Here's The Tea Part 2 - The Domino Effect

In this episode, Tamara Davis Brown and guest host Jessica Brown discuss the impact of the 2024 Presidential race on Maryland’s local elections. They express enthusiasm about Vice President Kamala Harris Presidential race. Additionally, they explore the implications of Angela Alsobrooks potentially winning the US Senate race, which could create vacancies in the county executive and at-large council seats in Prince George’s County, Maryland. The conversation also touches on potential candidates for these positions. Overall, they highlight the cost and complexity of special elections and emphasize the importance of trust in the political process.

Transcript

Tamara Davis Brown: 0:09

Hi, and welcome to another edition of All Politics is Local with me, your host, Tamara Davis Brown. I am so excited today because we are coming back with part two of Here's the Tea. As you know, we are in an election cycle at the national level, at the congressional level, and even at the local level here in Prince George's County. There is just so much to unpack about how the national election, the congressional races will impact us locally here in Prince George's County, and that's why we always say that all politics is local. So I'm so excited today. I have a guest host with me today. She is a dynamic young woman. She is a 2022 graduate of University of Southern California with a degree in civil engineering with the emphasis on transportation engineering. She works for a civil engineering firm dealing with transportation issues such as uh transit, roadways, anything regarding transportation and moving people safely from one place to another. And she is a young person, as I said, a 22 graduate college graduate, so she's of this generation, a millennial, uh, very educated in things that impact her and her generation. And she takes the time to research and do some due diligence on not only local elections, federal elections, congressional elections, but she has some very strong opinions and statistical data and research to back it up on her opinions. And so I'm so excited to have her here. And she just so happens to be the brainchild of this podcast, All Politics is Local. She's the executive producer of this podcast, and so I'm excited to have our co-host today, my daughter, Jessica Brown. Hey, baby girl.

Jessie Brown: 2:22

Welcome to All Politics is local. Hey, mommy. Thank you so much for having me. I do have to clarify, I am not a millennial. I am Gen Z, Generation Z. I'm a Zoomer. Went through the pandemic on Zoom, so I am Gen Z and a Zoomer.

Tamara Davis Brown: 2:40

All right. Well, thank you for that clarification. I I don't I get those alphas, Zen G, Zen, Zen Z, X. I get them all mixed up. I I know baby boomers and maybe millennials. So all right. Well, we have a Gen Z as our co-host guest. So let's jump right into and unpack what's happening at the national election. Um, as we know, this is a presidential year and it's been a lot going on. Um and particularly now, what's dominating the conversation is the fact that President Joe Biden has decided not to run for re-election, and he has thrown his support behind our soror, vice president Kamala Harris. We talked originally, and you can explain to our listeners that, you know, how you were feeling about the Democratic nominee before President of the United States decided not to run versus how you're feeling right now. So uh unpack that for us and and and let's let's talk about um the national election first.

Jessie Brown: 3:53

Definitely. I mean, the Kamala nominal, the phenomenon that is Kamala Harris, I I'm excited. Um, of course, yeah, she's a member of the first and finest. Um, so I'm always going to support her. But I I just think um a new generation, a generation that is a little closer to mine, you know, I'm Gen Z, she is Gen X, so it's a few letters away in the alphabet. Um, but someone who has the energy and someone who has um the policy ideals that are a little are similar to mine. Um, I I'm like definitely excited, you know. I was a little nervous at first, honestly, you know, her being a black woman, and we've seen this week with you know the NABJ whole conversation um just about how she's going to be attacked, and we know she's going to be attacked, and the attacks have already been coming, and it's almost two weeks in. But I'm just excited for the energy that she's bringing. And I I don't know if you've seen or you've probably seen, you know, all of the Zoom calls. It started with black women for Harris, and I'm in some group chats, and there was black women when I uh I got some of those messages. I'm I'm sad that I wasn't one of those 44,000 that got to attend. Um, but I'm super excited, the energy that she's bringing, you know, uh, you know, Gen Z, we love the memes. And so, you know, the coconut memes, I don't know if you know that one, but you know, basically she's talking about how there's a story of her mom saying, like, you didn't just fall out of a coconut tree. You exist within the co the context of all that you that is and was before you. And so a lot of people have been putting coconut trees and coconuts in their Twitter bios and stuff like that. Um, you know, she had Meg the Stallion come, um, and I'm a big Hottie for Harris now. I will claim that a hot girl Meg. So it's just it's really exciting to see how everyone's kind of coming together. And I do, I mean, it's hard to be older, of course, but when you provide that energy and that fire, um, it really does inspire people to take action and to move. So I'm just excited to see how Kamala's momentum and like as she defines her own policy, um, that it really will bring the nation together and will have great to do some great things coming up in the election, hopefully, if she gets elected um in November.

