The Politics Hour: WAMU’s D.C. Delegate Democratic primary forum

Coming to you live from the Martin Luther King Jr. Library in Northwest Washington, D.C. Welcome to the Politics Hour starring Tom Sherwood. I'm Kojo Nandhi.

Of course, joining us today for our D.C. Delicate Democratic Prime U.F.S. Forum is our aforementioned resident analyst Tom Sherwood. Tom Sherwood, welcome. Hello everybody. A quick review of this forum's rules. Each candidate will have roughly one minute to respond to our questions. We may ask a follow-up question or allow a candidate to respond and they will be given about 30 seconds to make their case. We'll also have two lightning rounds of questions where each candidate will be given a short amount of time to respond. As we approach the end, each candidate will get a one-minute closing statement as well. Now, meet our candidates. Joining us today, Trent Holbrook is a former legislative aide to Representative Eleanor Holmes Norton. Trent

Holbrook. Welcome. Thank you. Greg Yatsko is a physicist and former chairman of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Greg Yatsko. Thank you.

Brooke Pinto is the Ward 2 D.C. Council member. Brooke Pinto, welcome.

Robert White is an at-large D.C. council member, Robert White. And Kinney is a former Justice Department and Democratic National Committee official. Kini Zelesney.

Thank you all for joining us. Let's jump right in. We'll start with how you all plan on approaching the job of DC delegate if elected. DC's non-voting delegate does not have much formal authority, but your predecessor, Edel Holmes Norton, shaped the role to be a powerful advocate for the city. How will your approach to this office differ from the longtime Congresswoman? Can Iaselessly, let's start with you, and then we'll move down the table. Thank you, Kojo. Good afternoon, everybody.

I see the delegate job as two things, and conveniently for us, they rhyme. It's autonomy and economy. So we have to fight for statehood and all the interim measures before that, legislative autonomy, budget autonomy, a vote on the House floor, maybe a delegate to the U.S. Senate. and what's different from the past is we have to rethink our economy. Eleanor Holmes Norton did tremendous things

with land transfers and economic development within a certain limited context. But times are different now, and we are under assault. Our economy is under a frontal assault by this president and this Congress. We have to, and even if it weren't, we are still dealing with the effects of Congress,

and we have to deal with the disruption of AI. I'm the only one in the race with any serious national business experience at all and your delegate should be a political leader and a business leader. Robert White. Thank you very much.

So look, my God, we are in the midst of a civil rights crisis and a voting rights crisis. And because of the work that Congresswoman Norton has done for 36 years, we now have an opportunity to nationalize this seat. So people across the country, one, know how DC is disenfranchised, but

two, understand that D.C. statehood would produce two Democratic senators, and that is the Trump card that the Democratic Party needs to win this redistricting battle that Trump and congressional Republicans have waged. Our delegate also must work aggressively to stabilize our local economy. Some of the projects that Kenny mentioned, the land transfers like Walter Reed, and the wharf are projects I worked on. I'm going to do more of those to bring more jobs back to D.C. Because I know too many families

who are still struggling at the kitchen table because a parent has lost their job due to this administration. Brooke Pinto. Well, good afternoon and wonderful to see you, Kojo, and Tom. And thank you so much for having this event. And thank you to all of you for coming out today to be a part of this important election.

I really think of this role as being Washington, D.C.,'s primary quarterback for the district. And so that means we have to play defense for the unreasonable, outrageous attacks that our district has faced, especially under the Trump administration, protecting the 30 bill against the 30 bills that Congress is considering that do everything from getting rid of our local attorney general, or allowing Trump-appointed prosecutors to prosecute 12- and 13-year-old children as adults and sending them to adult prisons across the country.

Outrageous recommendations that we have to defend against. And we have to play better offense to deliver real wins for our city, to drive down cost of living, especially with housing, to make every Washingtonian safe and to proactively secure us as the 51st state. Greg Yatsko.

Well, thank you. Thank you, Kojo, and I'm glad to be here. So when I look at this role, a key element of the role of any representative is constituent services. So while we focus a lot on the role of the delegate lacking a vote in Congress, the delegate still is the primary conduit for people in the district who have needs, needs through the federal government. And is that constituent service that is really pretty much the same as every other member

of Congress. And that's extremely vital to make sure that we're addressing the needs and the concerns in the district. Of course, the delegate also has to be a leader and has to be the primary spokesperson for statehood. And I have a novel way to address statehood, which is, you know, we all have the license plates that say no taxation without representation. I want to focus on the taxation piece because we've been focusing on the representation for too long and not making progress. I think we should in the interim not have federal income taxes until we get statehood. So it's that statehood focus and then the constituent services.

Trent Holbrook. Well, thank you so much for the question and thank you for hosting this event. So I worked for Congressman Norton for the past eight years, including serving us your senior legislative council. And during that time, Congressman Norton was consistently ranked as one of the most successful lawmakers on Capitol Hill. And all this, despite not having a vote on final passage of bills,

Congressman Norton knew the legislative process backward and forward and knew every single opportunity that we could use to advance D.C.'s interest in Congress. And so I would largely continue that, important work that we've done because we've made so much progress in DC statehood on advancing DC home rule. And so the biggest thing that I think that I would continue to work on, maybe do a little bit differently, is just to continue to educate people. The one thing that we've seen consistently over and over is that people do not realize what DC is. That DC is 700,000 people,

and that we don't have the full equality that can only come from statehood. I also released a plan back on Statehood Day, May 1st, to further extend the powers of the delegate. And so there are certain things of the delegates not doing now that I would work to. to make a priority for the delegate as well going forward. Tom Sherwood. So do you really want this job? Power on Capitol Hill is based on seniority. Will you commit to seeking and serving multiple terms

to gain usable seniority and not run for something else? And we'll start with Mr. White. And you're next. Yes, I will. I'm committed to this job for the foreseeable future. The good news is that we are going to, to have a historic number of new members of the House, so we should be able to gain some seniority pretty quickly. But anybody who has studied the House of Representatives for one second

realizes you're going to have to have at least a few terms there to get something done. I have some clear visions for D.C. I believe that statehood is achievable, not in my first term, but in my second term, because of what is happening around the nation with these redistricting battles. I'm going to insist to democratic leadership and people across the country who are afraid of where this country is going, that the only way we rebalance this power structure is by adding the District of Columbia as the 51st state. Now, they won't do it because it's the right thing, but they will do it because it is the strategic thing. In my second term, I aim to be on the Appropriations Committee so that those riders that dictate how we can spend our own taxpayer money

start to come off for the first time. So I have an agenda that requires me to be there more than one term. Well, just go down the line so I don't have to keep talking. You, Brooke Pentow. Sure. So I absolutely think there is a lot that we must accomplish

in the first term. I am absolutely committed to this job. This is the job that I want and that I know I can do most effectively to serve our residents and serve our city. That starts on June 17th in meeting with Hakeem Jeffreys to make sure that we're

doing everything we can as a district to help flip the House and flip the Senate. We have to be active partners as a District of Columbia with those members running in competitive races across the country. That's a big role of this job. Ben is meeting with Suzanne Delabenei to make sure that the D-Trip knows that the District of Columbia is a strong partner for all of our Democratic races across the country and ensuring that we get excellent committee assignments, which just because generally a lot of members have to wait till seniority does not mean that that has to be the way it is here. Every member of Congress has an interest in the nation's capital. We need to leverage that interest and make sure we get excellent committee assignments so that we get the benefits for you.

