IN YOUR BACKYARD: The People’s Fight for Affordability

This episode of the Midas Touch podcast is brought to you by Whoop, the wearable health and fitness coach that gives you personalized insights into your sleep, recovery, strain, stress, and overall health. Listen, I've tried a bunch of wearables and I found a lot of them to be so overwhelming. I don't need another screen constantly tapping me, pinging me, and sending me notifications. But that's what I love about Whoop. The Whoop 5.0 wearable is screenless, so it just sits quietly on my wrist collecting data. Whenever I want, I can open the companion app and get this incredibly detailed picture of what's happening with my body and actually use that information to make proactive decisions. And with a one-year-old, sleep has become a bit of a luxury. Whoop helps me pinpoint the things that are actually affecting me. Did that 4 p.m. cup of coffee hurt my sleep? Did that run on the treadmill bring down my stress? How well am I actually recovering? Whoop gives me a full picture of my health without overloading me, and it's helped me build a healthier routine around what my body is actually telling me. To learn more, head to Whoop.com and join today to get your first month free. That's Whoop.com. Hey there, it's Brett from the Midas Touch Podcast, and it's time for another episode of In Your Backyard. That's our new climate series hosted by Luke Radel, coming at you every other Thursday right here on the Midas Touch Podcast feed and on our Substack. And a quick reminder, leading up to the midterm elections, we've made all of our news content on Substack completely paywall-free, so make sure you subscribe now to stay informed as we head into these critical elections. That's MidasPlus.com. Today, Luke is tackling the issue on just about every American's mind right now, affordability. Gas prices, groceries, electricity bills, everything is getting more expensive, and working families are paying the price. Luke speaks with two Americans feeling the squeeze firsthand, including a woman in Arkansas struggling to get critical medical appointments and a Texas social worker working multiple jobs just to keep up with her bills. He also sits down with Congresswoman Summer Lee to discuss the affordability, crisis, the growing impact of data centers on utility costs, and what Democrats could do if they take back Congress. And the conversation takes some interesting turns, including Lee's thoughts on the 2028 presidential race and whether she might challenge Senator John Fetterman. You won't want to miss this one. Now, here's the latest episode of In Your Backyard. Hey, everybody. It's Luke Radel, and I'm so glad you're here for episode five of In Your Backyard. This is it. We're in the final countdown to the Midas Touch Podcast. We're heading into the midterm elections, and there are few issues that have as much influence over the choices that voters are making at the polls right now than affordability. Things, I don't need to tell you, are really, really expensive right now. All sorts of things from your gas to fill up your car to get in your car and go to the grocery store, everything on the shelves is more expensive. Everything in life right now is becoming less and less affordable. And by some measures, more than seven in 10 Americans think that gas is too expensive, and more than half feel the same thing about their energy and utility bills. Don't even get me started on the rent. Candidates know this. That's why during the first nine months of this year, they spent $190 million on ads that mention just how expensive everything is getting, especially those energy and utility costs. President Trump, meanwhile, says he doesn't give a damn about the bad headlines and the stories about how gas prices are crushing people all across America. In fact, in a recent rally, he said that as a result of his leadership and as a result of these spiking gas prices, that companies here in America are making a frickin' fortune. No, I could just see the fake headlines. President Trump is talking about all the money they're making while people are suffering at the pump. That'll be the headline. But I said, I don't give a damn. I'm going to say it. We'll make it a frickin' fortune. Now, whether or not that money is making its way back to your pocket and to your backyard is a whole different story. So for today's episode, we set out to hear from people who are experiencing the affordability crisis firsthand to talk about what they're feeling, as well as from a prominent member of Congress who wants to do something about it if and when her party takes back the majority. In just a few short days. Later in the show, we'll speak to her, Pennsylvania Congresswoman Summer Lee. But first, as we always do on In Your Backyard, we're going to hear from you, the folks out there in your communities about the issues you care about. Welcome back to In Your Backyard. Let's first head out to Arkansas, a state that has supported the president and Republicans for many, many years. I spoke to Amber Mader, who is paraplegic, and she depends on ride services to get to her medical appointments. But the cost of gas, as well as changes that have been made to Medicaid, the services that she relies on, it's become a lot more complicated. Here's my conversation with