00:11 - Carol o obando dara Stein democrat running for congress

00:15 - in district seven

00:16 - why are you running for this office.

00:19 - I'm running because frankly I'm tired of watching working families struggle

00:24 - to make ends meet

00:26 - while politicians like Ryan MacKenzie make things worse for them

00:29 - now I'm also running because

00:31 - it's starting to feel like it's a crime to be

00:34 - latino in america and and that's not right and

00:37 - as a latina immigrant I just can't stay on sidelines and watch.

00:42 - Watch

00:42 - watch that

00:43 - take place in my community and.

00:46 - So that's why I'm running

00:47 - all what part of Pennsylvania makes up district seven.

00:52 - The seventh district encompasses the counties

00:55 - of lehigh northampton and carbon counties

00:58 - and the western part of Monroe county.

01:01 - A call the west end

01:03 - and the Carol in your opinion what sets district seven apart from other

01:07 - parts of Pennsylvania

01:09 - tell me about his character and the people who live there.

01:12 - Oh it's so diverse it is a

01:15 - place where

01:16 - we had a strong manufacturing sector

01:19 - historically we had Bethlehem steel

01:22 - and

01:23 - now we we still have some manufacturing here we have large

01:27 - health networks

01:29 - and we have

01:30 - so those are the employers but

01:32 - we also have just diversity in landscape we have a

01:35 - lot to do I encouraged everyone to come out and check

01:38 - the seventh congressional district it's a beautiful place to raise your children

01:43 - and work live and play

01:45 - and what is your personal experience within district seven

01:48 - in other words deliver.

01:50 - Yes I do

01:51 - I have lists here for over two decades

01:54 - I can't imagine myself living anywhere else my husband and I have raised

01:59 - our family here

02:01 - and have worked here our entire time

02:04 - and it's just a beautiful place to again to raise your children to work live play

02:10 - and go to school

02:12 - beside

02:12 - her campaign for congress what else have you been doing to keep busy Carol.

02:18 - I am a

02:19 - mom

02:20 - and so I do a lot of the.

02:22 - I have a lot of the responsibilities that other parents have.

02:26 - I also

02:28 - just am very involved in my community I'm involved with my local church

02:33 - and just to community organizations like the united way wei

02:38 - and among others.

02:40 - Wrote here rotary too I forgot I am a rotarian that I believe service above self

02:45 - that's our motto

02:46 - I understand you have a master's degree from penn state university what

02:50 - what was that degree in.

02:53 - Yes that was my first masters from penn state

02:56 - and community psychology and social change.

03:00 - Then i.

03:02 - Did a lot of different things in my career I lead community based organizations.

03:07 - I

03:08 - Worked for senator Casey as his regional manager in statewide latino affairs

03:13 - visor

03:13 - here in the district in which I'm running

03:16 - and then I ended up working at an electric utility for about a decade

03:21 - while I was there I ended up going back to school at night

03:25 - and continuing to work full time and and have the responsibility of being a mom

03:31 - and then went back to school for a match masters in

03:34 - energy systems engineering from lehigh university

03:37 - while I understand you were executive director of a group called skills

03:41 - usa council or what did they do.

03:44 - Oh I love that organization

03:46 - they at what I was doing was helping students launch their

03:50 - careers with the technical training that they work getting

03:54 - at the five area career and tech schools

03:57 - I did workforce development and I loved it and I

04:00 - also did that

04:02 - when I taught at northampton community college

04:05 - I taught.

04:07 - How have the changes of the workforce changed at Carlson's

04:11 - you've been a part of our scene.

04:14 - Well we know the elephant in the room we are now seeing a lot more AI in everything

04:21 - and so that has changed tremendously the educational system.

04:25 - So that's one way.

04:27 - Hmm I understand you are also executive director of a group called children's

04:31 - coalition of the lehigh valley tell us about that.

04:35 - It was a child advocacy organization

04:37 - where we fought for better policies and better laws at the

04:42 - state and federal level to benefit children and families.

04:46 - So I was.

