{"type":"rich","version":"1.0","provider_name":"Transistor","provider_url":"https://transistor.fm","author_name":"CATTY CHATS","title":"NEW CANDIDATES TAKING THE FIGHT TO MAGA!","html":"<iframe width=\"100%\" height=\"180\" frameborder=\"no\" scrolling=\"no\" seamless src=\"https://share.transistor.fm/e/7baff2b8\"></iframe>","width":"100%","height":180,"duration":3422,"description":"Meet two of the many insurgent candidates who are trying to make things suck less, PLUS our guide to actions that help candidates at every level breakthrough in the mid-terms!\n\nLeVon Barnes donned fluffy pink cat headphones that belong to his young daughter.\nDan Schwartz’s one-eyed cat Toodles gave him the biggest kitty hug ever – on camera.\nAnd that all happened before we even started talking about policy and this year’s elections.\nBarnes and Schwartz joined Cat Ladies for America Founder Blaire Postman on Sunday, July 12, for the second edition of our Catty Chats Live podcast and vodcast. Barnes is running for a seat in North Carolina representing State House District 64. Schwartz is a candidate for Congress in Maryland District 1. (Watch on Substack or on YouTube or listen wherever you get your podcasts.)\nWe asked each candidate why they are running, how they plan to make things suck less, and what inspires them.\nLeVon BarnesCampaign website: https://www.levonfornc.com/en/Instagram: LeVon Barnes \n“It’s simple. I’m doing it to try and make my family’s life, my students and their families’ lives, and everybody that lives in my county and state’s life easier. … We don’t have working-class people in any of those [state] seats. And, it’s because my community has asked me to run. It’s because my students and families, who I’ve been able to serve, they’ve asked me to run. That’s why I’m on the ballot.”\nHow he’s going to make things suck lessFunding for public education. “North Carolina is No. 1 in business in the United States, No. 46 in what we pay teachers, and No. 50 – dead last – in how we fund education. So, we know that businesses are going to want to come here. They are here, but yet if you don’t have a thriving school district, public school education system, then they’re going to bring in everybody else except the folks who live here.”\nA fair wage tax.“Right now, the North Carolina legislature has awful constitutional amendments on the ballot this November...","thumbnail_url":"https://img.transistorcdn.com/Y4EzAU3qs93TOWdZ-Hfq7SomW76wjxntXtKtslIDMqA/rs:fill:0:0:1/w:400/h:400/q:60/mb:500000/aHR0cHM6Ly9pbWct/dXBsb2FkLXByb2R1/Y3Rpb24udHJhbnNp/c3Rvci5mbS82NThi/ZWEwMjRkYzQ0NWVm/NmMxN2VjN2U2MzUz/MjhhMy5wbmc.webp","thumbnail_width":300,"thumbnail_height":300}