Help us to sort of connect the dots or how would you explain that to somebody from Westchester who doesn't understand what's going on here?

Okay, so in rural America, and again, one of the reasons why I'm running, because I understand what it's like to live here.

Carmen and I raised three boys in the public school system.

Lisbon Central School class sizes are anywhere from 30 to 45 kids.

I graduated through there.

My mom taught at Lisbon Central School.

My kids went to Lisbon Central School.

In a Congress where there seems to be incredible pressure to stay on the side of your team, how do you think you'll decide when representing your constituents requires you to break with the party?

Yeah.

And increased food costs, and then consumers are gonna have to decide, do I want to heat my house to 60 degrees and get a more expensive dinner, or do I heat my house up to 70 and basically stri- uh, straight by for the winter?

Yeah

... are going through.

I tell this story a lot, and I'm getting a little chatty here, but we have families, union members, that might drive 50 miles to work, 50 miles home, and then if they wanna go see their daughter's softball game or soccer game this fall, they've gotta go 50 miles to the next school and 50 miles back to watch that game.

Before you know it, they've driven over 200 miles just to go to work-

Wow.

That's a massive increase.

The average-- The median household income is under $40,000.

It's around $33,000 in this district.

And if you have to burn 750 gallons of fuel oil to heat your home at $4 more a gallon than last year, that's $2,000 to $3,000 more that you just don't have.

And we have to drive long distances to get places, 50 miles to work, 50 miles to watch our kids play a, a, a soccer game at a public school.

That's on $4.80 gasoline.

Do you believe that-- What, well, what do you think needs to be done to change that, uh, when you're in the House of Representatives?

What do you think is the right path forward for immigration?

So I agree, we need to secure the Northern border, secure the Southern border.

We also need to deport criminals, violent criminals who are here illegally with due process, but we're missing a serious step.

We need to streamline the legal process.

We need to hire more immigration judges to make sure claims are processed faster.

We need people from around the world to fill jobs that are very difficult that many people who are here don't wanna do.

And I want to be part of common sense immigration reform that, yes, secures the border.

What do you think that Washington needs to do to address health care deserts like we have here in the North Country, you know, hospitals that are at risk of closing or closing certain sections of the hospital?