Chaz Molder's Race for TN-05 Congressional District

From the news channel five network, this is Inside Politics. Hello everyone, welcome to Inside Politics, I'm Ben Hall. This week, the Race for Congress in the fifth congressional district. Last week, we interviewed one of the Republican challengers this week. We have a Democratic challenger. He is the mayor of Columbia in Murray County, Chaz Molder. Mayor Molder, thank you for being here. Ben, it's great to be with you. I'm going to answer in questions I appreciate it. Now, all right, you've started this campaign twice, essentially. There was, you said you were going to challenge, and the Ogles in the fifth district, and the fifth district was dramatically redrawn. What did you think when that happened? Well, I think I was obviously disappointed that an election that had been set where deadlines had had come and gone. We were running and running strong in the middle Tennessee area and ready to beat Andy Ogles in November. The legislature decided that they were going to change the rules in the middle of the game. I was in church last week, Ben, and a guy came up to me with tears in his eyes that he could not believe that his own party had changed the rules in the middle of the game because he was a youth sports coach, and he knew that I was too, and he knew that that's what we teach our kids not to do. But I will say this, I think anytime you have challenges, there are great opportunities. And while I could have spent my time being upset or disappointed or mad that they took Nashville out of the fifth congressional district after we believed that we were about to win in part because Nashville was fired up for this race. On the one hand, we did succeed in getting Andy Ogles out of representing Nashville as a result of the redraw. On the other hand, the Nashville voter can still continue to help our campaign to get Andy Ogles out of Congress altogether. This is not about me. This is about making sure that we send someone to Washington who will be a champion for the people who live here in this district. So I can get mad about it or soak over it, but I'm not going to do that because this is about the voter. I promised that I was going to get in this race to defeat Andy Ogles, and that is exactly what we're going to do. Did you ever consider not running in this district? I have three kids at home, and I know that my kids are watching every move I make. It's why I try to be on my best behavior at all times because I try to make them proud. And I knew that if I just gave up because the legislature came in and changed the rules like that, that five, 10, 15 years from now, my kids would ask questions about, "Dad, why didn't you just continue to go for it?" So certainly I was disappointed. Certainly, it's created some additional challenges that we're not present to begin with, but my three kids watch every move I make, and I wasn't about to give up on this race because I want them to know that their dad's not a quitter. Do you think the legislature re-drew this district, which actually cut out your house, did they re-draw this district to help Andy Ogles? I think the first reason they re-drew the district was because they wanted to go in and crack the city of Memphis to where they felt like they could get an additional representative in Memphis. I think that was a slap in the face to the Memphis voter, and I think what I know to be true is that the Memphis voter is very unhappy about what happened because I'm hearing it on a daily basis. It was just in Memphis. I've been in Memphis three times now in the last three weeks. It was their last week, and they're confused, they're angry, and they're concerned that this means that they might not have a champion for their city. The beauty has been, even though the legislature re-drew the maps and have changed the lines, I am someone that has lived in this state my entire life. Vernon Raises in Columbia went to University of Tennessee, Knoxville, and East Tennessee, and actually went to law school in Memphis at the University of Memphis. So I love that city. I love this state, and no matter what the maps may be, we're going to be a champion for everyone in the district. At the end of the day, they can re-draw the maps and they can change the rules, but they cannot change our resolve to want to go to Washington to be a fighter for people that live here. And okay, Nashville wasn't the district. Now it's not. Now it goes all the way over to Memphis. Does the message change? Is it altered? Are you speaking more to rural voters? How does this district change? Alter your message. Well, you know, being a Tennessee, and I believe that we have far more in common than what divides us. Being a Tennessee, and I know that if I'm getting gas in Memphis, then that costs $4.00 and a quarter of a gallon. You know, I'm unhappy about that. On the way up here to Nashville, they from Columbia had to fill up, and it wasn't cheap. I'm unhappy about that. So the issues are the same. And I think people want to vote for someone that is authentic and that is talking to them the same way that they talk to any other group. So my message has not changed. Certainly the region has changed. We now have not just middle Tennessee, but also West Tennessee. Our district now has Kentucky on the northern part, touches Kentucky, touches Arkansas, touches Mississippi. It is a very sprawling, gerrymandered district. And what the legislature wanted to do was to try to quiet the voices that might not agree