Michael Bennet vs. Phil Weiser for Colorado Governor and Standing up for All of God's Children

Hey podcast listeners, Mr. Ballon here to let you know we are now publishing four times a week on my podcast, Mr. Ballon podcast, Strange Dark and Mysterious Stories. That's right, you'll be getting four new episodes a week covering unbelievable mysteries chilling through crime and stories so strange they sound made up, but they aren't. They're all true. Don't miss an episode. Listen to and follow Mr. Ballon podcast, Strange Dark and Mysterious Stories, wherever you get your podcasts or on YouTube. Hey podcast family, welcome back. I'm Andy Beshear and this is a show where we have real conversations with real people about things that actually matter. Today we're heading west to the Rocky Mountains to be specific because Colorado is one of the most fascinating political stories of 2026. Governor Jared Polis is term limited so for the first time in eight years, Colorado Democrats get to decide who their next leader is going to be and in a state where Republicans haven't won a governor's race since Bill Owens was reelected back in 2002 whoever wins the Democratic primary is almost certainly going to be the next governor so the stakes they are high. Two candidates have emerged as clear front runners. US Senator Michael Bennett and Attorney General Phil Weiser. These are two serious accomplished Democrats and they have been going at it. They've been trading barbs at candidate forums in fundraising emails and on social media, each making the case that they are the one who can best fight for Colorado families and stand up to Washington. It's going to be a great episode where you can listen to them both and make up your mind about how and whether to get involved. Remember you can download the Antibeshear Podcast on all major platforms but head on over to our YouTube channel at Antibeshear Podcast. Subscribe and if you leave a comment, we may read it or your question on one of our future podcasts. Let's get to it. The Antibeshear Podcast is proud to be joined by Senator Michael Bennett. Representing Colorado in the US Senate for three terms, Michael Bennett is delivered for working families and children. He's helped cut child poverty nearly in half through his expanded child tax credit. He's written clean energy tax provisions to create jobs and lower costs and he secured billions of dollars to protect Colorado's water, forest and public lands. Michael has built a reputation for genuine outreach and building coalitions that deliver results. Whether strengthening rural economies, investing in broadband and infrastructure, supporting veterans or securing resources for Colorado farmers and ranchers. He has also been a national leader on education, continuing the work he began as superintendent of Denver Public Schools where he turned around struggling schools and expanded opportunities for Colorado kids. Michael is running for governor to make Colorado more affordable to stand up to Trump's attacks on our values and to protect the Colorado way of life for future generations. Senator, welcome to the podcast. Governor, that's a really nice introduction that I appreciate and thanks for having me. Well, first question that everybody is going to want to know when I'm sure you talk about it a lot on the campaign trail as you are a sitting U.S. Senator but you're running for the best job in the world. So tell our listeners why. I'm glad to hear you say that by the way because when I talk to the former governors who are in the Senate who are constantly talking about how being governor was a better job than being a senator, the minute that I told them I was going to run for governor, they all had a reason why I shouldn't do it. But from my perspective, governor, this is a moment when the real battle for our future is going to come from the States. It's not going to come from Washington DC and I think that's a combination obviously of fighting the worst instincts of this Trump administration which you see on display every single day is standing up to the lawlessness of that. But it's also a chance to be able to actually have, I think, a compelling vision of what the future of the country is going to look like. What the future of Colorado is going to look like. We are having an affordability crisis in Colorado. It's almost like we have two states. They're people that are my generation that are on the right side of the asset inflation and the increases in real estate prices all for the last 15 years or so. And then there's everyone else and there's not a county left in Colorado where anybody feels like their kids are going to be able to afford to live there and our kids are desperate and angry because they don't believe there's going to be room for them in the state that they love. So I think we need to address those questions. It must be frustrating to be in Congress, to be in the Senate right now with majorities that just won't do their job. I think about how all the founders of any party must be rolling in their grace that idea that one branch of government just wouldn't do their job with the natural friction that's supposed to be there regardless of party. What's it like living through that? It's a terrible moment. I mean, partly it's a terrible moment because the national Republican party in the Senate has become kind of a cult of personality. I mean, I wouldn't have said that to you eight years ago. I mean, there were an endless list almost of Republicans that I worked with here that were acted as people that were acting in the interest of their state and the interest of the country. And who, by the way, thought that Donald Trump wasn't even Republican in those days, much less, you know, somebody that should be in high office. And now that President Trump has won two elections. There are a lot of people here who actually feel like he's done the right thing and he's set a standard. And they're willing to benefit from the political cleptocracy that he and his family represent. And then on the Democratic side, I mean, as painful as it is for me to say this, I think the Democratic Party in Washington doesn't even understand that we were repudiated in the last election or