Dr. Kimberly Hardy on Running for NC-7, Healthcare, and Listening to Local Communities

Peter Pappas: So welcome back to the Carolina Cabinet. I'm your host, Peter Pappas, in studio with the lovely Dr. Kimberly Hardy. Welcome. Welcome. It's so good to have you here. so you are running for US Congress, District Seven. Correct. that's already got an incumbent in it, doesn't it? All seats do. All seats do. Okay. So you are challenging the incumbent. I like it. I am. So Tell me about Dr. Hardy. I mean, I I have here that you are you're you are a professor in the School of Social Work. Yes. at Fable State, Go Broncos. former school social worker. Yes. So no stress there. you taught at University of Connecticut, twenty ten to thirteen, and the University of Saint Joseph. Where's St. Joseph? So it's in West Hartford, Connecticut. And it was literally across the street from the West Hartford campus of this of Yukon, which is where the School of Social Work was. And so it's a regional campus and literally two lanes of traffic over was University of Saint Joseph. Excellent. So what brought you to our corner of the world? So my family is actually from here. My dad's family is from Ahoski. They actually still live up there, so think Hertford and Bertie County, that sort of thing. And so by the coast? Yeah, kind Yeah. It's not all the way up there. It's kinda kinda near like Shawan, you know, university and stuff. So so this is still s a version of home for me. And but I came here to make it actual home in twenty sixteen with my son and to start working at the university. And I've been here ever since. I love it. Okay. Well we welcome. Nobody retires up north, so we're glad that that you made North Carolina and especially Fayetteville your home. Technically now, Lyndon. Don't tell me technically like you just moved here for the ballot thing. No, no, no. I I was in so I lived in a a little townhouse rental community like right there across from Long Hill Elementary by the Goodyear plant. And then I was fortunate enough to be able to buy a home and I bought it in Linden. So which is five minutes north of the Fayville line. So I technically don't live in Fayable Fayville will claim you. That's okay. We'll we'll we'll take your lunch money for sure. So So let's see. So you do have a little bit of a record running for public office. You were in a twenty twenty primary against you did beat sixth term incumbent Elmer Floyd. Yes. Fifty four to forty five. I bet he was not happy about that. I'm told he was not. But then you lost to Diane Wheatley forty eight to fifty that was still close. Forty eight fifty one. You did a good job. You must have worked very hard. Very hard. Okay. Okay. As you should if you're trying to these are important roles. If you really want it, then you gotta work really hard. And I tried. What do you what do you think defines working hard for as a candidate right now? I love this question. Okay. First of all, you gotta go show up and talk to people. And actually, nay, you have to show up and listen to people. And so because you can have a platform, right? There's something that motivates all of us to run for office. I wanna change schools, right? You know, whatever. And and you can have that view, but then when you get out and listen to the people that you'll be representing, that view could be shifted. So I I thought I wanted to change this thing this way, but I'm hearing that the people want it to be changed this other way. And so if you really want to be a representative of the people, then your your platform needs to get molded and shaped by them. So if you show up for them and do n and don't just do it in that like, I'm here, so I'm ch I've checked your box and now you can vote for me. I think that there is a level of consistency that isn't there for candidates writ large, honestly. I I'm second vice of the state Democratic Party. So I get to interact with candidates all over the place. And I've seen enough to be fair on both sides of the aisle where folks are like, they show up for the performative electoral thing. But I think showing up And meeting people where they are. Don't ask them to come to you. It's one it's fine to host an event in a space, but go to their stuff too. So working hard is if there's a community festival or a community watch meeting or something, go to those things too and really take the time to listen to folks and get everywhere in your district. Don't just go to the population center or where the people have the most money to give you. Like show up. It's yes and not run on personality alone. Correct, but it's a yes and and there are too many times that candidates will go to where the dollars are. But but you gotta go where the people are. And so there's people that you you're gonna need all those votes. And so you can't just, you know, I'm gonna go collect a bunch of money and in two weeks before the election you know, show up to shake hands and kiss babies. Right, right. I think I saw a meme the other day it said, look, it's candidates in church season again. Exactly. You