Ally: Hey, Seth.
Seth: Hey, Allie.
Ally: So today is our first midterm candidate interview.
Right.
And when we talked about doing this podcast, one of the things that
was really important to both of us was focusing on the midterms.
Right?
Right.
Focusing on, um.
Finding the progressive grassroots democratic candidates that we feel
good about, um, interviewing and platforming because it's not gonna
be enough just to win the midterms.
We gotta make sure we have the right people in there,
Seth: right?
And so it all starts with the primaries.
The primaries, of course, uh, is where each party decides within its own self.
Who's the, who's the face that we're gonna put out there.
Mm-hmm.
And, uh, and this, uh, for Democrats is incredibly important because
we, again, we wanna platform the right kinds of Democrats.
Not every Democrat is your friend.
Uh, not every Republican is your friend.
Ally: They're not all created equal.
Seth: Yeah, exactly.
And so, you know, and, and, and right now in our country's history, and I know you
feel the same way, is that it is time.
This is our moment to get some grassroots pu uh, pardon me, uh,
progressive candidates in there.
And, you know, it, it kind of started with Bernie.
It has continued through Zora Momani is the latest, uh, you know, example of it.
And you gotta strike where the iron is hot.
These populous views, absolutely progressive views.
They're looking real good in the face of the current disaster
That is the Trump administration.
Ally: I can't agree more.
I mean, we need to clean out these status quo Democrats.
We need to, first of all, reject them out of pocket.
We don't want to primary that we don't want to vote for them in the midterms.
We are looking for the cream of the crop, right?
People that are not afraid to say, I am a progressive Democrat.
I am a Democratic socialist.
And I hope eventually we can weed out all of those corporate dems,
those status quo dems from the party.
But midterms is where it's really gonna start, and I think it's an
opportunity to really shape reshape the Democratic party starting in November.
So today we've got, um, we've got an interview with Mike Hyden Rech.
He is running for Congress in Wisconsin, in Wisconsin's sixth district.
We've met with him before we, we've met him.
He's, he's come up on your live, right?
Right,
Seth: that's right.
And Mike,
Ally: oh, great guy.
Seth: And he's been, uh, you know, he's been going around different
lives, kind of getting the word out.
And I mean, he's just, just, just the, I love Mike 'cause he is just
like a down home guy, normal guy.
There's nothing fake about Mike.
You know, Mike is just, just giving you who he is.
And I really hope that, that everybody sees that, uh, in our interview with him,
uh, just how down home he is and how, you know, especially if you're in Wisconsin.
You gotta look, you gotta give this guy a look.
And if you know people in Wisconsin, y'all, like, even if
you don't live in Wisconsin, like look, they're, they're 50 states.
We're gonna go state by state.
So if you know some people around there, you know, some friends,
you know, you have some family in Wisconsin, tell them to give Mike a
look because he is, he's the real deal.
Ally: Such an authentic guy.
Um, lifelong career working in the union.
He's been volunteering in politics for years, starting with
the, uh, first Obama campaign.
Um, and now he's reached a point in his life where, you know, he feels
like the only way he can really make a difference is to put his hat in the ring.
So really looking forward to this conversation and, um.
See you on the other side.
Seth: Can't wait.
Ally: We've got Mike Hyden Reich.
He is running for Wisconsin Congress.
The sixth district, right?
Mike?
Mike: That is correct.
Ally: Welcome.
Mike: That is correct.
Thank you.
Ally: So Mike, first tell us a little bit about yourself.
So what's your background?
What made you even want to do this?
Mike: So many things, but, um, my background is, well for the LA
I've been lifelong Wisconsinite.
I have lived here my whole life.
I haven't ever really wanted to go anywhere else, but I, I love it here.
And I, uh, moved around the Madison area for some time until I got my current.
Position, uh, at a power plant on south of Portage, and I have worked there for
the last 17 years, uh, 14 at the power plant, uh, 17 with the union in total.
I've been a union worker for that entire time.
But before that, one of the, the interesting coincidences was when I, um.
I got really involved in politics right after high school.
Like right out of the gate I was doing political canvassing
in very, very red districts.
Um, I was the guy they sent out in Washington County because
they're like, eh, no one's gonna, you know, take a shot at him.
He looks too nice.
Ally: Right.
Mike: And, and I literally would go to like.
I go to Republican congressman's houses and like try and sell
'em on the Democratic Party.
They're like, you know who I am?
It's like, no, I was an 18-year-old kid.
What would I know?
But I, I loved it.
I loved it because I genuinely believed in what I was talking to people about.
And the Obama campaign came around and it felt like.
It wasn't just hope, it was, Hey, this is your opportunity to do something
to make the world a better place.
And we're not gonna tell you what that thing is.
We're just gonna give you the tools to do it.
Go out and make it work.
And by God, we did, uh, we ended up, I think we had like 300 some volunteers
under us just in that one little precinct.
And, uh, we, towards the end I was celebrating in a union
hall and it was my union.
Oh, that's so that I later so cool that I would later join.
I was like, this is a really nice place.
Uh, I mean they got the, the table was all engraved and it was their
old, it was nine, six, fives old location, uh, across from where I lived.
And we were working out of there for quite some time.
Seth: Mm-hmm.
Mike: And it was just.
It was so rewarding and I shortly after got my job and it, it was the
kind of job you work all the time.
You, you just work, work, work.
And so I thought, Hey, I, I think I can, you know, the Obama was firmly in office.
I was like, I feel like I can actually take a breath and earn
some money, support my family.
And so I did that for about eight years, nine years, and that Trump got elected and
I saw what was going on and I was like.
