On today's episode, we continue our Primary Watch series with Elizabeth Dempsey Beggs who is running in the Democratic primary in Virginia's first district. Her approach to campaigning is born out of being a military veteran and foster parent, and coming from a family that has always been dedicated to service. We chat with Elizabeth about child care and the economic implications of a broken foster system, why women like her do belong in combat despite Sec. Hegseth's opinions, what she thinks she brings to the table to flip this red district blue, and more! Tune in to continue being pumped up about the young Democrats running in the midterms!!

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On today's episode, we talk about the tragic loss of American service members in the past few days as fighting with Iran has taken hold again. And ask the unfortunate question... what is their sacrifice really for?? Doesn't seem like those nuclear capabilities are going anywhere just yet. But on the other side of the globe, much closer to home, Cuba seems to be the next target of Trump's 'no foreign wars' campaign. The State Department, led by Marco Rubio who we all know is salivating to try and 'save' his motherland, claims that Cuba has infiltrated 'left wing terrorist groups' in the United States. Sounds a little to MAGA-good to be true, but we'll see. So tune in, get your foreign policy on, and try not to worry (too much) about the end of the world!

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Primary Watch continues on the Happy Hour as Michael and Anthony sit down with Congressional Candidate Bernard Taylor, a firefighter and EMT who's running for a seat in Florida's 21st district. Bernard is a very interesting candidate because prior to running, he built a formidable social media following from making videos about being on the front lines of our healthcare system as a paramedic. He's now messaging to that large social media following what he intends to do if elected to Congress. And those followers are LISTENING! It's really a great way to run a campaign, and we're talking with him about how he's doing it and what his vision for FL's 21st district looks like.

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On this episode of the Happy Hour, Michael and Anna discuss how to talk about the nine key upcoming Senate races in this year's midterms that are going to determine who controls the Senate. They include races in Texas and Maine, which have garnered national news--and not necessarily for all the right reasons! But they also include places like Iowa and New Hampshire, which are equally in play for Democrats, if they want to take back that majority. It's a lot to process, but fear not, we discuss each of the nine in succinct, need-to-know detail, so instead of doing hours of research like we did, you can just listen here while doing something way more fun than reading countless articles. You're welcome, Playlisters;)

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On this episode of the Happy Hour, Michael, Anna and Anthony talk about Haley Steves, the politician on our playlist. She's a Democratic Congresswoman in Michigan and she's running for the Senate. And now, there's been a new shake up in the race, with State Senator Mallory McMarrow dropping out of the race, leaving Haley and Dr. Abdul El-Sayed as the remaining two Democrats. Haley is the centrist establishment candidate, whereas Dr. Abdul (as Anthony has affectionately coined) is the far left progressive. Nothing is for certain in this race, except that two core issues will be at the center of it: Automotive Jobs and Healthcare.

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On this episode of the Happy Hour, Michael and Anna are joined by Nico Agosta to discuss Campaign Finance Reform. Nico is the founder of Stocking The Capitol, a platform that tracks and evaluates each member of Congress' campaign financial contributions and well as personal stock trades, and awards them a letter grade based on how clean or dirty the source of their money is. If you take only grassroots donations and you don't own stocks, you get an A. If you take lots of SuperPAC money and trade your own portfolio, then you get...an F. The concept is simple, let's get rid of SuperPACs and dark money from our political system. Nico is taking the first step by making sure you know whether or not your Congressperson is a piece of shit based on where they get their money. And we think it's great.

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Okay Playlisters, get ready for this episode...! Anna surprises Michael and Anthony with an episode topic neither were expecting: Hot or Not?!? That's right, on this episode of the happy hour, the gang play Hot Or Not for Anna's top ten Hottest Members of Congress list...and while we def rank their looks, we also rank some of their policies, so it's not all maxim covers. Maybe, SI Swimsuit Edition meets The Economist. Or Esquire. Or--well you get the idea.

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On this episode, Anna and Anthony dive into what the new recipe is to be a successful woman in Republican politics. Reps. Julia Letlow of Louisiana and Ashley Hinson of Iowa are both on the ticket to become senators of their states. We dig into why these women have 'it' and why, in Trump's America, they seem particularly well-fit for the bill of 'Republican female senator' in a party that has apparently relinquished its once fervent attempt to diversify its lawmaker class. Join us to dig into these women races as we gear up for the midterms and wonder what's next for the Republican Party.

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On today's episode, Anna and Anthony dive into the evergreen topic of JD Vance's flip flopping ways. This time, it's about his complete and necessarily reversal of opinion on the Iran war which has landed him in the hot seat of leading negotiations with the adversary for better or worse. Vance, a one time 'no foreign wars' type of guy, is now beating the drum for the administration's stance that all of this - the bombing, the world economic shakeup, the oil prices, etc - was worth it because we are gonna get a great, great deal. But if we don't get that deal, will Vance - the most likely 2028 presidential nominee as of now - have to own an issue he didn't want in the first place?

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Jerrad Christian credits his military service with opening his eyes to how big and diverse the world was. On today's episode, Anna and Michael chat with the veteran and software engineer who is running to flip his Ohio district into Democratic hands. They discuss why he thinks the economy will be a unifying issue in his race, his support for universal healthcare stemming from his mom's cancer journey, and why just being a decent human being is on the ballot this November. This episode is like an intellectual, warm hug with a guy who never thought he'd run for office, but here we are!

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On this Happy Hour, Michael and Anna sit down with Maia Cook, the executive director of Equal Citizens, a democracy reform organization, founded by Lawrence Lessig. Their mission? Fighting for the ultra-sexy, super popular, top of every news cycle issue: campaign finance reform, and specifically reducing the influence of Super PACs and dark money. While we kid that this issue might not be front of everyone's mind, Maia walks us through how this issue actually affects EVERY issue you care about. And the problem is way worse than we realized. We also realized the actual problem doesn't totally lie with Citizen's United, but actually a law that came about BECAUSE of Citizen's united. We promise you'll come away from this one much smarter. We sure did.

Make sure you're subscribed here and check out some other ways to engage with us:

Grab your 'Elect Young People' shirt.

Head to our website to dive deeper on members of Congress under 45-years-old.

Watch the full episode here on YouTube.

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