The Keith Edwards Show - Dem Star Flipped Seat Blue, Now She’s Trump's Worst Nightmare

Episode Date: May 1, 2025

Keith Edwards discusses Representative Mikey Sherrill’s run for New Jersey governor, diving into how state leadership matters in resisting federal overreach during the Trump era. They explore whether her race could be a national litmus test and what it takes to truly support the working class in New Jersey.

Something we don't talk about enough on the channel is there is an election this year that's going to make a big difference. In fact, there's two. Virginia and New Jersey. They're both electing their statewide representatives and the governorship is up for grabs. And these are both swing states. Now, Virginia is trending bluer each election. But New Jersey is getting redder. And so it is very, very, very important that we have folks in office who,

are going to do everything they can to protect the people of their state from Donald Trump's worst policies. And I was lucky enough to talk to Mikey Cheryl, who is a United States representative. She flipped a Republican-controlled district in 2018 by 15 points. She's a former U.S. Navy helicopter pilot attorney and a former federal prosecutor. So I was very lucky to talk to her about Donald Trump New Jersey and what it's going to take to win in 2025. Here's your takeaway of the first 100 days of Trump. He said the takeaway is to defeat not just Trump, but Trumpism. Democrats need to be willing to play hardball, disrupt norms and institutions,

and put outcomes over process to make government work better. Yes, yes, yes. We need to throw out the old playbook. And unlike Trump, we need to do it in service of working people. Yes, working people. rather than billionaires and oligarchs. I think you have that, I think that part is going to be tricky

because I don't know how we can do this, but we have to stop being a party that thinks there's good billionaires and bad billionaires. I just think, like, we need to be the party for the people. I think we have a system right now that has not been working for working people for quite some time.

Yeah. And I look at the difference. My grandfather was a UAW member. He was a welder in a, car factory. And I look at the difference between the life he was able, my, my grandmother didn't work after World War II. And so the life he was able to provide for his family of eight kids. And they lived modestly, but still he was able to send him all to private school. They all went to Catholic school. He had eight kids and, you know, he was able to kind of launch them. He even by his youngest

kids, I think even my mom paid for herself to go through college. She was the oldest, but I think by the youngest, they were able to help them. And that just seems unobtainable. Unobtainable. Like to have one parent working at a job, a nine to five, and, you know, have benefits. And he and my grandmother got sick at the end of their lives. It didn't bankrupt our family. It just feels like such a pipe dream now. And And growing up, that seemed very normal. Like, you could expect that. You could just go work and have a job, a nine to five job. And if you worked hard, you could support your family.

And on top of it, I mean, it's the billionaires and oligarchs and the trillion dollar corporations aren't even satisfied with having so much money. Now they're gaming the system. I don't know what's going on with Trump and the tariff stuff. It seems like market manipulation to me. But I do think like a winning message eventually for someone. and I'm not sure if it's going to be for New Jersey, but is that you all are getting,

we're all getting screwed over. We're all getting screwed over. They're making things worse. They're taking advantage of it and making money off of your pain. Well, it's so obvious to, like here is a group of people, led by Trump, people who've kind of climbed the ladder of success in this country,

likely because of so many things this country offers, right, a great education system, great roads, you know, really supporting business and investments in research for the NIH. And so, you know, because of all these things that we were able to support, they've been able to make it and they climb the ladder of success. And then they want to pull it up behind them. They want to create a system where you just have a bunch of halves and have not sort of a system like we have seen in Europe years ago, where you have the top and the structure

is such that either you're born into it or you're never going to achieve it. And that is the opposite of everything we've ever tried to create in this country. So I know the New Jersey, I know the governor in New Jersey cannot solve that big problem. But I think the, I think the beautiful power of being an executive is you do have a lot of control over how people live in your state. That's why some states have such different quality of lives versus others, because there is so much flexibility in how you govern. How can the governor of New Jersey help solve this issue where working people are being taken advantage of? Yeah. So it's why I'm running for governor because I think governors have a great deal of power right now. And I think it's going to be

really good for the Democratic Party because what we have here is an ability to build the party from the ground up instead of the top down from Washington. And we just see in Washington right now such a partisan conflict and the presidency, the Senate, and the House all in Republican hands. So, you know, I'm in Congress. We're fighting back. We're very effective in certain areas. Some of the court cases we've had splitting the Republican Party to try to peel off the votes we need to shut down some of these attacks on Medicaid, Medicare, the Department of Education, Social Security, and we'll continue that fight. But it's in the states right now,

the laboratories of democracy, where I think the front lines of the battle are. And I think it's going to be good. What does that mean? It means that when we look at federalism, we look at the founding father's idea that one day there was probably going to be somebody that tried to get too much power in Washington,

and we were going to disperse power into the state so they could fight against that. And right now we're there. So it means like California, taking the Trump administration to court on tariffs, saying the executive branch isn't supposed to do tariffs, so we're going to do our own unilateral, bilateral, trade agreements. It means looking at taking the federal government to court, if they are not going to run the Department of Education, if they're going to take all of our Medicaid dollars, which is how we run much of the health insurance system in the state,

