- Steven Olikara Democratic candidate for the US Senate,
thank you for joining us.
- Thanks for having me, Steven.
- You're a Brookfield native,
professionally, you are the founder
of a national political organization,
and you're an entrepreneur.
Why do you wanna be a US senator?
- Well, for the last 10 years,
I've focused on the root issues of why our politics
are not producing good results for us,
why members of Congress
are working for big money special interests
and not for the vast majority of Americans.
My organization, Millennial Action Project,
activated a generation of rising young legislators.
And so I'm proud to bring
the most federal legislative experience to this race.
But while doing that work,
even though we were able to be very productive legislatively
getting 35 bills passed through Congress
on issues ranging from gun violence to clean energy funding,
I also saw the incentives at play.
So that's why I decided to run
in this race for the US Senate.
If we don't have candidates who are serious and focused
and know how to take on the structural impediments to change
who have a vision and an agenda for structural reform,
that includes everything from money in politics
to gerrymandering to opening up the primary system,
you're not going to see the kind of significant progress
we need on issues ranging from climate change
to abortion access for example.
There's just way too much money to be made
in demonizing each other, vilifying each other,
and preventing progress.
And so I wanna take that on in this race for the US Senate
- If elected, what would your legislative priorities be?
- I announced that our first piece of legislation
would be the issue at play,
where you see politicians profiting
on the dehumanization of women,
the issue at play, where you see politicians
kicking the can down the road on climate change,
the issue where politicians enabled
the substance abuse crisis in our country
as a result of big pharma funneling in millions of dollars
into the political system.
And that is getting big money out of politics
and restoring integrity to our election system.
Because money is really at the root
of why members of Congress don't do their job.
Most members of Congress
actually spend a majority of their time fundraising
and not legislating.
That's the dirty truth they don't want you to know.
So I believe in this pretty simple concept,
that we should have legislators representing us,
not corporate telemarketers.
- On the economy, inflation has reached a 40 year high.
How do you think federal lawmakers should address inflation?
- I'm the kind of Democrat
who's not gonna deny this problem,
who's actually gonna take it on full throttle.
And what's happening with the root causes of this issue
is a perfect storm where you have
an overheating of the economy
in terms of fiscal and monetary policy
that's helped drive up inflation,
you've seen geopolitical issues have an impact here,
you see Wall Street speculation
that's helped to impact gas prices.
So you're seeing a lot of forces here,
not to mention the supply chain issues
that are impacted significantly from the COVID pandemic.
One of the most important things that a Senator can do
is to help address these bottlenecks
from a supply chain perspective.
That sort of issue has bipartisan support,
and I will bring Democrats and Republicans together
to accomplish that.
- Shifting now to gun violence,
there have been a number of major mass shootings,
an uptick in gun deaths as well.
President Joe Biden recently signed
new gun control measures into law.
How would you address gun violence as a US senator?
- Now, as we look ahead
to what more we can do in the US Senate,
first of all, the framing we need to have on this issue
is not about left versus right.
We're talking about children who want to go to school
without the fear of being shot.
But the higher ground, I believe, on gun violence
is a rebirth of responsibility and respect.
And in practice, what that looks like
is putting in place gun licensing across the board.
And in the states where this type of law has been active,
it's helped to reduce gun violence by 30% or more.
So this is something that we were
and will continue to get bipartisan support on.
And I'm the kind of leader
who can actually make that happen in the US Senate.
- The Supreme Court has overruled Roe versus Wade,
which now returns the decision
on allowing abortions to the individual states.
What should US senators do on the matter of abortion?
- As a US senator, what I would be focused on
is changing the politics of this issue.
First of all, recognizing that over 60% of Americans
wanna protect a women's choice
to be able to make this tough decision,
and I wanna help build on that support.
And in my conversations with even my Republican friends,
they agree that we need to have a more humane approach here.
And the Wisconsin law that we're gonna be reverting back to
is way too extreme and way too restrictive,
and even most Republicans wouldn't support that.
So I wanna change the politics on it
and ultimately ensure that we are preserving freedom
and dignity and basic human rights for women in our country.
- On elections, how would you reassure Wisconsin residents
to have confidence in the election system?
- Our campaign is attracting Democrats
Republicans and Independents,
many of whom are part of what I call the exhausted majority.
So when I'm talking about election results
and the security and the credibility behind the process,
I'm gonna be doing so from a place
where people actually trust me.
There's a root structural issue here
of why people are so disillusioned and frustrated.
And that allows divisive politicians to profit on that fear.
I wanna take this issue head on as an only candidate
with an electoral reform agenda in this race.
- Ron Johnson beat Russ Finegold twice,
why are you the candidate who can beat Senator Johnson
in the general election in November?
- I have a more independent minded approach.
Because we are inclusive, we are explicitly reaching out
to people across the spectrum,
and because I've been consistent
on the issues over the years
and there is no substitute for authenticity in politics
- Steven Olikara, thank you again for joining us.
- Yeah, thank you so much for having me.