I, I need to get at least re-involved as a volunteer.
Ally: Mm-hmm.
Mike: But also start thinking about maybe I need to do something more.
Okay.
And Biden got into office, COVID happened.
Everyone was, uh, life altered a lot and when.
When it looked like we were going towards one of the more politically
turmoil filled eras in our life, I said, okay, I, I need to get re-involved.
Re-involved.
Mm-hmm.
It, it also helped that they got my work pretty fully
staffed up so I could actually.
Take time off.
Take the time.
Yeah, that makes sense.
Whereas, whereas before, you can't do that when you're working 60 plus
hours a week, almost every week.
But now that I actually have that time, I said, I'm gonna help.
And so I helped, uh, one of my neighbors and one of my neighbors from down the way.
Um, they got, uh, the state assembly and state senate seats in this area.
Mm-hmm.
And they're doing great.
Uh, Maureen and uh, Sarah are.
Amazing state, uh, rep and state senator.
I couldn't be happier for them.
And that was the 24 election.
And I mean, we all know how that turned out.
Yeah.
And I was like, literally the only thing we didn't win as Democrats
in what was previously a pretty red district was the presidential election.
Mm-hmm.
It was the only thing we lost.
And I realized we
Seth: see this a lot.
We've seen that, we saw that a lot with a lot of swing states.
Mike: I thought very strange.
There were Trump voters who voted from the state senator.
I was helping get elected.
I was like, that doesn't make sense.
Ally: It
Mike: happened
Ally: all over the country.
It was bizarre.
Mike: I, I can't really answer why I, I have some theories, but
what it comes down to is they.
It's the thing that I have been talking about now in my election for some time.
A lot of politics comes down to, do you know who the heck that is?
Yeah.
Do you recognize their name?
Do you recognize their face?
Can you identify anything?
Even if you dislike them, do you know who they are?
Ally: Right?
Mike: Because a lot of people, especially people who politics, does not matter
as much about, like, it's not really a part of their lives on a daily basis.
When they get in the voting booth, a lot of times they just look at
it and go, uh, um, who's that?
I don't know who any of these people are.
Ally: Yeah.
Mike: And we forget how often politics does not penetrate to someone
who doesn't care about politics.
We're we're in it.
Right.
We, we are involved on a daily basis.
Yeah.
I, I get more political news than I know what to do with, but someone who isn't.
Isn't necessarily fine hearing about any of this.
That's why some of the things that happened in Minnesota changed so
much because it didn't matter if you were aware politically or not.
You saw that.
Ally: Yeah.
Mike: That got through and that's the kind of thing that we're starting to see.
Oh, people are actually paying attention because it's getting through the noise.
Right.
I, I really wish it didn't have to get through that way, but yeah,
Ally: I know.
Me too.
I am, I'm glad that they're starting to pull out of Minnesota now.
I hope, um, sooner than later they'll all be gone and let that community rebuild.
It's been, uh, I'm, I'm struggle and an inspiration both.
Mike: I'm hopeful and yes, it has been.
Uh, but by the way, Bravo to Minnesota.
Yeah.
Like you guys got it done for the Midwest.
And what I'm concerned about is there's been some, it's looked like one of the
next areas on their list was Wisconsin.
And so we were, there's been a lot of people saying, okay, what do we do?
Mm-hmm.
If this BS crosses the border, what do we do to support our neighbors to
make sure this doesn't affect them?
Because, uh, we saw how it was beaten back there.
Right.
And it was by everyone banding together and saying, no, you're
not going to kidnap our neighbors.
Mm-hmm.
You're not going to destroy people's lives.
We are going to fight you tooth and nail, and we're gonna do it in a way that it
makes it obvious who the bad guys are.
Ally: It was really remarkable.
Makes obvious how they came together.
It was beautiful and an example and taught, I think all of us so much
about resistance in a peaceful way.
I mean, they were peaceful.
Um, think that
Seth: was, I think that was the biggest thing.
Like
Ally: yeah,
Seth: Trump went in there absolutely telling them, Hey,
do whatever you gotta do.
And then he may not have said it directly to them, but in the back
of his mind he is like, I'm trying, I'm trying to institute martial law.
Ally: Yeah,
Seth: that's why he defended them after the first murder, the second murder, and
it didn't matter, you know, he was looking to get Minnesota for an excuse, such a
tizzy so that they responded violently to the violence and they should be given,
um, so much credit for not giving in when they rightfully could or should have.
Ally: I heard they were nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize and wow, I deserve it.
I know it's kind of early to be thinking about that, but I mean, they definitely,
I would love to see that happen.
Mike: There's nothing that unifies, especially people from
the Midwest, like when you start.
Doing things to our neighbors.
Ally: Yeah.
Mike: That we would find this despicable.
Ally: So, Mike, talk to me, talk to Seth and I about, um, you're running
for the sixth district in Wisconsin.
What is the sixth district?
What, what area does that make up?
Mike: So the sixth District is one of the bigger districts in Wisconsin.
Uh, and I'm actually, I pull it up on a map all the time just
to look and see, Hey, is that.
Is my understanding of it.
Uh, perfect.
Uh, as to how it's going.
And it is basically, I'm the far southeast or southwest corner.
Okay.
It goes all the way to Lake Michigan.
Okay.
All the way north to, uh, two rivers and actually some other parts as well.
Uh.
I suppose two creeks would be the far northeast, uh, corner, and then it
comes down around Lake Winnebago and then back up all the way to Plainfield
in the upper left hand corner.
So it's basically like a big square.
Ally: Mm-hmm.
