Pitching Change: Bringing Big League Ideas to Iowa

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Los estilos y selección varían por tiendas This week on the Andrew Yang Podcast.

Farmers are being squeezed out. And so right now we have this farm policy. It's get bigger, get off the farm and that's not working for a lot of us. We have an extractive economy here, so Wall Street tends to take our money and leaves us with literal animal manure. I've talked to farmers who will always vote for me and ones who will never vote for me and everywhere in between. And when we just talk policy, that's they nod their heads. ¿It's only when they ask, Are you a democrat or Republican? And that's when things get more divisive.

It is my pleasure to welcome to the podcast for the very first time, though. He's been with us in our hearts for years. State Rep. For State district one in Iowa and current candidate for US Senate in Iowa, the great JD Scholten. Welcome, JD.

Thank you. Thanks for being here.

So, JD, you and I have been friends since twenty nineteen, twenty twenty or so where, if you're a deep yang gang. ¿Do you guys remember these highlights of a basketball game in Iowa? There was like a tall guy on my team. I made a sweet dish to JD that he finished under the basket. We did lose that game mainly because my guy kept making jump shots. So JD was tall guy. ¿You remember that game, JD? ¿How did that game come about?

Yeah, I think it was. I was running for Congress at the time and I think our campaigns just wanted to do something. Something outside the box. And you were willing to, I think, do something outside the box with us. And so I can't remember exactly how. But it was a lot of fun. It was in Ames and we had a decent crowd too.

Yeah, we did a decent crowd. It was a decent game. We all had our moments. We should have won that game. Honestly, it was fine by fault that we did. Now, I'm proud that I held my own. Because you're a professional athlete. You are currently a pitcher for a professional baseball team. ¿Is that right?

Correct. The Sioux City Explorers. So I played with them long time ago in my Twenties. And last summer on July sixth, they needed an emergency pitcher and they were desperate. And I can't emphasize desperate enough. And they gave up thirty four runs the two games previously, their starting pitcher had a neck injury and couldn't go that day. And I told them I've been playing just amateur ball. And if they needed somebody, let me know. And I ended up going six and two thirds through one hundred pitches got only gave up two runs and got the win. Stayed with the team the rest of the year. Tied for the team lead and win. I went six and two and doing it again this summer.

That's so fun. ¿So how would you characterize yourself as a pitcher? ¿First, are you ready or lefty? ¿I think I should remember this, righty?

I'm a sinker slider guy. So I'm right now, there's in Major League Baseball. There's all these analytics and stuff. I'm kind of an old school. I wouldn't say Greg Maddox by any means, but like more like location movement and just missing barrels rather than try to strike everybody out.

Look at this. You're cerebral. You outthink them. JD. As you would expect from the next senator from the State. State of Iowa. So you have been in democratic politics for a number of years. When I spoke at the wing Ding, you were one of the speakers locally that was carrying the banner for the Democratic Party. You've been in the State House now for a number of years. But you have something of like you're not really much of a politician. That's amended as a compliment. ¿You kind of? I think a little bit like me. Sort of got called into it and then have found yourself in various races and positions.

Yeah. So originally when I decided to run against Steve King back in twenty eighteen for Congress, a huge part of it was just my grandmother. On her deathbed said you got to take care of the farm. And here in Iowa, that's pretty meaningful. And we took a district back then that Trump won by twenty seven points and we moved the needle twenty four and we lost just by three. I thought politics was a zero sum game. You the winner, you lose and you move on. But here we are. Ran again in twenty twenty. Then ran for State House was unopposed for one cycle that was really nice. And then now I just run. Won my reelection. Last fall in a district. Trump won here. So it's a lot of up when you're a Western Iowa democrat. It's a lot of running uphill. It's. It's not easy, but you know, I think it's extremely important because if I'm not here, there's no democratic voice. And so like currently, I'm the only democrat in forty two counties in northwest and north central Iowa down at the State Capitol.

So people who have a sense of it. Western Iowa is quite rural. The more urban areas are Des Moines and Iowa City. Which is not where you are at all.

Correct. Correct. I'm in Sioux City where we've been an immigrant meatpacking town since the eighteen Eighties. And so we really feel a lot of the agriculture economy around here, and it's not good. Even representative Bacon from Nebraska said that Nebraska and Iowa's economies are in a recession right now, and we have to be honest about it. And that's even before the tariffs, the second round of tariffs hit here. And so that's. That's something that's really concerning to a lot of Iowans. And that's why I think we have a huge opportunity to win this seat. Because the last time a democrat in Iowa flipped a US Senate seat was during the farm crisis in the Eighties.

