So this SNAFU over the white House Houthi PC small group Signal chat going public. I mean, it took over just about everybody's timeline, so you would be forgiven if you missed this moment on the House floor.

What I will convene today, my colleagues on the Democratic side of the aisle, who you'll hear from these are people who know how to fight for their people. They know how to win.

So this is Congressman Chris Deluzio from Pennsylvania. He's a Democrat, and he goes to the House floor, sets up some poster board on an easel, and then gives like an eight minute speech, which outlines a new vision for the Democratic Party.

And while the president's numbers may be in freefall, we also see favorability of the Democratic Party at record lows, the lowest CNN has seen since 1992. There has not been a strong enough vision from Democrats on this side of the aisle. We have something to say. Our party needs to change, and economic populism and patriotism should be where we go. Standing up for people to revive the American dream.

'The new economic patriots. This is what Deluzio and some of his fellow Democrats are calling themselves their self-described economic populists. This is not the only idea out there. There's also abundance liberalism. That's the idea that Democrats need to lay off the rules and regulations they think will solve problems, and that they need to build...Back...Better...I think.

Abundance is an effort to kind of focus liberalism back on that question of how do we create the splendor of the future that we were once promised and once believed we would have?

'There's also the Fighting Oligarchy tour that's headlined, of course, by Senator Bernie Sanders and Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

Are you all ready to take our country back? We're gonna throw these bums out and fight for the nation we deserve.

And each of these ideas, there's just not so subtle message that something has to change that. The old guard boomer liberalism is a zephyr against the hurricane. Gale force winds of Trumpism. Now, a decade ago, Republicans found a way out of the political wilderness. Now, can Democrats do the same? It's one thing to talk in the abstract, but where are the places these policy ideas are actually playing out? Is there a place in the US that Democrats can point to and say, see, this is the way forward?

Well, first of all, let me just say it is truly an honor to represent the working people of the greatest city in the entire country. And that's the city of Chicago.

Mayor Brandon Johnson is the leader of a city seen by many as the very symbol of democratic dysfunction. But he says we should give Chicago a second look and that despite the blowback from the Trump White House, we shouldn't underestimate Democratic city leaders at the forefront of navigating the new political landscape. I'm Audie Cornish, and this is the Assignment.

'I'm going to be totally upfront with you. The mayor's office wanted to talk about the dismantling of the U.S. Department of Education. He's a former teacher and union member. Those are two groups that Democrats really lean heavily on come election time. But he is now a city leader under pressure. Usually, when we talk about Chicago, it's in the context of crime. During the 2024 election year, migrants appeared to overwhelm the self-proclaimed sanctuary city, and Mayor Johnson will likely be in a campaign next against politically established Democrats. People like Rahm Emanuel, a former mayor and a former Obama White House chief of staff, and Democrats who talk about being tougher on crime, tough on the border, more preoccupied with economic opportunity than the rights of any one activist group. You came in with a very different background from the prior lawmakers, right? Let me correct me if I'm wrong. You're a union guy. You're a teacher. How did that kind of set you up for how you approach voters differently?

'You're absolutely right. I come out of a working class family. I do not have any political ties to what has been termed as the so-called Daley machine. In fact, I'm the first mayor in an entire generation that did not have ties to the Democratic establishment. Again, my father was a working class union person. He was also a pastor of a church. And my approach towards governance, as well as the motivation that the people of Chicago had when they voted for me, was that its the hopes and aspirations of, you know, Dr. King, you know, who gave this great speech and he said that if the labor rights movement and the civil rights movement were to ever collide. What enormous potential it would have. And I'm paraphrasing essentially.

