Office of Senator Joseph Cao

[Joseph Cao]

[Mr. Cao was invited to introduce the Mayor at a masked and socially distanced event in Calumet Heights shortly after breakfasting at a recently opened eatery in the neighborhood. A transcript of his speech at the event is reprinted below for public release.]

A pleasure to be here with you all in Calumet Heights this morning. I’ll keep this brief: hopefully you’re doing your best to protect yourselves; I see a few still masking up, and if you haven’t gotten vaccinated yet please do your research and get the jab! The mayor’s website has a good primer on the vaccines available if you need it to help your decision.

We try to keep things like these going because there is an urgent need for greater and better civic participation from you all. But that has to begin with communities where you feel safe enough to engage and become better citizens, where people have their basic needs met – as all too many Chicagoans have lacked throughout its history and in the very recent past. So a large part of the mayor’s tenure has been bound up in the problem, especially present here in the South Side, of how to fix that need as our city and its people emerge from a pandemic and a socioeconomic disaster that has blighted too many of our lives. People need to feel safe without having parts of their lives taken away.

One of the Mayor’s first trials of that theory was right here in Calumet Heights where, you may remember, the idea was first floated that Chicago needed to find help wherever possible. The program that brought our experiment to life was first instituted by the Mayor’s predecessor, to whom we are naturally extremely grateful and have silently and publicly thanked on many occasions, but it found its flower under Mayor Hernandez’s leadership where we’ve a great deal to hope for where the South Side is concerned. I’m pleased to say too that this was a major promise of ours back in November on which we have seen much to smile about, none more prominent than when we had the opportunity to check in with the restaurant which got established here as a beneficiary of the rejuvenation program.

The rationale for a new restaurant was fairly simple: Calumet Heights has long been in need of some anchor for the people who live in it and felt unsafe, and some way to provide something very simple which was nevertheless desperately needed in the community – an opportunity for constant hot meals and sit-down dinners and to keep people safe while having them. The fact that we got to see a local entrepreneur take charge of the initiative for overseeing the building and initial investment effort was absolutely welcome too. I hadn’t had the opportunity to meet Kasim before today, but he is a lovely man and more than well-equipped for the challenge of sustaining what has become one of the main grounding points for the people of Calumet Heights. It bodes well, I think, for what else we plan to do in cooperation with the South Side and the rest of you good folks in the coming months.

Sometimes the change we need doesn’t need to begin with a huge overhaul that rips up the remaining parts of a community. We as Federalists have historically preferred to look at what works and build from there, and to repair things from the ground up together with the community that we seek to help rather than impose our own vision on them. Calumet Heights knows what that kind of change has been able to do, as does the South Side; here to expand more on what change can be made in the coming term, please give a warm welcome to Mayor Hernandez!

[Joseph Cao]

[A group of Federalist volunteers led an afternoon’s work of efforts in the South Side to register voters and canvass for the upcoming mayoral election; they were joined partway through by Representative Cao and the mayor, who brought things to a close with another speech in Chatham. As with all of the day’s events, attendees were required to either mask up or display proof of vaccination.]

Thanks to the mayor for another reminder of what we need more of here in Chicago. And good afternoon, Chatham! That was a great meeting we just had with some of you – I think it went very well, all things considered – so allow me to stress as I come back to you all that we take our roles as public servants very seriously.

That extends to the ways in which we exercise our offices. As I think you may know, I’ve been a persistent voice in favor of checking the accumulation of power in a single office wherever possible. That works fine with the federal government and its checks and balances, but here at the municipal level it’s a different story. Which is why the mayor’s supporters like myself have been insistent from the very beginning that the mayor engage all Chicagoans and have you all take an active part in the direction this city goes in. I think that between the involved policy decisions and the consistent meetings with local leaders around the city, Mayor Hernandez has done a pretty good job of that so far, regardless of what the national media may want you to think. To them I can only say that stories that sell well aren’t always true stories, as we also know pretty well here in Chicago.

Not that I came here today to talk about that. The mayor knows the importance of handling power carefully, and I want to be clear that our incentivization for further entrepreneurship here in the city’s struggling neighborhoods has been carried out in a way that keeps large corporations on a tight leash. And we’re not above using our own power – quite literally – as leverage for that cause either. A month or so ago, the time came for a renewal of Chicago’s agreement with Com Edison for electricity provision to the city, and it led to a fine demonstration of how we can certainly put our money where our mouth is.

During the negotiations, Mayor Hernandez brought demands for greater transparency, consideration of the energy costs that poor communities in the South Side have had been burdened with in the past, and stronger concerns for its environmental impact. With Chicago’s market the fourth largest in the nation, the city made it very clear that Com Edison shouldn’t expect to have the attention all to itself; we could certainly reconsider that agreement if other companies proved more receptive to those proposals. And the focus on making sure that these changes are actually footed by Com Edison in some form, not just passed on to the city’s utility users, absolutely underlined what we were trying to do. Which, I’m happy to say, seems to be moving along nicely toward a sufficiently equitable agreement that will help our city’s struggling citizens. It always helps when a corporation like Com Edison knows exactly where we stand on the issue of supporting the people of Chicago.

I don’t believe any of this will come as a surprise, though in the very recent past other parties have wanted ordinary folks like you to swallow the lie that the Feds are nothing more than a party of fat cats and bloodsuckers in the pocket of Big Business. Which would be amusing if they themselves clearly didn’t know otherwise. We don’t do that sort of thing, either here or elsewhere. We’ve always given it to you straight, no frills or spittle-flecked performative anger necessary, because telling the truth and nothing but the truth is the main basis for communication with our neighbors and communities which can actually help them rather than just milking them for votes.

What Mayor Hernandez has told you, and what I’ve just talked about, is the plain unvarnished facts – facts you can expect from a straight-talk administration that makes no apologies for its party label but knows what that philosophy can do for Chicago, and that will come before you all on your ballot very soon. So make sure to educate yourselves; don’t take our word for it, and bring your friends and family out to vote this month. Vote for good governance!

[Joseph Cao]

[Representative Cao made his way down to Louisiana as a personal favor to the Federalist gubernatorial candidate, a new and promising officeholder, and assorted state legislative candidates. The first event at which he was in attendance took place in the aptly named community of Start, where those in attendance were either masked or carrying proof of vaccination. His introduction of the gubernatorial candidate is reprinted below for public release.]

Hello, Louisiana! It’s a pleasure to be back. And I am sure it is a pleasure to be here with you folks, the people who have been passed over by the governor’s office and by an administration that’s demonstrated a complete lack of interest in governing for the people of this state. And in such circumstances, it’s clear that what Louisiana needs is not more of the same, or more of the same dressed up in a different party color, but something that will live up to the name – a new start!

Start got its start as an accident of bureaucracy, a mere afterthought of the need for mail delivery to a trading store whose name was suggested nearly on a whim by the storeowner’s daughter. In the years since it’s come to encapsulate the Louisianan community, the opportunities it sees and why some of them go unrealized, and how it has held on regardless of the misfortunes that befall communities the nation over. It’s come far beyond the limits imposed on it and produced several nationally renowned worthies, along with equally good-hearted folks who toil away without that fame or prestige. And such a state of affairs was possible – is possible – because of good leadership here and the good citizenship we see on display from the people gathered here today.

So here’s the question we have to ask ourselves now: are communities like Start still being prioritized? Are the people still in positions to see those opportunities that float by, or survive when those catastrophes hit them and their community? Are the small business owners of today able to receive help as Start’s own trader of yesteryear famously did? Are we taking care of the successors to the little girl who named this community, the girl who composed the entirety of her graduating class in the first batch Start was able to celebrate, all the young people and young lives who either stayed here or left to find better luck for themselves?

The Governor hasn’t done that. Not for Start; not for the other communities across this state, from New Orleans and Baton Rouge on down to the smallest Acadiana hamlet. And it doesn’t seem as if his handpicked Liberal successor is showing much of an interest in doing so either. These are the questions that need to be asked on behalf of the people who watched the past seven months drift by without an effort to engage them in the prospect of their own futures. And if nobody at the top will step up, it’s up to the Louisiana Federalists to ask and answer them.

I’m proud to be here to introduce the Federalist candidate for Governor, a man who has traveled the state and has his roots in working to fix just these problems in New Orleans, in Shreveport, and yes, in the tiniest of communities like Start. He knows firsthand the long roads before us all in fixing the problems facing Louisiana, but – as the song goes, as a certain musician sung – he and the rest of our candidates for local and state office will work with all Louisianans under their care to get us wherever our trail leads us. Here to introduce himself further, please give a warm welcome to your next Governor, Ken Pham!