Mike: That takes up, I'd say, I want to say about a fifth of the state.
Uh, there's a, that's big.
That's very, there's a really, I mean, it's 750,000 people and Okay.
We don't, we don't have that many cities in it, so a lot
of them are very spread out.
So it's rural and Oh, it's very rural.
Yeah.
Um, uh, Oshkosh is probably one of the bigger cities, fond Dulac, uh, Manitowoc
and, and, uh, Sheboygan and, uh, port Washington and, uh, me one are in there.
Those are all not large cities.
Those are all like kind of suburban areas and, uh, maybe, maybe Sheboygan
and, and Oshkosh being among the bigger ones, but most of it's farm country.
Uh, rural, rural areas.
I've got a lot of places where, uh, Marquette in particular,
we were just talking.
It's much easier to call around because if you're driving, if you're
canvassing door to door, you're basically in your car the whole time.
Ally: I bet.
Yeah.
Because of the distance, so.
Mm-hmm.
Um.
I mean, I think I have a good guess, but since Trump took office
the second time around, what are some of the biggest challenges that
you are seeing in your district?
Mike: Um, so we have a lot of farmers and the farm industry in Wisconsin.
It doesn't matter what you were raising, it doesn't matter what you were growing,
took a huge hit, um, with the tariffs, which now of course, it's like, how
do you even go back and, and take back all that now that the Supreme
Court said, no, you can't do that.
Mm-hmm.
And it, it's, it's like, I'm not even sure how they're gonna
go about refunding all of that.
If they, if they even can.
Seth: It's a
Mike: disaster.
They even can, yeah.
It's, it's genuinely going to mess up our trade.
Mm-hmm.
And, and some of those markets aren't ever coming back.
Some of those markets are not ever coming back.
Uh, especially the soybean market especially.
Oh, they've been
Ally: decimated.
Yeah.
Mike: I mean, there are farmers who literally cannot farm or
it's not profitable for them.
Right.
And.
That's just the farmers.
Uh, you look at literally anyone in our area and there's no one here
who's like, yeah, this was great.
I mean, yeah.
Tourism.
Tourism is a big part of our area.
Um, we have Wisconsin Dells.
It actually like, kind of points over and, and literally just the
city of the Dells is in my district.
Um, we've got all these national parks.
Do you know who our number one visitor was to those national
parks besides people from Illinois?
Ally: Canadians.
Mike: Canadians?
Yeah.
They were a good, they were a good third of our tourists.
Do you see any coming?
Why would, would they?
Seth: You know, it's funny because we were talking about how the snowbirds
are not coming to Florida and people miss out on the fact that they're not
supporting a lot of our border states.
And that, of course, that goes into tourism, you know, and that
is, and that is a damn shame.
That's a damn shame.
It is all, it's all the unintended consequences that people don't
necessarily know are gonna happen.
When you're in the moment and you're like, yeah, tariffs.
Bring back the jobs, bring back the, you know, better trade deals.
Look at our deficit.
Well, it turns out our deficit was made worse by the tariff war also, so, yeah.
Mike: Do you know how scary our situation as a country economically?
Right now.
Oh yeah.
'cause the, 'cause the rest of world, we talk about it every day.
The world.
'cause the rest of the world is going, oh, if the United States isn't going to
be the world leader in terms of securing everyone's ability to trade, then we're
gonna have to find other people to do it.
Exactly.
Right now, Canada.
Is being led by a person who's widely considered one of the best
economic economists in the world.
Mm-hmm.
And he, um, is basically brokering deals between Europe
and China and all the other Yeah.
Uh, Pacific.
Trading partners that were previously our trading partners.
Mm-hmm.
And they're basically saying, look, if the US isn't gonna take part in
the world economy in a rules-based economy, I believe is how he called it.
Yeah.
Then we have to, and so they're trying to arrange it so people can transit
their goods through what previously was the United States' ports and
the United States' currency and.
That's the underpinning of our entire economy.
Ally: Absolutely.
Mike: And I don't think Trump realized any of that or cared.
He probably just,
Ally: I don't think he cares.
Yeah.
He didn't, he didn't think about the consequences or
care about the consequences.
Seth: Yeah.
Mike: Why would he?
Seth: Uh, yeah.
Let, let ask some, um, Mike, 'cause you're a, you're a union guy.
You're a union guy.
I am.
And a lot of, a lot of union people, they stick by their guns.
They vote Republican, uh, no matter what, for whatever reason that,
that seems to be, uh, a problem.
A, a place where Democrats miss a whole lot.
Can do you, why do you think that Democrats in the, in the
unions don't seem to jive?
And, and what are, what are the, what, maybe two or three issues that
are the most important to, uh, people that you talk to in your unions?
Mike: You named one of them?
Uh, I'll tell you right now, guns are a big one because a lot of people
who work in unions also own firearms.
I own firearms.
Mm-hmm.
Like we have, we have a culture of hunting, a culture of
going to the range up here.
Yeah.
Like, it's not, it's not.
Like that was never a thing that was known.
I, I think that it, it's been a years long process of basically telling
union members, Hey, we recognize we're gonna, you know, basically hurt
you economically every chance we.
But all this other stuff's more important, so let's focus on how we
can, you know, hate this group, right?
Or how we can say, we're going to support you on this thing, but actually not.
Mm-hmm.
And they've been doing this for years.
They've been telling, I, I've had arguments with people in my union
where they said, you know, how can you support that horrible president
who's gonna take your guns away?
And then just recently I was like.
You know, I never heard a Democratic president say, you can't
bring a gun to a public thing.
Never once.
No, never.
But I heard Trump say it last Tuesday.