if they're going to not run those programs as Congress has directed, then they need to send that money back to the state. And we need to fight hard for that money and then work with other states across the region to figure out how are we going to run this program? And I think we can do it better, quite frankly. And then it also means, and this is where it starts to really, you know, we're really going to see how far this all goes. But I have a lot of pharmaceutical companies in my state. And some of them are really, really inventing amazing things. Basically, many people think that chemotherapy is going to be a thing of the past, that they're going to be able to invent an ability to use your own cells to kill cancer cells

in a way that is going to be so much easier to go through and so much better for your health. But they're telling me, as they're inventing this stuff, without the FDA, they're not going to be able to bring drugs to market. So if RFK truly takes down some of these structures that we've always run, we in the states are going to have to figure out how to continue to serve people. And so I think governors have a great deal of power in this space. I think the best way to defeat Trump is to work together. So when he tries to pick off the schools, when he tries to pick off the law firms,

when he tries to pick off the states, you've got to ban together to stand against him. Because I tell people, people keep asking me, oh, are you going to be the type of governor that works with Trump or not with Trump or I go, there are going to be people in this administration. and we're going to try to find the most thoughtful ones to work with to try to get like them to fix Amtrak. Amtrak is federal and we utilize them in New Jersey. The federal government needs to keep those tracks up. So we're going to try to find those people. But Trump is like the schoolyard bully. So if he comes for your lunch money on Monday and you give it to him, he's not done with you. Well, to your point, I think pragmatism is an underappreciated value when it comes to politics, especially in the age of

of social media where clicks ring supreme um i'm i'm wondering what you thought because gretchen whitmer is i think doing the job of governor right now where she is doing things that she probably doesn't want to do standing up with trump but she's doing it because it's good for her state and so i'm wondering if you think that's like is that how you would govern as well as you're like well i will do whatever it takes to make sure this people in my state um are able to get as much benefit as possible from the federal government? I think you have to weigh very carefully as governor what you think as much benefit as possible means because that should never include giving in on rights and freedoms for people.

You shouldn't back away from the core principles of our nation and our state in service to trying to get something from the federal government. I think the federal government is acting in ways right now that are creating a constitution. constitutional crisis that are making people's lives worse, that are threatening the economy, and that are threatening a lot of rights and freedoms. And so I think, you know, when you're going to make a deal with the devil, you've got to be really, really careful. And I think that's why I say there are people in the administration that possibly, you know,

are trying to run government. And then I think there are people that have an ideological belief. that is very contrary to most of America and that could take us down a very dark, bad path. And I think governors have to be at the forefront of charting a different course forward. I love that. Yes. Governors are truly like the first and last defense

when it comes to this stuff. So it is incredibly important that we elect people who aren't going to be a rubber stamp on the insanity, but also people who are still going to try to get things done, in my opinion. I'm wondering... That's exactly right. I'm wondering what you think of, like, you're running for office, so you are talking to people all of the time.

I'm constantly getting inundated with people's opinions as well. It's probably a different, probably different tone and topics. But I'm wondering, like, what is, what are people thinking about this moment we're in and how it affects New Jersey? What are New Jerseyans thinking of this political moment? I think New Jerseyans feel. a great deal of responsibility right now because, you know, we are going to be the first state to truly weigh in on what's going on in this nation in an incredibly powerful way. And I say that because, you know, you have, you have Virginia, which is the only other statewide race going on

in the nation. Virginia's been trending blue. Unfortunately for New Jersey, we've been trending red. And we actually had one of the largest blue to red swings in the entire nation, a 10-point swing in the last race. So I think all eyes are on New Jersey to see, is there a different path for it? How's Trump doing, first of all? Are all the people that came out to support Trump going to continue to do that? I would suggest no from what I'm hearing. And then the second question is, and what about all the Democrats who maybe didn't support Trump, but maybe stayed home? Are you going to present a different vision here that is going to bring people out, that is going to make people say, hey, this actually is a path forward that's going to help me. It's going to help my

family. And I think to be effective, a governor has to lay out exactly what that looks like. Because I'll tell you, and I've heard this so many times, we've all heard from politicians a lot of stuff that just sounds like the same thing, year after year after year. Yes. I mean, I feel like AI could cut a political commercial. And we'd all just be like, oh, yeah, we wouldn't notice, right? Because Oh, yeah, that's a political. That's, you know, and they could make up some candidate and, oh, yeah. But I think right now in this time, things have become too difficult in New Jersey. Housing prices, for example, have gone up 50% in five years.