Amber. I'm joined by Amber Mader, who comes to us from Fort Smith, Arkansas. Amber, thanks so much for joining me on In Your Backyard. I'm glad to be here. Thank you. So I understand that you are currently living with a disability. Can you describe how you manage it and what you depend on to get to things like your appointments? Yeah, sure. I am paralyzed, paraplegic. I have to use a wheelchair for ambulation. And we currently ride the Varida transport vehicles through a Medicaid program for people with disabilities. And that's how I get to all of my doctor's appointments. So at what point did things get more complicated to use those van services that you rely on from Medicaid? Honestly, it's been pretty complicated from the beginning. Like many Medicaid programs, there's always a shortage of funding, which leads to a shortage of vehicles, shortage of drivers. It just makes it a really difficult thing to get to your appointments on time. Too many people, not enough slots. It has gotten worse recently. Gas prices are definitely not helping with that. That has been a huge impact on them. Again, that lack of funding. And now you have even bigger, unexpected expense on top of that. And the number of people who need these trips is not getting any smaller. As the economy gets worse and worse, particularly here in the local area, more and more people are having to look to this as their only mode of transportation for things like doctor's appointments. So probably the past two years, it's gotten significantly worse. The past nine to six months, it's gotten very bad. Yeah. Have you been missing some of your appointments? Have you been missing some of your appointments lately? And what happens if you do? Yes, I have had to miss for various reasons. Sometimes if you miss, a doctor's appointment is really great about working with you. They can get you rescheduled. Sometimes later that day, if it's just a running late kind of issue, sometimes you just have to completely reschedule. When that is a specialist appointment, it can sometimes take months and months and months to get back in. Recently had to reschedule a neurosurgery appointment. I had waited about nine months for the appointment, had to reschedule, and it was about another four before we could get in. And that's a really serious issue with a spinal cord injury. You need to be able to make those neurosurgery appointments. It's not something that's optional or something that can really be delayed safely. So you just kind of have to wait and hope that the doctor's office can get you in quickly. Yeah. What are some of the other things in your life that have gotten more complicated as a result of the rise, in gas and diesel prices? Oh, everything. Getting deliveries process for a lot of that has gone up because their cost for fuel has gone up. Fewer delivery slots, fewer delivery drivers, everything from groceries to medical supplies to medications from the pharmacy. All of that has been impacted by it. It just touches everything in your life, especially when you depend on things like delivery. Gas is always going to be a big part of it. Gas is always going to be a huge, huge part of that prize. One of the issues we tackled earlier during this series is the extreme weather that we've been seeing as a result of the climate crisis. I understand there was a heat wave that rolled through Arkansas during this summer and there were some grid interruptions and blackouts. How did you manage all of that? Well, we've had some exceptionally high temperatures. So thankfully, most of ours have been in the evening or overnight when it was already a little cooler. You just open your windows and hope for the best. Sometimes it's just, you know, 20, 30 minutes. Sometimes it's two or three hours. Thankfully, our electrical co-op is pretty good about getting on things as quickly as they can. When you have older infrastructure with a much higher demand, it's just going to happen. And so we just try to work with them, report the outages as soon as we can. we can, and like I said, try to rely on like backup, battery fans, things like that. Um, all the old school ways of keeping cool, like a mister, um, you know, kids get out playing in the water that, that helps cool them down. Um, so we just try to, I don't know, do the best that we can stay in the shade, have some iced tea and, and hope it gets back on quickly. Yeah. Lastly, before I let you go, when you share your story, do you get a sense that people are listening to you and are responsive? I do. Most of the time, a lot of people are very shocked to hear my story. Um, they think that it's a lot easier to get and manage things than it, than it really is. Um, they have no idea all the behind the scenes running and paperwork and things that you have to do to keep up with, with these things. Um, so yeah, I do think that they, they listen, you know, that, that kind of like surprises them. And so they want to hear about it and they want to know what actually goes into living with a disability of any kind. So I do think that most people are receptive and, and listen. Well, we're certainly listening, Amber, and thank you again so much for taking the time to share your story with us here on In Your Backyard. Of course. Thank you for having me. I appreciate it. Next up, let's head to Texas, a state