Mm-hmm.
I, I, I've never heard a, uh, you know, any public official who was
a Democrat say that they were going to arrest you for having a firearm
that you were legally allowed to own.
But I heard multiple members of his cabinet say it the other day.
Ally: Mm-hmm.
Mike: I, I, I know we get the idea that Democrats are the, you know,
people who are against two A.
Ally: Coming for your guns.
Mike: Coming for your guns, right.
Never happened.
It was never, it was never about that.
Ally: No.
Mike: And, and I just think that a lot of union members are starting to
realize that they've been getting kicked in the teeth economically for years.
Because of promises that they weren't actually even getting
Ally: Yeah.
Mike: Things that they were told, oh, we'll never do that.
We're gonna make governments small.
We're gonna lower your taxes.
Ally: Right.
Mike: Taxes are, taxes are a huge one.
Yeah.
And this last, this last bit I had to ask people, so what's a tariff?
A tariff's a sales tax on you?
On the purchaser.
On the person who's finally going to purchase the thing because it's
charged to the person who's selling it.
Do you think they don't pass those costs on to the customers?
Ally: Right.
Mike: I think they determine in the final, like, and this was a
relatively uh, conservative think tank, 94% of the tariffs costs
were passed on to the consumers.
Ally: Yeah,
Mike: and, and, and keep in mind, we haven't even seen all
of the tariffs come through.
A lot of the stuff that happened before was because of old inventory
that they had that they could still sell at a reasonable rate.
So they've been slowly building that up, so hoping that people won't notice, Hey,
it costs thousands more to do this now.
You can't get, uh, an automobile just about anywhere for the near the same price
because everything's going up in price.
Ally: Yeah,
Mike: I, I know, I know, uh, in particular how he treated Canada and Mexico.
I mean, I don't think people realize in the last, um, last trade agreement,
we're a very cross border kind of, um, automotive industry now.
Ally: Mm-hmm.
Mike: Not just, not just plants down there, but parts.
Ally: Yes.
Mike: So like, let's say the, the factories in Michigan.
But the parts might, the aluminum might come from Canada.
Mm-hmm.
Uh, this part might come from Mexico.
We had a very active border of the automotive industry going back and forth,
and as soon as those tariffs went into place, you can't have a a 50% increase
on anything and expect it not to vastly increase the final products price.
Yep.
So we're, we're getting squeezed any number of ways now in, in places that
union folks, actually it will matter.
Ally: Mm-hmm.
Mike: But the one that doesn't, that I don't think people realize is so,
um, you've all seen what he's done to the National Labor Relations Board.
Ally: Mm-hmm.
Mike: He's basically packed it with people who don't look at unions, which just.
It makes me shake my head.
He is back to the people who don't look at unions as worthwhile things to have.
Ally: Exactly.
He
Mike: wanted,
Ally: he's always been anti-union.
Mike: Always, always.
Ally: Right, right.
To work in his private career.
In his personal career.
Yeah.
Mike: And, and so he basically.
I mean, if you are right now going to negotiate a contract or you are thinking
about doing a strike because you are, you, your, uh, your company that you're
working for is not obeying the safety rules or, or something, something's
going on where you think there's gonna be a conflict, would you trust that that
national, uh, that labor relations board is actually going to have your back?
Would you trust that this president is gonna just not say no, you can't strike?
And, and this is the thing that I think a lot of union
members are starting to wake up.
Ally: So do you feel if you, if you become, if you win the primary
and you are elected into Congress representing your district, do you
feel that that's kind of where your mindset is as you enter your term?
Would you be thinking about, you know, your neighbors, the working class,
your, your fellow union members, and that's kind of informing the
Mike: only
Ally: what's
Mike: important
Ally: to you?
Yeah.
Mike: The only reason I'm doing this.
Is because I want to see people who aren't in the top 1% mm-hmm.
Actually be able to continue to live.
Yeah.
I, I, I mean there's no one on this app or, or any of these online apps
other than Elon Musk, maybe who, who is in a position where Donald
Trump and by extension the con, the Republican and Congress and Senate.
Benefit by the rules they put into place.
Seth: Mm-hmm.
Mike: We, we do not have any benefits.
I, I told people I didn't, I didn't say I wanna run for Congress because
I want to be a Congress person.
I wanna run for Congress, almost outta self-defense.
Because what they're doing is going to squeeze everybody day
by day, neighbor by neighbor, so that they cannot afford to live.
And, and that's gonna have effects up and down the board.
And I can't just keep watching this and going, ah, someone else will fix it.
No, they won't.
It's on us.
It's on
Ally: us.
Yeah, I completely agree.
So, okay, Seth.
Well, Seth, do you have any questions before I move on?
Seth: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Because, uh, so in the presidential election, um, Wisconsin was actually
the smallest margin of victory four.
Donald Trump.
I know.
So, you know, and I mean that's, I think that might surprise some people
because people look at Nevada and they thought Nevada was gonna be a
lot more blue than it ended up being.
But it's actually, Wisconsin has the shortest amount of ground to makeup.
So my question to you is, what do you think will push, what
can push you guys over the edge?
Uh, in, just in the midterms and really in general, uh,
when it comes to Wisconsinites.
Mike: I think we're there.
I, I think people.
I, I'm always shocked.
Yes, there are some people, maybe 30% of the country is always going to be
very much pro uh, conservative mindset.
Very much pro Donald Trump.
There's a decent chunk of people who are like that.
What I was shocked by.
Is the number of people who are coming out, not just Democrats, independents,
and even very hardcore Republicans, people who have been Republican, but
since before I was born coming out and saying, this is, this isn't our country.
