'All voters are friends or future friends'

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'All voters are friends or future friends'

Ep. 3 | State Sen. Zach Wahls on the kitchen table issues and how to win back the Midwest.

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Jun 13, 2025

Iowa State Sen. Zach Wahls announced this week that he is running for U.S. Senate, taking on current GOP Sen. Joni Ernst in the 2026 Midterms. Zach made his name in progressive politics after giving a speech to the Iowa legislature defending marriage equality just as Republicans wanted to amend the state constitution to ban it.

His activism and advocacy in politics only grew from there. Zach is an Eagle Scout, and he went on to found Scouts for Equality and fight for LGBTQ+ inclusion in Scouts for America. That victory eventually led to a run for state senate and a stint as party leader in the chamber. And now he’s running to represent Iowa in D.C.

The state of politics and the Democratic Party in the Midwest
The importance of kitchen table values
Why voters across demographics have drifted away from Democrats
How to win
Jodi Ernst’s lack of courage

“If people feel like they're getting screwed, and you’ve got one party that says, ‘No, you're not getting screwed.’ And the other party is saying, ‘Yeah, you are getting screwed, and it's these guys' fault.’ They're gonna connect to that latter party.”

Zach’s info:

Happy Hour Quotes:

On how Democrats missed the mark: “Donald Trump said there was a problem. And people were like, ‘Yeah, there is a problem.’”
“Every voter out there is either a friend or a future friend. And that is the ethos that we need to bring to this work.”
“Joni Ernst's lack of courage when it comes to the nomination of Pete Hegseth to be the Secretary of Defense was stunning.”
More on Hegseth: “This is clearly a person who should not be the Secretary of Defense. Every day that he's in office increases the jeopardy that American soldiers are facing, both here and abroad, and ultimately is a threat to our national security.”
On defending democracy: “Is our government actually doing a good job of achieving the core purpose that is laid out in the constitution? I would say that no, we're not. We're not doing a good enough job.”