know, and I I so having run and I know you've so how many times have you run for office? Technically I I'm a resource. Exactly Technically yes, I this will be make my third one because I was asked to run in the twenty twenty two cycle as well. But there are rules to the UNC system for faculty members who want to run for office and there's this like whole petitioning process and the petitioning process got approved so late that I really wasn't able to mount much of a campaign before the primary. What office did you run for? State ledge. so state ledge. Okay, okay, okay. So here's a you know we've So full disclosure, we have been sitting at this desk. it is currently 5 40 p.m. and I think we started chit chatting at 10 after. Right. And we've only been recording for six minutes. So that tells the audience how much we've been trying to catch up here. But so here's a softball for you. So you said you've been going to where the people are at. Yes. Favorite place to eat outside of Fayetteville that you've run into. there is a place in Wilmington. It's only a breakfast and lunch spot, and it's called Goody Goody Omelet House. It is a one-off. It is so delicious. Everybody in there is a regular. And like they all and and even if you're just sitting there eating your food, someone's gonna come over and say something funny about your shirt or whatever. Like if you have a big plate of food, they'll go, save me some of that. Like it's just it's like and it's really, really small. And it is so homey. So anytime I'm in Wilmington, if I'm there in the morning, I am going to goody goody to go get breakfast. Okay. Okay. Well see that w I told you it's not gonna such a tough show to be on. Exactly. so well you are from up north though, so is it sweet or unsweet tea for you? There's only tea and it is sweet. Okay, all right, good. See, all right, all right. I think you might have just won a couple votes. Exactly. all right, so school social worker, how long were you doing that? About ten years. Yeah, about ten years. I did it in Baltimore, Chicago. DC. so What did you learn back from so you you ran against Elmer Floyd. I mean you you beat him out of the primary, then you lost against Diane Wheatley. Now she was here the other night. what did you learn from from that race? Ugh man. I'm just trying to bring up your big L's. I mean this is learning experience. It is, it it was a lot. man, it it it o there's a lot to running for office. I've gone from running in a very small thing to eight counties now, but it all it's all huge. It's all big. I've learned that some people can be really nasty. but mm. Fellow people in our own parties nasty or constituents or yes. And and across and across aisles. to be fair, though Diane and I when when we see each other, we're very cordial to one another. We never had a problem. It was I define Diane as a professional and I'm I'm Pretty much gonna put you in that category too. Because you I think you've got the pedigree for all that. But Yeah, you don't you're not fighting each other. Right. But sometimes you are, right? And so, you know, it's but if we are we're battling against ideas, and so our personhood has to stay intact. So even though I was challenging Mr. Floyd, I never referred to him as anything other than Mr. Floyd. Right. I never spoke negatively about him. I would critique his voting record or something. But it was mostly about just elevating what I was wanting to bring to the sea. So it tearing folks down, you know, things like that. I was called lots of names, again on both sides, right? And so so I learned that you open yourself up to a great deal of vulnerability. And and I I live in fear of of what we become when we do that. Like, you know, it's we should be able to have robust conversations about really important topics and it not kill the spirit of the people having the conversations. And so, you know, y we don't have to be on the same side of the aisle. We don't and nobody has a monopoly on good ideas. It we probably should come together and say We see the world in two different ways, but in the Venn diagram of the thing, where's that middle part that we can find? We love a good Venn diagram. Kamala Harris, ma'am. We love a we love a good Venn diagram, man. The world is a Venn diagram because you know what it is? If it's not a bunch of circles separate from each other. And we never get anywhere like that. I I listened to a conservative surprise. I listened to a conservative podcast and they had I think they had a clip from Gavin Newsom and he said the Vince diagrams or something. They just totally lampooed him about that. Bad Gavin. Bad. Get back in the hole. so you are the state Democrat Party's second vice chair. Correct. That's like big high I got big highfalutin guests on here tonight. So do you how do you feel about running as a person who'll stand up? you might have to stand up to your party as part of running it. I mean That's not a problem. Not a problem. See, because that's the thing, right? It's like There are sycophants, right? There are people