Transcripts For CSPAN2 NC 20240704

Hi everyone and welcome to next on Washington Post live where we talk to rising and influential changemakers. I Cover Congress with the Washington Post. Joining me today im very excited about this is anderson clayton, she is the youngest Democratic Party chairwoman across the country and just 25 years of age. Of course she is representing North Carolina, which many are looking at as a state that could potentially change the way that democrats win obviously not just about the state but across the country. So thank you for joining me today. Thank you for having me. I appreciate the opportunity to be here. So many questions for you. But i do want to start a little bit on the National Level because it seems the Biden Campaign is zeroing in on North Carolina. Remember back in 2020 i think biden had a couple of staff i was there with him i think at one, but it didnt seem to be enough and then this is something that on the National Level democrats seem to be needing to make more in roads and that is something that i think is a big platform for you, but a democrat hasnt actually one, democratic candidate hasnt won a since obama. So this is basically a lot of things are falling on your shoulders and i want to talk about how youre advising the campaign and what are some of the things you are doing in North Carolina to really make abled of the voters feel the Democratic Party is listening to them. That is a great question. Joe biden lost North Carolina by 74,000 votes and a lot of people look at it as though thats the opportunity state this year and i agree with them. I think we have a huge opportunity to really reach out to democrats that didnt turn out in 2020 and again in 22 because they havent really felt energized were motivated by whats happening on the ground right now. And so part of what i think these Biden Harris Administration and campaign this year really needs to do is show up in North Carolina more than they ever have before, because i think that the idea right now is if the Democratic Party has a messaging problem and i really dont believe that. I believe we have a showing of the problem because the Democratic Party has done so many Amazing Things for Everyday Americans right now including two major programs Affordable Connectivity Program that came out of the bipartisan infrastructure act, and then also 35 a month of insulin relief for people that are on medicare right now and thats something those two programs are directly impacting seniors and working families in North Carolina and not to mention when we talk about the amazing impact of the biden economics on bringing manufacturing jobs back to rural North Carolina. They havent seen the Economic Development take place where the natural future be put forth in them i think and along period of time so i want joe biden and harris to come to North Carolina and run strong on their record and also drum up that energy and excitement that we didnt have in 2020 and 2022 on the ground. My part in that right now is going to all these counties we are crisscrossing the state. I was just in fair county and then Bladen County and then we were in Wilkes County and we are just trying to get out and active anywhere we can. You mentioned there isnt necessarily a messaging problem but to your point, you just have to show up. So when the candidates are out and about whether it is biden or someone who might be running for senate, governor, who are these voters the Democratic Party should be talking to . I think everybody. I dont think we take a vote for granted in this cycle and my job is to do two things, protect my incumbents and if i do both of those, he does win in 2024 because we know that the 134,000 people that the 74,000 people that got out for joe biden were democrats and its the same trend that we see happening where democrats get beat up every cycle to the point that we feel like our votes dont matter anymore and North Carolina when you have a history of the Voter Suppression through the racial gerrymandering in the state, it is hard to see how we can come around from that and peoples minds obviously where theyve been to the ballot box every year and want to see change and voted for it and weve been able to keep the democratic governor the democratic attorney general along with donald trump on the ballot. Its not a monolithic state and i think that we have to treat the voters like that that people are independent and they think on their own and they want to see what a candidate is going to bring forward and offer them. Books are disenchanted with both parties and that part of that is because they havent done a good enough job. You focused a lot on the rural voters making sure you are knocking on their doors and letting them know the party is here. Can you talk a little bit more aboutt that . Because from my point of view from capitol hill a lot of democrats are starting to realize okayti if we want to mobilize not just our base, we lost that working class 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 see that a change in how you yourself are trying to encourage people to listen to this. I think that it was a wakeup call for folks when donald trump got elected because people kept looking at me saying how did this happen. Folks felt like they were not heard by either party and when you e have somebody that can tae the riled up anger of folks that felt ignored by politics for so long and really tap into that that is what donaldd trump did. My dad voted for donald trump in 2016 and i told that story a