Thank you for having me on, i appreciate the opportunity to be here. I want to start on the National Level, the Biden Campaign is really zeroing in on North Carolina, your member back in 2020, biden had a couple of stops that work exit there, but it did not seem to be enough. And then this is something on the National Level that democrats seem to be needed to make more inroads and that is something that is a big platform for you. But i know that a democrat has never had has not one since obama. This is something that is falling on your shoulders, and i want to talk to you about how you are advising the campaign and what are some of the things that you are doing in North Carolina to drum up that support and make voters feel that the Democratic Party is listening to them. Thats a great question. Joe biden lost North Carolina by 4000 votes and a lot of people look at it as the it is the opportunity state this year and i agree with them. I think that we have a huge opportunity to really reach out to democrats who did not turn out in 2020 and did not turn out again in 2022 for Cheri Beasley because they have not felt into tapped into or energized or motivated by what is happening. So part of what i think the biden harris and their campaign this next year needs to do is show up in North Carolina more than they ever have before, because i think that the idea right now is that the Democratic Party has a messaging problem and i dont believe that. I think we have a showing up problem because the Democratic Party has done so many Amazing Things for everyday americans, including two major programs, the Affordable Connectivity Program and something that came out of the infrastructure act, and 35 a month of insulin relief for people on medicare right now, that is something that is directly impacting seniors and working families in North Carolina, and not to mention that when we talk about the amazing impact of biden makes bidenomics bringing manufacturing jobs back to North Carolina, we have not seen this before, in a long. Of time. I want them to come to North Carolina and run strong on their record and drum up that energy and excitement that we did not have in 20202022. I want to go around to all of these counties, we are crisscrossing the state, i was just in bear county last week, and then plated county, and Watauga County and wilkes county, and we were trying to get active everywhere that we could. You mentioned that there is not necessarily a messaging problem, but you just have to show up. When these candidates are out and about or when summary might be running for senate or governor, who are these orders that the Democratic Party should be talking to . I think everybody, i dont think that we take it for granted this election cycle, and my job is to do two things, protect my incumbents and get out to my base. If i do both of those, joe biden does win reelection, because we know that the 134,000 people 134,000 people who set up before have followed the same trend in florida, where democrats get beat up like by every election cycle will where it feels like our votes dont matter anymore. And theres racial gerrymandering in our state, and its hard to see how we can come around from that in peoples minds, honestly, where voters go to the ballot box every year and want change and voted for it and we have seen that and we have been able to keep a democratic governor and a democratic attorney general along with donald trump on a ballot. North carolina is not a big state and we have to treat voters like that. People are independent and think on their own and they want to see what a candidate is bringing forward and offering them versus whats happening right now. I think that folks are disenchanted with both parties and that is because the parties have not done a good enough job and the Democratic Party is getting out in places and showing that we are there to listen to them and the Democratic Party should help as it always should have. You have focused a lot on rural voters, making sure that you are knocking on their doors and letting them know that the party is here. Can you talk more about that, because from my point of view from capitol hill, a lot of democrats are starting to realize ok, if we want to mobilize not just our base, we have lost that workingclass union voter, many of whom live in these rural districts. We are not going out there as much. Can you talk about that and just how you have seen that change and how you yourself are trying to encourage people to listen to this base . I think 2016 was a big wakeup call for folks when trump got elected because people looked at me and say i dont know how this happened. Me, living in a rural part of the country i completely do, because people felt they were not heard by either party. When you have people that can take the anger of folks who have helped ignored by politics for so long hay to tap into that is what donald trump did. My dad voted for trump in 2016, i tell that story a lot because he was angry at the Democratic Party who felt like he felt had left behind. The Democratic Party stopped showing up in committees that look like mine. For me, i think it is a big part of rebuilding and reenergizing the trust Rural Communities had in the Democratic Party at one point in time. That is not to say i do not understand the racial dynamic that we are dealing with. For me, roll North Carolina has the secondhighest rural population besides texas, when it comes to people, and we have one of the most diverse world populations, especially thinking about eastern North Carolina where we have majority black and brown counties and that still exist out there. I think that people forget that role does that mean white. Folks listing from iowa and other places i have organized might be i dont know about that. But in the deep south that is the truth. The Democratic Party has an amazing opportunity to look to the south as a Sleeping Giant of this party in a lot of cases. And thinking about how do we build a strategy that helps state legislators in the deep south utilized the black and brown power that we have in the states to listen to them and have them become elected officials and put them in positions of power because i think that is what we need to do all across North Carolina. That is what we did in 20 21. I came back to North Carolina after being on national campaign. I work for Kamala Harris in iowa and amy mcgrath in kentucky. I thought that the way to begin organizing communities was to go home again. We flipped the roxboro state