Full Transcript for Politics Without Humanity Isn't Leadership. With Chelsey Hockett

and culture and just difference something different into every community. I have a really hard time with people who don't like that, especially in Texas because it is so diverse. Tabitha Zeigler: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Chelsey Hockett: And we even have we have this restaurant called Chris and John's in Addison and it's a Mexican Asian fusion. It's a Vietnamese. So like they Tabitha Zeigler: Mm-hmm. Chelsey Hockett: it's incredible. and just seeing Stuff like that makes my heart extremely happy. And then we turn around and we have bigots that are absolutely trying to destroy everything that we have created, that they have created, the the culture, the the kinsmanship, like all of it. And so I have a really hard time with that. And then I also have kids in Texas public schools. And I'm telling my child, one of them that's in school, Tabitha Zeigler: Ha ha. Chelsey Hockett: hey, your classmates might disappear. When we have we have kids at like Our parents will drop their kids off at school and then get arrested after leaving the pickup line. Tabitha Zeigler: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Chelsey Hockett: We have officers that are harassing the same families over and over again. The kids are having to go to school with their important documents that you should not be losing and should not have anywhere but like a locked box in your house. They're Tabitha Zeigler: Mm-hmm, mm-hmm. Chelsey Hockett: taking it to school because they're afraid that they're gonna get arrested and they're gonna get picked up. And I live about 30 minutes from downtown Dallas and DFW actually has like the highest number of immigrant arrests. They're trafficking people in and out of the Lovefield Airport. they are working with like the FBO companies and everything that they haven't play now, and they're they're literally trying to hide the ICE agents Tabitha Zeigler: Mm-hmm. Chelsey Hockett: and the deportation flights. But they're they're going on like the Delta out of Lovefield. They're going on like the smaller just the smaller airlines and stuff too. And they're they're going in between the in between the the detention centers, but they're also deporting directly out of that that airport. And we have an insane amount of groups that just cater to these families that are getting separated from providing groceries to the families after somebody gets arrested, from going to immigration court from like with them, getting cars back and forth to their houses. we have kids that are alone and needing just anybody with them to support them during immigration court because their parents have already been deported. So it's a it's really scary in Dallas, if you are not a citizen. And then it's just scary in Texas in general. because I mean we have Delhi Detention Center, we've got the Prairie Land case where, you know, somebody got sentenced a hundred years, somebody got sentenced 30 years. And the 30 years was literally just for providing know your rights information to immigrants. they had zines on them.

And that that's it. And they got 30 years in prison and it's not making national news. It's not going anywhere else. So we're literally sitting here with people getting 30 years in prison for trying to help immigrants know their constitutional rights. And it Texas right now is a very scary place to be for helping immigrants, for being an immigrant, for literally not being white. I Tabitha Zeigler: Mm-hmm. Chelsey Hockett: mean, we even have Carmelo Anthony's case that just broke the nation. Tabitha Zeigler: Right. Right. Chelsey Hockett: And we have a lot of other stuff that's happening as well with that. So Tabitha Zeigler: Mm-hmm. Chelsey Hockett: it's it's not a it's not a fun place to be right now. Tabitha Zeigler: I would imagine not. And that's sort of why I asked you on, right? Because we've got an interesting history up here too. And for those of you that don't remember, I also ran for Congress and I'm from Indiana. So we've got a long history with the Klan. We've got Greg Bovino that's coming up here August first to have a mass deportation rally. So yeah, I mean, all this racism and all this bigotry is stirring the pot and drudging stuff up from a long time ago that I think a lot of us We thought it was farther under the surface than what it actually was. And that's really disappointing. Chelsey Hockett: Yeah, and it it's literally like you just scratch it, barely barely touch it and it's it's just popping over. Tabitha Zeigler: I had loss from my girlfriend. Right. See here come my kids too. Here, take the please. Chelsey Hockett: We have a Tabitha Zeigler: But yeah, I mean I think that's why it's so important that you have moms out here doing the thing, right? Because we're the ones that are always ending up taking care of these people in way b one way or another. Chelsey Hockett: Yeah. Yeah. And we're seeing well one, just an increase of moms on the ballot in general right now throughout Texas, from our governor to our like our governor or lieutenant governor. I don't know if you know who Holly Taylor is. Holly Taylor is literally she's just re she's running for a judge position. It's on the Supreme Court justice. It's for the Criminal Court of Appeals, place nine, and she is going to every single county, working the entire way, like up and down the ballot, getting to know every single candidate in every single area. And she used to prosecute cases and has flipped and she started working on the appeals part of it, and she's realizing like how messed up the system was and how people were getting like she put somebody away in prison for a long time only to find like the DNA didn't connect and it was actually somebody else who left Texas, went to Florida and then committed more crimes. so they, you know, let somebody walk free for Almost two decades. And so she's been devastated over it and has been fighting to get put on the criminal court of appeals to fight cases like hers and to allow them to be heard and to make sure that you know that's not gonna continuously happen. but we have moms up and down the ballot from the House districts to the Senate districts to the congressional districts. We have an insane amount of moms running because moms are they're they're tired of seeing kids hurt, they're tired of seeing kids starve, they're tired of k seeing kids bombed in other countries with our tax dollars. Like they're they're sick of the death that's coming to children because of far right wing politics. And I mean we know it's been happening for centuries. unfortunately this is the time that everybody jumps in, but we we got a lot of moms. Tabitha Zeigler: Well well yeah, but that's important, right? And I think it's important to have these conversations. And honestly, yes. We tried to do this yesterday, didn't work out with our kids, and here we are with our crazy children again. And I do think you need more moms in office that can think on their feet, speak about issues that matter, but ultimately are leading with humanity. So let's talk a little bit more about your origin story because we had a very interesting conversation off camera about how you became who you are today. So why don't you enlighten us a bit on what your journey looked like? Chelsey Hockett: So while I do have the MAGA family history, I also have one particular lineage that has kind of shaped my entire understanding of the world. but my great grandfather came from a line of indigenous Cherokee people. my family about Probably about nine or ten generations ago, they were in Georgia and were moved up to the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indian land. they were a lot of them were born in Caldwell County, which is no longer part