04:48 - I'm

04:48 - pushing for more investments in early childhood education

04:52 - and a fair and equitable

04:54 - school funding formula

04:55 - we worked on

04:57 - child abuse prevention

04:59 - the legislation and support and more investments in that area

05:03 - a minute ago you mentioned that your work with sen Bob Casey

05:07 - how did you meet him.

05:09 - I always admired him I thought he was a really strong.

05:14 - Advocate for children and their families and working families in general

05:19 - so I saw an opening

05:21 - and it was a long shot because I did not have

05:24 - a political science degree I thought that

05:27 - I needed that to work for his office but no I

05:31 - my community psychology and social change

05:34 - masters was good enough and my background in helping

05:37 - community members and just being very involved in.

05:42 - My local community really helped me to get that job and it was

05:45 - a wonderful opportunity to.

05:48 - A fill in for him

05:49 - in the district he couldn't be everywhere there's twelve point seven million.

05:54 - Pennsylvanians he couldn't be everywhere so he trusted me to be his surrogate in the

05:59 - district and to connect people to the services they needed it was an honor

06:03 - that uh to to have that trust bestowed upon me and I

06:08 - to it very seriously

06:09 - so it sounds like you made appearances on behalf of senator Casey

06:13 - yes.

06:14 - I did

06:14 - and give you some more detail of a particular encounter

06:17 - with the community you had or something memorable that

06:20 - happened while you worked for his office.

06:23 - I always appreciated his investments in children

06:27 - he was a strong proponent for head start

06:30 - and I actually worked at a head start when I was in college

06:34 - so head start in early childhood education was very important to me

06:38 - also when I led the children's coalition so I always appreciate it

06:43 - staffing him

06:45 - when he went to the to the local head start

06:47 - here it's called community services for children.

06:51 - I also really appreciated his work

06:54 - a with the legislation called help which is.

06:58 - The health.

07:00 - You know I'm blanking on the it's

07:02 - it's hard to remember all the acronyms

07:04 - it's all right

07:05 - but it was a way to support.

07:08 - Families who had special needs children

07:11 - and

07:12 - it was almost like a five twenty nine plan

07:14 - for for families to be able to save and

07:20 - not have some peace of mind that there there

07:22 - would be some nest egg for them if they were

07:25 - unable then to care for them.

07:28 - So it was a great piece of legislation to help act and actually the state

07:33 - Pennsylvania ended up creating their own

07:35 - own health

07:36 - help.

07:38 - Carol what kind of I'm sorry it's called no I'm sorry it's called the able act.

07:41 - I

07:42 - Just remember it when

07:43 - yes yes the able act because he he was on the help committee

07:47 - health education labor and pension and

07:50 - the legislation was called the able act so thank you achieving better life

07:54 - expectancies thank you so much that's all anyone

07:57 - after worked for senator Casey and you reflect back on that experience

08:01 - what kind of political insight about the political process

08:05 - did you gain came

08:06 - from your work with senator Casey.

08:09 - I learned how important it is to stay connected to your

08:12 - constituents to your voters

08:14 - to the people who help elect you

08:16 - to make time for them to

08:18 - really listen to their concerns

08:20 - to

08:21 - Listen to learn

08:22 - which are all the lessons that I took

08:24 - from from that experience and I'm applying to

08:27 - this position right now this this role that I'm

08:30 - I'm running for congress

08:33 - and we're going to get into some of those issues soon Carol but still I want to

08:36 - explore some other aspects of your background

08:38 - I know you went to work for governor Tom wolf at one point

08:41 - and you were on his

08:43 - commission for a latino

08:44 - affairs and and how did

08:46 - your two paths cross.

08:49 - I actually was a volunteer for that those commissioners are all unpaid

08:54 - roles.

08:55 - So it was it was work

08:58 - but it was unpaid work

08:59 - what did you have to do is girl give me something.

09:02 - Or

09:02 - So I was advising on issues that we were seeing with the latino community in my my

09:09 - region and we had commissioners all over the state

09:13 - advising the governor on issues that were

09:16 - impacting the latino community

09:18 - or can you remember one or two of those issues for us.