with what every step that they take. And what we're doing is showing that there is still a very real path to win this race because we're talking about issues that matter to all Tennesseans, regardless of what the maps are lines may be drawn. How would you describe Andy Ogles as a congressman? Well, he's been controversial. In my opinion, as someone who's been the mayor of Columbia for the last eight years and who has seen Andy Ogles in Congress, who worked with Andy Ogles when Andy Ogles was in Murray County as the Murray County mayor, I believe Andy Ogles has betrayed us. He's not done what he said he would do. He spends more time on social media than he does helping the people back home. He's more worried about making national headlines for the wrong reasons instead of local headlines for the right reasons. And I think this is a serious time in our country, Ben. We need serious people around the table for serious conversations. Tennessee has been known for sending statesmen to Washington, DC. Andy Ogles is a lot of things, but a statesman he is not. And so you're a Democrat that's drawn, this district is drawn to be more Republican. How does a Democrat win? Well, I think I would point to my election as mayor of Columbia. We won in 2018 with 60% of the vote. President Trump won Murray County by over 44 percentage points. So I know what it takes to win tough races. We have built a coalition of folks in Columbia, young, old Republican Democrat, white black and everything in between. Because we know that that's how you have to handle this and we have to all do better. And so we can win tough races no matter what the maps may be, if it's the right candidate with the right message at the right time. And we feel like we check all of those boxes. And at the end of the day, my focus is on issues that matter. As a mayor, you can't be so overtly partisan that you lose sight of what's actually important. When someone calls me on an issue, I don't look at it from a political prism. I'll look at it as though I want to help them with their problem. What holes don't have partisan labels is as a mayor, you get stuff done and you solve problems not be a part of the problem. And right now we have too many people in Congress who are part of the problem and not being a part of the solution. Republicans might say if Democrats take control of Congress, the first thing they're going to do is impeach President Trump and then a whole laundry list of other things. So you're going to be part of this partisan battle. When you hear that argument, what do you say? Well, I am a firm believer that a individual congressman does not have the ability to change the world, but does have the ability to change their district for the better. And as a mayor of a community here in Southern Middle Tennessee, I've wanted to just be a champion for the place that has given me a whole lot and allowed me to pursue the American dream that I've pursued of being a husband of 20 years and a father of three children, a small business owner, a small town mayor. These are the things that make me who I am. I'm not going to Washington to be some person that's going to just want to try to attract media attention and throw lobs out of people that he doesn't agree with. I want to try to remember what Howard Baker used to say. The other side may be right. Let's have important conversations. Let's not make compromise a bad thing. I happen to believe that it is better when we put people in a room that have different ideas, different approaches. Other results will happen if we bring more people together. I'm not worried about what they're going to say what I'm going to do because I know what I'm going to do. I happen to have a track record that backs that up as being a mayor that has been overseeing and leading a city that has had a lot of growth in progress and that is, you know, understands that it's time that we start bringing people together because our countries at stake. There's some other attacks. Welcome back everyone inside politics. My guest is Chaz Molder, the current mayor of Columbia. He's running in the fifth congressional district as a Democrat. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has identified this district as one it hopes to flip. How much support do you expect to get from the national Democratic Party? Well, look, I think it's the end of the day. There are a lot of people that are wanting to support our campaign because they see our campaign as one that can actually win. They see our campaign as one that can get a bad guy out of office who has spent a lot of time doing a lot of things that have not been focused on bringing things back home and making his district a better place to live work and raise a family. So I think we're going to have a lot of attention on this race, but you know, been the most important attention that I could possibly seek to get is the attention of the voter of this place to rock all home. And so we're out on the trail speaking with voters where they are. I love being in living rooms and dining rooms and back patios. I also love to run five Ks and we're running a lot of five Ks throughout the district. And that's the support that I care about, you know, who is going to listen to what we have to say here at home and give me a chance to talk about our message and the fact that we're focused on the issues that are important to them. The fact that gas is too high. Health care is not accessible. Our farmers are struggling. Our veterans can't afford