Pete Hegseth Is the Dems’ First Target

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2:25There is a moment right after an election where the winners are just elated. They're exhausted, celebratory, motivated, all the things. Then comes the time to buckle down. That's the place where the Democratic Party is right now. Both the newly elected and the people who've been around the block. Like Congressman Adam Smith, who has represented Washington State's 9th District since 1997. We called him up on Thursday to talk about where his party goes from here. I am very, very happy that we made the change that we made. But A, the damage that Donald Trump has done to this country is deep and profound and will not be fixed quickly or easily.

3:13B, he's still president, so he will still be able to inflict damage. and see there were challenges that existed in this country that predated Trump and or don't have anything to do with Trump. And none of them are easy to fix. So we have a lot of work to do in the next two or three months to prepare ourselves to really make a difference. And I don't want to downplay the importance of what happened on Tuesday. You know, I, like many people after 2024, when Donald Trump came out and told us straight up what he was going to do. And for some reason, the American people elected him anyway. I was like, good God, what has happened to our country?

3:56I used to joke that, and I'm dating myself a little bit, that we elected Triumph, the insult comic dog, president of the United States of America. All right. Really? Is that what this business has come down to? Is who can better belittle their opponent. And that's not what we did this time. We were indecent candidates who said we want to build a better America, teachers, firefighters, veterans. So we got good candidates. We got good people. We got big challenges to come that we're going to need to get ready for.

4:31Then there's Joanna Mendoza, a newly elected Democrat representing Arizona's sixth district. Her race was projected a toss-up, and she won by nearly eight points. What is your first priority in January? When you get to office, what's the one thing you want to hit the ground with? I mean, there's a long laundry list of things, Lizzie. I mean, people are concerned about the health care. You know, Medicaid cuts are supposed to take effect here at the end of the year. But I think the top priority is economic relief, putting money in people's pockets, reinstating food assistance programs. Here in Arizona, SNAP, the SNAP cuts devastated about 500 ,000 Arizonans.

5:18And now the Medicaid cuts are going to happen at the end of the year. So I would say if I had to say three, maybe four, but three, it'd be costs, health care, and then, of course, corruption. People were really upset about the fact that their hard-earned dollars were being spent on things like, you know, a ballroom and destroying the reflecting pool and things that just aren't necessary during this time.

5:48Today on the show, two Democrats on what comes next. One who's been in Congress for nearly 30 years and another who was just elected. I'm Lizzie O 'Leary, in for Mary Harris, and you're listening to What Next. Stick around.

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9:30I started with Congressman Smith. Well, let's take a couple of the concrete things that you mentioned. Iran, tariffs, affordability, these are all huge issues for voters. Your colleague, Representative Greg Stanton, is already saying the tariffs have got to go. How do you move to do that? Right. Well, that would be the problem. We can vote to remove those tariffs. But then he could just kind of do them again. Well, he could also veto the bill that removes the tariffs. Right. You know, that's the challenge. I mean, and it's difficult because on the one hand, the problems that the American people face are right now immediate.

10:14OK, you know, gas being as expensive as it is, housing being as expensive as it is, you know, the immigration crackdown, all these things. the impact that they're having on people's lives, even as you and I talk, deep, profound, unbelievably negative. It's like getting a cancer diagnosis and someone saying, okay, five years from now, I think we might be able to get a beat on this. There is an immediacy to what needs to be done, but it is going to be difficult to do it immediately because of where Trump is at. And I'll tell you, part of what I'm going to try to argue, already am trying to argue, is we need to get him the hell out of office.

10:52All right. You know, and I know there's complications to that. Well, like before before 2028? Correct. Tell me more. Well, you know, you convince Republicans. I mean, if you were a Republican, wouldn't you wake up this morning and go, this guy's killing us? I mean, literally killing the Republican. Do you think there's do you think there's Republican support for that? Probably not. you know but i think we got to at least talk about the fact that trump's mere look let me get back to what we can actually do okay we can pass the bills repealing the tariffs we can pass bills to restrict what he's doing on immigration we can pass bills to force not to add well force ask to push for an end of the war in Iran.

11:41Okay. We can pass bills to bring back, to get rid of the cuts to Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act. All of that we can do and all of that we should do immediately. All right. And put the pressure. When you say immediately, do you mean in the lame duck? No, no, we don't have the votes in the lame duck. We don't, we don't get control. We're talking January. Yeah. When we get in charge, that's when I think we ought to do it. So, yes, we should do that. And we got to be mindful of the fact that Trump could still block it. And then hope, you know, then we got to just keep pushing and putting pressure on them to change their mind and actually address the concerns of the American people.