who are just so dyed in the wool that they that even when something is just wrong, they'll still say that it's right. When it's just up, they'll still say it's down. You're not helping anyone, and you lose so much integrity and character around that sort of stuff. So if you want to be a person who, again, is representative of a community of people. then that means that you're gonna have to sometimes take the unpopular stance or give the business to someone on your own side. You don't hope that you can come together as a caucus and and speak to together. I don't really have a an interest in publicly shaming or anything anyone in my own party or the other, but there are times where you just have to be honest. I still have to be the person my parents raised me to be. So you feel like you can stand up to your party. Yes. Okay. Well that's good. I I I I I see a fellow traveler when it comes to that 'cause exactly Yeah. I find myself doing that too and I'm only but so h so tall, so anyway I gotta stand up a lot. All right, now I have gleaned that your number one priority is rolling back the Medicaid cuts. Is that so? You want to talk to me talk to me about your platform because that's what I found and I'm like, well, so there's a little bit of everything, right? And but when we started this thing, it was like I used to say there's a three legged stool that we're built on, which is better jobs, better schools, and better health care. And in talking to people, we have now done, because again, there's eight counties in the district, we've now done my team and I I use the collective we because I cannot do this by myself. eight county town halls in eight consecutive days. We've now done that twice. I don't mind telling you that my opponent hasn't done a town hall since 2017. So to the chagrin of the people of the district and I hear about it a lot on both sides again of the aisle and the unaffiliated folks. And so so in so doing we have ref again refined and added to so the core of it is the job schools healthcare piece. But then there's also, you know, issues around veterans healthcare, school, you know, schools in different ways and things like that. So I do believe that we have to make healthcare a single payer healthcare system. Because nobody should be struggling in the United States of America around something that is readily accessible in theory but not in practice. And so this is a thing that we can do. Other cu developed countries have done it. I don't think we're less capable. I think there's just less will. And I believe that a good chunk of that will that is not there is because of the profit making that it that it brings to the insurance company folks. And so our health should not be for sale. It should just be a basic human right. And so I do. I want to cut all of the nonsense out. I don't like These new Medicaid requirements that are gonna go into effect in January, I don't find them to be necessary. And here recently we saw some other things about it. So I I can tell you might have done some homework on this topic a little bit. So you're gonna go down the rabbit hole. I will if you don't stop me. So let's let's let's focus back on this. So it's roll the rolling back the Medicaid cuts. Now those explain that to me. Weren't those the the things in the ACA that expired? And cause the state to have to start paying for them? Right. But I don't like again, if we could just I mean the ACA. I mean, is that what we're talking about? That the things that expired. Right. Okay. And I want those. And I want to point out too, I said ACA, not Obamacare, to be derogatory. See, because it's the American American American care. The Affordable Care Act. Yeah. Okay. And most people, if you ask them, hey, how you feel about Obamacare? I hate it. But then it's like, well, what about the Affordable Act? Now that It's good policy. And I'm like, I my God, so many man on the street videos will show you people like not missing my forward. And I'm like, this doesn't make any sense. And so that means that we're all just buying into propaganda. But and and the ACA has its challenges. Anytime you're trying to do big sweeping policy change, that's gonna happen. But there are ways to revise it, to fix it, that restore people's access to health care so that there's good quality and affordability. But it's not the only problem. I mean, we're about to maybe cut Medicare or Part D subsidies and so prescriptions for seniors will go up. Like the whole of the system is a real mess right now. And I just think as a nation we can do better than In all honesty though, when was it ever not a mess? It that's what I'm saying. I it's always this is this predates President Obama. This predates President Bush the first one. It does. I mean, this has always been a mess. It's been a mess. ever since we started living longer and not dying as quickly in the Social Security kinda can't keep up and neither can some of the other entitlements. But I don't know. I the ACA bothered me only for this. What's in it? Pass it and we'll tell you. It's