In this season's final episode of the Being American Podcast, Gov. Patrick talks with Robert Hubbell, author of Today’s Edition Newsletter on Substack, about the fight to protect our democratic values and institutions and the importance of staying optimistic amid a sea of negativity and hyperpolarization.  Gov. Patrick wraps up Season 2 with an impassioned commentary urging the American people to be and stay engaged on the issues that matter most to them and their families, make their voices heard at the ballot box, and reminding them that only they can determine the direction of this country through the power of their vote.

In this episode of the Being American Podcast, Gov. Patrick talks with ACLU of Mississippi Policy Counsel Vara Lyons about Justice Samuel Alito's leaked decision in the Dobbs case  challenging Mississippi's 15-week abortion ban, the Supreme Court of the United States' potential overruling of Roe v. Wade, and the implications of rolling back nearly 50 years of legal precedent that protects women's reproductive rights. 

In this episode of the Being American Podcast, Gov. Patrick talks with VoteRiders CEO and Executive Director Laura Kunis about how state voter ID laws are impacting voters' ability to vote and how the organization is working to help ensure every vote counts.  Gov. Patrick also weighs in on the historic confirmation of Judge Kentanji Brown Jackson as the first Black woman on the U.S. Supreme Court.

In this episode of the Being American Podcast, Gov. Patrick talks with John Della Volpe, the director of polling at the Harvard Kennedy School Institute of Politics about his new book, Fight: How Gen Z is Channeling Their Fear and Passion to Save America and how younger voters are more engaged and passionate on issues that matter to them than most people give them credit.  Gov. Patrick also takes a look at grassroots efforts to engage voters in Philadelphia with BridgeTogether grantee Unity in the Community founder Anton Moore.  

In this episode of the Being American Podcast, Gov. Patrick takes a closer look at grassroots efforts in Georgia to address economic insecurity and year-round voter engagement and registration.  He sits down with Hope Wollensack, Executive Director of the Georgia Resilience and Opportunity Fund (GRO Fund), and Fair Count Executive Director Rebecca DeHart.  The GRO Fund recently launched In Her Hands, a guaranteed income initiative focused on Black women across the state of Georgia, and Fair Count, founded by Stacey Abrams to build long-term power in communities that have been historically undercounted and underrepresented, recently createdVOTE-365 to educate voters, ensure everyone can vote in 2022 and that their vote is counted. 

In this episode of the Being American Podcast, Gov. Patrick sits down with author David Pepper, whose new book, Laboratories of Autocracy: A Wake up call from Behind the Lines, lays out a robust pro-democracy agenda outlining how everyone from elected officials to business leaders to everyday citizens can fight to preserve American democracy. Pepper is a lawyer, writer, political activist, former elected official, and adjunct professor, and served as the Chairman of the Ohio Democratic Party between 2015 and 2021.  He has written four novels that bridge real-world politics and fiction—including his forthcoming A Simple Choice and his first novel, The People’s House, which  earned praise for having “predicted the Russia scandal.” The Wall Street Journal named Pepper "one of the best political-thriller writers on the scene.”   

In this episode of the Being American Podcast, Gov. Patrick sits down with Aaron Marquez, an Army veteran and co-founder of VetsForward.us, a group of progressive military veterans in Arizona working to defend democratic values at home by winning the hearts and minds of American voters.  VetsForward is partnering with Bridge Together, led by Gov. Patrick, to engage voters ahead of the 2022 midterms and beyond.  Gov. Patrick also addresses the Senate's failure to pass federal voting rights legislation and the threat of state voter suppression laws on our democracy.

In this episode of the Being American Podcast, Gov. Patrick sits down with Shakya Cherry-Donaldson, the executive director of 1000 Women Strong, a group that provides resources, recruits, trains, mobilizes, and organizes around issues that impact Black Women and their extended communities.  1000 Women Strong is partnering with Bridge Together, led by Gov. Patrick, to engage voters ahead of the 2022 midterms and beyond.  Gov. Patrick also addresses ongoing efforts in Congress to protect voting rights in response to state voter suppression laws disproportionately impacting communities of color.

In this special episode of the Being American Podcast, Gov. Patrick sits down with renowned political analyst and election handicapper, Dave Wasserman.  Wasserman is the Senior Editor for the U.S. House of Representatives at the Cook Political Report w/ Amy Walter.  They discussed the outcome of the 2021 elections in Virginia and New Jersey, where the polls got it right and wrong, and the outlook for the 2022 midterms. Tune in for your election recap and analysis! 

Welcome to Season 2 of Being American! Today's conversation features candid interviews with our host, Governor Deval Patrick, and his two guests. The first, Cecile Richards, former President of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America and a co-chair of American Bridge 21st Century. They discuss the Texas abortion law, SB8, and the impact that law is having across America.The second is Chrystian Woods, the new Executive Director of BridgeTogether -- a new 501(c)3 initiative launched by American Bridge and chaired by Gov. Patrick.For more information go to BridgeTogether.org.