council in 2021, the first time that a democratic majority had ever had control over the city council, a majority black city council, because 51 of the city of roxboro had never had their leases fully represented on that board before we did that. I think that is possible across all of rural North Carolina and in places where we did not expect to because we did not have democratic if the structure built before. He mentioned how people just want their boys to be heard, to be represented in some way. What are the top issues that people are concerned about right now in North Carolina that if someone in the National Party wanted to call you and say what should we be talking about to these people, you are like this is what i hear all the time . Housing. I think people would be surprised how much folks worry about how to pay their next bill. That is something where i think that, you know, the economy right now might be working for some folks in some cases, but it has not had that effect on everybody feeling it. That is something that the Democratic Party needs to own, that the pandemic is still here for a lot of folks. Not everybody bounce back as quickly as expected or anticipated. Really talking to folks as though what do you need right now . And going back to the party we were in the pandemic in some cases of mutual aid and making sure that we are helping folks access these programs that the Biden Harrison ministration has put in place to help pandemic bounce back. A lot of that happens at the federal level and never makes it down to the local level. That is the part the state party has a huge allegation to play. Just the fact that everyday people are not living right now, they are surviving. We need to make sure we are helping them do that. One issue that i know has really round up the Democratic Base across the country is abortion. North carolina had an abortion ban go into effect earlier this month. Is that something that you have been hearing from voters . Is it the issue itself or consensus where people say i dont want the government in any part of my life . How are you looking to message on that issue . It depend on where you are. In row committees, people always say you dont have to give a message, it just means we want. I think it does. I really think that you change your message depending on who youre talking to. Some people feel differently about abortion than others. If im on a College Campus i want to talk about the fact that abortion is a human right and something we had our entire generation and it has been taken away from us at the federal level and it is about to be completely at the state level. This whole election for me and for young people is really about losing rights or gaining rights. We decide that in the selection whether we do one of the other. What im talking about abortions in rural committees im talking about bodily autonomy and the fact that we want women to be able to enter into the workforce and not feel like they are forced back into the 1950s where always were meant to do is stay at home and breed children. In row committee, that was a womans place. And i think we have to talk about the fact that women offer so much more to a family than just being a mom. Sometimes. Its not just saying that being a mom is the only thing that you can do. I just think that women in the workplace is such a huge part of our economy and culture and women dont want to have to regress backwards. I think that rural women especially latch onto that and they understand that better than anybody from where we have been in the past. Talk about voters and what they are thinking about. I want to talk about candidates and recruiting them, that is another big component to try to make North Carolina a little bit more reliable for the Democratic Party. You mentioned your own frustration with think 44 seats left uncontested in North Carolina in 2022. Are you on a path to make sure that there is a democratic candidate running and just having the chance to win and represent those voices that you have been talking about . Absolutely. We are starting with starting with municipal races. We had 1600 of them going on right now, filing ended last friday for all those races, while the Democratic Party is not able to contest all of them, the dream is in 2025 to be able to contest all of them. Really building up the longterm vision for what the Democratic Party should be doing here, year after year, you did we did have 1000 to the cats file for the seats, so i dont know that some and uncontested, we did have a few in places where we could not find people to run. That means we just run harder in the next cycle and keep building that bench in every part of North Carolina. Going into 2024, we are utilizing all of the bench building that we have done forming this of all races to recruit people to run for the state house and senate seats because i want to make sure that all of us seats are filled. We know that republicans are not [indiscernible] and should not win. We have we want democrats to be represented in every election cycle. 3 million North Carolina and sinnott have submitted to vote for. I want to make sure that is not the case again. I want to ask you a little bit about yourself. Your 25 and you were trying to overhaul a state party in many ways. Something that is interesting to me is a lot of people within our age range and you said this, too, people are saying that i dont i want to be involved in politics but nothing changes. What is the point of beginning involved if i wont have any effect . Thats different. He did not have that perspective i am assuming. When you are talking to younger voters, often through your out story, how do you make sure you engage young voters and people like yourself and say look what im doing, this is how i got here and you could possibly do this as well. I tell that story in 21, i tell that City Council Story all the time, i hope people get tired of hearing it because it is such a testament to what you can do without knowing that youre going to win an election and it was never about winning, it was about putting up a fight in a rural county and a county where i grew up in where people did not expect democrats to win. They sat there and they asked why are you messing with the council, why do you care about those races . Because if i can get people to believe at this level i can get them to believe that every other level because when people see changes in their own backyard they are able to envision it elsewhere. There is a power in getting young