Tamara Davis Brown: 6:22

That's great to hear because I was a little concerned when I heard you talk about how you just really wasn't feeling President Joe Biden. And I knew it was not just you, but your entire generation. And and you even spoke, you just like, we're not, we're not feeling it, just like you, you know, told me you were the the impetus of this podcast. You're like, mom, I'm not, we're not reading you emails, we're not, you know, we're just not doing that. You need to start a podcast and talk about all this stuff. And so I'm glad that to hear that you're excited about her um candidacy and potential ascension to the highest office in the United States. But I'm even more excited that there is a generation of people your age and younger that are excited and want to go out and vote for for Kamala. So that that gives me, you know, hope that, you know, we can save our democracy. And so I'm I yeah, no, I I'm thinking that, you know, if President Joe Biden didn't win against um Trump, then, you know, our democracy was sh is sh was surely in peril. And not to say it's with with her, you know, everything is fragile. And so we have to protect the rights, we have to protect uh our civil rights, we have to protect our constitutional rights, we have to protect everything that uh this nation was supposedly well the principles, I'll put it like that, the principles that this nation was supposedly founded on. I won't get into other things that you know that's that that has a stain on our history um as a as a nation. So but nevertheless, I'm excited, so we should um look forward to her candidacy and supporting her candidacy. So tell me um what about um the Harris administration and maybe even the under the what what you saw under the Biden Harris administration that excites you?

Jessie Brown: 8:34

I mean, uh I think from day one, uh I definitely was a f a fan of Joe Biden. Um, but from day one, he had really, I think, innovative policies. Um his executive order number one was the Justice 40 initiative, which is essentially a goal that sets 40% of the overall benefits of certain certain um federal investments in climate, clean energy, clean transportation, and other areas that flow directly to disadvantaged communities, um, which have been marginalized by underinvestment and overburdened by pollution. And you know me, I have a green thumb. I've always um, you know, supported things that affect our climate, but I think climate change uh directly impacts um marginalized communities. And so it was really exciting for me to see Justice 40 as like a blueprint of like, okay, we really want whatever investment that we make, like we really want that to affect people the least of East, as we always talk about. And I think like kind of how that trickles down a little bit, like I know I work in the transportation space, and so a lot of what the work that I do is not just doing the actual engineering work, but like how we can we get our clients, you know, funds for these things. Um, and so there's a grant program called Through the Infrastructure Bill, which was passed in the fall of 2021, um, the low-no emissions program. So essentially funds that give uh local municipalities access so they could purchase um zero emission buses. So those are buses that either are hybrid or electric and that reduce emissions. Um so I was really excited to see that. And I think they're on their like fourth round of funding. And actually, Prince Rogers County um got some funds in this most recent round. They actually got $25 million. So our Prince Rogers County Department of Public Works and Infrastructure can go out and replace those, you know, old the buses with ones that are um electric or hybrid, things like that. So I I'm really excited how you know those type of policies, especially around climate change and and and helping people who may not be able to help themselves through federal investment, can get there. Um and I I really do think that, you know, pulling it back to all politics as local, I really do think that policies like that um and having leaders who are going to advocate for those type of funds is is really important. And I know that there's a you know, the Senate race in Maryland coming up. And so we have some leaders that are hopefully advocating for those same type of policies and making sure that their administrations can, you know, get those funds that we need so we can continue to change our communities for the better. So, what do you think about this, you know, upcoming U.S. Senate race in Maryland with with Angela Olsobrooks?

