What's Good with the November 2023 Election

[00:00:00] It's good Ohio, I'm your host James Hayes and this is The What's Good Ohio podcast. We talk to the activists, organizers, visionaries and good treble makers coming together to make our state better for everyone. No exceptions. The day I'm joined by Sarah Rothner,

[00:00:33] housing matters, whats good is Sarah? It is a good week to be in Ohio and James, what is in good? We got issue 1 and 2 past, yeah funding for the libraries, it's a good one.

[00:00:49] We got a lot of stuff done, we got a lot of stuff done and yeah Michigan football is going up in flames right now for us and the guests, it's a good time to be in Ohioam

[00:01:01] or on the map left orally. Have you been since the last time that we talked? Good, really good. We had our policy matters in Ohio like a yearly retreat. A couple weeks ago

[00:01:16] we went out to Bell Weather Farm, just like a kind of rich, free set up where you felt kind of like summer camp, we all had our own little cabins but then we'd like meet for

[00:01:28] curled lunches and for planning and such and say yeah, besides that nothing too exciting. How about you? I've been doing well, I've been doing well, yeah that sounds really nice. I'm sure it was beautiful this time of year. They're not there with all the, you know,

[00:01:44] the Ohio fall scenery. Yeah, I've been good, I've been good last week my wife, she's working part-time on this project called The Real Housewives of Politics which they're organizing fans of The Real Housewives franchise and other Bravo series and they went to Bravo

[00:02:05] Con in Las Vegas and so I was with the with our son Felix for a number of days. Solo which was which was a lot and she had a great time, which is beautiful. I can tell by your face that you might also be a Bravo phase.

[00:02:23] I mean, I'm not even a reality TV fan but that just is so cool and so smart and I love the idea of using reality TV for political organizing. That's amazing. Yeah, it's a cool experiment. I'm excited to see where they're able to take it.

[00:02:41] But yeah, I'm really excited for the conversation we're going to have today. Today we're talking about what's good Ohio but then I mean, do that again. Should I do this part? Yeah, I'll just do this part and then we can just have some questions. All right.

[00:03:00] Today we're talking about what's good with the November 2023 election. There's lots that is good for us to talk about at it. Ohio in history, November 7, 2023 is more than 2.1 million Ohio voters across the state came together

[00:03:13] and decided to leave a past issue once protect reproductive freedom and abortion rights in Ohio. Issue one pass with 56.6% of the vote making it clear that Ohio is a pro choice state but also be the briefing of issue 38 later with Molly Martin.

[00:03:46] But first talk about what's good with ancient one, we walk back our very first guests in what's good Ohio podcast Jordan closed as well as Lena Collins manager social impact of Ohio women's alliance

[00:03:58] to discuss this historic one. Well, what's a good job. How are you both feeling after this amazing win? I'm thriving, you know, thank a black woman go have an abortion go smoke a blind. Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, actually.

[00:04:17] Yeah, just to bounce off with Jordan said definitely thriving the vibes are very high. The weather has been very beautiful. It's been raining good blessings on our repro movement and all the hard work that we've been doing for countless years just to finally get a win

[00:04:38] and two issues that we support under reproductive justice, weed and abortion access. So it's just been a really great week. Oh, hi, women's lines and Ohio women's alliance action pun were two of the black led organizations in the OUR campaign centering the voices of black women

[00:04:57] in the fight for reproductive freedom. How many voters did your team talk to and what was the energy out on the field as this approach in the election day? Yeah, so we were actually the only black led reproductive justice organization

[00:05:12] as one of the founding members of OUR and rean in our fearless leader was the only black woman to sit on the E.C. Until she pulled in her friend had new voices of a reproductive justice

[00:05:28] and our campaign was able to talk to 1.3 million voters on our phone side and Lena actually launched our very first door program, which was very successful. I'll let her talk about those numbers. Yeah, so while on the doors, I mean it was very intentional

[00:05:50] to reach out to our communities, black and brown. We exceeded our goals and we were able to reach just shortly under 19,000 canvas doors. Out in the fields, so I would like to mention

[00:06:08] we launched our door program October 11th, the first day of early vote. They were knocking doors up until 7 o'clock on election night. I'd love to hear a little more about that. I wore some of those conversations on the doors of people.

