The assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk stunned American politics into a state of mourning, anger, sadness, and, hopefully, reflection. What is the responsibility of political leaders in this moment? And is it possible to narrow the country's political divide or are our politics irreparably broken? Mallory McMorrow is a current Michigan State Senator who's running for the United States Senate in 2026. She's here to talk strategy, politics, and how to campaign in America now. I'm David Chalian, and this is the CNN Political Briefing. Stay with us. State Senator Mallory McMorrow, thank you so much for being here. I appreciate it.

Thanks, David. Happy to be here.

I, of course, want to start talking with you about the news of the conservative activist Charlie Kirk being assassinated out in Utah this week in a horrific display of political violence and I guess get a sense from you, somebody who puts themselves into the arena. How do you assess this moment given this horrific event?

'I mean, first of all, it's absolutely chilling. There are two little kids who woke up this morning without a dad. I've got a four-and-a-half-year-old myself, and I don't care how much you disagree with somebody, he deserves to be alive today. Unfortunately, we have had to have this conversation a lot over the last few years. Here in the Michigan Senate, we had heavily armed gunmen above my head in the Senate gallery a few years ago. Somebody tried to light Governor Shapiro's home on fire while his family was inside. We lost Melissa Hortman, speaker in Minnesota. And within my team, we've had a lot of conversations about, I truly believe now more than ever, it is important to bring people together. You know, we are on -- it sounds silly -- but we're doing a statewide brewery tour. And it is important to bring people together. Around a table to talk to each other, to be in public. And I believe it's the only way that we get out of this mess.

'First of all, I'll say a brewery tour never sounds silly, so don't worry about that. I would add to your list, of course, the two assassination attempts on President Trump's life --

Exactly.

'-- last year. And I take your point. Yes, come together. I am, just so you know, I know we're just meeting here, but I'm a pretty optimistic person normally, and I don't know if our politics are permanently broken or not. I don't know if this is repairable. In this highly polarized, highly partisan, algorithmic-driven, the most outlandish and vitriolic things get the most attention, get the most engagement in this attention economy. I'm not sure there's a path to some better place, and I don't say that lightly. So I'm wondering, what do you see that you have a sense that there is?

'So, I am part of an organization called the Rodel Fellowship. It is an even number of Republican and Democratic elected officials. There are about 26 of us in any given class. There's no more than one from each state. We get together every six months to talk about democracy and ethics and leadership. And, I can tell you some members of the group are very conservative, strong supporters of President Trump? Others in the group are not and are extremely liberal. I take a lot of hope out of this group of people -- We're in a text thread, and we were all connecting with each other yesterday. -- that we have broad agreement that yes, this is a very dark moment in our country, and it is our responsibility to help get out of it. And if that was just happening in one kind of partisan political bubble, I would feel probably a different way about it, but it's not. You know, there are really, really good people, who I vehemently disagree with on policy who look at the state of our country and agree with no hesitation we have to get out of this and we have to do it together. And I'm really grateful for them because I think to your point, I would likely feel much darker today without them. It's a ray of hope for me. So shout out to all my classmates in Rodel.

You used the word responsibility. I actually, I had a note jotted down here to get your sense since you, you know, you obviously were an elected official, you're running for the Senate and looking to become a United States Senator. What is the responsibility of political leaders in this moment?

It's to show. You know, I am a huge proponent of show, don't tell. And you brought up social media, and I believe that social media has deeply polarized us. You know, you look at how these companies operate. It is designed to keep us on these platforms as long as possible. And what the companies know is that conflict encourages eyeballs and engagement. And there's a reason that the apps are designed to mimic. You know, slot machines just keep you kind of refreshing and refreshing and refreshing, and you just stay angrier and angrier. So I go back to the brewery tour. You know, we are pushing ourselves to get offline and not just, you know engage with tweets and videos and speeches, although we're certainly doing a lot of that. But we are using social media to encourage people to come together in person because it is much harder to hate somebody to the point where you even think about anything violent if you're sitting across the table from them, and you see them not as a Republican or a Democrat, but I hope people see me as a mom. And you know, I'm a fellow Michigander. And, I, when I ran for office the first time, I ran in a Republican district against a Republican incumbent. Some of my best conversations are with people who don't agree with me politically. And that happens when we're willing to get offline and put our phones down and be with each other in public.