Yeah. So you've outperformed very, very substantially in rural Iowa which I dare say is going to be something of a prerequisite for someone to win statewide. ¿How tall are you?

That's a great leading question. I'm six six. So that's why we say we're standing tall for all.

Yeah, standing tall for all. So, I mean, it makes sense that given that you're a baseball pitcher, being six six helps and they could size you up too and be like, yeah, I can imagine this guy being able to suppress the other team's bats. And I think the six six guy walking around rural Iowa who's like a sportsman. And the rest of it, you don't feel very demi. The issues that you talk about are just broad and affect all Iowans. You came out recently with something of a farmer's bill of right that I dare say just about every farmer in Iowa would probably see themselves in.

Yeah, I will say, when you run in a district that's so conservative, you don't have a lot of Dc consultants knocking on your door telling you what to do or say or anything. And I got these issues from just holding hundreds of town halls all across Iowa. And over the years, it's really gelled into something pretty profound that I think Democrats should be fighting for a huge part of it is antitrust. I think Corporations have too much power. They're squeezing farmers both on the input side, so that's seed and fertilizers and things like that. And then on the market side where they sell the grain or the proteins to so farmers are being squeezed out. And so right now we have this farm policy. It's get bigger, get off the farm, and that's not working for a lot of us. We have an extractive economy here. So Wall Street tends to take our money and leaves us with literal animal manure, you know. And so we're trying to deal with that. And so what we did was create a series of policies that I think gets us on the right track. And a huge part of it is in the farm. Bill is. There's three things we need to add to it. One competition, two conservation, and then three, we need to add regional food systems. And I think those things would rejuvenate our Iowa economy.

Well, I'm sure a lot of farmers are very anti monopolist because they're seeing the consequences. And it saddens me that at this point, so many people have been voting along cultural grounds than on policy grounds. But if you make the case to them, it's like, look, guys, I grew up on a farm like I represent Western Iowa. Like I get what it is that you guys are experiencing. And as senator, here are some of the things I'd like to do. I bet you could get a lot of those voters.

And that's the thing I've talked to farmers who will always vote for me and once will never vote for me. And everywhere in between. And when we just talk policy, that's they nod their heads. ¿It's only when they ask, are you a democrat or Republican? And that's when things get more divisive.

Maybe you should consider going into Petit JD. This podcast is sponsored by Helix Sleep. I have been a proud, happy Helix Sleep customer for years now because my mattress just keeps on giving. I've always been someone who thought, you know what you should invest in a proper mattress because you're on your back or your belly or your side for eight hours a night. So I ordered an ultra dawn firm mattress, and it has been a game changer. I wake up ready to tackle the day. And even though my kids did not take the sleep, quiz they love it too. ¿What's up with that? I guess my kids just get attracted to quality plus. Hey, ver, mattress, there's a Labor Day Sale Early access. Go to helixsleep Dot Com Yang for Labor Day Sale Early access of twenty off site wide. That's helixsleep Dot Com Yang for twenty off site wide. Make sure you enter our show name after checkout. So the know we sent you helixleep Dot Com Yang. Iowa was a purple state as recently, as I think, twenty twelve. Obama, I think won the state twice in the general. So this is not as. I mean, it's a relatively recent phenomenon that things have gone red in Iowa and in Ohio and Missouri and a bunch of other states. And I think a lot of that has really been a consequence. I mean, it's a bunch of things like I wrote about this. It's like the nationalization of politics, the death of local media, the polarization of cable news and social media and the rest of it where people just get separated into tribes and a lot of folks in rural areas are like, okay, this version of the Democratic Party doesn't really want me isn't really standing for me. And one of the things I'll just say, I think I might have said this to Rob, too. I mean, I spent a lot of time and Iowa, I visited the state twenty five times, and it makes me sad that all the Democrats I spent all that time with essentially got marginalized or turned irrelevant by the DNC, where instead of being the first State, now Iowa is going to be a Super Tuesday State. Which is, you know, in the scheme of things. Even among Super Tuesday states, there are a lot of them in Iowa doesn't have that many electoral votes. So Iowa went from being incredibly important in the Democratic Party's process to, like, not that central, I suppose. And there's an element of this that pains me because I've spent time with hundreds of Iowan Democrats who you know, were doing what they thought they could. And then all of a sudden, you know, they don't matter anymore. I don't know if people feel that in Iowa.

