a question. Why are we sitting here talking about expanding Medicaid, which is the bottom of the scale, instead of talking about some actual medical equity so that we can have equal care and don't nobody got to think about nothing? Well, actually, because the Republican Party largely was against the Affordable Care Act, which played a crucial role in decreasing the number of African-Americans and others who have health insurance. And then and one of the reasons we're talking about Medicaid expansion,

because it was in those same red states where they actually were vehemently opposed to it. Just like you have Mississippi, who was, they were the ones who put forth the abortion bill, which led to the Dobbs decision, and then there was a story that came out that as a result of the Dobbs decision, additional 5,000 children are going to be born in Mississippi

on an annual basis, and the Mississippi healthcare system is grossly unprepared for the birth of 5,000 children. And so when I make the point about the Republicans, and I hear you, Deanna, and I hear you, Shannon, being pro-life, pro-life and anti-abortion are two separate things. I believe the Republican Party is largely an anti-abortion party and not a pro-life party, because you cannot be a pro-life party

and you stand in the way of health care. You cannot be a pro-life party and stand in the way of Medicaid expansion. You cannot be a pro-life party when you're unwilling to address the infant mortality rates and the number of black women who are dying in childbirth. You look at the lack of midwives and OBGYNs in the state of Mississippi. And so,

if we're going to have a pro-life conversation, then I'm going to need Republicans and conservatives to be honest to say something when somebody who's unarmed gets shot and killed by a cop, because ain't that life? And so, we can have a pro-life conversation or an anti-abortion conversation,

but I will never correlate the two. Reverend Jeff Carr, Reverend Jeff Carr, you now have the floor. What we're witnessing right now, and let me pause to say that this is in no way ad hominem. So if you throw a rock up and it hits into the crowd, it's only going

to hit, only the hit person's going to holler. So please, I don't want anybody to take this personally, apply what applies, and leave alone what doesn't. But to borrow my double brother, both biological and fraternity, one of his sayings is, let's be clear about this. I was raised in a Baptist church. I was teaching vacation Bible school when I was 12 years old. I got ordained in the ministry in the Baptist church 21 years ago.

I also traveled to Kemet under Dr. Yosef Ben-Yakin and got initiated into the ancient craft of priesthood when I was in my 20s. I studied with the Lakota tradition and got initiated into the sacred sciences of the sweat lodge. And I've pulled together an interfaith ministry that brings everyone to the table, regardless of their race, their color, their background, their religious tradition, or their beliefs. I also am a father.

My wife and I have five children. We have midwives in the room. I have caught the children in my own hands and cut the cord while my own mother was in the corner praying them through. All of that said, I would never, as a man, regardless of what beliefs I have, vote for any policy that denies a woman the right to do whatever she chooses to do with her body, because I have the right to do what I want to do with my body. When we're talking about beliefs, that's one thing.

But belief is often something that exists in the absence of provable fact. That's why spiritual practice to me is more important. Spiritual practice allows us to expand and say, regardless of our beliefs, are we really willing to impose our personal beliefs on other people in a country that is supposed to be the land of the free and the home of the brave? I say no. If you want to practice personal beliefs, practice them and enjoy the freedom that we have to practice them.

But you do not have the right, none of us, myself included, to impose my personal beliefs and codify it into a law so that it takes away the rights of other people to choose what they want to do in a free and open society. Those are people who talk about pro-life, but are also anti-abortion and who want to restrict other people. Many of them have never sat in the seat that I've sat in, where I've had to counsel young people, young women in particular, who have been raped, who have been molested, who have been abused, many of them in a so-called religious environment,

and have to live with a pregnancy because the church elders and the church leaders bring them before people and humiliate them without even having a conversation About the associate minister or the youth pastor who abused them This gives us a chance when we talk about policy we begin to talk about giving ourselves Equity and freedom so while we have respect for life and human rights, it is hypocritical for us to then move toward any space politically or culturally that creates

a theocracy. If the Muslim community, if the Hindu community were talking about doing the same thing in America, we would cry heresy. So if we proclaim ourselves to be whatever our faith tradition is, we cannot fall into a space where we want to impose our personal beliefs through law on other people.

That is not a true democracy. And although it's aspirational in America right now, it is not something that we want to go into. It's not a road we want to travel down. It's dangerous. And that's what I have to say about that space. We're talking about belief versus policy. And as Sister Tiffany has outlined, these young people are not going for it. They're looking at how policy affects them. The entire night's conversation has been about how do we find our way forward in this space that we call America. That is going to require all sides. It is going

to require all conversations, conversations that are uncomfortable. It is going to require independent funding. It is going to require independent thinking. And it is going to require us not being demagogues, not being sycophants, and not being people who are willing to give up our lumbar spine and open a portal so that other people, whether they're corporations or political parties, can insert their political arms and work us like puppet masters have

in this United States of America. I need a microphone. So here's what I'm gonna do. Timothy cut the commercial. All right, so here's what I'm gonna do. It's gonna be 30 seconds, final comments, and then I'm going to do. Tiffany's going to cut the commercial. All right, so here's what I'm going to do. It's going to be 30 seconds, final comments, and then I'm going to... We don't need to say anything after that, Roland. We can sing a song and move on and talk about L.A. mayoral race.

We don't need to talk about nothing else after what he just said. All right. Okay, well, fine. I'm going to the other side of the room then. First of all, Deanna, you want your 30 seconds? Go. Starting right now. Go.

God bless you, but my name is pronounced Deanna. You've always... Sorry, I'm sorry. My bad. Look, look, it's eight... It's 25 people in the studio. So go ahead. Go ahead. Girl, you're taking your time. Okay.

I appreciate what the Reverend said, and I want to say again that I am not basing my opinions on abortion on my biblical worldview. In the public square, we need to look at the science, and I believe that if, in fact, what lives inside of a woman's womb is actually a human at any point,

then that human must be protected. And, yes, that may mean that a... Got it. Shh. Okay, Tiffany, I would love to... No, no, no, no, no. First of all, that wasn't even Tiffany. That's the folks in the studio here. Okay, you got... I'm talking about Tiffany. Oh, yeah. I wasn't saying nothing, but I was saying...

Okay, all right. Okay, first of all, okay, the action time's up. Shannon, go. So, first of all, I didn't come up with the topic of abortion. Like I said, my job... I think what I think. People are entitled to what they think. It is not my job to change anybody's mind.

Their maker will do that when they get wherever they're going. But as far as here, if we can't stop arguing amongst ourselves to realize that we have some things that we actually need to be working on, in four years we're going to be having the same daggone conversations. The topic was brought up with Medicaid. And again, I say, if we're really going to organize apparatus and we're really going to develop systems to be able to move the needle and get people to vote, why are we looking at the bottom, Medicaid? Why are we not looking at medical equity? And before anybody says, well, you know, that's easy to say you're a Republican in this net. I'm a Republican who is married to a Republican who's trying to find a kidney donor because he needs a transplant. So when I look at the medical industry right about now, I'm not looking at it from a political perspective. I am looking at it from a people

perspective. Expanding Medicaid in that scope is not the answer. Actually closing the gap of medical equity is. Dealing with prescription drug prices, and we know which party wanted to roll that back. I mean, look, we can talk about all we want to, but we've got to also deal with some facts on where folks are actually voting in parties. Shannon, Dana, Tiffany, Jeff, Greg, we appreciate it. Thank you so very much for joining us.

I'm about to go to the other side of the room while I'm doing that, folks. The race in Georgia, give me one second. Let me try to pull this up here. Senator Raphael Warnock is back in the lead in Georgia. He is moving closer to, look at me, some full race results. Give me a second. Don't go to my iPad just yet.

So right now it is 92% of the votes are in. Senator Raphael Warnaq, go to my iPad, please, is at 49.36% with 1.884 million votes. Herschel Walker is at 1.85 million. Again, Warnock is getting 92%. Warnock is trying to get to 50.1%. If he gets to 50.1%, there is not going to be a runoff there. And so we're still checking to see where these votes are coming from.

And so we're watching that. In the Pennsylvania race. Fetterman is leading there as well. Senator Ron Johnson has about a 75,000 vote lead there in Wisconsin. And the thing that, first of all, we're joined by Lauren Victoria Burke, NNPA. And, of course, everybody else has already been here. So here's the thing. We were talking about, again, black voters earlier, Lauren.

And Milwaukee is a perfect example. You had 2018, 176,000 folks who voted on the governor's race. And then, of course, it went to 200,000, 214,000. This year, they're under 200,000. Only 176,000 actual votes in Milwaukee. It's a perfect... Now, I don't know what the hell happened in Milwaukee. I don't know whether or not anybody paid any attention.

But if you are a Democrat and you're trying to win a U.S. Senate race in Wisconsin, you need to maximize Milwaukee. And if only 176,000 folks are voting in Milwaukee, somebody doing their damn job. How about that? Well, all the attention went to Fetterman, Pennsylvania, over and over again, and not places like North...

I'm Clayton English. I'm Greg Glott. And this is season two of the War on Drugs podcast. Yes, sir. We are back. In a big way. In a very big way. Real people, real perspectives.

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Brought to you by AARP and the Ad Council. But Mandela Bonds has raised a ton of money. If your bonds are black man running, you've got to maximize Milwaukee. I know. People make these weird tactical errors that nobody can figure out for these Milwaukee. Oh, I know. People make these weird tactical errors that nobody can figure out for these elections. I cannot figure out. We're looking at race by race and seeing that, for example,

the House is close, close enough that Kevin McCarthy is not going to be able to have control of the situation. But really, the entire night is a referendum and not paying attention to the polls. Not paying attention to these media narratives that turn out to be nonsense tonight.

Right. Now we're finding out that the House is way closer than it should have been. Right. And, of course, Sherri Beasley, as we had all been talking about on this show a million times, should have been helped out and was not. I mean, she didn't even get a Biden visit or an Obama visit,

which is, like, the typical Sanders thing. Yeah. She didn't even get that. And it makes absolutely no sense. When you're playing on a map, you know the Senate's 50-50. You only really needed two votes. If you took... If you had North Carolina, you wouldn't have to have worried about Fetterman.

You wouldn't have to worry about all these other things. Carrie Lake is going down hard. That's another... Another media creation. Carrie Lake. But think about Carrie Lake Lake over and over again. Right, and all these folks are like, oh, oh. Here's the thing.

Here's the thing that, again, is stupid to me. Obama wins North Carolina by 14,100 votes in 2008. Unbelievable. They lose in 2012. They lose in 2016. They lose in 2020. He's black. Beasley's black.

You might want... And here's the other deal. This is just me. Look, I know he busy doing Netflix documentaries and podcasts and shit. But I'm sorry. You don't just do a rally

in the final week of the campaign. How about you do one in September and you come back the next month and do one then? I, like, I really don't understand the... And how the hell you not say that? Kamala Harris, North Carolina! To an HBCU! Come on.

This is one of the challenges. This is an indictment. Oh, wait, wait, wait, hold up. Can't have people talking. to the University of North Carolina! To an HBCU! Come on. This is one of the challenges. This is an indictment. Oh, wait, wait, hold up. Can't have people talking. I said, I'm a Congo. I'm-a go here. I'm-a go here. I'm-a go here. Go.