Greg Yatska. Yeah, so I would certainly, I would commit to running for two years and hope that I would do a good enough job that I would get reelected every two years after that as long as I could. So I think it's vitally important that we utilize all of the resources. sources that the delegate has to make progress in the short term and build those relationships across the aisle, across Capitol Hill, both in the House and the Senate. So prior to working at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, I worked both in the House as a congressional aid and then in the Senate.

So I have an understanding of how both of those bodies work, and seniority is vital, and it is crucial, but it's also important to be able to be effective. And the delegate does have a role. It does have a role to play in committees, and I've certainly sat up. on both sides of the dais on committees in the House. I was there staffing members and then testifying in front of committee. So I know how that role it works and how to get the most out of that part of the job. And I would hope that after two years I would get reelected and continue to serve the district.

Trent Holberg. Well, let me just start by saying that I never dreamed that I would ever run for public office. It's not been my dream to run for office after office. And so I'm deeply committed to this position. And the reason that I decide to step up was because the time right now was too important not to step up where it's such a critical moment in DC's history. And whoever gets elected is going to be the least senior member of Congress, going to be tied for the least senior member of Congress.

So the reason that I decided to run is we need somebody with Hill experience who has experience working on D.C. federal issues. And so it's so important as we, you know, as Congressman Norton retires, who has been there so long and has been a rock, that we have somebody who knows how to use the legislative process backward and forward and to continue to deliver for D.C. in the same way the Congresswoman Norton has. for so long.

And Kenny is the less name. I commit to serve in this role and not to run for any other role. In fact, the reason I am running for this role is that this job is a unique, singular job that requires someone who has worked at the intersection of DC politics and national politics.

It is not a job for someone who has only done local politics. It never has been. Eleanor Holmes-Norton did not come up through DC Council. This job is for someone with deep local roots and the national relationships, networks, experience, and reputation that it will take to get something done for DC even without a vote. Now, seniority is a very important point. And normally, you don't get on the good committees without seniority. But I already have relationships with the

rank and file and the leadership in the House and Senate because I was a Deputy National Finance Chair at the DNC. Susan Delbenny is a very good friend of mine. I have raised money for many of the Democratic candidates. That will put me in a better position to get the better committee assignments right away. That allows me to start the next question with you, Kinie Zelensny, since you talk about the relationships that you have,

what achievable goals would you accomplish in your first 100 days on the job? In the first 100 days, I will do at least two things. One, I will set up a constituent services office east of the river. Eleanor Holmes-Norton used to have one there, but she doesn't anymore. She closed it. And now the closest office is, I mean, her only office, is near the White House, which is not that convenient to almost any of the 700,000 of us who need constituent services.

So that's job one. The second thing I will do is create and lead a capital caucus in Congress. I will drive it as the D.C. delegate, and it will be composed of Maryland and Virginia and maybe Delaware and Pennsylvania and West Virginia. We need to do this. First of all, we are facing some of the same problems. We all got doged. Our waterways all got poisoned.

And we need, D.C. needs to take its rightful place as a regional leader for economic growth, for health care coordination, for environmental coordination, for coordination on metro and infrastructure, and every other part of our lives. Robert White. Your first hundred days. Kojo, my work is going to start long before I get sworn in. Before I get sworn in, I'm going to mobilize thousands of D.C. residents

in Washington, D.C. We have to make sure that we don't have armed National Guard troops sent here from other states, and that we fill our vacancies on our country. courts and that we have an active role and messenger on the hill to make sure we're making that case effectively. There actually is already a D.C. caucus. We're just not actively a part of it enough because there are regional members who are working every day on issues that impact D.C. I work with them regularly on a lot of those issues.

And that I'm really eager to take a stronger leadership role into ensure that our caucus is led by someone actually from D.C. Next, I want to secure $130 million for the cleanup of the Anacostia and Potomac River so they can be fully swimmable and fishable, and I want to introduce and pass my breaking ground housing plan to drive down cost of living.

Greg Yatsko. So there would be two initiatives that would be at the forefront of my initial agenda. The first, as I mentioned, I think in the statehood debate, we talk a lot about the representation. We need to focus on the taxation. We are the only part of the United States in which we do not have statehood and we pay federal income taxes.

So one of the first bills I would introduce would be a bill to eliminate the federal income tax and exempt D.C. residents and businesses from federal income taxes. Of course, with that goes in a tremendous communication effort to get members to understand the injustice in a different way than we've talked about it in the past. The other issue that we don't talk about a lot, but I hear from many people when I'm out canvassing and knocking on doors and talking to people in the community. community is the incredibly skyrocketing cost of electricity here in the district. That is a multifaceted problem that requires national solutions.

One is to bring some control to AI data set of development in the region. The second is to introduce legislation to allow DC to convert to a public power authority, to bring down prices here in the district. I would introduce legislation on both of those to try and bring control over electricity prices. And Holbro. So one of the very first things that I would do probably on the first day is reintroduce the DC statehood bill. I worked with Congressman Norton to regularly get a record number of original co-sponsors on the bill, and I would anticipate that we'd have a number of co-sponsors as well.

Even right now today, we have 206 co-sponsors on the DC statehood bill, and it only takes 218 members to pass a bill. So we're very close even while we're in the minority. And then the second thing that I would largely focus on is I would introduce a bill dealing with affordability, and it would have numerous of my priorities included in this all the way from housing to making sure that DC is treated as a state for the purposes of all federal funding to protect DC's Medicaid reimbursement rate and a permanently authorized DC tag. The other thing that I would work on is having an oversight hearing almost immediately in requesting it for federal employees because we've seen what this administration has done illegally to federal employees, including firing them and basically making their lives miserable. And so I think that should be one of the first things that we focus on too. Thank you.

Recent Supreme Court rulings on redistricting suggest some black members of Congress may lose their seats this fall and later. Mr. White, you cite this concern frequently. You say DC's seat is a, quote, civil rights seat. What does that mean? Are you suggesting that the DC seat should be a black seat? There are two facts here, Tom. That's a direct question. And I have a minute, right?

So there are two facts here. One is that black members of Congress are being redistricted out, and the result of that will be the biggest loss of black representation since the end of Reconstruction. And we have to take that seriously. That is the moment and time in which we live, whether we like it or not. This is a civil right seat, and it is a voting right seat. The person who said that today, if you go on my social media,

Congressman Jim Clyburn said exactly that with no prompting from me. This is something we know across the nation. And when I'm looking for a civil rights leaders, and I'm going to look at the records of the people running for the seat, I'm the person that I'm going to choose because I stand up for civil rights when it's easy, and I stand up for it when it's hard. I carry water for the people who don't have anybody to carry water for them, and that's what we need from somebody who is in Congress,

especially without a vote today. So just to be clear, for you being elected, but not specifically any black person, you. Be a civil rights. Does any of the other members of candidates want to respond to that? Ms. Kenny? Thank you. I want to say something about the redistricting effort. I was endorsed this week by Eric Holder, who, as you know, was the U.S. Attorney General.

He was also the D.C. U.S. attorney. and now, along with Barack Obama, he has created the National Democratic Redistricting Committee, which is the premier national organization dedicated to uprooting the injustice that's going on in voting rights, civil rights, and trying to advance structural reform in the systems and the maps under which Americans vote. Eric Holder looked across this table at who was the right candidate to lead that fight. He didn't choose Robert White, he chose me. Eric and I worked together at the Justice Department.

