Mark Messmer (R-Jasper) represents more than 700,000 constituents from Mount Vernon to Covington in 21 counties.
He is a Trump-aligned Republican in a district that historically shifted control between parties earning the moniker, “The Bloody Eighth.” Messmer is the second consecutive Republican to control the seat.
There are four Democratic candidates on the ballot. They are district party-endorsed Evansville resident Mary Allen, retired army veteran Christopher Rector of Tell City and single mother of three, Tabitha Zeigler from Covington.
Mario Faradori of Terre Haute is on the ballot, but told WNIN he is no longer campaigning.
Allen has been endorsed by the 8th District Indiana Democrats. “I am a mom. I'm a grandma of two. My husband, Greg, and I have lived in Indiana for little over 30 years.”
She’s an Army Reserve veteran and current Evansville City Council member. “My identity, or what I want people to know, is I'm a neighbor who cares deeply about our communities.”
She says she’s choosing to run not out of political ambition, but more out of frustration, at the cost of living for residents.
“I don't feel like the people — our representatives — are doing enough about it,” Allen said. “I think they're staying silent, and, worse yet, not coming together around the table to work on meaningful solutions that do impact everyday life.”
Allen isn’t the only candidate with military experience. Rector of Tell City, is a 25 year active-duty Army Veteran with overseas deployments. He has seen the effects of war first hand. He commented on the genocide committed by Israel in Gaza, and the U-S support of Israel.
“This has to stop, and we can use that money to help the working and struggling families,” he said. “And you have the data centers popping all up, and they're showing up in rural communities … it's a hard ‘No’ right now for me.”
Rector said if elected, anyone marginalized in the current political climate will get their voice back.
“Everyone will have a place at the table,” he said. “That's the how I want the Democratic Party to represent the people — to be the party of Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, a new deal. A lot of people say, ‘Chris, you're too radical. Chris, you're a socialist.’ You know, I've been called a communist, but I like to think of myself as a ‘New Deal Democrat.’”
Tabitha Zeigler of Covington is a single mother of three young children. They’re all on the autism spectrum, and the lack of social support for such families is driving her to run for office.
“I'm a late diagnosed autistic myself, so I've been an autism advocate and activist for a long time,” Zeigler said. “That flows into all disabilities. I feel like Disability Rights Advocates are in a good position to see all of the holes in legislation. I feel like you know, everybody will experience disability at some point in their lifetimes.”
All three candidates associate themselves with the working class — Zeigler describes herself as a “farmer’s daughter” who most recently worked as a postal service letter carrier.
“Someone that is actively working class — it brings a different perspective. I'm a normal person, I'm not a politician. So I've not been in that culture of ‘this is how we do things.’”
Zeigler and Rector are not accepting all campaign donations. Allen has declared raising $189,000 for her campaign, spending more than $60,000 so far.
The Primary election is May 5 but early voting is underway.
Full candidate Q&A — Mary Allen
Text is lightly edited from AI transcript; for fairness, questions are standardized between candidates with few if any, follow-up questions. Candidates Rector and Zeigler's interviews include comments on their campaign messages and top priorities. Allen added this information after the interview.
Campaign message:
My tagline is 'One of us fighting for all of us.' I believe we deserve a representative who shows up, listens, and truly represents the people's best interests, not the pollitical power brokers and large donors.
Top priorities:
Accountability, Accessibility and Affordability. Accountability: Congress needs to hold the executive branch accountable and Congress also needs to be accountable to the people. Affordability: We are in an affordability crisis. Too many people working full time jobs still can't make ends meet. Accessibility: People deserve access to affordable healthcare, childcare and quality education (that isn't dependent on your zip code.) People also deserve access to your representative through in-person town halls and engagement.
Mary Allen Q and A:
Timothy Jagielo
Firs of all — can you tell me about yourself?