Tamara Davis Brown: 11:25

So I'm uh excited about the Senate race with Angela Olso Brooks, as you know or recall, I supported Angela in the primary race um against when she was against David Trone. And even though we had quite a few um political leaders that actually supported Trone, I was one of as a regular citizen uh supporting Angela, but there were quite, you know, there are a lot of of a lot of us that that were supporting her. So I'm excited that um she made it past the primary. There was a question at one point whether or not she could beat Larry Hogan because he is a two-term elected Republican governor in the state, and he's more moderate than uh most Republicans, and so he was quite popular when he left office, and so there was some question even in the primary race, and I believe Trone um had a uh TV ad that said that he was the own, you know, based on polling, he was the only candidate that could beat Larry Hogan. Well, he's not our Democratic nominee, Angela also Brooks is. And so I just think that the the the negatives of the Republican Party outweigh whether or not we had President Joe Biden or Vice President Kamala Harris at the top of the ticket. I thought the negatives outweigh um whoever is at the top of the ticket and that Angela would still win in in Maryland because Maryland is a heavily blue state in its majority counties. And that would include Prince George's, that would include Montgomery County, that would include Baltimore City, and for the most part Baltimore County. Some of the other counties also, you know, are heavily blue as well, Howard and Arondo. Um but we do have some, you know, some some purple slash uh red parts of you know Western Maryland, for example, is is mostly Republican, but we do have you know some pockets of of Republican. And I just thought the party, the GOP has gone so shifted so far to the right that I s still thought that Angela's chances of beating Larry Hogan, regardless of who's at the top of the ticket, was still very plausible. Now that Kamala is at the top of the ticket, I think it's even more of a greater chance that she'll she'll win. And so I'm excited about that because it brings I I think Kamala's candidacy raises the level of all women uh that are running for office, or all Democrats for for that mo for for the most part, all Democrats, because people will be inclined to vote straight Democratic ticket because Kamala's at the top of the ticket. And so I'm excited about that, and I think it certainly raises Angela also Brooks' chances of beating Larry Hogan in a state where he was very popular and had a high approval rating when he left office, and again was voted, you know, twice by the the Maryland electorate as governor of the state. Um I'm excited to f for the fact that we will finally once again have a black woman in the Senate. Yes. I was, you know, when Kamala left the was was running for president the first time before she became vice president. I was like, gosh, we need we need a black woman in the Senate. We need a black woman. Why is she running? We really need to. I really wish she would stay, because we need that voice in the Senate. So um I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm excited that she decided to run for the vice, I mean for president and got the vice presidency, but it still left us with that void that we didn't have a black woman's voice in the Senate. And we really need a diverse group of voices in the Senate. So I think Angela will do a great job carrying that mantle and representing that mantle. You know, she's, you know, a very intelligent woman. Not not only is she an attorney, but you know, she's been an executive of a major um county. We're close to a million people, if not over a million people, with all the townhouses and other things that they're building in the county. So we if we're not if we haven't cracked that million, we we were close to it at the last census 2020, so now it's 2024, so I'm sure we've cracked that. But anyway, um, yes, um, I'm excited about that.

Jessie Brown: 16:03

So Angela, hopefully she wins, but what is her like role, like what is she gonna be able to do in the Senate? What do you think? You know, having a black woman, of course, but advocating for the state of Maryland, like what how is that gonna help a future President Harris or help the state of Maryland as well?