12:20There's a whole another layer of problem that's up, which I'll get to in a moment. But that's a starting point. Get the priorities right, push them, and put the pressure on Trump and the Republicans to say, no, we don't want to give people health care. No, we don't want to bring down the price of gas. I want to stay on Iran for a second. You're the top Democrat on armed services. Presumably, you will chair the committee come January. Should Americans expect some kind of imminent end to the war? Chuck Schumer is signaling that there would be Republican support for that as well. Yeah, no, I think there will be.

12:55One of the great tragedies of the last couple of years is that the Republican Party joined the cult. Whatever Trump said, they agreed to. You had instances where Trump would say one thing in the morning, they'd agree to it. He'd say the exact opposite in the afternoon, and they'd agree to that too. So they let this happen. The difficulty is the president always has an enormous amount of power when it comes to the use of the military. So how do we do that exactly? We pass a bill saying no funds can go to continuing the war in Iran. He vetoes it. Okay. We decide that we're not going to fund the military at all.

13:35Can we really do that? You could. Well, sorry. The Democratic Party wants to be responsible for a 21-year-old You know, private in the army down at Fort Hood, not getting paid. We want to be responsible for that. And forget being responsible for that. Is that the right policy? So that's the thing. And I know the euphoria. I've been in that euphoria before. I remember when we took the majority in the 2006 election. I just want to let people know it's not going to be as easy as it looks. What about Pete Hegseth? There is significant support. You've heard Thomas Massey say he wants to trigger articles of impeachment against Hegseth.

14:30There seems to be some momentum in Washington for that. If those articles come up, are you voting to impeach? Yes. So Hagseth is manifestly incompetent. And you think that's a good use of kind of resources and time? That's kind of what I wanted to get at. Well, that's a whole different question. Okay. Well, they're tied together. Well, yes. But in this particular instance, this is happening in the lame duck. This isn't our majority making the decision that this is what we should do. This is Thomas Massie deciding this is what we should do. And if you bring it up, I'm going to vote for it. Now, if I, I'll bet you$100 Pete Hegseth is gone before Winstead.

15:13I'm not, I'm not guaranteeing that, but I don't think the Republicans want to go through that. You know, but look, I mean, Hegseth's decision to try and prosecute Mark Kelly and the five other members of Congress for using free speech, that's an impeachable offense right there, as far as I'm concerned. You know, launching the illegal war in Iran. Yeah, no, I think he should be removed. And he's done great damage to the Pentagon. So you put it on the floor, I'll absolutely vote for it. But your larger question is a very, very difficult one. How much time should we spend investigating and impeaching and how much time should we spend on those other priorities that we talked about?

15:56Yes. And the one thing I hope we can do as a coalition is have a civil conversation about that. Let's not form the circular firing squad already. OK, because there's it's debatable. You know, what's the best way to go? I'm not going to yell at someone who says we ought to impeach him. I'm not going to yell at someone who says we shouldn't. A lot of it sort of depends on your district, you know, and look, you can read this election a lot of different ways. But overwhelmingly, we elected more centrist, moderate candidates. We won in Iowa and Kansas and apparently in Mississippi. be. But, you know, also in a bunch of other places, districts that, you know, reject partisan politics, that don't want an endless food fight between the two.

16:47Now, look, I would argue that corruption, the corruption of the Trump administration, you know, the, you know, the illegal activity, the violations of the Constitution, you know, it's just so great that this isn't, you know, we're not gratuitously trying to prosecute somebody who we don't like. We are trying to uphold the standards of our country. But we're going to have to have that debate and it's going to be difficult. Well, I want to put sort of two quotes to you, right? Hakeem Jeffries saying in an interview, voters don't want us to get even, they want us to get things done on their behalf.

17:23And then incoming oversight chair, Robert Garcia, saying among his priorities is going after the Trump crime family. These are two different things. And voters seem to want both. You have been in Congress since 1997. I would imagine that some new members are going to come to you and say, what do we do? Which way do we go? What do you say to them? Well, I think, obviously, and I think Hakeem would even say this. And look, there is a difference between just trying to get even and holding people accountable for corruption. That's the number one argument that I would make. And I'm pretty confident that Hakeem would say, you know, we're going to do investigations and oversight.