Mary Allen
Sure — So I am a mom. I'm a grandma of two. My husband, Greg, and I have lived in Indiana for little over 30 years. Grew up working class family. My dad, teamster, truck driver, worn different hats in my adult life. Over those 30 years, I was Army Reserve veteran, worked in the healthcare field as a health worker for 15 years, worked alongside Greg in a nonprofit ministry for almost a decade, small business owner for 15 years, most recently of that being a retail store on Main Street and proud rotary member, where I really do believe in the motto of 'service above self,' and currently the vice president of Evansville City Council. I think at the core, though, my identity, or what I want people to know, is I'm a neighbor who cares deeply about our communities. Did you mention
TJ
Why are you running for this seat?
MA
That is a really good question, because I love what I do on Evansville city council, but I felt compelled to do it, not no ambition, necessarily. I think it was more out of frustration, if I'm being honest, kind of looking at the national landscape and what we're seeing happen, and then looking here locally and talking with families and seeing folks what we say. You know, doing everything right, they're working hard, and they are still being crushed by the cost of living. You know, we're seeing people choosing between paying their utilities or buying groceries and and we know that those problems exist outside. I know those problems exist outside of Evansville city limits.
So and I don't feel like the people our representatives are doing enough about it. I think they're staying silent, and, worse yet, not coming together around the table to work on meaningful solutions that do impact everyday life. And so, like I said, it was that frustration that compelled me to say, I do believe I can bring the same level of intentional representation, accessible representation, that I bring to the City of Evansville to DC, on behalf of the people of the Eighth District, with that representation rooted in integrity and accountability. Think that's missing — and civility.
TJ
There are four candidates for the Eighth District currently. I believe that's right on the ballot. So in order to vote for you or for any of those candidates, they have to pull a democratic ballot for the primary. Why should somebody participate in the primary election, and why should they vote for you?
MA
Oh gosh, primaries matter. I meant to wear my button. I got that from the League of Women Voters. Primaries matter. I think people forget, and people get out of the habit. I think of maybe voting in the primary, because we're not used to having contested primaries, and they think it doesn't matter. So primaries matter. That's who's going to get you on the ballot. That's how you're going to get someone on the ballot in November. So please show up. Please vote. Our voter turnout in Indiana as a whole, in midterm years, we rank almost last, if not last. So I hope to motivate people to get out to vote, to know their vote matters, and I do hope that they will vote for me if they do choose a Democrat ballot, we have been building meaningful relationships and grassroots infrastructure in all 21 counties and listening to folks, farmers and families, and sitting in their living rooms to meeting on their farms and hearing what are their struggles.
And we're hearing a lot of the same things, like I mentioned before. A lot of it is the cost of living, and they're making survival decisions versus thriving in what they're doing and in their environment. And so I believe we have a path to victory … we've been laying that ground game. We've been we have built meaningful relationships and grassroots infrastructure in 20 counties, and working on the 21st we've we've established relationships in all of them, but we've we've already been canvassing, we've been phone banking, and we have momentum, you know? And I think our incumbent is probably planning on a predictable November, and we have a movement that is anything (but) predictable.
TJ
What about your background makes you a strong candidate in November?
MA
Yeah, it's interesting to look back and to see about those different hats over the last 30 years that I've worked that have really all of those experiences have culminated into this to help with this role that I never would have seen myself campaigning for, you know, or being a part of. But being in the healthcare world, we I saw firsthand the broken system and how it bankrupted so many in the nonprofit world. We saw how systems have failed are most vulnerable. And as a small business owner, I understand the the impact of, you know, rising costs and the things that keep entrepreneurs up at night.
You know something about me. I'm a person of of deep faith, and that compels me to care for all of our neighbors and in the human dignity of everyone and they are flourishing, I take that, that role seriously, and bring all of those, those things together and into the role that I want to have, and into all of those decision making areas. Where I want, where I just truly want to represent and feel like I have those experiences that have brought me to this place to do the job that needs to be done.
TJ
You're running as a Democrat — how would being a Democrat affect how you would legislate in the Eighth District?