Tamara Davis Brown: 16:23

Well, I would say two things. One, we're gonna have a 50-50 split, and I believe that Angela's presence will be that 51st vote that will help the the Harris administration to get some of the policies passed, number one, and any appointments that have to be passed, whether it's in in cabinet positions, but specifically federal judges, even Supreme Court justices, Angela will be able to make that tie-breaking vote by maintaining, you know, having, you know, it's a 50-50 split now, so if we maintain Maryland, we can certainly ensure that we'll have the Senate majority. So I'm excited about that. Um two, I'm I'm hopeful that as you mentioned about some of the federal grants, and this is some of the things that I've been talking about on the campaign trail, is that we will have greater access to federal grants. Um she'll know about those, she'll um help signal and help us to, you know, get to where we can apply, maybe even earmark some funds that can help us here in the state of Maryland and particularly in Prince George's County, to bring whether it's we're we're getting the FBI, but whether it's uh you know another federal installation, that would be um very helpful for the state of Maryland. So I I'm hopeful that she'll she'll see that and as our current county executive and knowing what our budget um and potential budget deficit looks like, that she will steer a lot of federal funds our way. Um programs like that low emission that you talked about. You know, there's there's just so much that we need to do in order to make sure that we can close our budget deficit, maintain our AAA bond rating, and um, you know, continue to fund everything that we need without raising taxes on our residents and particularly our seniors who have you know shouldered the the burden in terms of property taxes and and income taxes and so forth. So I think that that's gonna be a plus for us here in the state of Maryland.

Jessie Brown: 18:43

I definitely think so. And for and for Prince Rhodes County. I mean, Angela also brooks I I really hope she does win the Senate seat because because of all those benefits, the 50-50 split and just advocating having someone from Prince Rogers County to advocate, of course, for the whole state, but also for the county that we we all love. Um, but how does so Angela is the the county executive for Prince Rogers County currently, so how does her potential win in November affect um how the county is governed in the future, what happens to to her seat um and things like that?

Tamara Davis Brown: 19:22

Good that's a good question, and I'm glad you asked that question because as this podcast is entitled All Politics is local, and what will happen is depending on the timing of her um resignation or stepping down, so let's let's let's we're hopeful, right? We're hopeful that um she'll win in November. And if she if she d announces her resignation um immediately, and I could I might have this backwards, and so forgive me for not doing my research before I did this, before we did this podcast, but I I I forget she actually depending she won't get sworn in obviously until January with the rest of the class, whether um, you know, for Congress, everybody runs every two years for the House of Representatives, the Senate is um different. Um they have a longer term than Congress, they don't have to run every two years. But when they are sworn into office will be in January of 2025. And so her the timing of her resignation based on our county um ordinance and the county charter uh depends, will tell us whether or not we will have an appointment or a special election.

unknown: 20:44

Okay.

Tamara Davis Brown: 20:45

An appointment would mean that if she steps down in in the time frame where the county council can appoint a a a county executive, what will happen is is the county council will meet together and they will select a person to represent Prince George's County as the county executive until the next election, which would be 2026.

Jessie Brown: 21:08

Okay.

Tamara Davis Brown: 21:25

Another one. And so, yes, another one. Yes, we're in the midst of one right now due to the resignation of one at-large member, as you know. Right. And we would be potentially it have to have another special election countywide to fill the vacancy of Angela also Brooks, if that's her true desire. And again, that's that's that's just a rumor. Here's the T. The T is that she really wants the people of Prince George's County to select their county executive and not just hand it over to the county council to make that decision. So, yeah, that would be another um special election that we have. And so our listeners already know that we're in the midst of the special election for the resignation of an at-large council member. There are seven Democrats running, including yours truly, Tamara Davis Brown, as well as four Republican candidates that are are running as well. And so early voting is already go uh occurring. Uh it started on July 31st, it ends on Monday the 5th, with uh primary special election day Tuesday, August the 6th.