of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indian, but it was part of the reservation at one point. they started either they I'm sorry, they either got pushed to Oklahoma on the Trail of Tears. they stayed on the reservation or they left the reservation and lived off grid. the ones that were on the reservation slowly left the reservation and started immigrating down towards Alabama. And he was the f my great grandfather was the first white passing man on that line well generation. His dad looked white, but his uncles were very obviously not. So knowing what his family went through and the severity in which they were discriminated against and seeing what the government has done to them, he was able to kind of just take a step back and see what was happening. He's still there. Tabitha Zeigler: Yep, go ahead. Keep talking. Chelsey Hockett: No worries. I just wanted to make sure because I was getting a little fuzzy. so he was able to take that step back and during desegregation he was a pastor at a small church and he started working with black leaders in the middle of the night in cornfields to desegregate the community and then his daughter-in-law, my grandmother, was taking kids across picket lines for a year or two to make sure that they were getting to school safely, including my aunt, who was a

six-year-old in a school that was being integrated. and then her teacher and her principal were very active influences in her life from there. So because my aunt grew up in that time period, I was in and out of every civil rights museum. I had an extensive civil rights history as a child, which I'm also passing on to my child. and it was to the point where at thirteen when Rosa Parks passed, I was in the rotunda at the White House at her viewing. And just very much made sure that I was aware of all of these big points in history, especially the ones that were in Alabama that my family was either a part of, nearby, or whatever the case was. so from that point, like my aunt ended up working for the NIH and my parents got divorced. So when I was, you know, eight or nine, well, eight and nine, I ended up living with them. And so I would go to work with her on my days off of school, which I did on and off of living with them anyways. And so I got to go meet a bunch of like scientists and grant funding specialists and all of these people at the NIH. So I kinda grew up there. And I also experienced a lot of very traumatic events from having or going to school on land that they tested agent pink, purple and orange on and didn't disclose so everybody was sick, from 911 to the DC sniper. And then So it was just a lot of traumatic events as a child to shape my my worldview. And then from there we had moved Pennsylvania, then moved down to Texas. And from Texas, after I graduated college, my husband needed to get like a job to secure his current job. So we moved to Mississippi and I lived there for a year and a half. And that was a very eye-opening experience, even though I had all of that history and the knowledge, and I, you know, vacationed frequently with my grandparents in Alabama. I living as an adult in Mississippi was an insane it was an insane experience from like mansions behind me to floodplains with tiny houses in front of me. w the s built on cinder blocks. It was wild with the wealth inequality that I saw. then I moved to Ohio, which was pretty chill. except for the fact that the the Oregon district shooting happened when I was there and also a tornado that leveled half of our city. So I worked for a company that was thankfully very involved in volunteer work. So we were able to do stuff for the victims of the tornado. We were able to do stuff for the veterans for the Oregon district shooting. Like we made a bunch of lunches. We were able to donate those and from there we moved back to Texas. And my my husband now has a really good union job. So union wise I'm very pro-worker and I always have been very pro-worker because my grandfather that is married to my grandmother that used to, you know, walk kids across picket line. He was a big union man. He was he worked in a manufacturing factory in Birmingham, which is a really big industry down there between the Mercedes plant and just manufacturing in general is big blue collar work. So having that

union was great for them. and it was able to get them disability b to get them through to social security, which is another thing that I saw was just a a big issue with the money that's coming in, the restrictions that you have when you're on disability and on social security, not being able to have any kind of savings account. so I just I've seen a lot and I've experienced a lot in my own personal issues where I have endometriosis, I've had recurrent loss, I've had high risk pregnancies. Roe v. Wade was overturned after I had like seven miscarriages and two high like had one high-risk pregnancy and was in the middle of another one. So after Roby Wade was overturned. I sobbed constantly because I was terrified that something was gonna go wrong and I was gonna die. to turn around and have him, and then child care be so expensive that working was pointless. So I was so pissed off by the time that I got to that last like losing my like or having to give up my job because childcare was more expensive than what it was worth working. And I just vowed that I was going to fight. So I showed up. I organized protests, I got involved, I went to all the counties, I was in and out of the groups, I was talking to people, I was getting to know people, and I had a fire in my soul that they recognized and they pushed me to run. but I mean it was even to the point my congressman took a picture of me holding my child at a protest that I organized against him and blasted me all over the internet for be bringing a baby to a protest. And I was like, all right, I'll show you what we're gonna do next. Tabitha Zeigler: I think that's hysterical actually because I took my three disabled children to to DC with me Chelsey Hockett: Mm-hmm. Tabitha Zeigler: March twenty twenty five. I just took them again and you know, now I I've started to speak out a little bit more on social media because now I'm no longer a candidate. So now I'm a civilian, so I can really let loose. And Chelsey Hockett: Mm-hmm. Tabitha Zeigler: I've really started to have big conversations about racism and bigotry and, you know, the Klan and stuff like that, because I'm like, you know what? We cannot fix the problems that we have in this country if we're not willing to have those hard conversations. So that's why I very much respect what you're doing. but I also think that some of us didn't lick it off a stone, if you will. You know, like your family history, the experiences that you had. luckily you had an ant like that that allowed you to have access to see the inner workings. And now that you can make an impact, you're doing that. So let's talk a l about your platform a little bit. I know you mentioned e endometriosis and we've talked about immigration. Let's go ahead and talk about Israel while we're at it. Chelsey Hockett: Okay, let's go. Do you want me to start the conversation or would you do you have guided questions? Tabitha Zeigler: No, I'm just gonna let you we're gonna do free range here because I think we very much probably align. And part of this is trying to get people to see who you are as a person. You know, all of us we can we can do things, we can say things, but I think people get a different impression of us if we're having a normal conversation. So this is just two moms that one ran for Congress, one is currently running for Congress, and we're telling you why we're doing these things and why you should vote for her. Chelsey Hockett: So I grew up in the Christian nationalist, like Israel was like the top tier kind of thing for a long time, but my