He has seen my work, he has seen my dedication to expanding opportunity. In this city, I ran a college access program that helped thousands of D.C. students, black and brown students, become the first in their families to go to college. So please don't assume, based on the way somebody looks

what their civil rights record is or what their capacity and potential to fight for this issue. Mr. Holbrook, do you want to comment on what does civil rights seat mean to you? Sure. So I had the privilege of working with the civil rights icon, Eleanor Holmes Norton,

for so long, and she made it crystal clear to me and I knew this before just how important these issues are, but we also acted on it, and I'm the only candidate in this race who has acted on this on the federal level. So for example, HR1, the very first bill the Democrats will introduce will likely be similar to HR1

when the Democrats were in last time, which dealt with voting rights and it largely dealt with redistricting. I worked with Congresswoman Norton to make sure that that also included findings in supportive statehood. And so because of our work, that was the very first time the Congress actually passed something in favor of statehood,

and it passed in the House and it passed in the Senate with findings to show why we need DC to be at the 51st state, why that is such a key voting rights issue and needs to be tied with all these other really important and voting rights issues like redistricting. Mr. Yotsko, what does civil rights seat mean to you, civil rights seat? Well, I think, I mean, one of the biggest civil rights issues really that the district faces is the lack of statehood. And so that is a big piece of what we mean when we talk about civil rights for the seat.

But I would also like to say that, you know, I think the question to Robert, Robert will get elected to the seat if he gets elected to the seat because he is the person who has convinced the people that he is the best person to represent the district, not because he's the only black candidate. And I think it's important that we make that distinction. And everybody on this stage, I think, is certainly capable of being a, certainly a strong advocate for the district. So I would just like to just briefly close then and say that,

I think the issue that is underlying in this question is the Supreme Court. And we need reform of the Supreme Court, because the Supreme Court is taking away civil rights across the country. And we need to expand the court, we need to reform the court, so that we're not stuck with that. Thank you.

Ms. Pintole, if you have a comment? So we have a federal government that has weaponized itself against black Americans in a myriad of ways in D.C. and across the country. I absolutely agree that our lack of statehood is one of the biggest civil rights issues

of our time, and it wouldn't be happening if our demographics were different. in Washington, D.C. And so we absolutely have to send someone to the hill in this seat, in this moment, who is going to understand how to actually secure wins for our city

so that we can protect and celebrate and honor our black residents and black Americans. And let me also just say, our city is changing. And one of the primary reasons it's changing is because we have lost tens of thousands of black Washingtonians due to, to cost of housing skyrocketing,

which is why I have spent so much time in this campaign talking about my housing plan to drive down cost of housing and make sure that our city is livable for everyone. In the 30 seconds or so we have left before going to a break, I have a question for both you and Robert White. As a council member, you already have significant say over city policy in its future. Why leave that post for a chance at a seat

that has significantly less formalized power? You got 15 seconds, Robert White. Thank you. Look, on the council, I've, gone about for Tower Street residents, UCD, people seeking abortions, restoring voting rights. That is civil rights work that I've done here. Now I need to take that work.

Got to take a short break when we come back. We'll have Brooke Pinto respond to the same question. Thank you so much for being.

In case you're just joining us, that is in case you're not here at the Martin Luther King Library, you should know that that's where we are and we're talking with candidates who want the job of D.C. delegate in the U.S. House of Representatives. We're talking with Trent Holbrook, Greg Yatsko, Brooke Pinto, Robert White, and Kinney Zelasney. Brooke Pinto, you didn't get the opportunity to answer the 15-second questions about why are you looking for this other job if you've got this one job already?

Because this is the way that I can best serve our city in this moment. And I am doing this now. I am on the hill regularly, playing defense and offense on our behalf. and know that I need to be there full time so that we can get the wins and the protection for our city that we deserve. Okay, this is what we call a lightning round. And for the first question in our lightning round, let's go to Elliot in Ward 5.

I'm wondering who candidates will be ranking second on their ballot. Thank you. On the delegate ballot. Start with you, Kinney's a lesson.

Well, I haven't fully decided. But I suppose this is the moment I'm expected to decide. Action coming up.

We're running out of time. All right. I will put second either Brooke Pinto or Trent Holbrook. Robert White Thank you Like every other voter I've got to sit down and look at the candidates I've been running

You haven't done that yet You know what I've been doing I've been running You've been standing next to them for nine months And I got to get out of the candidate competition space And think of it as a vote

So a no for you We got that, okay, next Oh, is that allowed? Well, this is free country You can do anything you want to As long as you contribute to WAM? I think leadership step up to the question.

Brooke Pinto. Well, I am an in-person voter, so I have not filled out my ballot yet. Like many undecided voters, I'm seeing how people are answering these questions up here. But one of the things that I consider is not just what someone says they're going to do, but their record on actually achieving it. And I encourage other voters to consider that to say. This is so cowardly. Greg Yatsko.

Oh, man. Yeah, I think it's a yes or no question. No. No, okay. You haven't decided. Trent Holbrook. I have decided, and I put the people who I thought had the best federal experience and ready to lead. You want to be a leader of the city?

You want to name the person? I do not. Thank you. Okay. Okay, can we just be really clear on who has courage and conviction and honesty, honesty and straightforwardness and doesn't and and speaks to voters with as though they have integrity and as and as though they want to actually hear what we think can that be on the record that's a lot of grandstanding can I can I get one next oh I think you had your turn Robert I think

you missed your chair you taking everybody's turn the district from federal intrusion here's I had another good lightning question oh well go ahead I think it's worth asking Go ahead. Private sector jobs make up roughly 85% of all U.S. jobs. Other than a part-time job in school or even nonprofit work, as important as that is, have you ever held a real job in the private sector? What was it? Mr. Hallbrook, we'll start with you.

Sure. I've been working pretty much since high school, so whether it's summer jobs. No, no, not some temporary, temporary, a real private industry job where you've got to double. you two? No. Then no. I've devoted my entire to public service.

Yachts go? Yeah, I've had several. Just name one, please. I have a renewable energy development company. That's my own development. Okay, a consulting kind of job. No, no, I develop renewable projects.

Ms. Pinto? Ms. Pinto? I've worked in a number of hospitality jobs, frozen yogurt shop, hotels, restaurants. Robert White. I worked at CVS to get through high school. full-time job

not full-time but that I mean I left school I'm not talking about the question was part-time not school work with you said W-2 yes not a part-time job but you know a 40-hour-a-week job type okay so then I would

join Brooke and a lot of other people that say no okay and Ms. Give me a lesson there yes I ran the strategy team at Microsoft for almost nine years at that time Microsoft

became the most valuable company in the world. Okay, stop already. I worked in a bookstore. Sorry, I had a 15 second sign. Kojo worked in a bookstore and I worked in a fast food joint. I also worked at a bookstore.

Okay. Protecting the district from federal intrusion, the federal government recently has become more aggressive in intervening in local affairs, including Congress blocking the city's 2023 attempt to overhaul its criminal. and last summer's federal takeover of MPD, give us your playbook on what you will do

to preserve DC's ability to govern itself. Brooklyn, so you start us off. So when I became the chair of the Council's Committee on Judiciary and Public Safety, it was right after Congress had overturned the revised criminal code. And so I started spending a lot of my time on the Hill, meeting with members in the House and the Senate, Democrats and Republicans, and said,

I'm the new chair, we take public safety very seriously, and built those relationships to have them back off. And I have not had any of my bills be overturned by the Congress, even in this environment. And so my record to do so is exactly how I'm going to be successful moving forward in this seat to make sure that they have their hands off our decisions that should be made locally. And that's why it's so important that we send someone to the Hill

with credibility on public safety, credibility on our economy, and a pathway to get it done. Robert Wai? I'm going to work incredibly closely with our mayor, our chair, and our attorney general to make sure we are hashing out differences in private. We need a mayor who will work with others. I believe we will have one soon. But we also have to be clear about credibility.