This is one of the challenges that we have. We can't keep talking about supporting black women and uplifting black women's voices if we're not gonna do it where and when it counts. You know, you had the sister who was doing this from the beginning, and you talk about people coming in late, you know, to the game. They should have been there from beginning to end. But again, all night we've been talking about this.

People are not listening to black voices. No, but also, because, I mean, I got some receipts there, too. All right. But here's the thing. I think that when we talk about going into... I'm just saying, I can tell you, I got some receipts there, too. All right. But here's the thing. I think that when we talk about going into... I'm just saying, I can tell you, I've been personally talking to the candidate for eight months saying,

we'll bring the show, we'll come in. I went to Raleigh. You talking about... Who you talking about? Beasley. Beasley. Oh, Beasley. Oh, okay. She didn't want you to come?

No, they never... I literally got a phone call October 23rd. Hey, let's do something. My campaign will be reaching out. They reach out. Hey, can you try to set up an interview? I'm like, no, that's not what I'm trying to do. And then I lay out what it entails.

Never heard back. And I'm telling you, look, Reverend Barber was very frustrated there as well. Here's what happened. I'm telling you what happened there. White consultants were running her campaign. They act... No, no, no, no.

We don't really want to play up this black thing. I'm telling y'all what happened. Again, that's what I'm saying. Folks don't want me to start pulling out receipts showing time-stamped text messages. This is what we have to take from tonight. You said this, Rebecca's alluded to it. You know, we've alluded to it a couple of times.

These posters. That whole thing you mentioned about Cornell Belcher and the people he trained making more money than him, I didn't know that. It kind of blew my mind, but it makes sense. If these people are not going to start listening to black voices and black posters, you can forget 2024.

Because one thing I just realized tonight, especially when it comes to these governor races, the Republicans, they've gotten the governor prototype with the DeWines, with the DeSantis, with the Kemp. They realize the Lakes and the types are not going to take governor's races. So they don't even need Trump in 2024. They just get a bunch of Kemp, DeSantis types and everything. So people are going to start trying to go to Tim Ryan route and not pay attention to black voices until it's too late. Black and brown voices. 2024 is a wrap.

Look, here's what has to happen, Eugene. And I'll be very clear. Black candidates have got to operate as the CEO of their campaign. Yes. Right. Black candidates. Black candidates have got to operate as the CEO of their campaign. Yes. Right. Black candidates... Black candidates have got to say,

-"Um, have y'all bought Black on Media?" -"Yep." Who's coming in? Who's doing what? Who... That has to happen. But they purposely separate the black candidate from... You just gonna sit over there and you just go do what you do. We're running this. And I'm just gonna give people a real quick story. In the Obama campaign, 2008, he was catching hell

because of the lack of black-owned media spin. They have a meeting. He says, we'll be buying black-owned media. I think it was Plouffe in his book. It had to have been right in his book. Obama says do it. Him and Apsara, after the meeting, were like, -"We not gonna do it." -"Oh, I've been in that game."

And did... and did... and didn't do it. Again, this is where black candidates are going to have to say, after the election, my ass the one lose, y'all going to cast checks. So, Celeste, we got two great examples from tonight, right? After the election, my ass the one to lose. Y'all going to cash checks. So we got two great examples from tonight, right? What Wes Moore did over the last 18 months is exactly that, to a large degree.

He wasn't supposed to win that primary. The whole world was betting on Peter Franchot. Franchot had the money. Hold up, Franchot, Tom Perez. Tom Perez. You know, there was a whole gang of them, even foram Baker. But Wes Moore built out a black donor network.

He built out black media relationships. He literally treated his campaign the same way he treated the Robin Hood Foundation to a large degree. And we saw how that drove him through a primary that he was not supposed to win. Folk were looking at this race the same way they looked at Cardin and Fumé 06. That was the conversation. The conversation we were having every day. The second example, and this is a redemption story.

You see, what people don't know about the Cardin and Fumé race, Mfumé was the one who was supposed to give that 2004 speech at the Democratic National Convention. No, Mfumé was supposed to give that speech to launch his campaign, but then it was the colored girls in the DNC who were like, look, Carrie,

give it to Obama. And so the thing is this. That vaults Obama. That's what happened there. Just for everybody who watching, I tell y'all, we know shit. Just letting y'all know, we know stuff. But go ahead. So the thing is this, right?

So the second example that speaks to the point more poignantly, 2014, Robert Terry Anthony Brown messes up. He does, he comes to his base in Prince George's County before he was lieutenant governor. He was a delegate from PG County. All right? During his run, he does jack shit

for black voters in Maryland. He assumed. He assumed. He assumed he was going to get black support. He assumed he was going Governor, he was a delegate from PG County. All right? During his run, he does jack shit for black voters in Maryland. He assumed... He assumed... He assumed he was gonna get black support. He assumed he was gonna get black support. He brings in both Barack and Michelle. You know, there's... You know, at the same time,

he gets one of the rare joint dual visits, right? Right, right. And, I mean, to the point where he took it so much for granted, to the point where he didn't even show up to HBCUs. And the black turnout was woeful, and he got drugged.

And black crossover was crazy as well. Right. Because Hogan actually did the work. You fast forward to 2022, eight years later, the campaign that Anthony Brown ran this cycle was dramatically different than the campaign he ran in 2014. Let me get your ass whooped. That's what you do.

Look, Julio, this is real basic, okay? Look, I can't stand going to Home Depot and Lowe's, but I understand basic-ass construction. And that is his head. This building falls down if the foundation is jacked up. Strong foundation, this building can stand for 100 years. You run a political campaign, if you are a black candidate, the first thing you do is you lock down your black base.

Your base. You lock down black media, black churches, fraternities, sororities, every black group. You lock them down. Breaking news. Fetterman won. Oh, they call that race? Hey!

Hey! Hey, no stop, no stop. I guess somebody going back to New Jersey. But he didn't get back on TV, though. Never left. Never left. Right, he never left. But that's the deal there, and I'm telling you,

for the last eight months, I heard... I'm just going to say this, and again, Beasley is wonderful. I talked to her directly. Her press folk called me. Y'all, this is no lie. Literally called... First of all, it took us forever to get on the show.

Called me, and she says, hey, I need information on your show, and what's your reach? And I was literally like... You didn't say which place? I was like... I was like... I was like... You don't know. No, no, no. I think it was a sister. No, it wasn't a sister.

It couldn't have been a sister. No, I'm trying to tell you. Carol, was that a sister? Carol, was that a sister? My earpiece not in. It was. OMG. And I was like, you don't know who the hell you talking to?

Right. No, again, I ain't always trying to flex on folk. But if somebody tell you you need to take this phone call, but again, it's a perfect, you got to know who the black folks you should be talking to. And again, bringing folks in. And the crazy part is, I brought my show to North Carolina. Reverend Barber asked me to come in.

He said, Roe, we got all these black people running. If y'all pull the tape, uh, pull the tape, 2020, when I was in Raleigh, Beasley was one of the candidates who was sitting right there. We were in a parking lot at an early voting location. There were about eight or ten black candidates. We put them all on the show.

I'm like, how did we do in 2020, and your folks don't bring us in? And I offered! For eight months! I'm telling you, this is, uh... First of all, tonight was an indictment of Democratic ignorance. Democrats do not understand how to do their work.

In the places where they lost, but the places where they won, guess what? They played smart politics and locked down the base. And that's the other thing. Yes. Anti-black black people.

We talk about anti-blackness a lot, but there are black people, and I'm not dissing Sharon Beasley particularly, but the people around her, if that was a sister who called you... I'm trying to tell you. She needs help. Seriously, and again, I'm trying to tell you. She needs help. Seriously, and again, I'm not

dissing her. I'm just saying, if you know the black community, you know how to do this work. But when black people run away from themselves, and so many black folks want to try, I don't want to be too black. Well, what is too black? I don't want to offend any white people. Block white people. I said block y'all.

So I'm going to bring it... No, no, so I'm going So, I'm gonna bring in... No, no, so I'm gonna... I'm coming to you. I'm coming to you. I'm coming to you. But, see, Rand, I want to bring you in here, because, really, that sounds just like the DEI conversations we had. I'm, like, popping over here. I'm just popping.

Because it's sort of the same thing. Because I'm telling you, the biggest obstacles that we have had in dealing with corporations with advertising has been the black people in the corporations. And it's like, and we like, I'm in something that's like, will you shut your ass up? Like, can you stop talking? You know, and staying in the way.

And again, what I'm saying is, I believe looking at these places where they lost, I think tomorrow, Thursday, Friday, some folk gonna need to get cussed out. And I'm telling you, there's gonna have to be hardcore going to the mat saying, -"No, we ain't playing this in 2024." Right. Well, I think that some black people

have worked so hard to be the acceptable black to get to the point they are. The magical Negro. Absolutely. They have literally lost themselves. And they don't trust themselves anymore. Because I have actually sat in rooms where I see white people talk about blackness with intelligence,

and the black person's just sitting there. And I'm like, you literally are taking this white person as an expert on who you are. Right? And the white person will sit and tell you, no, you don't need to advertise there. This is what we need to do. And I'm like, I don't know who this white person will sit and tell you, no, you don't need to advertise there. This is what we need to do.

And I'm like, I don't know who this white person is, but what I do know is that they're not black, right? And so we lose our way. Like, we lose confidence in even who we are because we have muzzled ourselves for so long trying to make it that we forget to listen to our own voices. When you talk about listening to the voices of black people, listen to your own daggone black voice.

There you go. Rebecca, look, I-I-I... Look, I-I get it when you're trying to run a statewide race. The reality is this here. The last election, 72% of the total electorate were white voters. The reality is you need white votes to win. That's just a fact.

Oh, yeah. But the other reality is this here, as I keep saying, if you maximize your black numbers, Obama does not win North Carolina if he does not maximize black turnout. There is no way in the world a black woman running for U.S. Senate in North Carolina, okay, Harvey Gantt couldn't cross that threshold

when he ran against Jesse Helms, and they used every racist attack against him. And running against this person here, again, I can't wait to break apart, you know, the different precincts and areas, but the reality is this here. We're talking about a state with a lot of black people, and I did not see a very overt campaign

that was very black-specific to maximize the black turnout in North Carolina, Beasley. And I just don't quite understand what their strategies were doing. And you were talking about, you got to have black campaign managers and African-Americans in senior positions with authority to make calls. Right. You know, Ro, black campaign managers, uh, and African Americans in senior positions with authority to make calls.

Right. You know, Ro, she lost by just 3%. But just 3%... It was just a 3% margin. That's all I want to say. It's a tiny, achievable margin. But no, I don't look at percent. It was 140,000 votes. So my whole deal is, I want to look at where the votes were. That's why my deal is that, because, again, I want to know the number of black people who were registered, the number black people who are who were eligible and who voted and who didn't vote and they maximize numbers

North Carolina has more HPC using this 10 Right, but North Carolina North Carolina has the largest my whole deal is are you here? No, are you hitting those numbers though? So I'm a former campaign manager. And when I look at the Beasley race and when I look at the Barnes race, I have so many questions. In 2012, I ran a black man for Congress

in Omaha, Nebraska, my hometown. He won hands down in the primary, almost beat a seven-year... a seven-term Republican incumbent. But here's the thing that happened. I was his campaign manager. I anticipated there was gonna be some outright racial attacks that was gonna happen.