This isn't what we voted for.
Ally: Yeah.
Mike: And I know that's, I know a lot of people on my side are like,
well, yes it is what you voted for.
Ally: Mm-hmm.
Mike: But not to them it wasn't.
Ally: Right.
Mike: And and I am absolute such a, such a disconnect.
Ally: It's crazy.
Mike: Well, and, and we were talking about this earlier,
not everyone's that political.
Ally: Yeah.
Mike: Not everyone.
Yeah.
In fact, that's a great
Ally: point.
Mike: The, the majority of people are not that political.
For the majority of people, politics is something they don't
want, nothing to do with, they don't really want to know about it.
It, it's been given this impression of that's where bad people go or
that's where people who want power go.
I had someone who actually have to answer on TikTok in just a little bit.
I I just remembered that, um, he asked, you know, who's paying for your campaign?
Ally: Yes.
Mike: And the response that's of my
Ally: questions too.
Mike: I'm, the response I'm about to give him is You are.
Mm-hmm.
Because if you don't pay for it, I'm not taking corporate PAC money.
I'm not taking.
Money from, uh, special interest pacs that are basically just
there to get me to do something my constituents won't want me to do.
If, if a union wanted to give me money, sure, I'm already supporting unions.
You know that, like, that's not a surprise.
Um, if an organization that was trying to organize for Universal
Healthcare wanted to give me money, I wouldn't just take their money.
I'd say, Hey, guess what?
This organization gave me a ton of money for Universal Healthcare because
it's something I'm already doing.
That's, that's the kind of thing where it's like, yeah,
I, I wanna do those things.
I want to achieve those things.
And if you are telling me that the thing you are trying to get me to
do is something I'm already doing well yeah, I, I want to help do
better for my constituents, but it's
Ally: my cons.
So no corporate PAC money?
Mike: No.
Ally: No APAC money.
No dark money.
Right?
This is the thing.
What
Mike: would be the.
Ally: I, I, this is what I keep trying to drive home, right?
And this is why we're doing these segments and, and platforming candidates
that we believe in, because it is not going to be enough just to flip the
house and potentially flip the Senate.
We have to make sure we are putting the right people into those positions.
Otherwise, we will never, ever claw our way out of this.
Mike: And
Seth: you've seen, not every Democrat is your friend.
Ally: No.
Seth: Not every Democrat is for the people.
Ally: No.
So
Mike: there's been an example in almost every generation, my generation, it was
probably, uh, Manchin and Sine, and I'm, I'm not even sure I say, and now, now
Ally: Federman
Mike: and now Federman.
Right.
I, I. I really don't wanna be like super cruel to him because I'm relatively sure
know his flip was actual brain damage.
It
Mike: could be.
I mean
Ally: yeah,
Mike: that's, that's actually,
Ally: but that, but that in itself is an issue, right?
Absolutely.
If you absolutely suffer that kind of injury Absolutely.
While you serving constituents, you, you should re, we should really reconsider.
How do you feel about term limits?
How do you feel about
Mike: Oh,
Ally: I mean,
Mike: absolutely I do.
Yeah.
I, I do not want to do this for the rest of my life, right?
I, I, if I'm still in this at 80 years old, we are not doing a good enough
job building the future of our party.
If I'm still doing this at 80 years old, then we're not doing a good enough
job mentoring the next generation.
I'm, I'm right now talking to people who are coming outta high school, going
into college, and I'm looking at them and going, Hey, in a few years you
should think about running for office because I love You've got the chops.
Yeah.
And that is the kind of thing we should be passing on is a tradition of service,
a tradition of people who want to make the world a better place and saying, okay,
if I'm gonna do that, how do I do that?
And
Mike: for the right
Ally: reasons.
Mike: Exactly.
Yeah, exactly.
You can't just.
I, I don't want to get into office just to get into office.
Mm-hmm.
That I, I don't, I was very happy working my union job.
I would've been happy to do that until retirement retire and go fishing.
Like, I, I don't, I don't need, I didn't need all the aggravation of running for
Ally: congress, especially these days.
Getting into politics in 2026 is not like getting into politics when we were kids.
Right.
This is, this is so, um.
The discourse is, so, it's extremely toxic at times.
It's very divisive.
Um, so I think you have to have, I think you're either one of two things.
You're either looking at this as an opportunity, not you, but in general,
people are looking at this as an opportunity to enrich themselves.
And grab onto power for the wrong reasons.
Or you're willing to actually be a public servant, which requires sacrifice, right?
Absolutely.
And stewardship and doing something to make this country closer to
what we all believe it should be.
Mike: It it means that you are willing to basically sacrifice
actual years of your life.
To, to go out and do this.
I, this is every moment of every day that I have spare, and it's gonna be that
way probably as long as I'm doing it.
And if it weren't for the fact that I don't see a way that our country can go
forward unless we keep changing the, we need structural changes in this country.
There, there is not a way that someone my kids' age can say, I'm
thinking I'm going to take part in the American Dream and own a home
and go to college and get a good job.
Like they don't believe that's gonna happen.
Ally: Why would they,
Mike: why would they?
Because it's out of reach for the majority of people in America.
It's not even close to in reach.
Ally: Yeah,
Mike: and, and I'm talking people who are making good money, but.
The housing market is so far out of reach, most of them can't even dream that.
Ally: I think I
Mike: just turned just the rental market.
Ally: It's great.
All of it is is so, um, is so insanely priced.
And I think I heard just recently there was a statistic that.
First time home buyers are now averaged age 50.
