“Democracy in Color” Podcast from Lantigua Williams and Co. Is Essential Listening During Primary Season

Democracy in Color offers necessary insights into the major primary races around the country shaping the November elections. Host Aimee Allison and her guests get to the bottom of what’s important and what’s at stake.

“I have a singular mission which is to flip the House this November,” Congressman Ted Lieu told host Aimee Allison, President of the advocacy organization Democracy in Color. “We have to flip 24 seats to take back the majority… We’re now targeting a hundred and one congressional districts.”

In this revealing episode, Lieu maps out the Democratic strategy his party plans to set in motion to regain control of the House of Representatives. He says he is confident that a trend is emerging. “We won a seat in the red state of Oklahoma. And then this year, you look at the special elections we won, amazing differentials in Kentucky. We won a seat that Trump won by nearly 50 points and our candidate won by 30-some points for a differential of 86 points,” he explained. “I don’t think that’s ever happened in US history. We flipped a rural state Senate seat in Wisconsin by over 25 points. So when you look at that, then you’re like, maybe 101 seats is not so crazy that we’re targeting in November.”

There are also political newcomers gaining national attention because of who they are and the ideas they bring with them. Detroit native Rashida Tlaib, a Muslim-American Congressional candidate, has been vocal about the need for elected officials to look away from Washington and its power base and focus on the voters who got them there. “People are waiting to be asked, to be engaged, and to help. And I think a lot of us don’t understand that direct human contact is needed to do that,” she tells Aimee and the show’s politics insider Tim Molina, the Political Director at Courage Campaign. Tlaib is running to fill the seat left vacant by Congressman Conyers who was pressured to resign amid misconduct accusations. A woman being elected to that seat would be a historic and symbolic victory for the #Resist and #MeToo movements catalyzed by the massive women’s marches following Trump’s election.

In Florida, a state that went for Trump, gubernatorial candidate Andrew Gillum looks to upset a Republican incumbent. “We’re a state that the democrat has lost the general election now these last two cycles by less than one point, fewer than 70,000 votes in a state of 20 million people,” he told Aimee, frustration palpable in his voice. “In a state where Democrats outnumber Republicans by over 300,000, where there are more independents who lean democratic than there are independents who lean republican. And in spite of all of that advantage on our side, we have had a very, very difficult time capturing the governor’s mansion.”

Another gubernatorial candidate who has a real chance to make history is David Garcia in Arizona. “I’m a fourth generation Arizonan … when your last name is Garcia and you’re in Arizona, people feel comfortable enough to walk up to you and ask you if you were born here,” he tells Aimee in the next episode on June 18. “You remind them that not only was I born here, my family was here before Arizona was Arizona—to remind them of the deep roots that we have.”

But being a native son has not proven so advantageous.

“I have heard multiple times, ‘I don’t know if you can win with that last name.’ And the reality is, I believe that a Garcia needs to win in Arizona. It may not have to be this Garcia. I’d love for it to happen, but for this state to really reach its promise, for this state to be fully represented by the people of Arizona, somebody with my last name needs to win.”

The Democracy in Color podcast cuts through the platitudes and posturing, allowing listeners to form informed opinions based on sound analysis and candid conversations with people leading the change.

Season 3 Schedule:

May 7, May 28, June 18, July 9, July 30, August 20, Sept. 10, Oct. 11, Oct. 22, Nov. 12

Season 3 Guests (as of June 8):

Florida Gubernatorial Candidate Andrew Gillum California Congressman Ted Lieu

Arizona Gubernatorial Candidate David Garcia

Michigan Congressional Candidate Rashida Tlaib

Political Analyst and Writer Julie Kohler

Key Facts from the Episodes

• In Arizona, Latinos make up 40% of all voters, 1/3 of all voters are unaffiliated.
• California has seven out of the 23 congressional primary races.
• In one Florida district, about an additional 20% of Latinos are registered to vote.
• For the Florida primary, black voters will be about 32%, Latinos 16%, and whites 48%.