[00:06:23] I don't think anyone thought this issue would necessarily pass so overwhelmingly, so I'd love to hear what were your canvasers hearing from people? So definitely out on the field it was very positive especially like the age group because we were targeting more like an 18 to 40 year old base

[00:06:43] and like some of the conversations in particular were just like from fathers who also have young children, young black daughters who were just like concerned about what the language was saying because obviously you know there was a lot of misinformation

[00:07:02] going around so like just being able to like have a 1-1 conversation and just like kind of dismantle all of that like left voters like oh okay that's how I understand like this is for future generations you know it is very important

[00:07:18] for you know young women to have access to whatever that type of care looks like other conversations were like oh I'm you know a little bit confused about

[00:07:31] like I thought I voted on issue one back in August and I'm like well that was power grab this however is going to enshrine that we have reproductive freedom and abortion access

[00:07:41] and our high-state constitution and we don't have to go back to the six week band that was in a stay in the court. Thank you Hamilton County

[00:07:49] and like it was just really like positive reinforcement when we were out in the field talking to like our communities and like what what's that stake for us in particular

[00:08:00] I mean we've seen over 30 abortion bands passed in Ohio in the past 20 years have seen over half of our clinics closed in the state

[00:08:10] and we know that there was not a path to victory or a path to liberation through our court system like Lena said shout out to Hamilton County, but that's really the only

[00:08:22] when we've seen in the past few decades and even that is less than a win really just putting a band aid on the state of access in Ohio.

[00:08:31] And so I think Ohio voters were very energized, very mobilized especially black and brown voters. We saw black voters vote yes on issue one at 84% I believe it was.

[00:08:44] So I think that is just a testament to how strongly our communities feel about having power over their lives and their futures and bodily autonomy.

[00:08:53] The energy from this campaign from the signature collection phase all the way up to election day was unmatched and it was really beautiful to witness. Yeah, no that's that's amazing. It's amazing work that y'all did in the quantity of quality the outcome.

[00:09:11] And already anti abortion members of the general assembly and immediately expressed their intention to defy the will of the voters but preventing their laws from being removed based on our true state constitution.

[00:09:26] So I'm wondering like what kind of reactionary blowback do you expect and how do you plan to overcome it?

[00:09:33] I think that for the most part reproductive justice advocates are allies and friends in the reproductive rights space are never really surprised with what our anti abortion legislature will do.

[00:09:51] It is always disappointing and disheartening that they continue to not listen to what Ohioans have made clear that they want and deserve. I would hope that they would just take the L and let Ohioans have access to their own bodily autonomy.

[00:10:10] But if that does not happen we will see them in court. We are very prepared to continue this fight whether that is in the court around this ballot or continuing to get us closer to reproductive justice.

[00:10:24] In the meantime, OWA and our besties out abortion fund of Ohio are going to make sure that people have financial and resources to get access to care whether they are in Ohio or people coming from out of state now that we are a haven't state.

[00:10:41] Absolutely um cheaters never prosper and so as we saw that happen back in August when they tried to cheat with the power grab we saw it again with the disinformation misinformation misinformation misleading information that they were posting at actual polls.

[00:11:03] Which I'm pretty sure is legal but you know they always been the rules in their favor but like Jordan said it would just be nice if they could just hold this ill because Ohioans have made it very clear 57 to their 43% of Ohioans made it very clear.

[00:11:20] I feel like those were the exact mirror results from August election actually so we've made it clear not once but twice that we deserve access and we will vote for access and we did and we won. So.

[00:11:37] Yeah totally even Republican voters were supporting this in you know huge numbers and yeah not true I think you're right you know I think it's my doing those issues that they keep taking it on they might just keep losing.

[00:11:54] So yeah and it's really because the work that you groups like y'all have been doing for someone.