like, okay, wait, wait, what? What? and we currently have two or three constitutional amendments on the ballot in the fall for North Carolina that are essentially to me the same thing. Well, the two. The photo ID is one, that's pretty clear. But the second and the third about the property taxes and repealing the income tax, it's kind of like we'll pass it and we'll tell you how much we're gonna do it by. I actually am against all three of the amendments, but you know, but I I listen, everybody's gotta I tell my students I never let you guys use chat GPT in class. But I would recommend that you find a way to use that or Claude or some Siri. Find someone who can explain what these measures actually do mean in plain English. The only thing I would caution is with those damn AIs. They got an attitude. And you know, they're reason. I well, I mean, it's just it's they like Chad is your best cheerleader. Like that Chad'll agree with whatever the hell you say. Uh-huh. So you gotta be careful. Claude's a little more el analytical, but But yeah, I would use clouds. I I think definitely we need to go back to the teaching of how to think. The teaching of the process of learning and how to study. I know you and I had that. Well, I don't want to say old days, but you know, I mean, we went through college. You probably still had a Dewey decimal system and a card catalog. I did. So we had to like do things. Now everything's so easily accessible that we're forgetting how to do the research and really really weigh the options. But so I I support one out of the three. So you're against all three. I'm I support one of the three. I'll give you one. All right. Or two. Yeah, whatever. Anyway. So tell me about I'm not gonna do that to you. No, no, no, no, no. We're not. No, no, no. about three about three quarters of you of Cumberland County is in your district. most people, when they think of district seven, it's Wilmington. So what does Fayetteville get from a congressman that it's not getting now? First of all, it'd be a congresswoman. Congresswoman. And Congressperson. Congressperson. well, first of all, you'll get somebody who understands the uniqueness of this space. I mean, it this is such a diverse district, and I love that. Because you go forty minutes in one direction and there's something else, and forty minutes later it's something totally different. And so, but having somebody here, I think, is from here rather gets them to understand like the veteran community, for example. So at FSU, we have the largest percentage of students who are military affiliated at FSU. So I know what it's like when a student's like, I cannot stay for this exam because I got a VA appointment and if I'm 15 minutes late, I gotta wait another six months. Right. You know, or we have so many folks who are experiencing homelessness who are also veterans. I am the child and sister of veterans. My older brother was stationed here at Fort Bragg in the 82nd. And so like it matters to me that we take care of people when we promised them the world in when when they were seventeen, eighteen years old and now when they need to pull those resources, it's like jumping through hoops. Yeah. And so when I go other places and I he talk to other members of the military or veterans and hear what their issues are, I get that in a very different way. because I'm right here. so there's that. Somebody who gets that, you know, we're not super rural in in this space, but we're also not like an urban center kind of thing. And there's a a a uniqueness to that as well. And so and and it's just somebody who who is of this community. My son graduated from school here, was you know, K through twelve, not K, but elementary through senior high school. He's played rec sports here. You know, I know so many people in this community. And so it it's it's a c a good thing to have someone who's in your backyard, who who you know who you can call that you've known and built a relationship with for years that's gonna be your congresswoman. So when I come home from DC, I'm coming here. I just think there's something really big about that. And there's a great deal of economic prosperity in Wilmington and Brunswick and and that's increasing a lot. But there are also places where that doesn't necessarily exist. Five of the eight counties in the district are tier one, so they're really, really economically distressed. And so I can't get to Wilmington or Brunswick without going through those places. And so and stopping in them and meeting people. What are some I know Cumberland County is tier one. What are the other ones around us in the Baden, Columbus, Robison, yeah I think Samson is one of them as well. I don't think Pender They might classify Pinder as one of them, but yeah. So all right. what because this has been a very a very hot topic in this room, you know, is how the hell do we get out of tier one? Senator Tom McInnes was at the Chamber of Government Relations meeting a couple weeks ago and he was talking about bringing funding and the question was a was asked, like, you know, how