Welcome to the Kansas reflector podcast and the initial reach into the 2024 election cycle and our reporting campaign to introduce listeners and readers to the candidates. The launch parties keynote speaker is Eli Woody, a wind doc county Democrat eager to challenge us representative jakela. Turner, a Republican serving his second term, the Turner himself took out an incumbent congressman in Steve Watkins during 2021. So we know it's possible. Eli, what do you welcome? Hello,
thanks for having me.
Thanks for taking the timeout. Absolutely. So let's educate the voters. And let's begin by asking you to give us something like a 62nd or so summary of who you are and what you're about.
Sure, yeah, I am a former teacher, I was born and raised in Topeka. My wife and I live in Kansas City now, though, still have family in Topeka. So we're here all the time. And I jumped out of education and into this, really, because I'm tired. I'm tired of watching politics as usual, not benefit. Most folks. It's just a game that is played by the rich and privileged and only benefits the rich and privileged instead of all of us like it should. And so after watching, while I was in the classroom, a lot of big societal issues, keep my students from succeeding. I wanted to get to a place where I can actually impact those things. And so, you know, it was things like access to food and access to transportation, and income inequality and access to health care. Those things kept my students from being able to succeed in the classroom. And I wanted to get to a place where I could actually impact those things because they're urgent, and the people who are in a lot of people like Jacob Turner, who are in Congress right now, don't fight with urgency about those issues.
So you went to Washburn University in Topeka and got an education degree went to grad school in Colorado?
Yes. Did grad school see us Denver campus?
And what kind of you've got to pay the bills somehow? What do you what do you got going on right now?
Yeah, gotta pay the bills. Bills keep getting more expensive. I still work in education for a nonprofit called the National Speech and Debate Association. So we help serve middle schoolers and high schoolers who do Speech and Debate or are interested in doing Speech and Debate across the entire country.
Alright, so why do you think serving in Congress representing the second district specifically eastern Kansas is a right fit for you?
Yeah, I think there are a lot of people who even like myself, who are looking for more just regular, genuine everyday folks to represent them in Congress. And there's, I think, an increasing number of people who are making that path from the working class to Congress, looking at people even like Sharise, David's and Katey Porter, people connect with genuine folks. And I am just looking to listen to folks here, what is stressing them out and weighing on them the same way that many working class issues are weighing on me and go to fight for solutions to them in DC.
So let's get after some of the touchstone issues that often pop up in campaigns. Let's start with education. Sure, on your campaign website, you noted there were emotionally drained students, overburdened parents, overextended teacher colleagues, and out of touch politicians watching it all happen. So how do you believe the US House could could respond to this predicament?
That's a great question. There's to be clear, there's no one size fits all that's going to overnight fix public education, it is a massive system that needs a lot of retooling. And a lot of revamping. I think a lot of it, though, has to do with listening to teachers. There's a lot of solutions that teachers and other educators and parents and people in public education have been calling for for a long time. And what I learned in my time as a teacher is just you never have enough. You never have enough resources, you never have enough time. You never have enough time with parents. And so working together with teachers and working together with administrators. That I think is where we need to start. Because really, your zip code should not decide your level of success and education. And I think for a lot of students, their experience in public education is unfortunately that
you've said that all schools, all schools deserve resources deliver to deliver for the students. Do you mean public, private parochial all should share in tax funding? Or are you making a distinction there?
I think I'm making a distinction there. So to be clear, tax dollars, the public's tax dollars should go to public education. And I know that the State House and is in the middle of a big fight about that and I'm going to let them wage that war. But I believe that a person who is paying tax dollars to systems in their community to benefit people in their community should go towards, for example, the public schools in their community.
And you referenced resources, and a lot of that has to do with money. And I think a lot of money is invested in technology books. Yeah. supporting teachers, do you think you think it's teacher salaries that are an issue here? Or do we just not have enough laptops or
it's a lot of things, I think a lot of people point to teacher salaries first, because bottom line, teachers should be making more money. But books are falling apart. And classrooms don't have all the resources that they have. And teachers are the ones who are filling in and buying their own dry erase markers or snacks for kids who are hungry, because they can't pay attention and learn when they're hungry. And so across the board, I mean, you could probably have a three hour long conversation with a teacher about what resources do what resources do you not have, but it's a lot it cannot just be pay teachers more it needs to be improved the circumstances because a teachers teaching circumstances and teaching environment is also a student's learning environment.
