Maybe you feel like you're already giving it all you've got. You look around, and things are tough out there. You, our listeners and readers and viewers and users across the country and across the world, you're demanding more examples of fight and progress you can actually see and touch and feel, and in these conversations, in this series, in partnership with our very best friends at Run For Something, we're gonna give you exactly what you asked for.

Each of these episodes features two guests, both sourced from the Run For Something pipeline and graduating classes, the next generation of leaders. In each episode, first, I'll introduce one young elected official at the state or local level who's made real measurable progress on an issue facing more Americans than ever before.

And then in the same episode, I'll introduce a bright-eyed candidate currently running for a state legislature or Senate, governor, mayor, city council, or school board, who is similarly hellbent on attacking the same issue in their own hometown or state.

First up today, our topic: gun control.

As The Onion posts once a month, there's no way to prevent this, says the only nation where this regularly happens. But there are ways to prevent it.

Not just school shootings or homicides or suicides or even accidental shootings in the home when a gun and ammo aren't stored safely or even fucking stored at all. We just need people in office who aren't cowards because we know what works.

Our incumbent is Missouri State legislator, Ray Reed, endorsed by Run For Something in 2024. Ray was just in the news for a bold sit-in protest, refusing to leave the floor of the Missouri house for over a hundred hours after Republicans there attempted to convene a special session and push through redrawn legislative maps at the behest of Donald Trump.

Ray is a St. Louis native, and he brings a wealth of experience in Missouri politics, having collaborated with notable democratic leaders like former Governor Jay Nixon and Senator Claire McCaskill.

Next I'll talk to our candidate, Jazz Hampton. Jazz is running for Mayor of Minneapolis because he loves the city. It's not just where he lives. It is who he is. He is not only a lifelong Twin Cities resident, and a husband there, he's the father of three Minneapolis public school students. He has been an attorney there, an educator there, and a social justice entrepreneur.

He has freed the wrongfully convicted. He has worked on advanced, affordable housing, protected civil rights, and created safer communities. Now he's ready to bring fresh leadership and unite Minneapolis after a hell of a decade.

Two amazing humans fighting for gun control in very different places, in the only nation where this regularly happens. Let's find out what it means for their hometowns and yours.

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INI Book Club:

• 107 Days by Kamala Harris
• Die With Zero by Bill Perkins
• Find all of our guest recommendations at the INI Book Club: https://bookshop.org/lists/important-not-important-book-club

Links:

• Music recs: Jason Aldean and Star Line by Chance The Rapper
• Follow and support Ray Reed's work @rayreedmo
• Support Jazz's campaign at jazzformayor.com
• Support other young progressives at runforsomething.net or find a local office where you can run yourself at https://wherecanirun.org/

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• Produced by Willow Beck
• Intro/outro by Tim Blane: timblane.com

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