[Joseph Cao]

[The Representative was present in the Alexandria metropolitan area for a series of events involving local state legislative candidates, the most prominent of which was a large livestreamed event in the city’s northwestern portion overlooking Highway 28. Attendees were masked or required to show proof of vaccination.]

I’d like to thank the state Senator for his fine speech, a spirited defense of his own actions on behalf of the people of Rapides Parish over the past months in the legislature. It’s possible that the bitterness of political conflicts sometimes gets oversold for dramatic partisan effect. I live in Illinois; I would know. But there comes a time, as your state Senator very rightly reminded us, where the line needs to be drawn – the people of Louisiana certainly feel the same way.

But the fact remains that we’ve seen another way forward, another road we can take. Quite literally, in fact. Here at the crossroads of Louisiana we’re acutely aware of how many people’s livelihoods depend one way or the other on having a reliable means of transport. Many of the drivers and delivery workers of Alexandria, indeed of the entire state and region, are lower-income folks for whom this is a vitally important issue. So it is naturally of interest to people here that our roadways and highways are better maintained, and when your state representative introduces himself I believe he has something to say about his plans to work with the federal government and in the statehouse to make much-needed improvements to these.

I want to talk about a less obvious problem, however. Until very recently there was a major flaw in the way fines were distributed and enforced for our region’s drivers. On behalf of his constituents, Senator Yankee first brought to light this problem and the myriad issues with revoking people’s driving licenses for failures to pay fines on time. In a state like Louisiana with little alternative means of transport, and especially in Alexandria, you can imagine how many people have gotten trapped into losing their only means of making a living and paying those fines. The Louisiana Motor Transport Association, some of whose members I’m glad to see in attendance today, also brought the problem to the attention of our Governor and state legislature. It was a serious problem with our system that created a death trap for our less fortunate citizens, and the Southern regional government took it seriously and with all the support which people like you deserve.

Governor LT and Delegate Tim are naturally to be commended for their quick work in fixing the loophole and closing the possibility of people losing their livelihoods over petty missteps. And here is the point I wanted to get to today: there does not need to be an attitude of headlong resistance from any side; there should not be people trying to impose their own belief system of what Louisiana should be like when others have identified major flaws with it or pointed out that it doesn’t help the people of Louisiana. The thousand and one little problems are not going to be solved without initiative from the top, driven by a concern for what Louisianans have been going through – initiative that has been wholly lacking thus far. We have seen a bipartisan way forward, but by and large the Governor has refused to take it.

I don’t believe that’s what the people of Louisiana need, and neither does our Federalist Party here in this state. We’ve got what we believe is a better way; in the coming weeks I certainly hope they will continue to fill you in on what it means – and the key there is filling you all in, rather than leaving everyone of a different partisan affiliation out in the dark. Louisiana needs more sun, a better governor, and a better government. And to tell you all about his plans for good government that begins with the people of Alexandria, please welcome your next state representative!

[Joseph Cao]

[The Federalist gubernatorial ticket and Representative Cao crossed paths again later in the afternoon following the latter’s attendance of a town hall in Montgomery; both headlined another general event at which attendees were required to stay masked or display proof of vaccination. The text of Representative Cao’s speech is provided below.]

Glad to be here with the good folks of Montgomery this afternoon. And quite aside from seeing many of you vaccinated, it was a pleasure listening to you all during the town hall earlier, where the people and their duly elected public servants of this state rightfully took the spotlight. I think, as a federal officeholder, that we in Nyman have more to learn about taking politics back to the spheres where people are most materially affected by its presence and can engage constructively in it.

Your state representative did invite me, however, so it appears she has a different opinion of where I stand on that. As we wait for the outcome of the Speakership vote it’s remarkable how federal discussion can mirror what your own legislators are doing in the statehouse; I have tried to be transparent with you all as well, knowing that I represent you just as well as I do the rest of Atlasia. (And if you’re not aware yet, I am running for reelection this weekend – so get out and vote! My staff and the party volunteers in back are ready to help with any issues you might have with getting to the polling station safely.)

I want to talk, specifically, about a bill which your own state representative brought to the floor as one of her first proposals back in December which was an early attempt to expand access to health centers and the like. Here in Grant Parish that has long been a priority of local leaders and citizens who know firsthand the struggles Montgomery and its like-minded communities face. Kids here are likely as not to have inadequate access to physicians or nurses while in school. There was a need to change that, and so your state representative brought up a proposal for a grant to help with providing and building the needed networking infrastructure and training school and nursing staff in an assortment of schools, rural clinics and physicians, and nursing homes in Montgomery and across parishes in Central Louisiana.

It was a nice coda to Speaker MB’s tenure this session that one of the last bills he sponsored was a similar bill to expand on the telehealth provisions written into law by former President Ted and the overall healthcare system whose construction was overseen by former Presidents Yankee and DFW. And, again, it shows very clearly something that your state representative and I have built our careers on, something I think people tend to avoid admitting out here in the artificial glare of the campaign trail: all sides have good ideas and it is not at all heretical or embarrassing in any way to go against that. Citizens across Louisiana have spent time wondering about the reasons for Governor Bouisseau’s actions with regard to stalling the aforementioned bill, not least the people here in Montgomery and Grant who would have been on the frontlines of their representative’s work. It strains credulity to believe that this is a passable state of affairs for Louisiana.

So it doesn’t have to be that way – especially with the Governor’s handpicked successor trying to claim ownership of Federalist ideals elsewhere on the campaign trail. Federalists in the state legislature, beginning with your state representative here, have shown a better way forward. And it can happen – a brighter Louisiana can happen – with your support for the candidates up and down your ballot who are working toward fixing the problems you’ve brought to their attention. Thank you, Montgomery, and to hand the spotlight back to a born and bred Louisianan, I invite you all to welcome your next Lieutenant Governor, Frank Fisher!

[Joseph Cao]

[While the mayor was occupied by a morning’s work at the office, Representative Cao did some campaigning on the mayor’s behalf in Bronzeville and its constituent neighborhoods. The following speech was delivered in Douglas to an audience of masked and/or vaccinated Chicagoans on 47th Street, and livestreamed on Federalist websites and social media.]

Good morning, folks! I’m very glad to be with you all; it’s a valuable opportunity in itself and I couldn’t be happier to spend some time here in our beautiful Land of Lincoln in between the calls for work in Nyman. Yes, if you hadn’t heard – the House of Representatives, on behalf of the people it serves, has once again put its trust in me to serve as Speaker for the final weeks of our session! Thanks to your support, we’re ready to face the final weeks of this constitution and clear the mounting legislative backlog and get important measures passed for the people. Never forget that these things are only possible when you collectively register your voices in the democratic process and at the ballot box.

I’m more than ready to get back to work on your behalf, but I’m not the only such public servant campaigning this month. Mayor Hernandez is very much aware of the same crosscurrents that have changed the courses of politics over the past years, none more so than right here in Chicago, and the criticism that follows it. But as with this city’s founders and developers when faced with the prospect of building a metropolis on marshy ground, we see the political currents for what they are and work with them provided that they originate from the people we swore an oath to serve. Lots of agitations in politics aren’t caused by ordinary Atlasians or Chicagoans; if the people behind these think that I need to apologize or that Mayor Hernandez needs to apologize for not living down to their expectations, well, I don’t see things the same way and neither does the mayor. We’d rather keep our heads down and talk to our constituents directly.

Standing here in Douglas today, I am tempted to look back at how different things were for Senator Stephen Douglas in his time. Before acting as Abraham Lincoln’s foil at their debates and during the presidential race, he looked over the half-empty marshes by Lake Michigan and saw their potential. His most far-reaching law in the Senate was perhaps the creation of a railroad that tied the extremities of our state together by a system of railroads with Chicago as its center. He wanted to bind the Union with economic ties as closely as Illinois was, and over the decades he manoeuvred to develop Chicago as the most natural option for a national hub, almost at the expense of looking after the downtrodden people who were largely passed by in all of this.

And what a difference two centuries make – how wholly different are the challenges facing our city, even to those here in Douglas! The mayor’s recent meetings with your community leaders and the actions taken in response to reports of subpar living conditions is a whole other consideration for a city that has seen so much growth and decline. It wouldn’t be unfamiliar to Stephen Douglas or Abraham Lincoln, products of the 19th-century economic straits that they were. But it is thanks to the massive changes in the political currents they triggered that our mayor is now able to take the city which Douglas helped to develop and bring the focus back to the people where it belongs. The diversion of city funds to engage in building repair for the housing complexes which so many Chicagoans right here in this neighborhood make use of, the insistence on changing the adversarial relationship which many of you have had with landlords and owners through greater aldermanic and city oversight – that comes from a long-overdue sea change.

