1826 and they became mexican citizens. 1835, there was a letter sent to my family asking them to join the revolution. A copy of the letter is actually in my office here in washington, d. C. You can see them saying, the time to revolt is now. Over the generation, what has your family done for a living . I have been working in commercial real estate, oil and my family has a long history of texas with a lot of love for our state. I am incredibly honored to represent the people of the Third District of texas. Who are your parents . My father is an attorney and businessmen, my mother is a homemaker. I grew up in midland, texas and dallas. Rn in i live about 50 miles from where i was born, not too far from home. Tookned the marine corps, a commission after i graduated from college, served on active duty for several years, continued to serve my country, got my mba from Harvard Business back toen i moved dallas where i was born. Went into real estate, and i was in the Marine Reserve unit that was activated in 2003. Worded this motivation to serve come from . I have been very blessed in life. I have been given a lot of opportunities and made every effort to make the best of those opportunities. I want to make sure that my children, roy, helen, and suzy, that they have the same opportunities i had, and that every child in america has the same opportunities that i had, america. G to a better i certainly know that in my eight years of the texas , prepared me to be here at the United States congress. What values did your parents instill in you . Hard work. Respect for others. Picture to zim. Patriotism. I try to live those out everyday and i tried to instill them in my own children. Patriotism, is that something they talked about when you were growing up . It is hard not to appreciate the incredible lessons of have. Y we when you see how hard people work to come to this country than what they are able to make of themselves once they get here. We live in the greatest nation on earth and it is a true blessing to be an american. That is a blessing i was willing to fight for in the United States and in iraq, and one that i will continue to work for is a member of congress. Tell us about being in iraq. You had some moments, and you have received awards for your there. I was activated in 2003. I led him platoon of Reconnaissance Marines with the fourth of reconnaissance battalion, with a task force of 4500 marine. We were the very first platoon 2003. Q on march 20 1, we participated in the rescue of Jessica Lynch the first it, pow the First American pow of the iraq war. And i got to marry the girl who sent me a letter every day that i was there. I like to say, i am still walking into the sunset as the credits roll. You get a little tear he talking about that. Yes, it was an emotional experience. Combat is a deeply personal experience. Based on what you see and know at the time, your experience is different. It is very emotional, but this country again is what fighting for. I think i saw that in iraq, as i talked to iraqis who have been oppressed, they say, i am grateful for the opportunity to be free. It was a long road for them, in that freedom, and they are not quite there yet. But still, it is amazing deliberate people. As you are Walking Around the halls of congress, how do you remember your service . , itnd remember my service is certainly a part of me. Perhaps the greatest honor was leading men in combat. That is the greatest challenge there is. Steadies me in my time in congress. For example in discussions of the calling that might go the other way, you are not worried about dying. You are not worried about the gunfire getting closer or further. It helps me to have a sense of calmness about what i am doing, because it is not nearly the stakes i had during combat. In your service in the texas state house and the senate, what were some of your legislative priorities in those years . In the texas legislature, i served four years in the house and four years in the senate. It was a privilege to represent the people of calling county. I passed 81 bills. Everyone had bipartisan support. I worked on the very of issues. The first bill was a bill to help our men and women in uniform be able to vote from overseas. Military voting increased 150 as a result of that bipartisan legislation. I worked on legislation to protect victims of domestic violence, works to help people reenter society, who had been convicted of crimes, try to help them. Worked on tax legislation, the most important ethics package in texas, the governors ethics package. Worked on a wide variety of issues, but always on a bipartisan basis, always trying to find Common Sense Solutions that people could agree on to remove my state forward. What about out here in washington . What committees are you on . I am on the labor committee, and the education committee. I am working on a bipartisan basis to try to find Common Sense Solutions to address real problems affecting my constituents. It is a more challenging environment. It is harder to get things done here. It is a bigger chamber. But i am sitting down and creating relationships to get things done. How do you define your political philosophy and who ship that for how would you define your philosophy and who shaped that . Rep. Taylor i am a conservative at the end of the day. I believe government is too big, tax is too much, and i believe in individual liberty and freedom. I take my Mission Statement from the declaration of independence. I look at the second paragraph of the declaration of independence that says we hold these truths that all men are endowed with inalienable rights, to life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness. Deriving their power from the consent of the governed, the purpose of government is to protect liberty. That is what the declaration of independence tells us, and that is my philosophy for government. Announcer democrat mikie for new is elected jerseys district and a former navy pilot and federal