MA
That's an interesting question. I you know, it is a partisan race. I mean, that's the system that we live in, so it's a partisan ballot, but it really is about people. I think both parties national parties are kind of toxic right now, honestly, I think people are tired of politicians who care more about corporate donors than they do their districts and you know, on city council now, when people call me with a concern, I don't ask them if they're a Republican or if they're a Democrat, I ask them how I can help, and that's the same approach that I'll take when I'm in DC.
TJ
You already touched on this a little bit, but how might you work differently from the incumbent in the Eighth District?
MA
I think the foundational difference is who we answer to. You know, we have seen the incumbent not to be funny, but like, 'audition' for this role of throughout his time of … you know, party loyalist. And I mean, he has aligned himself with agendas that have raised costs for family and farmers and have cut programs that have made that people depend on, you know. And, I mean, I'd be remiss that we're sitting in this, this recording studio and thinking about the cuts to public media. So I feel like he, you know, protects the system, and I'm running to protect the people. … I'm auditioning for the part of Eighth District advocate to say, 'what can I do to work for everyday people,' so to improve their their everyday life? And I would show up — like, let me say that — I would show up. I'm already doing that all around the district, and that wouldn't ,that doesn't change. I don't just do it for campaign season. They're not there just to hold a seat and make a vote in DC. They're also there to hold town halls out in the community and engage with their constituents, and we're not seeing that happen.
Full candidate Q&A — Christopher Rector
Text is lightly edited from AI transcript; for fairness, questions are standardized between candidates with no follow-up questions.
Timothy Jagielo
The first question — you've got this already, tell me about yourself.
Christopher Rector
Okay, well, I'm originally from Knoxville, Tennessee. I served in the army for 25 years active duty, and I had many different experiences while I was in the military, but one that kind of stood out. My first duty station I was in West Germany, and it's when it was still divided, and somehow or another, I was selected to do a rotation for the American forces at Spandau Prison, where Rudolph Höss was, and I actually got the state inside the prison. My job was to cook for Rudolph Höss every day for a month during the month rotation, and being young, and I knew all about the Holocaust and stuff, but, you know, being young and stuff, you know, and just starting my military career, but he said something to me, and, you know, as I reflected on it and stuff over the years, it was really interesting, and it was like, I still can't really comprehend today. I mean, the stuff that he did was responsible for.
So and after my military service, I served as a sheriff's detective. I went undercover in a white supremacist group for 18 months, the district attorney that sent me under there was basically murdered during the case. So after that, I moved to Europe for a while. I come back, and I come back to Texas, and I lived in Texas for a few years, and I was involved in politics there. I ran for state representative, and as the Courier Press and Indy Star here like to say, there was a bit of 'political espionage,' which is kind of a James Bond-ish, but I openly ran as a Democrat for Republican precinct chair because the people were wanting the chair out. He's very impetuous about being racist and fascist, so I did that, and I actually won the seat was 70-percent of the vote, so he refused to seat me in my seat.
So it turned into a First Amendment case where they said they have the first amendment right for organization, you know, to be an organization. And we went with this was after the election, and the first amendment right of the voters that voted for that you're taking it away. So that went all the way to the Supreme Court, where they decided, instead of being organization, they give it to us for the voters voice. So that was really good, that they sided with the voice of the voters, which is very important.
TJ
What was the name of that case?
CR
Chris Rector versus Beau French or the Tarrant County Democratic.
TJ
Why are you running?
CR
I'm running for change. My campaign's been 'change,' and I'm here today to say a change is coming. I'm running for the working family and the struggling family every day, every week, every month. The truth comes to call for these families. And that truth being, you know, 'can I pay this bill? Can I short this bill?' You know, 'can I put food on the table?' And these people, some of them are working three or four jobs each. So I'm working to change that.
For over 50 years, billionaires, oligarchs and corporations have basically been robbing from the working and struggling family, and that's going to stop we're going to put a change to that. We're going to squash the monopolies of the corporations and give it back to the people. And as Congressman, I'm not going to reach across the aisle and shake the hand of a want to be fascist, white Christian nationalist or racist.