If we have shown one thing over the past seven months, it is that the mayor is fully cognizant of what that change means for Chicago. Our city has a future which it is freeing itself up to pursue, all its inhabitants together, right down to the people left behind by Stephen Douglas and still running behind now in the 21st century, because of the leadership shown by Mayor Hernandez. And that will remain the case if you continue to make your voices heard in the city’s affairs, things as small as damaged mains or unlicensed elevators – Chicago’s history proves that change can happen. We’re ready to work towards that change, but we need your help. Get out and vote, everyone, bring your friends and family to the polls this weekend for federal elections and next weekend for mayoral elections! Thank you, Douglas, and stay safe!

[Joseph Cao]

[The Illinois Federalist Party’s Chicago volunteers spent the afternoon on voter outreach in the South Side through door-knocking, phone banking, and distribution of campaign literature. Their efforts were partially aided by Representative Cao, arriving south after the earlier event, and by the mayor following an interview with the Chicago Sun-Times. All parties converged for an event in Greater Grand Crossing at which attendees were required to either wear a mask or display proof of vaccination.]

Thanks to the mayor once again – I’m glad to hear, as I’m sure you all are, that the entirety of the Chicagoan community is united in keeping each other safe. Considering that that even extends to the number of you who have been vaccinated so far, and those of you who are still masking up and socially distancing, I’m confident that it’s going far better than out-of-staters might think from a cursory knowledge of our city and our state.

As I think Mayor Hernandez touched on in her monthly address a few days ago, the administration’s priority for Chicago remains the need to make sure of this safety in all respects; the communities of this city, Greater Grand Crossing and the South Side and all the rest of Chicago’s neighborhoods, need that safety and the people need that safety in order to reverse the debilitation of the pandemic and move out of it stronger than before. That applies to a great many things, just as the pandemic’s effects reached far beyond the realm of public health. And not least among these is the problem of keeping communities like Greater Grand Crossing safe from crime and issues of violence.

It is sort of a truism by this point that our city’s crime is concentrated in a select few neighborhoods. The real issue goes beyond that, however. The concentration of crime hotspots down to the street and block level has the extremely striking implication of a select few bad actors who cause most of the crime. So the Mayor’s strategy for combating this is rather far from what might be expected from a public servant of the old school – one who hasn’t grown up on the West Side surrounded by these problems or worked to fix the truancy and socioeconomic issues that fed into the problems. We have instead begun from day one in coming at the problem from the other end, providing inhabitants of these hotspot neighborhoods with extremely targeted means necessary for them to tackle the root causes between people in the neighborhood which power a lot of this violence.

The police involvement, as the mayor and I have both expanded on at various points, has been given careful consideration as well so as to make clear and ease them into their role of mediating conflict rather than sparking it. It always helps when the officers themselves know their neighborhood. Working with the community to get their input on what kind of overhead help is needed in fixing the endemic problems, providing them with help from law enforcement, has been the most crucial part; it allows us to make better use of the resources at the city’s disposal. That has had knock-on effects at the recent budget presentation, as many of you may know.

Chicagoans will of course also know that past mayors and past administrations have limited themselves to throwing resources at the problem, throwing police officers into the neighborhoods and onto the streets, throwing things at the wall to see what sticks – all of it for results that more often than not ended up on the national news anyway. Set against that, I think the results we’ve achieved over the past seven months speak for themselves. That also speaks to a basic problem-solving issue which I believe the mayor and our party has ended up on the right side of overall. The aldermen and community leaders may differ in partisan affiliation, but at the end of it there is an understanding that many of Chicago’s problems are specific to Chicago, and the implication naturally follows that the solutions must be extremely tailored and modified to solve these specific problems.

It’s a community issue and it will be solved only with the dedication of the community to that premise; the premise long held by the Federalists and by Mayor Hernandez, a premise that has been behind the successes Chicago has found in the policies implemented over the past seven months. It is a premise that Chicagoans have benefited from, that the people of Greater Grand Crossing have benefited from, and I firmly believe that you will benefit from it again for the coming mayoral term. The only way we can build on our successes and learn from our setbacks as a city far into the future lies that way; please register yourselves, get out to vote, and stay involved any way you can. Thanks for the time, Greater Grand Crossing; stay safe!

[Joseph Cao]

[With the Federalist gubernatorial ticket, two state House candidates, and a team of party volunteers, Representative Cao participated in an early afternoon’s effort continuing to turn out voters and distribute campaign literature in the Alexandria metropolitan area. The following speech was given to introduce the gubernatorial candidate at a concluding event in Cheneyville, near a family farm owned by one of the candidates.]

Thanks to you good people here in Cheneyville for coming out this morning. As mentioned by the candidate you’ve just heard, a staunch advocate of farmers’ interests and someone you can count on to fight for this community if you elect him to the state House, we’re glad to see the fruits of our community’s labor in the number of you who have shown up vaccinated or at least still masked and still keeping those around you safe. That’s something we want to touch on today in relation to the upcoming elections, and the frankly disappointing policies that Governor Bouisseau and his legislative allies have been pushing.

Louisiana’s been through enough with the pandemic, with federal and regional and state agencies working all together to keep cases down and nearly losing many of our communities in the process. Those same communities, places like Cheneyville and its surrounding towns, are still recovering from the yearlong ordeal we all went through. I don’t believe this is the time for tax hikes that will deal another blow to our recovery efforts on the ground: they’ve come at exactly the wrong time. Our small businesses who are going to be priced out by the increase, our citizens who are still cautious about their own finances that have been drained away by the pandemic, the teachers and sanitation workers and others on the public payroll who are being passed over by the tax plan Governor Bouisseau is proposing – none of these Louisianans stand to benefit in a single way from the plan. What is the Governor’s rationale for pushing it, and legislative leaders on the other side of the aisle for going along with the demands of a man who hasn’t governed for the people of this state?

Our recovery efforts are deeply precarious as it is; what potential there currently is for Louisiana will be nipped squarely in the bud by this tax increase. The people of Louisiana need the space to recover and patch the holes that have been blown in their communities before returning to a normal economic state of affairs. And until that happens, we don’t need to put taxpayers through another wringer that will kill whatever progress our folks on the ground have been making in the post-COVID recovery. The Governor’s attempt to put the cart before the horse is not going to fly in New Orleans, it’s not going to fly in Shreveport, and it sure isn’t going to fly here in a town that can tell the rest of us a thing or two about proper farming methods.

There’s been enough shoving the people and their concerns aside over the past seven months – seven months too many, as far as we’re concerned, when you think about the hobbled recovery that the regions and federal government have had to carry on Louisiana’s behalf. If this state is ever going to get back on the trail, it needs someone at the helm who won’t oppose their own constituents’ interests and pick fights with Nashville and Nyman just to satisfy their partisan overlords. It needs leadership that will listen to the people of Louisiana once again. That is the leadership Ken Pham is prepared to provide in the Governor’s office, the leadership that our legislative leaders are prepared to provide in Baton Rouge, and the leadership that Federalist candidates up and down the ballot all over the state and right here in Cheneyville are prepared to provide for you the people. But don’t take my word for it – here to talk about it in all the detail you folks deserve, please give a warm welcome to the next Governor of Louisiana!

[Joseph Cao]

[The rest of the Representative’s afternoon was spent in southern Louisiana and in the company of a quartet of promising candidates for the state legislature hoping to make electoral inroads into the Acadiana region. His speech alongside them at a COVID-compliant event in Eunice is reproduced below for public release.]

Good afternoon, Eunice, and thank you for having us here! I’d like to thank the mayor as well for a great reminder of what we need this election. She’s touched on some of the things she’ll do in the state Senate, which I’m sure she will be more than happy to expand on if you have any questions for her – though, of course, you know where to find her.

Although she didn’t mention it during her speech, I am sure that many of you good citizens also have her to thank for one of the biggest changes this city has seen over the past few months. The small businesses and commercial property owners here in Eunice have seen an unusually turbulent few years, a series of hurricanes and floods topped off by the pandemic and all the dropoffs in services that implies. As with most of southern Louisiana, this was only unusual because the natural disasters and the need for disaster relief in these parts has become part of the usual state of affairs. And it became increasingly apparent to many of us that the backbones of our local economy needed major help with restoring an integral part of this city’s social and economic identity.

