Blue Dog Radio

Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, has spent decades adapting to change.

Bethlehem Steel once occupied a quarter of the city and drew generations of working families from around the world. The Steel faded, the city grew in new directions, and the work of keeping Bethlehem going changed with it.

For this episode of Blue Dog Radio, we start with Lou Jimenez, a lifelong Bethlehem resident, military veteran, firefighter, and president of Bethlehem Firefighters Local 735. Lou talks about his parents immigrating from Italy and Puerto Rico, the changing demands placed on the city’s fire department, his own experience wi...

Florida’s 7th Congressional District is the kind of race that will take roots, credibility, service, and a candidate who actually fits the place.

On this episode of Blue Dog Radio, we talk with Bale Dalton, the Blue Dog-endorsed Democrat running in FL-07.

Bale is a Central Florida native, Naval Academy graduate, helicopter pilot, veteran, former NASA chief of staff, and someone whose life has been shaped by missions bigger than himself. 

He talks about growing up in Central Florida, hunting with his dogs, fishing for redfish in the Indian River Lagoon, the Bib...

For this episode of Blue Dog Radio, we spent several days on the road with Rep. Adam Gray in California’s Central Valley.

Gray represents California’s 13th District, a place where water, agriculture, rural health care, ag technology, and community infrastructure are basic conditions that determine whether farms can plant, students  stay, communities can grow, and families can build a future.

Recorded in Merced, this conversation follows Gray through the place that shaped him: the house his grandparents built, the family dairy supply business a few blocks away, the farm fields and water...

Sacramento County District Attorney and congressional candidate Thien Ho joins Blue Dog Radio for a conversation about immigration, justice, public safety, redemption, and the long journey from a refugee boat in the South China Sea to a campaign for Congress in California’s 6th District.

Ho reflects on fleeing Vietnam as a child after the fall of Saigon, learning English through Bugs Bunny cartoons, growing up in California immigrant communities, and the sacrifices his parents made to build a life in America.

The conversation also explores Ho’s role in the prosecution of the...

Raised by a single mother and a grandmother dealing cards in Nevada casinos, Shannon Bird learned early that opportunity rarely arrives without a fight.

In this episode of Blue Dog Radio, Bird's story ranges from a Reno trailer park to the Colorado legislature, reflecting on class, public schools, dissent, housing, democratic faith, and the women who taught her backbone.

This is a conversation about stewardship over performance and why government should still be in the business of watching out for people.

From quiet Sundays in Reno to running for Congress in Colorado’s 8th...

“When you overperform like that… you do it again.”

Rebecca Cooke came within two points of flipping Wisconsin’s 3rd District in 2024.

Now she’s back.

A waitress, small business owner, and daughter of a dairy farm family, Cooke doesn’t talk about working class life as a message. She’s lived it and loves it.

In this episode of Blue Dog Radio, we sit down with Cooke to talk about the campaign that almost broke through, what she learned from a narrow loss, and why she believes this time is different.

The Central Valley has a healthcare problem and Washington keeps sending politicians.

In this episode of Blue Dog Radio, we sit down with Dr. Jasmeet Bains, a practicing family physician, current California State Assemblymember, and Blue Dog candidate for Congress in CA-22. Here we talk about what it looks like to serve a community that’s been overlooked for too long.

Before politics, Bains was treating patients in rural clinics across the Central Valley. People without insurance. Families losing coverage. Communities trying to hold it together while the system fails them.

This isn’t a...

Jamie Ager-North Carolina 11

This week on Blue Dog Radio, we sit down with Jamie Ager: fourth generation farmer at Hickory Nut Gap Farm and candidate for Congress in North Carolina’s 11th District.

We spent a week with Jamie in Western North Carolina, walking the hills of Hickory Nut Gap Farm, talking through the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, and digging into what leadership looks like in a place forged by land, legacy, and fierce independence.

In this conversation, Jamie reflects on growing up in Fairview, building a regenerative agriculture business from th...

Johnny Garcia-Texas 35

In this episode of Blue Dog Radio, we sit down with Johnny Garcia, a deputy sheriff from Bexar County who’s running for Congress in Texas’s 35th District.

Johnny talks about growing up on the west side of San Antonio, the influence of his mother, and working construction and plumbing before entering law enforcement. He shares what he learned managing programs inside the county jail, serving on patrol, and working as a SWAT hostage negotiator. Experiences that shaped how he thinks about public safety, trust, and accountability.

The conv...

What does loyalty to a place really mean?

In this episode of Blue Dog Radio, we explore what it looks like when work, community, and identity are rooted in the same soil. 

You’ll hear from Virginia Olsen, a fifth-generation Maine lobsterman, on the meaning of working waterfronts and generational stewardship. From the forests of Washington State, Peter Janicki, a generational logger, shares what it means to balance working forests, family livelihoods, and responsibility to the land. And to close the episode, Congressman Vicente Gonzalez joins us to talk abo...

Politics spends a lot of time talking about voters and not nearly enough time listening to them.

In this episode of Blue Dog Radio, we talk with political analyst Simon Bazelon about the people who actually decide elections. Not the loudest voices online, but the voters in the middle who are trying to get through the week with some stability, dignity, and hope.

Here we dig into what these voters really care about, why life feels harder than it used to, and how the economy, costs, and basic quality of life shape political...

There’s a kind of wealth that doesn’t show up on Wall Street. It’s measured in sleep, sanity, and the time we give to one another. It’s the real economy of American life.

In this episode we explore what’s called the non-market economy through three conversations that reveal how time and dignity shape our daily lives:

In this episode of Blue Dog Radio, Representatives Marie Gluesenkamp Perez and Jared Golden sit down for a candid conversation about faith. Where it comes from, how it anchors their work, and what it means to hold belief in something larger than politics.

They talk about the traditions that shaped them, the values that still guide them, and how faith helps them stay grounded in a world that too often rewards cynicism over service. From humility and forgiveness to the idea of grace in Washington, this is a reflection on how belief can...

In Episode 2 of Blue Dog Radio, Marie Gluesenkamp Perez and Jared Golden go Back to the Land — a conversation inspired by the writings of Wendell Berry. They explore the difference between knowledge and wisdom, the value of generational work, and how staying rooted in home and community shapes their approach to public service.

Welcome to Blue Dog Radio, where we cut through the noise and talk about what really matters to Americans in every corner of this country.

This show is about common sense, community, and making politics work the way it's supposed to, for real people in real places.

Episode One – “What It Really Means To Represent Home” – is the first of a three-part conversation between two of the youngest Blue Dog leaders in Congress: Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, an auto repair and machine shop owner from Washington’s Timber Country, and Jared Go...