prosecutor. Representative sherrill is the first democrat to represent the district in over 30 years. Rep. Sherrill i always remember wanting to be a pilot. My grandfather flew in world war ii and he loved flying and was proud of his service to our country. I wanted to follow in his footsteps. When i was in the fifth grade, i to be amy dad, i want pilot like grandpa, that is expensive. I said, but i want to go to college too. He suggested the Service Academies and i said i would go to the naval academy. That was in fifth grade. Im sure he thought nothing of it, and he said i dont even know if they let women in. I said i will figure it out. That was the start of my focus on the naval academy. Over the years, i went to the Football Games and stuff like that and then applied. And you got in and served. You graduated from Flight School in the first class of women eligible for combat. Rep. Sherrill i graduated from the academy when they lifted the combat restrictions on aviation and our surface combatants. What is so interesting about that is you now see both myself and elaine luria, who was in the academy at roughly the same time, in congress, and part of that is because we were able to compete in the navy, to the same standards as everyone else. What did you do . You went on to fly which helicopters, and were you in combat . Rep. Sherrill i flew h3, and i was not in combat. I flew on and off ships throughout the arabian gulf. What missions did you fly . Rep. Sherrill i flew all kinds of missions. I flew admirals and generals to the pentagon, landed on the ground at the pentagon. I flew in naples, italy during the kosovo war. I flew throughout the arabian gulf, supporting the fifth fleet. In the arabian gulf, and then i was at the headquarters of the commanderinchief of the u. S. Navy europe. There, i was on the battle watch floor during the runup to the iraq invasion. You are also a russian policy officer. What does that entail . I handled all of the interactions between the United States navy and the Russian Federation navy, including some of our Nuclear Treaty obligations and exercises the navys did together. What did you do after the navy . After the navy, i went back to law school at georgetown and served in the u. S. Attorneys office as a federal prosecutor and an outreach and reentry coordinator. I helped to start the district of new jerseys First Federal prisoner reentry court. In other words, helping people coming out of our federal prisons successfully reenter our communities. What inspired you to go to law school . Rep. Sherrill i think i have long loved serving the country, and after serving the military, being concerned about some of the things going on at the time, torture, rendition, things that i had been told, as somebody who went through prisoner of war training that the United States would never do. I thought it was time to go to law school and understand the legal ways we can support the American Values we have. You also, along the way, learned arabic. Why . Rep. Sherrill i wouldnt say learned it. I studied arabic. [laughter] it is a difficult language. I really always loved the arabic language. I thought it was so interesting to have a completely different set of there is sort of classical arabic that people know, but then street arabic can be different. I found it a really interesting language and interesting region. It is something that, when i was in school, kind of, we were taught a lot of western civilization. To kind of get past high school and start studying eastern civilization, i found very interesting. How are you utilizing all of these experiences you have had, everything you studied in washington now . Rep. Sherrill it has kind of all come together in congress. As you know, congress handles a breadth of issues across the country, so to have a background in the middle east and now that we are still engaged in wars throughout the middle east, and we have problems with iran, to have the russian policy background, when we see the russians have attacked our democracy and attacked our election system, to be able to understand the ins and outs of that is so critical. To have a background in the military, when when i sit on the Armed Services committee, and we work on the National Defense authorization act to make sure we have a strong military, while at the same time, we are spending taxpayer dollars wisely. All of that experience has helped me as a congress member. Tell us about your family. Along the way in your journey, you met your husband. Rep. Sherrill i did. We both served in naples, italy at the same time. I was supporting the sixth fleet during the kosovo war and he was supporting nato. We met, ended up getting married, have four kids, so that has been part of the reason, a big part of the reason i ran for congress was because not only was i concerned about the future of the country and where i wanted to see it go today, but i am concerned about it over the next several decades because of my kids in the future i want them to have. How old are they . Rep. Sherrill 13, 12, nine, and seven. You are busy. Rep. Sherrill i am busy. [laughter] did you always want to be running for office . Was that part of serving in your mind . Rep. Sherrill no. I always wanted to serve, and i did. That is why i entered into the navy and went back to work for the department of justice. Yet, i have to say, serving in congress did not enter my mind. Certainly with four schoolaged children, it did not seem like a natural progression. However, when i thought about the values i grew up with and the values my grandfather taught me from world war ii and working with our nato allies and promoting our Democratic Values and human rights values, when i saw that, i didnt think this country was promoting those values in the way it had when i grew up, i decided to run for congress. Rep. Sherrill what were the values your parents instilled in you . Rep. Sherrill a deep love of this country and a deep admiration for promoting democracy and human rights, and