why we were repudiated in the last election. And I think that leads us to pursue a set of choices that I think are not always the best when you're thinking about how to win an enduring majority in this country, in the Senate and obviously ultimately win the White House. We've got to do a lot better, I think, than we're doing from here. So you have a fascinating background. You've done a lot, whether it's with the legal system, whether it's an education that I know John's going to ask about. But I think one part of your background that is well-suited for a governorship is your work with the City of Denver, with your fellow Senator, former governor, John Hickenlooper. Tell us about that time, getting to work with your friend that you had helped get elected. It was great. I mean, John was a small business owner. He was owned a brewery in Denver and he set out to run for mayor and he had seven people or so who were better known than he was ahead of him. And he ultimately knocked each one off and became an incredibly successful mayor. Denver at that time had serious fiscal challenges and it had serious economic challenges. We were not growing our economy. We were not attractive, I don't think, to business at the time. And that showed up in the fiscal challenges that we were facing. And actually after the work with John, as you mentioned, I went to be superintendent of schools and again had to wrestle a really brutal financial picture into place to be able to go from being the lowest paying salaries for teachers when I took over to leading the metro area in around Denver. That required a lot of hard choices that are going to be in front of me if I am elected governor because Colorado is in really tough fiscal shape right now. Well, Senator John McColle here on the movement of public education if elected, how would you go about lifting up the public schools around Denver to get you competitive so those kids can't afford to stay to live in Denver? I think there are two big challenges. One is getting our teachers paid what they ought to be paid. That's been a challenge, you know, for decades because we're still running a system of paying teachers that was designed when we had a labor market that discriminated against women and said to women you can have two professional choices. One's being a nurse, one's being a teacher, we discriminate against women then and we paid teachers a ridiculously low wage then and we're still doing it. It's the legacy of that old system. We've got to find a way to deal with that. And then second question, I think it's such so critical. Our kids have got to be prepared when they're leaving high school to earn a living wage. Not just the minimum wage and frankly all over America, all over Colorado, kids aren't graduating with the skills to earn a living wage and that affects their earning power for their entire lives. I want kids to be propelled out of our high schools into the middle class just like the industrialized countries around the world were competing with but there's not a state in America can say that that is what they've accomplished for our kids and I hope that Colorado will be the first. If you thought about the first five days on the job, right, first five business days, what would you see as those things that you would want to do right out of the box? I would say first of all governor that I represent a state Colorado that's a blue state that's drowning in red tape and I think in the first five days that we can cut a bunch of red tape to try to make it a little bit easier for small business to succeed in Colorado. We've recently seen 25 percent of the restaurants close in Denver because they weren't able to handle a whole bunch of changes to law that some of which were really well intentioned but didn't add up for small business. I think that would be an important beginning and then I hope that we are going to be the first five days would be the start of bringing back together the civic infrastructure of our state to be able to really make some huge choices that we have to make about how to build housing, how to make childcare affordable for people. I mean the list is long but that work will start in the first five days. I think about that as the American dream and whether it's possible for the citizens of Kentucky or Colorado and you get the opportunity to love this job because you get to get up and fight for it every day. I think the other challenge that faces America is a level of division so how as governor would you try to bring people together? First of all what could be more worth fighting for than the American dream and that is what is at risk in our country and governor. I know you have been talking about that. I mean look I blame Trump for all kinds of things but getting elected is not one of those things. You know he got elected twice the American people took four years off in the middle and they sent him back. I think there's a huge there was a huge failure of national Democrats to demonstrate to the American people that we had a compelling view about how to deal with their economic distress and the fact that they believe and most Americans now believe that their kids are going to live a worse life than they lived. That's not the American dream. That's the opposite of the American dream and so we have to I think move past the rhetoric of division as you said into a place where we're actually trying to figure out how to solve some fundamental issues. I've said Colorado no working person should have to spend more than 30% of their income on housing just as an example and when I meet with young people as I did this weekend governor and I say to them at the end after they go through the litany of all the things they can't afford. I say to them what do you think would make the biggest difference in trying to change any of this and they say if we treated this country like it was one nation under God that would make the difference. Indivisible. Exactly. Wow Senator one question I'd like to put in as well is that you talk about affordability in trying to keep Colorado's kids in Colorado and then the next thing that we keep hearing from young professionals is is healthcare. How are you going to help make that