Before we leave education, I just wondered if you could touch upon what would be lost if the public education system were to become so fragile that it crumbled? You know, what would be lost in America?
I think we're there now. I think it's crumbling. Now I think we're seeing a devaluing of education generally, in favor of, you know, entertainment, we elected a an entertainment president, a sitcom president, or reality show president. We are we're at a critical point in education generally, now that we see that when you are more educated and constantly seeking to learn, generally, our public does better, where we are better off as people when we are continually learning. But specifically with schools, they're falling apart. And students are saying so and teachers are saying, so we're at that crumbling point. Now.
Shifting gears a bit, there's a there's an idea here. It's called dei and political circles. But that's a shorthand for diversity, equity and inclusion. And it's, there's an effort to to move forward with those ideas in public life and government and drug schools and so forth. But there's also really fervent pushback, and in the state house, for example, and in Kansas. So what do you think some in politics are threatened by programs that celebrate diversity, equity, and so on? Why is it because they're
being convinced by a media wing that is profiting off of outrage. So outlets like Fox News and Newsmax have decided that the target the flavor of the week is Dei, or the flavor of the week is a different marginalized group, and has figured out that they can profit off of outrage about that specific group or about that specific topic. So they turn up the volume of hate on their media outlets on Fox News and Newsmax about DEI efforts, and then elected officials who consume that media and then want to get on those media outlets for free sound bites and free media for their campaigns. They echo the same thing. So it becomes a regurgitating circle. I don't think that those that dai efforts are harmful, generally, just as humans as Kansans, we're a diverse state. We are an inclusive state. And we're in a state that has a long history of fighting for equity. And I think just generally as as people and as Kansans, those are things that we value as it is a but it is definitely being politicized by extreme media.
So there is a there is a role for dei and inclusion and and discussing these issues in the workplace and in our lives. You think,
Oh, absolutely. I think those are things that we have been doing as people for a long time we, we help those who are in need. If we hear a fire truck go by our house, we don't get mad that the fire truck is not stopping at our house, because it's not our house that's on fire. Somebody else's house is on fire. So what we're witnessing in a fire truck go by our house is that someone else who has a different need than us is getting the need that they need at that moment in time. That's those are efforts in equity that we're already exercising now. We help others who are in need based on what their needs are.
Let's move on to the economy. I think you've you've spoken about people finding financial peace. I'm not sure that's. That could be pie in the sky. I'm not sure. But it feels like it sometimes. But there are specifics connected to that, that that Congress could have a role in such as the federal minimum wage has changed in I don't know 20 years or so a long time. Yeah. So why would we want to raise the minimum wage and what would you like to raise it to?
Oh, well, we should for sure be raising minimum wage. I think part of that comes from the fact that we You need to be holding corporations more accountable for not only driving up their profits while their workers don't see an increase in wages, but also, those corporations need to be paying their fair share in taxes. And so while a lot of people resist the idea of hearing that we should raise the minimum wage, because they say that the cost of things will increase, the cost of things has been increasing. For a long time, rent has been increasing constantly, the price of groceries has been increasing constantly, things that regular working class people are faced with every single day in their pile of bills at home, those prices have been going up. And the thing that hasn't been going up is wages for the working class. But the thing that has consistently continued to increase is corporate profits.
You know, I'm thinking the minimum federal minimum wage might be 725. Yeah, that range, that's not a livable wage.
No, it was embody No, it was intended to be a livable wage. And what we really need to focus on is closing the gap between what a CEO at a giant corporation makes and what just a regular working class person makes, who's just just trying to get by because they are breaking our backs.
So if elected to Congress, you're gonna go up to DC, bring those millionaires to their knees and make them pay their quote, unquote, fair share,
I'm gonna do my part, it's, I am definitely not a superhero. I am not the one person who's going to fix Congress, I want to make that clear, I am not the person who's going to solve all the problems overnight. But I'm going to join in the fight. There's a lot of people in Congress who are trying to make that fight, see some kind of fruition. And I want to be one of the people who moves an obstructionist out of the way to actually get some things done in
terms of big money. You've also pointed to the role that big donors have dark money that goes into political campaigns. And it's, it's a huge problem, because maybe the average Joe's views don't get reflected in the agenda of a member of Congress. And would in fact, if you gave him you know, 100,000 bucks or something, so you connect it to the word corruption, yes. Which is interesting. Yes. Could you explain that a little bit?
