00:00So House Democrats are exploring doing this in other blue states, New York, New Jersey, Minnesota, Washington.
00:06It's already done quite a bit in Illinois, and there's some examples of it, of Democrats taking advantage of it in Nevada.
00:14But you were in North Carolina this week, and you told voters there that they need to end the process of gerrymandering.
00:20Doesn't it sound like, it sounds like you're saying that they should end the process in a Republican state, or a Republican-leaning state, but do it in a Democratic state?
00:28I mean, should there be, like, a consistent point of view here?
00:31It's confusing, isn't it? You heard Democrats in 2024 often talk about saving democracy.
00:36People in America didn't understand what they were talking about because we really don't live in a democracy right now.
00:41When one person can spend nearly $300 million to elect their preferred candidate for president, that is not a democracy.
00:48When members of Congress can choose their own voters, that is not a democracy.
00:52When Texas makes it nearly impossible for millions to cast a ballot, that is not a democracy.
00:56So the first order of business is winning political power, and then, yes, Jake, we've got to get big money out of politics.
01:03We've got to get politicians out of the process of redistricting.
01:06We have to pass the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, and we've got to make sure that we overturn decisions like Citizens United
01:12that equate corporations with people and money with speech.
01:16That will produce a real democracy.
01:18But until we are there, we have to use every lever of power that we have right now to our advantage to make sure that we're in office.
01:25Because no one wants members of Congress choosing their own voters, but we have no ability to change that until we start winning some elections.
01:32You say it sounds confusing, but others might say it's hypocritical, that you're saying this is a horrible thing,
01:37and it's members of Congress choosing their voters instead of the other way around, and now Democrats need to embrace it.
01:43You know, I think that Democrats have been so scared of being branded as hypocrites or coloring outside of the lines
01:50that it has absolutely paralyzed them in this struggle for power in America.
01:55You don't see the other side worrying about any of that at all.
01:58Donald Trump defying the Constitution, the rule of law, the courts,
02:02trying to dismantle our very democracy in front of our eyes right now where we sit.
02:06We have got to fight back.
02:08We cannot roll over.
02:09We cannot play dead.
02:10We cannot submit to them as Democrats for far too long have done.
02:14We've got to fight back with everything that we've got by every single means necessary.
02:19If we don't do that, Jake, we are going to lose this country,
02:22and the people that we serve, that we represent, that we want to fight for,
02:25they're going to be hurt even more than they are right now.
