James Talarico

There are two chambers, just like the federal government, a Senate and a House.

I serve in the House, in the state House.

So the Republicans have a majority in the House and in the Senate.

I'm a member of the Democratic Party.

So I literally can't get anything done without working on a bipartisan basis.

It's actually a blessing in this modern era where we're all tribalized and polarized that I am forced to work with people who have completely different views than I do.

And actually, you get to know them.

In D.C., from what I hear, I have only been to D.C.

a few times in my life, but from what I hear, you're

You're really kind of separated physically from your colleagues.

You don't spend a lot of time talking to each other anymore.

It's a lot of fundraising and events and not really a lot of relationship building.

In the state capitol, you don't have the same media scrutiny, the same spotlight.

So we can still get to know each other and go out to eat with each other and meet each other's families.

And I actually think it's something that we could benefit from at the national level is that kind of –

camaraderie and professional working relationships with people across the aisle.

Yeah, the system doesn't encourage that at the national level.

Here, we do not.

I think in D.C., the minority party appoints the committee chairs or ranking members.

Here at the state level, the Speaker of the House, who is elected by Republicans and Democrats, that's the person who decides what committee you're on and what bills you can get passed.