affordable and then the next thing they ask about is access. Housing is the number one issue. Healthcare is the number two issue and it's amazing isn't it that Kentucky and Colorado is different as they are that those are the two the things that people talk about and in Colorado I've got people that are that young population that stayed thanks to the Affordable Care Act on their families insurance for an extra year when they're 26 but now they're saying to me what am I supposed to do Michael take two or three jobs to pay for the insurance that I'm getting and that insurance has become much more expensive and the deductible is now $10,000 and people in my state this weekend were saying to me I can't even go out and mountain bike here anymore for fear that something's going to happen to me that's the whole point of living in Colorado so I've said two things about this one we should have a true public option in Colorado so families want to have that instead of the traditional insurance they ought to be able to have it and two that everybody ought to be able to buy into the state employees health care system because it's just unfair for people to to be in the situation they're in today so most of our listeners are scattered around the country why should they care about a primary in Colorado and if they do why are you the candidate thank you thank you governor I think they should care about a primary in Colorado because they should care about every single race in this country I meant what I said earlier I think the battle is going to come from the states just like it did a hundred years ago when we were in a gilded age much like the one we're in right now it was states and it was cities and it was communities coming together to say we are going to deal with this reactionary age by reinventing you know what the future of America is going to look like and we created the circumstances there that ultimately gave FDR the fuel he needed to be able to propel a progressive movement in this country that lasted for generation that's the moment I think we're in right now I think I'm the right person for this race because I've got a very very unusual set of experiences for this job I've spent time in the public sector a private sector restructuring billion dollar enterprises I ran one of the most complicated systems in Colorado the Denver public schools where we saw dramatic student achievement growth and dealt with the fiscal headwinds that we were facing and then three terms in the Senate where you know I've served at the national level and I've learned the governor will like this I've learned you know that our answers are not going to come from a permanent game of shirts and skins where we've perfected the ability of doing nothing and blaming the other side for the fact that we've done nothing think that bringing a perspective to Colorado that has that that that sort of interesting set of experiences I think at this moment where coloring and sudden the lines is not going to get us where we need to be either as a state or a country we're going to have to make some really tough choices and have some hard conversations and actually begin to begin to fit across the table from people with whom we disagree and chart a path forward for our kids and for our grandkids before this is too late. We like to ask all of our guests not just about the what but about the why why they do what they do what is it that drives and for me it's it's my family and in my faith so what is Michael Bennett's why. I would say governor is my family too my dad it was a public servant who told me top and like yours was not a politician but he was a public servant who taught me the public service was noble my mom was an immigrant to this country she had been born and worse up Poland in 1938 the year before Hitler rolled into Poland and her entire family was killed except for her and her parents and in hand and they got to this country and they rebuilt their shattered lives in the only country in the world where I think that was possible on the one hand on the other hand I feel an intense moral obligation to my own three daughters that Susan and I have raised in Colorado and the kids that I work for in the Denver public schools and the kids all over rural Colorado whose parents want exactly the same thing as the parents in Denver want for their kids but are divided by a politics that just not advancing the needs of our state or I would say the needs of our country that's what drives me every day you know we can't give up governor that isn't that that that dishonors the the the work the people that have been in even tougher situations than the one we're in right now it dishonors their work it dishonors their hope and I think you know hopefully when we're doing these jobs the best way they can be done maybe we begin to honor that work a little bit we also like to ask our guests what their secret superpower is something that they are really good at that no one knows I you know what I would say about that nobody's ever asked me that and I think maybe my dyslexia governor which I've always viewed as a strength I think I see the world in a little bit of a different way than maybe others and and and maybe that's because early on it was harder for me to to be able to to to just read stuff in the classroom and I've had to teach myself over the years to be able to do that and also think about things I think a little bit differently what do you like to do if you get a day or a weekend off that's that that is really easy climbing Colorado's 14ers we have the most beautiful mountains in in America and you know they're not a long drive for Denver and often when I'm traveling the state for one reason or another we have the chance just to get off the road and take a hike that frankly people fly all over the world to have the chance to be able to do I get to do it right in our backyard there's that's an amazing that's an amazing thing I'd never take for granted okay let's let's say you are a year in to a term as governor what do you want people looking back on that year saying about you I want people to say that we have built a substantial political coalition across the state that's engaged rural Colorado