Astead Herndon

And to your point, did it somewhat successfully.

You know, his most effective ad of the 2024 cycle, at least if you believe the numbers, was the spot that declared Kamala Harris was for they, them, not you.

For prisoners.

And I've been across the country as people have used that ad or even just the progressive focus on cultural issues.

To your point, to kind of say that the party had been pulled away from its core concerns.

Is those things no longer a priority for progressives?

Mm-hmm.

I want to ask about what more.

Let's talk about defund the police, because I read in 2020 that you were one of the elected officials that kind of stood with Austin's movement.

And they were one of the few cities that successfully reallocated funds from the police budget to other issues like housing.

These days, even folks like Zohra Mamdani here in New York have reversed their support for that idea largely.

I wondered what you thought about that.

What do progressives think about crime and public safety now as opposed to then?

I guess I want to ask that question more specifically.

Were Democrats or specifically progressives over the last election cycle too deferential to sloganeering, too deferential to certain interests or public groups that didn't want them to be as explicit or maybe saying where there was a disconnect between progressive class and the working class?

Like, why wasn't that said at the time?

Like, couldn't you have said, I don't like the slogan?

Congressman Kesar, thank you so much for joining us.

I really appreciate your time.

Thanks so much.