[00:11:59] Yeah I think to your point about Republicans voting in favor of issue one like the majority of Ohioans and the majority of Americans support access to reproductive freedoms support access to abortion.

[00:12:12] And I think that abortion has always been made to be this political pawn is often the first concession from the Democratic party often the first thing that is attacked on the right.

[00:12:28] But the average person the average American the average Ohioan just simply wants to make their own decisions about their lives and their future.

[00:12:37] And so I'm hoping that this one in Ohio and the six other wins we've seen nationwide will hopefully signal to our leaders across the two party system that they need to start listening to what our communities are saying we actually want.

[00:12:54] No that's right Jordan for sure and I don't fully all these wins combined sort of show that there is this consensus this really is coming to a common sense issue and focusing to leave it alone.

[00:13:09] And then as we move forward, we all know there's going to be a struggle to define you sort of what happened why happened what lessons we can take this campaign I was reading an article the morning after the election political article.

[00:13:25] And they were talking about all the wins that sort of happened across the country for the Democratic party and what it made me in the future and that it ended up. And they mentioned Ohio in the start of cool and they said quote.

[00:13:43] The Democratic party was the driving force behind a ballot measure to enshrine the right to abortion in the Ohio State constitution.

[00:13:52] And so I was just like wondering you know obviously I know like the campaign led you know so much and it took so much to sort of get this campaign off the ground.

[00:14:01] And what what do you want people listening to know about how this campaign won and what lessons should take from this to.

[00:14:08] I am very grateful very thankful to all of our partners that supported us in winning issue one and I want to make sure that the black and brown organizers that have been doing this work for years for decades.

[00:14:24] That have been raising the alarm about row falling haven't raising the alarm about the criminalization of pregnancy and abortion. Have been trying to make clear the three lines between reproductive justice and how it affects every facet of our lives.

[00:14:39] Really doing the on the ground relational organizing and the mobilization movement building that we needed to get to this moment. I want to make sure that those are the people that are centered and getting credit for this win.

[00:14:53] I want to make sure that the people that have been spending the last few years of their life begging a lot of Democratic parties not just ODP a lot of politicians, not just Ohio politicians to simply say the word abortion.

[00:15:08] I would hope that they would also take the time to acknowledge the work that has been done before they came in and supported us in this win. Yeah, just a piggyback off of that.

[00:15:20] It's really important to listen to storytellers those who have you know actually been in the actual process of how this works and how this runs it's important that we center them first.

[00:15:36] Because those are their lived experiences like Jordan stated it's been very like pro choice instead of just saying the word abortion because that's what it is and that's what we're essentially trying to achieve with liberation. And that encompasses saying the actual word.

[00:15:56] I just want to note that black and brown people made up a very large number and it was because of them while we achieved this win on Tuesday.

[00:16:07] It's because of the 84% of black people that turned out it's because the 74% of the Latin community that turned out to vote.

[00:16:15] It's because of groups like Ohio women's alliance that actually center our communities through multiple events throughout the whole entire year through community conversations, through back to school drives through.

[00:16:28] But shot events through Dia de los Muertos invitations educating our community centering our communities about what's at stake for us to win this fight.

[00:16:41] I'm not saying that credit shouldn't be given words to do and I'm not saying that like we ultimately were the only ones in this fight, but we're tired of our voices not being heard sometimes.

[00:16:54] And that is essentially what reproductive justice is. This is why we branched off of the reproductive rights movement because they don't center what black and brown people's black and brown communities need.

[00:17:07] And what we need is for you to share the spotlight sometimes to think of sometimes to acknowledge that yes, you actually could not have did this without us. You don't need us until you need us and that's the harsh reality.

[00:17:21] And that leads us perfectly into this next question too. So, W.A. was founded by Reon and Carns in 2019 and you all have been leading this fight ever since then.

[00:17:32] For the past nine months it's clear you all worked extremely hard in passing issue one and restoring and protecting abortion rights, but this is just one chapter. I'll be at a very exciting and monumental one in all of the work that has been done to get us here.