Yeah, but it's interesting because one of the reasons why I wanted to talk to you out of any mayor is because of this background. So prior to the Trump administration coming in, you had big high profile labor movements in 2020, etc. you had big, high profile DEI movements. And you also had I remember wildcat strikes and even the Chicago strike way back when of teachers. So all of these kind of areas of public life are, in a way, seeing major criticism under the new administration. And you kind of have a foot in each of these places, right? Having been a teacher, having been a union member. So first, just talk to me about the atmosphere right now. Does it feel like there is a rolling back of these things that you and your political life were coming up with, and that we're on the ascension as you were coming up and coming into office.

The right wing in this country. It refuses to accept the results of the Civil War. Let's just take it all the way back. Right when I think about, you know, after the Civil War, we're going to reconstruction, education, housing, jobs, health care, transportation. Those were the simple demands of descendants of slaves. The rolling back is specifically speaking to the gains that we have been working towards since the reconstruction era was abruptly assassinated, quite frankly, extremism in this country. Now, we have weathered, you know, the resistance of complete liberation for every single person in this country. And in my role as mayor, I've worked to achieve the realization of what this country has longed for. And that's equity and justice for every single person, regardless of their background.

You brought up education specifically. So this is a great example of an ongoing conversation. Right now. The under a Trump executive order, there are plans to dismantle the Department of Education. And in fact, people are being sent home, probably, as you and I speak. Now, what would that mean for Chicago, which gets, I think, around the same percentage as most cities and states, maybe ten, 12, 13, 14% of your funding coming from the federal government. It's not the majority. But what does it mean for you?

Well, about 16% of our overall budget for Chicago Public Schools is federally supported. That's roughly a little bit over $1 billion. The impact that that's going to have on our most vulnerable students, particularly to one, are poor students. Individuals with disabilities is going to have a profound impact on those students.

But why? Why can't the state step in or the city step in? Because I'm not hearing that it's 40% of your funding, right? I'm hearing that it's 16.

Yeah. This is not a matter of having control over our schools. This is a matter of what it means to have equitable distribution of the resources that the entire country has to show up for the people of Chicago and cities across America. Look, the city of Chicago sends its fair share to to Washington, D.C., getting a return as stake holders on those investments. That's not an unreasonable expectation. We call that taxation that comes along with representation. You know, look, the bottom line is this. I've done everything in my power as not just someone who was a beneficiary of public education and public accommodations, but as a former public school teacher. Also, my children attend the public schools here in Chicago. I believe in our public schools so much. I'm the first mayor in the history of Chicago to do just that. This is really about the erosion of the gains that we have desperately worked towards to ensure equitable distribution of resources and a high quality education.

What do you mean? Can you say. What do you mean by that, though? The distribution.

Well, as I said before, the city of Chicago, one of the largest economies on the planet. We send our tax dollars to Washington, D.C., to benefit the entire country. That is a fair distribution. To expect that 16% to remain in the city of Chicago. Look, the reason why this is important is because it could have impact on layoffs as well. We have seen overwhelmingly when government disrupts public accommodations. People of color are those individuals that are impacted the most. We've seen that in Chicago when layoffs happen. It's Black and brown women that bear that brunt. At the height of our investment in workers in this country, the height of unionization, the achievement gap between black and white students had nearly disappeared when President Reagan came in and began to disrupt not just public accommodations, but his attack against the working class. We have seen a larger gap between that matrix and the reason being is because when you disinvest in our public schools, your disinvestment in our communities.

Does it make it more complicated because, right, your friends, family, community are in or kind of related to teachers' unions?

Well, I mean, look, if anyone believes that our democracy is struggling because of educators and police officers, firefighters, healthcare workers, childcare workers, they're being disingenuous. For too long, our public accommodations have not been fully supported. And the wealth gap between those who have get to have more and those with less continue to lose. That is the economy that we have to disrupt. What we need is we need partners at the federal level to understand the impact that their decisions have on local economies.

Now, it's fair to say right now you don't have partners, right? And in fact, if you look Chicago, Boston, some other cities, you've all been kind of deemed sanctuary cities because of your immigration and migrant friendly policies. And that has an effect put you in the line of sight by the administration saying, look, if you do not cooperate, you are part of the problem. Can you talk about that in particular?

