Mallory McMorrow on Senate Race and Fighting for Michigan

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1:29Is that how much they care? I am burnt up over this. You're emotional. I'm pissed. This is unbelievably sad.

1:41Ben Meiselas:And that was Michigan State Senator Dana Polhanke. And you heard her right there as she learned during this testimony that the Trump regime was defunding and shutting down a state program in Michigan to bring solar energy to low income communities, which would have reduced energy bills by at least 20 percent and could have created even more than 700 jobs. And you saw that the Michigan Republican state senators refused to even be there because they didn't want the optics on camera of what it is they're actually inflicting on the people in Michigan. The people in Michigan are pissed. They see how the Trump regime's policies and the MAGA Republican policies there are hurting things based on their conspiracies about energy and how that's impacting jobs and affordability issues.

2:33Ben Meiselas:and people see their health care being gutted as well. You know, in Michigan, you have the Senate, which is controlled by Democrats. You have the Michigan House, controlled by Republicans, and Governor Whitmer in Michigan is a Democrat. But you have a full-fledged MAGA Speaker of the House in the Michigan House. His name is Matt Hall. And you'll see here, again, he says, you know, the hospitals that are shutting down, they should be saying, thank you, Donald Trump. Thank you, Michigan MAGA Republicans. here, play this clip. Yeah, one of the biggest lies I'm hearing are from the hospitals, and I really think they should consider replacing their leadership.

3:11Ben Meiselas:Is his name Brian Peters? Not a very good leader. He's leading their organization in a direction toward the Democrat Party. But I look at this, I mean, you don't hear, when are the hospitals going to say thank you to President Trump for the$250 million Michigan's expected to get from the one big, beautiful bill for rural hospitals. Cutting a trillion. When are you going to say thank you for that$250 million, which is still going to result in you going bankrupt? And affordability is a big issue in the Michigan Senate campaign for the United States Senate. I'll tell you, my favorite ad recently across the board throughout the country was state senator and the majority whip in the Senate, Mallory McMurray's ad.

3:58Ben Meiselas:She's running for United States Senate in Michigan. And her ad on affordability, again, I think is the standout ad so far, at least of this political season. Here, play this clip. Football is back and seven hours of commercial free football is not. This is just the latest example of corporate greed ruining the things we love because it's not just commercials on TV. It's also your grocery store run or chicken wings are going to cost you 19 bucks or a bag of chips, five bucks. Even beer is getting more expensive. It's a one-two punch. Tariffs that are making everything more expensive and corporations that are squeezing every last dime out of us.

4:41And if at some point this season you're headed to a game, you can expect to pay all kinds of fees on top of an already expensive ticket price. We have a system that caters to billionaires and corporations over everyday people. Chicken, chips, tickets, beer. Everything's getting more expensive. All the while, Donald Trump is telling us that prices are down at tremendous numbers. While he's selling us out to the same corporations who are jacking up prices on the things that we love. And look, on this campaign, we are talking about creating a new American dream. A lot of times, that's the big stuff.

5:14Making sure you can afford to buy a house, you can afford to start a family, you can afford to save for retirement. Sometimes it's just making sure that you can afford to take a break on Sundays without breaking the bank.

5:27Ben Meiselas:State Senator Mallory McMorrow joins us right here on the Midas Touch podcast. State Senator McMorrow, great to see you again. Talk to us about what's really going on in Michigan right now, because you see Donald Trump out there saying he's eliminated inflation. He says we're all living in a golden age right now, and it's the best the economy has ever been. That's what he's out there saying. You saw that in your ad as well. What's really happening in Michigan? I mean, none of that is true. You can't just say things over and over again with no evidence and no reality and expect that people are going to let it slide.

6:03We had, you know, Dana in her committee was absolutely right. We've got Republicans who refuse to even acknowledge the situation. Matt Hall was out there saying hospitals should be saying thank you for this backfill of dollars. It's pennies on the dollar for rural hospitals. We had a presentation in my Senate Appropriations Committee, where I serve as a member, that showed that the impacts of the big, terrible bill could close up to 13 rural hospitals in Michigan. And the researcher warned, you know, that's not all going to happen at once, but they will start closing the least profitable units first.

6:39and wouldn't you know, a hospital in the Upper Peninsula just closed its birthing unit. So there are women in the UP who are going to have to drive over 50 miles just to give birth. On top of that, you got the CEO of Ticketmaster who was on a panel this past week claiming that ticket prices are too low. So yeah, if you want to take a break on Sunday and go see the Lions, it's going to cost an astronomical amount of money because of corporate greed. So you're not going to be able to give birth, but your hospital is not going to be around. And in many rural counties, that is the largest employer.

7:10And you can't even take a break. That is what I'm hearing everywhere across the state is people are pissed and everything costs too much.

7:17Ben Meiselas:Does it feel like Trump and his kind of MAGA cabal is rubbing it in our faces? It's like 90 ,000 square foot ballroom or Trump gallivanting in the UK in golden carriages hanging out with the king in the UK. And, you know, they're turning the Rose Garden into Club Rose Garden for rich friends of theirs to like hang out and party. And also we're bailing out Argentina right now, apparently, because like it just I'm just watching this and I'm like, now we have to bail out our farmers, too. But Trump says he's going to take the tariff money, which he lies and claims there's 17 trillion. these makes up numbers and says, that's how we're going to bail out the farmers when the tariffs are what's harming the farmers.

8:03Ben Meiselas:It's all one big Ponzi scheme, but it's in plain view. And it seems like they're just giving us the middle finger. That's what I feel like every day. It's like, F you, F you. That's how I feel they're treating us. It's just a massive grift operation. You know, you had Kai Trump, I think the granddaughter of Donald Trump, launching her new clothing line, and she's taking pictures in front of the White House. Meanwhile, exactly to your point, farmers are being told that you're going to be okay because we're going to bail you out. I got to tell you, I have been all over the state. I have been in some of the reddest counties, some of the most rural counties.