lot because he was angry at the Democratic Party and felt like they left him behind in some way and for me thats because the Democratic Party stopped showing up in communities that look like mine and for me i think it isoka big part of rebuilding and reenergizing the trust that the Rural Communities had in the democratic number at one point in time and that isnt to say that i dont understand of the racial dynamics year that we are dealing with. But for me rural North Carolina has the secondhighest rural population besides texas when it comes to people and we have one of the most diverse rural populations especially thinking that eastern North Carolina where we have the majority black and brown counties that still exist and i think people often times forget it doesnt mean white, and i know that for the folks listening from iowa and other places like organized they might be like i dont know about that. But in the south, the deep south, that is, the truth and i think that the Democratic Party has an amazing opportunity to look at this is a Sleeping Giant in a lot of cases into thinking about how we build a strategy that helps the states legislatures in thehe deep south to utilize the black and brown power that we have in the states to listen to them and to uplift them and to have them become elected officials and put them in positions of power. I thought that the way to organize in the communities was toth go home again and in the 20 when it was the first time that the democratic majority had ever had control over the city council and it was a majority because the city and roxborough never had their voices fully represented on the board before and we did that and i think that is possible across all of rural North Carolina also pleases we didnt expect it because we had intended the democratic infrastructure built in before. You mentioned how people just want their boys to be heard, represented in some way. What are you hearing the top issues are people are concerned about in North Carolina that someone in the National Party wanted to call and just explain to me what should we be talking about to these people. Like this is what i hear all the time. Folks worry how to pay their next bills. They mightom be working for some folks in some cases but it hasnt had that impact on everybody and that is something the Democratic Party needs to own is the pandemic is here for a lot of folks and not everybody bounces back from that as quickly as we expected them to or as everybody anticipated so talking to folks like what do you need right now and going back tow . The party with mutual aid to make sure we are helping folks access these programs that the Biden Harris Administration has put into place to be able to help pandemics bounce back because a lot of that happens at the federal level and never makes it down. Every day people are not living right now. They are surviving and we need to make sure that we are helping them do that. One issue rounding out the democratic base, North Carolina had the abortion ban earlier this month. Is that something that youve been hearing from voters as well and is it the issue itself or some people say i dont want the government in any part of my life how are you looking to message on that issue . I think it depends on where you are in the Rural Communities people say you dont have to give a different message it just has to be one but i think it does. I think that you change the message depending on who youre talking to because some people feel differently about abortion than others. If im on a coach campus my want to talk about the fact that abortion is human rights and something that weve had our entire generationme and its of taken away from us at the federal level and its about to be completely at the state level. And i think this whole election is about using or gaining rights and whether we do what are the other but we are not talking about the Rural Communities. Im talking about the bodily autonomy and the fact that we want women to be able to enter into the workforce and not have to feel like they are forced to begin to the 1950s in some way when all we were meant to do is stay at home and read to children. In the Rural Communities that is one point in time it was a womans place and i think we are having to talk aboutth the fact that women offer so much more to a family than just being a mom sometimes. But i think women in the workplace is a huge part of the economy and our culture and something women dont want to be have to regress backwards. They understand that better than anybody. I want to talk about candidates and recruiting them. Youve mentioned your own frustration to represent those voices that youve been talking about . In 2023 we had 1600 going on in North Carolina right now. Finally ended last friday. Of the dream is supposed to be able to contest every single one of those raises so really building out the longterm vision for what the Democratic Party should be doing here year after year we did have over a thousand democrats file so i dont know that so many went uncontested but we did have a few. We are utilizing all that weve done for the municipal races. I want to make sure that that is not the case again. I want to ask a littlee bit about yourself because its impressive where you are at 25 years of age to overhaul the state party in different ways. Something that is interesting to me, a lot of people within our age range, and you kind of said this too, people are like i want to be involved in politics but literally nothing changes. So whats the point