[00:17:46] How can you build on what you've learned along the way to take this fight into the future? What's next for OWA and for the broader repro movement in Ohio.

[00:17:55] Yeah, I think first I just want to say that Reon and particularly has been working on this fight for well over a year having conversations with the rest of the executive committee.

[00:18:08] Bringing in our other partners before we even got to the stage of announcing that we were going to take on this fight in 2003 before we even got to the stage of starting to collect signatures.

[00:18:18] So I just want to really uplift her for being again the only black woman on the EC at that time to make sure that our reproductive justice values are being upheld as much as possible.

[00:18:32] And that's the work that we're going to continue to do. I hope that this win signals to national partners and especially national funders that Ohio is not a losing cause or losing state Ohio deserves to be invested in Ohio's worth fighting for.

[00:18:51] And the number one way to do that is invest in organizations like Ohio Women's Alliance that are doing really strong relational organizing programs that are doing a lot of youth leadership development that are doing a lot of political education that is not tied to.

[00:19:08] So, gatekeeping that we normally see around a lot of political education you don't have to go to college or read marks or have so much political affiliation to know that people deserve access to their bodies people deserve to be able to take care of their families.

[00:19:27] People deserve not to live in food deserts our children deserve not to have higher rates of asthma just based on the zip code they live in those are things that everyone should be able to agree on.

[00:19:39] And so our work is going to be continuing to build our membership base continuing to teach people about what reproductive justice is and continue to run our programs. And Lena actually is our manager of social impact and runs so many amazing programs that all they're talking about.

[00:19:59] Yeah, so like Jordan stated, we'll continue educating being advocates growing advocates and we do this again there are a member ship base through our reproductive justice cohort which is.

[00:20:14] Eight young individuals 18 to the 27 year year range and they've just been with us throughout this whole entire process they've been learning how to campaign how to organize how to mobilize how to.

[00:20:30] And so we're going to have to go back to school drive how to learn about domestic violence under the reproductive justice framework they're just learning all these types of tools that.

[00:20:45] Carry on that can like be a career choice for you if you choose not people look at this sometimes it's like oh I'm just volunteering my time, but it's like this is like actual work that like does not stop after election day we keep we keep it going this is not.

[00:21:03] And so we continue moving forward and that's what we're going to do about high women's alliance our senior campaign manager on our team has has her change makers cohort which is kind of like a sister program of the reproductive justice and they kind of go through the same process a little bit longer than our reproductive justice cohort.

[00:21:23] But they learn about the electoral process community organizing capacity building voter education we're just uplifting young people because at the end of the day it's going to be our voices in our future that is determined by who we elect into these powerful positions that.

[00:21:44] Make these walls it's important that they reflect us and who we are as a community and who we are as a generation.

[00:21:53] And I'm wondering what effects we think that like issue one passing now is going to have on the number of abortion clinics that we have in this state as well as do we know if there'll be effects on like crisis pregnancy centers and these like you know sham.

[00:22:12] Clinics that exist as well like do we think we'll see a change in that landscape. A following this or is that continuing different work that we need to still do.

[00:22:24] It's definitely continuing work that we still need to do I mean CPCs are given millions of dollars by Ohio's government. From budgets from grants and it is just really disheartening to see them literally funding lies to Ohioans.

[00:22:44] And I mean we've lost over half of our clinics in the state and so there will have to be a lot of rebuilding that is done now that issue one has passed.

[00:22:54] But I'm very hopeful for the future I'm hopeful that again we'll see more of an investment in Ohio especially that we are a haven't stay I mean there are so many other Midwestern and southern states that have very limited access if not a total ban and all of those people also need care on top of Ohioans that need care.

[00:23:15] And so I mean if any if any funders are listening to this come open clinic slash dispensary in Ohio all work there. Come here to get your abortion and get you some legal marijuana as well.

[00:23:31] Why best friend is the program manager out of abortion, vulnerable, high oh and supports all of the Ohioans contacting AFO and our dream. I mean Lexi is to open a full spectrum of burning center that doubles as a dispensary you get coupons for both. I love it.