It's mixed because I think we definitely need reform in the caucus to make it more inclusive. But at the same time, like the way the system was set up, was to allow someone like yourself to have a legitimate chance, you know, like you look at Pete Buttigieg. Nobody knew how to pronounce his last name when he launched his campaign and was able to perform decent in Iowa. And a lot of that is. It's the way that it is now where we're. If we're a super Tuesday State, it's. It's one state and then another state and then another state like bam bam, bam bam. And with a couple bigger States like Michigan and Georgia involved. So that just means whoever has the most money. The one thing that I will fight for is that Iowa is a state that you have to get out there to the people. If you're going to win in that state, you can't just run TV ads. You have to get out there and do retail politics. And then you have eight days until New Hampshire. And so that allowed time to build. But when you go back to back to back so fast like the way the system was this last cycle, like that's just whoever has the most money and most name recognition wins. And I don't think that's necessarily good for our party.

Well, I mean, this past time, there wasn't genuine primary that Democrats are to that. You know, my guy, Dean Phillips tried to change that and they shipped him and maligned him. And then Joe Biden ends up dropping out, you know, a few months later. So the Democratic Party really didn't do itself or the country any favors. And the brand is very, very underwater in most country. And yet we're talking about this race. So this Senate seat is going to be open. ¿Is that right?

No. Well, we don't know yet. Joni Ernst has not officially announced that she's running for reelection. So we're kind of waiting and seeing on that. To me, it really doesn't matter if it's her, if it's somebody else. I think it ends up on what Democrats are going to do. So like I don't think a democratic wave gets us a victory here like it gets us a lot closer. But what we really need to do is have a candidate who can go out there and welcome people into our coalition. And that's something that we've proven. Every single race, I've ran the two congressional races, I've overperformed the top of the ticket. And both my state house races, I've overperformed the top of the ticket. And so it's one of those things, especially when you're from Western Iowa, you know how to talk to people who are not all Democrats. And that's the key to I feel winning the state is welcoming people into your coalition.

So Joni Ernst was got, was the person who said recently, it's like, hey, we're all going to die in response to a question about cutting medicare.

Yeah. So she was at a town hall early morning Friday a few months ago, and she got, she was talking about, they were talking about the one big, beautiful Bill, what I call the Billionaire Bailout Bill. And somebody mentioned that she was talking about the cuts to medicaid. And she like, somebody goes, well, people are going to die. And then her reaction was, we're all going to die. And the weird thing was when that was going viral. I was on my way to a funeral here in Sioux City to a local activist, and Senator Harkin was attending the funeral, and this used to be his seat. And he. And so I just was sitting there, trying to honor this Sioux City, our family friend's life, thinking about what she said and then thinking about Harkin and his legacy. And so the next day, she ends up doing this weird graveyard video and mocking us, mocking Iowans. ¿And then I just reached out to my team and said, hey, what do you think about launching on Monday? And we weren't planning on doing it at that time. And it was months, or maybe even more. I don't know what time we were really thinking at that time, but we just said, go, let's do it. And on day two, we ended up moving the needle. The National Raiders took it off of it being a safe Republican seat because we got in now it's a lean Republican. So we think like that this early on with all the things happening with the agriculture economy in a recession, with the cuts to medicaid and health care, we think there's a lot of things that can add up to something that we can capitalize here and tell folks not only just what we're against, but what we're for.

Oh, yeah. There's gonna be a lot of unhappiness. ¿I'm gonna be a lot of pissed off farmers who voted for Trump who are like, wait, what's happening, what's going on? And if you can make an up the middle case to them, It's like, look, I'm not the crazy ideal log. I'm not like some Dei cop like, I don't give a about any of that stuff.

I mean, you're seeing it with what's happening with the Epstein files, You know, like people are just distrustful of what's happening and they feel that there's two Americas right now, you know, there's the powerful, rich elite ones, and then there's ones for the rest of us. And that's. It's the same thing when I talk about monopolies. There's rules for these huge corporations that. And then there's rules for the farmers and the farmers get the shortened out of the stick. You know, I think it's very similar to what people in the sentiment of people just like, there's that resentment out there and just frustration of people just want to live their lives. And here we are. And just with social media and everything, we're just getting bombarded by it every single day.

So the anti monopolist agricultural policy makes perfect sense. ¿Are you finding other issues that when you meet with iowans of any alignment, they're like, oh, yeah, like I'm with.

