If you’ve ever looked at the state of politics and thought, “What’s the point?”
—this conversation is the reminder you need.
I sat down with powerhouse activist Deja Foxx, who at just 25 is running for Congress in Arizona’s 7th district. She’s not just talking about change—she’s out there knocking on doors, refusing corporate PAC money, and pushing bold, progressive policies that impact real people, especially those who’ve been left behind by the system. We talk about the true cost of running for office, why reproductive rights are a financial issue, and what it actually takes to shake up a broken political system. If you’ve been feeling disillusioned with politics, Deja will remind you of what’s possible when we center lived experience and refuse to wait our turn.
Key takeaways:
Reproductive rights are economic rights.
Deja makes a powerful case that access to reproductive healthcare isn’t just a moral or political issue—it’s a financial one. She connects her own access to birth control and sex education with her ability to attend college, pursue opportunities, and now run for Congress. She’s fighting not just to restore Roe v. Wade, but to go further—repealing the Hyde Amendment and making abortion access equitable for all.
Lived experience is a qualification—not a liability—for leadership.
From growing up on SNAP benefits and Medicaid to experiencing homelessness at 15, Deja’s background informs her politics. Rather than disqualifying her, it’s what makes her voice powerful and relatable. She reminds us: “You are an expert in your experience.”
The political system is built to keep working-class candidates out.
Deja’s running a grassroots campaign funded almost entirely by small-dollar donations—without corporate PACs or legacy donors. She’s honest about the financial cost of running for office and calls out how these barriers prevent our government from reflecting the people it serves.
Hope is a strategy—and organizing works.
Even in a special election during an Arizona summer, Deja’s campaign is bringing out first-time door-knockers, new voters, and unlikely supporters. Her story shows that people still do care—and that meaningful political change happens when we engage at the local level.
Young people are ready to lead—and we need to let them.
Deja is challenging ageist assumptions that she’s “too young” or “just an influencer.” She confronts the party’s reluctance to support younger leaders, pointing to Democratic vacancies that cost key votes as proof that we must talk about generational leadership.
This race isn’t just about Arizona—it’s about the future of democracy.
Deja’s campaign is a test for the kind of Democratic party and country we want: one that prioritizes corporate donors and establishment names, or one that invests in people-powered, progressive change. No matter where you live, the message still applies.
Notable quotes
“Let’s be clear, I’m not an influencer. I’m a leader.”
“If there were not so many barriers to entry, our halls of power would look more like our neighborhoods.”
“You are an expert in your experience. You don’t need a fancy degree or expensive job title to have something to say on politics.”
Episode-at-a-glance
≫ 04:20 Deja’s Background and Motivation
≫ 07:37 Challenges and Experiences in Politics
≫ 18:07 The Cost of Running for Office
≫ 20:59 Connecting with Voters
≫ 25:02 Deja’s Key Platforms and Vision
≫ 30:54 How to Support Deja’s Campaign
Deja’s Links:
Website: https://dejafoxx.com/
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Meet Deja
As a teen, Foxx experienced homelessness because of her mother’s struggles with substance abuse. She balanced high school classes with long nights working at the gas station and found her fight advocating for better sex education in her school district. Organizing a campaign of student storytellers, she delivered a win for tens of thousands of her peers who until then had been learning a curriculum last updated in the 1980s and worked firsthand in clinics around Tucson to provide support to young people seeking reproductive care.
Foxx went toe to toe with Republicans who voted in lockstep with the Trump Administration to defund Planned Parenthood. She made national headlines as, overnight, millions of views poured in on a video of her fiery exchange with Republican Senator Jeff Flake. After he voted to strip her and millions of other women of their access to essential birth control funding that empowered them to control their bodies and their futures, she asked pointedly: “Why would you deny me the American dream?”
Because of people like us, Republicans like him didn’t stand a chance. Foxx knows that good policies lift people up—because she’s lived it. Investing in public education, defending reproductive rights, protecting social services, and creating affordable housing aren’t just talking points. They’re what made it possible for her to walk across the stage as the first in her family to graduate college. A graduate of Columbia University, she made history as one of the youngest presidential campaign staffers, leading Influencer Strategy for Kamala Harris at just 19 years old. And in 2024, she used her platform as a speaker at the Democratic National Convention to shine a light on the ways the rising cost of living, restrictions on reproductive rights, and student debt affect her generation.
Transcript:
Tori Dunlap:
If you’re like me and frustrated with the current political climate, this episode is going to give you hope. It is a Thursday if you’re listening to this on the day it comes out, and typically you’re used to a solo episode with me. But today I’m bringing you an interview with Deja Foxx and here’s why. Since and of course, before Trump took office, it’s felt like a barrage of shit, to put it mildly. Because you listen to the show, I know you’re engaged, you care, you’re out there donating to causes you believe in, you’re out there calling your reps, you’re out there protesting and boycotting and doing your best to fight against fascism. But I also know that it’s exhausting. It makes all of us feel tired. It makes all of us feel frustrated and burned out. And you might be at full hopelessness at this point. And especially if we look to some of our leaders who seem to be acting as if we’re just business as usual, it’s easy to feel completely gaslit by what’s going on right now.