that we've all been watching pretty closely as the midterm elections come close at hand. I want you to meet Samantha Lott. She's a social worker there who has had to keep multiple jobs to cover her housing costs and pay for those rising utility bills. Those monthly costs under President Trump have just continued to spike. Here's my conversation with Samantha. Thank you again so much for taking the time to talk to me and welcome to In Your Backyard. Yeah. Thank you. So I'd love, I'd love to share with folks a little bit about your background and what you do for work right now and, and the additional work that you've had to take on as a result of the affordability crisis. Sure. Yeah. So my name's Samantha Lott. I'm a licensed master social worker. I live in Denton, Texas, which is like north of DFW area. I've been a social worker for over 10 years now and I'm in community mental health, which I love. But it has definitely been a challenge like personally for me just because as I'm sure you know, like we don't always make a ton of money and you know, it can be a little bit stressful. And basically over the last few years, I've kind of had to like make some really tough choices as far as like finances go and different things like that. With, you know, medical debt from a diagnosis and a surgery I needed to have, student loan debt, you know, that kind of stuff. And then ultimately, just like the high cost of living. About three years ago, I made a decision to get a second job in the evenings and weekends, which isn't really new to me, like all throughout college. And even after, like I worked multiple jobs. So this recent one, I started delivering groceries on the side. And I will say like, it's nice because it's convenient. Like I can pick the times for evenings and weekends, but also it doesn't pay that great. And like with gas costs right now, it is kind of hard to have to balance like, is this a reasonable trip to make? Or is it, you know, too low to like even cover the gas mileage and wear and tear on my car? So those are just some choices I've had to make on top of things like rising food costs, rising energy costs, you know, do I have to choose not going to the doctor this month or, you know, eating food that's like really what I'm supposed to be eating for my health concerns. And I'm like, I don't know, I don't know what I'm supposed to be eating for my health concerns. Like those types of, you know, juggling things that most Americans probably have to deal with right now. Well, I have to imagine as well, when you're doing the important work that you do as a social worker, hearing from folks who are experiencing those same concerns of affordability, it has to be, you know, challenging for you because you're oftentimes experiencing many of the same things that they're experiencing. What has it meant to you to have that additional stressor placed on that job? that you're doing? Yeah, no, absolutely. It's really like a humbling and like hard thing to have to sit across from a table and like try to help somebody with coping skills. And then in the back of your mind, like almost everything that they're saying, like you've experienced or are experiencing yourself and you're having those stressors like, oh no, like what am I going to do if my electric bill goes up again or, you know, different things, but you're trying to kind of stay calm and be there for the person that's across from you. So yeah, it is definitely really tiring. And then especially to have to go work in the evenings and on the weekends too. When, as you know, in any profession where you have to talk to people and deal with people like mentally, that's exhausting. And so having to be on all the time in some capacity is really hard. But I know a lot of people, especially in helping professions, like those are choices we have to make right now just because like salaries are not, you know, covering everything. And especially as a single person who pays all their own bills, like that kind of thing, like all of that does fall on my shoulders. I don't have anyone that I split with. So like that in itself is already a struggle. So it sounds to me for someone who is working three jobs, working in the day, the evenings, the weekends, it doesn't sound like you are at your apartment a whole lot. And yet I understand that this past winter, you saw a pretty large spike in your utility bills. Yeah. Do you think that's attributable to and just how much more are you paying now than you were even a few months ago? Sure. So when I moved into my apartment, probably almost four years ago, it's a small apartment. It's under 600 square feet, one bedroom. It's not the most energy efficient. I think it was built in like the seventies. And so it's single pane glass, like not insulated, super great. Um, I probably in the summer, like around July, the highest I was paying was like, 140, $150 a month for just electricity. And then, um, this last year, um, it has gone up to like two 30. And I know like in my area, we use the municipality for like the electric bills and everything. And we don't really get a choice to shop around. Um, and they've had rate hikes like every year. And I also know that like there's data centers being built around me constantly. Um, so also like, I'm sure that probably has something to do with