It wasn't just because I'm black and have a black daddy and have a lot of black men in my life. I'm running a black man in Omaha, Nebraska. So we were prepared when there was someone who spray painted the N-word on a house and have a lot of black men in my life. I'm running a black man in Omaha, Nebraska. So we were prepared when there was someone who spray painted the N-word on a house where there was a yard sign for him in the yard. We were prepared, and we also used that moment to make sure that his Republican opponent

didn't make race an issue later on. Because we held him to the fire. We made him apologize, repudiate, refute, any type of racism. So when I saw what happened with Barnes in Wisconsin, I'm asking myself, why weren't they prepared? Why wasn't this on their radar? Because you know you have a black man.

He's going to be attacked racially. So why aren't you prepared for what happens? And they went after him, Joe, in a huge way on the crime issue, on defund the police. And we saw what happened with the shootings in Wisconsin. Again, you should have been prepared for it. And I think one of the things that happened,

I remember, it might have been I had a conversation with Beasley. That was an appearance. And it was, I forgot whether it was on my show or someone else, and everything was about the issue of crime. And when I heard it, I knew she was talking about what the strategists were saying. And I said to her, I said, I get you trying to not stand with defund the police. I said, but you cannot talk this issue and not say there has to be police accountability.

I said, if you don't, you're basically telling young voters, young black voters, like, I ain't talking to you. It's one of those things that you've got to be able to say, yes, yes, we should fund, yes, we need more training, but there also has to be accountability into this system for wrongdoing. And again, I think what Democrats did

at the last election, they got acting such a fool. Oh, my God. Who was the woman in Florida, Lauren, who kept acting a fool about, oh, I almost lost because of defunding police? No, you ran a shitty campaign. That's what you actually did. But if you don't discuss accountability,

it's a whole swath of voters who are like, uh, in fact, Ryan. Ryan ran an ad. This is what happened in Ohio. Tim Ryan runs an ad saying, I voted against Obama in the trade deal. Guess what black people in Ohio heard? They didn't hear trade.

Bruh. Bruh. I talked to a prominent black elected official whose daddy said, don't have that son of a bitch calling me. All he heard was, I voted against Obama. And so it's one of those things where, and I get why Ryan said it, okay? He's in a red state.

Right, but it's like, you think you appealing to them blue collar voters, but guess what? Them black people like, oh, okay, you think you're appealing to them blue collar voters, but guess what? Them black people like, oh. Okay, all right. Okay, we heard you too. You can't swim in another pond and forget about what you know.

This is why black campaign managers and people, black folks in campaigns with authority is really important. Right. We've had to survive in corporate America with a whole lot of people that don't look like us. We had to survive in elementary school sometimes. Or lot of people don't look like us. We had to survive in elementary school sometimes. Or in

class X or class Y, class E. The game is the same. Okay, now I'm running for office. I understood that. I ran for office in the small town Redlands that I live in. They weren't quite ready for us yet. We haven't had a black city councilman in 120 years. But I scared the hell out of the guy that ended up winning.

And I knew what to do when he did his race thing, which he was going to do. I was out riding with the fire department. That's what I did. And they supported me. So I say that to say, you can't, if you're Mandela Barnes, or if you're a black candidate, you have to have enough ownership

in your campaign to say, I know they're going to do this because they did this. They've been doing this for years. And so therefore, not just looking to the corner, but looking around it, I'm going to decide, here's how I'm going to handle this. And listen, you, you know, white, professional, you know, you're a friend. You do what you do on the campaign or whatever else.

I know this issue. It's my campaign. This is how we're going to handle this. Because at the end of the day, my name's on the ballot, and it's going to go up and down with me anyway. You ain't gonna win without me. You know, here's what I thought was interesting, Brandon. I had some folks who said, um... I'm on this group chat, and they were like, um, North Carolina race should be getting lots more attention.

And then somebody said, well, no, actually, it's great, it's undercover. And I was like, uh... No. I mean, again, so you so this is one of those things, again, I'm just throwing out here. Prominent black entertainer in North Carolina. Fantasia.

Anthony Hamilton. I can go, who moved, I think, Bramford Marsalis moved to Charlotte. I mean, I can go, who moved? I think Brantford Marsalis moved to Charlotte. I mean, I can go on and on and on. Yep. Michael Jordan and Nigel Jordan. I-I-I don't... I-I...

Sorry. Sorry. Sorry. So, and-and-and... And-and-and the deal... But-but, no, no, no, no, but here's the whole deal, though. No, no, but here's the whole deal, though. No, no, but here's the whole deal, though. Did you try to get it? Again, I'm just making here.

I'm saying, when I look at... Let me compare Georgia and compare North Carolina. The last three weeks, I saw Kerry Washington down in Georgia at home coming there. I saw a number of folks down there.

I'm sitting here wondering... I'm sitting here wondering... I do not recall an effort of having prominent black entertainers go in North Carolina. What it is is white consultants in these campaigns, I'm telling you, not... Well, it is black people sometimes,

but usually it's white consultants who are afraid to have their candidate look too black. That's what it is. They don't want to piss off white voters. I'm Clayton English. I'm Greg Lott. And this is season two of the War on Drugs podcast. We are back. In a big way.

In a very big way. Real people, real perspectives. This is kind of star-studded a little bit, man. We got Ricky Williams, NFL player, Heisman Trophy winner. It's just a compassionate choice to allow players all reasonable means to care for themselves.

Music stars Marcus King, John Osborne from Brothers Osborne. We have this misunderstanding of what this quote-unquote drug thing is. Benny the Butcher. Brent Smith from Shinedown. We got B-Real from Cypress Hill. NHL enforcer Riley Cote.

Marine Corvette. MMA fighter Liz Karamush. What we're doing now isn't working, and we need to change things. Stories matter, and it brings a face to them. It makes it real. It really does. It makes it real. Listen to new episodes of the War on Drugs podcast season two

on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. And to hear episodes one week early and ad-free with exclusive content, subscribe to Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. I know a lot of cops, and they get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes. But there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no. Across the country, cops call this taser the revolution. But not everyone was convinced it was that simple. Cops believed everything that taser the revolution. But not everyone was convinced it was that simple.

Cops believed everything that taser told them. From Lava for Good and the team that brought you Bone Valley comes a story about what happened when a multi-billion dollar company dedicated itself to one visionary mission. This is Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad. It's really, really, really bad.

Listen to new episodes of Absolute season one, Taser Incorporated on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Binge episodes one, two, and three on May 21st and episodes 4, 5, and 6 on June 4th. Add free at Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. Here's the deal. We got to set ourselves up. See, retirement is the long game. We got to make moves and make them early.

Set up goals. Don't worry about a setback. Just save up and stack up to reach them. Let's put ourselves in the right position. Pre-game to greater things. Start building your retirement plan at thisispreetirement.org. Brought to you by AARP and the Ad Council. White folks gonna give you a pass if you go to the HBCU with the black people. No, I know. You with your people. Again, I'm just... Authenticity. Voters want authenticity. If they feel like you are hiding yourself,

they're gonna hide their vote from you. Exactly right. And you're not gonna stand up for their issues. Which would be obvious. You can't even be black during the campaign. How are you gonna be black when you do policy? I want to bring in Robert Petillo. Robert Petillo, of course, Rainbow Push Coalition,

Peach Tree Street Project. Sorry, I did not. I missed Melina Abdullah. We had her, and now she can leave at 1 o'clock. We are going over time. My apologies. Robert, you're there in Georgia. We're still looking at the race here

where Warnock has gone ahead. Let me do a refresher here to see if the numbers have changed. It was at 92%. Now it's at 95%. Warnock, he's now at 49.42%. Robert, is there a possibility he can get to 50.1? Do we know what these outstanding ballots are in Georgia?

Absolutely, Roland. It looks like about 20 percent of the ballots in Fulton County have not been counted yet, and around 20 percent of ballots there in Clayton County. Whoa, whoa, whoa. You said 20 percent of the ballots in Fulton? Yeah, have not been counted yet. And 20 percent in Clayton? Not Clayton, but Cobb County, rather, have not been counted yet. And 20% in Clayton?

Not Clayton, but Cobb County, rather, have not been counted yet. So those are both going to be strong Democratic counties. There is a strong chance Senator Warnock will pull this out without a runoff. Now, he has to get to 50.1, not 51, correct? Correct. He has to have any number over 50%.

So being at 49.4% currently, if you pull out another 20,000-ish votes in county, in addition to what comes in from some other larger cities, such as Columbus, Macon, Augusta, where normal votes come in a little bit later, probably about tomorrow afternoon, once we get everything in, we should know the final vote tally. But there is a decent chance of Senator Warnock pulling this out without a runoff. Stacey Abrams lost by 300,000 votes. What happened? Well, I think it's a confluence of things. One, the same issue that you discussed, that the panel was discussing,

the lack of having a homegrown indigenous talent running that campaign, I think, put her behind the eight ball from the beginning. That because you were running basically a California campaign in Georgia, you ended up with a ground campaign that took several months to get on its feet, as opposed to having the

full six months run up to get in position. I think also you have a governor, Governor Kemp, who is riding a very strong wave of being the anti-Trump Republican, of not being like Hershel Walker, where they're seen as being an obsequious sycophant to the president, but rather standing up for those values. We've seen Governor Kemp reach out to the hip-hop community, reach out to HBCUs, pass a lot of criminal justice reform bills that many people have asked for, governing more as a moderate than a hardcore MAGA like the Santas or Abbott. I think that contributed towards it.

And then I think, of course, you have to look at some of the inbuilt problems within the campaign when it comes to messaging. I think starting the culture war argument in the middle of September about whether or not black men were voting did not help her with the black male vote. I think at that same time, they should have been concentrating on getting many of those suburban white women who have still voted for Kemp at probably a 60 plus percent rate. Those are the voters you need to be going after. that when we got into this whole culture war argument about were black men voting, was it misogyny, was it sexism, were black men misinformed or the victims of disinformation, I think that that distracted the campaign from actually focusing on Kemp

and the issues with his campaign, and that led to the difference we saw. Well, here's what's interesting. Greg Carr just sent this to me. Michael Harriot posted this. According to exit polls, Abrams had more support from black men than Dems had nationwide. In fact, if every single black male Kemp voter had voted for Abrams instead,

she would have lost. Turns out the black male voter problem was a lie. It was white voters. It always is. That's what Michael Harriot is. That's what Michael Harriet tweeted. It was absolutely accurate that the entire time that we started this argument back and forth about why aren't black men voting? It was completely a made up narrative. In reality, it is those suburban white women that we are talking about these issues. Such as the Dobbs decision, which they thought was going to be motivating white women to vote.