mom, after infidelity and possibly pre people in the church being involved kind of like dropped out of the church. So I was able to start forming my own opinions. Right. So when I was in high school and when you started talking about like world religion and all that kind of stuff, I actually it started in middle school. I'm not gonna lie to you. Like I just had a lot of opinions and I had a lot of philosophies and I used to drive my mom absolutely insane because my mom was very much raised in Christian nationalism where it's like Christianity is the only way and it's this and this and everybody else is going to hell basically. So I would have these big qu like big conversations With my mom and it used to piss her off. And we have since had these conversations again, and she's more understanding of everything, and she's a lot more like chill about it. So I I'm not bashing my mother, I promise. But we really just, you know, we started pushing that way, and my eyes were more open after October seventh being able to see everything, right? Because they were able to live stream like what they were going through. And our media of course blocks everything. So I am late to the party, I will tell you, but I watch those videos of kids screaming and hugging their parents while, you know, putting my child down to sleep. I watched those videos while brushing my daughter's hair and seeing kids decapitated. on screen, I have seen more dead children than I've ever seen in my life. over fifty was like fifty-one percent of population is children that's being attacked currently because of the pure death and destruction that they have seen for decades. And I put it to myself to start developing like a full understanding of the history of the nation and everything else, listening to podcasts with historical information, reading books, doing everything that I could to really understand what was happening over there. And it has 100% flipped my entire view of the world and it kind of like shook us to our core how much that we could just ignore that. but knowing that, you know, we can also ignore the genocide of native people, that we can ignore what we did with slavery, that we still have systems that are working against people, it makes sense that we can also ignore the fact that our taxpayer money is literally going over to fund a genocide. so You know, of course my views on everything continue to

develop as you get more and more education. but knowing that like we have these solutions that are just fantastic, like the two state solution, but nobody will let the Palestinians defend themselves. They have no real protection, they don't have anything else going on over there. So how are you gonna have like a two state solution when you literally have no presence to protect an entire country on one end and then a massive military on the other end that is funded by us that we have just integrated complete forces with, but we were already over there. We our troops were already over there. Their troops were already over here. Their troops were what training ICE officers. And they were using similar forms of torture on the detainees that we have here and the Palestinians and the flotilla members and the people that were trying to help there. So I have just been I've been watching and watching and watching and it it is such a dire situation and they are so close to extinction. I mean like watching watching them watch the World Cup literally sitting on rubble. there was what a bombing at an apartment complex yesterday that killed at least eight people, one kid's entire family, and he wasn't at the apartment, so he now he does not have a family at all and he was like ten. And the double taps on journalists, on aid workers, on hospital workers, it it's just it is horrifying and seeing like the white phosphorus bombs coming in. I just I don't want to see that anywhere. I watched Hotel Rwanda growing up. I learned about the Holocaust growing up. I learned about all of these horrific events growing up and just sit there and think that I can't do anything. I mean we we watched Sudan just be hor like horribly treated. We have the Democratic Republic of Congo that there I how many rapes are happening in a day? it it's an insane amount. and then the kids are climbing into minds and Yeah. Tabitha Zeigler: happening to babies. Babies and small children. Yeah. Chelsey Hockett: That's happening here too. And like it literally is happening all over the world. And Tabitha Zeigler: Yeah. Mm-hmm. Chelsey Hockett: there's no there's no reprogressions. There's nothing. I mean we're and then we're looking at like a world sex trafficking ring where th babies are literally getting tortured and eaten. And we're I don't know what to do as a mom. I'm about to start crying because How how can we treat any of our children like this anywhere in the world and think that it's okay? And so that's my big fight is making sure Tabitha Zeigler: Yeah. Chelsey Hockett: that these kids are okay can grow up, that they have parents to grow up with. Okay, I'm gonna take me so I don't start sobbing. But Tabitha Zeigler: No, I I'll I'll take over for you because I I get it. I do understand. And I put out a video that went kind of viral for me, you know, because here I am, just a normal lady, just a normal mom, basically living amongst beanfields, right? That I'm watching this stuff in 4K and

I'm like, what in the fuck are we doing? Like. Chelsey Hockett: Yeah. Tabitha Zeigler: How can we say that we're humanists? How can we say that we're humanitarian providing humanitarian services? You know, how can we cut USAID? How can we watch these babies either, you know, dying from bombs, from AIDS, from, you know, preventable diseases and all these sort of things? Meanwhile, I have my small children that have autism that are lacking services that basically they want to put in a camp. We're starting concentration camps again. I mean, Jesus Christ, like How far do we need to go before we get people activated? And this is why I'm thankful that I've met some other people that are very like-minded. I think we should be using strong language right now because it's required. And those people that are pretending like nothing's going on, they need to wake the fuck up. Chelsey Hockett: It's it is extraordinarily scary right now. It's and it's been extraordinarily scary and we've been protected from a lot with our media and I think our media is very complicit in the fact that we have all of these horrific things going on around the world. I know at some point we had more real journalism, but I know that there's always been a very strict like we're not showing the people this kind of thing and Tabitha Zeigler: Yeah, we've been propagandized to death. You know, we actually share that in common with Native American history. I was told the same. I I think that's why I've always tried my hardest to be an ally. And ever since I was a small child, anything that seemed, you know, environmental, indigenous related, plants, animals, whatever, I was that kid. I was like, right, we need to try and do our best to protect nature, people, culture, languages, and coincidentally I ended up going into languages into college. I became a flight attendant for seventeen years, traveled the world, had the opportunity to expand my mind, my thought process, had the opportunity to see different ways of doing things. And I very much think that we need people in positions like that here too. So let's talk a little bit more about your experience with travel. Chelsey Hockett: So travel I I like traveling. and I will I I have more to get into, I promise. And that's it's like that sounds like such a like I was very thankful for my family's position because I was able to travel some through Central America. I've been to Mexico. most of the time it's been vacation wise, but