09:21 - Oh workforce development is

09:23 - always

09:24 - top of mind

09:25 - I always say

09:26 - afraid repeat a phrase that others often say

09:29 - the best

09:30 - anti poverty program is a job

09:33 - and so we were always focused on ensuring that

09:37 - we could

09:38 - increase the workforce development programs and

09:41 - and access

09:43 - to.

09:44 - Services and.

09:46 - Promote community college.

09:49 - That's another example of the

09:51 - things that we were doing because of the fact

09:53 - that I had worked at a community college before I

09:57 - had a very special place in my heart

09:59 - for community colleges because they're just a great and affordable way

10:04 - for families to be able to.

10:07 - Send their their children.

10:10 - Next thing I want to talk about Carl doesn't involve any elected officials

10:13 - he worked at ppl

10:15 - electric utilities

10:17 - what kind of work did you do there.

10:20 - I started off as regional affairs director

10:23 - and that entailed helping seniors low income families and small businesses

10:29 - reduce their energy bills

10:30 - it was very rewarding

10:32 - I wasn't just talking about reducing costs I was actually

10:36 - doing something about it helping people help themselves.

10:39 - I also was part of the

10:42 - ppl foundation I was able to direct

10:45 - of funds from the foundation to worth

10:48 - worth while causes

10:50 - in the district

10:53 - to to

10:54 - help support the nonprofit organizations the tremendous and

10:58 - wonderful nonprofit organizations that we have in

11:00 - our district that are helping people get ahead.

11:04 - Carol how do you dispose this

11:06 - how do you suppose this experience we're talking about

11:09 - is relevant to being in congress.

11:13 - Well I should mention that

11:15 - I started off at ppl doing that

11:18 - and then I went back to school

11:21 - and while I was in school earning my master's of engineering and energy systems

11:25 - engineering I became a project manager

11:28 - where I was connecting companies to the transmission grid

11:31 - once I graduated I worked on grid modernization for the company

11:36 - and then the last role that I had

11:38 - was working on connecting companies mostly renewable energy most

11:44 - most of them were renewable energy companies

11:46 - to the distribution grid

11:48 - so all of the the work that I've done in the

11:52 - non-pro profit in the private and public sectors have prepared has prepared me

11:58 - for this role that I'm I'm undertaking right now it's

12:03 - a it's understanding what it takes to

12:06 - bring costs down for working families

12:09 - how to invest in workforce development how can people

12:12 - how can we help people get ahead

12:14 - how can we modernize the grid how can.

12:18 - Energy is such a big topic right now and I have almost a decade of experience

12:23 - in the energy sector and right now we need

12:25 - energy experts like me in congress to navigate

12:29 - this moment that we're facing we have

12:31 - unprecedented demand on the grid because of data centers.

12:36 - So all of all of my experiences

12:38 - are of someone who's

12:41 - helped people get ahead

12:42 - and knows what it takes to build people up.

12:47 - So Carol given your past experience and the governor's priority which is bringing

12:51 - more data centers to Pennsylvania

12:53 - provided they bring their own source of power by the way

12:56 - I would think that that would interest

12:58 - you given your experience at ppl.

13:02 - We need to make sure that we have

13:05 - experts who are navigating this moment instead of

13:08 - what we're seeing from the president which is.

13:12 - A desire to just cut out states and local municipalities

13:17 - he has made it an executive order issued an executive order

13:21 - that it's illegal for states to regulate AI

13:24 - so I want to make sure that we have

13:27 - experts

13:28 - at the seat of the table and that we don't shift costs cost to working families

13:34 - and we don't

13:35 - or or small businesses

13:37 - or have data centers impact us in other negative ways and for people who are just

13:43 - tuning into this subject girl that is AI

13:46 - data centers

13:47 - how should we address.

13:49 - The impact of AI

13:51 - data centers on regular ratepayers

13:53 - is this something we have to watch closely.