At the end of the day, they still realize that they benefit from a lot of white privilege. So when it comes to crime, when it comes to immigration, when it comes to inflation, they still will stick by the Republican Party. So I think instead of having this month-long distraction about whether or not black men were voting, the concentration should have been making sure those swing Republican or not Republican, those swing suburban white female voters, that were counting on the Diocese to bring over, making sure that they were actually mobilized, and I think that would have made up

a large portion of that gap. Greg Carr, when we look at, again, it was all of this talk, all of this talk, red wave, red wave. As we look at these various races here, I am trying to go to... So here's a perfect example, Greg. And we're still waiting Arizona. But right now, go to my iPad.

It will show in Arizona 50% of the votes are in Hobbs. Katie Hobbs is leading with 55.9% of the vote. And Carrie Lake is leading at 44.1%. If you listen to all of these crazies, all we kept hearing about how the media narrative, and this is where it's real dangerous. And I tell people all the time, this is why people got to stop watching a lot of this crap,

these mainstream media networks. They were hyping this thing up. Oh, my goodness, Carrie Lake is going to drag Blake Masters over the finish line. Oh, my goodness, the amount of attention that she was getting. In fact, Greg, let me show you this here. It's a perfect example.

I mean, this is the level of hype that we were hearing. We were hearing about how, again, oh, my God, how Blake Masters was doing so well. Now, mind you, it's still 53% of the vote is in. He is getting his ass whooped. Mark Kelly has 57% of the vote. Blake Masters has 40.7% of the vote. Blake Masters has 40.7% of the vote. That's an ass whooping.

And again, and we know how typically elections go, that ain't Democrat counties that those votes are in. And so we'll see what happens when it gets to 675, 80%. This is why people, and the last point, somebody made it earlier, all of these different real clear politic polling averages. Here's what happened, Greg. All of the Republicans have figured it out.

If you just flood the zone with new polls, the media are like crack addicts, where they will jump on that sucker and report every new poll. Well, what do they then do? It then becomes, oh, my goodness, this is what it's saying. And so they figured out every time we drop a poll, that's a new story.

It's a new narrative. And so then it just kept the drumbeat, the drumbeat, the drumbeat. Now, maybe the opposite worked where it pissed off Democratic voters and they said, shit, let's go out and vote, because we saw in Wisconsin, the number of young voters that was up dramatically, some 300-plus percent.

But this is the nonsense that people have to watch out for when you see these political shows that hype up this Republican drama because they like the drama. I believe a lot of them want to see Trump run. They want to see the fistfights and the crazy stuff because they get off on that because you already see them calling Biden, he's too boring.

That's the kind of nonsense they say. But they make more money. But these numbers right here show you all that was utter nonsense. Hold on, hold on. Greg Carr, go ahead. Absolutely. In fact, Roland, there's nothing. There's nothing on

network television. There's nothing on nothing. There's nothing on network television. There's nothing on cable. There's nothing streaming that comes close to the coverage that you've been doing tonight. This has been an honest and compelling conversation. And we have to remember that this is not only not far from over, the Democrats look like it's going to, when the story is told, whenever tomorrow, the next week, whenever, the Democrats not only survive, they may have pulled this off. The House may go Republican. It may not.

Again, the late breaking votes, if Lauren Barber going to lose her seat, there've been a couple of flips, including black women. So shout out to Summer Lee in Pennsylvania and Amelia Sykes in Ohio who flipped districts. I don't want to run over that. Summer Lee, let me tell you something. AIPAC dropped three, first of all,

they dropped a million dollars against her in her primary. She wins. Come on. Yes, sir. AIPAC dropped three million against her in this race, propping up the Republican. They wanted to take Summer Lee out.

She fought back. She was leading in double digits. It went down to like four or five points. She wins tonight. AIPAC lost a lot of money trying to take that sister out. They sure did. They sure did. And they can stick their money on top of all that money

was spent in Pennsylvania, all that money was spent in other places. And at the end of the day, we may see the Democrats not only keep the Senate, their money on top of all that money was spent in Pennsylvania, all that money was spent in other places. And at the end of the day, we may see the Democrats not only keep the Senate, but set them up for 2024. This was the chance that the Republicans had to get some momentum going to 2024. And sure, if Kevin McCarthy, that nut, ends up as a speaker of the House and sticks Jim Jordan on the chair of a committee and they start investigating Hunter Biden's laptop and impeaching Biden, all that's going to do is create more momentum for 2024 to push back against them. Now, those down-ballot races,

you had constitutional amendments to preserve a woman's right to choose that passed in Michigan, that passed in Vermont, that will pass in California. When you talked about slavery earlier, taking that racist language out, Tennessee, Oregon, Vermont, Alabama, looks like that ballot initiative is going to pass. Now, the one where it's not going to pass is Louisiana. Again, I would have asked Congressman Carter, why can't you get behind Gary Chambers?

And I think what you just said about Gary Chambers taking over the apparatus in Louisiana and building it like Stacey Abrams said, I think that's a stroke of genius, but it's going to require a come-to-Black Jesus for the Democratic Party. They're going to have to concede that, as Reverend Barber said,

the trick is going to be to expand the voting base, as Steve Phillips said. And, you know, I'm sitting here listening to everybody's conversation, and I'm thinking about my friend Laura Victoria Burke. I wish they would put her somewhere to talk to some of these people and have a conversation along with everyone else. Because finally, what we're seeing, what we may see, particularly as Robert says, why not because they were to pull this off without a runoff. We might see at the end of this election cycle, if it's again in this week or whenever,

is that not only did the Democrats survive, they took the best shot the Republicans had of derailing this thing. We may have dodged a lot of bullets tonight. It's not nearly as gloomy as these polls and these white, uh, commercial news outlets tried to push, and that's why you should ignore all of them and everybody need to get the damn Black Star Network app and download it, because tonight proved

this is the only place where the conversation is being had that's honest. Well, let's break this down. When you talk about kind of a night, Larry and Michael, go to my iPad, please. Folks, look at this here. These are governor's races. Katie Hobbs winning in Arizona.

Georgia, Brian Kemp wins there in Georgia. Kansas, the incumbent Democrat in Kansas. She, right now, 49.6% leading the Republican, 47.3%. She's leading by 22,000 votes with 95% of the vote in. Maine, Democratic governor, beats the former governor, Paul LePage, that racist. Blows his ass out, 55 55.5 to 42.6%. Michigan, Gretchen Whitmer, re-elected governor in Michigan. 51.9% to that MAGA Republican's 46.4%.

You now go to Nevada. Democrat incumbent wins by ten points in Nevada. Then you go to New Mexico. Democrat incumbent wins by five points. Uh, so they maintain that governor's mansion. All the talk that Kathy Hochul was gonna lose to Republican, the-the racist, uh, Lee Zeldin, she wins... she wins by, uh, looks like 320-some-odd thousand

votes, uh, in that particular race. Oregon, remember, Phil Knight, founder of Nike, was pissed off, dumped a whole bunch of money in that race. Well, you see, it has an impact, but 57% of the votes are in. It's a very tight race. He hated Tina Kotech, but you also have

the Independent that's running there as well, but Kotech is winning 45.48% to 44.84%. So we're still watching that particular race. Go to Pennsylvania. Democrat Josh Shapiro, elected governor in Pennsylvania. In Wisconsin, Tony Evers. They were talking about how that was neck and neck.

Evers is at 51%. Tim Michaels, Republican, at 48%. So Democrats are going to maintain the governor's mansion there in Wisconsin. If you're a Democrat, you feel real good about what happened tonight. As a matter of fact, I don't even have on here, what I just pulled up here, I don't think I pulled, I don't even have the, I don't think I have it, the Massachusetts race where they picked up the governor's mansion there. So that's not a red wave you talking about governors

Several of what they call the swing states, I don't know Florida's a swing state anymore It's not had governor's races right Um, you know, had governors races, right? And so, therefore, two years from now, theoretically, now they're, you know, playing with the rules as it pertains to certification, et cetera. But it's not all the gloom and doom that was all predicted. Um, and-and that's why you run your races, you put in your resources where they're supposed to be,

uh, you go hard, you run hard, and you stay off Twitter, if you want to know what the truth is. I-I-I-I want to know what you here. Um, um... So unfortunate Greg Abbott gets re-elected. He is. He's a fucking idiot. Uh, yeah, that's the first time... Yeah. No, no, no, he is. He is, because first of all,

first of all, when you have the electrical grid in Texas, and that leads to people dying when it was freezing, and then you want to blame it on Biden, fool, you are no longer part of the U.S. grid. That was your choice, okay? Then, of course, the mass shootings that happened in the state. I don't know what the people in Uvalde were thinking. Literally, he was plus 14 in the county where Uvalde is after that shooting, 18 children, two adults.

He wins by almost a million votes, Monique, over Beto O'Rourke. And when I look at the other races in Texas, you've got, I mean, my God, you've got Attorney General Ken Paxton, a complete asshole who's been indicted for five years. And the only reason he's not in prison is because his buddies in Collin County are keeping him out of Mumma Congo.

You passed her microphone to Monique. But when I look at the other races, Republicans winning by 800,000. Last election cycle, they were winning around 250,000. And I smacked Meghan McCain around. I had some other black folks who were texting me at night. They were like, this is the last. We should never hear from Beto O'Rourke again.

And I had somebody who say, oh, and I said, well, he helped folks down balance. Some guy was like, well, he didn't. I was like, first of all, you're not even from Texas. And I'll say this here, and I firmly believe this here. If folks in Texas, look, he lost against Ted Cruz. He ran for president. I thought that was stupid.

He should have ran for president. Then he loses here. I think he should take time off. He should be running the Texas Democratic Party because you have to take what he did and you have to actually build out the party. You're not going to win anything as long as you have a fractured party

that's not raising money, that is not running a 254-county strategy. Your thoughts on what should happen in our native state with your party. Well, I'm gonna be candid. I can't dismiss all of the criticism of Beto. And I like him. I liked him when...

in all of his races that he has now lost. And he does seem to be incredibly popular, and there is a lot of energy around him. But it does not convert to the number of votes necessary to win in Texas. He is far to the left for the way that Texas voters see life right now. And even in Uvalde, Dr. J would know better than me, they were counting their dollars and their cents, even with their dead babies. They were counting their dollars and their cents,

and they decided that that hideous man, Greg Abbott, was a better choice for them. They decided by double digits. So to me, no, I don't want to see Beto in another statewide election. And yes, if he can be the person who energizes the party, that's great. But I'm just saying for all of those things going around saying, will he have another election? I'd love to see him in some office someday because I think that he is an excellent public servant. But the progressiveness that is necessary and the value-driven policy system

that is necessary, Texas is not the stomping ground for it. But the point I'm talking about here, Avis, is what I'm looking at is I'm looking at organizational ability, mobilization, how do you put together a plan? And what I'm arguing is you need someone who is charismatic, someone who can raise money, who can rally people, but who can help others on the organization side.

2008, when they had the Democratic primary, folks were on fire about Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. Contested primary, she wins the primary, but then it was a Texas two-step, he wins the second part, so it will split. And a lot of Democrats were like, oh my God, now we're gonna actually see the rebuilding of this party since Governor Ann Richards lost to George W. Bush. Well, that's not what happened.