So when your mayor took office last year, she partnered with the local Main Street initiative to put together an investment grant for property and small business owners to help repair and improve the buildings they own. It was billed, you may recall, as a first step to restoring the city’s potential for investment and stimulation of community development, and in the process of the plan’s playing out thus far – now in its second, expanded phase as the fruits of the first phase have become increasingly evident – that has been more than realized. We’ve seen certain small businesses go above and beyond with the resources they’ve been given and help to preserve the cultural assets under their care.

That plays into a large part of what we in the Federalist Party are focused on and always have been. The community must come first in our reckoning of what policies we pursue, and the impact they have on the people here in Eunice and elsewhere across Louisiana cannot be swept aside in favor of chasing what party leaders tell you to do. I would much rather see someone in the governor’s office and in the legislative chambers who will listen to the ordinary people under them than to the party men above them, if only because that is a far better and more beneficial means of governance. As your mayor has demonstrated, as your state representative will demonstrate shortly, as our Federalist legislative leaders have shown time and again in Baton Rouge and as Ken Pham and Frank Fisher have demonstrated over and over on the campaign trail, the Louisiana Federalist Party from top to bottom is committed to doing just that.

We’re ready to do what the current administration has shown very little interest in doing: delivering and solving the concerns of Louisianans up and down this state. But we can’t do that on our own. The people of Louisiana are going to have to make a decision this month that will reverberate in their personal lives and the wellbeing of their towns and cities and communities; we want you to make the best and most well-informed decision you can. Keep listening around, keep making sure your choice at the ballot box is one that you can trust on behalf of those around you. One of those people, a fellow you may know from his work alongside the mayor, is here today to talk about what he wants to see in the legislature and his plans to achieve them: please welcome your next state representative!

[Joseph Cao]

[Ahead of federal and regional poll openings, Representative Cao traveled to Lincoln Park to record a live address for his supporters; he delivered what might uncharitably be described as a jeremiad to a largely empty field in the middle of the neighborhood.]

Pleasure to be here with you all today. And it’s good to see everyone still masked up or vaccinated – we are going to raise those vaccination rates!

Having said that, you all know that polls will open for federal and regional elections this evening, just as they will for the mayoral and other local elections next week. I trust that everyone has been paying attention to what has generally been going on, enough to make a decision on which candidates are best placed to fight for the people and demonstrate it in both their words and their actions. Naturally I have tried to stick to that standard and kept you all informed and in the loop about what I’ve done in the Capitol – you know quite well who I fight for. Hopefully that will be the case at the ballot box as well.

I want to talk about something else, however. On that same ballot, up for election tonight alongside me and some other faces you’ll recognize, are the members of the Lincoln General Court. We here in one of the leading cities of Lincoln obviously take a close interest in what the newly rebranded regional legislature is up to; at the moment it appears to be not much to speak of. You won’t need me to tell you all that that is a worrying state of affairs.

Lincoln has had this problem in its regionally elected officeholders for quite a while now, of course, and it’s obviously bad for the communities and states that they serve. But there is a more pervasive problem than that in our politics. Officeholders can be active and yet not willing to serve the people well, as I reminded Atlasians last year from this very spot. Remember the fast food tax, supported by all parties except the Federalists? And when it’s mixed with the parliamentary apathy Lincoln has become dulled to, there is the potential for very bad consequences for all of us as a civic body.

Chicagoans will have had prior experience with the sort of politicians I’m referring to – those who claim a broad mandate in the name of the common man, who sweep into office by saying all the right words, and then sit on their hands, professing loudly in private to not care about the positions they were elected to or the people who trusted them with their votes. And whether or not this kind of contempt for their own supporters slips out in public, it becomes abundantly clear that they are motivated at heart by partisanship for partisanship’s sake. It’s become more pervasive in recent months in our national and regional politics, on all sides of the aisle, regardless of whether any side wants to admit it or shrug it off from their private quarters with feeble excuses. Even the structure of this speech speaks to that reality.

On the other hand, that may be the reason why Mayor Hernandez has found success – Chicago’s had enough of leaders who talk out of both sides of their mouth, who claim to be for the little people below them but whose actions in office show a blatant disregard for the wellbeing of the little people below them. They are not little, and Mayor Hernandez’s roots as one of them growing up on the poor end of the West Side and wanting something better have kept this administration fully aware of that simple fact in every word and every action that it takes.

Reasons like this one can be great motivators for change; for housing reform; for raising vaccination rates and the like. Unlike the politicos who think of other parties as the great unwashed and refuse to deal with them, trash-talking them without end, this is the reason for the mayor’s frequent outreach to Governor Gaviotti on the issues I’ve mentioned. Illinois doesn’t care if its governor hates Chicago’s mayor or vice versa, and the problems don’t solve themselves that way. I don’t think any of us expect them to love each other when they come from different parties – Illinois’ fractured past may have put us past that possibility. But people can work together; they can demonstrate in their words and their actions that they don’t want partisanship for partisanship’s sake, don’t want to treat their voters as expendable, and are not willing to fall into that trap.

Differences may be unavoidable. I think my congressional career has said something about the irreconcilable differences between parties that all too often emerge. But I am nothing if not an optimist: I will keep looking for common ground; I will continue as a public servant to conduct myself in private as I do in public and refrain from taking my own pickaxe to the public trust. And the public servants up and down the ballot who demonstrate in their actions the same motivations that their words carry, Mayor Hernandez prominent among them, will do likewise. Thank you for listening, Lincoln Park. Vote for good governance and honest leadership!

[Joseph Cao]

[The Representative and the Mayor, along with other Federalist luminaries, had a short meeting and roundtable with the Avondale Mutual Aid Society at their headquarters in the eponymous neighborhood. Participants were asked to mask or show proof of vaccination, and the Representative’s concluding speech was livestreamed on Federalist websites and social media.]

Thank you for having us, Avondale. And my thanks must go to the Mutual Aid Society for hosting us, to their esteemed chairman for those very gracious remarks, and to the Mayor for a speech well-delivered and well said.

Like the Mayor, I’ve followed quite closely the actions of the various volunteer groups that have stepped in throughout the past year to aid this city’s vulnerable population. And I’m sure I wasn’t the only one to applaud the city’s partnership with groups like these to augment its relief efforts for the needy. They and others like them have been absolutely amazing at keeping on top of things: staying informed about the vital medical information and COVID-19 services, with the changes in housing policy, and making sure that residents here in Avondale and surrounding neighborhoods are informed as well. I think the city’s own workers will speak to how good of a job the AMA has been doing in the number of people they’ve met who have had little trouble with following or staying informed of any of these.

It is a model which Chicago has had a long history of, but which those at the top have been slow to appreciate. And I don’t want to minimize the role which labor movements in this famously red state have played in its early days. It goes beyond party, however – I didn’t see any of the volunteers here at the AMA stop helping people of a different party affiliation – and it benefits all of us as a city and within the communities like Avondale. Chicago’s mayors have often acted like monarchs and tried to exercise raw power in every facet of this city’s goings-on; the office isn’t that powerful, and as Chicago has continued to grow I don’t think we will be able to see any more of that one-man government. We know very well what our limits are, and when there are community leaders or volunteer organizations who know better or are best-equipped to tackle some of these problems, we are not too proud to avoid working with them.

Besides, I couldn’t think of much better partners than the AMA has been, given the very prominent community values that they espouse. I sort of touched on it earlier, but their vision of mutual support between members of the community here in Avondale is exactly the kind of thing we Federalists have promoted as a party. People need to help one another; that’s how they stick together. We talk about rebuilding social institutions; these folks are out there alongside our own volunteers with their more locally oriented experience and connections and doing a finer job of rebuilding those social institutions than we could hope to accomplish. And flipping the script, if the mayor and the alderman have been able to collaborate with community leaders to fix a housing area or lay out plans for a new library or bike path, it further demonstrates the need for connections that stretch both vertically and horizontally, between the people and their leaders and among the people themselves for situations when the vertical distance is too much for leaders to handle. The Mayor’s work has been geared toward lowering that vertical distance; we are much indebted to volunteer organizations like the AMA for shrinking the horizontal distance as well.

The COVID-19 experience has given us a taste of what happens when our communities get forced apart. And those communities have only survived because of the work of a great number of people, in the public and the private sector, paid and unpaid, all dedicated to counteracting the trends toward social atomization that can ultimately fracture communities. The Mayor’s grown up with organizations like these, and is more than willing to work with them and bring their values into the mayor’s office as a reminder of what tools Chicago needs to advance into a brighter future. That’s the promise Mayor Hernandez has made. Thanks for your time, Avondale; thanks once again to the Mutual Aid Society; register and go vote!