and urban Colorado around the question of whether or not our kids are going to be able to live here and then we have spent year one getting getting ready to be a place where no working person has to spend more than 30% of their income and housing that we have a plan to be able to bring down the cost of child care they were on our way to ensuring that the kids that are graduating from our high schools are graduating into a middle class job you know I don't see this governor as a one year project I see it as a as a as the rest of our lifetime's frankly working on all this we have a lot to do to get us out of the reactionary period that we're in out of the gilded age that we're in an into a world where the American dream you know the pump is primed again for the American dreams so that when the economy grows it grows for everybody not just the people at the very top I'd like Colorado to be able to set an example for the rest of the country that can that we can learn from and that we can draw inspiration tell our listeners how to follow your campaign come to michael benett dot com and you can follow my campaign we'd love to have you as I said earlier this is one of the elections next year that's really going to matter in in the nation and we'd love to have your support and your and your good wishes michael Bennett U.S. Senator candidate for governor of Colorado who on his free time apparently just scales mountains thanks for joining us on the podcast thank you governor thank you john it was great to be with you hey everyone it's me Morgan Stewart and I have a new podcast called the Morgan Stewart show join me each week as I talk about pop culture fashion my personal life and just a warning I'm going to be giving my opinion on everything I'll also have some really fun guests to join in on the fun the Morgan Stewart show is out now listen and follow wherever you get your podcasts or watch full video on youtube there are countless reasons to learn a new language whether you have an upcoming trip plan or you simply want to learn a new skill rosetta stone breaks down your new language into bite-sized pieces and focuses on speaking practice or real conversations rosetta stones true accent feature even helps you perfect your pronunciation I mean pronunciation visit rosetta stone dot com today rosetta stone how languages learned our next guest on the anti-busier podcast is a familiar face it's Colorado attorney general Phil wiser previously we had Phil on a statement of the case Phil is a proven fighter for Colorado and a lifelong public servant dedicated to putting people first as Colorado's attorney general Phil has consistently defended the rule of law protected our democracy thanks for that and taken on bad actors who ripped off families raise costs and abuse their power when the trump administration threatens Colorado's values freedoms and constitutional authority Phil is not staying on the sidelines he's fighting back and suing the trump administration to protect immigrants voting rights and the integrity of our democracy as the son and grandson of holocaust survivors Phil has dedicated his career to ensuring that all people no matter their gender ethnicity faith or who they love are free from discrimination hatred and oppression his commitment to these core American values is deeply rooted in his family story and lived experience and he is now in the primary for governor of Colorado Phil welcome back to the podcast and he thank you for having me when we had you on last you are doing a statement of the case about a lawsuit against Donald Trump and you and other democratic a g's joined by Josh Shapiro and I have stood up time and time again I think I want to start by asking you what's it like to go to battle with the president of the united states Andy I want to start with that loss that we talked about it was involving snap benefits and during the pandemic that the agriculture sector Brooke Rollins made a mean spirited illegal decision to withhold people's access to food even though the law specified that there was an emergency reserve that should have been used and we had to go to court we were successful obviously the government shut down when this was happening was short lived and so we did get the funding online for that reason but before that happened during the shutdown we were able to go to court to protect access snap benefits the same thing happened a second time just to Colorado Andy it's worth noting this agriculture sector is part of an effort to punish Colorado because the president doesn't like that Tina Peters a former county clerk who broke the laws in jail and we have male invoting they've singled Colorado for these punishments severe measures he's called it one of them was to try to take away snap benefits from 600,000 Coloradans relying on their next meal we went to court a second time against his agriculture secretary and we're successful there as well as you you had to sue twice just so people could have enough to eat that's right yes this agriculture secretary should be ashamed of herself she also was sued a third time by me because she fired for service firefighters and we had one of those firefighters come speak to a meaningful state AG group you know this group well Andy you're still I do one of us in spirit we heard from Maria Washburn a firefighter who was basically told to leave her job right before fire season we went to court got her job back she talked about the lies this agriculture secretary had told about the forest service so some people are willing to make excuses even try to say nice things about some of these Trump officials who are breaking the law on the harming people I'm not and so I could say what is it like it is a test of your fearlessness are you willing to fight for what is right are you committed to standing up for the rule of law or are you afraid that is the key moment of this the key question of this moment and I'm never going to be afraid to take on a bully I am always going to fight for its right so you are standing for election but a lot of Americans are worried about whether they're going to be free and fair elections but you're an attorney general so I know you're pushing back tell us about your