Breaking The Meta

In this episode of Breaking the Meta, Mike Winson sits down with Presbyterian pastor Emily Knoth to talk about faith, justice, LGBTQ inclusion, and the role of the church in today’s political and social climate. From being the first queer pastor ordained in her Kansas presbytery to helping people find affirming churches, Emily shares what it means to live out Christianity through compassion, humil...

In this episode of Breaking the Meta, we sit down with Dylan Blaha, a pro-peace veteran and former cancer research scientist running for Congress in Illinois’s 13th District. We discuss why he’s challenging establishment politics, the impact of money in politics, universal healthcare, immigration realities, foreign policy, and how working-class communities are being left behind. Blaha shares insig...

In this episode of Breaking the Meta, Mike Winson sits down with Ashley Bell, a physician associate, educator, and congressional candidate running for North Carolina’s 10th District. Bell shares her journey from healthcare and education into politics and explains why the overturning of Roe v. Wade and growing threats to healthcare access pushed her to run for Congress. The conversation explores th...

In this episode of Breaking the Meta, Mike Winson sits down with Illinois 5th District congressional candidate Matt Conroy to discuss why he’s running, what voters are telling him, and the real issues shaping the 2026 election. From healthcare costs and housing affordability to childcare expenses and political accountability, Conroy outlines the economic pressures facing working families and why h...

In this episode of Breaking the Meta, Mike Winson sits down with New Hampshire U.S. Senate candidate Karishma Manzur to discuss healthcare reform, the housing crisis, minimum wage, campaign finance, foreign policy, and the future of the Democratic Party. From Medicare for All and affordable housing to accountability in government and grassroots political engagement, this conversation explores the...

In this episode of Breaking the Meta, Meg Tomasic joins the conversation to explore what unity, resistance, and community look like in a deeply divided America. From a viral snow day moment in Washington, DC to the larger questions of burnout, social media pressure, and political polarization, the discussion examines whether joy can be a form of resistance and why people shouldn’t feel guilty for...

Virginia’s 1st District congressional candidate Tim Cywinski joins Breaking the Meta to discuss healthcare costs, corporate money in politics, democracy reform, tax policy, and the future of American foreign policy. In this in-depth interview, we break down campaign finance reform, “Democracy Dollars,” ethics standards in Congress, insider trading, housing affordability, Wall Street ownership of h...

Texas 33rd District candidate Zeeshan Hafeez joins Mike Winson on Breaking the Meta to discuss immigration reform, ICE, progressive politics in Texas, Gaza, campaign finance, and the future of the Democratic Party. In this in-depth interview, we break down Texas gerrymandering, low voter turnout, affordability, Social Security, minimum wage, foreign policy, and what accountability in Congress shou...

Kate Barr is running for U.S. House in North Carolina’s 14th District in the Republican primary with policies that challenge the political status quo. In this interview, we discuss gerrymandering, voter accountability, Tim Moore’s stock trades, disaster relief delays in Lake Lure and Chimney Rock, cost of living in NC, and why Barr believes the primary is the real election in non-competitive distr...

Cole Carter is running for Congress in Pennsylvania’s 3rd District, covering most of Philadelphia, and his campaign centers on poverty, crime prevention through opportunity, a federal jobs guarantee, Medicare for All, youth investment, and government accountability. In this interview, we discuss Philadelphia’s affordability crisis, food insecurity, gun violence, healthcare cuts, stock trading bans...

ICE detained a woman during her green card interview in San Diego. In this exclusive interview, Mila Araya shares what happened when ICE agents arrested her at USCIS, transported her in shackles, and held her for nearly a week in detention despite having no criminal record. We break down the green card process, immigration detention conditions, bond hearings, ICE administrative warrants, and what...

Progressive candidate Anthony Bridges joins Breaking the Meta to explain why he’s running for Congress in Texas’s 32nd District. In this in-depth political interview, Anthony talks about Texas redistricting, money in politics, state violence, immigration, the affordability crisis, healthcare, housing, and why grassroots movements must challenge establishment power. He breaks down how big donors, c...

Army veteran and Special Forces soldier Kyle Gauck joins Breaking the Meta to talk about why he’s running for Congress in Connecticut’s 2nd District. In this in-depth political interview, Kyle discusses January 6th, democracy, accountability, money in politics, term limits, the affordability crisis, and why working families are being crushed by the cost of living. He explains how his military serv...