I mean, you're not even, you know, what are the chances you're even going to pay
that home off and enjoy a mortgage free?
We never really own our homes 'cause we have property taxes.
So that's just my little, my little rant.
Um, but you know, just not having a mortgage or a rent payment, if that's
the age of, you're just gaining access to that dream, to that possibility.
We clearly have gone.
So far in the wrong direction.
Mike: I, I have to ask, why, why do you guys, just, both of you, why do you
think your property taxes are so high?
Ally: Hmm.
Mike: I mean, I mean, legitimately, why, why do you think your property
taxes are as high as they are?
There's a definite reason, there's a, there a call.
I'm
Seth: gonna go, I'm gonna go mismanagement at the local level,
Mike: misappropriation of funds, but specifically.
They basically took a lot of the funds that used to fund schools
Ally: Yeah.
Mike: Would come from federal programs or would come from the
state through income taxes directly.
Mm-hmm.
Right.
So you, you'd have people who are paying more in income taxes at the very
top that would directly fund schools.
Ally: Yes.
Mike: In 1994, they froze the funding formula for schools in 1994.
Right.
So imagine that base price.
Ally: Mm-hmm.
Mike: And every increase thereafter has had to been raised out of property
taxes with school referendum, after school referendum, because guess what?
It doesn't cost as much as it did in 1994.
We're 30 years some years later.
Ally: Yeah.
Yeah.
Mike: So it's, it's basically they just transferred.
From the rich who were paying that, the lion's share of that,
as you know, they generally did.
Now it's being transferred to what's left, to the middle class.
Wow.
And our property taxes have almost doubled in the 15 some years I've been here.
Ally: Insane.
Seth: And really quick, you know, uh, you talk about unrealized gains.
Ally: Yeah.
Seth: What are unrealized gains, if not your property taxes going up?
Every year.
And yet these people wanna rail against unrealized gains for
billionaires in the stock market.
So, once again, the rich have found a way to distract away and to give themselves
even more money that they don't even need.
Mike: I, uh, we were talking about, uh, all the people who are doing
their taxes right now and are like, well, where's my, where's, where's
my tax refund for my overtime?
I work a lot of overtime.
Yeah, it me too.
I think it was next to nothing.
Yeah.
I think I got like, it's, I think I got like maybe a hundred bucks.
Ally: Lemme tell you much.
He, he really bamboozled people on the idea that, and now they're
finding out what it actually is.
Mike: It, it it, if you are going to rely on the word of the Republican party.
The people who voted in Donald Trump, the people who voted in,
people like Glenn Grothman, who's one of his biggest cheerleaders,
then you are going to be scammed.
Ally: Yeah.
Mike: And that isn't me telling you that.
That's their actions telling you that.
Mm-hmm.
That's their repeated actions telling you that.
Ally: Absolutely.
So we're almost out of time, but I want to, um, so you're
running for the Democrat seat?
Mike: Mm-hmm.
Ally: Um, you have four other people right in, that are running
in the primary on the Democrat side.
Would you call, would you label yourself a progressive?
Mike: Absolutely.
Um, absolutely.
I mean, I'm for universal healthcare.
I support unions.
Like, it was funny, I was filling out a, uh, thing for a union
the other day and I'm like, wow.
Do I have to answer no to any of these because I, I know this is a
real problem for a lot of the people.
I, I was actually trained how to work through from the other side, the person
administering this, this, uh, it's a questionnaire we give to candidates.
To see if their values are going to align with the union.
Right?
And, and they were just talking about all the progressive things that
we as Progressive Dems want to do.
And I'm like, yeah, um, can I just say yes and, and be done?
Because it's, it's literally a list of everything I'd like to see.
I'd like to see universal healthcare.
I'd like to see, um, uh.
Some method of actually making it possible for people to own homes Again,
to actually not just say, we're going to work on this, but actually work on this.
Mm-hmm.
There are so many issues in this country that we can't just continue to, to say,
oh, we're gonna, we're gonna do that.
We're gonna work on that in the future,
Ally: kicking
Mike: the can
Ally: down the road.
Mike: We, we can't, the, the can's been kicked.
We're, we're chasing after that can right now because as it turns out,
our economic futures in that can, and we kicked it so far down the
road that we're in a world of hurt.
And if we don't start rail, railing that back and make actual structural
changes to our country, we are not going to be able to continue as we are.
And, and everyone, I don't care how rich you are or how poor you
are, everyone will suffer for that if we do not make those changes.
And that's why I want to get elected.
Ally: Well, I'm Mike, I'm a big fan of yours.
Um, I know Seth.
Thank you.
You really enjoy talking to Mike too.
Mike: So I'm on TikTok with you guys a lot.
Ally: Yeah.
Mike: And, um, uh, some of my daughter's, classmates saw me on TikTok and one of my
videos early on at the end, it was right before Packer came, I said, go, pack, go.
And they, they tease me about that all the time now because.
The kids are way more politically aware than I ever was as a kid.
Ally: Oh yeah,
Mike: for sure.
They're actually paying attention to this kind of stuff.
Ally: They
really
Mike: are, and so they, they were like, oh, cool.
Hey, how's your dad's campaign going?
Ally: I can't tell you how much I've learned from my own kids about politics.
Mike: Oh, I, I
Ally: can't tell you how much my views have evolved and changed
over time as a result of my kids.
Mike: I don't think my views have changed, but.
I,
Ally: I might have,
Mike: it was moments where I'm
Ally: so much more progressive than I ever, I mean, you can
call me a democratic socialist.
I'm good with it.
I would never have said that even probably five years ago.
Mike: I think what, what made me realize that my kids were growing up was.