Have you changed your posture? You mentioned this brewery tour, but are you assessing your public events? Do you feel concerned about being on the campaign trail?

I mean, we have been. You know, the first day of our brewery tour was just hours after the assassination of Melissa Hortman. When we learned about that, we had to make a decision. What do we do? So we did. We changed our security protocols. We plan our events intentionally. And for better or for worse, now we have that protocol moving forward, so I feel prepared to continue doing what we're doing. And I think it's important to do so.

'You mentioned your one text thread. I'm wondering, listening to you, have you communicated at all with Republicans in the State House that you serve with or have you in conversations with other legislators? I'm just wondering in Michigan, if you are finding sort of partisan finger-pointing right now in people's rhetoric in the aftermath of this, or you are finding people more a little hopeful like you are? A little ray of light that there's some path forward together?

It's a split, and I think sometimes it's harder with people who are in your state and in your workplace, if it were, than with outside. But I can say very confidently, I was in the Senate today. We had session. Nobody was pointing fingers. Nobody was attacking each other. We are very cordial, and we're very friendly. There's some messier dynamics in the State House, but I'm very grateful to my colleagues on both sides of the aisle in the State Senate. I think we've got a really good rapport and are an example of what it looks like to serve together in a bipartisan way.

We're gonna take a quick break. We'll have a lot more with Mallory McMorrow in just a moment. You're running for the United States Senate. And I read with interest the Ezra Klein piece in the New York Times over the weekend as it relates to how Senate Democrats and House Democrats should be sort of behaving in the shutdown moment. But he was focused on the Senate, given what happened earlier this year, Schumer deciding to cooperate with the Republicans and pass the spending bill for the remainder of this fiscal year. Now, of course, we're approaching a shutdown deadline. Do you agree with Ezra Klein's theory in that case that Democrats should not allow the government to be funded if they are opposed to the way in which Donald Trump is leading the government?

I do. You know, I look at the Senate right now, and I hope that my counterparts would think what would Mitch McConnell do? How do you use every single tool of leverage at your disposal to make sure you get something out of the negotiations? I'm with Ezra on this one. Don't continue to pour gasoline on Donald Trump's fire, especially if they are slashing Medicaid, especially if they're making it more challenging to access health care through the Affordable Care Act, especially if they continue to unleash a militarized force in our communities. Fight with everything you have. That's what people are looking for. Get something out of it. That's all we gotta do right now.

Even if that means, you know, people will be furloughed or nonessential employees, the government will shut down, people won't be able to visit national parks in the way they, all those things that we see in a shutdown and how it impacts real people's lives, that this political leverage point you believe is worth it?

'Look, you have to consider people's lives. And that's something that, you know, get out of political posturing. But what we see here in Michigan, we just saw the announcement this week of a birthing center at a hospital in the Upper Peninsula close. And I was in a presentation in the Senate Appropriations Committee here in the state on which I'm a member. With these Medicaid cuts, we stand to lose, in Michigan, 13 rural hospitals. That will devastate our state. So when I go into every decision, I'm thinking about what is the human impact to Michiganders and to people on the ground. And yes, I understand the argument that people are going to be hurt with a government shutdown. But when I look at what this administration is currently getting away with, the long-term damage far outweighs what's going to happen with a furlough or people not being able to attend parks. I mean, this is life or death. For a rural county, the hospital may be the largest employer in the county. If that closes, that's generational loss. You're not getting that back. So, you know, I hope that everybody walks into that room considering the impact to people's lives and what it's going to mean. And you gotta go into the net negotiation fighting for the least damage to people, not only today and not only next week, but in the long run.

I'm wondering, you were first elected in 2018 to the State House, right?

That's right.

'-- which was a big democratic wave year. And I'm just wondering, you live in a battleground state, you're in this Senate contest and you're on the campaign trail. Does this feel similar to 2018 to you this moment? Do you sense an energy that you experienced back then? Do you think Democrats are poised for a big wave election in the midterms next year?