Oh, that's what it is. It's it's corruption. It's anti democratic, the job of a representative is to listen to the people in their district, and hear what's on their mind and hear what's stressing them out, and then go to Washington, DC and fight for solutions to those things. And the corruption that has happened that's anti democratic is, instead of spending time listening to real working class people, a lot of extremists and a lot of elected officials generally and jakela. Turner is one of these people spend more time around corporations and corporate leaders and special interest groups who want favors legislatively. And then the voice of just a regular person is ignored.
Do you think this is a particular issue with Representative le Turner in terms of listening to large corporations or large donors in terms of developing his agenda?
10,000% Yes, and I think a lot of that even even outside of the financial influence a lot of the media influence too, he spends a lot of time on Fox News and Newsmax just regurgitating the fear campaign that they're talking about at that moment in time, and ignoring the interest of what regular everyday people are talking about. So whatever marginalized group Fox News or news Max has decided to go after at a given week. That's who he is talking about on TV with them and not how can we reduce this pile of bills on my table at home?
All right, healthcare is a major topic of conversation in Kansas households Second District is no different. Yeah. And you know, the cost of health care gone up, you don't have good insurance coverage, it can basically bankrupt your Yeah, your family often does. We have eligibility for Medicaid has been in dispute in Kansas. The federal government allows it, Kansas has not adopted it. Where do you stand on Medicaid expansion, it would be an expansion to serve the interests of the working poor and more working poor in Kansas, for sure.
I I'm in favor of anything that gives more equitable and affordable access of health care to folks and to folks who are working class or experiencing poverty, health care, something that's really personal to me, I'm someone who has asthma, and it's pretty well controlled. I can still work out, run, play soccer, whatever, without needing a rescue inhaler. But I have one and I have a daily one. And I know that for example, about 10 years ago, I could set my watch by it that it would be about $5 for me to pay for my rescue inhaler to pick up a new one. And now it's $200. And OSH Yeah, the medicine has not changed. My diagnosis has not changed. I'm the same person it hasn't gotten worse. But that's I'm just one example of what people are living through. That's the reality and it is it's insane. We need to be doing whatever we can to make healthcare more affordable, instead of doing whatever we can to keep the pockets of big pharmacy and corporations padded in cash,
something called Medicaid for all, but I'm not sure the boundaries of that. But is that more in line with your thinking?
Sure, I would say so. And since I'm someone who has not worked in the medical field, ever in my life, this is an issue where this is something that I would definitely lean on the advice of folks who do work in the medical field, I am definitely someone who will say, I'm not an expert in everything. So don't expect me to be please don't ask me for help on your car, because I don't know anything about cars. But on other topics that I'm not an expert on. I will definitely ask for advice from folks who are in that field. And whatever the solution is, whether it's Medicare for all, or some different iteration that isn't in public conversation right now. I'm going to fight to make healthcare more affordable and available for working class folks.
A really central point of contention in health care is reproductive rights. Yes. And Kansas has been in the vortex of that we had a constitutional amendment vote yes. That would have peeled back a Kansas Supreme Court decision that said that women had the right to bodily autonomy and abortion. Yes. And that was rejected. And so other states are closing the door to abortion and Kansas is becoming kind of a destination place for Yeah, you know, you want to talk about your views about abortion?
Sure. So I am not someone who would ever personally need access to abortion. But that does not mean that I can't learn from folks who might need that. And that's where I'm at. And I hear loud and clear. When in 2022. Kansas says, hell no, we don't want access to or we don't want restrictions to abortion. That's where I'm at Hell no, we don't, we should not have restrictions to abortion access. And anyone who sits in a seat like jakela Turner, representing a state that makes that position clear, should be reflecting that opinion, I will be I will fight to represent that voice of Kansans every single day. But when Jake materna, for example, taunts Kansans on the floor of Congress and says, If you want abortion laws in this country, to your liking, elect officials who agree with you, Kansas made their voice loud and clear. And they are going to elect someone in 2024, who agrees with them, they're going to kick Jacob Turner out of office, because he needs who whoever needs to be in that seat needs to be representing the voice of Kansans. Mr. Turner would certainly
describe himself as a as a pro life politician he
wouldn't. And what I just said about him was verbatim what he said on the floor of Congress.