that. Um, especially too, with like water and different things like that. I know a lot of people in my area, um, are seeing like a difference in water quality or pressure, the amount of water they're getting out of their faucets due to those as well. Um, and so not only are we having like rising costs of those utilities, but we're also having like decreased like quality of them and availability, which is like really scary. Yeah. What are you hearing from your neighbors who are experiencing all of these issues related to affordability related to data centers and a lot of the other issues that we've been talking about here on the show. And more importantly, where is that energy, that frustration going and where do you see it going into the future? Yeah, absolutely. I mean, a lot of people right now are really upset and they're concerned for their communities. I know like locally, we've had a lot of town hall meetings and, you know, city hall meetings, whatever to like address these data centers coming in or these large developments. So we don't have the infrastructure to take care of that. Um, like a lot of people are turning out and having their voice heard. Um, but for whatever reason, the city, the state, the governor, they keep approving these permits to still build these things that like people in the area don't want. Um, if anybody can like Google Granbury, uh, Texas, there's a really great story about that, about how they built a data center. And those people not only have like Brown leaky faucets with hardly any water, they also, um, have a constant noise all the time that they're bombarded with. And it's to the point where like the resale value of their homes, like they can't even get out of it. Like they're stuck there because nobody wants to buy into that. So, I mean, I think that that's a really eyeopening and horrific experience. And a lot of people, Texas or otherwise are going to probably have similar features. Yeah. And that is an issue that we've seen in Texas and also elsewhere across the country. We're going to keep having those conversations. I really appreciate you taking the time to talk to me and talk about the issues that are going on in your backyard. Thanks for that. Thank you. Yeah, absolutely. Thank you. The concerns that these voters are expressing is not unique to any one state or any one set of governance. In fact, in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, there are still voters experiencing problems as a result of the affordability crisis. The state's governor who's running for re-election right now has talked about how he's been working to put money back in people's pockets, but for every dollar he puts in their pocket, the policies that President Trump and his administration are passing here in Washington are taking two bucks out. To talk more about that process of trying to make things more affordable for folks in spite of the president's policies, I had on another prominent Democratic politician from the great Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. That's Congresswoman Summer Lee. She's one of the founders of the brand new People's Environmental Justice Caucus. And she's been on a mission to make sure that people understand that environmental issues are inextricably linked from issues of affordability. Here's my conversation with Congresswoman Summer Lee. Congresswoman Summer Lee, thanks so much for joining me on In Your Backyard. I really appreciate it. Yeah. So we are entering the home stretch. Hey, where are you? You're in D.C.? I'm in Washington. Yes, I'm down here in Washington. We're entering the home stretch in the midterm elections. I've been out on the campaign trail in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. I think we saw each other at the Labor Day parade in Pittsburgh. There are a lot of concerns right now. I have not talked to a single voter whose primary concern right now is not the cost of everything, the cost of gas prices, the cost of our health care, the cost of child care, the cost of our groceries, the cost of housing. And there is just this overwhelming feeling that no one cares, that this is just we're expected to accept that this is the way that it's supposed to be. And what my deepest fear is, is when I start to talk to voters more and more, that, of course, there is a feeling of a little bit of hopefulness that with an election cycle that we can turn this around. But there's always that that nagging feeling that will this really make a difference? Will it make a difference fast enough when we're struggling right now? So, yeah, I think there is a lot of disappointment, anger, frustration, fatigue. And then you couple that with how much the wealthy are accumulating, they're amassing right now. We think about, you know, all of the corporate billionaires whose income, their net worths have bloomed while everyday people are just left to figure it out. And I think the president kind of got at that point at a rally over the weekend when he kind of said the quiet part out loud that, you know, he's very dismissive and almost had a mocking tone towards people concerned about how much they're paying at the pump and added that right now, companies in America that are, you know, putting out their money and putting out gas and diesel, that they're, quote, making a freaking