can we get out of it? But my question was this, and maybe you can fill me in. Okay. When it comes to school money, you've got the legislature, you the NC legislature, then you've got the county commissioners. So county commission is responsible to build buildings and maintain the capital stuff and give teachers supplements. Then you have the school board that I guess just runs raw roughshod and spends everything, I guess. Yeah, I think our f our next guess is hearing that. So you know, yeah, she's off camera, but yeah. So yeah, y'all just spend all the money, I guess. but who is the adult in the room to and should there be, maybe from the federal level, an adult in the room to maybe reach out to the and now they're all elected boards, so you can't tell them what to do. Right. But is anybody saying, hey, school board, can you do this? And legislature, can you maybe work on this while they're doing this at the you know, it is there any coordination with this stuff? Because everybody wants to be not tier one. Nobody wants to nobody wants to be poor. Exactly. And because it harms so many So many things. But there can be like so, you know, again, eight counties. So I've met the county, you know, candidates for everything everywhere I've gone. And we do events together. Like if I'm hosting an event, I bring them because when folks say It's not most people don't know about those sort of distinctions, like, what does the school board do versus what does the county commissioner do? So if someone says, well, Dr. Hardy, what are you gonna about and it's like a local school board thing? I have a local school board candidate there. And so we can talk about what their role would be, and then the state house person will talk about their role and then I'll say and this is what we can do from the federal level. So when you've got relationships between all of these folks at every level Then if all of us get elected, then we all know who to talk to in both directions. So I can say, hey, what do you guys need on the ground level? Or they could, you know, yell up to us. With knowing that, and we know that everybody kind of joins an election because something aggravates you and you think you can hopefully you think you can do better. what have you seen in district s or in yeah, district seven that is not being done by the current incumbent or other I mean look. I it's funny that District Seven came up. This is the second time today because I worked for Charlie Rose. back when he was a congressman. you know, up on Capitol Hill. I'll never forget it. It was Canon House Office Building two four two. Nice. so I have I was not a Democrat, but I worked for a Democratic congressman because that's who the family knew and that's a long that's a good story. Anyway, so what is not being done from the federal government for us? What are we missing? Like Everything okay no no what can be better because everything like everything. Okay, like everything like everything. So for example, we have a bridge down in Wilmington. I was just down there about a week ago making a public comment. The Department of Transportation was there. And there's this bridge. We have two hundred and forty two million dollars from the feds for this bridge, which is not in functional need of repair or or whatever, but it the Army Corps of Engineers has said it's functionally obsolete. And it's obsolete because we don't run cargo ships through there and stuff anymore. But their data are outdated. And so it's like does there's only two options on the board. One of them is the worst option for like literally when they did a side by side i th option B is like the worst of everything. Plus it comes with a toll. And so a toll on that bridge would become a tax on the people that have to use it. They're already paying gas taxes. They're paying all their other taxes and folks need to use that bridge. And so There's no need to have a toll there. Wait a minute. How anti democrat are you? Because like you don't want to tax anymore? Don't want to tax you more. Yeah, that's weird. In fact, the o unless you're the one up among the wealthiest one percent of the people in this country, in which case I absolutely want to tax you. And so, but in terms of like this bridge, there's this two hundred and forty two million dollars. My opponent did not support this, but it passed anyway out of Biden's bill. And there does there seems to be this rush to get something done with this bridge to replace it. and the the toll road seems to be the one that's this the main bridge on seventy four into Wilmington or is that another bridge? Yeah it's the it's the drop bridge. Okay. I saw an article I said the I did see recent reporting about that. There the thing is is there's the opportunity for a fixed bridge, but it would go like super high in the air or the lower one, which would still because the drawbridge could go up, it doesn't have to be quite as tall. But we don't really need that. In fact, the the people who were at the public hearing were saying The we've watched it, we've counted