civil rights. I think this expectation that, as a country, we have never been perfect, but we have always been striving to be better. I want people today to strive to be better than we are now. What about your political philosophy . Who shaped it . Who are your political mentors . Rep. Sherrill interestingly, as i grew up, my mother was a democrat and father was a republican. I think thats probably the conversations we had around the Kitchen Table probably shaped a lot of my understanding and, seeing both sides of different issues and working to come to some agreement, which i think my parents rarely did when it came to politics, but still, understanding there are different sides to every issue and are good points often on both sides that you have to find a good path forward. And your political mentors . Rep. Sherrill i have had many over the years. Other than my parents, i worked for many people throughout the navy, different admirals, the u. S. Attorney when i was at the u. S. Attorneys office, and then really a lot of the women in my district have been so thoughtful and have come forward in this last election cycle with ideas and information. I will never forget, i was running for office and a friend of mine came up to me and said did you see how they just voted . She has this tracker on her phone and she is so engaged. I love that as a citizen of our democracy. I said, you know i havent seen it because i have been at parades all day. To see people get that involved in our country and take their responsibilities as citizens so seriously, i have really admired. Announcer finally, cspan spoke with democrat ed case, who is representing hawaiis first Congressional District. He was born and raised in the state and previously represented its second Congressional District from 2002 to 2007. Representative case is the cousin of aol cofounder, steve case. Congressman, you are a freshman of the 116th congress, but you have served before in the house. Tell our viewers when and for how long. Rep. Case first, aloha. I am ed case, probably proudly representing hawaiis first Congressional District, which is the city of honolulu. I served in the house from 2002 to 2007, so i took one term in the special election when my great predecessor passed away unexpectedly. Then i went on to two full terms in the house. I have had that experience and took a 12 year hiatus in hawaii, not a bad gig, and then somehow got lured back to running for congress again. This is my third tour of duty in congress, because i started, like many members of congress, as a summer intern for the thenmember from the first Congressional District of hawaii who worked steps away from where we are shooting this. This is like coming home again. I spent three years with him. Then, later on, came back to congress. When you left after serving that first time in washington, why did you decide to leave . Rep. Case i ran for the u. S. Senate. Like many good u. S. House members, you aspire to the u. S. Senate. I ran and i was not successful in that election. I was involuntarily retired from the u. S. House. Went back to hawaii and to my job as a lawyer and hotel executive. I had a productive 12 years, but politics and government were still out there for me. When the opportunity came back to run again, it lured me back. How did this come about . Rep. Case i did not like the direction of this country. I had a great life, a great job, i felt i had left government and politics behind. I had had a number of full years in the state legislature and u. S. Congress, was satisfied with my service. I simply felt things were deteriorating so fast and i got involved with the group called issue one, which is the reformers caucus, which is former members of governors and Company Members and ambassadors who had all gone together on a bipartisan basis to say enough is enough. We have to fix washington. Once i got involved with them, i guess it was a slippery slope. What has been the differences you have seen since the first time you were here and now, here in 2018 and 2019 . Rep. Case a lot of it is familiar. As my third tour in washington, the rhythms are the same, the procedures are the same, how you get things done is the same. You still have to develop relationships and look for the opportunities. You still have to know how to navigate the system. I feel fortunate to have had that prior experience. That is all quite familiar. What is obviously different is the partisanship, the divide. That was bad when i was here previously, 2002 to 2007, but it has gotten much worse in the 12 years since. It is much harder today to find that common ground, at least on the big issues. On issues that are fairly nonpartisan and partisan to start with, we can still find that common ground. We are still passing legislation to support our veterans. We are still behind our military. Those areas, for the most part, are not affected. On the largescale tough issues, things like how to spend the money in the big picture and how to tax, how to pay for health care, the division is so intense that it is hard to find the middle ground. My belief is that that middle ground is where the solutions are forged. You have one of the toughest commutes for a member of congress. Tell our viewers what its like for you to try to get back, how long it takes, and how often you make that trip. Rep. Case i make the trip just about the same as everybody else, so i do in fact commute back to hawaii. I go back for the weekends where i can, and sure, it is tough, but when i start feeling sorry for myself, i can think about the delegates from guam or american samoa, so there are other members inside of congress who have tougher commutes to get home. Even the mainland United States sometimes it takes them a long time to get to a particular airport and they have to drive quite a ways. When i arrive in honolulu, im pretty much home. It is about a 12 hour commute, and one thing that is good for me is that i can sleep fairly well on the plane. At the end of t