You on that healthcare? You know, just like. So I talk every single day about these three things and it's fight, fix secure fight for Universal Health Care and I'll get into a little bit, why, in a little bit, but then fix the economy. So it works for everyone, not just the huge billionaires and the multinational corporations and then three, secure our democracy from the special interests and the billionaires that are dictating it. So when I was running initially in twenty seventeen and twenty eighteen for congress farmers had five consecutive years of low commodity prices. They were struggling to make like, the cost of production. And the number one thing that they brought up to me when we did all these town halls, all these coffee meetings, all the, like, just discussions, it was healthcare and they don't have employer health care, most small businesses struggle with employer health insurance. So whatever we can do to alleviate that pain and stress, I think that is the allow for just freedom for people here to whether it's to move jobs or to create a new company like innovation. I just think Universal Health Care is the first step in a lot of ways to allow a lot of people here to be healthier to have a little bit more freedoms with their lives. And so that's why I lead with that every single day.

Yeah, I was talking to a doctor in Iowa years ago when I was campaigning there. So must have been nineteen or twenty. And he said to me, hey, here's what happens in Iowa. Is that someone gets an injury or gets sick and then they can't work anymore. And then they don't have health insurance. And then they try and get treatment but they don't have health insurance. And then like, well, while that's going on, they typically get worse. And that's often the end of the road. And I heard this from a doctor. I was like, man, that's the darkest thing I've heard. But then when he said that, it sort of made sense to me. And now when you're saying it also makes sense as someone who ran a small business and used to pay for health care for everybody. And I'm not sure how it works on a farm with farm workers, but I have an instinct that if someone has an injury or sickness, then it's easy to fall through the cracks.

Oh, definitely. And like farmers are working a second or third job or off the farm job to to just pay for their medical expenses at this point and or their spouses. And just there's. It's. There's so much that we could just alleviate if we just had. I mean, just. Even if we had just like a public option, you know, something a little cheaper that just just covers basic stuff. I don't know. ¿Just like it just so frustrating that we're the wealthiest country in the world and we seem to have endless money for wars or what have you or the Department of Defense? ¿But then when we come to take care of ourselves, everyone just asks, well, how are you going to pay for it? And just we're already paying the most we ever or most out of any other country per person for healthcare. It just. There's a lot of middlemen. And I just. We should just get back to the basics, take care of people.

And so when you talk about that, that lands well with people of either party. ¿Any background?

Yeah. Just because every single community in Iowa has a gofundme to help pay for somebody's medical costs. Has a donation box at a gas station or a grocery store or a pancake breakfast to help pay for medical costs. Every single community.

That's a good story. It's really messed up. But it's a good story. But everyone could relate to it. I mean, you see a gofundme, you're like, oh, that's heartwarming and yet heartbreaking.

Exactly. Exactly. I mean, when you're driving, I've seen people with, like, a sign in their back window saying like, hey, I need a kidney transplant or my mom needs a kidney transplant. Here's our number. If you like, like, it's insane, like some of the things you've seen. No, it's not that. I've only seen that a couple times, but like, it's just like that.

Still too many, I mean, you know.

And then the whole other side of it is, we're the only state. Iowa is the only state that's increasing in cancer. We're second in the nation in cancer. And we're the only state where it's rapidly increasing for the last few years. And it's for a lot of different reasons, but a lot of it is our waters polluted. And it's just like we're not getting healthier in this state. Our economy is one of the worst in the nation. ¿And it's just like, why do we continue to vote for the same people who are overlooking these things and just want to divide us? And that's the frustrating thing.

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Dot com. No, it's a good message. ¿So fight for Universal Health Care fixed, it sounds like it's the agricultural monopoly influence and then secure is that secure?

The democracy. Because, like, one of the things I don't think we talk about enough as a nation is how JD Vance got elected into as a senator because his primary he had a billionaire put eighteen million dollars in a pack to help him win his primary easily. And like, that's not democracy, That's just elites, like, like, putting their thumb on the scale of this country. And like that is incredibly wrong. And so, I mean, we're seeing that with gerrymandering right now, like. Like we need to find a system that depoliticizes a lot of this stuff. So we have free and fair elections.

Are you for something called open primaries, which is you're. ¿You're allowed to vote in?

Yeah, we. We don't have that in Iowa. But I think it's something that's interesting because. Because like it right now, our system forces us to go to opposites ends and extremes and it incentivizes that. And so if we had open primaries, I would be interested in it because it would bring it as a democrat. I could vote for a Republican who I'm like, oh, that person. It seems reasonable. I want that. And that just. It's ways that we can incentivize working together, Because right now, that is not working. Like we are not working together as a nation. And I just. It's hurting us.