Jessie Brown: 22:41

If it is Angela also broke's intention to you know give the people their voice, who who do you think are the top uh people to kind of repla replace her? What's what's the political machine looking like? What's the grassroots support looking like?

Tamara Davis Brown: 22:58

So I know for certain that our state's attorney, Aisha Brayboy, is interested in running for county executive in 2026. I'm sure she would put her hat in the ring for the county executive position for special election. I'm also pretty certain that at large council member Calvin Hawkins is interested in running for county executive in the in 2026, and I'm pretty for sure he would put his hat in the ring as um a uh candidate for the county executive. I'm not a hundred percent about Calvin, but I'm definitely sure that Angela would do it. And just recently, um the candidates for this current at-large seat with the special election that I just mentioned, um one of the candidates is our county council chairwoman, and we had a candidates forum at the Collington, which is a um senior 55 plus community resort that um they had an in-person meeting and we were all asked point blank as a yes or no question. We couldn't provide any explanation or anything, but a yes or no question whether or not if uh the county executive won her seat and there was a special election, um would you seek to run for the county executive? All of the candidates answered no, with the exception of the county council chairwoman, Jolene Ivey, she said yes, she would run for county executive. She said it emphatically with an exclamation point loud and clear. So um it's it's a it's just a maze of musical chairs. It's like, okay, well, you're already on the council, and now um in your and you're running for the at-large seat. You're you're already on the council, so you're running for the same position. It's just a it's just that it's at large. And you're cre if you win, you create a vacancy. You create a vacancy in your district, which will trigger another special election.

Jessie Brown: 25:20

Oh, interesting. Okay, that's uh that's interesting. That that I mean, of course, we want Miss Tamara Davis Brown to win the at-large seat. Sorry, these are my opinions, Jessica Brown here. Um but uh a Jolene Ivey win at the at-large seat, but she also has emphatically said that she wanted to run for county executive if that seat is vacated by Angela also Brooks. So you're saying if Angela also Brooks wins her Senate seat, then there's a vacancy in the county executive, and if Jolene Ivey wants to run for that, and she wins county executive, then there's a vacancy in the at-large seat, and so we're we're back in a domino effect, and now there's another special election that needs to go on. Is that what you're saying to me? Basically, yes.

Tamara Davis Brown: 26:20

So we we got a special election, right? Yeah, exactly. So yeah, we got a special election going on now due to a resignation of a council member for integrity reasons. And then if our council chair wins, there'll be a special election to fill her seat uh uh only at the district level. So at least at least it won't be as many people.

Jessie Brown: 26:51

I missed that one.

Tamara Davis Brown: 26:52

Yeah, you missed one.

Jessie Brown: 26:53

You missed that domino. I missed the district. Okay, so she's district five uh council person. So that's another branch in this domino effect. We got got the domino splitting if you guys are imagining this with me. Okay. And then we get to the if she would have won her at large seat, you know, that wow, okay.

Tamara Davis Brown: 27:17

Then she would abandon that she would abandon that seat, she would have served it, you know, for all of a couple of days, maybe and abandon that seat to run for county executive, yes.

Jessie Brown: 27:31

You know, all these things cost money, right? To put on however many days of early voting and staffing poll volunteers and not volunteers, poll workers. Um, and send out everyone got a a mail mail in ballot this time, I think. Um, so that's a lot if you're having to put a special election for a district level seat on the county council, and then of course hypotheticals, but also uh at-large seat, which we already just adjudicated in August, and then to have to have a special election out of season for county executive. That's technically for special elections.