Yes, I can. So for 40 years, the city of Chicago has had a welcoming city policy. And what that policy just simply states is that our local law enforcement will not dub as federal agents. Essentially, we're not going to stand in the way and impede cooperation with the federal agencies because we do cooperate with them on a regular basis. We're just not going to have our local law enforcement behave as Ice agents, because what it does is, is simply breaks down the trust between community members and law enforcement, local law enforcement, and there's enough for them to do already. That policy was put in place by the first black mayor in the history of the city of Chicago, along with the first corporate council, because they understood that in order to create safe communities, we have to have trust amongst law enforcement. And if agencies are doubling as federal entities, it erodes that trust. We cooperate with the federal government on a multiple of issues. What we're not going to do is have our local law enforcement lose the trust of the community, simply because the federal government is asking local law enforcement to do their job.

So Trump supporters are. Tom Homan has said that he'd prosecute you if you interfered in the raids. You said you won't get involved, but are you concerned?

Well, what I find it to be is reprehensible. To be perfectly frank with you. You know, the city of Chicago has shown up for this country time and time again. And what we're simply asking from the federal government is to recognize the beauty and the value that cities across America bring. My responsibility in this moment is to show up for the people of Chicago, even when the federal government dismisses working people.

But I just. Mayor, I don't mean to interrupt. I want to ask you this question in a very straight ahead way. Do you have concerns about the administration coming after you? If you are not sufficiently cooperative in an area like immigration enforcement?

Look, I can't control what this what the federal government does. We cooperate with the federal government on a variety of issues. This is not anything new. What we're simply saying is, and this is what cities across America have said, local law enforcement should not have to do the job of the federal government. It's just simple. It's just pretty simple. And if if the federal government and the Trump administration in particular, wants to have animus in disdain towards the people of Chicago and the things at work. Of course, we're going to resist that. And of course we're going to continue to make sure that we do our part. The fact of the matter, though, is because of the investments that I've made for working people. Crime has gone down in the city of Chicago. The federal government has a responsibility, as it has always had, has had, that it has the authority to deport individuals that have committed crimes in the in this country that are here without documentation. They can do that. We're not impeding. We're not interfering with that process. And if they want to work with the local government as they have had in the past, our local law enforcement is prepared to respond. Of course, when they show up with a criminal valid warrant. It's just that simple.

My guest today, Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson. Stay with us.

We're hearing a tension in the rhetoric within the Democratic Party. So you've got this establishment wing. You've got the more kind of progressive or activist wing. What do you see in that conversation that the rest of us may be missing?

Well, here's here's the conversation in Chicago, and I believe this is constructive for the rest of the country. We have an affordability issue in this country, and the affordability is really centered around the lack of housing. That's why I'm building more housing in Chicago.

Does that mean you're deregulating to do it?

Well, we have what I call the cut the Tape initiative. It's an executive order that I put forth early in my administration, charging my administration to see where the bureaucratic structures are. That creates logjam and makes it difficult to do business in Chicago since this executive order. We have streamlined the process for business to get done in a very dramatic way. Once upon a time, 135 days. Now we're under 80 days, and that number continues to get smaller because we have found ways in which government has gotten in the way.

When you say government has gotten in the way.

We've made the process too difficult. It takes too long to get permits. It takes too long for people to come out and inspect just simple things where these processes and procedures have just been antiquated.

But I also thought I was under the impression that in some cases it was environmental reviews. Right? There's worker protections or all kinds of regulations that have built up over time that I would think Democrats are either proud of or were part of their constituency building when they came to pass.

Yeah, we're not losing those core tenants. Before I was mayor of the city of Chicago, I was a Cook County commissioner. The sign that went over my office, it took 18 months for the city of Chicago to issue me a permit to hang up a sign. There's no excuse for that. And so we have cut those excuses. There are reasons why we are building homes, building homes faster, as well as cutting the tape so that we can actually incentivize business because that's the pathway forward.