Yeah. No. I mean, appreciate your taking on this run. I can visualize it because, you know, I've crisscrossed Iowa not the way you are, though now. I mean, because now you're crisscrossing at four of every five days in the fifth day you go pitch.

Well, it's kind of the reverse right now. For this summer, I'm. I'm with my team most days. And then we have on our off day, I go out and about and do things.

Are you managing the. ¿Convince all your teammates be like, hey, guys, don't you want me to be senator?

You know, here's the funny thing is, you read articles how Democrats are struggling with young men and they're spending twenty million dollars on focus groups. I get paid a couple thousand bucks a month to talk to my teammates every single day. And so they're my focus group. And it's great like, I don't think they understand, like, how much I use them. ¿I would just, like, start conversations and like, oh, what do you think about this or this? And like, we were playing cards yesterday and I took twenty two bucks from my teammates and I don't feel bad for that. But in doing that, one of my teammates was asking, like, hey, like, I'm trying to find a house for. For him and his wife down in Florida. He's like, it's skyrocketed. And we started talking about how private equity is buying a lot of housing and it's pricing out. So like, you're not fighting another couple for that house. You're fighting Wall Street for that house. And now that's not fair, and we just started a conversation about that while playing poker.

Well, I hope you're converting them all into ambassadors who head back to their towns. Be like JD for First Senate.

One of my teammates. One of my teammates voted for me for president last year.

Oh, nice. Good work. That's good judgment on.

I don't know about that. He was in Massachusetts and he felt his vote didn't matter so he's. He's one of those. Like, to me, like, he should be a democrat, But like, that's where we're at in the party, like, we. There's not, like, a lot of people who I feel should be Democrats are, are not there with us right now. And that's a huge frustrating part, like that's. That's the part that when I go into these rural communities and I talk about issues, just issues, like, they're on board with this totally, and the fact that they don't know that. Like. Like, I'm a democrat because I like to stand up to bullies, and one of the biggest bullies for me is the Multinational Corporations, hurting our farmers and hurting our workers and hurting our consumers. And so like, that's what I'm fighting for, and it's very clear. But like, when the National Party, they don't know, like, oh, what's the difference between a democrat and Republicans which my teammates have asked me Like, it's. It's like, one of those things we're like. Well, if we're not, like, distancing ourselves or figuring out, like, the clarity of who we are for and not just what we're against, like, that's a huge problem. And that's. I don't know. That's one of my big frustrations with the Party right now.

Well, hopefully, you can run, and you are. I'm sure doing this every day, like, you can run under your own banner as like, hey, JD Scholten, standing tall for all. And then, you know, the party is a little bit in the background because I think you're a great candidate and a great iowan, a person of the community. ¿I think the party has done itself no favors over the last cover of years and that you and Rob Sand, if you prevail in Iowa, it's going to be despite anything going on the National Party and not because of them, right? Yeah. Like you guys have to make your own cases and build your own connection.

With the people being a democrat in a state like Iowa right now in twenty twenty five, like you're being held back by the party. And that's the one of the most frustrating parts is in all this. And it's. I don't know that's. That's the part where, like, you look at the Senate leadership. When I first was able to vote, our the Senate minority or majority leader was from South Dakota. And Tom Daschle.

Yeah.

And Harry Reid. And like those. You look at those folks. And like you like those people can talk to normal people. And then you have Schumer. And I just. I feel like he's just not meeting the moment. And it's just. It's frustrating from being a democrat here in the Midwest, seeing how we used to have Democrats in the Senate, in North Dakota, in South Dakota, Iowa, Nebraska, Missouri. And now we don't. ¿And it's like, well, what are we doing to expand the map? It just seems like Democrats are narrowing and narrowing and narrowing the map. And it's like, well, Iowa should be in play. Eczema isn't always obvious, but it's real. And so is the relief from ebgliss. After an initial dosing phase about four in ten people taking ebgliss achieved itch.

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Now they've, I mean, they've abandoned you all because you're too homogeneous and rural and like, not. Not reflective of, like their current vision which I think is doing the country a disservice doing. Certainly. I owns a disservice. One thing I'd ask of you, JD for fun, is next time you're with our friend Rob Sand. Sit down and talk to him about voting reforms and open primaries, because he, he's seen at a statewide. Now he's a proponent. He's like, yeah, we should open it up. And he's for something, I believe, called approval. Voting. The main thing I talk about is ranked choice voting. ¿But if you had a new voting method and open primaries, then all of a sudden, like the average Iowan would be represented and heard and it wouldn't be just like, hey, which party do you like less at this moment? Because that's.