[00:23:53] Like a reward system spin as many points here and you can get free abortion. The world is your moisture. I think that there will be a lot of investment in Ohio all eyes were on Ohio this year.

[00:24:16] We were the only state doing an issue one a reproductive freedom ballot initiative so I think that's going to funnel in some chitching and I think we're going to see a lot of divestment from CPCs because again they use taxpayer funds.

[00:24:35] To build these places that have no actual medical professionals that actually work there. So yeah bring your money to Ohio for weed and abortions.

[00:24:52] And I'm just excited about you know all of the tax income that we are going to be able to put back into our communities instead of all of us driving out of state to put in another community.

[00:25:03] Yeah totally you know we had a number of levies pass here locally but it'd be nice to not have to fund all of our services so much from property taxes.

[00:25:19] You know all of that but yeah anyway so this is been such a pleasure to have y'all on but before we leave you all have any closing thoughts any gems you want to leave the people with.

[00:25:29] Thank you black and brown woman donate to abortion fund of Ohio as well as Ohio women's alliance. And yeah we didn't abortion forever and ever and ever. Yes, Ohio against the world forever.

[00:25:47] Yes, don't into local abortion fund and get involved because the fight is not over it has really just begun. The marathon continues as nipsy hustle would say.

[00:26:01] So I know y'all will be back at it for a month or more because a lot on the ballot next year we'll talk about that down the road I'm sure. And y'all just keep going so thank you so much.

[00:26:14] I'm looking forward to seeing y'all both in the real world sometimes soon. I'm sure I'll see you in the field. Thanks thank you so much.

[00:26:30] We are also joined today by Molly Barton from the People's Budget Cleveland campaign the charter amendment that would have given residents power over how 2% of the city's budget gets spent. Issue 38 got 48.94% of the vote but ultimately fell 1,388 vote short of passing.

[00:26:57] How are we feeling after the election Molly I'm feeling pretty good. I'm really going to train that's trying to stop but takes a long time for a train to come do a complete stop so I'm like.

[00:27:08] What can I do that's moving my feet and keeping my mind going but it's not focusing on on a campaign.

[00:27:14] But I'm feeling really grateful and I don't know I'm really into fall and into seasons of dying and I think it's kind of a reflective time to go into a period of waiting and stillness to reflect on all the different wins that we've had as a campaign over the last several months trying to pass to shoot 38.

[00:27:32] That's beautiful. Yeah and you know y'all got so close so close. So close and we can argue that y'all actually still won a lot. You took this concept brought it to life as a campaign.

[00:27:49] Y'all had conversations with tens of thousands of Cleveland there's nearly 32,000 voters voted for a policy and many learned about only in the last year.

[00:27:59] Even in city council statement the morning after the election they acknowledge that quote issued 38 revealed we need to do more work on civic engagement participation and awareness. But wins and lessons are you taking away from this campaign.

[00:28:13] There are so many I think it is kind of wild to see that 32,000 people voted for issue 38 when you look at the last election we had in Cleveland in 2021 when Justin babe was elected as mayor. There were 10,000 more Cleveland voters who came to the polls on Tuesday.

[00:28:30] You know I think that we weren't just thinking about issue 38 in Cleveland we were aware of the fact that so many voters were coming to vote for issue 1 for issue 2 there was also a community college. The college levied on the ballot and in Cleveland.

[00:28:44] And then I think it really showed us that you know people are willing to turn out when they feel like there are things on the ballot that represent issues that deeply impact people's lives and you know.

[00:28:56] We live in a state in particular where we don't feel like the people we like to represent us are doing that as well.

[00:29:02] And what does it look like to drive up engagement and people power building by bringing people out to the ballot and being part of a movement that's driven by issues.

[00:29:11] So there's just the turnout and Cleveland overall and you know we got some more breakdown data from the Board of Elections in the last day and there are 17 words in the city of Cleveland and issue 38 won the majority in nine out of the 17 of those words which is pretty awesome.

