pennsylvania is in many ways a microcosm
of the united states solidly democratic
in some areas in the east and west and
heavily republican in between
the democrats who won this week's senate
primary lieutenant governor john
fetterman is not writing off any of
those bright red areas he says he'll
campaign for votes in every single
county in the state veteran stands out
in a crowd literally he is six foot
eight inches tall known for his casual
dress of course and which includes
hoodies and often shorts he supports
many progressive policies and he won the
primary against the centrist two-term
congressman conor lamb some on the left
say quote
fetterman's victory should redefine the
beltway assumptions on electability and
his primary win was also notable because
he was in the hospital after suffering a
stroke just days before the election so
his wife giselle fetterman gave his
victory speech instead
you may have noticed i am not
john fetterman
the next senator of our great state as
i'm sure most of you know john had a
little hiccup on friday while we were on
the road campaigning
thank god he's already on his way to a
full recovery
like so many others i found the american
dream and made my life here in western
pennsylvania
i found love a wonderful family
and a place i am proud to raise my
children
john and i want to make sure that
everyone in pennsylvania
can find the american dream here too
and gisele fetterman joins us now first
of all thank you so much for being here
today
thank you for having me i'm a huge fan
oh thanks um so i want to start off by
asking how he's doing how how is uh mr
fetterman doing and when do you expect
he'll leave the hospital
he's doing great he'll be home in a few
days he is dying to get out of there
i am not in a rush i want him to leave
when he is full um and but he's looking
good everything went well the surgery is
great we're very lucky that we were
close to you know a great center and
that he was able to get the help that he
needed immediately
uh yes the quick help in in the event of
a stroke is very very important mr
fetterman's campaign said today it
raised 1.6 million dollars in the 24
hours since clinching the democratic
nomination tell us more about the
outpouring of support that you've seen
this week
oh it's been amazing and i've heard from
from everyone from the president to the
second gentleman to many other senators
but also so many stories so many folks
have reached out and said i too had a
stroke or i also have a pacemaker and
this is what my life has been like and
it's saved my life and i feel great so
i think it's something we don't talk
about enough but it's something that we
should talk about more
i agree with that assessment uh a new
york times article as is jon fetterman
the future of the democratic party i
mean does your husband victory hold
lessons for what national democrats uh
should be saying and what kind of
candidates uh are actually electable i
mean does does he go against
conventional wisdom
i think he's a real person and he's
authentic and i think that's refreshing
in politics because politicians have a
bad reputation in many cases it's very
well deserved and he is something
different but he is who he's always been
he cares about these issues he's been
doing this work he shows up he doesn't
write anyone off you know we believe in
visiting everywhere and i think the
results showed he won every single
county in pennsylvania i don't know if
that's ever been done before but he won
all 67 counties and i think that's
remarkable and it shows that our slogan
every county every vote it wasn't a
slogan it was a promise it was that we
were going to go to every place and we
were going to talk to everyone and we
were going to listen
a lot of campaigns say they're doing
that you've actually made that an
explicit message as you said every every
county every vote i mean how do you
think your message can connect with some
of those more rural voters that a lot of
campaigns
they don't necessarily speak directly to
those voters until the last weekend
before the election
right and you know so many folks would
say oh my god thank you for coming no
one has ever come to see us before
and you know we reject that their votes
matter just like anyone else's their
dreams matter just like anyone else's
and they deserve the same quality of
life no matter where you live in the
state whether you're a republican or a
democrat or an independent we want you
to have a bright future in the state and
stay here so we're always willing to
have that conversation we're always
willing to listen and to learn and i
think other democrats historically have
written them off and we refuse to do
that
on the flip side of those rural counties
there's also philadelphia and pittsburgh
and those uh heavy black
voters in the
heavy population of black voters in
those particular areas of pennsylvania
as i said at the top pennsylvania is
really a microcosm of the country in so
many ways how does the campaign plan to
engage communities of color specifically
black voters
as you head into november
sure yeah i mean we did win uh
philadelphia as well and in pittsburgh
and you know we have a history working
in this community we he was the mayor of
braddock these are the issues he's
always cared about um so the engagement
is the same it's taking the time it's
learning what matters and at the end of
the day
whether you're a black voter or or not
whether you live in a rural area or you
don't you still want to make sure that
you get your kids have a great
opportunity that you have a way to
retire that you have a safe life in this
state and that applies to all of us
regardless of where you live everyone
deserves that opportunity so i think
it's easy to connect with that no matter
where you go across the state and that's
what we'll continue to do with the
messaging but not only that it's what we
really truly care about
in the last minute here uh you know
since 2020 we've been having really
honest conversations in america about
race and discrimination you're an
immigrant from brazil and you've said
that your husband's seeing the ways in
which you've been treated and the ways
you've been discriminated against it
changed the way that he looked at these
issues um because people maybe assume
you're your children's babysitter he
cited as one example i mean lay out lay
all of that out for us in the ways in
which you think um we can we can have
better conversations and more folks can
end up uh like your husband with a
better understanding
i think it's not being afraid to have
difficult conversations you know i've
been in rooms across the state where
someone can say i think you're great you
do all this nice work i think you're
wonderful my issue is with all the other
immigrants right and i have to choose
how i respond to that conversation how
can i make this an opportunity to learn
to understand why do they feel this way
you know everything is taught someone
taught them to feel this way and maybe
if they can connect with me they can see
that there's much more to whatever scary
idea they have in their mind of what
immigrants are i'll have folks that will
say well i've never met an undocumented
person or you don't look like an illegal
well what does that mean and you know
that word is hurtful let's have a
conversation you know my mom wanted a
safe future for me what would you do for
your children and i think these are all
opportunities to connect with people i
say that regardless of what we believe
um you know i am a person who wants to
be loved and you're a person who wants
to be loved and at the very least we
connect there and at least that's a good
place to start
it is a good place to start and this is
also a great way to start the show today
gisele fetterman thank you so much for
being here and please stay safe
hi i'm zerlina maxwell thanks for
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