of me getting involved if i wont have any effect . When youre talking to Younger Voters through your own story, how do you make sure that you engage people like yourself and say look what im doing. This is how i got here and you could possibly do this as well. I told that story all the time to the point that i hope people get tired of hearing it in some cases because i think that it is such a testament to what you can do without knowing youre going to win an election. It was never about that. It was about putting up a fight inup a rural county that i grewp in where people didnt expect democrats to win and they sat there and said anderson, why are you messing with of the city council, why do you care about those raises and i said i can get people to believe at this level i know i can get them to believee every level after this. When they see changes in their own backyard, they are able to envision it elsewhere as well and i think that there is a power getting people to realize that that was t a young person that did that and go to people energized. That theres a huge opportunity for people to make a change in their own backyard and not just be the people that are running campaigns but also being the candidates and i want to see people step up and run for office because while i think that sometimes both parties might be broken theres one party thats worth fixing and oneparty calling people into it to help them and that is the Democratic Party and i think young people have every opportunity to get engaged and bring their ideas into the party. That is what is inspiring to me and what helps me run for this office i did it with a great group of people that ran with me and behind me to make this happen and i think the party will start hearing a generation muchge louder and of the the lep roles within the party and i think that is important. An audience question from texas. She says is it easy to register young people but getting them to go vote is difficult. The mistake is bringing folks out of college to get out the vote or help organize them and i think we need to be tapping folks that are already on those campuses. They go out onto the campus and grab up College Democrats and trained them on how to be field directors and managers and reallyto make them latch onto campaigns that allows them to utilize skills and also ask questions and gain more knowledge about how to go out there and organize their own campuses and it creates this machine of just young people who are organizers coming out of the mountains in North Carolina and if they do that every year and in 2016 when they went red the first time in history they turned out to vote in droves. They contacted them and went back to see the main campus. Its something i think the young voters again feel like they might be doubted simply because they are younger. You are in this position and im curious your advice to others that might be a little put off about jumping in because they are a young. Its not been easy. When i came into this job they said they wont be able to raise money and im happy about my reports that came out because people are energized by a vision even though it doesnt matter who it comes from as long as it exists. I think they have seen that come out of the Democratic Party in a way that we have not been able to articulate or really envisioned before hand of what that is supposed to look like and that game we have been talking about for a while and how we playhe it and i think tht the advice that i would give is i never expected to win and thats been the beauty of every election since ive been out of college i ran really hard and wanted it more than anything and i showed people that there was another option and i believe that is what young people right now are going to show this party and at this country is that there is another way of doing things and we have an idea to bring everybody together to a coalition like we need that is multigenerational that doesnt just include young people that is led by young people with the advice and opinions of those that have come before us and fought the fights long before us. And i would say dont give up and dontd be afraid and remembr your why because the first time i decided i was going to run for the position somebody said as long as you know that and you trust that you will never regret running for something or putting yourself out there like s you he and i didnt. It was because i was angry and ready to see something change in my party andan i knew if i wantd to do that i had to be it and the secretary of state who is in arizona right now has a great quote for thatr and says if it s to be its up to me and i think that young people have to hear that and owned that because we dont feel that right now. Before we go i have to ask you are filling out a pretty impressive resume. Are you thinking of running for Higher Office anytime soon . No. I told everyone when i got into this i want to help the Democratic Party. I didnt know i wanted to be the state party chair. I fell into it in a lot of ways just wanting to see some changes happen but i think theres a huge opportunity to continue this fight and i know im always going to be a good foot soldier along with everybody else. Thank you so much for giving us the time and giving us your perspective. Good luck out. Thank you again for joining us. Thank you. I appreciate it and also thank you for interviewing younger people. This is amazing andomething. We are going to kick things off with Brendan Peterson a Financial Services reporter for punch bowl