13:56 - Yes we do absolutely have to watch closely

13:59 - because we don't want that those billionaire companies

14:02 - shifting costs to working families and small businesses

14:06 - we have to make sure that we don't bear the brunt of those billionaire companies.

14:11 - Connecting to the grid.

14:13 - And what else can you do car roll

14:15 - at all ask her about this because this is one of the priorities this on your website

14:19 - you've already mentioned it a couple of times but

14:21 - let's try to get into some detail as far as lowering the costs for working families

14:26 - just where would you start be specific as you can.

14:30 - I talk a lot about the cost of living around the essentials lowering those costs.

14:36 - For the essentials

14:38 - such as housing healthcare groceries utilities and childcare

14:43 - so housing.

14:45 - I would am a proponent of increasing the

14:49 - low income housing tax credits to be able to incentivize more low income housing.

14:55 - We need so that housing healthcare

14:58 - we should work towards

15:00 - universal healthcare

15:02 - but short of that

15:04 - you know that will take time

15:05 - so I would love to

15:08 - get to congress and restore the subsidies and make them

15:11 - permanent for the affordable care act and strengthen

15:14 - the affordable care act

15:16 - so that's I mentioned housing healthcare

15:18 - then groceries we need to

15:20 - do away with tariffs

15:22 - of that have increased the costs for grocery reis and for construction materials

15:28 - that impact the cost of

15:31 - of homes and

15:33 - are are driving up the prices at the grocery store.

15:37 - A childcare

15:39 - has.

15:40 - Risen astronomically

15:42 - as well

15:43 - at one point I recall when I had my kids

15:47 - when they were young

15:49 - I remember paying more for child care

15:52 - than I paid for my mortgage

15:55 - and

15:55 - even

15:56 - so much so that I

15:59 - had my dad coming to help us

16:01 - he would drive an hour over an hour and a half

16:04 - to one way to be able to help us out while

16:08 - I can

16:09 - and my husband continued to work this is when I was in the nonprofit sector

16:13 - and my husband's hours were reduced at work

16:15 - so

16:17 - We need more for child care development block grants and to be able to support

16:21 - working families so

16:23 - you know they're doing everything right they're working

16:26 - and and we want to make sure that they can continue

16:29 - to work and not have to make impossible choices

16:32 - between

16:32 - high quality child care

16:34 - and safety of their children those are two things that they should not

16:39 - have to choose between one or the other they deserve both I'll talk more about

16:44 - universal healthcare and on the face of it it certainly

16:47 - has a positive ring to it

16:49 - but what would you do to make that a reality.

16:52 - We can have legislation to advance that to have to give people

16:56 - the opportunity to make ha healthcare.

16:59 - For available for everyone because this is a personal matter to me

17:03 - let me tell you this Larry

17:05 - I lost someone at the age of twenty two.

17:08 - Because she couldn't afford the health care she needed

17:12 - cause she'd done

17:13 - this was many years ago in two thousand and two

17:16 - but that the memory of her

17:18 - and knowing what she went through when she was trying to get

17:22 - healthcare and she couldn't afford it and she had a lot of charity care

17:26 - and she didn't have a

17:28 - primary care physician that

17:30 - would have been able to detect

17:33 - the illness that she had so these things are not abstract

17:37 - or are political

17:39 - for me they're real they're everyday life

17:42 - you know issues and and I hear about it on the campaign trail at my church even I

17:48 - I have.

17:49 - Of folks who who go to my same church even

17:53 - just

17:54 - I was recently having a conversation with some of the the older and younger men

17:58 - really afraid of the healthcare costs that that are just rising and their ability to

18:04 - make ends meet and to support their family

18:07 - these are really serious matters and we need need

18:10 - we need the folks who understand it who have that lived experience

18:15 - I I went

18:16 - I worked

18:17 - excuse me I grew up

18:19 - in a working class

18:21 - home my both my parents were in unions and then when I worked

18:25 - I saw this day in and day out I saw the struggles that working families

18:30 - were we're facing

18:31 - it when I

18:32 - started off my career I was a child therapist and.