You can't go to Congress and say you have credibility when you stood by and watched the biggest police scandal in probably the history of our police department that led to federal intervention, which is the fake crime stats. As chair of the judiciary, you can't ignore it when the union, police union tells you it exists, let Republicans investigate it, and then campaign on, look what I did to drop crime, and it turns out those stats were falsing you knew it the whole time. That's not credibility.

Keep saying you, but I know you're not talking to me. I'm talking about Councilmember Brooke Pinto. Can I respond to that? In 15 seconds, yes. I sent an oversight letter on the crime statistics, Robert, that you signed. So it is an absolute lie to continue saying. Well after the fact.

Nope. Last fall that you signed, that all of our colleagues signed, and that is exactly why. Let me say so about crime stats. Crime has come down in the district nearly 60%. How do we know? The manipulated crime statistics were about lower level crimes

that were not acceptable. The statistics that we cite about violent crime is not what's at issue with the manipulation of crimes. Thank you. Let me be, I want to, to be really clear with the residents of D.C., what risk we embrace if we put either Robert or Brooke in this delegate seat. The main job is to fight for our autonomy and rebuild our economy. Robert White voted against funding the initiative that would have allowed 80,000 DC independence

to vote in the only meaningful election in this city, which is the one coming up on June 16th. 73% of DC voters had approved that initiative. If Robert is our delegate and he goes to Capitol Hill and tries to advocate for autonomy or statehood, he will be a sitting target. They will say, why should we expand D.C. voters' rights when you didn't do it, when you had the chance? Why should we uphold the will of D.C. voters when you overturned it.

And Brooke Pinto is no better. She did vote for that, but she couldn't get six D.C. Democrats to vote with her. What kind of coalition building skill is that? Greg Yatsko. So I think the question is what would we do to fight? Look, it's a never-ending battle, and I think we take all the Congresses,

currently with Republicans in particular, is constantly assaulting the district and attempting to take away more and more of our rights. So, number one, we have to play offense, and I would do offense through the federal income tax exemption. The second thing we have to do is we have to educate and communicate with members of Congress to get them to understand

more and more what the issues are when it comes to statehood and how it is completely unacceptable for members to be interfering in very specific local DC issues. And then of course we have to continue to mobilize people here in the district to stand up and speak out against these injustices. They are not going to end anytime soon and even when there's Democrats in control of Congress we will likely be facing these battles. So you know it's about building those relationships on Capitol Hill. It's about realizing when are the important fights and I think is we're Robert said, it's about trying to coordinate with the local representatives to prioritize the most important fights, because we cannot win all of them, realistically.

Trent Holbro. So I am the only candidate in this race who spent every single day for almost a decade on Capitol Hill itself fighting these historic anti-home rule attacks against the District of Columbia, side by side right beside Congresswoman Norton. And I will say, hearing the back and forth between the two council members is not helpful as you're on the hill trying to defend D.C.'s autonomy. And so one of the biggest ways that I would continue this fight, the successful fight that we've had defending D.C.'s autonomy, is working with the over 100 national organizations that I work to get to endorse the D.C. statehood bill, and it's a wide variety of organizations,

and they are there to be our partner to help us as we continue to make these arguments for our autonomy. And so all the way from women's rights, we have women organizations. If we want to talk about our gun laws, we have gun organizations that have endorsed the D.C. statehood bill. And so we have already put in this incredible work so far, and because of the work that we've done,

we are in a great position to keep fighting for our autonomy and more importantly, fighting to make us a 51st date. Can I just respond to something Kenny said, because she mentioned me exactly. Ten seconds. She is right that that vote didn't pass.

And you know why it didn't pass? Because Robert White gave me his word, said on the dais he would vote for it, told advocates he would vote for it, signed his name that he would vote for it and switched his vote the day of the vote. So now he's got to respond. 15 seconds.

So, So is that true, Mr. White? No, she is being dishonest. Brooke looked at me on the dais. Let me finish. Brooke looked at me in the dais and said, you're going to vote for this, right? And I said, this is suspicious. I didn't know what was going on, but I knew it wasn't cool, and I voted no.

And I hope you would do the same thing. Look, I'm just to be clear, did you sign your name to it? I'm not sure what she's talking about. Well, we're all talking about this is in the weeds and like, it wasn't for, to allow people to vote. It was funding. It was to cut funding for another program. and move it to this.

Funding is always what makes the difference. Well, funding is the issue. Here's another round starting with Tom. Yes. Although I would like to keep that going, but I won't. All right. Mayor Muriel Bowser is criticized by some for publicly limiting her criticism of President Trump,

muting her criticism of ICE and immigration raids, for example. She says her strategy is her North Star, to protect home rule. Will you, as delegate, speak out. against ICE and take more public actions to attack what the president is doing to our city and our undocumented residents. And Ms. Pinto, I don't think we've started with you yet. Let's start with you.

And just go down to God's going down that way. So first and foremost, absolutely I will speak out about what's happening to our communities. That's what we saw last summer when Trump had this federal surge, tried to federalize our police department, sent National Guard troops from all over the country. and I joined protests. I was on the national news nearly every night trying to build a coalition nationwide, which then helped us push back

against a lot of that overreach. I moved a law to require that every time a federal agent uses serious force in our city, that that information is communicated to the publicly and is transparent. We have to keep doing that to step up and speak out about what's going on in our community.

We also have to make sure that we're working with this Congress to deliver wins for our city, whether that is around more funding, ensuring that they're filling the 22% vacancies in our courts, ensuring that they're funding our pretrial services agencies and making sure that we have what we need for the federal government that advances true safety. Thank you.

Yeah, so I would say yes, you have to stand up to injustice. So injustice, when people are committing injustices, not speaking out, doesn't ever make it better. You have to constantly push back and stand up to this president, to ICE, to the National Guard troops in our district, to the injustice of statehood, all of these issues, it's exhausting, but it has to happen and it has to be continuous, and that's one of the roles of the delegate. I've certainly been in positions where I've had to stand up to very powerful interests,

including when I was the head of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, and in fact vetoed and disapproved the granting of licenses for new nuclear reactors, which was a significant challenge for me because the industry. is very powerful. So I have built my career on standing up for the rights of people who are powerless or who have less power, and it's vital that the delegate does that and does that continuously. And again, we will not make Trump treat us better by not pointing out the terrible behavior that he has, whether it's with ICE or otherwise. Fred Holbrook. Yes, you absolutely have to stand up to this administration and to ICE. What

they're doing is wrong. It's immoral, and it has to stop. I've said before, that I want to serve on the House Oversight Committee for several reasons, and a lot of that has to do with D.C. and has to do with federal employees. But I've also said that this should absolutely be a top priority of that committee and a top priority of the House of Representatives in general. Okay.

I will speak out against ICE and the collaboration with MPD at every opportunity. ICE is not just terrorizing our neighbors and our neighborhoods. ICE is the beginning of a personal paramilitary force by this president. And if we let him get away with that, he's coming for every one of us, everyone who disagrees with him, everyone who has his status he doesn't like, and it is the job of leaders in this city and everywhere

to stand firm, to be loud, and to win that fight against his paramilitary force. I will absolutely stand up to ICE. And the reason you know I will is because I have from day one when the chair of the Judiciary Committee was quiet as a church mouse, as ICE was terrorizing our city, as federal agents were shooting at unarmed people in the city, I had to go to the Judiciary Committee hearings

because the chair was saying nothing, was not holding them accountable. People were begging, look at what is happening to our families, we need you to do something. When she did nothing after months, They asked me to introduce a bill to add transparency for federal officers. And after I moved that bill with the majority of the council, Brooke Pinto said, oh, it seems convenient that I should move a bill now too. That is not leadership.