I always make it my number one priority to get to somewhere that's educational or like historical community. Because I just I don't wanna sit on a beach all day, I wanna learn. so I did that. I actually, language wise, when I was in high school, I took Latin. And I went through Latin V. I was terrible at it. I I really was. It wasn't an AP skill of mine. I loved my teacher. I love the class and I love the history that I learned from it. So I sti I stuck with it just because that is something that I loved. And because I did that, I was able to go to Italy and I took nine days and we went all over the country and we, you know, went to we we talked about Rome, which I get really into like the Roman colonization a lot with people and what they did to Britannia, what they did to Turkey and the Middle East, what they did to Egypt and all that kind of stuff, because I think that's really important. because that they kind of set the standard for colonization. and the fact that they used to literally throw people from other countries into dungeons and then use them as bait in the Coliseum and I don't think because everybody gets the gladiator, but they don't get like the behind. Anyways. So I was able to see a lot of how people lived when we were there. And I just recently spent a couple of weeks in Europe as well because my my sister in law is a complete badass and at the age of thirty three, she got into the women's masters tournament for Ultimate Frisbee after having two kids and I'm just I'm Very proud of her. And so we went and we watched her. We helped out with the kids and we were able to go through, but I experienced the heat wave and and the lack of resources that they have to be able to cool down because, you know, year round it's not something that's needed and it comes up for like a week or so, but this is the worst moment they've had and people people died. and it was it was like ninety degrees in the middle of the night, no fans, no AC, you've got cold water, no ice. Like and it's it was it was really rough. I will tell you that I now know. if I lose the electric grid, which I am terrified of being in Texas, I'm not going to survive that. We just I'm not gonna be the first one to survive. or the just I I'm gonna be one of the first ones out. I'm not gonna lie. that was a horrific experience for me. and I have a lot of sympathy for the people that are living there in there because it are in that because they don't have the power to have dryers the way that we do. They like they don't have the power grid for it. They don't have the power grid for the AC to be on constantly. And it's thousands and thousands of dollars to rewire these houses that have been around for a very long time, some for centuries, some for thousands of years. I went into a pub that was founded in 1189 AD. Like that building had been around for a while. You can't wire that for air conditioning. So I think people forget like the historical aspect of a lot of these places. And so that brings, you know, brings us into the climate change and everything else happening worldwide. But I started out working in food when I was if I was six sixteen, seventeen. I don't know. I worked at a vet clinic, but I did work in food for a long time. And I started as a cashier, I was a bartender, I was a server, I was a general manager, regional training manager, like It was it was one of my favorite things to do. I loved the higher energy of it. And I saw people from, you know, their first job to

their last job to having children to having grandchildren to having struggles with medical care to having struggles with all of this. So I I really got to see like the humanity and the inhumanity of the system that we live in and we work in. And I got to see I worked in food all over the country. So I got to see it from Mississippi to Ohio. to California down to Texas. And it is an insane difference in a lot of people. But again, we're talking about like COVID times. When I was pregnant with my my with my daughter, I was a general manager at a store in Ohio. And two weeks before I had her, my store shut down and they took away my health insurance. And so my husband's company, they retroacted. Like they did the retroactive insurance and they were able to get me covered in order to have a child, which I was very thankful for because that was a hundred thousand dollar bill with an emergency C section and a Nick Cues Day. And from that point I went over to the airline industry. And when I was working in the airline industry, I be I was a travel consultant. So I started there part time while I had a young child and I learned the ins and outs of my department and I was moved over to full time. And by the time that I did quit my job to be a stay at home mom, I had about four Or I had eight people under me. We were booking 38,000 tickets, but I was learning federal regulations, FAA regulations for pilots, for flight attendants, or all of that. So I was able to get in and out with the with that. I moved over, or we also worked with government contracts and the DOJ, and then we worked with union compliance and all of that as well when I was there. And that's something that I really loved doing. I was very, very good at my job, and I'm very upset that it stopped. But I was also able to look at corporate airlines and policies that they have and how they help people across the country, how they don't help people across the country and what to expect out of that. So I got a really, really good look at the the aviation industry on two different aspects from working for headquarters for a cargo airline and working extensively with the corporate and customer side of airlines. and so when we have these big devastations like seeing the policies that were put in place to protect consumers be absolutely just like disintegrated by the Trump administration was very eye opening. and I knew exactly how that was going to affect my old my old position and the people that are traveling that have no prior knowledge to what they were allowed to have, what they were allowed to ask for and all that kind of stuff too. Just the the corporate protecting the corporations over the people. so yeah, that was a mouthful. That was a very Tabitha Zeigler: No, no, that's fine. I I very much appreciate it because here I was just thinking, wow, what are we gonna do with all of these kids, with all of these people? we're gonna be using examples from all over about how we're gonna build policy and a lot of that would be from watching how other people are doing things in other parts of the world. So, you know, a lot of what you mentioned I think is very relevant. So let's talk a little bit more about Chelsey Hockett: Yeah. So Tabitha Zeigler: like what you would put in place In Texas Chelsey Hockett: In Texas specifically? Because I mean, I feel like the congressional position kind of affects nationally, which will affect Texas, but a lot of the things that we need to put into place just power grid, just infrastructure. We had the bill to be able to increase the amount of like solar and wind power that we had in Texas and it was more g like subsidized by the government. So that way it was more affordable for the state. We weren't using as much, even though we have a massive surplus that our governor refuses to use. And they were able to really like support the energy grid for the first time. Like for the first time it since the twenty twenty one power outage that killed over seven hundred people during the middle of a snowstorm. we actually had support and like we didn't have the rolling blackouts that they like to i act like we didn't have. And we didn't have our power going out in the middle of the winter. We didn't have our power going out in the middle of the summer because it was overloaded. they still ask us, even though they wanna act