So what do you think about voting rights? It's another key area, we've got a former president who says he got ripped off in 2020. And the reaction was many states, including Kansas adopted a lot of restrictions on how and when you can deposit your ballot. And when you can vote, do you what do you think of the election security movement, and, and the whole notion of the election system is is full of fraud.
It is not full of fraud. Our last national election was as experts have told us the most secure presidential election that we had. So while the loser of that election has made a lot of noise, saying that he did not actually lose. And while he created an entire movement of people, to get behind him and even fight to overturn the results of that election, which Jacob Turner voted to do. We should be making voting access easier, not harder. We live in a country where your voice is powerful, and you get to show up at the ballot box and express your voice for who you think should be representing you. There should be no obstruction of that voice going from the ballot box to who your elected official is. And there are a lot of people who are trying to make it harder for people to vote than they are trying to make it easier to vote every single Republican in Congress voted no against a Voting Rights Act that would have made it easier for folks to vote and that's disgusting.
I don't know why we can't vote on Saturdays. It's always puzzled me that it's the magic days Tuesday. Yeah, I where all the voters have their act together.
I wish this could be a thing where I was a superhero. And I can tell you that I'm the one that can change that but you're gonna have to take it over with the switch someone else? Yeah.
Another issue that voters frequently refer to when they decide how to vote for congressional candidates is the people the candidates views of the Second Amendment. You know, it's the right to bear arms and I think there's there's some real disagreement In America about what the limits are that ought to be, in part because of the massive volume of lethal violence that's distributed throughout our country, right? And so, you know, I don't know if you're a gun owner, but what do you think about the Second Amendment?
So I am a defender of the Second Amendment, I will defend your right to reasonable and responsible gun ownership. And I think there are a lot of gun owners in Kansas and in this district, who are reasonable and responsible gun owners, they do things like store their gun safely in a safe with a lock. They support things like background checks, so and gun registries. So we make sure that folks who maybe shouldn't have a gun in the first place don't have access to one. But those are reasonable and responsible things that a lot of gun owners support now that I think if it was implemented nationwide, we could really put a dent in gun violence.
So the background checks that's looking for felons, I presume who shouldn't possess weapons, the safe storage of weapons, gun locks, gun cabinets, yes. What's a gun registry? Do that just a registration? When you purchase a weapon, you would register with the federal government? Yes, yes.
And honestly, this is even something that has an intersection with my professional experience, because I taught in public schools. And, you know, not just for me personally, but even a lot of younger voters who are now going to maybe be voting for the first time in this 2424 election, I want to be clear, so they hear me, I hear that this is an important issue, especially to younger folks. I taught at a time where I didn't know a time without a lockdown drill. And every single school year, we had lockdown drills, I hid in the corner with my students with the lights off in silence, waiting for the drill to be over. And that's traumatizing it not just like it does scare kids. It does scare kids, it impacts their ability to learn, and it sticks with them. And they should be focused on learning and not worrying about if their school is next. And I think that's on the mind of a lot of parents and a lot of young voters. And to be honest, if you zoom out and look at this race, there is one candidate between myself and Jake le Turner, who will fight to make sure that even the next generation of Republican voters is safe and schools to make it to the voting box when they're 18. Because there aren't any Republicans who are fighting to make schools safer from gun violence either.
Yeah. Dead school kids can't doesn't promote America's interest doesn't promote America's interest, but
also they can't vote.
Yeah. All right. So you had indicated also that repeatedly to some extent involving jakela Turner that some politicians are out of touch with the issues that are most salient with people do you have kind of like a laundry list of issues in which they're their focus candidates, I mean, politicians, DC focus on that, that really don't matter in Kansas, and maybe a couple that they should be focusing on instead.