That is not civil rights. That is not the person who's going to fight in this type of historic era. We need somebody who's going to fight, not just sit out when it's comfortable or when it's hard, not just come to the forefront after everybody else has moved the ball forward. We need somebody who is going to stand up in a historic time. That is what I do. Ms. Pinto, he's talked about your committee. 15 seconds.

A quick answer, please. Unfortunately, this is par for the course to do none of the work and claim all the credit. You can look on our legislative record, which is a public website, and see that my bill was introduced five days before Robert's bill.

The facts are the facts. When you talk about you came to my hearing, I was having a hearing. What do you mean I wasn't talking about it? It was a hearing to discuss this exact issue. Okay, thank you. Thank you very much. Let's keep this going.

Let's talk about New Murphy. Public safety and crime, fairly or not, D.C. crime is always a concern on Capitol Hill. Sorry, I have an allergy. Ms. Pinto and Mr. White, you differ sharply on juvenile curfews. The council may vote on them again soon. Mr. White, you oppose youth curfews saying they criminalize black youth. Ms. Pinto, you support temporary curfews, calling it a public safety issue that also protects those same young people. for one minute

defend your position you go first Mr. White we know the White House is closely watching yes and we know that the White House but particularly the Hill is watching what we're doing about public safety and curfews are a big issue the city cast

poll the other day said 72% of the people in that poll like curfews Mr. White one minute one minute look I grew up in this city as a black young person going to go-go's Now, if you were here in the 80s and 90s, you know there was violence at the go-go. Most people were not engaged in that violence.

I had wanted nothing to do with the violence. I went where my friends went. That is what young people are doing here. They are looking for a space. Now, when the only answer is a curfew, you are not responding to the problem or to the youth. I supported the curfew a year ago as a temporary measure. But after a year, I'm not tired of hearing hold young people accountable. I want to hold the lawmakers accountable to listen to these kids,

to give them somewhere safe to go, to give them something to do. I've listened to them. I've pushed for citywide mentorship programs, for trade and vocational programs, all the things that young people are telling me, as I am with them, asking them what they need, I'm trying to put in place. When I just keep hearing, let's just extend the curfew,

that is not acceptable anymore. Curfew can be part of a solution, but it is surely not a solution. Brooke Pinto. So I have long believed and acted on successfully the idea that we have to do both of these things. We have to invest in our kids and we have to as adults have guardrails

that common sense around ensuring that we protect our kids. Two years ago, I introduced a bill to open up our rec centers on nights and weekends. Last year, I introduced a suite of bills for teen centers in every quadrant to create a jobs app to connect kids to pay job opportunities. We have funded in this budget opportunities

to open more spaces for kids on nights and weekends. in particular to expand safe passage. And I support moving this curfew, which is a limited tool that just says, if the police know violence is prepared for a specific night, in a specific zone for more than eight kids, they can say a large group of kids can't be there in that zone.

Why we would want to hamstring our own local police department to doing that makes no sense, especially when we have a federal government, who I've told my colleagues, is going to act more aggressively, if we did not act, and that's exactly what we saw happen. Greg Yaskol. Yeah, so for me, the issue, of course, comes down to the federal role as delegate,

and number one, I think it's vital that D.C. gets to make these decisions, and there should not be congressional interference. On the specific question, I'm not on the city council. If I were, I can't say exactly how I would vote, but my view is that curfews are not an effective tool. Almost all the data we have on crime shows that curfews do not, generally lower crime. If we know that kids are going to be congregated in an area, then we need to deploy appropriate police resources to address criminal behavior.

But presence of young kids in an area is not in and of itself a crime, and we should not make that a crime. So it's an issue that where leadership is difficult, because when we see these incidents like the brawl at the Chipotle, that's scary, and nobody wants to see that in our communities. But curfews don't prove to be an effective strategy for dealing with That was a crime. It needed to be dealt with by an immediate law enforcement response, and that is ultimately what we need to do. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Fent Holbrod.

So this is purely a local issue, a home role issue, and Congress should not be dealing with this. And that's one of the problems I think with this race with the two elected politicians who are running, is they use things like this to try to score political points when it's not something that the delegate does, nor should the delegate be doing, nor should Congress be looking into these things. And because of these types of conversations, you have president, Trump lying about crime in D.C. and arguing that he should federalize a metropolitan police department because of increased crime, despite the fact that crime in D.C. is at a 30-year low. So instead of focusing on these issues, these local issues, just to score political points,

we need to be doing everything we can to stand up for what we should be standing up for, which is home rule in Congress. And you, can he look, can he, there's a less name? I was counsel to Attorney General Janet Reno at the U.S. Justice Department when crime in D.C. fell farther and faster than it had ever fallen in history. We knew how to reduce crime, and it's two things. You need swift and fair prosecution, and you need serious investments in smart community partnerships that include the police, the schools, child welfare,

hospitals, across the board. That's how you reduce crime. You don't prosecute 14-year-olds as adults. We've tried that idea. It doesn't work. We know how to do it, and that's what we need to get back to. let me say one more thing. I have four kids who are just out of the teenage years themselves.

Two of them are right in the back of this room. No parent, no, let alone any policymaker, no parent wants their 14-year-old running around on the street at 1130 at night. That child will either end up a victim or a perpetrator. And no mother wants that for her child, no matter what color they are, no matter what work they do. And I will fight for every family to be safe in the city. We're less than two minutes away from a break, so go. Police staffing, the D.C. police force is down sharply by 700 officers dropping from 3,800 to 3,100.

In response to a campaign questionnaire, Opportunity, D.C., Ms. Pinto said you would favor more police. Mr. White, your response said you would favor fewer police. Each of you take just 30 seconds. Pinto, you go first. And we'll come back to it afterwards, but go ahead. Okay, importantly on the juvenile curfew, just want to add, there have never been arrests for a violation of a curfew zone.

That's not what this is. This is not a prosecution tool. This is a safety tool. Second, we are at a 50-year staffing low with our police. We have to work aggressively to make sure that we're bringing more officers in the door and that we're retaining more of our officers. That's the work that I'm doing now as judiciary chair, because it should be our local police who are policing our communities, not federal election.

Mr. White. Thank you. 30 seconds. So let me start with, there was a notion that I'm engaging in politic and because of my view on the curfew.

You may have the privilege to have never been put in handcuffs because of the color of your skin as a young person. And so you might believe that this is just politics or that federal officers are talking about prosecuting these people

or their parents and saying that this isn't a federal issue. That is wild to me when we're saying we're running for a civil rights. You say fewer. The MPD is short of... You said fewer police. A thousand short.

Doesn't matter if you want more or less. They're not coming in. We've got to take a short break when we come back. We'll continue this debate with Trent Holcomb, Red Yasko, Brook Pintel, Robert White, and Kinney, Zelesney. I'm Kojo Nandi.

Welcome back. We are having a conversation with candidates for the D.C. delegate. Zelesney, Robert White, Brooke Pinto, Greg Yaskill, and Trent Holbrook. Baum-Shirwood is our resident analyst and a contributing writer for Washington City paper. Your turn. And you're a co-jo nominee. I forgot to say that. Mr. White, I just want to be clear.