fortune. What was your reaction to those comments? I have stopped. I have learned to not have individual reactions to bullish things that he says, because the reality is, it's just it's him, right? I don't expect somebody who got his money the way he does, who has lived the way that he does and who is as unapologetic as he is. I don't expect him to be connected to the. Needs to the fears of everyday people. I've never expected him to care about that because throughout his entire tenure in elective office, he has told us such. So this was not outrageous. It was not an outrageous thing for him to say. It is a consistent thing that he has said. He has consistently indicated that he does not care about the fate of poor people in this country. He's consistently said he does not care about how hard people have it, how hard it is for people to get ahead. He is very. Upfront. He's very blatant about who he serves, about what interests he serves, and they start and end with him, the people in his life, the people in his inner circle. And that's that. One of the other things that I think it's become pretty clear the president doesn't care a lot about is protecting the environment. We've seen a lot of the regulations rolled back, particularly under the second term. When you're not talking to voters, how do you make the case that issues of environmental protection are related to affordability? How are those? How are those two connected? Honestly, I actually think that that's how we've been able to maintain the drumbeat around environmental justice when it feels it really, I think, for so many of the community felt like all hope was lost when the administration took over. I mean, it was almost an immediate cut off of any positive strides that we were taken. Right. Now, obviously, you know, we recognize, you know, from the Inflation Reduction Act to bipartisan infrastructure. Right. Those were things that were taking steps toward addressing. But I think that the fact that we were able to do that, you know, we were able to do that. We were able to do that. and then with Trump, it cut off immediately. But with the affordability crisis, it has been one of the things that's easiest. I won't say easiest, but we've been able to connect those dots for people. And people have been able to connect the dots themselves, right? That where we have environmental crises, degradation, you have something that's contributing to the affordability crisis. The data center conversation has been the thing that has just catapulted that into I think the public consciousness right now. where there are data centers, there are these very real and founded concerns that rate payers are going to see higher and higher and higher and higher electricity bills, right? That our natural resources are being just plundered, that they're being completely wasted on these projects and there is no corporate accountability. So what this is, I think what I think about data centers especially, it links the environmental crisis that we face and we have faced in our country, it links corporate greed, right? How corporations are able to take advantage of already vulnerable communities, how they really just drive through what they will call innovation or what we will call developments that has very little, not just accountability, but very little recognition of the harms that communities will have to sustain on those communities that have already sustained harm. I think of Memphis, right? community that's already an environmental justice community that then now has this thrown on top of it. And it's just compounding environmental harms on compounding environmental harms on this community. The cost to our grid, the cost of our electricity, all of those things are linked in this one topic. And it's bringing it back to the conversation of millions of people who may have been overwhelmed by the amount of things that we have to think about now. It's not that people don't care about environmental justice. It's not that people have forgotten about our climate crisis, but it is that now on top of this, they have to think about ice. They have to think about wars. They have to think about the ways in which those should just run roughshod over our government. There are so many things that makes it hard for us to keep our focus on this really important stuff. Yeah. I'm really glad that you brought up the issue of data centers, because that's something that we've been talking about a lot on the show. And we try and center the show on community voices and folks out there. When we say in your backyard, we mean it. Like what are the issues that are happening in your community? And I'm curious, there was this piece of legislation from last month that passed the House nearly unanimously. You were one of three members to vote against it. It had to do with rate hikes and utility costs associated with putting a data center in a community. And when you voted against it, you said that it was because you didn't believe it did enough. It went far enough to address this issue. I'm curious, what would it take in order to address that issue properly? And what kinds of legislation are you looking to pass if there is a Democratic majority in the House in the next few months? - Well, not even just whether we believe it doesn't go far enough, it does, it