18:13Okay. I don't think Hakeem is saying, nope, paying no attention to that, just doing legislation. I think we have to walk and chew gum at the same time. Now, what we have to do, in my view, is do it in a dignified, respectful way paying attention to the law. We don't need the petty insults. If we have a crime, if we have a problem, it should be investigated and it should be handled in an intelligent way. And that's going to be difficult. We've got a big caucus. People are going to say a lot of different things. It's going to be taken in a lot of different directions. But to my mind, we have to do both.

18:51By the way, again, I don't think Hakeem would disagree with that. I think Hakeem is saying the number one priority, bring costs down without any question. He's not going to tell Robert Garcia to stand down and not investigate. That's not going to happen. Yeah. Iona Presley said the people gave us a mandate for bold, transformative policy and our Democratic majority must meet the moment. And I think that's kind of the other big question here, right, is you have voters who said like, yeah, Medicare for all. Put me in, coach. That's what I want. And then, as you just said, you also have moderate Democrats who won in surprising places.

19:31Policy wise, where do you see a winning path? Yeah. First of all, I think the only clear unquestioned mandate was we're done with Trump, we're done with MAGA. That was a clear unquestioned mandate. Then you had voters all across that spectrum. Yes, a lot of the people who showed up would have agreed with Iyana. A lot of the people who showed up would disagree with her. There's no clear, unquestioned mandate. And this is where I think we have the distinct chance to drive ourselves right off of a cliff. Everybody after an election is very quick to assume that that election means if they won, they are right about absolutely everything.

20:19We've got to have some humility here. We've got to have some spirit of cooperation. We're going to work with you. You're going to work with us. We're going to move forward. If we all come in there and say we're fighting for every last thing that we've ever wanted, we simply won't accept it if we don't get it. We're going to implode in a big hurry. Now, let me throw one other big problem at you. All right. So we have a mandate for change. And look, the one thing I totally agree with Anna Presley and with the progressives on, We have a mandate to get after the corruption, make America more fair for working people.

20:58There is not enough opportunity for working people in this country. And I think that demands a robust, progressive response. That means a better health care system, a better education system, a focus on child care. How can we make a middle class existence possible for more people? You don't get there without doing two things. One, changing the tax code so that the wealthy and the investor class actually gets back to paying their fair share like they did until roughly the 1970s. Ray Madoff, a woman, by the way, she's from Boston College and she wrote a book, I forget the name of the book, that analyzed how the tax code and all the policies change from 1970 forward so that if you make wages, you pay taxes.

21:52If you don't make wages, you really don't. We got to change the tax code, which means we got to be willing to say to the American people, if you want Medicare for all, if you want all of these things, we can't keep putting it on a credit card. So we got to raise taxes. And the second thing is we spend more money on our healthcare system right now than any other country in the world, twice as much. It's not even close. And do not get outcomes that are as good. Correct. But part of the way you fix that is you got to be more selective and restrictive about what you spend money on. I covered the ACA.

22:34I believe the words you're looking for are death panels that came up with Yeah, exactly. Right. Well, look, and I'll tell you this. I mean, you want a single payer system and I do, too. I'm a original co-sponsor of Medicare for all. Personally, I prefer the universal access programs that they have in places like Switzerland and Germany and France that seem to work better. But I don't know what the dollar figure is, but when it comes to end-of-life care, we spend tens of billions of dollars, maybe even hundreds of billions of dollars more on that than these other single-payer countries do. And that's okay.

23:17That's a policy choice. If that's what we want to do, that's fine. But where's that money coming from? Before I let you go, one of the things I hear you saying is that you have got to provide voters with something, right? Something to hold on to. But I also think the window for that something is quite narrow, especially when we're looking toward the 2028 election. So how do you give them something before they just say, ah, screw it, I'm done with the Democrats too? Yeah. I think we start with reforming the system. I think if we show that we're not going to be partisans, we're not going to – I think passing the Stock Act, I think passing an elimination to partisan gerrymandering.

24:13Um, anything we can do to reform the system so that it is fairer for people, I think would help. And then, yeah, I think we need to get rid of the, I think would also be really helpful if Democrats passed a sensible immigration policy. Yeah, it's appropriate for you to laugh at that point. I've covered politics for 25 years. I know. But here's the thing. You know, it's so simple. on its face. Secure the border, give a pathway to citizenship for the people who have been here for decades working to build up our economy, who are vital parts of our community, and increase legal immigration. I mean, it's that simple, but everyone fights this piece, that piece, the other piece.