[00:29:32] And we're really proud of the fact that you know there are two words in particular that had had more vote no results and those were predominantly white words and our campaign is proud of the fact that the words and Cleveland that have been most historically impacted by disinvestment were the words that that passed issue 38 and I think that that speaks to the power base that we're trying to to build and the folks that we are trying to reach.

[00:30:00] And Cleveland and ultimately those were the folks who felt like a bold new policy like the people's budget is something that they wanted to vote for.

[00:30:08] Excellent yeah and like you were saying this isn't the end of the story it's only the beginning issue 38 was just the first step in changing Cleveland's political culture as you guys took on corporate interests in the political establishment.

[00:30:22] Like you were talking about power building that plans to you or the rest of PB plea having continuing to build people power centering the needs of the community and challenges challenge the city's political structure.

[00:30:38] We've been getting that question a lot the last several days like you're pointing to tell people aren't we aren't we awarded a season of rest. Yeah, no I'm really looking forward to coming back with the full coalition in December to debrief more fully into strategize about what's next.

[00:30:57] I think you know and the day after the election our committee came together and we were really reflecting on some of the relationships that we had built over the last several months in particular with groups that we feel like represent the sort of power shifting narrative that really resonated with this.

[00:31:16] This step in our campaign for the people's budget from going to okay let's just focus on the policy and do a pilot to like how are we putting something like participatory budgeting in the context of a power shifting narrative in the city around.

[00:31:30] And we're looking forward to seeing what's going on in the future. And I think that you know there's that vision but then there's. Part of the sort of budgeting the people's budget as a policy and I think it's to be seeing.

[00:31:57] What the next step is in terms of a campaign but I think that what feels really you know important is that this work has to exist outside of election cycles.

[00:32:09] So what does it look like to build a more long term strategy and vision with organizations and with people trying to build power and challenge the establishment and Cleveland.

[00:32:18] And as we know we're now to election cycles and where residents have had to go to the ballot to tell our elected officials like if you're not going to work with the community.

[00:32:26] Then are we going to you know are you going to be going back to your corporate donors to fund your political action committee to run against citizen led ballot initiatives I think that.

[00:32:35] And that's what we're trying to shift that narrative around how do elected officials more more deeply represent the community and how do you work with them so it's not always going through the ballot just to create a policy that more.

[00:32:48] More deeply represents the community and I'm really deeply committed in the ways that charter a form at the municipal level can be a part of that broader strategy of.

[00:32:59] Economic democracy and what does like what does it look like for for people to build power and to have a strategy to at the local level.

[00:33:09] To challenge this kind of corporate monopoly control that we see having so much influence in our democracy and how that's extremely harmful to cities like Cleveland you know were so many people.

[00:33:21] And so we have basically needs that aren't being met and the ways that our policy decisions and budget decisions as a city should be prioritizing that.

[00:33:31] So that's kind of a long-winded answer, but I think what's beautiful is that it's not like by question to answer alone it's not the people's budget steering committees question to answer alone. And I know that was a lot but it was it was a great.

[00:33:46] Sommation of what some of the next steps are going to be for which I'll do and y'all are certainly afforded a season of rest. A chance to recuperate from the grueling work that y'all you know we're out there talking to people every day.

[00:34:01] And it's really interesting, it's really interesting you said earlier how there were more people that turned out to vote this year. And then voted in the mayoral elections and I was to there was also you know the statewide issues.

[00:34:17] You know with abortion rights and you know marijuana on the ballot state level. But I think this goes to prove your point more that voters do care about issues and will turn out for issues whether it's statewide issues, whether it's local issues.

[00:34:34] And you know I think long term the work that y'all did this cycle is exactly what we need to see people do. An incredibly more in around and other cities around the state.

[00:34:46] You know I've really think like part of why folks don't vote more often is because our cities are stifling democratic persuasion, and by not having competitive race is usually not really having this political machines to just sort of.

[00:35:00] Churn along businesses usual and there's there's not you know real contest station happening. all the time, and so folks aren't in the habit of voting, of being engaged in authentic ways about how they want their cities to be governed.

