Journalist Austin Ahlman is hoping to make history by becoming the first independent candidate to win a House seat in Nebraska’s 1st Congressional District.
Ahlman, whose deeply personal campaign launch video went viral last month, is running on an anti-monopoly, anti-war, and anti-Israel funding campaign, but in an interview with Mehdi, he says he “cannot personally identify with the Democratic Party right now.”
“Both parties are fundamentally beholden to their donors, and if they’re not beholden, they’re so damn scared of outside spending that they won’t take any risks,” Ahlman tells Mehdi. He adds, “We are at a breaking point in our politics that we have not seen since the Gilded Age.”
During the interview, Mehdi challenges Ahlman on his positions about other populist issues, like whether he supports a ban on assault weapons, if he would vote to abolish ICE, and his campaign’s pledge to “secure the border.”
Paid subscribers can watch the whole interview to hear Ahlman respond to his critics who argue his candidacy is making it harder to flip a decades-long red seat.
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