Maryland bill seeks to help ex-federal workers

Yes. How does that work? Yeah, so we have a 10,000 plus person workforce, health and human services, police, fire, a whole bunch of services. This would give them a plus up. They would get a guaranteed interview if they were referred or fired since January 1.

Guaranteed interview.

Guaranteed interview. Someone would call and make sure they meet the minimum qualifications of the job, and then they would be put ahead of others, below our disabled veterans and below folks who have a disability in general. But they would be that next category. And I think that's what-- it sends a strong message saying, look, we value your expertise. We think you have something to offer. You gave up life to public service. We want to take advantage of that, but also help our county residents. And it's going to help our bottom line if we can hire some of them. We won't hire all, but we can hire some.

You've been a national voice in the party. You've worked with President Obama. You've served national Democrats. You have a unique insight on what's going on in New York City to a degree. You have this multi-Democrat primary in which the most progressive or one of the most progressive prevails. You know something about winning Democratic primaries.

Won a few.

What lesson should people take-- should the party take from what happened in New York City?

I think the party should take the lesson that you have to speak to what people are actually going through. One of the things I'm most proud of that we passed in Montgomery County was rent stabilization. It was something that Mr. Mamdani has been talking about, freezing rents. We stabilized them, capped them at 6%. But 40% of my residents, 400,000 they rent. And if they can't afford and if they know that their rent could go up any amount at any time, that's affecting their bottom line. Cost of childcare is other main issue. If you're a parent-- I know you are-- 2,000 bucks a month in this area per kid if you want high quality childcare. That's insane. We have to provide that as a service, not only to those families, but to make sure kids are prepared when they go to school. So I think he was talking about kitchen cabinet, kitchen table issues that impacted people in a real way. And he did it with a positive vision. He had this happy warrior type, kind of, persona. And I think that's what folks need to talk about. Progressive, sure, but he was talking about things that impact people's daily lives and in a way-- and with real solutions, capturing that populism, that anger, kind of, that Trump does with fear, he was doing it with hope and a positive message.

What should we make, though, of Republicans salivating over this? They want to bring this into Minnesota, to Michigan, Pennsylvania, win those swing races. Well, I think the other thing he did is he galvanized young voters, which is something we need to look at. I think the real smart Republicans are concerned because they see it as the flip side of what Trump did. It's the positive side. I think hope is always better than fear. Love is always better than hate. And I think people will take hate if you don't give them love, and they will take fear if you don't give them hope. I think what Mamdani did is he said, yeah, I understand you're angry, and I understand why. He identified those issues correctly. And they said, here are some real solutions that I'm going to push for to help make your life better. And I think the smart Republicans should be worried about that. And he put-- he can wear a suit. He's very articulate. He knows how to deal with folks. He's not screaming from the rafters unless he has to. So I think-- I'm glad that some think that it's a good for them, but I don't think it will be. I think it's tapping into something that is latent. When you look at this administration, they're talking about cutting 11 million people off Medicaid. No one wants to do that. They want support. They don't want things to be taken away.

Thanks for covering a lot of bases with us, Will Jawando, Montgomery County Council member, vice president, county council candidate for Montgomery County Executive. Thank you very much.

Appreciate it.