their homes because they're being priced out. That's not right. That's where the focus should be. And we're not going to let outside groups come in and try to dictate things because we are Tennessee. And this is the fifth congressional district. And I am in this race to win this race. And that's what we're proving on a daily basis. How popular would you say President Trump is in this newly drawn district? You obviously have Memphis, but you have a lot of rural areas and then how popular is President Trump in this new district? I don't know the answer to that, but I know that Andy Ogles is not. And I know that Andy Ogles is who I'm running against. And Andy Ogles is who is going to be on the ballot in November when I'm running in November. And so my focus is on exposing the things that Andy Ogles has done advocating for a bill that adds $1 trillion to the deficit, the big, beautiful bill. $1 trillion. As a mayor of Columbia, we've passed now eight balanced budgets during my time as mayor without any property tax increases. In addition to adding a trillion dollars to the deficit, Andy Ogles supports the policies that are taking people off their Medicaid benefits that are seeing rural hospitals close. I think this is a referendum on Andy Ogles. And my objective is to make sure that the voters know that first and foremost. The Republicans will probably try to make it a referendum on again, liberal versus Democrat. And so if they come at you with, he's a liberal Democrat, supports boys and girls sports, uncontrolled abortion is on the wrong side of those things. How do you respond? Because those are the attacks that will probably come. How do you respond to those kinds of attacks? I would say they should look at my record. I'm at a record of focusing on issues that matter to folks on a day-to-day life. I'm someone that does believe that we should love all of our neighbors. I am attending the same church with my wife and kids that I was raised in in Columbia. I believe we should love our neighbors. We should live by the golden rule. And we should just try to bring people up and set a tear people down. I'm not going to focus on issues that they may try to throw at me just to try to bring people away from the issues that actually matter. That game is up, in my opinion. Because in this election, what we are hearing on a daily basis is the fact that gas is too expensive or that they can't find proper healthcare services. This is a district, as you mentioned, that is a very sprawling throughout both middle and west Tennessee. 17 counties. It includes an urban center, the most urban center in the state with Memphis. It includes a county in upper northwest Tennessee Lake County, which is one of the poorest counties in the state, if not the country, but it also includes Williamson and Murray counties here in middle Tennessee. I say all those counties because I also want you to know that we have a strong connection to this district. I've lived in Memphis. My wife started her first day as a first grade teacher in the Memphis school system. The same day that I started my first day in law school. Our three years living in Memphis were some of the best years of our lives. My wife's family is from Ripley, Tennessee, which is a small town north of Memphis. We have been traveling back there for the last 20 years of our marriage and I'm only 42 years old. Almost half of my life has been spent going back and forth to rural west Tennessee. John Tanner, former congressman from northwest Tennessee, has supported our campaign and provided a lot of validation in that area from folks who are ready to know who their congressman is and who is there on the ground visiting having town halls, being a champion for them, being someone they can look up to. As a mayor, the most satisfaction I get is when I get to go into schools and or talk to young people. I am the youngest mayor that Columbia has ever elected. I was 36 years old at the time in 2018 when I was first elected. I think that elected officials have a responsibility to try to inspire young people to want to do great things. When I was the student body president at Columbia Central High School, I called the mayor of Columbia to make a request for a new sign to be placed in front of our school so people would know what school it was when they drove by that might be visiting. Little did that mayor know that she was speaking to a future mayor. Little did she know more importantly that she inspired me to want to get into elected office so that I could also inspire others. That's an obligation that I feel like I have and that's something that I think we need more of right now. I think it comes up as Israel. We have the war, the war in Iraq. What is your position on Israel? I know you've said you oppose the war, but where do you stand on giving Israel aid or weapons? Well, there's no question that Israel is one of our staunchest allies. We have an obligation to help support our allies to make sure that they are safe, but there's also going to be times when we're not always agree with our allies. We have allies across the world that don't necessarily agree with some of the things that they're seeing coming out of the White House here at home. We hope that those allies don't just leave us and forget about us. I think we have an obligation to make sure that we're continuing to understand our relationship with Israel, but also understanding that the current administration in Israel is not necessarily always making the right decisions, and