Building the Bench

"I Want to Rubber Stamp Michigan": Rep. Haley Stevens on Manufacturing, Running For Senate, and What Democrats Keep Getting Wrong

Rep. Haley Stevens was chief of staff on Obama's Auto Rescue Task Force when Michigan was at the bottom of the Great Recession. She took calls from workers and small business owners who were scared they were going to lose everything. That experience shapes everything about how she approaches her work in Congress. On this episode, the Michigan congresswoman talks about what tariffs are doing to small and midsize manufacturers that the national headlines aren't covering, why she thinks Democrats need to stop chasing viral moments and start getting specific about solutions, and why she's giving up her House seat to run for Senate against a candidate she says wants to rubber stamp Donald Trump.

"Burn It Down or Fix It From the Inside"? A Conversation with Congresswoman Emily Randall (D-WA).

Congresswoman Emily Randall won her first state Senate race by 102 votes. She knocked more doors than anyone else in the race and asked every voter (including the ones who told her they'd never vote for her) what they actually wanted. That instinct runs through everything she does. On this episode, she talks about her sister's experience with Medicaid, why it motivated her to run, and what the Democratic Party should be building, not just restoring, when it gets power back.

“All Hat, No Cattle”: Congresswoman Julie Johnson on GOP Cowardice and the Problem With Ideological Purity Tests

Texas (and national) Republicans keep passing wildly harmful legislation legislation. Some of the lawmakers voting for it, Rep. Julie Johnson says, privately know it’s wrong. So why does it keep happening? Johnson, the first LGBTQ woman elected to Congress from the South, joins me to talk about cowardice in politics, the anger she feels watching rights get weaponized, and why she has zero patience for voters who opt out and then act shocked by the consequences. She’s also blunt: ideological purity tests don’t win majorities, red-state voices are missing from national messaging, and if you want governing power, you have to protect swing seats like your life depends on it.

Rep. Teresa Leger Fernández Takes Us Inside the Fight to Release the Epstein Files

Millions of Epstein documents are now public. Millions more remain unreleased. Congresswoman Teresa Leger Fernández, chair of the Democratic Women’s Caucus, joins Building the Bench to explain how disclosure was forced, why resistance inside Congress lasted as long as it did, and what finally made delay unsustainable. She also describes how the Democratic Women’s Caucus has pushed healthcare, caregiving, and women’s health higher on the party’s agenda by keeping those issues on the floor and out of committee limbo. NOTE: This episode was recorded prior to last week’s release of Epstein documents.

NAACP President Derrick Johnson Says the Most Important Political Battles Are Taking Shape Long Before We Vote

The vanguard of the nation's oldest and largest civil rights organization shines a light on modern voter suppression and how democracy is quietly being reworked outside of public view.