Tamara Davis Brown: 28:18

Technically, technically technically for elections. So you well, the f the the first one I I was about to say the first one was unavoidable, but the first one it was avoidable just the lack of integrity of of the p the person. But these other two are just you know political stepping stones. And so there has been a quote that this current special election for this at-large seat costs anywhere between one point three million and two point six million dollars. And that is, as you said, because it's countywide, we've got nine voting centers, they're open from ten in the morning to eight in the evening for uh five days with the exception of t um tomorrow, Sunday which is from twelve PM to six PM. So you gotta staff that and then you have to staff a full day of early voting. I mean election day, which starts the polls open at seven a.m. and end at eight PM. So those nine places all have about ten people working. Um we had to you know, you we have some voting machines, but I think you still have to the the cost of the voting machines or to rent them or what have you. And the cost of um the drop boxes, I I believe the state owns all the drop boxes, so that was an extra expense. But what is an expense is all of the drop boxes are being monitored remotely by camera, which I think that's a good idea because uh if we everyone remembers. members when we were voting during the py pandemic, all the drop boxes were being monitored live by state police, um parking planning police. And so um that costs a lot of money personnel wise. And then you've got to, you know, count the ballots and do the actual canvassing, count the ballots and, you know, print the ballots and then w those who win in the primary go on to the general, which means there's another new ballot that has to be made up to add for the general election, even for this first general election, which is the presidential election, the everybody will be voting on this first special countywide election between whoever wins as the Democratic nominee versus whoever wins as the Republican nominee. And so you have to repeat that cycle potentially three more times.

Jessie Brown: 30:53

Okay.

Tamara Davis Brown: 30:54

That's that's make my head once at the district level, which is a new it's okay.

Jessie Brown: 31:01

Cause I um that's a lot. You know, I know a lot of pieces have to be put in play but I think for for your listeners like you know whether the person has a a true ambition for the the position itself like you know why they are running for what they're running for and how that affects people um versus a political a political stepping stone. And you know just like any career you do things so you can get to the next step but I think it's really important for for people who are in politics and in these elected positions to really be dedicated and focused on you know the constituents that they serve right now. And so you know political steps are are not you do have a a duty to to those people that elected you and to vacate your seat for integrity reasons or for political stepping stones or you know that's a big deal and you have to account or that person has to you know hold themselves accountable to the voters that elected them um for them to do their job. So that's a really very interesting domino effect and I'm excited for for what's to come uh it's a lot of popcorn eating I've been eating a lot of popcorn over the last three weeks from a lot of popcorn and a lot of tea a lot of tea you know a lot of tea tea drinks some tea gets stones and uh yeah let's see how that's gonna how that's gonna play out so yeah and I found I found this quote um it's from the University of Maryland Diamond the Pack newspaper and it's interviewing uh chair chair ivy just asking her about the seat um the special election seat for this countywide council position uh she says I'm not acting like this is no expense in order to have this election or possibility of another election but the cost of letting the wrong person win this race it would have a profound economic impact and that's actually why I'm running valid reasons having the wrong person in how do you feel about that quote how how do you feel about that cup quote I mean but like I like you know we we went over the domino effect and I think that's what she's referring to in terms of she's there's an expense that the time expense and economic expense um the wrong person win this race I I don't know I just it it's a short term like the at large seat goes in I mean two years is a is a lot of time but in a sense it's not so if you're putting trust in in the voters that the voters of the whole county know what their interests are um just like you would do for any election I'm thinking about you know the the national election and I'm aligning myself with candidates that have pol just like the policies I talked about the policies and and institute things that I care about. So I think it's kind of a lack of trust of the people of Prince George's county and she's saying the wrong person like the people would elect the wrong person and I'm putting the wrong person in air quotes for those who can't see me but the people are electing this said wrong person. So you know this uh Chair Ivy would have to work with this potential person on the council but that's essentially telling the re whole resident all of Prince Rose County residents that voted for this this next person that you don't trust the choice that they made. And you know special elections are special. You have to go out of your way to uh vote it's not like on your regular election cycle so you know the people that are voting in this election are the people that are paying attention. So for her to say that the people of Prince George's county are potentially choosing gonna choose the wrong person kind of is an affront to our political process and you know who's to say that she's the right person like I think right and wrong is a little subjective um opinion and so I I don't know I think that that quote just kind of kind of doesn't put trust her saying that she trusts the political process and trusts the residents of Prince George's county but you know let me take it one step further because I was thinking about I was thinking about this again she's already on the council and she she's just one vote.