You gave a strong statement about policing, but the question was on this response, you said, where we are now, you said fewer police. Was that your answer? that you're for fewer police. Did I read it right? I have it here. You got it. You read it. So, but we've got to come out of Crazy Town. We are a thousand police short of

where the mayor wants us. You have nobody coming in the front door virtually. You have people flooding out the back door and the only answer is let's keep throwing money at it and hope that that's all the problem. It will not solve the problem. There are police doing non-essential police work. You've got to audit that. You've got to audit

why so many police are spending so much time in the courthouses and not on the street and how that contributes to $50 million in overtime, it is absolutely crazy to keep doing the same thing and say the only thing we can do is say we need more police. Eventually, you've got to solve the problem. The Metropolitan Police Department is currently under scrutiny over accusations that some police officers were manipulating crime data. How do you respond to members of Congress who want to intervene in policing DC? I'll start with you. Greg Jetsko.

Well, number one, the simple answer is that Congress has no business in local affairs of the district, whether it is with crime or any other issue. And I think you have to forcefully stand up to that. When Chairman Comer was investigating this issue, it was a very partisan investigation. It was not a fair investigation. It was intended to score political points and not to truly deal with issues of crime and crime reporting in the district. So that is always the default position of the delegate

is to defend the district's rights to represent itself and to make local decisions with local officials. The D.C. Council, you know, as we know, there's lots of debate among council members about the best way to deal with this, but I can tell you that both of the council members up here are in a far better place to deal with this issue than any representative in Congress

who represents somebody other than the district. And that is ultimately the position that we have to take as delegate. get. So obviously this is challenging. Well, I'll stop right there. Trent Holbrook. I agree. It was a sham investigation from the beginning, and the Democrats on the committee released their own report saying exactly that and giving the details on why that was the case. But most importantly, this is a home will matter. Fighting crime is a quintessential local issue, and the federal government should not be meddling in D.C.'s local affairs,

including how they enforce crime, nor should candidates for Congress. But allow me to interrupt. They have been intervening in D.C. affairs. The question is, how would you plan on stopping them from doing that. And just to be clear, the U.S. Constitution gives the Congress full legislative authority over the district. So it's not like they're coming in from West Virginia. But that doesn't mean they have to use that authority. We're 700,000 people who live here, and there is no reason that we who have absolutely no say in Congress should be held under the microscope in a way that's different than any other jurisdiction in the country.

And this is the prime example of why we need D.C. statehood. Kenney-Zal-Lessner. Look, we know that Trump and the MAGA Republicans are going to lie about us. We know that they are deliberately trying to dismantle the dignity and respect of this city. We know that they have already launched a frontal attack on our economy and that they want to prove that we are incapable of governing ourselves. That's a travesty and it's unfair. But given that, we can't have our local leaders continually making unforced errors

and continually giving them fodder to say, Why did we appear unable to govern ourselves? The police department statistics scandal was embarrassing. It was unnecessary. It was handing them a victory. Our fight is hard enough as it is. We can't have leaders who make it even harder, and we certainly shouldn't offer them the next job up the political ladder.

Brooke Bento. So here's the deal. I think in order to be taken seriously by Congress, we have to also admit when things went wrong. Things went wrong. There were 19 officers found to have manipulated crime statistics. That is not acceptable. It's not acceptable because we have a department of integrity.

It's not acceptable because it doesn't yield to justice for victims. It's not acceptable because deployment decisions are made based on where crime happens. We looked into it. We found out it was happening. We are now updating systems. to make sure that there's more layers of review, the FBI still uses our crime statistics. So the federal government is still trusting the vast majority,

virtually almost every other officer, was telling the truth and working very hard in a very difficult environment, despite Robert wanting to have fewer officers, are overworking to get this right, and we're going to make sure it never happens again. But it is an issue that is vitally important to oversight, and that's why we're working so closely to the department

to make sure that we learn from this mistake and that it doesn't happen again. That sounds as stop. Robert White, have you responded to this? I have not. It absolutely was an unforced there, and it was a known issue. The police union had made this clear to,

Brooke Pinto, Paul Wagner on Channel 4 was reporting this long ago, and kept just sweeping it on the rug, sweeping on the rug. These Republicans were going to get there. So as delegate, what I'm going to do is I'm going to go to the mayor

and the chair of the judiciary and say, hey, you got to get your house in order, because let me tell you what's going to happen if you don't. That's the opportunity we missed here, but there was a local opportunity in the Judiciary Committee, Brooke, to get this together. This letter, like, way after the fact after Republicans were on top of it,

that was too late. You were already campaigning on numbers that you knew were wrong. You were ignoring the request from folks included in the police union to say, look into this. It's a well-known issue. But the delegate, as delegate, I'm going to do these meetings behind closed doors and say, you've got to get your stuff together

because there's only so much I can defend up there. Trent Holbrod. Have you responded to this already? I would like to respond again, though. No, no, no. I have more thoughts on it. Brooke Pinto, what are you responding to? Robert mentioned her again.

Okay, good. So first, let me be very clear. This past summer, when we started having concerns about this investigation and the manipulation of crime statistics, There was an internal MPD investigation, which I had oversight over all through the fall. There were people who were put on leave who were penalized for their behavior. Then there was this OIG investigation, which demonstrated that there were 19 officers who were doing this.

So the idea that this wasn't handled locally is just incorrect, and you should know that because we sent a letter in the fall that you signed. I know you didn't come to the oversight hearings around this issue, but we were taking this very seriously. Way too late. Okay. Can I say something? We've got to move on. No, we have to, we really. No, no, no is the answer. I'm sorry. I could have been a teacher.

We're going to go to the economy of the city and one of the biggest economic developments in the District of Columbia. In recent years, and maybe ever, is the 180 acres around the NFL Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Stadium. Congress turned over 180 acres of land around Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to D.C. development and housing as part of the NFL commanders returned to D.C. After long debates in the

council and some changes into the deal, Mr. White, you voted against the final deal. Ms. Pinto, you voted for it. Defend your positions for one minute, and then we'll hear from the other candidates. Mr. White, you voted against it, so you want to go first. Yes, look, I would love to have the commanders back, but not if it's going to rip off taxpayers. Right now, we are in the middle of the budget. We are cutting mental health services. We are cutting housing vouchers. We are cutting social workers. We are cutting every safety net that people need, but telling residents, we can't find money for this, but we found over a billion dollars for a stadium, a stadium deal where revenues are not going to come back to the district, and we have this hope of a promise

that one day they're going to build housing. And I said, look, at least tell us when you're going to build the house. And they said, no, no, no, we're not going to tell you when we're built the housing, but we will tell you when we're going to build the stadium. But if you look at Brooklyn, because I do my work, Brooklyn was promised to say housing with their stadium 20 years ago. Not a single house built. Not a single house built. So don't give me empty promises.

Give me specifics. The commanders had a bottom line. We didn't have a bottom line. That is why we got run over and screwed the taxpayers on this.

Ms. Pentel, if you'll respond, and then the other candidates can chime in. The Washington Commanders deal is the, the single largest private investment that DC has ever received in our history of $2.77 billion. We have to think bigger to make sure that we revitalize and provide an anchor in Ward 7 that invests in our economy. And it's not just a deal that you can vote for or against. You have to be in the room and a participant. I was in those rooms helping to get the land transferred for unanimous consent.

I was in the rooms making sure that 15% of all jobs in this deal go to returning citizens. To make sure that 50% of all the subcontractors go to local minority and women-owned businesses. To make sure that the fields at Robert F. Kennedy Jr. were opened to families throughout construction. So this deal is exciting about football. I love football. I love the commanders. But it's so much more than that. It's 6,000 units of housing, a third of which will be affordable.

