Thank you to everyone for tuning into my live interview with Kam Buckner!
I sat down with Illinois House Speaker Pro Tempore and DLCC Secretary Kam Buckner for a wide-ranging conversation about what effective Democratic governance actually looks like, from the statehouse to the national stage. We discussed Illinois’ record under Democratic leadership, affordability, public safety, education and labor, why state legislatures are so critical, and the DLCC’s push to flip chambers, build new Democratic trifectas, and break Republican supermajorities across the country.
We also dug into some of the biggest debates inside the Democratic Party: balancing progressive ideals with effective governance, the divide between mainstream progressives and DSA, ideological purity tests, what Democrats can learn from the left on affordability and economic populism without embracing unrealistic policies, the challenges of governing cities like Chicago and New York, and what the party’s emerging bench could mean for 2028.
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