the number of times it's gone up this year. It was fifty-six times and half of those were just for repairs. Okay. So like there's no and it's and most of the rest of the time it's for like really big yachts to come through and it's but are sure we don't need it for military I'm because a lot of a lot of stuff that's headed towards the port is because of the military here. Yeah, but they don't need it to be that big. And so but and so the data that they used for it are out are are outdated. And so they there was another municipality that had a similar situation and they asked the Army Corps of Engineers, could you go back and look again? Understanding what the functionality of it really is, and they were able to bring that height down. And so and it it just changed a lot. And so but you know, someone had said, I think that the big issue is that we're just trying to hurry up and spend this money so it doesn't get lost and I told people I'll Put it back when I get to Congress if we need it. Like, but let's make the bridge that's necessary and let's not make it cost something more for the taxpayers already. So like but that leadership is not there. My opponent does not come to these meetings. He does not hear what literally hours upon hours of public testimony, and he wasn't here to hear any of that. And so so that's something that's not getting done. We are still dealing with PFOS in the border. Unfortunately, you know, our attorney general was able to get a settlement recently and stuff. But I think there's so much more that needs to happen with that. And I bring up these things in particular because my opponent sits on committees in Congress that oversee these sorts of things. And so I'm not asking him to fix poverty, you know, like in this existential way. But if you're on a committee whose responsibilities are things like this, then where are you? w to hear what we actually want. Why are you not saying, Listen, the people of this district have said they don't want this, let's find another way. That is something that should happen to everyone's platform. It should be informed by the people you're gonna represent. Okay. Okay. So lack of listening. That's for sure is what you're seeing. Mm-hmm. and in your opinion I mean look, I I I haven't looked at his record or anything, so I you I wouldn't I don't need to depend on I can't agree with you right now, but maybe if I saw some things, maybe I could. I don't know. farmers and tariffs. Boy. My guy Trump loves some tariffs. So Bladen County, Columbus County, Sampson County is all farm country. You say your opponent has been quiet on the tariffs, and what would you actually vote to change? So my opponent has a 100% voting record in with Donald Trump. Everything Donald Trump does, he touts, he makes social media posts about it, sends mail about it. He's he's connected himself to this. So what Donald has done, David has allowed. but you've got f like fuel prices, for example, not just for regular vehicles, but for diesel are higher than they have ever been. You've got and this isn't even just for us, right? Like this is farmers writ large because as much as I tell people I'll be elected by a district, but my responsibility will be to legislate for the whole. And so I am thinking about farmers everywhere. I am thinking about I see so many videos of people saying seventh generation farmers are having to sell. I see things about suicide rates because farmers are going up. There's these foreclosures and not for nothing. There's this JD Vance acre trader situation that's freaking me out. I'm getting rid It feels like the fix is in, but but you you have to get rid of these tariffs and folks are saying i that they didn't know. I don't I guess maybe th I don't know. I can't argue what you did or did not know, but I can say that these were things that were said. and so now it it means that we're losing revenue, food is is spoiling in the fields. Like I we have heard all of these things from farmers and they absolutely hate it and it is costing them, which means it's costing all of us, which means things like when we s slashed USAID, it's costing the world. Like these things are Detrimental. There's no benefit to this. Okay, before I go down the road one, the countermand everything you just said, but no what I want to so because we're gonna be another three hours 50 minutes. This is what so let's go back to the original. So out of all that stuff, because I don't agree that the government can change the gas prices because our our markets, I said this I think Monday, our markets are fickle because they're based on humans and they're what they think is gonna happen. And I referenced the two thousand election. How we didn't have a president for a while and how the markets went nuts just because there was no there is no pragmatic factual reason why they went nuts. It's just that everybody got scared. But the street support moves. But we have to what I'm saying is that our markets are fickle based on emotion sometimes. So with that said, what would you actually vote to change