And it's going to revitalize our entire economy for the city. and that's exactly what our residents deserve. Thank you.

If I had been on D.C. Council, I would have voted for the stadium with the protections, for the environment, for returning citizens, and for economic development in Ward 7. But let me say, this is not nearly the economic plan we need. It's a start. It's the beginning of recognizing we need to wean ourselves off the federal government. And so entertainment and sports are reasonable industry. to recruit and attract.

But it is not nearly sufficient. We are still operating like a 20th century economy with government and tourism and restaurants and now some entertainment and sports. But that is not where the 21st century is. If this city wants to be a winner, post-COVID, post-Doge, and now post-A.I., we have got to figure out how we bring technology

and the subsidiary industries into this city. Clean energy, biotech, personalized medicine. Thank you. If we don't win there, this city will fall behind. Greg Yasko. Yeah, I'm going to, actually, since I didn't get you, I'm going to address the previous question on the, a little bit more on the issue of how Congress interacts with the district.

And we go to a lot of these debates, and we get a lot of questions about the mistakes that D.C. made and how we have to be perfect. Well, we're not perfect, and we're not going to be perfect. I ran an agency. We had challenges that identity. dealt with where nuclear power plant people made mistakes. And I would get hauled in front of Congress to try and say,

well, why didn't you fix this? You cannot correct and fix everything. But the point is, we're talking about crime statistics when we have the President of the United States has created a $1.8 billion slush fund to reward criminals who attack the capital. And we are talking here about an issue that is a DC local issue. The bigger issues that we should be addressing

are the criminality from the president and the government Congress that is accepting that criminality in doing nothing about it and then spending their time and effort looking into what is certainly a scandal, but it is not in anywhere close to the magnitude of the scandal of a $1.8 billion slush fund for January 6 criminals. So, Chairman Pinto mentioned being in the room on the decisions on Robert F. Kennedy Jr., but that was with the D.C. Council, and this highlights again the major issues in this race, because I was in the rooms dealing with Congress with Republicans, including the Republican chair, the oversight committee. whenever we were getting this through Congress.

It's one thing to be on the DC Council where you're working with only fellow Democrats on issues that you largely align with. It's an entirely different thing to be working with 435 members of the House and making this incredible land transfer for DC. On the substance of it itself, I'm going to go back to what I said with the policing answer.

It's a home role matter. The federal government transferred this land to the District of Columbia. It should be up to the District of Columbia what they do. And we can bicker and we can try to score political points to try to collect it for office on this. But essentially what the delegate does, is they're the ones who transfer the land, and they should also be standing up for home role

and not undermining our police department in Congress. Okay, thank you. I have a quick answer. 10-second answer, and you can't filibuster this one. D.C. has no senators, if elected delegate, you'll have to fill some of that role. So, who is the first senator that you'll call, and will that senator take your call?

Ten seconds. Seven, six, five, five, five, five, four, three, three, Jackie Rosen of Nevada, and I will call her. Mr. Robert Dwight. First Senator I'm going to call is Elizabeth Warren, who actually calls me randomly sometimes to say, Robert, how's the race going? We need you.

Okay. Brooke Pinto. Tim Scott from South Carolina so we can bring enterprise and opportunity zones to benefit our district in our businesses in Washington, D.C. Yotsko. He'll take your call? Yes.

Yotsko. Chuck Schumer, if he's still the leader of the Senate, Democratic leader. That's a question of me, yeah. But if not, whoever the Democratic leader is in the Senate. Yes, I'd expect they take my call. And I would call the four senators from Virginia and Maryland

who I've worked with very closely over the last eight years on important things like D.C. statehood and D.C. home. I'd like to follow up on that, starting with you, Greg Yatsko. You have advocated for D.C. residents to be exempted from federal taxes until statehood has achieved. How would that work, and how would you persuade Congress to support it? And I think just for history, Walter Fondroy, when he was the first delegate, proposed that.

It was a lead balloon on Capitol Hill. Well, like everything that, you know, that's certainly the first step in that effort would be federal legislation. And I think I'm not going to negotiate with, as much as I respect our two questioners here, I'm not going to necessarily negotiate with you. The negotiations would be with the other members of Congress. And I have a plan to do that. I have a good and strong argument to make for that provision.

And I think it's something that gives us progress while we continue the efforts on statehood. because we should not continue the injustice of paying federal income taxes when we're not, we don't have full representation, and we don't get those funds back. How much do we pay in federal income taxes each year? We pay over $30 billion, and we receive much less than that back in benefits to the district. So it is a net loss for us with no voting representation in Congress to be able to ensure that those funds come back. We are using the informal powers of the office. I think we get more money than we pay in. but that's another for work.

Trent Holbrook, do you support your fellow candidate's proposal to withhold federal taxes? I don't, sorry. So I think this focuses way too much on the no taxation part, on the no taxation without representation. We need to be focusing on the representation part. D.C. residents are fine paying our taxes.

Okay, we don't enjoy paying taxes, I get it. But that's not the issue we have. The issue that we have is we are 700,000 people. We pay the most taxes per capita than any state in the country, and we contribute more than roughly half the states and taxes. Our issue is not with the taxes. It's the fact that we have no representation in Congress.

Brooke Pinto. Yeah, we should be marching towards statehood. And I would worry about foregoing one of our biggest leverage points right now, which is that we are treated like a state in our obligations to the federal government, but don't get any of the rewards of representation. And so I want to keep us marching towards D.C. statehood. Robert White. Can you repeat the question?

that the proposal from your fellow candidate, Greg Yaskill, is that D.C. should not pay taxes. No. As wonderful as that would be, we have a hard enough time helping people understand how D.C. is different than the territories, Puerto Rico, Guam. We are very different, and we lose a substantial lever in our fight for statehood if we move ourselves backwards in status

to territory status. So I would not support that. And he's lessen it. No, I don't support it either. And I've heard Greg say on this stage that it would be a windfall for us because we'd get to keep all our tax money. But that's not true.

If we were going to do it at all, and if it's a good idea, we would have to put that money in escrow as a good faith effort and as a principled civil disobedience to resist the federal taxation. So it's not a windfall for us. It doesn't, and we won't be taken seriously

on Capitol Hill. I'd like to go to another listener question. Can I respond? In 10 seconds or less. Well, we'll respond to all of it. Number one, I hear from many, many residents in the district that they actually support this initiative. So to hear that, Trent, say that no one supports this,

this is not true. Thank you, thank you. And to Kenny's, no, I want to comment to Kenny's point, the first step would be federal legislation. We would not need an escrow account. This would be done through federal legislation. Thank you. I want to go quickly to another listener question.

This is from Ingra in Ward 5, with a question about landlord rights. Please explain your position to even the playing field so landlords don't go bankrupt trying to evict non-paying tenants. You can build low-income housing, but it is going to be a struggle attracting housing providers in the current climate.

Starting with you, Brooke Pinto. And housing is one of the biggest issues in the nation. Yes. Affordable housing. So first and foremost, this is why I have... This is a lightning round, so please try to respond 30 seconds.

One, we need to pass my breaking ground D.C. housing plan to make building housing more affordable and cost effective. Two, we want to talk about abdication of responsibility of oversight. Robert White is the housing chair. On his watch, we have foregone $35 million in funding back to the federal government. And, importantly, there was a bill that would have allowed reasonable evictions if somebody wasn't paying their rent or was violent in a unit. and Robert White stopped those measures from going forward.