game plan three points and we just had a meeting of democratic AG's we're talking about this first important point is we need we the people mobilizing and no kings rallies at other moments making clear just like we saw in Minnesota peaceful protesting we are going to stand for our democratic republic we are not going to let elections be quote-unquote nationalized you're in referred way that's going to be a very important part of our strategy number two our constitution is clear and I I went to the Supreme Court and argued a case personally on this issue and you may remember this issue around faithless electors could states require those electors to represent the people are not my argument was states have the full authority to oversee elections I won that 90 we're going to once again stand up for that principle and third if they're shenanigans that are being pulled to intimidate voters we're going to do everything we can to have resilient safe and secure elections in Colorado we design our elections in a gold standard way that makes it harder to interfere with them other states could take a page from our book on that so your attorney general your opponent's a US senator tell us why you think that your service as attorney general better prepares you to be governor three points Andy I want to touch on the first is my experience standing up for our constitution for the rule of law and pushing back against this lawless bullying administration is something on people's minds Senator Michael Bennett is voted for more trumps cabinet than almost any Democrat in the senate Brooke Rollins who we were talking about before someone he voted for and says he continues to stand by that vote and support her service even as I've had to sewer those three times I disagree with that approach a second issue and and you know this well I don't think there's a better job that prepares you to be governor then attorney general I represent every agency and state government I worked with you on the opioid crisis in Colorado has a claim to have done the best job dispersing those funds in a way that from John Oliver to Johns Hopkins school of public health has been praised as a national standard I've had to work with our government to get things done I am also this is my third point running a grassroots campaign we've got 90% of our donors from Colorado we've gotten more state and local current and former elected officials who've endorsed me by far then have endorsed senator Bennett even though he's been in elected officer decade more our grassroots campaign is both why I should win and why I believe we will win Bill John McConnell here gonna jump in with a question when we look at affordability across the country and also in your state what are your plans for helping the people of your state cope with this but I quickly go through three areas on people's minds housing health care and childcare on housing the great recession broke our housing market in Colorado starter homes that used to be available that teachers could afford that nurses could afford they're no longer in the Denver metro area to take a notable example meaning people are commuting an hour more now in a way that I believe is just wrong it's wrong for our climate it's wrong for our transportation system it's wrong for our communities I want people who are police officers to give the coach the local little league teams to be close by in case there's an emergency and right now in so many of our communities in Colorado not just in the Denver metro area but now communities and others that's not possible we need to lean into this challenge with several different strategies first when permitting cost are too high and permit takes too long we need to make sure we address it so the incentives are right so people can build housing that is market rate housing but it's also affordable that that was happening before the great recession I purchased one of those homes they don't exist anymore we need to make sure that government isn't part of the problem disincentivizing this building but instead we created a system that incentivized it also on housing we need more innovation modular housing 4% of housing and sweet now is modular housing Colorado we're barely using it even though it's 20% quicker 30% cheaper I'm going to lean into it and third we need to make sure that our state government is an effective convener making it easier for people getting access to programs that support affordable housing and right now we're making it too hard I'm going to make sure we've got a unified sent a coordinated strategy that's going to get this job done on health care we need to make sure that we're creating more competition in the health care using innovation and technology have a can and making it a health system not a sick system if we don't treat diabetes upfront helping people live healthier lives get access to medication then we're dealing with them in the backend with dialysis or even amputation it's more expensive we also need to make sure that we're taking on big farm effectively lower the cost of prescription drugs and finally a third point is child care which in Colorado is among the most expensive it is in the nation we need a collaboration between our state government where we can build the child care solutions fund making sure we're training people certifying people appropriately and local governments making sure that we're building capacity we need this is challenging work I've done this work at the state level I mentioned my leadership on the opioid crisis and youth mental health and more I'm ready to get to work on our affordability challenges well feel that kind of leads in the next one to if elected governor what are the first three priorities you would tackle on day one first one is making sure that we are defending our freedom standing up against this administration number two the affordability challenges we just talked about number three opportunity for our kids I want to talk about this because I know it's an area that Andy and I share a passion we talked the last time I was here about the work we've done protecting AmeriCorps and service I know young people are hurting we've got a not just challenge around workforce