[Joseph Cao]

[Representative Cao’s lunch hour was spent on the campaign trail alongside a promising young state House candidate in Washington Parish. The following speech was delivered to a limited crowd in Bogalusa, required either to mask or display proof of vaccination, and livestreamed on Federalist Party websites and social media.]

Bogalusa! Glad to be out here with all of you. I’m glad the sun has gone in a little bit; if I’m being honest I’d rather be able to see all of you without the glare. Yes, thank you for that.

I am not sure, in all of the travelling up and down this state we’ve done as a campaign thus far, that we haven’t seen a city more defined by so many different forms of conflict as Bogalusa has seemed to be. The city was built from scratch around a sawmill company which closed within thirty years as the lumber and the money ran out during the Depression. The racial conflicts that so much of Louisiana has seen were initially motivated by labor concerns, and as civil rights leaders and their intimidators clashed in the sixties it boiled over multiple times in bloodshed worthy of national news. The Gaylord chemical explosion and the industrial waste spill in recent years have not only posed health concerns for tens of thousands and stunted the economic prospects of the community; it’s also given the lie, a peculiarly dark one, to Bogalusa’s very name.

It may be an outlier in notoriety, but it counts – as it should for the state we stand in today. Bogalusa is no more and no less in need of help than the other communities of Louisiana, no matter how big or small they are; that seems to have been forgotten by the Governor. And beyond the usual lip-service about paying more attention to their needs, neither of the other parties have said much about how these places can be helped; how their concerns can be alleviated and their inhabitants brought along in the economic upswing we look toward as we move past the COVID-19 pandemic. Not so the Federalist Party! The candidate for state House, who I’m pleased to say is seeing his prospects looking up in this tight race crucial to control of the chamber, is uniquely placed to answer that question and continue his family’s tradition of bringing Bogalusa’s needs to national attention.

He’ll be able to speak more about his own plans later, but it seems right to introduce Mike Berenson first. Mike is a City Council member and the grandson of LSU’s famed cardiology professor Dr. Gerald Berenson, who first put Bogalusa on the map with an NIH research grant in the Seventies that grew into our nation’s premier community-wide health study. Many of those here today will know firsthand the study’s impact on their lives, on their results that the study has yielded, on the health issues that it has caught for so many people here – Mike among them, by the way. As the study has gone from strength to strength, we are looking at expanding the share of the state reserves that can go toward funding these kinds of projects in the medical and professional sectors on behalf of Louisianans, and we certainly hope that the federal government will continue its support. I did my own part with my votes for passage of the bills that have come up to fund further medical research; as Bogalusa can testify, endeavors like this benefit the community and the nation.

Mike is well on the way to continuing this legacy of community service. His work on the City Council in combating the crime rate through more targeted policing has been a defining part of his campaign, and we at the Louisiana Federalist Party firmly believe that this is a fight the state House needs to take. He’s followed with interest the regional and federal debates on the matter. If elected, I can say with confidence that Louisiana’s job in coordinating resources toward this thorny issue with Nashville and Nyman will be made that much easier. Rest assured, as well, that his grandfather’s efforts on health have more than rubbed off on him and his consistent support of our medical workers and researchers; Bogalusa has been made the better for it. It can still, however, be made better; it can receive the help it needs in the legislature and at the state level – if you’re convinced by what Mike has to say. Please give him a warm welcome, Bogalusa!

[Joseph Cao]

[Mr. Cao made his way upriver in the afternoon to rejoin the gubernatorial candidate on a campaign swing through northeastern Louisiana. The gubernatorial candidate, a state representative running for state Senate, and a number of local farmers headlined an outdoor event in Sondheimer, at which participants were required to display proof of vaccination or arrive masked. Cao’s introduction of the gubernatorial candidate is reproduced below.]

Thanks for having us, Sondheimer! Great to see you all and to be here with the state Senate candidate and everyone else this afternoon. My thanks to Mr. Fields for having us. I am considerably aware that Ken here has a great deal to share with you all, so I’ll try to keep this as brief as I can make it.

First of all I think the state Senate candidate here needs more recognition for the role he played in getting the voices of our farmers here in Sondheimer and the rest of northern Louisiana and the Mississippi Delta out to the Legislature, where a bill cowritten by him and a Labor representative is about to be signed into law. I’m very happy to say that this will nicely complement the bill passed by the Southern Chamber last year, and that the two bills put together are an avenue for the Mississippi Delta’s farmers to head into the coming year with a better financial base.

It’s been the culmination of a long process that begun a year ago with him travelling all over the parish and listening to the problems faced by our farmers here in the Delta. Left behind by past administrations and passed over in favor of their white counterparts, we’ve seen farmers like Mr. Fields here lose much of their opportunity to make a living, to plant their crops on time with working equipment, because of a bureaucracy that had been stacked against them. This is an untenable state of affairs. We’ve seen too many such farms fold up and die on the vine entirely preventably. Our Delta farmers, those disproportionately hit by all these problems and often unable to compete with larger agribusiness operations elsewhere, need the protection due to them; they are an integral part of Louisiana’s agricultural base.

Getting all of this out to the state’s attention has been half the battle if only because of how long the Delta has suffered like this. The state representative’s bill will standardize and place more stringent restrictions on the delivery of state loans. He’s also suggested an incorporation into the bill that would tie this to future regional decisions and ensure that our farmers get what they need. It is something long overdue for the folks here in the Delta, and for that reason we know quite well that this is not the end of the problem. With Ken Pham in the governor’s office and your state representative here in the Senate, we’re hopeful that Louisiana’s new leadership can work more closely with the regional government to strengthen these lifelines to our farming communities.

It gets to the heart of something I’ve been thinking about of late. Many of the Delta’s farmers are descended from the Civil War-era emancipated slaves who first heard Sherman’s offer for farm holdings. Our state and our region, this parish and the people who live here, are bound up in the legacies that slavery left behind. While slavery was especially pernicious here in the South, little different in brutality from the slave trade that flourished all over the world, the remarkable thing is that we got rid of it not out of economic necessity or political happenstance, but because our nation’s leaders rededicated the Declaration of Independence to its statement that all of us are equal; that all of us are endowed with the inalienable rights to life and liberty. And we still have hope for improvement to the continued burden which this legacy has left on us here in Louisiana and the delta today, and the means to achieve it if we commit ourselves to the journey, because of those principles.

That’s a journey we urgently need to recommit ourselves to, an attention to the health of our communities and the integral parts of Louisianan society which can drive the people of this state onward and upward, and a dedication to those same principles fully and properly applied in the lives of all of us here – the Delta farmers, the New Orleans workers, and all the rest of Louisiana. All of this isn’t present in the Governor’s office at the moment, and none of the other candidates are much disposed to step up and make sure we have it. That leaves one candidate: to tell you about his further economic priorities as your next Governor, and the people it can help, please welcome Ken Pham!

[Joseph Cao]

[As a result of using a regular phone instead of an android galaxy to type, naturally, the internet speed did not catch up fast enough to Representative Cao’s speech as it was delivered to a limited indoor crowd in Edgewater with members of the Olawakandi Appreciation Society in attendance. Attendees were required to wear masks or display proof of vaccination.]

My sincere thanks to the Olawakandi Appreciation Society for inviting us today. There is no finer place than Edgewater to look out over the vast expanse of the lake he once called home and reflect during this important date on the legacy he has left here.

To begin with – if you haven’t voted, please go vote federally and regionally! I have striven during my time in Congress to write workable and appropriate bills for the communities they affect. That extends to the two bills about Olawakandi which we dealt with some months ago. While I fully supported the spirit of those bills, I had my concerns with the wording and the careless way in which some of the provisions would be implemented, as I believe I told the OAS at the time. And the passage of the bill has thrown up very similar problems which have brought the mayor and I into frequent contact. Mayor Hernandez can further testify to the work that’s been put into running things past her counterparts in Wisconsin and Michigan, with Governor Gaviotti, and with the Lakefront’s state legislators here in Illinois. But I am happy to say that the preparations for June 30 are moving full speed ahead, and that we will be able to celebrate Olawakandi Day with the spirit it deserves. All wells ends well.

I consider it part of the sea change that the Mayor’s office has effected in seven short months. Of course it has been easier talking about Chicago’s affairs given the mayor’s background as an activist and community worker who hasn’t left those values behind. But that is precisely the point! For far too long, the citizens of Chicago might as well have been left hiding behind a wall which they were unable to surmount; for far too long they felt as if they were talking to the hand in their dealings with municipal leadership. Contrast that with Mayor Hernandez. The Mayor’s reforms to the housing system in many struggling neighborhoods, to the policing system, to the community rebuilding and renewal strategies, and to many others is a testament to how far Chicago has come. Due to fact the Mayor knows perfectly well that the way to a better Chicago is through listening and acting on the needs of the community and the people who live in them – ear powers, so to speak – as the Federalist Party has long stood for.

