Ep. 541 — Sen. Tammy Baldwin

The Axe Files with David Axelrod

CNN

News

4.6 • 7.7K Ratings

🗓️ 20 July 2023

⏱️ 58 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

As a child, Sen. Tammy Baldwin suffered a months-long illness, leaving her with a preexisting condition that made obtaining health insurance impossible. The experience inspired her to pursue public office, first locally from her home in Madison, Wisconsin, and later as a member of the U.S. Senate. Sen. Baldwin joined David to talk about healthcare, tackling the mental health and opioid abuse crises, GOP culture wars, and working across the aisle to pass the Respect for Marriage Act.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	You know, one of the things I love about this podcast is the chance to learn things about
0:23.0	people who I thought I knew Tammy Baldwin, the senior senator from Wisconsin, has been
0:28.2	on the national scene for decades. She's well known as a trailblazing gay member of Congress,
0:34.0	but also as a highly regarded legislator and manifestly thoughtful person. But as you'll
0:39.4	hear in this conversation, she's also had some searing challenges in her life that shaped her as a
0:44.8	person and a public official. Tammy Baldwin, it's great to be with you. I saw you back in the day
0:59.1	when I was hanging around the White House and it's good to be with you again. Well, it's great to
1:03.6	be with you and thanks so much for having me on. There are a lot of things to talk about that are
1:08.2	going on right now, but I'm so fascinated by your own journey and how it's informed who you are
1:15.6	as a public official. So let's start there with your family because you didn't have the sort of
1:23.2	normal upbringing. So talk a little bit about your. Absolutely. I was raised by my maternal
1:31.1	grandparents. My mother struggled with both physical and mental illness and had was 19 when I was
1:40.4	born going through a divorce, moved back home with her parents and me and 19. So young. So young.
1:48.3	And I was so lucky that my grandparents were there for me. My grandfather was a professor of
1:54.8	biochemistry in the University of Wisconsin. My grandmother who thought she was an empty
1:59.5	nester because my aunt and my mother had both moved out had gone to work at the University also
2:06.5	as the head of the costume department and the theater department. And so I remember being raised
2:15.0	in both of their labs, the costume lab and my grandfather's biochemistry lab. You know, I have
2:21.8	many memories. Well, let me just ask you about your mom and your relationship with her. How did
2:30.0	you. So she moved out of the house? Is that she had the opportunity to complete her education
2:36.0	and ended up taking six more years before she got her bachelor's degree. But I have a picture. I'm
2:43.2	just below her shoulders and her graduation picture. So you know, somewhere around six or seven
	...

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