Nikki Budzinski Works the Floor, Not the Feed

Nikki Budzinski is the kind of Democrat a lot of people say the party needs more of — a reluctant politician who came up in the labor movement and now represents a sprawling district in downstate Illinois. But she'd be the first to tell you her party has lost touch with the voters she grew up around. She was born in Peoria, moved around as a kid, and landed back in the heartland. She likes to say she's one of the few members of Congress who's spent time on the kill floor of a meatpacking plant. And she just won her primary by more than 50 points against a challenger who said she wasn't progressive enough. Now Budzinski represents a district that stretches from a college town to steel mills and soybean fields — and she's trying to answer a question her party can't afford to get wrong: how do Democrats win back working people who've stopped believing the party is fighting for them? 00:00 — Cold open1:44 — Peoria roots and a working-class inheritance4:00 — The kill floor in Kentucky7:03 — A $15 wage won across the table12:56 — On why she Democrats lost the working class15:50 — Voting to deny ICE new money21:46 — Workhorse, not show horse25:10 — Money in politics and governing with power32:16 — Her grandfather's American dream Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.