Obama did not care about infrastructure there. He would come into Texas, he would pick up checks in Houston, Dallas, and Austin, and would fly right back out. And so literally for eight years, they were just in the wilderness. And so when Beto runs would pick up checks in Houston, Dallas and Austin. He would fly right back out. And so literally for eight years, they were just in the wilderness. And so when Beto runs, somebody finally runs statewide who's actually campaigning in all the different counties.

That's how I see him running. The same way I see Gary Chambers in Louisiana. Gary's a great guy. Gary put out some great ads. I think Gary's future, and trust me, he and I are going to talk later this week. I think Gary's future is saying, let me become the Stacey Abrams of Louisiana

to put together the infrastructure, what I was talking about with Troy Carter, because you got to have somebody who is focused on that 365. That's where I think candidates that lose can transition to still be public servants, but not necessarily run for political office thoughts. That's exactly what's needed, because if you look at these states,

there is potential there, but there needs to be a ground game. There needs to be a long-term investment in those states. And as you mentioned, Beto can raise money. I mean, I don't know about votes, but the man knows how to get money. And because he's had three runs, what does he have?

Mailing list? Yes. That's what I'm saying. What he has is, he has the infrastructure. And so you got it. Now you don't just let it die. You put it to use. Exactly.

And, you know, I would say the biggest challenge, I would say, with the Obama campaign was the infrastructure wasn't just not there in Texas. The infrastructure wasn't built out anywhere. And it was shamed. Well, no, it wasn't. It was only built out to benefit him. Exactly. So post his administration, it went kablooey, right? And so there needs to be long-term infrastructure, long-term organizing in key states where there's a possibility in the future that they can flip when you look at the demographics. Stacey Abrams, to me, built the roadmap for that in Georgia,

even though she fell short a bit tonight. But you're right, there needs to be some mimicking of that because why can't we say, let's look ahead two years, four years? The Democratic Party needs to think a little bit more long-term. As we've all said over and over again, this two month, two week

strategy trying to sort of bomb in at the last minute isn't working. How many times do we have to see that? Michael, go ahead. Microphone. I'm sorry. So while the Democratic Party might not be, I just want to credit Black Voters Matter Fund. I want to credit

all of the other organizations that, since the last election, like when I was there in 2020 helping with the Texas campaign, there's like 10 times as many assets on the ground. There are local chapters everywhere. So they have not stopped building. And we will see the fruit of that in Texas and elsewhere, same as in North Carolina. May not have made it this time, but these organizations are doing the hard work.

Michael, here's why, and I need people to understand why I keep harping on this here. Former Congressman Jesse Jackson Jr., he and I were talking one day and he said, the greatest mistake my dad made was after he ran in 84 and 88. He did nothing with the infrastructure. He said what dad should have done was dad should have taken that infrastructure, maintained it. And when the next national when the next black candidate came along to run national,

here you go. He said that was his biggest mistake. He said, why run and you do nothing with it? What does Senator Bernie Sanders do? He takes his infrastructure and he creates it. What is it is our revolution? Okay. Creates an organization, transfer those assets.

Again, you've got database, you've got names, you've got donors, all of that. Now it goes into this. So what do they do? They're running candidates locally all across the country. Okay. Not doing necessarily well in congressional or statewide races, but still running local races. So that's what I mean, was when people talk about, you know, well, you ran and you lost,

that's why I was getting that silly-ass tweet from Meghan McCain. No, this is about the long-term building. And so even for a Sherry Beasley, okay? You lose in North Carolina, but you still have an infrastructure, a database that you can activate and now put it to work

even when the election is over. Exactly. I totally agree with that. And that's thinking long-term, but also that's understanding control beyond just running for an elected office. That's being able to have controllable fundraising, the database, things like this, and to be able to groom future candidates

and provide the infrastructure for them to run so they don't have to start at ground zero. And really, to be perfectly honest with you, like I said before, I'm neither Democrat nor Republican, but I'm definitely not stupid. I can see whose policies are more beneficial for us. But really, we need to focus on, if we don't take over the Democratic Party,

we need to create a huge power structure within it like the Tea Party was, but just not crazy like the Tea Party. No, no, no, no, actually, uh, I think what ha... I think there has to be a crazy element. And I think... No, let me unpack that. Let me unpack that.

I know where you're going with this. No, no, I'm going to unpack that because I want to bring Larry in. See, Larry, the crazy element has to be y'all have messed this shit up and you don't know what you're doing, so we're tired of messing with y'all. The reality is, in your state, Democrats are in gross disarray.

I mean, I have never in my life witnessed the complete and utter destruction of a party. Like, the destruction of Democrats in Florida is complete.

I mean, it's... Ron DeSantis tonight became the first Republican who flipped Miami-Dade County. Flipping Miami-Dade County is the equivalent of a Republican winning Travis County

where Austin is. That don't... That don't... That says, y'all just crazy. I mean, so what has to happen... This is where a contingent could say, we need to go take this shit over. We just... We own... We ain't listen to none of y'all.

There has to be sort of that level of takeover attitude. Otherwise, it's going to be a worse beatdown. Florida right now is damn near like Texas where Republicans control the entire state. Worse. I think it's worse. We'll... I don't know if it can get worse.

But, I mean, it has to be that kind of crazy takeover because nobody else can say anything that's logical. Anybody want to listen to him? Yeah, so it's interesting, Roland. When we were over there, I was texting a colleague of mine who's in Florida who was at a Democratic watch party, and she was just frustrated. A Democratic watch party or a home-going?

I'm Clayton English. I'm Greg Glod. And this is Season 2 of the War on Drugs podcast. Yes, sir. We are back. In a big way. In a very big way. Real people, real perspectives.

This is kind of star-studded a little bit, man. We got Ricky Williams, NFL player, Heisman Trophy winner. It's just a compassionate choice to allow players all reasonable means to care for themselves. Music stars Marcus King, John Osborne from Brothers Osborne. We have this misunderstanding of what this quote-unquote drug ban is. Benny the Butcher. Brent Smith from Shinedown. Got B-Real from Cypress Hill.

NHL enforcer Riley Cote. Marine Corvette. MMA fighter Liz Karamush. What we're doing now isn't working and we need to change things. Stories matter and it brings a face to them. It makes it real. It really does. It makes it real. Listen to new episodes of the War on Drugs podcast season two

on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. And to hear episodes one week early and ad-free with exclusive content, subscribe to Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. I know a lot of cops, and they get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes. But there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no. Across the country, cops called this taser the revolution. But not everyone was convinced it was that simple.

Cops believed everything that taser told them. From Lava for Good and the team that brought you Bone Valley comes a story about what happened when a multi-billion dollar company dedicated itself to one visionary mission. This is Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad. It's really, really, really bad. Listen to new episodes of Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated, on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Binge episodes 1, 2, and 3 on May 21st and episodes 4, 5, and 6 on June 4th. Ad-free at Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. Here's the deal. We gotta set ourselves up. See see retirement is the long game we gotta make moves and make them early set up goals don't worry about a setback just save up and stack up to reach them let's put ourselves in the right position pre pregame to greater things. Start building your retirement plan at thisispretirement.org,

brought to you by AARP and the Ad Council. She was laying the brief, man. Right, because she was at a repass. That was good. She was at a repass. Because you know you need a aluminum foil. All right, hold on. I'm coming to you. So, you know, when she was texting me, asking me about where the aluminum foil is, you know,

she was raising... She's from Florida. You know, she's a native Floridian. And she was raising the red flag, and she has been in our conversation for months. But when we first started, I said to you, Roland, when you asked me about Florida, I told you it didn't look good because my conversations with folks on the ground...

We know it didn't look good, but damn! It is solidly red now. So, the question is now, and I think your point about being crazy people taking over, the bottom line is, it's time for revolutionaries, specifically black folks

in the state, to now take over Democratic Party. First of all, we talked about important policy issues and be able to speak to the black folks and Latino and Latino folks in the state of Florida. You have to be able to do that. But once again, you have to talk about specific policy issues. And listen, I'm going to be frank when it comes to the state of Florida, and we already know this, but we talk about Latino, Latino community. A lot of those folks like DeSantis. They like that macho persona

he gives off. So we need to have a conversation. We talked about this earlier. Which also applies to a lot of the countries they come from. I mean, look, that's just straight. You want to jump in there about Florida. So I campaigned in Florida in 2008 and 2016.

The thing about Florida is really six regions, and the Democratic Party treats it like it's a monolith. They treat Spanish speakers as a monolith. I think we need to use the term Spanish speakers to really show and characterize what's happening in Florida. When you talk about Florida, you got to break it down. You got Cubans, you got Venezuelans. Yes, you do.

You got countries going on. If Miami-Dade is completely different in its demographic and who runs it, I think people need to listen to Uncle Luke. Uncle Luke has a lot to say about what's going on in Miami-Dade, and he's 100% accurate. Brianna. So, I agree with you.

The Democrats elected Manny Diaz. I campaigned in 2018 where Miami went blue in Florida, and I was controlling Miami. So I heavily know that. And with Manny Diaz, they separated the Spanish speakers and they ignored black people, right? And so they focused on let's just target Spanish people. I think you're very correct when you say that about DeSantis.

There was a very split ballot. I knew people on the ground in Miami who voted for DeSantis and voted for Demings. It was another split, just like I saw a lot of split in Georgia. And you know, the Santas has some of the beliefs, socially,

that they want. And so, I think that there's some things we don't want to come to terms with. We say, okay, we can change hearts and minds. I do think that we can some things we don't want to come to terms with. We say, okay, we can change hearts and minds. I do think that we can push more people out to vote. However, and I'll say that I was trying to... I was trying to tiptoe to roll in,

but I'm just gonna say... Why the hell, baby? This ain't the show to be tiptoeing. You had Chris. You got some cute-ass shoes on, but you can't be tiptoeing. You had Charlie Chris. I was on there that day. You had Charlie Chris come on to this show.

He did care about it, but that was during the primaries. And, um, person I did work with, Nikki Freed, ran against Charlie Chris. Everybody from D.C. We're in D.C. said, oh, that's because Charlie Chris is gonna win. And you had Charlie Chris versus DeSantis. So you had Republican-like who was already Republican, didn't do shit, and then you have the Republican here.

The only thing that they can remember is, okay, now they put financial literacy into schools, and they're talking about pockets, economics again, right? And they were happy about how he did COVID. Oh, my gosh. But, you know, the other side was Chris was saying, well, I will be the best one with your reproductive health. And they were like, oh, okay, yeah, well, we're conservative.

We don't understand what that really means, and we're going to go with our pockets. And so you saw a lot of that dynamic and dialogue play out, but there wasn't really enough people on the ground. So we say that we hired Manny Diaz because he brought in all the money. He was going to be national, and that's why we needed him versus the other people who ran,

which I won't go into it. But that was not those resources, which we talked about again. The priorities of resources was not given to the black community. Of course they would not talk to Uncle Luke. Or the Haitians.