This Juneteenth, it is appropriate to remember that we are all creations of God, and He has no color. I want to be clear that this philosophy extends far beyond race; that thanks to the motivation of Mayor Hernandez and the leadership team in trying to give all Chicagoans a chance at a better life, our city has become better off one neighborhood at a time. We are motivated by stories like Olawakandi’s and by the stories of millions like him in our city. That will bring us out here again on June 30, but it will keep Mayor Hernandez busy working for Chicago every day of the remainder of the mayoral tenure. Vote for a better livelihood and better opportunities for Chicago – for a reminder that even though death may be inevitable, it it what we do in life that matters all the more. Thank you, Edgewater, and please welcome the Mayor for a few more remarks!

[Joseph Cao]

[Heading west in the company of Mayor Hernandez and other local Federalist leaders, Representative Cao joined them in their attendance of a public meeting with community leaders in Austin. A copy of his speech at a COVID-compliant event following the meeting is reproduced below for public release.]

Good afternoon, Austin. Thanks for coming – especially for continuing to keep your fellow Atlasians safe by masking up, and especially if you’ve been vaccinated. I promise I will keep my remarks brief this time.

As the Mayor’s recent meeting has shown, quite clearly in my view, Austin has seen admirable progress on going all on our reinvestment initiative at the granular level. The response from community members here has been great for developing a plan that we’re hoping will give a few different areas of community interest the right kick needed for it to thrive and sustain itself. The empty lot has had potential for some time, a blank canvas that Austin’s inhabitants were able to draw on and did. Obviously the city’s financial support of enterprising locals and small business owners through the initiative’s grant system has been something that’s borne fruit in the newly opened grocery store, the food trucks, the secondhand bookstore, all the rest of the new community-oriented development that Austin has needed. Some of the corporations who have pledged financial support for these redevelopments have also been convinced to extend their support for longer periods: as long as necessary for the community to get off the ground.

The redevelopment and refurbishment of some of these properties comes at just the right time for a Chicago that is just coming back to its full strength and, hopefully, ready to demonstrate just what it is capable of doing. It highlights the very involved nature of this whole operation as well. Contrary to what other parties have proposed, it is very much the case that a municipal government has limited reach in managing citizens’ interests for them – and it’s harmful if that happens. The Mayor hasn’t been closely involved with aldermen of all parties, even to the extent of receiving reelection endorsements from across the aisle, for no reason. We’re very aware that where the top of the government cannot step in itself, others must take up a role. And opposite that is the need to guard against the corporate mentality of maximizing short-term financial returns. We’re not going to leave the inequity problem at the wayside and as long as they are part of this effort, it is on the businesses and private-sector parties involved in this to continue to recognize that. We are not leaving Austin behind; we do not plan to leave this community or any others like it behind.

And, of course, without you ordinary folks’ involvement in this rebuilding from its very earliest stages, it would have been nigh impossible to find a way to aim this thing toward the outcome we needed and the community targets that had to be satisfied. Without your continued involvement and reinvestment of your time and your effort into grasping some of the opportunities that will spring up with time, the community may yet fall back off the beaten track. It’s up to us all as a neighborhood and as a city to prevent that; to stop any of our people from being left behind, and to pay attention to what the government and the private businesses are up to in regard to our collective wellbeing. That means participation in the community right down to the ballot box. When you vote next week, Austin, please consider what your community has needed, what it still needs, and vote based on that – it’s the only way to ensure you get the leadership you need. Thank you all very much!

[Joseph Cao]

[After a public fundraiser in New Orleans proper, the Representative travelled out to Kenner to join the gubernatorial candidate and a promising state legislative candidate on the hustings. Both activities, as per Federalist Party protocol, had mask mandates in effect for attendees who could not provide proof of vaccination.]

Thanks for having us here, Kenner. My thanks as well to the next Governor of Louisiana for so succinctly laying out what he plans to do in office. I’m aware that I tend not to do that – but I’ll try to keep this brief anyway.

While we wait for the results in the federal election, I want to be absolutely clear: win or lose, I’m not about to sit on my hands and go to sleep. There is much to be done regardless of whether I end up in Congress. The structure of the Senate now has worked both ways in that regard; it’s not clear how easy it will be for citizens to submit their concerns to a unicameral chamber as one of them was recently able to do on the House floor. But what unicameralism does make clear, much clearer in fact, is the roles that each level of government has to play. I love my colleagues and respect them highly, but I am under no illusions as to our collective abilities to legislate for every single citizen in this great nation; part of why I am a Federalist is because I recognize that basic limitation of ours and support delegating what we can to the governments in the regions and states which can better understand your local needs.

I talked earlier in Montgomery about Louisiana’s own telehealth bill and how their legislator was able to advance the idea before the federal government thought to do so. The bills I talked about have all been broad-based affairs, covering a lot of ground but leaving the details for the regions to fill in, which was the main reason for my Aye votes on both of them. That leaves state legislators and the communities themselves to make sure that detail is represented in the laws that they pass. As it happens, that same telehealth bill for Louisianans is also a testament to what can be done right here in Kenner. Dr. Navarro knows that firsthand.

Your next state representative is a staunch advocate for the Honduran and Hispanic community here in Kenner, someone who pointed out many of the issues faced by them in navigating the healthcare system over their language and systemic barriers and worked to patch them from her position with Access Health Louisiana. Dr. Navarro’s taken note of the increased need for translators to help with telemedicine in the age of COVID, not just during consultations but while trying to access the telehealth system to begin with. Her insight was twofold: to link Access Health’s services up with remote language operations provided by interpreters, and put those interpreters in the driver’s seat for coordinating appointments with both doctors and patients. Louisiana’s Hispanic population has spent too long falling through the cracks, and Dr. Navarro plans to work with the communities here in Kenner and in the rest of Louisiana to find and train willing public servants who can bridge that gap.

Dr. Navarro’s dedication to protecting her patients – to doing no harm, and to doing good – is admirable and exactly what the legislature needs more of; I think the policy priorities and strategies she’ll tell you about in a moment will demonstrate that. I’ve gone on long enough; please give a warm welcome to your next state representative, Dr. Edmunda Navarro!

[Joseph Cao]

[Continuing across the state, Representative Cao stopped in New Roads to campaign and distribute voter literature alongside a prominent young state representative. The two later addressed a masked and/or vaccinated crowd at an outdoor event nearby where the speeches were livestreamed on Federalist Party websites and social media.]

Hey, New Roads! Good afternoon! Thank you all for coming out here today. Your state representative here is absolutely right about the challenges that the people of New Roads and of Louisiana are facing, challenges for which the Federalist Party’s candidates all across the state are rising to the occasion. And he should know – he owes his career to it.

As you all will remember from last year, Representative Cole’s previous tenure as mayor of New Roads was interrupted in its final term by COVID-19, something he worked very hard to stave off with measures that by and large kept the communities here safe. In those early days it was imperative that every level of government work together to nip the pandemic in the bud as far as humanly possible. And so, as soon as the pandemic began to recede somewhat, he did his best to make up for it: to counter the impact that it had had on our small business owners and their livelihoods with a couple of creative policies that kept New Roads’ businesses going under safe conditions.

Chief among these, and apparently a tradition of sorts by now considering its return this past winter as restrictions began lifting, was a weekend-long pop-up shop that gathered all the city’s small businesses into one place for the New Roads community to stop by and lend their support. It was a win-win for both the business owners and the people, not least because the logistics of the event added to the convenience for our community and eliminated any overhead cost the small businesses might otherwise have borne. Feedback from all quarters was overwhelmingly positive for something that countered the effects of the pandemic, no matter how small its effect; I’m told by the state representative that his successor is looking at making this an annual event and continue to display all that New Roads’ small businesses have to offer.

The representative himself has continued to draw attention to our local entrepreneurs and communities in his own way since being elected to the legislature last November. Already he has taken a fine-toothed comb to the distribution of state funds during the last budget debate, pointing out a notable imbalance in the provisions of small business relief and individual relief to communities out in the metropolitan boondocks and rural areas. The highlight of his findings, however, were gaps in the enforcement mechanisms for delivering those funds to inner-city New Orleans. The extent of the current administration’s neglect of Louisianans doesn’t get any more clear-cut than that. And the state representative has pledged to improve some of the temporary fixes the legislature adopted after these revelations. They already form the basis of a bill he’s working on which Ken Pham has promised to sign if elected Governor.