When you hear people like Ezra Klein or Derek Thompson, they're arguing in their book about abundance that Democrats need to get out of a zero sum mindset, that they needed to get rid of all of these kind of bureaucracies that are in part, they, they argue, designed to appeal to some progressive constituencies. Does that feel familiar? Do they miss the mark?

Yeah. Well, it's good because it's it's possible and it's needed. You know, look, you know, I'm not going to get into, you know, an ivory tower philosophical debate about how people win and lose elections.

What Democrats kind of need that right now? I mean, not to judge, but people are looking around for leadership and they are looking to major cities for that or governors or whoever steps forward. I mean, is this a conversation that more city leaders need to get involved in?

What would I mean by a philosophical debate, I'm simply saying is that we know what works because we're doing it in Chicago. We're leading the way.

So I've asked you about this, what you call ivory tower discussion, right? Where I see it starting to hit the ground is in a dialog, for instance, like what's going on in Chicago? You have Rahm Emanuel, who may be eyeing a run for mayor. And he is, you know, going around to the talk shows and saying Democrats need to care more about classrooms rather than bathrooms, right. Talking about trans politics. That, to me is very core to the conversation that's happening around what does it mean for a Democrat to govern?

Here's what I will say specifically to. I believe what your frame is. The city of Chicago is leading the way in this moment around the value system that the people of America want to see carried out in governance. It's why we put forth $830 million towards infrastructure, because we can't count on the federal government to respond to our infrastructure needs. And so we're going to pave streets. We're going to repair viaducts and bridges, and we're going to make sure that there's lighting and other infrastructure demands.

So you're doing this spending where you think the federal government won't?

I'm doing the spending, absolutely. Where the people of this city can see the greatest impact, regardless of the federal government's inability to actually believe in the working people of Chicago and America. I have to do my part, regardless of who's in the white House and the White House, failures won't stop me as mayor of the city of Chicago. From investing in people again. Housing—

But at the same time, you were backed by labor unions. They were grassroots activists. And then we look around the country and we saw progressive losses nationally. I mean, what is your honest assessment about where the movement even stands right now?

Well, look, I mean, there's no secret here that we have taken a hit. You know, politically, where there is a concerted effort to roll back the hands of time. What we have to do as strong leaders and Democrats, people who believe in working people, we have to demonstrate how government can show up in people's everyday lives. That's what Democrats have to continue to demonstrate. We can build more affordable homes. We can create more jobs. We can respond to health care and even mental health care. And we can drive crime down by investing in our education and all of our public accommodations. That's the pathway forward. That's the re reconstruction in this moment. That's what I'm doing in the city of Chicago. That's how we're leading. And that's what the people of this country want and deserve.

So the flip side of all this is like there was one recent poll showing that nearly 80% of Chicagoans have an unfavorable view of your term, right? 14% approving of the job you're doing. So what's going on with those numbers? What is not resonating?

Well, here are the numbers that I, that I focus in on. Again, we've increased youth employment. We're building more.

But it means that you're giving you can message to me. And the reason why I ask is, is this is kind of what happened with Joe Biden, with Kamala Harris. The Democrats can do their work of saying what they believe they have done, what they've accomplished. And that message may not resonate with the voter. And are you in that position right now?

Well, look, no one is going to disagree or argue that we have had historic failures over the course of generations in this city and throughout the country. What what I can control is the full force of government showing up for people every single day. Are there individuals that are upset because things are not moving fast enough? I share that sentiment. It's it's why I became a teacher. It's why I became an organizer. It's it's why I went on a hunger strike for a school on the south side of Chicago that was set to be closed, and we kept it open. And now here it is ten years later. This school is a fully functional, sustainable community school where the environment around that school, community based organizations get to bring in more resources. And then that school varsity basketball team just won a state championship, right. So here's a school that was left for dead that we invested in. And they're producing champions. That's the work that I'm connected to.