[00:35:17] And so we end up losing statewide elections as well, you know? So I think the work that you're doing, of rebuilding sort of trust and democracy in Cleveland, in particular historically has been such an important electorate for the state and also

[00:35:33] the country, I think that worked the investment that you all put in this year's going to really pay off as we look to 2024 and beyond. And yeah, so it's, you know, really proud of what you're already able to accomplish.

[00:35:48] Even though you fell short, I think, you know, how close you, you made it. You proved that, you know, the opposition was sort of how to step with reality, you know, how they were talking about the issue and, you know, yeah.

[00:36:04] So whatever you ought to say, I did do next, I'm definitely looking forward to seeing what's in store. Things, James. Yeah, it's kind of interesting on Wednesday morning, I, you know, we had already had these drafted winning and losing statements.

[00:36:20] And I was really surprised at how much I was merging the two of them together and it kind of, yeah, I mean, to me, it was like, well, what does it really mean to win into lose? Like, yes, there's this direct specific outcome.

[00:36:30] But it feels kind of wrong to focus on that in particular because obviously the type of power we're trying to build in the community is something that's more long term in terms of building grassroots leadership among organizations, but also among future leaders of Cleveland and individuals.

[00:36:47] And it's kind of interesting how narratives of power like aligned with narratives around democracy. And I think something we've, like, obviously seen nationally and locally in the last several years is just how vulnerable democracy really is.

[00:36:59] But I also think in the same sense, like, by trying to build more grassroots movements to challenge power, you're showing that like what was once considered untouchable is now seen as vulnerable. And that's like why we feel like we're winning and just, you know, being humble and having

[00:37:14] perspective to know that like having a more populist message, trying to talk about who has a power to make decisions, like really has to interrogate a lot of underlying beliefs that people have.

[00:37:25] And then that's not going to happen like in a hundred days that we had to run a campaign right, but to know that we were being outspent to to one, so know that there was 6,000 drop

[00:37:34] off votes compared to the total number of people voted knowing that there could have been supporters of the people's budget within that. I feel like there's just a lot of excitement that like the specific outcome did necessarily

[00:37:44] represent some of the deeper reflections that we can have on what winning looks like. And yeah, and I think part of the fun and part of what's really serious and like seems like such a big potential is really showing people who have felt that their power and

[00:37:58] sense of control over an established and transstructure is not as intouchable as that they thought it was. And I think that that is something that should be really motivating for the community to be like, well, we can do this again. And so I'm here with that. Yeah, totally.

[00:38:13] Thank you so much. Molly for everything you all have been done and hopping on the show to give us a sort little debrief on how things turned out for you all up there and Cleveland, we're going to issue 38 with the PDC coalition.

[00:38:29] You have any closing thoughts before we sign off? I feel like if there's anyone listening this podcast that's more of a legal expert than I am, which hopefully is a lot more people than me.

[00:38:40] I really want to like strategize on what it looks like to craft legislation and policies that are not vulnerable to preemption in Ohio. I think it's been really interesting to see how is she 38 caught, you know, wind of the

[00:38:53] state house and what it means for communities to hold out faith that like they do have control over their local communities and how do we make people feel like there still should be confidence in having these fights even if you don't win even if something's preempted

[00:39:08] and what that work requires. So if anyone has thoughts on that, I think that's interesting. I obviously just want to extend my deepest thanks to the Ohio Boys team from like the moral encouragement to like the technical help provided by your data folks and obviously my

[00:39:21] new bestie Angela has been probably like top three things that I feel most grateful and happy about during the last several months getting to this point. So thank you all. Appreciate that, Angela, Adam, they really, I know that I was speaks both and then

[00:39:40] they really enjoyed working on with y'all and supporting the campaign and anything that y'all doing the future we would love to support for sure. Thanks for having me on for just keeping in touch and seeing other cities being encouraged maybe trying to do something like people's budget soon.

[00:39:58] And with that, our first season of What's Good Ohio is a rep. There's lots of good stuff happening here in Ohio. We touched on democracy, alternative carousel response, curriculum campaigns, which is a story budgeting and of course abortion rights.