development but around almost a spiritual challenge that people don't feel a sense of belonging purpose I want young people to know we care about them that's why I want to build a mentorship program in Colorado so every young person has multiple mentors right now 40% of young Coloradans have no mentors we need to do better we need to make sure we got workforce development pathways young people have hope about a good job including in key trades like plumbing or as an electrician that we're not training people for and I want to create a Colorado core where young people can be in public service across Colorado law enforcement firefighting counseling nursing and teaching I know how impactful that can be both to the communities and for the young people those are my top three priorities you're listening to the Andy Beshear podcast our guest Colorado Attorney General and candidate for governor Phil Weiser Phil as Attorney as Attorney's General one of our I guess I'm a former jobs is public safety as governor what would you do differently on public safety and then also common on the fact that right now public safety is being impacted negatively by a federal law enforcement agency ICE who now has an American body count and whose aggressive tactics are unlike anything I've ever seen in professional law enforcement Andy this is another distinction between Senator Bennett and myself you can look at our 100-page CODA blueprint that covers the waterfront including the plans for public safety I'll talk about now Senator Bennett hasn't talked about any plans for public safety it's not an area he's familiar with I am prepared to take this issue on let me tell you what we need to do first I mentioned Colorado core and recruiting more people into law enforcement in too many parts of Colorado including in Denver we don't have enough law enforcement which means some victims car thefts people stealing from a business harassment scams we are not holding criminals to account victims are not even being responded to I'm committed to addressing that situation recruiting training more people into law enforcement to making sure we're responding effectively number two we need smart prevention strategies so the young people who might be suffering and acting out we're asking are you okay what's going on at home finding ways to support young people I mentioned mentoring program before not having people go into a school to prison pipeline and third in Colorado we need to do so much better in reentry the most likely people to commit crimes are those who are leaving prison 45% of the women Colorado end up committing crimes the national average is 37% we got to do much better in reentry I've been developing plans on how to do this and I'm committed to making a difference this governor and as for ICE you are right the lawlessness and the harm that they are causing makes our communities less safe which is why I have set up an online system where people can report crimes by federal agents whoever they are ICE or to patrol what have you and we can work with law enforcement we're ready to prosecute these crimes because accountability is important nobody is above the law now as we're here taping you're part of this episode we've just come off a big Supreme Court case on tariffs I know you were part of that lawsuit and so was I this is Trump's Supreme Court ruling against him which means what he did must have been really really unconstitutional and him saying always going to do it anyways so again knowing that the episode isn't going to air for a couple of weeks and taking that into consideration I still want to ask what comes next this is an important moment to review and I like your standard there's unconstitutional there's really unconstitutional and there's really really unconstitutional there's a reason that no other president had attempted to claim this sweeping authority that literally as claimed had no limits at all and would basically rewrite the constitution the constitution says the power to tax the paradigm post tariffs it's in the legislative branch a current president wants to take all power away from legislative branch the Supreme Court said you can't do that that's an important statement with the president having broke the law and the tariffs declared invalid the question that will now go to the local court the trial court should say is what happens next and the president will need to offer a plan for how to remedy the harm how to fix this illegal conduct we will obviously be fighting for our citizens to be remediated to have essentially the type of repair that needs to happen because people have been paying too much money on account of these illegal tariffs and businesses have been harmed and disrupted I've heard from a number of them Colorado that this has been a major challenge for them so our job now is to make sure that it's right for people that's the next step fighting for that at the trial court it had ironic that president trump once talked about wanting to cut every American at check for tariffs and now he might have to irony can be pretty ironic sometimes so tell our listeners that are outside of Colorado why they should be interested in this race and why you're the right candidate and I want to start with something I've learned from you Josh Shapiro and other state AGs which is if we do not elect Democrats across the nation who walk the walk of showing up really listening to people and fighting for them than our parties in trouble we need to make sure that authentically committed public servants you know how to get stuff done are the ones winning up and down the ballot I've gone to every county in my state I've worked on the opioid crisis set up a framework that's making a credible difference fentanyl deaths in Colorado last year on record went down by 31 percent I've worked on the youth mental health crisis how we protect air water standing up for consumers I've been doing the work in the right way that's the sort of leadership we need you can learn more about me at fill for calado dot com and that's the sort of spirit that I come to public service with which for me is something I learned naturally because I am a first generation American my mom and my