Everyone in this district — whether you're wealthy, poor, living in your vehicle, you know, working 10 jobs, or who you identify as, you will have a seat at the table, you know. And I don't know all the answers, and I don't pretend to, but everyone, regardless of race, gender, color and creed, will have a seat at the table, and this is how we will operate it. You know, fighters fight, and we're supposed to fight for the things we love, and that's what I'm going to do. And I want the people the Eighth District to also fight for what they love.
TJ
You got a lot of really interesting, compelling stories about your career and things that you've done, but what about your background makes you a strong candidate to to run for the seat and run against Mark Messmer?
CR
Well, the biggest thing is, I'm not a politician. I'm just an average citizen. You know, a politician to me, is someone — and we all see it all the time — 'Oh, if you let me, I promise to do this. I promise this, I promise that.' And as we know, most of the time, it never gets done. It's always the same old, same old. So I feel for me if I said that, I'm going to promise this. 'I'm gonna get you this guaranteed.' I feel like I wouldn't be telling the voters the truth, because, you know, it's a two year office, and the way things are, it's gonna be very hard to make hundreds of promises and get it done.
But I do have two core things, and I've already been working on these, which would really, I think, benefit the people of the Eighth District is universal child care in New Mexico. They have this. It's fully funded. It's absolutely free, and it did not raise the taxes in New Mexico. And it's actually working there. They got it into play. And I think New York is also doing that. So that's one of the core things that I would like to start in the Eighth District, and then eventually all of Indiana. But I mean, for working families, they didn't have to pay $10, $15, $20,000 a year for childcare. I mean, that would be a great benefit that would help them out tremendously.
TJ
Of course, we're talking about the Democratic primary you're gonna you're running as a Democrat. How does it change or affect the way that you would plan to legislate?
CR
So I've practically been a Democrat my entire life. And I look at the Democratic Party as the party of Social Security, of Medicaid, Medicare movement, you know, a New Deal. And I think the leadership and the elite of the Democratic Party has lost that. And I've talked to a lot of Democrats, and they feel the same way that if the Democratic Party and leadership actually represented and voted with the membership of the Democratic Party, then we would be the party of Social Security, Medicare.
So that's what I want to bring into — and the Democratic Party — it's a big tent. I'm not one of the party elite. You know, I want the progressive side of the Democratic Party, the Socialist side of the Democratic Party. Everybody's voice within this party is going to matter. And you know, you have the Stonewall Democrats. And a lot of people don't even know what the Stonewall Democrats is, which is the LGBTQ and it was come from in 1969 the riots in New York City from what happened at the Stonewall Inn. So, but everyone will have a place at the at the table.
That's the how I want the Democratic Party to represent the people, to be the party Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, a new deal. You know, a lot of people say, 'Chris, you're too radical. Chris, you're a socialist.' You know, I've been called a communist, but I like to think of myself as a 'New Deal Democrat.' You know, to represent everyone, this is what we have to have, that all parties and representation with the Democratic Party have to come together. It can't just be what the party elite wants. So that's what I want to do.
TJ
How would you work differently from the incumbent?
CR
Oh, everything you know with the incumbent, Mark Mesmer, and Trump regime in power now, you know, it's 'we're going to give you this, we're going to get you this,' you know,' we're going to do this, we're going to make life great for you.' And then it famously implodes, and then they become silent. So that's not a way to govern this country. You know, people have fought and died for this country, and everybody needs representation.
So what I want to do, you know, when Congress is not in session and we're back here, and I do this now, I like to go to city council meeting, county commission meetings. And there's a couple of things in Perry County, a couple of examples, the veterans County Veterans Service Officer and another veteran started a group operation, Mind, Body and Soul, and it's to help veterans with PTSD — It's a thing — and first responders.
Because three years ago, there was an incident in Tell City where a veteran and a police officer tragically lost their life. So they're trying to work together with different veterans and first responders … so they can talk together and maybe understand. So they went to the county commission meeting and asked for some of the funds for the opioid settlement, which Perry County had several $100,000, and they just flat out, told them 'no.' So I know this. I'm a service connected disabled veteran myself, so I would like to say, Okay, 'what do you need?' And if there's federal funds, I would like to give them directly to you, not have to go through the state or county commission. You know, what kind of federal funds or grants can we get you directly?