like it's a only a mom donnie thing, to keep our AC at seventy-eight when we're not or like when we're home and at like eighty-five when we're not. And like just being able to re-support our energy infrastructure with green energy is something that I am very in favor of. But I also come from an area where that green energy was put wherever they wanted. And it was taking over usable farmland and it was right next to houses and it was next to everything else. So I believe green energy very important was zoning and regulation. And I wanna see it used on car ports to protect the cars of the people, but also get energy for apartment complexes and hospitals. I wanna see it on the top of buildings. I like I want all buildings. Not that this is something that's reasonable that I can like legislate on specifically. But I want to see the tops of buildings be used as gardens or as power like sources. Like I wanna see that. I wanna see usable space, especially in the cities. Like DFW is the concrete jungle. Like I know they say they talk about New York doing that. DFW is insane. Like there's literally something going on right now to replace glass on the buildings to quit killing all the birds in our wildlife because we have so many glass skyscrapers and the the birds can't there's no distinction. They have campaigns to turn off your lights so that way birds aren't attracted to them and they can fly at night. Like we we are a cong we have no no environmental regulations in Texas. Like they've just like cut everything. So they p it's a free-for-all. I mean, we even have this one's one that is not well

known nationally. but we have a well an aquifer in our in our district. It's called the Carizo Wellcox Aqua. And we have a billionaire right now that's suing East Texas counties because they will not give him access to it. He wants to drain 15 billion gallons a year out of this aquifer, which is gonna dry it up. And then aquifer provides water for our farmlands, for our East Texas communities, for a lot of like a lot of families. And he has filed in every county to get access to this. He has been fighting and fighting and fighting and fighting. He has drained resources in our community. A billionaire is draining money out of the taxpayer systems. And He is now suing them and they don't have the money to fight him back. So I don't know what's going to proceed, but if this gets to federal courts and it rolls in his favor, it's going to destroy Texas water because billionaires are gonna be able to access it and not have to go through all the things that he's gone through. but we also have another another billionaire that had our congressman declare imminent domain when he got into the state house back in like 2012. and they're trying to condemn land. They're dumping water and land. They're they've closed off and privatized a bunch of stuff that used to be public land that people could go on and they could hunt and they could fish and they could do whatever. and then they're condemning generational land that's been in their families since the 1800s to try and take it from them to be able to build whatever they want. But they control the municipalities, like five billionaires control the municipalities in this like square of land, and there's a fifth of an acre. that the main guy and this like our congressman trade back and forth constantly. Like they literally watch the property sale and every time it goes, like it gets flagged in the community. And that guy that was responsible for declaring imminent domain was behind the Hutchins human trafficking warehouse that they had in South Dallas that did get shut down but would have doubled the population of the town with zero infrastructure upgrades and housed not only the immigrants that they were trying to arrest, but anybody That does not have a home living under a bridge in Dallas because they refuse to fund anything for the unhoused. And so they're just arresting them. So we have these two billionaires in East Texas that are literally destroying everything, including our water, including our energy, trying to like put people in warehouses. And they're just facing zero repercussions in Texas. Like there there's absolutely none because we have two other oil billionaires that are all in Abbott's pockets. So they're all just colluding to literally steal our resources here. and it's an AOK situation for our congressional representative because he's part of it. Tabitha Zeigler: Well, I think most of them are a part of it right now. I just saw one of our congressmen Chelsey Hockett: Yeah. Tabitha Zeigler: and Indiana get shouted down the last couple of days, which was actually nice to see because I was like, Finally, you're you're having to hear from a woman that is upset with you, that is trying to tell you that you're not listening, you're done you're not doing the right thing and you're not standing up for people. So I very much appreciate that we're getting more people like you in there that are actually willing to stand up for people and actually have the background to do it. Is there anything else that you'd like to mention today? 'Cause I know we've talked about a lot. I know you've got kids to get back to, so I don't want to keep you too long. Chelsey Hockett: well I do. Do you want more dirt? Because I think it's important. Tabitha Zeigler: Go ahead. Chelsey Hockett: So I was talking to somebody that's running for the Senate District 3. His name is Bobby Tillman. And he was we were talking about the data centers and stuff coming in, taking the water from those same areas that we're already struggling with to keep water in. and he's getting a data center backed up to his property that he's had in his family since the 1800s. And our conversation went into an entirely different topic, which is where one of our counties, Henderson County, they are paying their county commissioners a combined salary of over $1 million. And the retirement from these positions, if they hold them for so long, is like $90,000 to $120,000 a year after they retire, which is far more than a social security, right? Like that's absolutely insane. But it's based on the judges. But the people that raise the judge's salary are the legislators that are getting these massive retirements. So like our house district and our senating district with like representatives, if they hold office for like 20 years, they get to retire with that like 90,000, right? So that 90,000. Again, based on the judges. And who raises the judge's salary is the state legislators that are getting the payoff for it. So, like we have that scheme going on at the same time that we have county commissioners making like, and we'll have four or five of them, but they're making like a ridiculous amount of money. It's like a hundred and something thousand dollars a year for a county commissioner position in Henderson County. So and they're making like over a million dollars a year of taxpayer funds. We don't have roads that are usable. You will pop a Tire on the roads. We have houses getting condemned and then reverse condemned because they can't afford to upgrade it because they're on social security. I have one woman in my neighborhood. I'm not in Henderson County, but this is this is this is all over. So I'm gonna use one person as example. Just know that this is not a unique story. She will be out of debt for the first time at 84 years old. She has worked in manufacturing, she's been on social security, she has been on disability, she has been on all it, and she has worked her butt off until she literally