In this episode of Breaking the Meta, I sit down with Air Force veteran Jeff Pixley, who is running for Congress in Oklahoma’s 4th District. Jeff shares his journey from growing up in a military family, to flying F-16s, to working around Air Force One, and ultimately to the moment that pushed him to retire early and step into politics. We talk about what Oklahoma voters are really saying on the gr...

In this episode of Breaking The Meta, Mike Winson sits down with Callie Barr, Democratic candidate for Michigan’s 1st Congressional District, which covers the entire Upper Peninsula and the northern third of the Lower Peninsula. Callie shares her journey from military spouse to nonprofit advocate to University of Michigan law graduate, and now congressional candidate. She talks openly about her hu...

In this episode of Breaking the Meta, Mike Winson sits down with Kevin Ryan, a Marine Corps veteran, public school teacher, and union member who is running for U.S. Senate in Illinois. Kevin is running a radically different kind of campaign. Instead of dialing for dollars, he bought a school bus and has traveled to all 102 counties in Illinois, talking directly with voters across the political spe...

In this episode of Breaking the Meta, we sit down with  @AnabelforCongress  a progressive candidate running for Congress in Illinois’ 7th District, for a deep, honest conversation about working-class politics, immigration, housing, foreign policy, and what real accountability in government should look like. Anabel is a lifelong Chicagoan who grew up on the Southwest Side in a working-class immigra...

Breaking the Meta sits down with  @ReedShowalter  progressive candidate for Illinois’s 7th Congressional District, for a deep, wide-ranging conversation about the future of American democracy, economic freedom, ICE raids in Chicago, corporate power, and what real progressive leadership could look like in Congress. Reed shares his background as a former antitrust attorney who worked on investigatio...

In this episode of Breaking The Meta, we sit down with Elizabeth Dempsey-Beggs, a military veteran, foster parent, and progressive Democrat running for Congress in Virginia’s 1st District. Elizabeth shares why she decided to run, what she’s hearing from people across her district, and why affordability, foster care, military accountability, and banning congressional stock trading are central to he...

In this episode of Breaking the Meta, I sit down with Anna Lee Williams, a progressive candidate running in the special election for New Jersey’s 11th Congressional District. Anna shares her story, from community organizing and union work to immigration advocacy and corporate social responsibility, and why she decided to run for Congress at a moment when so many Americans feel priced out, burned o...

In this episode, Mike sits down with Chelsey Hockett, a Texas mom, organizer, and Democratic candidate running for U.S. Congress in Texas’s 5th District. Chelsey shares the deeply personal story that pushed her into politics, from high-risk pregnancies and the impact of Roe being overturned, to organizing protests, hosting empty-chair town halls, and directly confronting a MAGA congressman who has...

This conversation goes deeper than most. Mike Winson talks with Ben Fisher, a creator with more than two million followers and the founder of A String of Hope, opens up about his long journey through alcoholism, opioid addiction, shame, recovery, and rebuilding his life as a husband, father, musician, and mentor. We talk about what addiction really feels like from the inside, why so many people hi...

This episode of A More Perfect Podcast goes inside Portland’s front-line reality. Mike talks with Aimee, a single mom, protester, and livestreamer who has been documenting the nightly clashes at the Portland ICE facility. She describes what it’s actually like on the ground, the misinformation being pushed about the city, why federal agents are escalating force, and what happened the night a protes...

In this episode of A More Perfect Podcast, we talk with author Kate Hill about her new book The Art of After: How to Turn Your Grief into Art. She shares how losing her father at 13 shaped her creative life, why grief needs movement, and how art can help us transform pain into meaning. We also get real about emotional blocks, trauma, resilience, and what it means to stay grounded when the world fe...

In this episode of A More Perfect Podcast, Mike Winson sits down with Leila Staton, a 21-year-old progressive running for Iowa’s 54th District. Leila talks about why she decided to run, Iowa’s healthcare crisis, the loss of OBGYNs after abortion bans, the impact of school vouchers, and the fight to restore political civility. They discuss growing challenge of being a young woman in politics, and w...