When Cameron Kasky was still a child, a deranged gunman armed with a AR-15, stormed into his high school and murdered 17 of his classmates. As Cameron lay with his special needs brother frantically updating his parents that the gunman had not yet found them, he vowed he would dedicate his life to tackling the sources of violence that visited horror on his young friends and so many communities in America and around the world.

Now he is taking that fight against violence, whether at home, in Gaza, or in our healthcare system to a new campaign for Congress in New York’s 12th Congressional District.

The field to replace the retiring progressive stalwart Jerry Nadler includes Kennedy scion Jack Schlossberg among other candidates with different visions for the Manhattan district In this conversation Cameron opens up about those harrowing endless minutes as he hid under a desk, how right wing lunatics claimed he was a crisis actor, and why he thinks the time is now for a left insurgent national movement. Watch below:

It’s relatively normal these days to see candidates expect to ride into office based on buzzy, attention-grabbing social media campaigns, but as we saw with Zohran, that’s only a small piece of the bigger puzzle New Yorkers are thinking about when they cast their vote. Name recognition can play a big role, too. But Cameron has what members of political dynasties and incumbent leaders don’t have: a new vision that responds to the kinds of changes — universal healthcare, social housing, and gun violence prevention — that everyday people are thinking about on a day-to-day basis. So while Cameron, especially as a Gen Z candidate, is up against the status quo, we talk to him in this episode about how he’s changing the political terrain by offering something his competitors can’t.

[We also talk honestly about the struggles his campaign will face. It basically goes without saying that other candidates have money — dirty money, family money — on their side. Grassroots funding and support will make a big difference in this race. It’s also difficult to be the only candidate brave enough to raise political consciousness about what truly isn’t working for his potential constituents: pointing out what needs to change is already tough, and getting people on board with a vision to change it is even harder. Cameron has been an outspoken critic of Israel’s genocide in Gaza, meaning he’s also going to have to battle Zionist opposition, and as you may remember from Zohran’s campaign, that opposition is willing to go extremely low. But Cameron’s big sell is that your paycheck shouldn’t be eaten up entirely by rent and healthcare, and it also shouldn’t fund human rights abuses abroad. We think it’s a compelling vision that could form part of a progressive tide sweeping American politics.

Thanks for tuning in. You can listen to this episode when it’s released tomorrow on Apple Podcasts, Pandora, Spotify, and more.