people to realize that was a young person who did that who got those recruits and knocked on those doors and got people energized around something people in this city and county were not beforehand. I think that there is a huge opportunity for young people to make change in their own backyard and not just be the people running campaigns but also being the candidates. I want to see more young people run for office. While i think both parties might be broken, there is one party worth fixing and calling people into it to help it do that. The Democratic Party. I think that young people have every opportunity right now to get engaged and bring the ideas into this party to make it something that we can all be proud of and have ownership over. That is what is fight is inspiring me to keep going and helped me run for this office, i did not do it by myself, i did it with a great group of young people that ran with me and ran behind me to make that happen. I think that the Democratic Party going to start hearing a Younger Generation much much louder, and leadership roles in our party not just outside of our party, thats important. I have an audience question which comes from leah from texas. She says is it easy to register young people, or rather it is easy to register young people but getting them to vote is difficult. What have you found to be the number one motivator to get young people to the polls. Other young people. I think that the mistake that we make on campaigns is bringing out even younger folks that might just be out of college back onto College Campuses to get out the vote and organize, i think that we need to be tapping folks already on those campuses who are heavily involved and have an interest in it. Shout out to boone North Carolina, they do the most amazing job of this i have ever seen. They go out to Appalachian State campus every year and grab up College Democrats and they trained them on how to be field directors and field managers and data directors and make them have jobs on campaigns that allows them to utilize skills and ask questions and gain more knowledge about corporate how to organize their own campuses. Increase this machine of young people who are organizers coming out of the mountains of North Carolina. They do to everyone. That area. In 2016 when North Carolina turned red, that county went blue for the first time because students turned out in droves. They contacted people about elections coming up and went back and knocked on doors, making phone calls, saw them on campus, it was hard to ignore them at the end of the day. I think that is the best success we have had. H h is something that we talk a lot more ages something that we talk about a lot more lately, and young voters might feel that they are being doubted because they are younger. You are in this position. I am curious what your expense has been with ageism and your advice to others who might feel put off about jumping in because they are young. It has not been easy. I think that everybody doubted when i came to this job, they said that this 25yearold will not be able to raise money. I am happy with the reports like have come out recently because we have showed them that we can and that people are energized by a vision, it doesnt matter who it exists. I think that they have seen that come out of the Democratic Party in a way in North Carolina that we have not been able to articulate or envision beforehand. Of what is that but that is supposed to look like in the long can we have been talking about and how we play. The advice that i would give to young people is i never expected to win this election. I think that has been the beauty of every election that i have ever been involved in since i got out of college, i never expected to win it but i read it really really hard like i wanted it more than anything, and i showed people there was another option. I believe that is what young people are going trying to show this party and country is that there is another way of doing things. We have an idea that it will bring everyone together in a coalition that is multigenerational which does not just include young people but is led by young people with the advice and pinions of people who have come before us and fought these fights long before us. I would say dont give up and dont be afraid. And remember your wife. The first time ive decided i was going to run for this position summit told me anderson, as long as you know that and you trust that you want ever regret running or putting yourself out there. And i did not. I was angry. I was ready to see a big change in my party. I knew that if i wanted that i had to be it. The secretary of state Adrian Fontes who is in arizona right now is a great quote for that. He says if it is to be, it is up to me. I think that young people have to hear that and on that because we do not feel that right now a lot of ways. Before we go, i have to ask as well, you are filling out an impressive resume. Are you thinking about running for high Office Anytime Soon . No. I told everyone when i got into this i want to help the Democratic Party. I did not know that i wanted to be state party chair. I kind of fell into it in a lot of ways, of just wanting change to happen. I think there is a huge opportunity for us to continue this fight over the next 6, 8, 10 years. I know that i will always be a good foot soldier along with everyone else in the trenches. Thank you so much for giving us the time and giving us your perspective. Good luck out there and thank you for joining us. Thank you, ivory sheeted. Also, thank you for interviewing young people. I think that this is so amazing and i look forward to watching more of these. I prescient that, thank you. Tuesday, a hearing on how to regulate Artificial Intelligence technology, that Senate Judiciary hearing live on cspan3, cspan now, our free mobile video at, or online at cspan. Org. Congress returns tuesday with legislative business and votes, the house will consider its first 2024 spending bill, funding the agriculture department, the fda and the Veterans Affairs bureau for the next year. Its set to begin september 30. They gavel and at 2 00 p. M. Eastern, and they are expected to work on the defense bill with final voting expected by the end of the week. Watch live coverage of the house on cspan, the senate on cspan, a reminder that you can watch all of our congressional comfort with our free mobile video at cspan now, cap, cspan now, or online at cspan. Org. 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