to, I guess, set the conditions to have the gas prices. We can end this ridiculous war that isn't really a war because we didn't or Congress didn't issue any declaration of war. Congress hasn't since nineteen forty one. Yeah, but that doesn't make just because something happens all the time or has happened multiple times doesn't make it right and doesn't mean that we do it until that was j generally accepted practice. No, I am a fan of not Doing that, right? I like I'm a I'm a but a bit of a rule follower in this regard, right? Yeah, that's crazy. And then the War Powers Act, like we weren't attacked. Like it's it's just so all of that is, I think, subterfuge for what was wanted all along, we'll say it that way. And so let's bring that to an end in a way that is fair and just, right? And let's make the Straits of Hormuz open back up. Let's let people get those ships safely through. Like so that we can it because that will quell some of the anxiety that leads to emotional volatility in the market. So there's ways to do this. And let's end all of this. That's really what I want to know. Is like how would what we what were you gonna do? Because philosophically we can go all back and forth. I think President Trump t yesterday or today went to the UN and said we're gonna annihilate them if they get out. And I'm like, Jesus Christ. But which only it just It just fuels further this You know what? We're old enough to see that and we're also old enough to know that I think while the right hand is doing this, there's other stuff. You have to realize Donald Trump is not our diplomat. Right. We have professional diplomats, whether you like him or not, at these tables working with the so fortunately he's not the only person. Yes. But he has an outsized influence because of his roles. And there are people whose sycophans to him makes them make decisions that are not right. I get it. And they know that they're not right. yeah. So one one I got just one last question. So you do teach at FSU, which is in the HBCU. Yes. and what do you think the federal government should do for FSU that it's not doing? I don't even know if that is just for FSU, but we need a a bigger capital investment. There's so many now we're really not a teacher school. I was about to say our school of education is breathtaking. We have a new residence hall. They're still working on our parking garage and the wellness center for the faculty. We're the only UNC system school that doesn't have one. So I'm glad that all of that is happening. And you've been there you've been there for a while. Since twenty sixteen. The I ran into your Chancellor at the State of the Community event. And I asked him because I thought this was a qua kinda cool piece of nostalgia, you know, Fayville State was started as a normal college, mm-hmm, which means teacher college. Right. And now y'all finally have this brand new And it's cool. Has anybody acknowledged that that it took a hundred years but you back to being a teacher college? But it is really cool. And I mean it's a s like you said, state of the art. It is a gem in a neighborhood that desperately needs something like that. But we are not the only HBCU that needs that. And so An increase in public funding. I would also public funding for what though? For things like Pell Grants. Okay. For some we still have a lot of we've been around for a long time as a country, right? And but we still have a lot of kids in who go to HBCUs who are first gen. I'm a first gen college student. And so th those dollars really help make the difference. Like we're a promise school But I think sometimes so N C Promise schools are schools where the tuition in state is five hundred dollars and out of state it's like twenty five hundred. But that is I think people think they're gonna just give us five one hundred dollar bills and that's gonna cover the cost of everything and it doesn't. And even if that was more to cover them. It covers the tuition, but there's always fees. There's room, there's board, there's books, there's Let me say let me say what we're not spending it on is my salary. If I really want to throw shade, I'll bring up that ninety thousand missing on the credit cards, but we'll talk about that later. You know what? Listen, we were all blown away by that. So But like we could add more funding to for capital improvements. Okay. especially for things like residence halls and like labs, but also not just STEM. all the time. Like the performing arts centers on campus, we need people who are creatives and they need deserve to have the same sorts of spaces to do their work that the chemistry majors do. Right. So I would do a lot of a lot more capital improvement. I would also change the way that the Department of Education, when I get it pulled back together as one organization again, I would change the way we do We we base it right now on the tax documents that the parents fill out. Sometimes it looks like parents can contribute more to their student than they can financially. Paper is one thing, paper is another. And so for