senate, the now soon to be empty seat in michigan. walk us through your decision, why you came to that conclusion, and also how you see that now 2024 race playing out. absolutely. so our senator announced she s not going to be running for re-election, and supporters reached out and asked me to consider it. but we never focus nearly enough on state legislatures. this is something that i have been talking about for the past year. we lost 1,000 state legislature seats starting in 2009. we lost control of two-thirds after state legislatures. in michigan, we finally have control for the first time in 40 years. we are going to pass responsible gun safety reform. we are going to end water shut-offs. we are going to expand opportunity for people to invest in education. this is what i ve worked so hard for. when i look at where i could make the biggest impact, it is staying in the state legislature, expanding in our majority, and, frankly, in this moment where nothing will get done in washing
workers. now, as a private citizen, he is using his experience to bring working class voters back to the democratic party with his newly announced partnership with the thinktank third way. former congressman ryan joins us now. it is great to see you. loved that speech when it happened, and it ages quite well. so i m curious, let s get right to the news. especially given the train derailment in east palestine, the toxic chemical spill, do you worry that blue collar americans feel still very much left out, even by democrats in washington, and exactly this is something republicans will use to further that narrative? yeah, thanks, mika. great to be back. i see we have the whole band back together with mike barnicle, donny and the whole crew. great to be back with you guys. what happened in east palatine is an example, one of kind of the issues facing corporate
what does that even mean? you have a guy that is more sympathetic toward vladimir putin than a rank and file fbi agent who is risking her day every day, every night. joe, even if that doesn t move you, which it should if you are a sane person who loves the country, loves the country we live in and is patriotic, but it hasn t moved them the last few years, let s remember. his agenda lost in november. his election-denying agenda lost. the notion of blindly following him or blindly saying you re going to support him doesn t make sense politically. it s fear of the base. it s very much fear of the base that we re seeing here. it reminds me a lot, actually, of the nra and how the nra still has this huge powerlected offic washington, despite the fact that gun reform legislation is supported by 70%, 80%, 90% of the public.
still believes in what their generation wanted for their country. wow. that must have been incredible. you know, i really in the last several years i ve been around him a lot. i went out to ohio state twice for his college of public affairs and i was always inspired by him. we were in an auditorium one day when veterans were there and they stood up and they saluted him. i got emotional just watching that about what he meant to that generation and not a mark on his reputation all those years as a public figure, nothing you can point to and say he went too far or tried to cut a deal. he didn t use his celebrity to make a lot of money. he was flying his own airplane back to ohio in washington until he was in his late 80s quite honestly. i liked being around him because it gave me a lift and everyone in the room a lift i think. michael and mike, i ll throw this out to both of you guys. michael, we ll start with you. my father used to have us all go