649: It's My Party and I'll Try If I Want To
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In the mid-term elections, Democrats, of course, are gunning to retake the House for representatives. And the 19th Congressional District in New York is one of the spots they think they've got a great shot at. Demographically, it's one of the rare districts in the country that is actually a true toss-up. It went for Donald Trump by seven points, but before that, it went for Barack Obama. It's pretty much evenly split between Democrats and Republicans. And to make it even more attractive to Democrats, the Republican on the seat right now, his name is John Faso. He's the kind of opponent the Democrats dream of getting. He's only been in office for one term. He's a former lobbyist. His clients include payday loan companies and energy companies. Supporting Faso, you've got all the right-wing funders. The Democrats love to hate the Koch brothers, the mercers, Paul Singer. Add to that, Faso's done a decent job of spending his first term in Congress handing out ammunition Democrats. What about producers Ben Calhoun spent months visiting the district covering this race, Ben? Yeah, so the best example of what you're talking about is this video. And I'll say I was so surprised at how often this video has come up when I've been reporting in the district over the last three months. People just mention this thing all the time. So in this video, Faso's completely surrounded by these protesters who are all opposing the Republican repeal of the Affordable Care Act, the repeal of Obamacare. And this woman comes up to him. I grew up right down the road. What's your name? The woman's name here is Andrea Mitchell, and she explains to Faso she's not just like any constituent. She went to school with Faso's kids, like Faso's wife was her school nurse, and she tells Faso that she has a brain tumor. And Obamacare saved her health insurance. And then she pleads with Faso for him not to support the Republican repeal of Obamacare. I need you as a human being to say, I promise that we will not take this away from you. I can tell you that. I promise. I promise. I promise. It's hard to hear in there, but Faso says to Andrea Mitchell, "I can tell you that. I promise. I promise. I promise." He promises her three times, and then in the video he hugs her, and he seems kind of moved. So Faso promises he's not going to support the Republican bill that's going to kill Obamacare. And then we can just, you know, cut to Faso on the floor of the house a few months later, voting for the bill to kill Obamacare. Mr. Speaker and my colleagues, I urge support for the bill. It is something that is long overdue. And then he voted for the bill. Yeah, Faso's spokesperson said later that Andrea Mitchell wouldn't have lost her coverage because of the vote. But that's unclear. So that vote, the one to gut Obamacare, it's one of the votes that puts Republicans at greater risk when they're trying to get elected this year. And Democrats are totally coming after him. Greetings from the resistance in front of John Faso's Kingston office. Okay, where are we now? This is, uh, this is sound from protests that have been happening outside of Faso's district offices every Friday. They call them Faso Fridays. And this one is from Kingston, New York, and it has a house ban called Tin Horn Uprising. That is not a good version of that song. Yeah, it was, um, it was actually kind of hard to pick which song play for you.
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