it's okay to question that or to let them know if there's something they're doing that we don't agree with. We can still understand that that relationship is rock solid even if we have some disagreement. So question what they're doing, but not cut off all of them? Well, I mean, I think Andy Ogles is not really explaining much at all what's going on. We're all having to try to go find out what's happening and why it's happening because Andy Ogles just wants to be a rubber stamp. I mean, he's spending his time on Twitter talking about homosexuals at a time that he's not said anything at all about what's happening in Iran. Congress, Article 1, requires them to be a check-in balance or to authorize military force. We're spending millions and millions of dollars a day right now in Iran when we have children in Tennessee going hungry. I was in Memphis last week and they were explaining to me the food deserts that now exist on how they don't have the ability for children to have food in the summer or they don't have the ability to have fresh produce accessible and that folks are having to rely on convenience stores to get produce. That's not right. Tennessee, I think, made a grave mistake when they refused to accept the snap benefits this past year that come from the federal government. What that means is that other states were able to enjoy those proceeds and kids here in Tennessee are going hungry. I don't think that's right. Take a break and come back, continue our discussion, talk about some of the issues in the legislature and in Congress. We'll take a break, be back right after this. Welcome back, everyone. Insight politics, my guest is Chasm Older, the current mayor of Columbia running in the fifth congressional district as a Democrat. Let's just talk a couple issues. Tariffs. Where do you stand on tariffs? I think that tariffs are harming our economies, especially here at home. Small businesses are struggling. Our farmers, the original entrepreneurs and small business owners, farmers are struggling right now because of failed economic policies that Andy Ogles is supporting and advocating and a rubber stamp for and he's not talking about them. I spoke with a CEO of a company in Columbia about three months ago who indicated that they were having to create a separate profit and loss statement for their company if the tariffs were in place versus if the tariffs were not in place. That creates uncertainty. When you have uncertainty, that leads to some bad outcomes in our economies. As a mayor, I'm someone that understands that we have to champion our small businesses. Our small business owners. Do the Trump supporters understand that? Do you think? Do farmers who probably voted for President Trump? Are they frustrated? Are they actually angry or are they giving President Trump leeway on this issue? When it comes to their pocketbook, whether it's my pocketbook or their pocketbook or anybody's pocketbook, we are all concerned right now. Gases too expensive, costs arising, wages are stagnant. These are not good things for our economy in the long term. I think folks right now are wanting to give people a chance that might be talking about issues that matter to them. I believe that we're presenting a message to folks that is going to be very compelling if you look at both candidates. I'm an attorney. I tell juries that they can't check their common sense at the door when they go to deliberate in the jury room. That's the message here. Don't check your common sense at the door. Indie Ogles has had four years now to help make things better as I said at the outset. He has betrayed us. He has not done the things he said he would do and he has created to himself to be an embarrassment for the district that he represents when he gets this national news for all of the hate that comes out of his mouth. So I think voters are paying attention. Voters are willing to look to other options. I believe we're providing that option for them. What do you think? are mayor of Columbia, he was mayor of Murray County. How has he appealed to voters to win, I guess in the current district and in Murray County, what is it he has done and what are your thoughts about that? Well, one thing is, Andy Ogles has never had opposition in the general election that has had the resources that are going to be able to keep up and articulate the message that number one, Andy Ogles is not doing a good job for us, but more importantly, it can't just be an anti-Andi-Andi Ogles campaign. I believe we have to give voters a reason to vote for something instead of just against someone. And so we're going to have the resources necessary to be able to spread that message far and wide for folks to understand this is how it can be. And at the end of the day, we are, as you mentioned, I'm a small town mayor, I'm a small business owner, I'm a small town attorney, I've lived in Columbia my entire life except by the way when I was living in Memphis for law school and living in Knoxville for underground. I know this district very well and if the district knows what they have in front of them, they're going to know that we're the better chance here. Well, thank you mayor Chaz Molder for coming on and talking about this, want to remind everyone that this is also a podcast, just go wherever you listen to your podcast, enter inside politics Nashville and start listening. I want to thank our guest again mayor Chaz Molder and thanks to all of you for watching and listening. Have a great day everybody. [Music]