physically could not work anymore. Like she can barely move. Her house got condemned by the county. But because she can't move and she doesn't have any additional support, they reverse condemned it and they're gonna recondemn it after she passes away, basically. She can't fix her house. She's on Social Security, but we have people retiring from the state legislature making $90,000 a year. I don't think they should be making anything more in retirement than social security at this point because if you're I know that they don't have anything to do with social security, but like that that is absolutely ridiculous that we're advocating for something like that. So if we like stay packages any way that help our elderly constituents, whatever the case is, none of that is happening. And it's all going back to people that are in elected positions and are keeping these positions for a long, long, long, long time without any benefit to their community. And I'm just I'm sick of seeing stuff like that. I'm I'm big on term limits. I'm big on everything else. I actually refuse to sign the term limit limit pledge though, because they want you to pass the bill and grandfather you in. So it doesn't actually apply to you. It only applies to the people that are coming in. And so I'm like, nope, not ethical, not doing it. I'm not putting my hands on that. I will fight. I will vote for term limits, but I'm not gonna sign on to something that I view is highly unethical. So I just there's corruption schemes everywhere. What's up, babe? Tabitha Zeigler: Massive corruption. You're absolutely right. Chelsey Hockett: Yeah. Can I have an iPad? Yes. It's in that bag. Yeah. So that's a lot to say. I've been like holding that in forever. Tabitha Zeigler: Look, here's a space to say whatever. I'm just like constantly muting myself because my children are they're feral and they're just being crazy over here. But you know, you can't raise Chelsey Hockett: To know you're good. Yeah. Tabitha Zeigler: feral p feral children without them being independent. So I'm sure you understand what I mean with that. Chelsey Hockett: Yes, I do. And I I I love independent children. I love I fight them all the time and I'm like, You wanna fight? And they go, Yeah and I'm like, Alright, let's do it and so we'll just talk about it. But It's up to the bottom. Tabitha Zeigler: Well, personally, I don't think f this is just one opinion, but I think it would be fabulous to see the US Congress and Senate function like it was supposed to and see you see there's one right there. Like see see the lawn full of children, right? Like if we're supposed to be fighting Chelsey Hockett: But okay. Tabitha Zeigler: for something in like the next seven generations of America, well let's get some people in there that are actually willing to fight for these kids because we're supposed to be preserving things for them. Chelsey Hockett: Yeah, and I mean, right now, like we're literally just trying to uneducate our children. Like we're putting the Bible like in the history classes in our school. We've got the Ten Commandments issues. We have a lot of teachers that are running right now too because of that. I but yeah we're fighting really hard for education right now between the vouchers that have pulled millions of dollars out of all of our school districts from what they're putting in the classrooms. we have a parents' rights bill that they keep saying is a freedom for our children, but the teachers can't teach our children. They can't give our children band-aids. If a children vomits on themselves and the pa parents didn't sign the proper paperwork, they have to sit in vomit soaked clothing. it's a mistreatment of children and it it's neglect in the schools is what the parents' rights bills are. But like Republicans love to pass these things and then they turn around and go, look, it's failing. The system is failing. Because you're putting legislation in that's literally failed. Tabitha Zeigler: Well, it doesn't seem to yeah, it doesn't seem to matter what kind of kids, right? Like especially trans kids. Let's just pick some very small group of people and try and vilify them and ostracize them instead of actually doing something for them. Let's create mass hysteria and mass fear to what? line our pockets. Chelsey Hockett: And the big thing in Texas was okay, thank you. Litter boxes in the classroom. Like that's not even sanitary. Of course there aren't litter boxes in a classroom. No teacher is gonna let a child take a crap in the middle of a classroom. Like that's not happening. And it's fully just chaos. And it's still used. Like there's no common sense behind people using it. Tabitha Zeigler: Well, they don't they don't want people I think this is their real fear, right? They don't want us to teach any of these kids critical thinking. They're terrified of that because if the mass populace if they are educated just enough to be able to fully identify things like propaganda when they're being abused, abusive language, and truly think that they might be able to do something about it, that's their worst nightmare. So that's where people like you come in. Chelsey Hockett: Yeah. Yep. I mean they're just they're creating workers and they're Tabitha Zeigler: So let's talk about all all the ways Chelsey Hockett: creating Tabitha Zeigler: Yeah, I was just gonna say, let's just talk about all the ways that you're gonna give it to him when you get into Congress. Chelsey Hockett: Well, one, well, I can't do anything about the state side of it, but I will be working with our Senate district and our House District nominees and our our elected to, I don't know, push any kind of education reform that we can into the Senate and the House for Texas because that's absolutely insane and it affects my children that are in Texas public schools. So I want to be able to influence that for our local community, but also on a federal side of it, be able to send more funding to

schools and teachers. I know CRT is a bad dirty word to a lot of Republicans, but being able to like teach actual history is a really big deal. so b restoring the the Department of Education that Jimmy Carter worked so hard to implement in the first place is a big deal for for me. so I'm and it's it's one true form of equity that we have for our communities. I have three historic block communities in our neighborhood, and we have a lot of unincorporated towns that are in Texas that were like freedman colonies back in the day. so to be able to like bring education and money into their school systems that way they have any kind of equity is a big deal for me. as well as, you know, Dallas, we have Mesquite, we have Garland, but they they have pretty good school districts. but our rural areas don't have as much going on. so you know, being able to work back and forth with them. we have I mean it's it's all everything that I think of is for the children and for their future. Being able to impeach, remove and convict a lot of these people. reenacting the fairness doctrine that Reagan he tossed out the window during his term and make sure that the media is actually portraying the truth. I we need to I I mean, I don't even media feels like a lost cause at this point because everybody that is anybody is listening to independent journalists versus the big media, because the big media has been like all lies except for one or two journalists and they're all getting kicked off the air. I mean, I just there's so much. that needs to be done. but I mean removing funding from genocidal governments that have healthcare and education is is a big one. and I just restoring USAID because the research and stuff that we have there that helps the kids across the world also helps our kids here. and it costs almost nothing to our taxpayer like diet like stuff. we have We've got to do a full audit on the military and make them prove where it's coming from and take that money from the government contracts. Like that the amount of like it's insane. And that's as somebody that grew up with a father that has been working with government contracts for a very long time and