8:39Michiganders do not want a handout. They do not want the government to do things for them. Farmers want to be able to sell their crops. They want to be able to buy farm equipment. They want to be able to have customers in a place like Michigan, the agricultural industry. It's a global industry. We expect to sell our blueberries and our cherries around the world. We grow more sugar beets than any state in the entire country. But if there are no customers or farmers to sell them to, having pennies put back in your pocket while Donald Trump is building this ballroom or filling the Oval Office with gold decor from Home Depot just feels insulting.

9:18It is beyond insulting.

9:21Ben Meiselas:Friday, I guess Donald Trump was in the at the Ryder Cup. And he by the way, he took credit for saving the Ryder Cup. He's like my executive order that forced the unions not to go on strike and the Long Island Railroad save the Ryder Cup and Beth Page. I'm like, OK, nothing to do with the thing, but he takes credit for saving that. But look, he's out there watching golf on Friday instead of meeting with the leaders in the Democratic Party to try to do a deal on the shutdown. You have the Republican leaders, MAGA Mike Johnson in the House and Senator Thune, but particularly MAGA Mike Johnson, ordered people not to show up to work.

10:00Ben Meiselas:How nice. Just don't show up to work. He said, don't show up on Monday and Tuesday, the two days before the shutdown. It seems that they want this shutdown. And now they're rolling out their playbook. They blame transgender people. I'm a transgender. People are to blame for a transgender for everybody. That's what they say. They go crime, crime, crime. Just say the words over and over again. And Trump's in Trump's in charge right now. What do you mean? Crime, crime, crime. I thought you're saying that you made everything perfect again. And they just go back to that. And it's like, I don't know the people in Michigan and people around the country just want people to be serious.

10:34Ben Meiselas:Like, we just act normal. Like, we act frickin normal here and just do our jobs. Yeah, you need to. And I am really proud. You know, I am the Senate majority whip here in Michigan. And despite having a MAGA takeover of our Republican Party here, our leadership, Senate Majority Leader Winnie Brinks and Matt Hall and the governor announced late last night, we have a budget deal to avoid a government shutdown on October 1st because compounding government shutdowns would be devastating for a state like Michigan. But unlike on the federal level, we are protecting a lot of the programs that we put in as Democrats under Governor Whitmer.

11:14But on the federal level, if Republicans want this shutdown, they got to own it. You know, they are trying to blame Democrats. They're trying to blame immigrants. They're trying to blame the radical left or whatever it is today. They control the presidency, the Congress and the Senate. You hold all of the power. If you want to avoid a government shutdown, do your job. Otherwise, it is on you. So when people start to see crime in their neighborhoods, when police officers are not getting paid, guess what? That's on Republicans and nobody else.

11:47Ben Meiselas:I want to pick your brain about this political moment that we're in, though, because people should remember back in 2018, you won in a red state Senate district. You flipped it. And it's been, you know, an important thing for you to speak to all people in Michigan and build consensus and and bring people together, but also never sacrificing your values at all in order to do that, but just to speak powerfully. And people in Michigan respond to that. So, look, you're running for the Senate seat, United States Senate seat there. But as you're traveling Michigan, are you learning lessons or are you seeing things there that you think this is a there's a broader thing that we're missing here in this country about where the American people are?

12:32Ben Meiselas:I mean, I think your ad on affordability hits on the issue that most Americans are talking about now because people are scared. can we afford rent or a mortgage if people are lucky enough to have a house to begin with? That's where I think people are feeling. So talk to us about that before we go. Look, affordability is real. This is what I am hearing all across the state. And Michigan has the second highest unemployment rate in the nation. So I always say to people, we are the canary in the coal mine. And what I think a lot of people are missing is younger people in this moment, particularly young college grads are struggling.

13:06They cannot get a job. We are at a place for the first time since 2021, where there are fewer job openings than people to fill them. It is a terrible job market right now. But what I am hearing from Michigan's is they're also just tired. They are sick of the fighting. They are sick of the political gamesmanship. They're frankly tired of Donald Trump. They're tired of the security theater that he is putting on and all of this content that isn't actually bringing down anybody's costs, but they just want somebody to show up and be normal. What I am hearing across the board is that there are a lot of people in Michigan who worry that all of politics is corrupt and that there is nobody looking out for them.

13:48So that's why on our campaign, we are doing as many events as we are right now. It's why we're on a statewide brewery tour. It's why when I'm going to union halls, I'm not just meeting with the leadership. I'm asking to be put in a room with apprentices who are younger and just starting their careers and may not be as politically plugged in, maybe haven't been voting, and they have been unloading on me in a way that is helpful to share how angry and frustrated they are at a very deeply broken system. But people just want to know that there's a way out of this. And that is the type of campaign that I'm running.

14:20We are showing up. We are listening. We're running ads about my own life, right? Like that's my grocery store. That's where I buy wings and beer and food for my daughter. And people want to get to know the people who represent them, not as politicians, but as real people. So I hope people will join us at McMurrowforMichigan.com.

14:40Ben Meiselas:Everybody check it out. Thanks so much for joining us, State Senator Mallory McMurrow, running for United States Senate. Thanks, man. Everybody hit subscribe. Let's get to 6 million subscribers. Want to stay plugged in? Become a subscriber to our sub stack at MidasPlus.com. You'll get daily recaps from Ron Filipkowski, ad-free episodes of our podcast and more exclusive content only available at MidasPlus.com.

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