25:06We have to have a secure border or that's going to be a problem for Democrats. And we have to take on the Stephen Millers of the world and say, no, immigration is a good thing. And we're going to give a pathway to citizenship. Because, yeah, I think getting after immigration, getting after the tariffs, and then I'll tell you what, if we could put enough pressure on Donald Trump to end the war in Iran, and here we could dive into all the different getting unstuck from that war in Iran. And I know a lot of the details about it in terms of what we're doing that is not widely public in terms of what we're doing.

25:41Getting unstuck from that is not going to be easy, but we should just end it. I mean, look, we stayed in Afghanistan too long. We stayed in Vietnam too long. I'm just going to say it. We have lost the war with Iran. Iran will be in a better position when this is over than they were when it started. We will be in a weaker position. That is baked into the cake. So get out now before it gets worse. Yeah. You know, throwing good money after bad, not, not, it was a stupid thing to do in the first place. Everybody knew it was a stupid thing to do in the first place. Continuing to spend money. I, we just got to get out.

26:30So that, that would be, if we, if we had that, if six months from now, some of the tariffs are repealed ICE has brought under control. We've restored the cuts to Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act. And the war in Iran is over. I think we can point to some progress. And then we build from there. I'll call you in six months. Yeah. And that's the thing. I hate to be Debbie Downer here because I know the euphoria of winning an election. I also know the hard work that comes very, very quickly thereafter. after. Congressman Smith, thank you so much for your time. Thank you for the chance. When we come back, we speak with newly elected Arizona Representative Joanna Mendoza about what comes next.

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30:34All right, I want to bring in a new guest now. We talked to a congressional Democrat who has been around the block. And now it's time for someone who just won a race. Joanna Mendoza, your Marine veteran. You just won a very tight race in Arizona. Welcome to the show and congratulations. Thank you. It's I still can't believe it. I want to talk about your race. This was supposed to be close. The Cook Political Report had it as a toss up. There was a one point split in polling, but when it was called, you were quite up. Did you expect to win by such a big margin? You know, we have been campaigning for about 20 months.

31:16So a lot of preparation, you know, a lot of time and effort, or as we say in the Marine Corps, blood, sweat and tears. and I think what we were sensing from people on the ground and traveling the district was that people are really unhappy right now because of what this administration is doing and because of MAGA Republicans like Mr. Siskamani who haven't stood up for them. So I think that's what we saw especially in this race. I was listening to Robert Garcia, who will be the incoming oversight chair, talk about prosecuting the Trump crime family. Those are his words. And this is something I put to Congressman Smith as well, is this question of where do you balance that anger that you're talking about from voters, that desire for accountability, with the affordability question, snap cuts, Medicaid, all of those things?

32:17How do you prioritize? Well, look, for me, my priority is the district. And it will always be the district. And so what we're hearing from people in the district is they want relief. And oversight and accountability is absolutely, I mean, we need to have it. It needs to happen. But right now, in this moment right now, we need to focus on bringing people relief. We need to put money in people's pockets. You know, we have been visiting for the last couple of months, visiting food banks throughout the district. And they have told us that the lines are just they've never seen lines like them, like those before.

32:56And they're, you know, people who are showing up, they've never seen before nurses in their scrubs coming off a shift at the hospital. You know, lots of teachers, especially teachers in public schools who are, you know, putting up pantries for their kids. It's I mean, it is devastating. And that has to be the priority. And yes, accountability is important. But right now people need relief. You are a Marine veteran. And when I was speaking to Congressman Smith, he is likely to be the chair of the House Armed Services Committee. He's a top Democrat there now. He was very candid with me. He said, we have lost the war in Iran.

33:37Do you agree with that? Well, we shouldn't have been there in the first place. And the fact that you have an administration and MAGA Republicans in both chambers who, you know, really refused to pass a War Powers resolution to ensure that our troops had what they needed to be successful in the region. And mind you, this was really done on a whim of the president and his effort to try to show force and strength, which my time in the military, we're always about hearts and minds. Diplomacy first and a show of strength or military force is always the last option. And we can't just pull troops out of there now.