me, I think we need to lower what that is because then it limits what students are able to to actually borrow and it you know, give them what they need to to make sure that they can take care of their education. Okay. Well, what can you do to limit what they can borrow? Because at a certain point, we have bankrupted the next generation of kids that have taken out these loans to exorbitant amounts of money. and we've crippled them and we can't even lose those debts in a bankruptcy. Like those live. Yeah, they do live. What what do you see is something maybe you can do to Save these kids. So what we can do is maybe tether the amount that you're able to borrow to the expect the actual expected cost for the year. Okay. So that would be your especially like let's say you're residential, you're a freshman, so tuition, fees, room, board, and then some living expenditure. Because it is easier for students to make it through, especially that really critical freshman year, if they don't have to work a job on the side of that, right? Like it'd be one thing if they do like work study, but I don't want them to have to like get off, go to the mall and then come back to class kind of thing. So if we can make it like this is what you're limited to, then and there are some limits, like there's a an amount for unsubsidized and there's an amount for subsidized, but if we can make it so that it only covers what's necessary for school expenses and then something for life expenses. Junior and senior year, students are sort of in the habit. It's a likelihood that they're gonna progress progress to commencement. So if they're gonna go get a job or an internship or something that actually enriches, then I think that's fine. Okay. But I would love to see freshman and sophomore students get their expenses covered. They're we should cap that out so that they're not just ad infinite I'm paying these things. And then have a repayment system that actually works with you. we don't you get that first big bill six months after commencement and you're like, my God. And you can rework it and everything. But I do think there's a way to restructure how they repay that so that it does align with the incomes that they're making, especially b bachelor's level folks are not making that much money anyway. So there's ways to do it. It takes people who want to you know fix these issues, who care about these issues, to come with ideas for these issues. I do think it should be fiscally responsible on the part of the government and the part of the student. There's a way to find that in the Venn diagram of the Well here we're going to Venn diagrams. All right, all right, all right. Well okay, so last one I'll let you go. If somebody's watching and agrees with me in almost everything and thinks you're just wrong about everything, what's the one thing you'd want them to take out of the last half hour or so that that all that separates us is this table, right? Like it it it two people who are on opposite sides of the table, opposite sides of the aisle, and we have had a bl I've had a blast talking to you today. And so and we're not we ha we care about the same issues. Our approaches to them might be different, but there is room to meet in the middle of that table. And I we had a a a meet and greet many, many months ago and someone said, Kimberly, what do we tell our friends who are Republicans? Well, we want them to vote for you, but they won't because you're a Democrat. And I tell them, I don't need you to be a Democrat. I just need you to believe in one. And so my hope is that what they'll hear from this last you know from our conversation is I'm just a person. I'm not some blue haired hippie, right? I don't believe in legalizing marijuana, right? So but that that I am a person who cares about the same issues that affect literally all of us. And I would work for all of us when I get elected. Okay. Well, and I didn't even throw shade at you earlier. I was gonna say, you know, you if you want healthcare and all, just don't start referencing Cuba and I might be able to agree with you with your plan about how Cuba's so much better. I'm like, God, God. and that's not you, that's some other people. But you did not say that. So you know, I do appreciate you being here. I mean, you did come into a room. I think you were even told that we're the devil, but you still showed up and not everybody does that. So thank you again. Now, where do people find you? You can go to Kimberly Hardy for Congress dot com and learn all about me. Okay. Well, folks, go look it up yourself. That is the point. you know, so Dr. Hardy, the door's open. come back after the October 15th money reports and tell us how your race is going. I appreciate it. Thanks for having And to everybody, just go to our website, w the Carolina Cabinet.com. You can find all of our shows and links. It takes four whole seconds. It doesn't cost you a thing, but that's where you'll find Doctor Hardy and other episodes. So we appreciate you joining us and to all have a good evening. Thanks for being here.