The strategy you talked about requires the party to give money to black and brown people. But we have to disaggregate. Underground grassroots people. We do have to disaggregate the black and brown thing at some level. Not to be divisive at all, but we do have to disaggregate some of that. Because there are,

anyway, there are brown folk, Latinx folk, who are as anti-black as the greatest Klan member that you could ever run into. But also, part of the whole deal is, they don't use that damn term Latinx. I know. No, they don't. They don't like it. Latinx is a...

First of all, if there's two phrases, I can't stand. What's that? I can't stand that goddamn Latinx and BIPOC. I hate BIPOC. I hate BIPOC. I hate BIPOC. So, so, so, so the problem is, it's like, literally, I have asked,

I've asked Latino posters, like, nah, only 2% go with Latinx. Like, I don't even know why anybody would see that. But that's that consulted class, academic. They don't use that. You know what? The Latino community doesn't even like the term Latino because that

came from Ronald Reagan. It was invented. But it all depends on what part of the country you in. And that's the whole deal. The reality is one of the biggest mistakes politically is, they're trying to look at Latinos

slash Hispanics the way they look at black folks. You can't. Because with us, we talking about where you from. Alabama, Texas, Mississippi, North Carolina. When you talk about them, it's Colombia, Venezuela, Mexico, Cuba. I mean, it's country.

And so you have to actually... When I said earlier how you have to micro-target African-Americans now because of our interests, you're going to micro-target them depending upon where you are. The person who's a Dominican or Puerto Rican in New York ain't the same as a Puerto Rican and Dominican that's in Miami.

It's just not. Dominicans and Puerto Ricans in Miami. It's just not. Dominicans in the Republic... Dominicans in the Puerto Ricans in New York align more with black folks, and the cats in Florida are like, nah, we ain't with them or the Haitians. If you look at the immigrants who come into Florida from these Latin countries,

they have fled progressive people. When Venezuelans come to Florida, they hate Hugo Chavez. Oh, look, look, they nailed Biden in 2020 with the socialists later. And when they hear socialists, they're like, oh, hell no. And you got to counter that. And the ones that ran from Cuba, same thing.

They're anti-Castro. And so when you start talking, you're right. You can say socialist, you can say anything. If you said, I don't like predatory capitalism, they ain't gonna vote for you. Well, what you got to do is, when they hit you with a socialist, you gotta go tell them Venezuela's. When your ass came here, who gave you some food?

That's socialism. Who gave you some health care? See, again, if you get caught up in the labels, I think that's where you make a mistake. Randy, I really think Florida... Florida has to be looked at the same way a corporation, when a new CEO comes in and says,

y'all's stock price went from... What are you doing, Monique? Really? I'm live. Keep talking. Oh, Lord. When a corporation comes in and says, our stock price used to be $75 an hour, not $75, now it's $4,

I got to sit here and get the stock price up. I think there has to be a corporate-type examination of how broken Florida is for Democrats in order to figure out a plan to fix it. And it's not going to be a two-election cycle plan. No. Bottom line is, Democrats are not going to successfully compete in Florida at least for a decade.

Mm-hmm. At least. Yes. I mean, there's not much to say. Yes, the place is... It's a mess. It's a hot, hot mess. No, but speak to it from the... Approaching it like a Corporate takeover you've got a completely gut Downsized to upsize that to me that has to be the approach And to honestly look at who you're who are your employees who's in this in the state? I don't think people know that like hey people let's get to know you go this actual state like you were saying

There's so much diversity When you look at Florida, even if you just look at one county. Miami-Dade is a whole good study in itself. I could say a lot about that and how Cubans are completely different than other people who call themselves Latinos.

I mean, completely different. So really just knowing to whom you're trying to appeal and what's important to them. I think they need to start there. I'm gonna bring in Greg Carr here. Greg Carr, uh, you hear it a lot. There's a whole bunch of folk out here who love hollering back and forth.

I-I can't wait till the, uh, the anti-immigrant black people act a fool when they find out that Wes Moore is, uh, has Jamaican immigrants. You know they gonna act a damn fool. But just look at numbers. This is real simple for all the anti-immigrant black people. Right now, in the United States of America, 10% of the black population is immigrant.

And so the fact of the matter is, this is real simple. You ain't getting away from that. And so the folk who out there, y'all know who y'all are, the anti-immigrant folk, you need to understand, if you're talking about 10 percent of the black population is immigrant, you better realize those are folk who also vote. And so we're going to have to have a discussion because here's the other piece, and this is why I'm bringing this up. Because what Republicans are trying to

do, Greg, and we see it right now in Alabama and Louisiana, they are trying to now redefine the term black. And that is going to have a direct implication on black political power

by their effort. And so for all the black people, I need the people listening to me, all the black people who are anti-immigrant, your dumb ass don't even realize you are playing right into the hands of Republicans who would love nothing better than to separate and redefine blackness to lower

the threshold of black political power. Greg, Ren, I see you want to hop in here. You all hot in them shoes. You about to jump. So, Greg, go ahead. Go ahead and speak on that. No, very quickly, and I'm glad. I can't wait to hear what Ren has to say because this conversation about Florida is

key to this. You know, the only thing holding this criminal enterprise called United States together from its origins in white European settler colonialism has been whiteness. This is what the white nationalist party is rallying around. The infrastructure is set up for it, whether it be the electoral college or how the Senate representation is apportioned.

They're rallying. The only national identity in this country is whiteness. And everybody else who is non-white, the indigenous people who we're seeing now adopt the Indian child welfare case going to be argued before the Supreme Court this week, I think tomorrow, actually today, I guess,

and they're trying to now convert the notion of being an Indian to a race, which is, of course, absurd. These are very different nations of people. The immigrant conversation is being held now, that we're listening to right now, that y'all are participating in and having a very layered conversation, understanding when people come here from other countries,

often there is a tension between the people who are here, the caste minorities and the immigrant minorities, and they are set at each other's throats by this competition to kind of climb the ladder in this country. That's certainly what we see in California, in L.A. with the city council. We've been interested to hear Malina Abdullah talk about that because we see there, and I love the way that you just reframed this

in terms of Spanish-speaking communities because some of the racism that the chair, and, you know, Dr. Malvo, you know about this, of course. You saw it up close. The chair of the city council who had to resign, she was talking trash about the Awokens as well on the Pacific coast of Mexico. When we see Black Panther 2 come out in a couple of days, Namor, who they've made the villain kind of anti-hero in the movie, he's speaking Awoken. He is from that region. He's not considered, he's like a black person in the so-called Spanish-speaking

world. It fractures around nationality. It fractures around immigration. Finally, and I say this as a Pan-Africanist, this silly-minded turn inward by some folks who are saying, well, we're descendants of slaves. All that's going to get us is

a rejection of the type of coalition politics that it's going to take in this country to build true coalitions around shared values, shared policies. And that's what the Democratic Party, running from it, because they think somehow they can keep some type of authority by running toward this dying whiteness, that is what they're missing. If you keep it local, there was a long article in the New Yorker a week before last on how in Nevada, for example, the machine politics in the Democratic Party, focusing on local issues, focusing on these local issues will allow them

to build political power. And you can maybe build some coalitions. But as long as you're keeping it around race, you're feeding into whiteness. We've seen that in tonight's ballot. Some of the ballot initiatives, 60 percent, they wanted to have 60 percent threshold in order to amend the Constitution in several states. That was rejected. Why do they want a 60 percent threshold? So that they can preserve the shrinking white minority and create minority rule at the state level. You saw the minimum wage hiked up in some white states. There are economic issues that Democrats can rally around,

but it's going to take for us reaching out to each other and building coalition. And this blackface nativism that some people have embraced is only going to lead to disaster. We do have to deal with the reality, Randy, of white Hispanics. Go ahead.

That's what I wanted to say when you talk about Florida. Oh, yes. He just said exactly right's right. Florida has become this place where white supremacy and the chase to be white is fully at play. You have people who would be considered immigrants

who have completely disassociated from that. That term, that whole struggle, they don't consider themselves immigrants whatsoever. So they're not even at all participating in that conversation and cannot be appealed to in that way. And I think that's what we

need to realize about Florida. Everyone is trying to compete. Who can be closer to white? Who can move up the ladder? Larry, you're there in Florida. Go. Well, listen, we were having this conversation about, you know, not just immigrants, but individuals in terms of proximity to whiteness.

We talked about this earlier. And you see that in Florida. One of the other points I want to make about in terms of the diversity of the state of Florida is we talked about, you know, Latino, Latinx, whatever phrase you want to use. We... Don't waste your time.

Let me just go ahead and say this right now. Do not waste... Do not... I'm telling you right now. Stop wasting your time saying Latinx. They hate it. They hate it. Hey, listen, I get that, but... There was a time when we were called...

Listen, it depends on where your brain's all going. Hey, hey, hey. When y'all on campus, y'all can use that, but guess what? They hate it on your campus. I don't use it. So, I want to make a point about... We talk about, like I said, immigrants and diversity

in the state of Florida, because I think that we're missing a piece here. And that's the African-American, Afro-Caribbean, black community. Correct. My in-laws are from Jamaica, so my son is first generation, you know, African-American, Afro-Caribbean, black community. Correct. My mom's from Jamaica. So my son is first generation, you know, African-American. We really need to talk about that, particularly in the state of Florida. And I think that's where a lot of Democrats miss also in terms of understanding there are some immigrant, black immigrant communities in which they're more conservative.

And then there's some others who are more liberal. Which is no different than African-Americans who might depend upon their church, their upbringing, depending on where they are, whether you rule, whether you live in a big city or not. Robert, I want to go to you here. People who watch this show

have heard me talk a million times. Stop ignoring judicial races. Go to my iPad. So, Robert, here's the deal. Tennille with votes. Republicans have retained the Ohio Supreme Court by sweeping three seats there.

They'll keep a narrow four to three majority. The reason this is disconcerting is because the anti-gerrymandering chief justice Republican is retiring and being replaced by a pro-gerrymander judge. But the one that I am really sickened by is this here. Republicans have flipped the North Carolina State Supreme Court. And so this is huge. Now, let me explain for the people watching who don't understand what happened. When Obama wins in 2008, Republicans control the Supreme Court.

Moral Mondays, Reverend Barber and others, they change the politics. They get control of the State Supreme Court. Moral Mondays, Reverend Barber and others, they changed the politics. They get control of the state Supreme Court. The reason they outlawed racial gerrymandering in North Carolina, state Supreme Court. The reason they shut down their voter suppression efforts, state Supreme Court. Why was it important? Sherrod Beasley should not have been running tonight for the United States Senate. Sherrod Beasley should not have been running tonight for the United States Senate. Sherrod Beasley should have been the state Supreme Court justice. Folks, she lost about 401 votes in 2020. Why is that important?

Well, the white man who beat her was upset because she got picked to be the chief justice of the Supreme Court. He thought it should have been him. So he ran against her. He won. The seat that he occupied on the Supreme Court, he thought it should have been him. So he ran against her. He won. The seat that he occupied on the Supreme Court, Republican won. Had Sherrod Beasley won in 2020, had Cal Cunningham not chose to have a damn affair during the campaign and got busted on Signal, he probably was sleeping with a Republican operative. Okay, stupid, lose by three points. Democrats could have had a six to one majority

on the North Carolina Supreme Court. They ended up with a four three majority after 2020. Now, Republicans control the state Supreme Court. It was the state Supreme Court that stopped all of the efforts of the Republicans in the legislature when it came to voting, when it came to civil rights. And so, if you are black in North Carolina and your ass didn't vote in the Senate race

or you didn't vote in the state Supreme Court, you are about to see right-wing policies now being rubber-stamped by the state Supreme Court of North Carolina as a result. Robert, we keep saying this over and over and over again. Folk have got to understand why the state Supreme Court, these judicial races matter for us. Well, Roland, you're exactly right.