he has clearance with the military and he's one of the people that bids on these contracts. but it's for structural work. Like he's a welder and he's a fabricator, so he does a lot of that kind of stuff. And I mean Just like but it's a small business that the government is helping, not a massive corporation that is getting billions of dollars. I mean, how much money has gone to Elon Musk at this point in government contracts? It is literally billions of dollars. I mean, and they even awarded a government contract to one of the dumb and dumb or sons. And they have was it Eric for an intelligence agency? That they awarded all that money to I don't know. I mean they're literally just awarding massive amounts of money to their closest friends and allies instead of actually bidding on jobs and everything else too. But then they're also No. Tabitha Zeigler: Well, I don't think it matters at this point because all three sons are just raking money hand over fist. That family has had so much griff, Chelsey Hockett: Yeah. Tabitha Zeigler: they're like the mafia. Chelsey Hockett: massive amount. But I mean they're taking the money from like actual contract like they're taking that money from NASA and giving it to SpaceX. They're taking that money from the NIH and giving it to like independent contractors that are like, you know, the Maha crew. They're taking money from all of these agencies that we have used all of our taxpayer funds to build and research and it's just gone. We don't have a CDC anymore. We we barely have NIH anymore. W NASA is getting defunded. We have it's absolutely insane. Like and the money not not even just to Elon Musk, but it's also going to Jeff Bezos, who for some reason thinks that he needs to be involved in like astrophysics, the car insurance industry, the health industry, and and everything else too. We have billboards where you can buy and sell a car on Amazon in Texas. We have billboards where you can go to Amazon for your healthcare needs now. Like it is insane. Like they are in every single industry, but like pri like I'm privatizing a lot of these big industries is is a big is a big step. but that is what I want to see. I don't wanna see healthcare privatized. I don't want to see prisons privatized. I don't want to see any of that privatized. there are too many incentives to screw over the people and to give that money back to the corporations and the board members and the CEOs. And I want to see an actual like I I want the Pro Act passed. I want a higher minimum wage. I want everything for the workers. I want to see workplace democracy again. I want to see some worker owned, some more worker owned businesses, because while we do have a few in the country, we don't have a ton. and being able to bring that power back to the people to negotiate for their healthcare, to negotiate for profit sharing and bonus sharing and tenure and bring all of that back, that really boosted the middle class back in the fifties, as well as a pro a progressive tax on wealth. So a lot of opinions. Tabitha Zeigler: That was a lot. But but no, I I like that. And I think that's what's important, right? Like that's what people aren't seeing. You know, whenever you have other congressional reps that are chasing down people trying to get an answer out of them and they're just laughing and smiling and waving. I think it's really refreshing for the American public to hear from a normal person that looks like them, speaks like them. it's going through some of the normal struggles that they're going through and is not hopping on a private jet and going and, you know, wine dining with people that are looking over to screw over the American people. Chelsey Hockett: And I I specifically my congressman was an insurance agent for c corporations to make sure that

they didn't get sued by the people that they were screwing over. So he is literally just Tabitha Zeigler: That checks. Chelsey Hockett: At all, at all like levels. I mean I'm I went to Texas Women's University. It's not an Ivy League school. It's not one of the top schools in the country. It's not anything like that. and I I graduated, I have my bachelor's degree from them and but and it's in business, but and I still have humanity. I just I didn't continue with it. I don't think I've ever really used my degree besides like the class, like the accounting and stuff that I used when I was working in I I think I feel like the I feel like accounting was the only thing that was really beneficial to me, in any of my jobs. But that was only a couple classes here and there that I actually use that for. But I still have my degree and I used it and I did not use it to screw over the people. I used it to advocate for more pay for my employees. I used it to advocate and for a change of procedure and policy that was hurting people. I used it to volunteer and work with, you know, the food pantries, the VA. We worked with natural disasters and we did all of that kind of stuff when I worked for the company that I worked for. And while we I worked for the Cavelli Enterprises in Ohio. I don't know if you know about them in Indiana, but they do they're they're pretty big. But he was donating millions of dollars to Ohio State University to get his name on. A stadium at Ohio State, and he had stuff named after him in Youngstown, because that's where they kind of started. But he wouldn't pay his employees anything more than minimum wage and they were really struggling. And me and my director were both in meetings yelling, take away all of our benefits, take away this. Don't we don't need any of this? Stop donating money over here and start a college scholarship fund for your employees. Like, do like and they're like, Well, how can we keep our employees and retain them? And we were literally screaming, pay them, take away any benefits you give us and pay. pay them and we weren't making much. We barely had benefits. We had employee cars because they were cheaper for them than paying us mileage and any damage that happened to our cars. And we were like, take them back. We don't want them. We don't want any of this. spent all the money on these. We'll pay mileage on our own. Like, I don't care. Like, just pay our employees. So we would literally sit in the back of the room, like, screaming, and everybody would turn around and be like, That's his money. Like, I am going to yell at all of you because the reason he has that money is because his employees are not getting paid. And It was it was always a nightmare, with that company. But that's the company that decided that I didn't need health insurance when they shut down our store during COVID. And the store has been reopened. it's not like it was a permanent shutdown. It was a shutdown because our I so I my store was in Springfield, Ohio, which was the store like the area where they were eating the cats and dogs and they ha they're under a lot of fire with the Haitian immigrants being there. But they have brought a lot of life back to that community, but there's no money in the community. Like it is a very community and a lot of the house has been in disrepair and the Haitians came in and they were able to actually like upgrade everything and bring that back. And that that is where I worked. I worked in that town. and I just I'm so sick of corporations and billionaires and millionaires and CEOs and boards and I don't want to see it. I want to see workers in charge of their own workplace. So Tabitha Zeigler: Well, I was a union worker. I was in the unions with the airlines. I was in the union with the United States Postal Service. And I would agree with you. I think there need to be more unions, stronger unions. That's the only way that things ever seem to get solved. There's a rebranding of this oligarch class that they're trying to seem like they are of the people. And if it