18:36 - You didn't mention it because we were only talking about the jobs that I had

18:40 - in the district but I also was the director of women and family services at a

18:45 - community based organization in new Jersey

18:47 - so I

18:48 - I have seen this my whole life and

18:50 - I want to

18:51 - go to congress to help people get ahead

18:54 - it's helping

18:55 - people with a hand up

18:57 - and speaking of working families I understand you support something called

19:01 - the family act and this creates a national

19:04 - paid leave programs my understanding

19:07 - tell me more.

19:09 - Yeah until that that goes back to supporting working families and

19:13 - I have seen it my whole life

19:16 - starting off with a child therapist and being in homes I would actually

19:20 - go into people's homes

19:22 - and.

19:23 - I started off as a therapeutic staff support which

19:26 - was mostly in schools but then

19:28 - I became a a mobile therapist and a behavior specialist consultant

19:32 - and we we are seeing families struggle to make ends meet and we need to support

19:37 - them and

19:39 - this is just one additional way to be able to

19:44 - have paid leave

19:45 - so they can

19:47 - they can you know make ends meet while there they're at home

19:50 - with their children or with special needs children.

19:54 - Let's talk about food security

19:57 - namely the program called snap

19:59 - that gives food assistance

20:01 - and there are cuts at the federal level and talk about those and

20:05 - what you think should be.

20:07 - Done in the near future.

20:09 - In the summer because of that republican budget bill that

20:13 - my congressman voted for.

20:16 - Food assistance was cut to over six thousand of our

20:19 - neighbors here in the seventh congressional district

20:23 - we know that there was a

20:25 - headline a long time ago by Paul krugman

20:28 - he wrote for

20:30 - times he was a nobel peace prize winning economist

20:34 - his headline was poverty is poison for a child's brain

20:38 - so I think about that all the time when I I you know think about.

20:45 - Food insecurity I know how crucial it is

20:48 - for a child's brain development early on

20:51 - so I am going to fight tooth and nail to restore cuts

20:55 - to safety net programs like food assistance this is

20:59 - a basic need

21:01 - food and we know how crucial it is especially when when a child is

21:06 - a developing in their early eight in their early years

21:10 - I also

21:12 - and

21:12 - while we're on the topic of food.

21:15 - I also

21:16 - at the community based organization that I mentioned I worked at in new Jersey

21:21 - I had a wic clinic

21:23 - under me so again it's it's

21:27 - the women and infants and children program it's a food program

21:31 - to be able to to assist in those those very early years and for pregnant women too

21:37 - so these are.

21:39 - The topics that are very near and dear to my heart I also

21:42 - oversaw a food pantry at one point in my life so food insecurity is a basic it's it's

21:49 - on a mass lows hierarchy of needs it's a very basic sick

21:53 - of.

21:54 - Need that we have and we want we should be

21:58 - prioritizing food assistance for those who are in need

22:02 - I mentioned that.

22:04 - Families are struggling to make ends meet right now the united way has a report that

22:08 - found forty one percent of our district

22:11 - are struggling to make ends me.

22:14 - Paying for the essentials like housing healthcare

22:16 - groceries utilities childcare groceries or in their food

22:19 - so we know the costs because of the tariffs and other reasons why

22:24 - costs of

22:24 - of

22:25 - Of groceries are

22:27 - increasing

22:29 - and I I want to go to congress and

22:31 - prioritize food as distance because it's just so crucial for families right now

22:36 - one of your priorities is closing the gender wage gap just

22:40 - how big of a gap exists today.

22:44 - Yeah we hear about it all the time

22:46 - and it depends on.

22:49 - The the race and ethnicity because the gap is larger for

22:54 - a women of color

22:55 - so we want to make sure I I want to

22:57 - go to congress to fight for paycheck fairness act

23:01 - and equal pay for equal work.

23:04 - Carol what's your reaction to immigration enforcement

23:07 - and the activities of officials

23:09 - from ice.

23:11 - I am horrified at what I'm seeing.