If you want to see a model of this, look at the late apartheid South African model. This is the playbook the Republicans are walking towards. They understand they can no longer win these elections electorally. They know that in the last 30 years, Republicans have won the popular vote

on a national level one time, 2004. They know that every single, the 50 Republican senators represent 41 million fewer people than the 50 Democratic senators. So what they did in apartheid South Africans entrenched their white supremacist power in the judiciary, in the bureaucracy of the state,

so that they could therefore maintain control of the government despite not being able to win elections. We're seeing this now from Republicans going all the way back a decade, holding up seats from President Obama, holding up a Supreme Court seat from Merrick Garland, replacing much of the federal judiciary with right-wing activist judges to get the majority in the United States Supreme Court. And during that same period of time, they have been attacking state-level judiciaries across the country because they understand that once they get control of the federal bench, many of these cases will come before state Supreme Courts,

and those state Supreme Courts will be making the final decisions on state and local laws regarding affirmative action, regarding the Interstate Commerce Clause, regarding public accommodation, fair housing, on down the line. So much of what we consider to be the civil rights movement of the 1960s will be at risk and will be eroded over the next couple of years because of these state-level judiciary races that they've been working on. While Democrats have completely taken their eyes off the ball when it comes to cultivating these state and local officials, putting money on local races, making sure to be sure to be investing in these things. You know, President Trump will come to town and have a monster truck rally.

He'll bring out all the way down to the your local candidates for city official. That's building up the farm system. You need to be able to maintain a political majority going forward. And we're just not seeing on the Democratic side of the aisle. It is. Let me do this here. It is almost 2 a.m. We are going to stop. Let folk go home. We are. Y'all having way too much fun. I know y'all are.

My plane's back till 6, bro. I do want to go to my iPad, please. Villanueva, Alex Villanueva, who is the shameful, despicable sheriff there in Los Angeles County. He is down big there. And we're also... I'm looking for the results.

If there's any. So right now, folks, my goodness. Well, first of all, only 11% of the vote is in. Rick Caruso and Karen Bass are both at 50%. Caruso with 186,000 votes. Karen Bass with 184,000 votes. And so we're watching that particular race. Let me go to... Come back to me.

Let me go to... Real quick, that's not gonna be decided until before a week because of mail-in ballots. There's a very heavy mail-in ballot and, you know, and whatever, and... Rebecca was showing me that... You were showing me the U.S. Senate race there. It's down to what? Go ahead, you.

So, in Wisconsin, it looks like we're still waiting for at least 51,000 votes to come out of Milwaukee. And so if we compare Mandela Barnes against Ron Johnson, if Mandela Barnes could get probably 75% of the votes coming out of

Milwaukee that's left, he could pull it off. So right now, go to my iPad with 93% of the vote in, Ron Johnson's at 50.7%, with 1.32 million votes. Mandela Barnes, 1.28 million, 49.3%. You've got about 40,000 vote difference there. And, of course, we don't know if there are any provisional ballots or anything along those lines. There's a vote difference there. Uh, and of course, we don't know if there are any provisional ballots

or anything along those lines. And this goes back to what I said earlier, Lauren. The turnout in Milwaukee. Right, exactly. Imagine 176,000. If Milwaukee hits its number from four years ago, 214,000, it's a cakewalk. This is... It's math.

It's math. This shit ain't geometry. The Bucs ain't even played today. I'll find out who his consultants were. I'm telling you right now, if Mandela Barnes loses by 20,000 votes

and 50,000 votes and 50,000 fewer folks voted in Milwaukee, it should be some public flogging going on. I mean, that should be happening there. Well, Manchin might be off the table anyway because of veterans, but

Manchin would really be off the table. No, see, I need Manchin and Sinema off the table. I need both ofema off the table. I need both of them off the table. So that's what's up there. So let's do this here. We're going to do final thoughts. Robert, I want you to start first.

Go. Well, I think the big takeaway from tonight is going to be that Raphael Warnock has significantly raised his profile in the Democratic Party going forward. Being a reverend, being a senator, being able to take down Trump's preferred candidate not just once but twice sets him up to be a potential big star

in the Democratic Party going forward. If for any reason Joe Biden decides not to run in 2024, I think that Raphael Warnock has submitted himself as the Democratic frontrunner. Oh, wow. Mmm. Oh. That's nice. Say Oh, wow. Mm. Oh. Okay.

All right. That's a cool statement. All right. All right, all right. I'm standing on it. I think you're way ahead of your skis on that one, Raphael. Yeah. Look.

Yeah. Hold on, Roland. Let me make my case. If you're looking at the map going into 2024, if this is all hypothetical, Raphael Warnock puts Georgia in play. He puts North Carolina in play. He shifts the conversation from the old Rust Belt voters,

the Ohio's, those Midwestern voters, and becomes a Sun Belt race. You pick up new states with Warnock in a way, while also being able to pick up religious conservative voters and somebody who has a record of being able to beat red state candidates, not winning in a blue state. I think that sets him apart from us in the field. He's not battle-tested outside of his region.

Okay, hold on. We ain't going down that rabbit hole. Let's hear Michael. So, once again, you know, this night proved that you can't go by the polls. There were a lot of junk polls that Republicans put out, really, I think, to try to depress the vote. The things to take away from tonight, number one, you vote for power. And I think African-Americans, we really need to focus on utilizing political power to get the policies that we want enacted. And also to vote people out of office who keep voting against our own interests as well. on utilizing political power to get the policies that we want enacted,

and also to vote people out of office who keep voting against our own interests as well. So that's a big takeaway from tonight. Also building the infrastructure for the future. This is huge. And being able to groom that next generation of African-American political leadership. And then I'll go back to what I said a little while ago. We need to focus on, if we can't take over the Democratic Party, we need to focus on creating a powerful faction

within the Democratic Party, and a faction that we can also finance as well. So when we have somebody like a Cheryl Beasley, or we have somebody like a Mandela Barnes that needs more funding and the DCCC doesn't want to do it, we have that infrastructure where we can finance them ourselves. I'm with Congo. I'm looking at all of the greatness in this room and the genius and the intellect,

and I'm thinking about everything I've been watching on MSNBC and CNN and how they got so much of it wrong, and I'm thinking about Roland Martin's book, White Fear. Going forward into 2024, the great best way for these Democrats to counter and fight white fear is to listen to Black voices in the Democratic Party. They need to be consulted. They need to have their media purchased. You need to pay attention to black media. We know what we're talking about. And if you ignore us, you do it at your own expense.

Eugene. Get out and vote in 2024. Listen, we got a bunch of split tickets tonight across the board for the most part. And probably get some more over the next week or so as votes come back. You don't want to see that in 2024? Get your ass up and vote.

Avis. I'm just going to have a happy thought here. As a fairly new or returning Maryland resident, I am celebrating the fact that my governor is black. Hello. Larry. I think there are a couple things.

I agree with the point made earlier about taking over the Democratic Party like Nino Brown. I'm not going to use a New Jack City example. And then the other thing is when we talk about listening to black folks, specifically I think we need to listen to black women. Because black women have, shout out to black women because you've been doing the work for generations. And it's really time that we make sure that not just members of the black community listen to you, but everyone's listening to you. Because black women are the political canary in a coal mine. So when things are not going right and black women say,

this is what you should be doing, then we should be listening and then hiring them and putting them in charge. So I'll leave with that. Brianna. Great segue. Thank you for setting me up. I believe that wholeheartedly,

actually putting them in positions of power and listening, talking about DEI, not just in the sense of title only, but when you have someone be your campaign manager, know what that means and listen. But also going down to the ground. Paying the ground. Making sure you're building from ground up. It stinks from the head. Don't disconnect yourself. Know what's going on, but make sure that we're not just doing everything as volunteers, volunteers, volunteers. I know resources will always be a problem,

but start with your ground, employ people, and have people talk to their community. And if we're a close call, he may win outright and we'll be happy. But if not, join me in November and December to push people to come out again to vote

for Warnock because we need this seat. Warren? A few things. One, the crazies lost tonight. A bunch of crazy-ass Trump-Maga candidates lost tonight. A bunch of crazy-ass Trump MAGA candidates lost tonight that the media propped up, and it was all bullshit, all of it, okay?

And I think this sets up nicely for the Democrats in 2024, because what's going to happen next is Big Mouth is going to announce that he's running for president. He's going to focus everybody's mind once again, just like in 2017, and the Democrats are going to be able to ride that. They're gonna be able to ride another wave into power.

That's my prediction for two years from now. Monique? Mm-hmm. Uh, give us the ballot. Dr. King said it in 1957, and I saw a note from Reverend Jackson about it earlier today, and I started this day following Eugene when they were complaining about all the things that the Dems failed to do,

and I refused to join because we still had time to vote. And as long as we vote, we end up with nights that everybody said were going to be horrible, but then when we vote, we find that maybe we've gained as opposed to losing because we were supposed to have a wave, right? But instead, we don't even know. The House is up for grabs. This incumbent president, this oh-so-unpopular president

and his oh-so-unpopular first female vice president may be the most successful incumbency in decades. So I say, give us the ballot. Joe? We have to stay encouraged for that same reason. As bad as it was supposed to go, we already know it's not going as bad as they said it was going to go.

Now, two things need to go away. One is Trump. Second is Trumpism. If Trump runs again, and I kind of hope he does because he's the best motivator, once he loses, then we'll all know that it's over. However, the danger is somebody that can take Trumpism but actually does the work, is not lazy, and knows how to exercise the bumps of power. Yeah, that's a scientist.

And that's the problem. So Trump will go soon enough, maybe because of a crime, or maybe for some other reason, maybe because he loses at the ballot, but then we're dealing with Trumpism. But if we go state by state, do the diagnosis, an honest diagnosis,

listen to people that know, starting with black women, we can do what we need to do long term. Julianne. You know, there's a Greek myth. Zeus said Hercules to slay Hydra. And every time he went to slay Hydra, Hydra grew two more heads.

And finally, the only way he was able to get rid of Hydra was to burn Hydra, who was a seven-headed snake. I think about Trumpism and Trump like Hydra. I mean, I think it's really easy to say, let's end it. But it's gonna take some real structural work. Because you knock down Trump, there's DeSantis. You knock down one, here comes another one. Structural racism is woven into the cake.

The fabric, that's America. It's just, it's there. So we have to be the warriors really that decide piece by piece by piece and chink by chink by chink, they will pull this thing aside. Which means doing things differently. We've been doing this, y'all. Well, I've been doing it for a long time, longer than some of y'all.