weren't for us creating jobs, you would have nothing. Well meanwhile they're stealing from you hand over fist, they're stealing your water, they're stealing your land, they're trying to restrict your buying power and trying to convince you to buy all of their crap while they just increase all the prices on you to make you a slave. And yeah. It's a shit show. Chelsey Hockett: And it it and then we're relying now, like with this administration, on the donations of the people that are oppressing society, to continue to have our services because they started what the Trump like funds for newborns. and they started it with a donation from the Dells or whatever, whoever they were. Like we're literally r so they're gonna take all the money by just actually Tabitha Zeigler: This is just rubber baron two point Chelsey Hockett: Yeah, I was so yeah. Take the money from the people, give them a portion of it back and hopefully it's enough money for the people. Hopefully it's enough to keep the system running. I I just it's screwed up and I'm tired of it. I don't wanna see it anymore. I wanna see the people back in charge. Tabitha Zeigler: Right, so what would you like to see in the next five years? Let's just say hypothetically that we're successful and we get a lot of people Chelsey Hockett: Universal healthcare. Universal health care and affordable groceries. I want the tariffs removed and I want everybody in jail. That is sorry, man. Just Tabitha Zeigler: Yes, in jail. Chelsey Hockett: affordable. I wanna see housing, I wanna see food come down, I wanna see tariffs gone, I wanna see universal health care, and I want all of them in jail. I Merrick Garland being one of the top ones right now because he didn't freaking prosecute any of them during Biden's term. I was like, I feel like the in action deserves it as well. and I would also like to see war criminals at The Hague. So Tabitha Zeigler: All

right, so since we're talking about that, let's go ahead and talk to talk about the Epstein files before we wrap up. I'm sure you have strong feelings on this and what we should be doing. Chelsey Hockett: we need to be prosecuting everybody and we need to bring everybody in. They need to be questioned, they need to be like, and it shouldn't be going through the Congress. It should be going through FBI and DOJ and they should be having these full trials. Congress is way too slow. Yes, they're a an essential part of it. but the fact that we're we're literally just pulling one person at a time and allowing them to speak off of the record and not be filmed is absolutely insane. we have women that are literally screaming from the top of their lungs being ignor ignored. actively in pictures there with them. we have children that have spoken out or children that were or they were children when they were there that have spoken out and there's nothing and I know the the adults but I'm talking like also we have like Sasha Riley and we have people that have gone fully on record and we have extensive extensive evidence that they are telling the truth and it's not there. We have women that have shown up in other countries screaming about them that have disappeared. And we're seeing evidence of like birthing farms basically where they have a bunch of women. I mean that happened what in the country of Georgia and it happened all over the world, so why is it not happening here? What it probably is. they're not looking it up. And I mean we have so d have you been following the Don Hoffines and Zoro Ranch stuff? Tabitha Zeigler: Yes, but there's so much that I can't keep up on everything, so go ahead and inform us. Chelsey Hockett: I mean, no, I mean just like we have a statewide candidate that was elected as or not elected. He was the Republican nominee for it and they fired the guy that was in that position and they're putting him in place already, but he owns Zoro Ranch in New Mexico, which is one of the Epstein ranches. and they started doing construction on it immediately and removing all this evidence from it and the DOG r the DOJ is refusing to investigate any of it. And it's it's insane. It's insane that we're that they're allowed to get it. Like, we're literally watching removal of evidence in real time and there's nothing to do about it. And it's affected so many of our children. Like, we have so many children that have gone missing. They've been in the beauty pageant network. I'm pretty sure John Bonet Ramsey was probably part of that at some point as well, because beauty queen in the pageant industry with these kids going missing. Like, I just I want to see the kids get justice. I wanna see the adults that experienced it as kids get justice. And I know that it's still a really big thing for today. like it's still happening. We still have sex trafficking. We solve people getting moved in and out of the country. We have people being held hostage in the country. and it just it needs to be rectified immediately. We know way too much to not be doing anything. And I know other countries are doing stuff, but how much are they doing? Are they only doing the public facing, or are they doing more? that we're not seeing? again, like a a lot of our media is being quieted, but theirs is too. So Tabitha Zeigler: All right, so the last thing I'm gonna ask you about, because we covered a ton today, what do you want people to really remember about you as a person from this conversation? Chelsey Hockett: I just operate out of love. I wanna see humanity come back in. it's been neglected for far too long. from both sides of the aisle. We need humanity and we need love in Congress and we need people that are going to act on taking care of our future and not seeing how much money that they can get out of people before they vote on an in something. that is that is where love and humanity. That is all I want. And that's all I wanna see. Tabitha Zeigler: Very good. And where can people find you? Chelsey Hockett: You can find me at ChelseaHocket for Congress dot com. and on any meta platform is Chelsea Hockey for Congress. Hockey for Congress on TikTok. And I I did finally get a Twitter, but I'm not gonna I just wanted to monitor to see what the Republican sphere was doing. I deleted my last one after Musk took over. But I just Yep, I'm here, I'm out there, I I try to talk when I can. I actually have a pretty full volunteer team now. So we're actually moving on socials and we're getting stuff done now finally. but my big thing has been not asking for money and actually getting out talking to people. But now we're getting to a point where we need the money to be able to talk to people. So we're we're pushing that way. But Tabitha Zeigler: Right. So are you using Act Blue or are you going away from Act Blue? How can people donate to your campaign? Chelsey Hockett: Act Blue is where I'm currently at. it is probably one of the it's the tool with the integrations for everything else that we use. So unfortunately that is kind of where we're at. But this is how you spell my name. And you can find me anywhere using that spelling because it's not a very common name at all. So it it works out for us, but Tabitha Zeigler: All right, Chelsea. Well, I very much appreciate you taking the Chelsey Hockett: Thank you. Tabitha Zeigler: time to come on today. Sorry it was so crazy in the background, but this is real life for Americans and this is real life for political candidates. So it doesn't get any more real than this. I see you've got at least one little one on the couch there. Chelsey Hockett: And the other one's upstairs making a lot of noise, but it's pretty quiet 'cause I have that nice ball that blocks the stairs. But thank you so much for having me. All right. Tabitha Zeigler: Right, right. Well hey, once again, thank you so much for coming on. And you guys have a good day. We'll see you soon. Bye.