The Chuck ToddCast
Interview Only w/ Faiz Shakir - Is The Democratic Party’s Future More Progressive?
16 Mar 2026
Transcript generated automatically by AI and may contain errors.
Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
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Chapter 2: What problems does Faiz Shakir identify within the Democratic Party?
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Chapter 3: How does the Democratic brand compare to the Republican brand?
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Chapter 4: What role does big tech play in the Democratic Party's challenges?
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Chapter 5: What is the significance of the AI data center moratorium proposed by Bernie Sanders?
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of a progressive media organization called More Perfect Union.
Chapter 6: What reforms does Faiz Shakir suggest for the DNC?
It's my core. I've known Faz a long time. And one thing that I will tell you about Faz is he can't spin.
Chapter 7: How can Democrats attract younger, independent voters?
It's it's I think it's his most endearing quality, which is why so many of us reporters like dealing with Fass. He is a truth teller. He has very he certainly has his opinions, but he's not a very good spinner, meaning he's not a doesn't like to bullshit people. And so the point is, is you don't have to feel like you're deciphering what he's saying to my questions.
It will be pretty straightforward.
Chapter 8: Who are the potential heirs to Bernie Sanders' political legacy?
I hope you take that as accomplished.
I do. I appreciate that. And obviously, it goes back to why we got involved in politics in the first place. And ideally, it's not for spin or the tactical approaches, but rather some conviction.
Well, you actually usually get pretty frustrated by it. I'm curious, have you ever had clients get frustrated with you that you don't do that?
Thankfully, the people I've worked for have not gotten frustrated. Harry Reid was a truth teller in his very kind of classic way, and Bernie Sanders and John Podesta and people like that have generally just appreciated my approach. But I'm sure that there are many politicians who could potentially get frustrated, who I probably wouldn't work for.
So this is sort of an interesting political environment we're in. Right. You can look at it just through the lens of, you know, you're hoping progressives have a better shot. You're looking at it. And tactically, things couldn't be better for the left. Right. The opportunities are across the board. But it feels that there's something, right?
The Democratic Party feels very divided and sort of arguably leaderless. It is worth noting you ran for DMC. Yeah, you went. And most of the time when you're the party out of power, you usually are less. Your leaders aren't usually very well known, but in this case, it feels very leaderless. I do want to remind people, you ran for DNC chair in the race that elected Ken Martin.
I am curious if that position opens up before the end of the year, would you run again?
No, I don't believe so. I mean, the reason that I ran at that time wasn't because I thought I would win, but because I had a case that I wanted to make publicly about the direction of the DNC. And as I watched Ken Martin try to struggle through what I think were foreseeable, understandable challenges that you have a bureaucracy that you have to...
and if you don't come in like a bull in a China shop to change it, the bureaucracy will capture you. And I think what I was trying to argue for at the time was that you have to have a clear mandate coming in the door of what you wanna do and have people understand it and vote upon that. If you don't, You'll get stuck. And I think he's a good person stuck in a bad system. And you can see. Right.
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