And also in Perry County, which is something great, you know, recidivism, where inmates — it's like a rotating door. They're arrested, get bailed out a couple of days later, they're back in because they have, you know, no purpose, no support, or anything else like that. So Perry County started a program to get them mental health care while they were incarcerated. And I think only out of 30 people in this group, only one came back, you know, and that saves the county and the taxpayer a lot of money, because it's like $70 a day to house a prisoner, you know, an inmate. So that would be money that we could get back into the community, you know, to put with groups that help people with electric and stuff like that. So I want to work directly with different kind of programs like that.
TJ
Do you want to lift some of your top priorities?
CR
I guess probably my top priority is to get some relief to the working and struggling families. You know, right now, we're in another never ending war, and I think the last count, it was a billion dollars a day. What could one of the 21 counties in the Eighth District do with a billion dollars? I mean, there's healthcare, childcare, you know, there's food banks. I mean, they could do a lot of stuff with a billion dollars to put some relief.
And I mean, you know, they robbed from these families (for) corporations. I mean, just two weeks ago they had a meeting. Here was the CenterPoint. And a lot of the people are retired, disabled, and when you get a $2,000 electric bill, I mean, that just devastating. A lady sent me an email with other people's stories, and, man, it was hard. So that's what we need to do. And we need to quit these sending all this money and support. We need to keep it here for the working families, instead of using it for bombs. You know, to bomb hospitals, schools, children. You know, the genocide in Gaza. This has to stop.
And I'll tell you, I'm probably the only candidate in this race that knows genocide firsthand. I've seen it in Bosnia, mutilated bodies of children and stuff in ditches. And I mean, this has to stop, and we can use that money to help the working and struggling families, you know. And you have the data centers popping all up, and they're showing up in rural communities, and that's, you know, I want to I'm not for that. It's a hard 'no,' right. Now for me, I want to stop until we can see, you know, how's it going to affect the energy — we already know it causes the energy costs. And look at CenterPoint.
I mean, these people can't pay more, so we have to, you know, stop that, investigate it, and see what the long term. The short term thing is great, but after six months, you know, then what happens? We're stuck with high electric bills, and they may just close up, go away, and it's just a waste, you know.
TJ
So do you have kind of, like a short campaign message that you've been sharing?
CR
My whole thing's just been about the working people and the working family. The way I look at it, especially the Democratic Party. We were the movement of the civil rights movement. We had the women's suffrage movement, the LGBTQ movement, and these movements were not won or got by somebody writing a letter to a congressman or sending a postcard to a congressman. These rights were obtained by people in the streets, the hills and the halls of power, they fought for these rights, and this is how we got these rights. And I think that's important. You know, just because I've ran my campaign on nothing, I've not collected one cent, you know, I get this question a lot of times, 'why don't you have a FEC financial statement?'
Because I've not collected any money, and you don't have to file until you raise $5,000 in campaign (contributions), and I've not took a cent, and the Eighth District central committee chair says, 'oh, you can't do that. It takes $2 million to win a congressional seat,' you know, maybe, but I think that's why I'm different. I want the people to research and look and vote their voice. I don't want the party or whoever just to buy a campaign. When a candidate or someone buys basically buys a campaign with raising millions of dollars, we get the same old, same old thing, like it's happening now. So I'm different than that. That's one thing I want to be different.
TJ
The last question I have for you is, why should somebody pull a democratic ballot and then vote for you?
CR
Because my campaign is change. And like I said, I'm here to say a change is coming. And as far as Democrats, like I say, every Democrat section within the big tent of the Democratic Party will be represented by me. We'll have a seat at the table, because I think their voice has been lost, or the party has become elite at the top, no different, really, than the Republican Party. And the working class, the struggling people, the progressives, the socialists — they lost their voice in this and had their voice basically taken away, and they're fighting back. We're fighting back. So I think pull a democratic ballot and you have your voice back.