grandmother both survived the Holocaust and were liberated by us army soldiers in the six armored division on April 18th 1945 and my family the difference between my mom being liberated and my being here's attorney general is one generation where I've lived the American dream of freedom and opportunity I want that for everybody I believe in making government work for people be honored to keep serving and anyone here looking for candidates to adopt and support take a look wow as before we let you go we do like our audience to not only hear about your ideas but to get to know you a little bit and I think they just did through that powerful answer um but let me what is the very first thing if somebody's visiting calorado for the first time that they should do you ask me to pick between my kids of course one thing is is hiking no you can't I can't do this I love calorado through and through and there's so much to do here in every part of our state depending on what you prefer and how well the nuggets are playing you know there might be a nuggets game to watch there might be a hike there might be skiing there might be the great sand dunes there might be incredible rafting there could be fishing you can be here for weeks and weeks and just enjoy our beautiful state I recommend you check it out this is like when someone asks me the governor of Kentucky with my favorite bourbon is but I will tell you my favorite child is the dog she doesn't talk back um we we uh we we didn't have a dog until the pandemic and now we're totally hooked and our dog has an Instagram account the people's pooch so you can follow Zeke you can see him in his fill wiser for governor dog bandana uh we are dog people now we we refuse to get witty her own account because no one would look at ours though fill what is your secret superpower what is the one thing that you're really good at that nobody knows about well people who watch me know this my energy level is I don't know how to explain this but it's it's more than the normal human true I am able to go go go because I feed off people and so I constantly are energized and that helps me on the trail because people are looking for someone who connects looking for someone who shows up with energy and I do think that is my superpower fill wiser current attorney general and candidate for governor of Colorado thanks for coming back on the podcast thanks for having me and you great to be with you guys hey podcast listeners mr ballin here to let you know we are now publishing four times a week on my podcast mr ballin podcast strange dark and mysterious stories that's right you'll be getting four new episodes a week covering unbelievable mysteries chilling through crime and stories so strange they sound made up but they aren't they're all true don't miss an episode listen to and follow mr ballin podcast strange dark and mysterious stories wherever you get your podcasts or on YouTube if you're a parent and want to help set up your child for success then ixl is a right for your family as an effective and affordable online learning program ixl covers math language arts science and social studies using interactive practice problems for kids from pre-k to 12th grade listeners can get an exclusive 20% off ixl membership when they sign up today at ixl.com slash 20 visit ixl.com slash 20 to get the most effective learning program out there at the best price our next segment on the anti-bishear podcast is the return of statement of the case in this statement of the case we're going to talk about the Christopher street project to do so we have tyler hack the founder and executive director of the Christopher street project before starting Christopher street tyler organized to elect democrats up and down the ballot did the field work the fund raising the communications and campaign operations did it all tyler founded Christopher street after republicans spent over two hundred million dollars to exploit transgender people during their campaigns attacks which some democrats decided to adopt the name Christopher street project pays homage to the legacy of trans people to forefront of the gay liberation movement and tyler's great uncle mark sheer who was beaten up by police in the stone wall riots welcome to the podcast thank you so much for having me governor now we're glad to have you so you've founded the Christopher street project at age 19 years old what was what was the moment that you knew you had to do this i mean in the fall of 2024 we saw these attacks by republicans putting trans kids on tv kids who never wanted to be in the spotlight and being used as political footballs by the republican party and we saw a failure of leadership by many individuals in our party and standing up to those attacks and as we saw the election result we saw a few democrats scapegoat trans kids for the loss instead of focusing on the actual issues that most voters most voters um care about which are affordability um the the cost of living crisis and now these reckless tariffs ice running rampant in our streets i mean there's so many other things going on and yet some people in our own party chose to weaponize transgender kids and i just thought that that was makes acceptable we are in a moment of rebuilding our party and we need to center it around leaders who have a moral backbone who are not willing to throw anyone under the bus and are actually willing to build broad coalitions to bring more people in to this movement well and i i hope people saw in my reelection in 2023 that you can stand against discrimination and still win anywhere yeah absolutely i mean you are the blueprint in in many cases of what it looks like to stand up for trans kids and that not being a liability but actually being an example of an elected official being truthful and honest in this moment more than anything else people want leaders who are honest with them or bold and we'll just tell it like it is and you showed your willingness to do that and we need more leaders who will speak in their own voice you know there's not a one size fits all model for how to talk about these issues or any issues but we'll actually bring folks to the table in in conservative areas and talk about what it means