didn't, right? It has rate payer in the title or in the description of what we're talking about, which peaks the, it peaks the interest of people who are saying, "Okay, we've been talking about data centers and we've been talking about the burden on rate payers. This must be it. this must be the thing. But what it actually does at the end of the day is it's a mere suggestion almost, right? A suggestion. We don't need suggestions to corporations. We don't need suggestions to the AI industry. We need serious regulation first, first and foremost. And anytime that we leave the industry to regulate itself, we leave it to maybe develop or hope that it develops a consciousness on its own, it doesn't do it. It never does. People need serious protections, especially frontline communities. I am on, I'm signed onto the moratorium legislation, for instance, which is the step in the right direction. We already know of the just enormous amount of resources, natural resources that it takes to maintain data centers. That's a serious concern. There are no explanations. There's no accountability coming in from the industry about how they will mitigate that. The rate payer issue, absolutely. We don't need suggestions, we need assurances. What are the assurances that these communities that are already overburdened by private equity taking over our utilities, rising utilities around us, no assurances that they will actually do something about it. But what my rule fair was is that the industry and the Congress would use this as their kind of excuse to say, all right, we did something. And now we can continue to move forward. If we build data centers at the rate that we are now And with the regulations, the policies in place right now, we're setting up communities and our futures for failure. And we already know that where you see this strain on the natural resources, what is the over-reliance then? It goes right back to fossil fuel industries, which then lines, continues to ensure that the pockets of the fossil fuel industry are aligned, and it continues to ensure that the pockets of people like Elon Musk are aligned, but never the pockets of working people in frontline communities. It never considers the air quality, the water quality, in those communities. So I think that we need to take a serious step back, a serious pause to think about what we actually and what direction we actually want to go in across the country. People, everyday people are saying they don't want this. We don't want data centers in our backyard and politicians aren't listening. - I understand that. I'm just curious because I think 417 of your colleagues disagreed with the position that you had on that issue. - I don't think 417 of my colleagues even knew what my position was. it's not like we announced it on the House floor, or it's not like people are listening. - Sure, but they voted for the bill, and you and only two of your other colleagues were the ones that voted against it. So I'm just curious, like, do you think that your Democratic colleagues that voted for this legislation didn't understand what they were voting for, or weren't correctly aligned with what the voters are asking for on this issue? - No, I think some of them. First of all, I think that, obviously, we can't group everybody. I think everybody comes at legislation differently. I think the information that we get into people, 'cause these things come in fast. So the information that sometimes we get in is skewed towards the folks who want to advance something and those are the people who we have in our corner the people who i was able to listen to and take guidance from because of my work in environmental justice through the caucus uh my work throughout my time from state legislature to now right the people who are giving us advice are people who are in environmental justice communities so i was able to get their concerns hear them i was able to you know they sent it to my office they call us so these are people who we have acts who have access to us because we've created those connections we've created these tables that actually give people in frontline communities more grassroots centered environmental justice policy um advocates um environmental justice advocates we've tried to create this space so they can actually reach us when things are moving fast and i don't think that we are all doing a good enough job of making sure that those people are there so it's not to say that people just you know took a different you know consideration or they didn't believe us i think it is to say that we have an access gap in congress who actually is at the table when we're passing legislation is this what they would have wanted is this what our grassroots organizations is this what our communities are asking for or is this what the industry is willing to give us right now when we're about to leave for a month break and i think that that is a conversation that we really need to get into when it comes to how we get legislation where does it come from who do we listen to when we're making these really quick and really important decisions yeah we talked about what you want to see a democratic house majority potentially a senate majority do in the next two years after these important elections just a few days at the end of the day these pieces of legislation