I'd have to be like, oh, okay.
They may have a point exactly what they're saying might actually, that's what I mean.
Be, Hey, maybe I should think about this a different way.
Mm-hmm.
And it was generally the same idea,
Ally: right.
Mike: But a consideration, a, a thing that, and
Ally: taking
Mike: it
Ally: a little
Mike: bit
Ally: further about, yeah, I've had the same experience.
And I, I love that.
Um, I love being able to see,
Mike: it
Ally: gives me hope, everything through a different lens.
It gives me hope as well.
It
Mike: gives
Ally: you hope.
Um.
Uh, listen, it's been a pleasure.
Can you tell everyone how to support you?
Mike: So I, I tell people across this country, there are a huge number of
candidates right now making the choice.
Can I continue on and.
The ways to support me are the ways that any politician would need support.
We need your time.
We need your money, and we need you to actually talk about us
to your friends and neighbors.
Now, if, if you can do all three, great.
If you can do one of them, great.
Right now, everyone has the responsibility to actually do what they can.
If you have the means at hand, you have the responsibility to act, and this
is the time to act because you want to talk about, you know, having the kind of
politicians you actually want in office.
You can't do that in the general election.
By then, they've already been picked.
So you want to see a progressive Democrat in office one way
you could make it happen.
Donate to my campaign.
Um, I have the links to my, uh, act blue.
We'll put, we'll put them right here all over the place.
We'll put 'em right here.
Um, you can also go to my website.
It's hiden rech, the number four congress.com, and the
contact information on there.
If you're in my district and want to volunteer, if you're even just a little
bit outside my district and want to volunteer, we'll still take you and I'll
even point out who in your district you should be supporting in your district.
I, I've, I've had talks with people who are just outside my district.
They're like, can I still support you?
Of course you can.
In fact, I want you to support all the other candidates who
are doing the same thing I am.
Who you think are actually going to support your values.
You should be looking at the, you know, Congress person down in North Carolina
who might be trying to actually run a campaign that agrees with your values.
The only way a person like me or a person like them is gonna get into
office is the support of people like you.
Because the other option is corporate money.
Ally: Yeah.
Mike: Like my, my opponent has probably 3 million in the bank.
You can look up where his money came from.
Ally: Oh,
Mike: you can.
Oh,
Seth: we will.
Mike: Oh, yeah.
I mean, and, and I, there's a large number of really good ways to do that,
but just look at the FEC, it'll tell you where everyone gets their money from.
Ally: So in post-production, we will be looking into your, uh,
your opposition and digging into that, and happy to share that.
Um, but Seth, any final words?
Seth: I, I would just say y'all, to our audience, look at what Elon
Musk and the billionaires did.
When you're thinking about, you know, supporting a candidate, am I gonna
give money to a candidate like Mike?
Like, like anybody?
Think of it as an investment in your future.
Mike: Doesn't
Seth: look at the, look at what, look at what Elon Musk has benefited.
I mean, the ROI, I mean 300 million is nothing.
This man just.
Arguably made another $50 billion.
So the investing in your local politicians can reap benefits 10 a
hundred fold, and really think about that.
Your $20 could go a long way and it could come back and really help you out.
So that's what I would say to our audience.
Mike: Wisconsin, our primary is not until August.
So if a candidate like me wants to get elected, I cannot wait
till the primary to decide whether or not I'm gonna have support.
If I don't have support right now, until August, people aren't gonna know who I am.
Ally: Yeah.
Mike: So that's what I need you guys.
Any money, any volunteering, any support.
The earlier you do it, the more effective it will be because it will generate
that neighbor of yours who suddenly is going to be one of my best canvassers.
It'll generate that, that relative of yours who's like, yeah, I could.
I could give some money to them.
That builds and it builds and it builds, and it creates something
that can actually achieve something.
No one thought was even possible, which is.
Democratic Congress that'll actually do something about what's going on right now.
And I'd love to be part of it.
Ally: Love that.
Mike.
Listen, it was so nice talking to you.
Um, stay in touch.
We'll connect again because I wanna see how things are going.
And, um, in the meantime, we're gonna put all your information up here.
Um, but, you know, help out.
Mike.
He's a good one.
Mike: I, I would appreciate it.
You're not gonna get a candidate unless you support them.
Because I'm not taking corporate PAC money, so literally my only
method of support is you guys.
And, and that's, that's how we gotta, and that's
Ally: what we want.
Mike: That's how we gotta do it.
That's what
Ally: we want.
Yeah.
Mike: Yeah.
Ally: Absolutely.
Thank you, Mike.
Thank you so much.
Seth: Yeah.
Thank you for your time, Mike.
Thank you so
Mike: much.
I appreciate you guys so much.
Thank you very much.
Absolutely.
For your inaugural, uh, your inaugural, uh,
Ally: our inaugural interview.
Mike: Yes, sir. I really appreciate it.
I am honored.
Ally: Thank you Mike.
So Seth, what did you think about that conversation with Mike?
Seth: Oh man, that was just a breath of fresh air.
Uh, Mike is the kind of guy that we're looking to platform, right?
I mean, in the primaries you can be a little bit more
choosy with your Democrats.
You can kind of go with like your ideal, your dream candidate, if you will.
And this is almost, it's like speed dating.
I mean, there's a lot of people to consider love, love that we
wanna tell a lot of people, uh, you know, you wanna find out a lot of
information a about a lot of people.
And depending on what state you're in, there's, you got a month, you
could have four or five months.
I mean, it is really, it really is wild ally, like how widespread.
The, these states have their primaries.
And until I started digging, I know into it.