to be trans fighting back against these these conservative attacks tell us what the Christopher Street project does day to day yeah we exist to build political power for the trans community that looks like going around the country and electing leaders who will fight for our rights and freedoms our first endorsement was Adali Degree Halva now congresswoman from Arizona 7th who served for 20 years on the Tucson unified school district board fought for trans kids there as a county supervisor and just shows what it looks like to be a meaningful ally and is now one of our top champions in the halls of congress there are lots more opportunities to elect folks or champions Adali Degree Halva one of our top champions in congress and we're looking at opportunities to expand the map to support Democrats we're running in tough districts we know that there is no pro-equality majority without a Democratic majority and we are ready to invest in a few seats where we have bold candidates were willing to say it like it is and defend trans kids against Republican attacks and then we work in the halls of congress to build support behind things like the trans bill of rights the 988 used suicide prevention and other pieces of legislation that would not only defend us against Republican attacks but safeguard our rights freedoms in years to come we can't have another situation where a Republican president and a majority wants to come in and strip away our rights and freedoms for political points and we just let that happen we need real legislate of safeguards and we're building the support behind those so that in 2029 we can hit the ground running and enact those bills actually building up a firewall of support behind the trans community that no rogue president can undo so I think our our podcast audience is very empathetic some might not know well a trans individual if you can describe what this discrimination what this hate coming from some feels like I think this is something that every trans person who's dealt with discrimination and it's no different than discrimination against any other marginalized group something we say Christopher's three project is our freedoms are intertwined we are fighting for the rights of our immigrant siblings who are in ice custody and our misgendered detention conditions and fighting for the rights of people in every space because there's no one issue that's a trans issue I think the difference in in this moment is we are up against the full force of the federal government in a way that even under the Bush and Reagan administrations and other times they just haven't been so laser focused on this the DOJ and plenty of other agencies are really doing everything they can to invalidate the identities of trans people and it's a big weight for trans people and Americans to feel like the full force of the federal government is against them it's discrimination is never okay and we know that when it's someone on the street or it's someone in an online forum that at least we can tell ourselves that that's an isolated incident obviously transphobia as a pervasive illness in this country as as our so many other forms of bigotry but there's no denying when it's coming from the federal administration that the cruelty is the point it's really hard and we need to stand shoulder to shoulder with anyone who has ever experienced any form of adversity which is essentially everyone in this country and say you know we're not letting anyone be attacked by this administration and we we will stand shoulder to shoulder with anyone who will stand shoulder to shoulder with us that's the way that we build ourselves out of of this place as we close out tell our listeners how they can follow the Christopher Street project yeah please go to Christopher Street project org for more information we for train save visibility we are rallying on the national mall on March 28th with many elected leaders drag queens some amazing activists and if you can't make it in person in DC please follow along and support our work and I just want to say thank you governor for giving trans kids a voice in someone that they can look up to I think there are a lot of people who are looking to score political points in this moment and you stood up for trans kids in in a moment where a lot of people were telling you not to and that means something to our community and we won't forget it all kids are children of God and I don't like bullies so Tyler thanks for joining the podcast thank you governor you're listening and hopefully watching the anti-busier podcast this is a podcast where we have real conversations about things that matter it's supposed to be a conversation among friends and that's why we regularly do a segment about my conversation with the Johns two of my friends that help me start this podcast but today it's singular it's a conversation with the John in this case John McConnell how you doing I'm doing good so it's the John today so I'd like to say you know we do miss John Rubinowitz kind of kind of if it's always good to have him here but there will be very few shameless plugs for small businesses because of that that's right there's going to be no free advertising today that's right that's right so John we hope you're having a good time but we do miss you so what's on your mind well gonna ask you real quick it looks like you did a little traveling in the last couple of days and may have spoken in a specific county with a certain audience possibly I was in Butler County Ohio on Saturday night there's a Democratic dinner sold out 400 plus strong it was the largest fundraiser the county had ever had but what makes this unique is that Butler County is where vice president JD Vance is actually from instead of Appalachia and Breathic County where he pretends to be from I'll be honest your former senator and now our vice president burns me up he wrote an entire book the traffic and this tired stereotype about the people in my state call on the people who mine the coal to power the industrial revolution helped us to win two world wars he called him lazy he said that addiction is the fault of the people struggling not the opioid companies that flooded our communities with thousands of