23:14 - Families and individuals that look like like people that

23:19 - could be from my family are being snatched up off the streets

23:23 - disappeared.

23:25 - That's not right

23:26 - this is not the america that my parents

23:29 - sacrificed everything for a show shot at the American dream they left

23:33 - Columbia because they had lived through a violent civil war

23:37 - and were willing to sacrifice everything for a shot at the American dream

23:41 - this is not

23:42 - this is

23:43 - this is

23:44 - horrendous this is

23:45 - this is a an ice that's

23:48 - not accountable that's mass that's not far following the law

23:53 - I am

23:54 - prepared to go to congress and fight back

23:58 - but what we need to do is to ensure that of course we make reforms this cannot continue

24:05 - but fundamentally we need to.

24:08 - Tackle the broken immigration system we can all agree

24:12 - Republicans and democrats can agree

24:14 - that it's broken

24:15 - that

24:16 - the immigration system is broken

24:18 - what we need to do is ensure that it's

24:21 - the fix is legal

24:23 - effective and humane and I'm going to underscore

24:26 - humane because I don't see any humanity right now

24:30 - with the way that the that ice is conducting itself

24:34 - it feels like if

24:35 - it's cruelty is the point

24:37 - feels like that.

24:39 - Let's talk about social security

24:41 - Carol how can congress ensure that money

24:43 - is in that fund when we have to retire.

24:48 - They can lift the cap

24:49 - and attacks

24:51 - of

24:51 - All income levels so we ensure that

24:55 - the social security fund remains solvent.

24:59 - Let's turn our attention to your campaign

25:02 - how are you going about it.

25:06 - The

25:06 - voters are eager to elect someone like me.

25:10 - Who understands their same struggles who has

25:14 - but also has worked alongside them a candidate who has a track record

25:18 - of helping people get ahead

25:20 - my my campaign from day one has been a people centred key campaign

25:25 - I am doing the hard work to ensure that I connect with voters

25:30 - all across the district

25:32 - and

25:33 - we know that one key demographic are latinos they

25:38 - they are not a reliable voter of one party they

25:42 - they support the candidate themselves not the party

25:46 - and I have

25:48 - ties to this latino community

25:50 - and can connect with them in a way that none of the other

25:53 - candidates can since I'm fully bilingual and bicultural

25:57 - and that's that's an example of a way in which I'm standing out we

26:01 - our district here in the seventh

26:03 - has the largest pp percentage of latinos

26:06 - of any swing district.

26:09 - And last I checked girl there are four democrats in the primary including yourself so

26:15 - it's a fairly crowded

26:17 - primary hobby distinguish yourself from other democrats trying to tell us briefly.

26:23 - Again I am someone that understands the struggles

26:25 - that are working families face because I've lived them

26:29 - both my parents were in unions I have.

26:33 - Helped others get ahead I have a track record

26:36 - of helping people get ahead and

26:39 - and

26:40 - help themselves so that work history that

26:42 - that initial

26:44 - you know the the fact that I'm an immigrant that I

26:48 - have a working class background that I dedicated my life to helping others get ahead.

26:54 - I'm

26:55 - also the only engineer in the race more specifically

26:59 - energy systems engineer at a time when we're talking about

27:03 - a lot of the a big strain on our grid

27:06 - it is important to have an energy expert like me in congress to navigate this moment

27:12 - I'm also the only woman in the race and the primary electorate is mostly women.

27:18 - I also have the support of the former congresswoman

27:21 - who held the seat for three terms Susan wild

27:24 - it's an honor to be able to have

27:27 - her endorsement

27:28 - that's something that none of the other candidates have and I have

27:31 - a large number of national organizations behind me

27:35 - such as Emily's list elect Democratic women

27:38 - the congressional his panic caucus is bold pack

27:42 - a three one for action fund that supports dem candidates and others

27:46 - alright thank you will have to end it there Carol a bondo durston

27:50 - democrat running for congress in district seven

27:53 - thank you.

27:54 - Thank you Larry.