While the Governor and his allies in the legislature sit on their hands, the Federalist Party is bringing all the energy of the actions in their local communities to combat the pandemic; to ensure our neighbors can stay fed and clothed and housed; to carry all of Louisiana, city by city and parish by parish, to the greater heights it deserves. Make no mistake, Louisiana deserves it – but we need a state government, people like Mr. Pham and Representative Cole, that won’t throw their responsibilities away and expect Nashville and Nyman to pick up the slack. Vote this month for a government that will take the initiative for Louisianans!

[Joseph Cao]

[Representative Cao spent most of the rest of his afternoon in Morgan City attending a youth community forum incognito before rejoining the gubernatorial ticket at an evening event in the middle of town. Attendees were required to mask up or show proof of vaccination.]

Glad to be here with you all in Morgan City this evening. As we wait for the federal election outcome, what better place is there to talk about the future of our nation? A future that lies much less in the hands of the federal government than some care to think. What happens in Baton Rouge, on the other hand, can determine a lot about the futures of ourselves and our kids, and so I’m glad to see all of you present here after the New Generation Forum we attended earlier.

I’m always happy, as I informed a House spectator from the floor yesterday, to see our citizens take an interest in the workings of the government. That goes doubly so for the students who presented their ideas for local initiatives at the forum: doubly because of their interest in politics and in local government, a part of government that needs all the competence and civic participation it can get. Look no further than the Governor’s office now for what happens when it doesn’t get that. The students come from schools across the Morgan City area and have noted firsthand what their communities are in need of – refurbishments for the public library, a tutoring program run by high schools, a community garden – all things that look marginal but could easily provide the margin needed for an improvement in the community’s wellbeing and potential.

This is a tradition Louisiana has been proud to see flourish over the past quarter-century. The first generation growing up with it in their schools are now in positions of leadership in the city, in the councils, in the parishes, and in the state legislature; they know firsthand that kindling and allowing our youths’ interest in civic participation, seeing their projects grow through their efforts and those of the city, brings the entire community up and insures its continued survival and thrive through the actions of its younger generation. And now that they’re in positions to bring the state government into the picture through grants and communication of ideas, communities like Morgan City can get the resources they need to act on these blueprints. This bottom-up government has been promised to lots of people, but we’re willing to invert the chain of command and make clear in our actions that people like Ken Pham and Frank Fisher work on behalf of the people rather than the other way round.

Governor Bouisseau campaigned on solving lots of problems; he hasn’t done that. The other candidates, undaunted, are now campaigning on solving lots of problems. We know quite well that whatever we promise out here on the campaign trail, it will ultimately come down to places like Morgan City, people like the parish president and the students and the supportive citizens, where part of the problem will be solved. We are dedicated to working with the communities here in Morgan City and across this state, to putting the people back in charge of the government – urban or rural, of whatever race, of whatever circumstance – and leading all of Louisiana out of the crises that we’re seeing. Let me now yield the state to someone who gladly give you the details on all this: Ken Pham, the next Governor of Louisiana!

[Esteemed Jimmy]

Congrats!

[Senator-elect Spark]

Congratulations!

[Joseph Cao]

[The morning after the election, Representative (now Senator-elect) Cao travelled up to Chicago at the mayor’s express request for a rally in Albany Park, a request to which he was only too happy to oblige. The speech he delivered under COVID restrictions is reproduced below for public release in addition to its livestreaming on Federalist Party websites and social media.]

Albany Park! It’s great to be here with you all once again.

We did it, folks – I couldn’t be prouder of many of you campaign workers and volunteers here, and of my fellow Atlasians, including my friends and family, for your support this election. While the results haven’t yet been certified, I’m told the networks are confident enough in my victory and its margin to project my election to another term fighting for you in Congress. It’s an honor. There’s another public servant here this morning who has a staunch record for leading Chicago, so this is your reminder to get out and vote for Mayor Hernandez this weekend!

It has been a bit surreal watching the election aftermath from out here in the heart of Atlasia alongside some many millions of others. It appears that the courts may have to get involved – and while I will most certainly work with whoever our incoming President is, and do so gladly as my voting record has demonstrated, I’m not seeing an adequately watertight case that either side has won at the moment. And to the election workers here in Chicago and in the state, elsewhere across the nation, the mayor and I stand fully behind the work you do; please stay safe and well.

I wish I could say the same for the political class in Nyman that doesn’t seem capable of getting through this without embarrassing itself. With a very few exceptions, Senators Yankee and FalterinArc and Spark among them, this election seems to have amplified their worst sides. The commentary is practically unreadable and unwatchable at this point. As I mentioned to both presidential candidates, I’m not a fan of using elections to score points no matter how high emotions may run, and this nonsense needs to stop – if it’s capable of stopping at all; I’ve never seen the media controversy train run on anything else. It makes me all the more glad that the final week of this campaign will be spent alongside a fellow Federalist who has demonstrated a class and care for Chicagoans that Nyman could use more of.

Whatever Laborites may think of Governor Gaviotti or Mayor Hernandez, given all the rumors of mafia connections or corruption which the national party has been trying to spread, I am convinced that our state’s leaders show a better way forward for politics. Springfield and Mayor Hernandez have both done their level best in tackling the problems before them. That is something Albany Park knows firsthand; this beautiful multicultural community did not come back nearly from the dead fifty years ago by people deliberately misinterpreting each other, being suspicious and accusatory toward each other, or any of that nonsense. Some people say one thing in private about not drawing lines between Atlasians and turn around in public and demand the opposite, but you won’t find that here in Illinois; publicly or privately we are dedicated to bringing people together, bringing communities back and further upward, and getting our city and our state through the problems it faces.

As long as I have been in politics, it has been with the attitude that bringing the art of the possible into reality cuts both ways, bad things as well as good; we’ve seen plenty of the bad on display, but that should be all the more motivation for us here, for my fellow Senators-elect, for Governor Gaviotti and Mayor Hernandez and the aldermen of Chicago and all Chicagoans of all party affiliations to fight all the harder for the good that can come out of politics. Here to tell you more about how that’s been done right here in Albany Park over the past seven months, it is my great pleasure to welcome the Mayor of Chicago!

[Joseph Cao]

[The mayor and Representative Cao were present in the Northwest Side as the afternoon continued; as Federalist volunteers conducted more GOTV efforts, they attended a town hall hosted by the Forest Glen Community Club and later spoke at an outdoor event livestreamed on party websites and social media. Both events had limited attendance with all participants either masked or vaccinated (or both).]

Thank you once again, Forest Glen. Couldn’t be happier to be here. I suppose part of that is the shade – this June heat is no joke even here in Chicago. So I wanted to thank those of you who came out here still masked up, and the rest of you who have gotten your shots as well; we do appreciate your effort to keep the community safe.

We owe a lot of that shade to Chicago’s green spaces. I’m sure the residents here who walk anywhere in the mornings or afternoons will agree when I say that most of northern Chicago has its greenery to thank for quite a few parts of this community and others like it. You literally have it in your neighborhood’s name, after all! So it’s all the more urgent that they be preserved in the face of problems like the increasing heat, the conflict between development and a green focus, and not least the emerald ash borer infestations that come periodically and wreak havoc on our trees – to the tune of tens of millions of our ash trees, Chicago’s most prominent, in the past two decades.

But it is a huge undertaking for our trees to undergo maintenance and upkeep, and the city’s forestry department has understandably been rather stretched for resources in recent years. The alderman here has lobbied for recommitting more funds to the city forestry department. My understanding is that the Mayor is disposed to do so as well for the next budget, but that is unfortunately still some time away; in the meantime, I cannot be more proud of the good folks here in Forest Glen who have taken matters into their own hands to save their trees. Many hundreds of our most vulnerable trees, as identified by a herculean effort from concerned citizens and local leaders who worked on the inoculation effort the last time it was performed in this area, were protected and re-inoculated from emerald ash borer beetles just last month. It seems too that not all the funds were used, and if the people here in Forest Glen are still willing to protect their trees I’m sure the Community Club will find equal success in their plans to inoculate more trees down the road.