I didn't realize it.
I mean, you got people with, you got states with primaries in March.
You got people with, you got states with primaries in August.
Yeah, two or three months.
This is in August before the real election.
So I'm just like, how.
How is that, you know, how is that mean?
But
Ally: I don't, I don't know.
It's wild.
I, I see that Jasmine Crockett is out there in Texas.
Mm-hmm.
Um, meeting with constituents and the community encouraging early voting
in her, you know, in, in Texas.
And then you've got Mike on the other end of this.
He's, his primary is not until August, which gives him a full.
Two, two and a half months.
Yeah.
Um, if the spring and the summer the primary,
Seth: like
Ally: Yeah.
Seth: Wow.
Ally: It's wild.
It's wild.
It's, yeah.
And we'll, we'll go through all of those timelines as we go state
by state because we weren't aware.
And other people may not be aware either that your primaries are not
set in stone across the country.
Um, midterm voting is.
But primaries are all over the place, but I, I really enjoy talking to him.
Yeah.
I think he's such an authentic, solid, kind, um, hardworking
guy that really wants to get into this for the right reasons.
Seth: Yeah.
Like you can feel how genuine he is when you talk with him, and I hope that
everybody kind of got that same vibe.
Uh, from him.
I mean, the guy's rocking his Green Bay Packer stuff.
I mean, it doesn't get more w Wisconsin than that.
Like he's, he's, that, he is that through and through.
He's a union guy through and through almost 20 years in unions.
I mean, this is a guy who is authentic, who lives his message
and you know, not only d does he speak it, but he lives it right.
And he put, he puts it behind and he, and he stays, uh,
connected to those union guys.
Mm-hmm.
And he feels their plight and even, and you know, and we know a lot
of people who work in unions and they are, and they vote Republican.
They vote on the right side and Exactly.
And they, even to the point where, you know, they vote
against their own self-interest.
And Mike is a guy who can really reach across the aisle and mm-hmm.
And, and reach those voters that you desperately need.
Because like I was saying in the interview.
Wisconsin was the closest to electing Kamala Harris.
Yeah.
There's, you know, there's, you know, ano 20,000 votes one way or the other.
Swings the election and as we know, hundreds of thousands stayed home.
You.
Mm-hmm.
And that's why we have Donald Trump.
So y'all get out there, get, take a look at Mike, take a
look at the other candidates.
We'll be bringing you others.
But like, you know, that this is who can reach across the aisle in
a moment where we are so divided and so you need guys like Mike.
Mm-hmm.
Ally: Yeah, I agree.
And so I think it's safe to say that Seth and I both, um, are looking for Mike to
win that sixth district in Wisconsin, and if we're putting him on the Chuck
Bernie scale, I'm gonna, I'm gonna slide him all the way over to the Bernie side.
Seth: All the way
Mike: to the left.
All the way to the left.
Yeah,
Seth: absolutely.
I mean, uh, you know, Bernie kind of got this thing started.
Uh, Mike is, you know, uh, very, he has that Bernie spirit.
Um, just a man of the people and, you know.
Progressive is where we want to go, right?
I mean, we want our ideal candidate.
We want a candidate.
Mm-hmm.
That's gonna speak for us, speak to our values and put, at the very
least, put pressure on the other candidates to come to the table.
Yeah.
And to start adopting.
Some of these progressive views.
'cause we've already seen, I mean, the way that Trump was just enraptured with,
with Zoran that, I mean, he even dressed like him, just charmed to death with him.
I mean, wild.
This is what we're talking about.
Like people like Mike, people like Zoran, they can reach across the aisle.
They have ideas that are immensely popular in a time where.
Nothing Trump is doing is popular at all.
So, you know, y'all really think about this.
Like it is not out of the realm of possibility for these guys for so long.
I understand it has not really been an option, but now is the time.
And if not now, then when.
So I'm really a hundred excited that we, that we got Mike, he's all the
way on a sliding to the Bernie side.
And, uh, and that's, and that's what we want.
You know, that's who's gonna fight for us.
Ally: Agreed.
Look into Mike.
There's lots of ways that you can support his campaign, whether you're
in Wisconsin or outside of there.
We have his information right here.
Check out his website.
Um, follow him on social media.
I'm really hoping he is a breakout, uh, candidate in this primary.
I'd love to see him get him.
Seth: No doubt, no doubt, really.
And good luck to Mike.
I know he is.
Got a few more, uh, months to go, so y'all sign up to help.
You don't have to live in Wisconsin to help Mike out.
You can throw 'em a little bit of money, every little bit helps, um,
when you're running against more centrist candidates, um mm-hmm.
You know, and, but, you know, get, you know, give him a look
if you feel great about 'em.
Volunteer a little bit of your time.
Like I said in the interview, it's about, uh, investing.
Yeah.
At this point you're investing time, investing money, and
you're, and what you're trying to get is a return on investment.
Somebody who will represent you, uh, to the fullest extent.
Ally: Exactly.
So, thanks everybody for, for joining us on this inaugural episode.
Hey, we've got more to come.
We're gonna have more interviews.
When we are unable to meet with a candidate, we will.
Still deep dive into our favorites.
Mm-hmm.
And we are also speaking of deep dives, going to do other
episodes of this podcast.
To deep dive into stories, um, that might be getting glossed over in our news.
Yeah.
So stay tuned for that.
But Seth, it's been, it's been great to see you.
It's great to talk to Mike and, uh, go, go find Mike.
He's our guy
Seth: for sure.
All right, ally.
Ally: Alright, love you.
Take care.
Appreciate you.
Love you.
Bye.