That's, you know, then you've got interest rates. Utility costs are set to go up this summer because the grid operator screwed it up and hasn't been moving forward on clean cheap power. health care. We kind of had hoped after Republicans got shellacked in 2018, they'd work with us to, you know, fix the Affordable Care Act. Instead, now they're attacking Medicaid, so trying to collapse an already broken system. So it's not business as usual. It's not as if people are like, oh, yeah, that person seems fine. I think people want to hear an actual plan going forward. And I would say that the American people are really attuned. to whether or not you're going to do something different, whether or not you have a plan. And that is why I think, you know, this campaign, I think is bringing people together

because I'm coming to this, I think it's twofold. I'm coming to this as a former Navy helicopter pilot and a mom. Somebody said, you know, I was talking, and I said, you know, because it's the toughness and the empathy and someone said, yeah, being a mom it was really tough. And I was like, that's right.

So it's bad. I think it's so, I mean, I tell people, if you know who I am, you know who I fight for. I've served this country my entire life. I took my first oath to the Constitution when I was a teenager. I've served ever since. And I also have four kids. So you know I care about the future. I can't just sort of say, I'm going to ride it out. You know, I'm going to be fine.

Because I don't think right now my kids are going to be fine if this country goes in the direction. Trump wants it to go. So I think people have a deep-seated understanding that I really care about the country and I'm really focused on the future. And then I also think in laying out the plan and showing my record of effectiveness and who I've worked for already and what I've already accomplished, I think there's a sense that this is going to be something different. And I think that the state's ready for different kind of leadership and a different vision going forward, especially now when we have so much to do. I have to deliver as governor for the people of New Jersey. And I have to make sure that the vision that Trump has that he's trying to enact doesn't derail the progress in New Jersey. That makes total sense to me. And I think I love that you brought about your history. I don't think maybe people watching this won't know. But I'm going to put it, let's just put a pin on it, is that you, you, I vote 15 points.

You flipped your district by 15 points in 2018, a Republican-held district. You flipped it 15 points. And I think what that tells me is you know how to speak to everyone. You don't know just how to speak to Democrats or progressives or you know how to speak to everyone. So I think it's incredibly important to in this time where we're all so divided that we have leaders that know how to speak to all Americans. And so what do what do you think it is that allows you to do that? Yeah. I mean, we can't get mad at people voting for Trump if we're not trying to understand what's driving that. And so am I just furious and scared about what's going

on? Yes, I spent my whole day yesterday at a housearm services hearing bringing up again and again and again how Pete Heggseth needs to be fired and how horrible he's been in every aspect of running our military, along with Elon Musk and trying to block Doge from getting into the DOD, etc. So I am, I mean, I am hot about all this stuff. Somebody said to me, oh, my God, you know, what's going on? Yesterday I was like, I'm just so angry about this. So, yeah, I get it. But that said, we've got to win.

I mean, if we want to create a better path forward for this country, if we want to protect everything we love, we've got to win. And so we've got to understand what drove people. You know, I say sometimes part of the reason I'm angry is not just, because of what's going on, but the fact that we have the worst president in the history of the country, we already knew exactly who he was because he's been president before, and we lost to him. So you have this horrible vision for the country, and people thought we were worse? I mean, okay, what's happened here? Like, when did, you know, when did that, when did that happen and why did

that happened. And I think we all have a lot of reasons. And, and, you know, some of it is, I think, because we need, you know, better, better access to social media platforms or this, but some of it is listening. And, you know, when people are saying interest rates are too high, and I have an affordability problem, and the response is, well, the stock market's good, you got to do better. You just, you got to, I'm just saying you have to do better than that. And so that's why I think taking on the status quo is so important right now, because I'll tell you, I love New Jersey. I think it's the best state in the nation.

It offers everything. Somebody told me once it was like a little state with big wow. I love to that. That's exactly how I feel. There's so much going on all the time. You can go down the shore. You can go to the mountains. You can go to the city.

You can go to the country. I mean, it's all there. And it's a very small state. And so I love it so much. And I loved raising my kids there. And they love it. And so I hear constant complaints because I have kids now that have gone away to school. And I get constant complaints about, you know, pizza and bagels elsewhere.

And I hear them. So Jersey's awesome. That said, we have so many structural problems that we have got to address. We have permitting that can take four years to get a development done. Yes. We have small businesses that I'm afraid are going to go out of business before they open their doors because they're paying rent. They've got staff. They've got the furniture and they're just waiting for the permit to come through. And there's no sense of when

that's going to happen. So we've got these structural problems. We haven't built enough houses. We don't have any inventory. And when I talk about building houses, you think I was saying I'm going to build houses on the moon. I mean, this is not rocket science. We can figure this out. We just have to be willing to take on entrenched interest and the status quo and do better. Well, in order to do that, you got to win. And so my hope is that you make it past the primary. When is primary day? Primary day is June 10th.

Vote by mail ballots are already out. Vote by mail ballots are out. June 10th. Okay. So this is Mikey Cheryl. She's running for governor of New Jersey. She knows how to win over. Swing voters. Let's get her into office. Thank you so much for being here. And, you know,

I hope we can see you again. I hope we see you again as governor. That would be awesome. The trifecta, the third time. That'll be my call. All right. Well, thanks so much for joining. Thank you. Thanks for having me and have a great one.