The rest of the Northwest Side has of course faced similar issues with their trees and other greenery, and patterns like this and other problems are not unique to any one community – but it is very important that Forest Glen has managed to effect this change by its own means; it displays, in a very concrete fashion, what we in the Federalist Party have long said about the potential that a coherent community possesses. The folks here in Forest Glen have demonstrated what they can do to solve the ash borer problem; what the city government wants to do, and to continue doing if you elect Mayor Hernandez to a second term, is to replicate that potential community by community, for all the pressing problems in the West Side and the South Side and the forgotten corners of this city, a full-court press alongside the communities all across Chicago.

We got out of the pandemic that way, and we can tackle the rest of our problems that way; our housing problems, our institutional problems with policing, the small businesses and citizens ravaged by Chicago’s past conflicts can all testify to that. It will take leadership at the top to guide this effort, however, and that leadership is here today – please welcome Mayor Hernandez for a few words!

[Joseph Cao]

[Representative Cao joined the gubernatorial ticket on a campaign swing across northern Louisiana; their attendance of a short town hall in the Monroe city center was followed up by a few speeches across town in West Monroe. Attendees at both events were required to either mask up or show proof of vaccination.]

Glad to be here with you all in West Monroe today. And certainly your next Governor raises an excellent point about what kind of a leader is needed up at the top of our state government – someone with Louisiana’s best interests at heart, who has a long record of demonstrating that in their work with Louisianans across this state who will be best placed to do what Governor Bouisseau hasn’t done.

Here in West Monroe there has been a concerted effort to carry on with local projects and improvements to the city without relying on the state government for help. You’ve got a long history of that, of course; that was how the city was rescued from oblivion a century and a half ago. And since then no community in Louisiana has put more effort and reaped more rewards in beautifying itself through green spaces, historic buildings and neighborhoods, and the like than West Monroe. We were very glad, the gubernatorial candidate and I, to see your community thus recognized recently with that award for the Cleanest City in Louisiana. And so you will of course know what can be done on your own, when the community works together to fix its problems without being dragged back by a recalcitrant governor.

But what if the governor was willing to help? Ken Pham, as he’s just told you, has long taken a special interest in the ways communities like West Monroe have bounced back through crisis after crisis. There are opportunities for this area that Governor Bouisseau has passed over because, as best we can tell from his actions, he doesn’t think you need them. And while the Federalist Party is running just one of the tickets on your ballot this weekend, we believe we’ve got the best and most comprehensive plan for redevelopment and reinvestment in all our regions – the poorer parts of New Orleans, the threatened communities down along the Gulf, the folks right here in Monroe and places like it that have gotten passed over for too long.

There is another point I want to make about this race. I think that on the whole, with good reason, it has been a decidedly civil race so far; a remarkable contrast to the presidential one that’s just ended. And while I’m no expert in politics, it seems to me that part of it comes from Louisianans knowing what they want in the government which affects most of their daily lives; not a do-nothing Governor, not a Governor who tries to make an example of people he disagrees with, but one that will rededicate the office to serving places like West Monroe and providing much-needed opportunities to it and other communities across Louisiana. A Governor like Ken Pham, whose work has brought him again and again to the ideals of good government and how to realize them. A Governor, in short, who recognizes not only the tangible potential of West Monroe and its like-minded places, but also the broader goal of making Louisiana the Cleanest State in the Nation – in its politics, in its people, and in all that it aims to say and do on our national stage.

I’ve gone on long enough – there’s someone here today who you’ll find has a great deal to offer on how to achieve that in the state legislature: please welcome your next state representative!

[Joseph Cao]

[Continuing the campaign swing, Representative Cao and other Federalist leaders distributed campaign literature in Ruston following a meeting with the mayor and an event at which the following speech was delivered to a limited audience and livestreamed on party websites and social media; it is reproduced below for public release.]

Good afternoon, Ruston! Thanks for having us, and boy is it good to be here with you all today – I may not be a meteorologist, but you don’t need to be one to like the weather we’re getting today. Couldn’t be a finer day for Ken and I and your other candidates here to meet with you lovely folks.

Appropriately for the home of Louisiana Tech, it’s been obvious on multiple occasions recently that the city leadership itself has been remarkably forward-thinking. I suppose you won’t need to look any further than the idea your Federalist mayor recently had in response to a few citizen complaints about the lack of workable internet service options. And really, if you’re in a college town, what else would you expect? But the plan to build a fiberoptic internet service which city leadership recently proposed after a feedback process from people here in Ruston – that was certainly out of the box. With Tech just nearby, it seems that the city won’t have too many problems building and installing it on its own; certainly the city council seems to think so after reviewing the final plans. If they approve it this week, as it seems they will, this will provide yet another service for Ruston in addition to the city’s efforts to purify its own water and supply its own electricity.

There is of course a massive amount of work that goes into realizing ideas of this sort. The mayor, a hardheaded thinker if I ever saw one, wasn’t being facetious with his timeline of about two years – two years for an additional service to be installed in a relatively small town working with some of the best minds and services Louisiana has to offer. Lots of work, as I said, but since when has that been a reason to shy away from a challenge? If your next state senator here has her way and manages to secure your confidence on the ballot next week, that will be a thing of the past. The problems remaining in Ruston are going to need creativity, yes, creativity that the city’s leadership has demonstrated in spades. But it needs to be present at all levels of government if we are to tackle these problems effectively.

Ken Pham has a vision for Louisiana that depends on just that, one that he’s confident others across this state share based on the decades of work he’s done  from Shreveport to St. Martin. These places don’t always have the means to solve their own problems, so we want to make sure they get the help they need; help which hasn’t been provided so far. Not all of Louisiana’s communities have a Tech or a burgeoning local economy to rely on, so as we emerge from this pandemic we are going to make sure our economic policy supports community growth in all parts of this great state; with that growth we will be able to hew out of the mountains of problems Louisiana faces, community by community, new stones of hope.

We’re not going to leave any part of Louisiana twisting in the wind; that’s not what the Federalists do. We’re betting that there are leaders like your mayor in communities all across this state, whether of the prominence he’s achieved or otherwise, who can join Ken Pham and a Federalist state House and state Senate in finding community-oriented solutions. That will be a matter for our next speaker to tackle – give it up, folks, for your next state senator!

[Joseph Cao]

[The northern swing continued in Bossier City, where the Representative was tasked with introducing the gubernatorial candidate at an event held under continued COVID restrictions; vaccinations or masks were required of all attendees and the event was livestreamed on Federalist websites and social media.]

Thank you once again for having us here, Bossier City. Thank you. Let me do my best to keep this as short as I can make it.

I think many of you are aware of the stakes we are facing this election: a government that can provide the good governance and attention to each community and each Louisianan which you all deserve, or a government that can’t. And the Federalist ticket has certainly been pressing its qualifications on the campaign trail thus far. Frank Fisher’s speech earlier speaks for itself. I do suspect, however, that what we need most urgently to make sure of those wishes we have, to make sure that the government you folks elect next month does what it says it’ll do, is accountability.

Now I’m no stranger to accountability as a concept – my office has been remarkably good at telling the Atlasian people what they can expect from me, and I make a point, something I haven’t seen too many other elected officials do thus far, of meeting with folks on the ground at regular intervals and getting a feel for what they need from Congress. It may have played a part in the vote margins I’ve pulled in my various elections. Certainly the state Federalist Party seems to think so, or they wouldn’t keep inviting me back and Ken here wouldn’t be pressing the issue of being honest with the people of Louisiana.

It is plainly an issue which Louisiana could use more of in its next governor and legislative offices. We in the Federalist Party are prepared to be accountable for our actions, as we’ve been over the past seven months, because of that need at all levels of government. It’s obvious right here in the Bossier City Council where the Councilwoman who’s running for state Senate wants to be clear about what they’re doing when they bring the city’s crime ordinances into line with state law – it’s fairer for all in Bossier City, for those who committed the crimes and those who suffered from it, and allows justice to be exercised with greater discretion. It’s obvious with the activist running for state House, whose lobbying efforts have resulted in Bossier City’s Cybersecurity Awareness Week and a renewed interest in a Federalist-written bill to improve the state’s cybersecurity efforts. It’s obvious all across our state where dozens of candidates like them are fighting for the needs of their communities, led at the top by Ken Pham and Frank Fisher and our long-suffering Minority Leaders.

Governor Bouisseau has not been the best example of accountability in office, to put it mildly, and both the other parties have waffled on what they really want to do; meanwhile, as any of our leaders can tell you, our mission for the people hasn’t changed. We will fight for accountability and enforce it as best we can so that the people of Louisiana don’t have to suffer through another Bouisseau. We’ve made clear in our policies that the communities of Louisiana will not be overlooked again. If that needs to be underlined, there is no better person to do it than the next Governor of Louisiana: please give a warm welcome, once again, to Ken Pham!