But we've been doing this for a while. We've been looking at our politics. We always have to, after the fact, oh, we didn't get the turnout, we didn't get the money from the Democrats. We're not going to get the money from the Democrats because they stupid Because they ain't spit because they just regret and disregard us and they're anti black So we have to figure out how we break the paradigm and how we do it very differently Monique's right give us about but they're not gonna give us spit

We don't have to take it and that's what the attitude that we leave out here with is not as bad as we thought it was gonna be, but it's not as good as it ought to be. We have to just literally, daily, be motivated to fight this thing. It's a fight. Mm. Randy? See the invisible people. I mean, I think that we need to look at this and say,

who do we forget? I mean, I think that we are just missing at this and say, who do we forget? I mean, I think that we are just missing a whole bunch of people that really could change things around and say, who are we not connecting with and start to connect with them. Rebecca? Black folks want more. We're tired of just surviving. We actually want to

thrive now. We want to go from survive to thrive. And politicians need to understand that and they need to speak to our issues, and speak not just to our needs, but to our wants. We want more. Greg Carr. Yeah, listen, just listening,

you're supposed to go seven hours, went eight hours, but as you always say, Roland, that's what happens when you own your own shit. Eight hour birthday. But really, just I'm sitting here with a profound respect for everyone there, and by the way, for the staff and everyone there working the boards. I think this is the first time

we're actually getting to see what you had in mind in terms of why you built that set the way you did. This last hour has been like listening in on a conversation in the living room. And I think on a night when the headlines won't be this, but we know that this is the best

showing, apparently, by an incumbent in power, in terms of a political party holding the presidency, in recent memory, maybe ever, the Democratic Party did not lose tonight. However, they got brought to Jesus. Just like Mike said and everybody else has been saying.

This may be the moment to form some type of independent apparatus and capture some of that magic that was in that rainbow coalition that you were talking about people who may have lost the election tonight, whether it be Abrams in Georgia, whether it be our friend Dr. Chris Jones in Arkansas, Sherry Beasley in North Carolina, or even Mandela Barnes in Wisconsin, if he doesn't pull it out, well, now you've got your state apparatus chairman. And maybe that studio could be a nice place to bring them together to have a conversation of what you build out of this. Finally, just like Mike said, a lot of tickets splitting today. We saw that cannabis was legalized not only in Maryland, but in Missouri.

That the minimum wage was raised in Nebraska, of all places. Right here in the last colony, if you don't count Puerto Rico, Guam, Virgin Islands, the District of Columbia, where there's no voting representation in the federal legislature, they voted to phase out tipped wages. So people who are going to wait tables, where some of y'all are going before you get on the airport in the next legislature, they voted to phase out tipped wages. So people who are

going to wait tables where some of y'all are going before you get on the airport in the next couple of hours, they're not going to have to sing for they suffer in the same way. We've seen a lot of things. Abortion rights were enshrined in constitutions in California, in Michigan, in Vermont, and rejected the attempt to ban abortion in the Constitution in Kentucky and in Montana. All in all, this was a victory. And the victory is still unfolding and an opportunity if we can take this crack

to build some black political power and use one of the two major parties in this country to do it. And I want to just thank you for including me in this conversation because listen to this. This is what it looks like. All the rest of that stuff is trash. Folks, my final comments are this. One, go to my iPad.

It would be a shame if it comes down to Democrats one or two seats if they control the House and white Democrat Sean Patrick Maloney, who is the chair of the Democratic Campaign Congressional Committee, if he loses. Remember, he chose to run in a seat that really was tailor-made for black Democrat Mondaire Jones. Well, Maloney chose to run. He wins the primary. He is losing by 3,000 votes to a Republican in that district. This is the person who is the chair of the Democrats' re-election campaign.

And he can't even win his own congressional district. But also, this is a perfect example of also what happens when you do have power, don't be a dumbass. The Democrats in New York were stupid. They tried to rig their maps. They couldn't even gerrymander properly. They tried to rig their maps

and they were so awful that it went before judges. And they chose to redraw the districts. And that led to total chaos. New York Democrats actually helped the Republicans in the redrawing of these districts.

We see what has happened. That was a belief that Democrats were going to lose control of the Illinois House. Excuse me, the Supreme Court. They're actually going to expand their margins there. Also, while we're here, give me... Can somebody look up while I'm giving my final comments? Look up.

I need to see what Keith Ellison is doing in Minnesota. I need to see what Aaron Ford is doing for Attorney General in Nevada. So somebody can look that up and let me know how those races are going. A lot of things that we covered tonight. First of all, let me apologize to the folks. We had a lot of people booked on tonight's show, and there were some folks we literally could not get on. They popped on.

They popped on. Glenda Carr with Hire Heights, Latasha Brown, Malina Abdullah, several others. We just had so many people. We had an embarrassment of riches. And so we were juggling trying to get to everybody and not everybody could be on as long. But we do wanna thank everybody who participated.

When we launched Roland Martin Unfiltered four years ago, it was never supposed to be just about that show. We did midterm election coverage that year in 2018, and then we did our coverage in 2020 with the presidential election. And knowing full well when we moved what this was going to look like. So what you saw tonight was exactly why we built this studio the way we did. Having our green screen, starting our show over there, being able to have the set over there, coming from the center area. Then having sort of this living room set and this conversation here

the way we're having it, it was all by design. And that also was made possible by you, the people who actually support this show. And there are a lot of people, I see them on social media, there are a lot of people who talk trash and people say, we need to have this, we need to have that. I even had somebody text me,

tweet me today and said, why don't you get together with somebody and start a network? And I'm like, um, you're late. You're late. We've actually already done that. And so there are a lot of people out there who keep talking about black empowerment,

we need to do this, we need to do that. Uh, and then there are people who's like, I had somebody say, man, you need to get together with Byron Allen. Well, here's the whole deal. Byron Allen's networked with Griot. They did two hours of live coverage tonight. We did seven or eight. Eight.

Old job. Just saying. Okay? The other black networks, they were running sitcoms. We were doing this. Other black-owned media, they weren't doing anything like this. And so this is what happens, as Greg says, when you own. But also when you have respect for your people

and you understand all of these different races and all of the voices. I wasn't joking when I said you have seen more black people sitting right here than I guarantee you will see combined on all of those networks, and you can add them all up. So imagine the folks who were in the 7 and the 8, the 9, the 10, 11, 12 o'clock and 1 o'clock hours. And so this is why, this is why these things matter. And so when you hear us talk about the black collective,

when you hear us talk about how do we work together on politics, the same thing works when it comes to this. Providing outlets and platforms for folks to be able to give voices. There are people sitting here who've never participated in an election night coverage. This is totally different. Give me a shout out to the control room.

There are Howard University students who are sitting in that control room who have never... Who would never get a shot, give me a are sitting in that control room who have never, who would never get a shot. Give me a shot. Would we have a camera in there? OK, flip one of these robotic cameras. So, again, the ability to work on this night with all the different cameras and the guests and going here and going there. And so that's why this is important. And so we cannot talk about how do we build black power politically if we also don't build our institutions,

your black media institutions, which is why campaigns have got to also ensure that they're spending money with us and parties and progressive groups. Because here's the deal, and I told y'all, Sinclair, they reported, they will make $340 million this year alone on political advertising. Sinclair's budgets for 2023 are already based on the money they made in 2022.

And the reality is our expectation was to generate $2 million in political advertising. We say on the low end, we'll get $500,000. We got $18 500,000. We got 187. Just so you understand, we get 187,000 political advertising for the entire year. Last month on YouTube, we made 172. So what I'm trying to explain to you is we can't talk about, oh, how we need these things if we actually don't fund them. It's the exact same thing. So when we talk about giving to Black Voters Matter and the Poor People's Campaign and these grassroots groups, it's the exact same thing

with our media. And so the election is over. Some races are still outstanding. Just like tomorrow, it'll be a new day for us, but we're going to continue going. And so we need you, all of you who are watching, all of you who have been spreading the news, and here's all the, yes, you got haters,

but you know how I feel about haters? I really don't care. They are hashtag never will be's. Because see, they're desperate for attention. And so we'll be happy. Let them keep talking and keep complaining and doing those sort of different things like that. But we're going to actually keep doing the work.

And for the people out there who've been yelling tangibles, I need to see this, I need to see that, the election is now over. I'm not going to ask you to vote. What I am going to ask is, what's your ass going to do tomorrow? And Thursday? And Friday? What are you going to do when the new candidates get sworn into office? Where are you going to be? Are you still going to be on Twitter and Facebook and TikTok and Instagram

and all of the platforms complaining? Or are you actually going to be saying, let's actually do something about it? That's really going to be up to you. And so we're going to continue to cover the rest of the races. We're going to get some sleep. We'll be back tomorrow at 6 p.m. But do understand what you saw tonight

is an example of what happened when black people, and what did you say we gotta have? What'd you say in your closing comments, Randy? Connections? No, that's not what you said. Tell me what I said. You said something like vision, and we gotta see the?

The invisible. You gotta see it? The invisible. Right, so Randy said you gotta see the invisible. And so what you saw tonight was literally seeing the day TV One canceled my show. And so this is what happens when you actually believe in yourself, believe in God, and you are willing to actually build something that is actually bigger than you. And so that's what this is all about.

And so we thank all of y'all who are watching, all of you who have been posting on social media. Please share the video, spread it as well, because, again, we're going to keep sitting here speaking to our issues, our concerns, and we're not going to back down from anybody. And trust me, to all of those folks I said in the Democratic Party, these progressive circles,

y'all gonna hear from us. Because it's some stuff y'all didn't do, and we'll celebrate stuff y'all did do, but some areas y'all messed up. And black folks, our job is to hold them accountable every step of the way, because we are not the soul of the Democratic Party. We're the base of the party.

And when you the base, you take care of the base. Don't ignore the base. That should be our attitude. And if it means being militant, so be it. If it means being rebellious, so be it. If it means being strong-arming folks, so be it. Because Frederick Douglass said it all. Power concedes nothing without a demand.

Never had, never will. But the other thing that he said that a lot of us never like to repeat, he said agitate, agitate, agitate. Folks, we'll see you tomorrow. Thank you so very much for watching our Black Votes Matter 2022 midterm election coverage. Again, if you wanna support us in what we do,

download the Black Star Network app, Apple phone, Android phone, Apple TV, Android TV, Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Xbox One, Samsung Smart TV. You can support us with your resources. See your checks and money orders. PO Box 57196, Washington, D.C. 20037-0196. Cash App is Dollar Sign, RM Unfiltered. PayPal is R Martin Unfiltered. Venmo is RM Unfiltered.

Zelle is Roland at RolandSMartin.com. Roland at RolandMartinunfiltered. Venmo is rmunfiltered. Zelle is roland at rolandsmartin.com. Roland at rolandmartinunfiltered.com. And of course, get a copy of my book, White Fear, How the Browning of America is Making White Folks Lose Their Minds Like Tonight in this election. Available at all bookstores. Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Books A Million. Also, Target.

You can order through your favorite black bookstore or you can download from Audible as well. Folks, I will see you tomorrow. Y'all take care and y'all know how we always end the show. Maybe we do it. Everybody know? Y'all know how we do it? On three.

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