still require the signature of the president and president trump as we mentioned it's pretty skeptical um and and unlikely to do many of the sweeping actions that you want to do he's an incredibly pro data center incredibly pro ai incredibly pro oil drilling et cetera et cetera all the way down the list so looking ahead to the conversation that we're probably going to start having a week from now um about what the future of the democratic party is going to look like and who its next leader is going to be where should issues surrounding environmental justice fit into the conversation about what the next democratic presidency looks like i think that it's important that we not run away from environmental justice and i think that right now the the kind of nudge that we're going to get is that there are so many things going on that are immediate that we have to think about right now that we can't afford the time to think about things that feel more abstract or that feel maybe less in our control but i actually think that environmental justice is one of those issues that sits at the intersection of so many of the issues that are important so we're talking about affordability well you know frontline communities our country poor and working people we can't continue on we can't afford to continue on at this pace at this rate that we're going when it comes to uh environmental justice hazards when it comes to industry when it comes to deregulation that we see that costs somebody money it makes somebody money and it costs somebody money and when we're in an affordability crisis we have to think about the things that actually hurt everyday people so environmental justice is a public health issue uh it is uh it impacts your health it impacts the cost of your health care you know who's sicker who's shouldering the burden of those illnesses that you get because you live in communities that have poor air quality and poorer water quality that's an affordability issue it is a jobs issue absolutely when industries are shutting down when they're shuttering who's preparing our communities for future industries who is saying that actually we need resilience in our communities who is making sure that we are addressing climate resiliency so when we think about the infrastructure of our country we are in a country where bridges have collapsed and we are only going to be in a worse off position if we actually don't take steps right now that is climate justice so i think that there are many ways that we can touch it in the future administration fighting for what we need while still acknowledging the conditions that we live in of course donald trump is not going to sign anything that we care about into into law but it doesn't mean that democrats should not demonstrate what we should be fighting for and how we should be doing it that's how we'll keep the momentum to go into 2028 we have to bring more people into this into electoral politics we have to bring them into our movements and when we don't address the issues that people care most about you know what it does it tells people to stay home it tells them that this isn't a system that's going to work for me anyway so why should i even show up and we can't afford to do that anymore wrapping up on this presidential primary conversation there's been a lot of talk about your house colleague congresswoman acasio-cortez potentially being the person to run uh for president and to to lead that progressive movement uh in the 2028 primary is that something you're interested in seeing i'm always interested in the progressive a strong progressive being in the running i think it's so important that we demonstrate to the country what is possible we're gonna hear from the media we're gonna hear from it's that more establishment uh parts of our party and our country you know what we can't do and they actually have very little evidence for that they don't understand what it tonight, you know, younger people, more diverse people, into this, into the idea that we can actually build change. That's what progressive voices do when they're in the mix. So I am excited for a progressive to be in there. I actually haven't, I haven't talked to her. I don't know what her plans are, if you're asking. I actually do not know what her plans are. Would you like to see her run though? Is that, is that something you'd like to see? Excuse me? Would you like to see her run? I would like to see a progressive run. I'm not one person, no, and I'm not saying that to be shady at all. I'm saying that, that we're a movement, and that collectively as a movement, we should figure out who our strongest, you know, folks who can perform, and who are, and if it's her, yeah, I think we should get behind her. Do you think there's anybody else in the movement that would be a. I don't know who else wants to run though. Yeah, do you think there's anybody else, any other names that you think of that. I haven't heard any other yet. I haven't heard any. So it does seem like this is the pathway. We had Congressman Ro Khanna on the show. What do you make of Congressman Ro Khanna? About what? About potentially being a presidential contender. I think that every single person who wants to run for president, I want to see them acknowledge the base. I want to see them acknowledge the real concerns