Full candidate Q&A — Tabitha Zeigler
Text is lightly edited from AI transcript; for fairness, questions are standardized between candidates with few follow-up questions.
Timothy Jagielo
First of all, just tell me about yourself.
Tabitha Zeigler
Well, I think it's probably most important that I say I'm a humanist, and I feel like a humanist, then makes me a progressive, because I want change. I'm a mother. I'm a mother of three small children with autism. I'm late diagnosed autistic myself, so I've been an autism advocate and activist for a long time. That flows into all disability I feel like Disability Rights Advocates are in a good position to see all of the holes in legislation. I feel like you know, everybody will experience disability at some point in their lifetimes. So that's essentially why I stepped up. I have two nonprofits. I was a flight attendant for 17 years. I spoke French, went back and forth, lived in let's see, South Africa, Ireland, France, had an opportunity to see how public transportation works, education system works. Was with the post office for four years. I was union member both times. So I've been an actual union, participating member, dues, paying member for 20-plus years.
TJ
Is there anything else you want to add about why you're running?
TZ
Well, I guess I forgot to mention that I'm a farmer's daughter, so my family's been in the farming industry for 200 years, and also come from steel workers. So very much, working class candidate, if you will. I've seen people struggle like I've seen a lot of people from my area struggle, and I was one of those that kept trying to reach out to my state representative, state senator, Governor, try and ask why certain things were happening. A large reason why I entered the race was because of my kids that have autism and they put a lifetime cap on ABA services, which my kids participate in. And because I know that early intervention is best, I was like, 'What are you doing?' Guys, like,' you're sending these people back.' And, you know, then they just go through the gamut, right, hurting the middle class and lower class, they start attacking SNAP.
They're attacking, you know, all the Medicaid services. I actually, I tried to get my kids Special Needs car seat, and it was denied recently because they felt that my children don't have a disability that is qualifying enough to receive said car seat. So all of these things related to disability advocacy was really what brought me into the race.
TJ
What about your background makes you a strong candidate, though, for the seat?
TZ
I think that having someone that is actively working class, you know, it brings a different perspective. I'm a normal person, I'm not a politician. So I've not been in that culture of 'this is how we do things.' And I think I very much break that stigma, because my motivation is different, right? Like, I want to help people, and I see that things are broken, and I especially see that things are broken on both sides. So at this point, it doesn't matter whether it's Democrat, Republican, Independent, we just have people that are taking APAC money, corporate donations. And they're not really speaking for the people anymore. I think they mostly speak for the corporate interests. And if you have people that are beholden to corporate interests or foreign influences, for example, they're no longer beholden to the American people. So that was something that really concerned me.
TJ
How might that affect how you're going to legislate as a representative?
TZ
Well, I'm part of the LGBTQ + community, and I have autism, so there are certain things that the Republican Party does not stand for. I do not feel that they represent the disability community in any capacity. They certainly don't represent the LGBTQ + community in any capacity. It seems like anything health care, education, anything that is trying to move humanity forward, they're against.
I actually come from Republicans. I come from a very Republican area, so I feel like I've, I've been in the trenches, if you will. Even with my own family, we've got a little bit of a Benjamin Franklin situation going on in my household, where, you know, I don't believe in throwing the baby out with the bathwater, but it is a constant struggle. So right now, I'm actively using the skill set that I would be using in Congress.
TJ
Do you want to take a moment to talk about how you specifically would work differently from the incumbent if you get to be the candidate to run against Mark Mesmer?
TZ
I don't feel that Mark Mesmer stands for anything. Honestly, if you are constantly bending over for corporations and outside interest interest, then you don't work for the American people, which means you don't work for district eight. If you're interested in making sure that people have a decent living wage, decent healthcare, you can't actively vote against every bit of legislation that would help the working class.
TJ
Do you want to list some top priorities for your campaign?