That's what's leading to, and I will say that, as much as Democrats are not viewed fondly here in Iowa, Republicans are not viewed fondly either. People are frustrated with both parties.

Yeah.

Yeah. Unfortunately, they're. They're leaning more to the Republicans than they do Democrats here. The past few cycles. But, yeah, people are frustrated. And so like anything we can do to. Well, the other thing is engagement. That's the thing that I'm really passionate about and want our campaign to focus on. That's what we were we've done in my congressional campaigns. Is. I mean, it's one thing to get a Republican to vote for a democrat. That's really hard. But that's a big deal if you can do that. But it's so many people in Iowa are not engaged in our politics. Yeah, true. And after running for Federal office and now at the state level, what I've been able to do when you go out and door knock, I really focus on the B's and the S's, which are the barbers the bartenders, the baristas, the servers and the stylists. Because they're all people who are working class people talk to other people. And we need those types of people in our campaign. And so that's. That's the type of things that we go out and talk. So we can have these organic organizers and validators in our own communities.

Yeah. It made me really happy and excited when folks like that backed me during my race. I think you're making the case to those folks. So if, you were to be overly simplistic, but this is pretty accurate. One of the problems with the Democratic Party is that they seem like the party of college grads slash like elites and so. ¿And then most non college grads are like, Wait, what are you guys talking about? That doesn't seem like that. Those are my issues. And the majority of the country is non college grads. Certainly. The majority of Iowans are non college grads. And so it takes someone like you to be able to translate for folks who aren't going to go to college. Like those servers and bartenders and everyone else like, we're here for you. I think it's one reason why your profile as like a normal person growing up on a farm like pro athlete, I think that is a profile they all understand. Just like they understand the DC establishment profile. They don't want anything to do with it. They understand the Educated Jam, and maybe it speaks, and maybe it doesn't. But I think you have the chance to just translate things in a way that they will get. And it's why you have this opportunity and a big one. Because if you win the Senate seat, I mean, then you know everything's back on the table. ¿So what is coming up for you in this race? ¿Is there a primary? ¿And how can people help?

Yeah, there is a primary we. There's somebody just got in yesterday, so there's now three other people, so there's four of us. I'm the only one who's ran for federal office. I'm the only one who currently represents a Trump district. I'm the only one from Western Iowa which is meaningful because it like we've talked about before welcomes people into the party and knows how to talk to every Iowan. You know we there's a Iowa State professor that says we're the clear front runner on Iowa Public radio. And there's a National Raiders modeling that says if we're the nominee, we have a chance for an upset. If it's somebody else, it's a safe red seat. So if folks want to follow the campaign, it's sholton for Iowa Dot Com. We have a lot of volunteers, all across, not only in Iowa, but across the nation that helps out on a weekly basis, we have a very active volunteer group. Couple of them are former yang gang members.

Nice.

And I will want to say that one of my the coolest things to me about your campaign was I was running late to Des Moines and I was driving. I can't remember for what reason, but like, I had to go to the bathroom really bad. I was drinking a lot of water and got off the interstate on I eighty, and there's this kind of shady rundown truck stop and I go to the urinal, and I look up and there's a yang sticker. Yang twenty twenty sticker right there. I'm just like, that's the type of campaigning that I like, you know. Yeah.

Get that truck stop urinal. Thank you. Whoever posted that.

Well, it wasn't in the urinal. It was not in the urinal.

Eye level. First six with six gentlemen.

Yeah, it spoke to me personally, but.

Yeah. Nice work, Yang Yang. Yeah, yes. I've donated to JD's campaign. I'd urge. Anyone who likes the idea of contesting Iowa for the US Senate to do the same, it's Scholten. S C H O L T E N. For Iowa. You can also search JD Scholten. JD, congrats on taking up this mission. It's really important. And one, I think you have a genuine chance to win. And two, if you were to win, it would be a game changer for national politics.

Absolutely. And that's I just. I see the writing on the wall similar to things in twenty eighteen when we moved the needle twenty four points. Like there's just a lot of little things out. There's something about what's happening in twenty twenty six. That's pretty special. So if you want to follow along, our socials are all Ed Scholten as well.

Yeah. See you soon, JD. And hopefully we'll get another basketball game in. I certainly don't want you pitching to me, so we'll. We'll try keep it to a hardcore.