Tamara Davis Brown: 35:55

She vacates her District 5 seat so does she have an in on who's going to be her replacement? I'm sure she does and is that replacement person going to be the right person to to to vote the way she thinks that they're gonna vote? So it you know it pre it it it raises another level of question like do you have some political in on who's gonna be who's gonna replace you at the District 5 level and are they going to vote the right the the quote unquote right way? Are they the right person and they're gonna vote the right way and you know you up you've already you know you've already knighted somebody knighted K N I G H T somebody to be your replacement and that they're gonna vote the way you want them to vote. Um so it presupposes a a lot of things. First it presupposes that any of the can in any of the twelve other candidates that are running are not, as you say, if the people select them are not the quote unquote right person for the job. To me it's a personal affront. Yeah, yeah. But more importantly I think people are missing the fact that she still would have to know who is going to replace her at Dist district five and is there some kind of political um back gaming that's going on in the background about who has that seat and then are they gonna vote the way she thinks that they're gonna vote. And so it's a lot of political gamership going on here that you know people aren't aware of.

Jessie Brown: 37:38

And so I I will say that it's like it's a it's a balance um because I think a lot of people you know pulling it back up to the the national lens is like a lot of people upset that Joe Biden was the choice that we had um c coming up in November. And so that that level of succession planning I guess is valuable but at the same time it is a people oriented process. And I do think especially at the local level where you know there's a lot more similar a lot more Democrat Democrat races like the people Maryland is more of a blue state except what you were talking about earlier in the show about you know those parts of Western Maryland that are a little purple red um but when when it comes down to it the policy and the people and the policy is like what people are voting for. You know we're not necessarily like voting for personalities or voting for how the the conglomerate want us to vote. We're voting for you know things and issues that we care about. So kind of yeah that setup is succession planning I think is valuable at the the federal level um but at the local level I think it really does matter to keep the power with the people.

Tamara Davis Brown: 39:00

Absolutely I agree with you 100% on that and um I hope everyone that's listening it's only a couple of days left in this special election primary that you take this into account and take into consideration this domino effect of what we're talking about. But it's this political game this you know stepping stone musical chairs it's it's interesting but to me it's sad. And I say that because you want people to run for office because they really care about the county and they really want to see our quality of life improve not to run for some political gamanship or stepping stone in your political career. Well said well said all right well I think we've unpacked that pretty well lots of tea are there any other final comments from our guest hosts I I enjoyed having this this conversation with you.

Jessie Brown: 40:05

It's uh yeah a lot to unpack as you said um I I had my tea with me I eaten the popcorn as well um up close in this um race you know as the candidate is a relative um for the count countywide council seat so I'm excited for the next couple of days um and then you know running into November and just seeing how our local politics works and how our state uh elections and congressional elections roll out and then finally our national election so it's an exciting time a lot to consider you know people of my generation kind of get overwhelmed by politics and I'm off Instagram Facebook all the all the social medias because it's become a lot but I think it's important to tune in um because integrity matters policy matters um and all politics is local well said well said well thank you for joining me as my guest host today it's been a delightful conversation we can probably could have gone on for another 30 minutes hours or what have you but I'm glad that we got together and unpacked this and once again I I thank you for being the brainchild of this podcast and uh initiating for me to do it.

Tamara Davis Brown: 41:33

I'm glad that I did it I've getting you know very positive feedback from it so thank you thank you thank you so this uh concludes our episode for today part two here's the tea if there are any episodes or or content that you'd like to hear and like for me to discuss and do some research on I'll be happy to do so but thank you for joining us today where all politics is local come back please uh like share uh but please do um join us again on another episode of All Politics is local the Maryland edition with me your host Tamra James Brown