It's complicated to go from activists, right. Doing a hunger strike versus being in City Hall, especially in a city like Chicago. Right. We understand about its politics. How has this been different than what you expected?

'Organizing is is at the heart of what you're asking. Going from an organizer to a Cook County commissioner and now mayor of the City of Chicago. The organizing prepared me to have this role because in organizing, you actually do have to consider everyone's interests. I think sometimes there's this misnomer that as an organizer that you are narrowly focused. No, you're seeing more of that type of narrowness with the interests of corporations. Just like President Obama was an organizer and became a legislator. It's one of the best places in which you can actually develop a skill set to bring all interests together for a common goal. When I was organizing in the city of Chicago, we were organizing not just for good schools, but for affordable housing and good paying jobs. Now I get to, as the executive of this city, bring all of those entities together for a common goal to build a better, stronger, a safer Chicago and a more inclusive economy. So I would argue that as an organizer, it prepared me to be able to hear the interests of everyone synthesize and then begin to chart a pathway forward. That's what we've done. Housing. Education. Increasing youth employment. Providing more mental and behavioral health care services for folks. The most pro-worker city in America. This is an example of what it means to have someone who can organize. See the context that everyone brings and then provides and chart a pathway for it.

What advice would you give progressive activists? Now they're experiencing a backlash. They're experiencing a crackdown in some areas, and they're being told by the Democratic Party establishment maybe you guys need to chill out because we've got to appeal to all Americans and this isn't working.

Knock on doors and have conversations. Organizing is how we have seen our democracy evolve.

But they're being told by the Democratic establishment. You're not. You're not the face of us.

Well, keep in mind, you know, I beat the Democratic establishment, right? As I said before, the first mayor in an entire generation that did not have ties to the Democratic political machine. What I'm simply saying is, no matter who is telling us no or no matter who is discouraging us from organizing, we cannot allow individuals to dictate and determine how our democracy evolves. It's going to require us to knock on doors, to have organizing sessions, to have conversations with our faith communities, with labor. I mean, this is the pathway for to build an economy that works for everyone. To your point that you raised earlier the zero sum game. It's not how we sustain our democracy. In fact, it's how we're going to interrupt and disrupt the evolution of our democracy. Organizers in this moment have more power than they realize. There are a number of people who still have not been politically engaged, who want to see a better pathway forward. So it's not just going after your regular voters who show up every single election cycle. It's about making sure we're increasing voter participation. I'll give you a quick example. I won by roughly 26,532 votes. 27,000 new voters voted in the second round that did not vote in the first round. Check this out. They were all under the age of 34 young people. Organizers created a lane in which a progressive, working class Black man can run one of the largest economies in the world. It's not just about what people think they know. It's about the expression of power. That's what organizing brings to this moment. And I'm encouraging all organizers to stay out there. I was an organizer, went on a hunger strike, resisted the political establishment, took over political power in one of the largest economies in the world. We can do that across this nation. There are individuals that are working overtime to interrupt organizing and to dismiss the interests of working people. That was possible to organize.

Mayor Johnson, I want to thank you so much for for speaking with us. I appreciate your time.

You're certainly welcome. Thank you very much. And enjoy the rest of your week.

The mayor of Chicago, Brandon Johnson.

The Assignment to production of CNN audio was produced this week by Lori Galarreta. Our senior producer is Matt Martinez. Dan Dzula is our technical director and the executive producer of CNN Audio is Steve Lickteig. Our department had support from Dan Bloom, Haley Thomas, Alex Manasseri, Robert Mathers, Jon Dianora, Leni Steinhardt, Jamus Anderus, Nichole Pesaru, and Lisa Namero. As always, I want to thank you so much for listening. You can hit subscribe, follow. Please leave a review. It means a lot. I'm Audie Cornish. We'll talk next week.