I think the opportunity is there, but we cannot afford to rest. No, I am running this campaign right now, like it's already 2026. We are doing something like a dozen events a week. We're getting all over the state because my biggest fear, and I feel this in Michigan, is that people are starting to give up, that they look at the last 10 years and see that it's not stable. They don't imagine that the American dream is real anymore and people can't afford to buy a house, and they can't afford to save for retirement and they're not sending their kids to college. But also the basics are too expensive. We did an ad over the weekend that went a little bit viral talking about NFL RedZone and that chicken wings are 20 bucks now and that beer is getting more expensive.

This is just the latest example of corporate greed ruining the things we love because it's not just commercials on TV. It's also your grocery store run, where chicken wings are gonna cost you 19 bucks.

That's the sense that I get from people on the ground is yes, all of the big things are harder, but so are the little things. We can't even get a break on a Sunday to watch, unfortunately the Lions lost this last Sunday, but hopefully we've got a good season. We had a great run last time, but that is why there is an opening. But on my campaign, we're going to show you got to lean in and you got to lean and hard and run and give people a very clear alternative so they don't have to settle and see that there is light at the end of the tunnel and that we can build that together.

So maybe that sense of settling or giving up is a different sensation you're picking up on the ground, one that you're fighting against, I realize, than you experienced in 2018. Is that what I'm hearing you say?

'Yeah, in 2018, it felt like there was more -- optimism is not the right word because it was dark -- but there there was this sense that, OK, we're united, and we're in this kind of united fight together. And this time, the path feels murkier. And I talked to a lot of organizers who say, you know, I do feel like there's a fight to be had, but I don't even know where to start. It feels too overwhelming.

You mentioned the ad and I did want to ask you about it before I let you go, which we've seen in poll after poll, the Democratic brand seems to be at an all time low. You mentioned, the need to fight now. I think you hear from a lot of Democrats concerned that the party has not figured out how to fight in this moment of opposition to President Trump. Yes, people are concerned about affordable items, no doubt, but what was it about the way you communicated in that ad that you think was resonant? What do you think showed people that allowed it to go viral? I mean, every Democratic operative seems to be holding it up in the last few days as an example that they would want their candidates to, to use as a model. What is it about that you think caught fire?

So I think it's a few things. Number one, it's accessible, because when you talk about things like democracy and housing costs and all these Medicaid cuts, people feel that, but it feels overwhelming. It feels too big to actually do something about. And it's also really true to who I am. I love football. That was my grocery store. You know, we weren't trying to come up with an ad that felt fake. It was just, let's talk about my life in a way that hopefully people see themselves in me. I also think, huge shout out to my team. I have the best digital team I would say in the entire country. [They] came up with the concept a few days prior to kickoff and then, within two days, wrote it, shot it, got it up before kickoff. And I think there's something to be said in this digital social media era for being quick and not overthinking it when something big and cultural is happening, tap into it. You know, people love football, people were pissed that RedZone has commercials now. You're paying for it!

No doubt about it.

There's commercials on top of that? Let's talk about it.

Sometimes it's just making sure that you can afford to take a break on Sundays without breaking the bank.

'And my last question for you is just for you to make the case here, because I look at you and Haley Stevens, the Congresswoman in the race that you're running against for the nomination, and Abdul El-Sayed. It seems to me, you know, I'm not in Michigan, but from afar observing it, you're all sort of centering around an affordability message and really speaking there. I'm wondering what you think the real divisions are between the three of you for Democratic voters to ponder as they make their choice here.

Yeah, so I think this cycle is really gonna be decided about how you show up and how you connect with people and how break through. I think this brewery tour and the football ad from over the weekend is a perfect example of who I am and what I can do. I bring a background in media and advertising and storytelling into this work in politics. So I am somebody who's not in Washington. I haven't been stuck in Washington, but I'm also not a total outsider. I flipped a district against a Republican incumbent in 2018 to get into office. Then I helped flip entire chamber for the first time in the State Senate since 1984. And then when we got in, and we took a historic Democratic trifecta, we governed like we give a damn. We passed so much legislation, and I think people in Michigan that I talked to are really proud of what we were able to do. That feels like such a stark contrast from the dysfunction that they see in Washington. And that's my case to voters is we can show the rest of the country how we fought like Michigan, how we won, and how we delivered.

Senator Mallory McMorrow, thank you so much for your time. I really appreciate it.

Thanks, David.

That's it for this week's edition of the CNN Political Briefing. We'll be back with a new episode next Friday. Thanks so much for listening.