Sure. I mean, we kind of referred to this a little bit ago, because a lot of it goes back to what's happening on Fox News or Newsmax at the time. So whatever is being yelled about on Fox News or Newsmax at the time, that's what you're going to hear Jacob Turner's spending his time and energy on, I would say that largely issue wise, the thing that he spends the most amount of his energy on is immigration. But then also, then specifically, he will frequently drill down into whatever the flavor of the week on Fox News or Newsmax is. So whether it's a caravan or whether it's trans kids, or whether it's any other member of the LGBTQ community, or whether it's CRT or Dei. That's what he's spending his time and energy on. And not things that regular working class people are focused on. Because when I'm going around this district and listening to folks, that's not what they're worried about. They're worried about their bills, and they're worried about health care, and they're worried about if their hospital is going to stay open. Because if it closes, they have to drive an hour and a half from where they're at to go find the nearest one. That's what that's what people are concerned about.
So to some degree, the your future constituents are concerned about jobs. cerned about health care. These are the most practical day to day things that they could be thinking about. The the border with Mexico is far away, right? It's not close. There are illegal immigrants certainly in the state of Kansas, but it's just something that is a little bit far afield from from Cannes and so yeah, and
honestly, I don't think he really cares about the logic of the argument that he's making that there's a crisis. At the border, I don't think he cares about that argument at all. He just wants to gin up fear because that's, again what Fox News and Newsmax does all the time. Because if he did actually care about the crisis at the border, he'd be advocating for some kind of solutions, like hiring more folks to process the paperwork of people who are seeking asylum, because that will put a huge dent in the immigration crisis that we're facing right now.
Alright, let's talk about the challenges of being a newcomer to the political scene. Your predecessor, Democratic nominee two years ago running against jakela, Turner spent over a million dollars and lost by 15 percentage points. Yeah. I don't know how, what your campaign bank account is like. But that sounds like a lot of money. That is
a lot of money.
And to compete to make people aware of who you are, it's gonna it does require some spending, TV, radio, mailers, whatever do you think you're gonna be well funded enough to take this on? Yeah,
I am going to quote someone who's in Congress right now. Her name is Katie Porter. She is also a former teacher. She said a donation is an act of faith in this country. And so I'm relying a lot on grassroots donations and donations from working class folks to have some faith in another working class person to listen to them, and go fight for them in Washington, DC. And so it's going to be a lot of that a lot of listening to groups like labor groups and unions who are fighting for working class people. To have some kind of sense of financial peace and, and solve the issues that are facing them every day. But it's I hate that it's money game. I hate that it's a money game. But until we can change the game, we've got to play it for now.
Alright, let's just assume that you're at the you're ready to debate. You're debating jakela Turner, you've just arm wrestled with him. And so you want to make your closing?
Yeah, we should do that instead, can we just arm wrestle?
I don't think that's going to be very maybe set up 100 yard dash instead, make Yeah, may not be helpful in determining who to vote for No, but But what what would be just offer some closing thoughts about your candidacy, because as you can take us out?
Sure. I am here because I'm tired. I'm tired, just like a lot of other folks who are tired of politics as usual. Because it is very clear that it is not working. It's not benefiting us just regular working class everyday folks. The people who work the hardest, should be the folks who are benefiting the most. And that is not the case. And so I'm here because like you, I just try to fight to get by every single day. And I see my elected officials not fighting with the urgency that they need to to address the issues that are in my life. So I know that I'm new to politics. And I know that I've never been a candidate before. But I know that I can listen. And I know that I have empathy. And I think, you know, even with a background in communication and having taught communication, the number one job of a representative is to listen. And so I'm here because I want to listen, I truly want to listen to hear what's stressing you out day to day. And I want to go fight for a solution to that in Washington, DC. And I know that like I said, I'm not the superhero that's going to change all of politics overnight. But I think if we have more working class folks in office, we can slowly start to re pivot representing a representation to look the way that it should.
All right, I want to thank our guests today, Eli Woody. He's a wind county Democrat. And he's interested in securing the Democratic Party's nomination in the second district, which is held by Republican US Representative Jacob Turner. Good luck with that. Thank
you. Can I tell people where to check out the more about the campaign? All right, we'll give you the final word. Okay. If you want to learn more about this campaign, or pitch and a little bit, even the cost of coffee or cost of lunch, you can go to Woody, the number for congress.com
All right, I'm Tim Carpenter, the Kansas reflector thanks for listening