34:15So it's going to be extremely important that we pass a War Powers Resolution and that we're able to come up with a plan and a strategy. And that includes rebuilding relationships with our allies and countries in that region. It has to be a group effort. We cannot do that alone. We just can't. I'm curious, when you look at the military, the DOD under Pete Hegseth, as a woman, as a Latina, how do you see these institutions that you were a part of, and how they've been transformed in the Trump administration? And how would you like to see them change? Yeah, well, I mean, I joined the military in a time where women still weren't really allowed to do stuff.

35:04So, you know, there was a lot of trailblazing done for women who were serving during that time. And there has been for a really long time. And yet a lot of women and officers of color have been sort of pushed out. They have, they have, because this is an attempt by the administration to push anybody out who doesn't agree with them. And so it's problematic because we know that our military strength comes from the diversity of this country and the people in it. And so, of course, it's absolutely heartbreaking. But what's top of mind for me is the treatment of our service members in Iran and not to mention their families.

35:40I don't know if you saw the reporting on it, Lizzie, but in Bahrain, the base there where military families were living was attacked and military families were turned away. turned away. That is the most egregious thing that I have ever heard. I mean, you have military families who are trusting that, you know, their government will protect them because their family member, their service member is serving overseas or is deployed. It is a betrayal. And what I want to see changed is I want Hegseth out of there. He needs to go. He is, he has blood on his hands. It's his job to advise the president on a strategy and the best path forward to minimize not only damage, but to reduce the loss of life in the region and for our service members and their families.

36:36And that has not happened. And he needs to go. I think there will likely be an impeachment vote on Hexeth before you are seated. But let's say it comes around in January. Would you vote to impeach him? Hexeth? Yeah. Heck yeah. He needs to go. He's, I mean, look, in the Marine Corps, we are taught, and as a journal instructor, I taught this as well, is that, you know, you take care, to lead, to be in a leadership role is a privilege. But it comes with great responsibility because you're responsible for people's lives. And Hegseth has clearly missed that boat. He's like, you know, he doesn't get it, which is very sad and heartbreaking.

37:18But at the same time, we cannot have, you know, leadership in there being appointed that doesn't understand what service and sacrifice means. And this whole administration, Lizzie, doesn't understand that. Because let me tell you something. It's not going to be the baron trumps, the kids, the baron trumps of the world going to fight these wars. It's going to be kids from small towns like mine here in Arizona, across the nation, who joined the military for many different reasons. And they're going to fight this war, not the baron trumps of the world. So, you know, we got to take care of our troops.

37:56And Hegseth isn't doing that, and he has to go. One of the things you've talked a lot about is affordability. And it was obviously something that was very important to voters. But I think one of the big structural issues here is even with Democratic majorities in the House and Senate, you still have a president who can veto things. You will still have, you know, a Federal Reserve making monetary policy. So what are concrete things that the new Congress will be able to do to address affordability issues? Yeah, I mean, I think we can start with reinstating the food assistance programs like SNAP.

38:34I mean, these are programs that have been used for decades by families. Where I grew up, there's a small, in the rural town, there's a small mom and pop grocery store. And, you know, this administration did not think this strategy through because families there who use SNAP, they buy their groceries at that local grocery store. It's probably one of the only ones that I've seen in at least the rural parts here because, you know, there are grocery store deserts everywhere, especially in the state of Arizona. but that money goes, you know, they, they buy groceries there. That money goes back into the economy, back into the community.

39:11And so, you know, it helps keep that community helps keep that mom and pop grocery store open. So you're talking about reinstating the money that was taken out in the one big beautiful bill. It's 186 billion in Snapcuts. Yes, absolutely. And working with state and, and, uh, uh, local elected officials to identify the challenges with, you know, applying for Snap because there's some additional administrative requirements. So that's a good start. And, you know, their reports, I don't know if you see the reporting, but, you know, the president has said that he may work with Democrats. I hope that is true.

39:46You know, you just never know. And I wish I had a crystal ball, but I don't. And I think we just have to do the very best. But the American people need to see the people that they elected fighting for them and not staying quiet, especially when it matters. and I'm going to work with anyone. I don't give a, can I cuss on here? Sure, go for it. I was just going to say, I don't give a crap, you know, what party affiliation. If the president wants to reinstate, he's willing to work with Democrats, let's freaking do it because it's about serving people who, you know, there's all these tallies of we won, you lost, you know, and guess who falls behind?