of working class people, and I want to see them center them in their politics. So whether it's Ro or SAOC, I want to see who's going to do that best. I want to see who is going to be the person who is running not towards what they think is the day, the issue of the day, but actually running towards where working people really are, bringing us into the fold, making sure that we are centered in the politics. I don't know between the two of those. We got decisions to make. Well, I really appreciate all of your time. I have one more question for you before I let you go about your future plans and potentially. Yeah, I'm not running for president next year. The 2028 cycle. Thank you for that exclusive. I appreciate the scoop, Congresswoman. I'm sure you'd do great. You said it, we need a progressive. We do. We need people who want to run for that though. So not for president, but I've been on the ground of the commonwealth. I've been listening to voters there, Democratic voters, people in the progressive movement, even people that maybe wouldn't describe themselves as progressive, who are not happy with Senator John Fetterman. He'll be back on the ballot potentially in 2028, at least his seat will be. Is that something you're interested in running for? I love how straightforward you are with that. I try. This is the best way to get it straight out of it. I love it. You're like, let's get straight to it. You know, it is what I'm actually interested in. This is not like obscuring. This is like not. This is not like trying to sidestep it. What I'm actually interested in is that, A, people recognize what it takes to run statewide. I am grateful for all the people who think that I should run. I hope that they know how hard it is for Black women to run for office, especially for higher office. You know, it is no small feat. When we're talking about just the flood of money in the politics, we're talking about Senate races that can go into the hundreds of millions. And I don't have $100 million. So what I actually is, is less so much about what I want to do, whether I want to run for Senate or, you know, or I want someone else to run. I think that as a Commonwealth, we need to get real serious about how we plan to actually lift up people, candidates' values that we want to see in these races. And that means that we have to get way more plugged into our electoral politics, how it works, what the barriers are. We need to start early. We need to start now. So maybe ask us on November. November 4th or 5th. All right. I'll take you up on that, Congresswoman. Take it around then. And the reason, I guess the reason I ask is, do you think on these issues that we've been talking about today, specifically environmental justice, do you think you could accomplish more for the people of the Commonwealth, for the people of the country, as a U.S. Senator than as a member of the House? That's a really good question. I don't necessarily think so, right? I am somebody who actually does believe that the two chambers are equal. We're co-equal with the president. We're co-equal with the executive branch of government. That's the way it's supposed to work. That's what I've heard. I've read that. Absolutely. And that's the way that it must if we care about our democracy moving forward. I actually believe very deeply in the people's house, because I do believe that people should willpower. I do believe that that is the opportunity for us to hear from actual diverse people, Black folks, brown folks, immigrants, poor folks, working class people. The Senate doesn't always accomplish that because of the barrier to entry. So I don't think that one is more powerful than the other. I think that the most powerful positions are the ones where you're actually using it to connect with working people. So whether you're in the House or the Senate, you can do that. I don't think senators do it well enough. I don't think that senators take it as their responsibility to be as connected to people, to like the actual grassroots as they should. I think that would actually make their position more powerful. Congresswoman Summer Lee, I really appreciate your time. Keep an eye on your inbox, November 4th and 5th. I'll send another direct question your way and hopefully we'll get a direct answer. I got you, I know it's gonna be there too. I appreciate it. Thanks again. Thanks, Luke. My many thanks to Congresswoman Summer Lee, as well as to Amber and to Samantha for making time to talk to us on this episode of In Your Backyard about the affordability crisis. I know you folks are gonna have a lot of comments about this issue. It is impulse time and time again, the top issue in this election. So please let me know below what you're paying for gas, where you live, how that's been affecting you, the utility costs, the grocery costs, all of this is out of control. And what changes you hope to see if there is a blue wave that's going to happen. In the upcoming midterm elections. In the meantime, we'll be following those results very closely here on the Midas Touch Network. We wanna keep the conversation going here on In Your Backyard. We'll have one more episode for you in two weeks. Until then, thanks as always for watching and continuing to support the Midas Touch Network. 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