Robert White. Yeah, that is another lie. We lost $3.5 million, and I dragged that agency head immediately. I went to the mayor, and the mayor knows where I stand on this. On the violent evictions, I absolutely passed it, so I don't know why Brooke is lying about that when there's a public record. But in addition to that, landlords aren't going to get paid if the city keeps negligently shoving rapid rehousing residents into units,

then saying, I'm not paying any rent anymore, but it's between you and the landlord to figure it out. So they're still living in those units weren't free. I am fighting right now in the budget to get vouchers for them so that those landlords... Kenny's the Leslie. Look, we are running for Congress, and yet we keep being asked to talk about local issues

as though we're running for mayor or we're running for D.C. Council. I don't know why this city wants to... I don't know why we are sleepwalking into this election and acting like this is just another D.C. Council election. What we can do as delegate at the federal level is we can push for more housing money, which has been revoked by this administration. We can push for greater flexibility in the federal Section 8 housing program.

We can amend the height act so that we can build in new ways in this city. But this is a delegate race. It's not the D.C. Council race as much as my D.C. Council opponents would like it to be. Greg Yasker. Well, that's probably an area in which Kenny and I do agree. I think this is an issue that's fundamentally a local issue. She's going to call you a coward if you don't answer that. Trent Holm.

She didn't answer. Trent Holbro. So I agree it's a local issue, which is why we need to focus on affordability in housing. We need to bring back D.C.'s first-time homeowners tax credit, which we used to have, which would be $7,500 to people buying houses. It's also why we need to transfer land to D.C. to increase housing and increase our investments in public housing, including Section 8 vouchers. I have time for another question?

Oh, cool. All right. I do think Congress has an extraordinary say over federal housing policy, so it's not like, again, coming out of West Virginia to that issue. You hit five seconds to answer this, no filibustering. Who are you supporting for mayor? Or have you been endorsed by anyone running for mayor? And we'll just go down, Mr. Hallbrook.

Who are you supporting for mayor? I will support a great D.C. resident for mayor. If you don't have a name. This is that. We only got 10 seconds. I'm still undecided in the mayoral race. Ms. Pinto, five, four.

In this seat, I will work with whoever is our next mayor. Robert White. I've endorsed Denise Lewis George because I think people are looking for a vision for the future. And she's endorsed you? Is that right? She has endorsed me. It's been you and Ms. Lewis George and Ms. Zelesney.

I'm supporting Kenyon McDuffie. Okay. We will conclude our forum today with a one-minute closing statement from each candidate. We will go in alphabetical order starting with you, Greg, starting with you, Trent Holbrook. Do I get one minute closing?

No. Trent Holbrook. Well, thank you so much for hosting this debate. Thank you to everybody for being here. Let me just say this is a ranked choice election for the very first time in DC's history for this position. A recent poll has shown that neither of the unpopular career politicians in this race has anywhere close to a majority of the vote following first round of voting. Almost two-thirds of voters do not want the two-career.

politicians in this race. And I see why. The delegate seat isn't a consolation prize for losing a mayoral primary, and it's not the next step up after being a congressional intern. This election won't be bought. One third of voters right now are completely undecided, and I'm the candidate leading after the two career politicians. Voters are not undecided on the issues, though, just who is the alternative and who can best deliver for D.C. So with the momentum that we have, that large number of undecided voters, who I don't see going for politics as usual, and me is a clear alternative to the two elected politicians running, let me tell you, if you rank me first on your ballot, we are in position to win this race. And there's a reason. If you write me first, we can provide

real leadership on day one for DC in Congress. Thank you. On to Greg Yatsko. Yeah, so again, my name is Greg Yatska. I'm actually a physicist by training, and I came to Washington 30 years ago to work in government. And throughout my time in government, I've dealt with hard problems. And I've used the same approach, which is to get to know the people, to get to know the people. To get to know the policy to get to know the procedures and to get to know the politics. And using that strategy, I've been very effective in solving many problems. And that's why I'm running in this race, because D.C. still has a number of problems. The country has a number of problems. And we need effective leaders to solve those problems. And I've shown throughout my career in government,

whether I was working on Capitol Hill or running a federal agency, that I can solve problems and bring real change. And that's what I intend to do when I'm elected. So vote for me on June 16th then rank me number one or rank me number two. Thank you. Next, Brooke Pinto. Well, again, my name is Brooke Pinto, and I have spent my career fighting for district residents

for real wins for all of us. And I'm running to be our next congressional delegate so we can protect our autonomy, secure D.C. statehood, so we can make sure that every Washingtonian is safe in our city, a fundamental obligation of our government. And third, so we can support our economy

in having a diverse economy and bringing in new sectors in high growth areas like tech and healthcare and defense manufacturing and AI and making sure that we pass my housing plan to drive down cost of housing. You know me, you have seen my record on the council, and you might not have agreed with every single thing I've done, but I have a record because I work harder than anyone

to make sure that I move forward. And even if you haven't agreed with everything I've done in the council, I can assure you that nobody will work harder for you on our behalf to make sure that we as a district of Columbia have real wins that I know you deserve and that our city itself deserves. Robert White? Thank you. Look, I grew up in this city.

I've struggled the struggles that people across the city are struggling now. The struggles that people are fighting for people in elected office to hear, I hear them and I act on them. That is why I went to Congresswoman Norton's office for five years as her legislative council. That is why Congressman Jim Clyburn today endorsed me and called me the next generation of leadership

that we need in the civil rights era, because this is a time where we need not politicians who play a role when they're running for office, but ones who stand up and carry water for people who don't have money or power to carry water for them. Anybody can carry water for the commanders, but who's going to fight for three years for those 46 families in Ward 8 who lost their homes

and nobody was fighting for them because they didn't have enough votes or enough power? Who's going to restore voting rights for people who are incarcerated out of the civil rights, era. That is the work that I have done. That is the work I'm going to do in the council, in Congress. And that is why I'm asking for your vote, because this is a time in history that will be written about, and we need leaders who are going to lead with heart. Thank you. And finally, Kinney-Zellasley.

There are only 16 full-time elected positions in this city. There are the 13 members of D.C. Council, the mayor, the attorney general, and the delegate. And all of us need to work together to defend D.C.'s rights and advance D.C.'s economy. If you like the members of D.C. Council in this race, leave them on D.C. Council. They will still be members of the Sweet 16, and they can still contribute to the city. But for this one singular unique position in Congress,

we need someone who has deep national political relationships and deep national business relationships. Because our autonomy and our economy are under direct attack by the President and the Republican Congress. So please elect the one person on this stage who has both those deep, long-standing, and broad-based relationships. My name is number one on the ballot. When you open it up, we're the first race,

and I'm the first candidate. You can't miss me. That's all the time we have. Thank you to the five candidates for joining us today. Remember to vote on June 16th. If you missed any of the show this week, You can catch a re-eering tonight at 10 p.m. thanks to Erica Pully Hayes, WMU's general manager.

We'd like to shout out the advancement team led by Leslie Vanceant. She and her team are the reason we're here today, including Allison Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Shannon McReece. And a big thanks to the staff at Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library. Thanks to our chief content officer Michael Tribble and managing director of news, Naomi Serobin. Thanks to the show's producer Matt Blitz and supervising producer Kayla Hewitt, WAMU's engineering team led by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Wright and Kelly Alford made us sound great. great. And a big thanks to all the WMU volunteers helping us here today. And finally thank you for joining us here in the district or for listening on ear. Thank you all for listening.

Tom Shur would have a great weekend. Stay safe. Vote. I'm Kojo Nandhi. You know,