40:25People in our communities. What's your read on Tuesday night? Is it a vote that is a mandate for Democrats? Is it a repudiation of Trump? I mean, is it, you know, people seeing their families ripped apart by ice? Is it gas prices? Is it war? Is it all of the above? Like, when you started to watch the size of the blue wave come in on Tuesday night, was there anything you thought, oh, yeah, that was the thing? No, I mean, look, I think it's a number of different things. And this administration has certainly made it very difficult for people. And I think these issues existed long before this administration.

41:09Now, don't get me wrong, this administration amplified those to like the 20th power. And so it's just horrible. But for decades, you know, people have been feeling like government doesn't work for them. And so I think it's going to be really important for Democrats to not get too freaking excited because people are not happy with Democrats either. And we've got a lot of work to do. Like, you know, they should be seen sleep deprived, elected officials, you know, hungry, losing weight because they're working so daggone hard for the American people. And right now, I mean, they're in recess right now.

41:43So people are pissed. They are so mad, Lizzie. I can't even tell you. I'm mad, too. It is absolutely horrible. I mean, you know, I came to work. This is one of the reasons why we're like, oh, results are in. I want let's get to work. We got it. We got we have to get to work. Mr. Siskamani is perfectly fine with sitting around twiddling his thumbs. Hasn't done anything for this district. And, you know, we see other members of Congress like that. So Democrats need to be careful. And we have a lot to prove and trust to regain. So I guess for me, I always like to take I always like to take things in strides.

42:18It's like, yeah, we saw kind of a pull back away from Trump. But let's talk about why people felt they had to vote for Trump in the first place. They voted for him because they felt like maybe this guy might do something because the system had been broken for such a long time and they got burned by him and they learned that lesson, which is why they went the other way. And it's like, oh, crap, we don't want that either. But Democrats have a lot to prove and I'm ready to get to work to do that. Before I let you go, I actually want to ask you about systems, sort of about establishments, if you will.

42:53Because I think as someone who has served in the military for a very long time, you have come from a system that has been known for mobility, education, actual integration in a way that I think a lot of other systems in American life are not. And I wonder if there are things that you take from that experience that can help maybe restore some trust to other institutions, to institutions like Congress. Is there a lesson that you have from your military career where you think this will help get us back to a place where Americans feel like their government is working for them? Yeah, well, I don't think there's one specific thing.

43:41But look, in the 70s, there were, I mean, over 75 % of the government were veterans, they were, they were, you know, they had served this country. And over the last couple of decades, we've seen that number decline. I think it's a little over 20 % now in this next Congress, we're going to have a lot of veterans, including a lot of female veterans. And, you know, just to add, you know, we'll have an enlisted voice as well. There are very few. There are a lot of officers, especially female officers, who have served in Congress. And I believe there might be only less than a handful of enlisted members.

44:19I retired as a gunnery sergeant. Might I add, and to my little horn here, I'll be the first enlisted or the first female Marine to serve in Congress, and I am enlisted. and I think that perspective is desperately needed because when you're talking about who's actually doing the work and the boots on the ground, you know, those are your enlisted folks. And so, you know, I just think that we're going to see a change in this country in the military. It really is about servant leadership and it really is about serving your country and serving the people that you have the privilege to lead. And, you know, we're very pragmatic and willing to work across the aisle.

45:00And may I add that we're very comfortable being uncomfortable. I mean, we're great at that. Let's hash it out. Let's go back and forth. And we need that. We need civil discourse. We need people who are going to stop trying to grandstand or legislate by social media. And the lesson here, Lizzie, is that every single elected official who was elected in this country on Tuesday night needs to be in their communities, holding town halls, talking to people, you know, bringing field hearings to the people, making sure that people understand that their government is present and that is standing in solidarity with them to fight back against this horrible tyranny that we're seeing and against, you know, the things that are making their lives more difficult.

45:49And I plan on being there leading that charge, at least in my district. Joanna Mendoza, Congresswoman-elect, thank you so much for talking to me. Yeah, thank you. Joanna Mendoza was just elected to Congress from Arizona's 6th District. Adam Smith represents Washington's 9th District. And that is our show for today. What Next is produced by Evan Campbell, Madeline Thames-Ducharm, and Patrick Ford. Paige Osborne is the senior supervising producer for What Next and What Next TBD. Mia Lobel is the executive producer of podcasts here at Slate. Ben Richmond is the senior director of podcast operations.

46:28And Merit Jacob is our technical director. I'm Lizzie O 'Leary, sitting in for Mary Harris. Thanks so much for listening. Talk to you soon.

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