TZ
I believe in universal healthcare. I think we should have universal childcare. I think that we should have free higher education. Other countries do it. We've got models that we can use. And right now, the only reason that we're not able to have these things is because of corporate interest and corporate donations. We're constantly giving incentives to corporations right now, much like the data centers, for example, that you know, they get a 50-year grace period. Essentially, they're getting all of the carbon credits even taken away from the farmers. And then things like this are presented to the American public, like, 'this is a good deal, and this is going to bring jobs,' and they don't seem to be concerned about how that's going to affect us, how that's going to affect us environmentally, our health care.
And they seem like they're playing fast and loose constantly, not just with our health, with our education, with our money. At this point, I feel like the government has just gone off the rails, and this is why it's really important to have working class candidates enter in again.
TJ
I guess this is like the $40 billion question, but how would How would you recommend funding universal health care, universal child care?
TZ
There's a lot of ideas right now about how we could do that, but essentially, if we start taxing the elite classes the same way that the middle class and the lower classes are taxed, then we could get a lot of that income right now, I believe $176,000 is the threshold for you no longer have to pay into the Social Security system, for example. So working class people, you know, poor to middle class are essentially funding programs like Social Security.
For example, if normal people were given the same advantages that the upper class was getting, you would have that opportunity to invest right, not just invest in your longevity, for yourself, but for your family, you could create multi generational wealth. And essentially, right now, our upper class and the influence that they have on our politicians is strangling the working class.
TJ
Anything else you want to add with your priorities?
TZ
I'm a farmer's kid — like I want to make sure that we make sure that we have food security, not just for here, but for the world. A lot of people don't realize that this is a large agricultural region. It's very big. There are many families that come from small working farms, that also have another job. If you don't have programming that will actually allow these farmers to do what they need to do, then we're going to have a food scarcity situation.
We're already having it right now with the Strait of Hormuz. This is going to be a global problem, and for people that would argue immigration is an issue, right? Well, immigration is really going to be an issue when we have a global famine and these people like normal (life), right? I mean, you want to take care of your kids. You want to make sure that your kids can eat. We already have American kids right now that can't eat. So if this is going to be a global problem, and we already don't want immigrants here, what's going to happen whenever we can't support our family, our families and our farmers and our own citizens here with just basic food security?
TJ
Did you have kind of a campaign, a short campaign message or an elevator pitch?
TZ
So my, my elevator pitch, if you will, is this — I'm a normal person. I'm like, you guys, I'm working class. I'm the mom of three little kids with autism. I've actively navigated Medicaid, like the complex Medicaid system, IEPs, I am actively changing diapers, taking kids to doctor's appointments. I'm actively doing the parent meetings that are required now for having your children in ABA to continue services. I'm the one going to shop at the grocery store, much like you guys, I'm having to put articles back. You know, decide, am I going to take the milk? Am I going to buy the coffee? What do my kids need? Do I have enough gas to fill my car to get to work? This is why I haven't been taking donations from the regular people, because I'm like, people can't afford to feed their kids right now. You know, we need government officials that are from the working class, that have the motivation to make sure that people are okay. I don't believe that we will achieve any progress if we don't get regular people back in those seats.
TJ
And you with such a huge district that you cover, there's there's a lot of counties. A lot of counties have different primaries on their ballots. We've got some primaries locally here where they will the residents have a choice — they can pull a Republican ballot and practically vote for their Sheriff, or they can pull a democratic ballot and vote for district eight primary candidate. Why should somebody pull a democratic ballot and vote for you?
TZ
I'm going to go back to the fact that I come from an area that is flush with Republicans, but one thing that I was taught and that I feel very strongly about is you should vote for the person that you think represents you best. And I do think that I represent the working class best in this instance, I do think that Congress serves a large area of issues, especially whenever it comes to legislation. So for example, if disability rights is something that you are concerned about, if you're concerned about things like food security, about protecting farmers, about protecting our environment, about, you know, limiting access of data centers, and making sure that, you know, our water rights are protected, I would think that it would be a good move to vote in this particular congressional district election. It's a hard thing to say, right? You don't want to tell someone that they shouldn't vote like I want people to vote the way that they want to vote. I just think that the congressional seat might actually bring more influence, more jobs, more money back into district eight.