Pay everybody its read. Before we get started, I just want to wish everyone a happy and healthy Thanksgiving holiday.

I know that I have an incredible amount to be thankful for, to be grateful for, and I hope that you do too.

And I cannot wait to do this work, the work of American democracy with you as we go into December and into the New Year.

And now on with the show.

Welcome back to the Lincoln Project. I'm your host, Reed Gailan. Today I'm joined by Jacqueline Westman and Angus Duros.

The extraordinary individuals who are the engines behind the union, a pro-democracy coalition of volunteers and organizations dedicated to saving American democracy from the authoritarian attacks at currently faces.

Jacqueline and Angus, thanks for joining me today.

Great to be here, right?

Thank you, Reed.

So guys, I want to talk a little bit about how the union came to be, all the work that you've done this past year leading up to the midterms, what's going on down in Georgia, and then looking ahead to 2024.

But before this, the folks out there have heard about you, and I have admonished many of them, dozens of times to join the union, go to join the union.us.

But let's talk a little bit about Y'all's background. So Jacqueline, let's start with you. Let's hear a little bit about how you got into politics, you know, how you came to see the sort of grassroots is your direction, and then how you came to really help us out with the union.

I always have been an organizer at heart. I love people and being surrounded by people and talking to people. You can say I'm a people person.

Community is what continues to drive me. Since, you know, I was little girl, I feel I was always organizing some kind of event or rallying troops in some sort of way, and, you know, growing up with a single mother, we were always at some political event. And I really connected and resonated with the community.

And really found a passion in helping others. And that's what continued my drive, always being surrounded by that energy around organizing. You know, I probably have one of the coolest jobs right now with this giant mega phone working with the union. And so we are not only working on one campaign or one candidate, but 60 plus nationwide.

And so it's just really fruitful to see all the work come together. And Angus, your background is in software development. I mean, I pre internet days. I was a newspaper reporter for about five years after leaving college and kind of stumbled into building websites, which kind of one thing led to another became a software developer starting kind of the mid 90s in San Francisco.

But I had grown up in New Hampshire and had always been interested in politics and had volunteered on campaign since I was 12. And in 2011, a friend of a friend got named CTO of the Obama campaign. And I kind of got for the first time, a paid gig in politics, working as a software developer on the Obama reelect.

And since then I've helped out on campaigns, worked on some campaigns and kind of transitioned into that full time, especially with the union.

Well, in New Hampshire, where I think just about every burrow and neighborhood has its own state representative to the politics is literally a street by street kind of business. And certainly with the first in the nation primary.

It's always interesting, Angus to go to places. I've spent a lot not as much time in New Hampshire, but a lot of time in Iowa and places like South Carolina where individual citizens become so attuned like barometers to whether or not a candidate like has it.

Right. They just take one look at them again. And I think so.

For sure. And growing up here, half of the candidates in any given primary would swing through the town that I grew up in or stop at the high school that I went to. And we had every opportunity to grill on ourselves and find out who we actually liked as a person.

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