MW: Oh no, they're mostly republicans, which has really been galvanizing for the democrats that I've been trying to motivate throughout my congressional district. There's nine...pieces of nine different legislative districts -- you know, state level districts -- in my congressional district, so I've been working with the state party as a whole and individual candidates throughout the area, and we're trying to push back against this mentality of republicanism, starting I guess...
Rob: What is that...mentality of republicanism?
MW: Well I call it the 'conservative values agenda.' Because, you know when you use the stereotype and, say 'all republicans are this,' or 'all GOP are that,' even 'all tea party are this or that,' it's difficult to justify that because you always find an exception. But I've come to the term 'the conservative values agenda' and I can say that's exemplified by austerity for the public, advancing the will of the rich, fundamentalist Christian theocracy when and where possible, xenophobia, and war on the poor. These are the things that we see in the west from conservatives and it's still a bully society....or a society run by bullies. Rallying the underclasses to fight against it, you know, the democrats...power of the democrats, the demos, the people...are supposed to be for the underclass and in Arizona, we have what's called a majority/minority state, meaning that the majority of the people are not "Anglos," or Caucasian people. It's also a majority poor state and so I'm trying to help these formerly marginalized groups...or these currently marginalized groups realize that they're the dominant force and reshape their government for their own good instead of to advance somebody's corporate agenda.
Rob: So tell me about your opponent.
MW: Oh, well...my opponent Paul Gosar is a dentist...
Rob: How do you spell his name?
MW: What? Spell his name?
Rob: How do you spell his name?
MW: G-O-S-A-R...and my current campaign literature has a picture of me on one side and a picture of him on the other side, with him hugging Cliven Bundy and one of my state senators, Kelli Ward. So he's the kind of guy who would travel to Bundy's ranch to do a photo op -- to hug it out with him, to show support for the Bundy agenda, conservative values agenda. Paul has been a mouthpiece, cheerleader, an echo chamber for every tea party, right wing, fundamentalist thing that's come through the news stream; and he voted against the ACA 54 times; voted against protection of women against domestic violence; voted against minimum wage; voted to shut down the government twice; voted to impeach Holder/censure Holder; called for the impeachment of Obama; half the words in half of his speeches say Benghazi...the other half say IRS....he's that kind of guy.
Rob: How long has he been in office?
MW: This was his second term. You know, Arizona was particularly changed in the 2012 election following the redistricting that happens every ten years after the census. So, Paul had been elected in 2010 out of the Flagstaff area; and then in 2012 when the new districts took place or, you know, took effect, he was going to have a much stiffer challenge -- there were fewer republicans on hand in his district. So he did what they call district hop or carpet bagged and though he really lives...his family lives in Flagstaff, he has a place of pseudo residence within the congressional district so he can say that he's there. It's not an illegal thing, but it's kind of sanctimonious.
Rob: So is this a better district for him to run in?
MW: Oh much better district for him to run in. The district that he moved out of went democrat in the 2012 election to Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick and it's going to go democrat again this year. The district he moved into, AZ-04, the one he's running in now -- mine -- is heavily republican. In a state where Independent is the number one registration or 'other' is the number one registration, democrats only have about 22% of the registered voters.
Rob: In the state you're saying?
MW: In Arizona, in my state, yeah. In the last election for congress, his opponent, the democrat, only got 22% of the vote. So....
Rob: That's your district?
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