And I don’t know about you, but it’s been hard to want to engage politically or feel like there’s some ownership when it comes to the Democratic Party. It feels like sometimes it’s difficult to get behind any candidate at this point. Now, there’s always better candidates but it’s so hard not to become disillusioned with politics as a whole. I know I felt this way, I’m guessing you have too. And my hope is that this episode changes that for you. This is not an episode about political parties. This is an episode about the heart of our democracy, and the importance of putting our weight and our money behind progressive policies that we want to see more of. Policies that are bold and popular, but often get squashed by this larger media storm and some of the more minor issues that get blown up and blown out of proportion.
I think one of the most powerful things that we’ve talked about on the show over and over and over again, is the importance of voting on our local elections, maybe even running for office ourselves. But if for whatever reason that’s not a good fit for us, it is supporting the kind of policies and the kind of people we want to see more of. And I think that’s one of the ways we start to fix a very, very broken election environment, a very broken two party system into something that reflects what you and I look like and believe in and value. And that’s why I’m so excited for this episode with my friend who is running for Congress in Arizona. Today we brought on Deja Foxx, who is a 25-year-old leader and activist running to become the first Gen Z woman elected to Congress in an upcoming special election for the open seat in Arizona’s seventh congressional district.
Now, before I go any further, you might not be in Arizona, so you’re like, “Why do I really care?” This is an election that is going to hopefully not only make history, but start a whole new barrage of leaders in their 20s and 30s becoming activated and involved. And everything that Deja says in this episode is shit that we have to care about regardless of what state or even country we live in, because it’s talking about how we actually make changes, how we actually get the kind of policies pushed through that we want to see more of. Deja is a reminder of the power of ideas, the power of shared community, and the hope that maybe some of our best days could still be ahead of us as a nation. And I’m crossing every single finger and toe as I say that.
We talk about her campaign running against established politicians. Yes, established Democrats and how she’s kept pace with their campaigns with no legacy donors, no corporate PAC money and no trust funds to speak of. We talk about why she decided to run, what it’s been like going viral for taking down her opponents at their own town hall and her hopes for the future of Arizona and America at large. Let’s get into it. But first a word from our sponsors. So you’ve worked on the Harris campaign, you’ve spoken at the DNC, you went to Columbia for college, you probably could have gotten a job anywhere. Why was it so important for you to return to your hometown and run?
Deja Foxx:
I’m born and raised right here in Tucson, Arizona and I left for college. I was the first in my family to go to college. I earned a full ride at Columbia University. But while I was there, I was thinking about bringing those talents, that learning back home. And as soon as I had the finances, I moved back here, bought my first home and reinvested in my community. And I’ll be honest with you, things are really hard right now, whether that’s talking about the job market or the political situation, and being close to friends and family means a lot to me. But one of my favorite parts about being back home is that when I step outside my door, I see these giant mountains. And I am reminded that bigger than our news cycle, bigger than our political systems, these mountains have been here and will continue to be here. And I just feel very grounded here at home. And it was really important during the 2024 presidential election to be in the battleground and to be grounded.
Tori Dunlap:
I just went to Tucson for the first time a couple of years ago and found it so beautiful and enchanting. So I get it. I get why you came home.
Deja Foxx:
Yeah. And those who’ve been here, they get it.
Tori Dunlap:
Yeah. Do you remember the first time you recognized how politics had affected you and the people you loved? And did that lead you to become more involved in the political arena?
Deja Foxx:
Yeah, this is kind of a financial question actually. Most kids are to some degree, aware of their financial situation at home. Maybe they wouldn’t put it into those words, but I knew that my family relied on SNAP benefits or food stamps when we went to the grocery store. I knew that our housing was provided by section eight, and when section eight inspectors were coming I had to pick up extra chores. When I went to the doctors, it was clear to me that I was on Medicaid. And so all of these aspects of policy were directly impacting my life as a young person. I think a lot of people can relate to being a free lunch kid at a public school. That’s maybe one of the first times you become aware of your finances. And it was true for me, and it was also some of the ways that I first became aware of the ways elected officials were making decisions about the things that me and my family needed to just get by.
I was raised by a single mom and she worked every odd job you could imagine. She cleaned houses, she delivered flowers for a florist, she worked at a post office, she was a caregiver for the elderly. But like so many families, we were just barely making it by. There were years where I had to make decisions as a family between making our bills and me having back to school clothes. I got one pair of shoes every year and wore them until there were holes in it. I had a visceral experience of finances and policy and the ways that those came together to create my childhood and bring me into the political arena as a teenager.
Tori Dunlap:
Yeah. And you had mentioned you have a single mom, and I also know from your story that you experienced homelessness, especially as a result of your mom’s struggles with substance abuse. So how did that inform the kind of work that you’re doing now, those experiences of being forgotten about or having to struggle to get the help and the services and the food and the shelter that you needed?
Deja Foxx:
When I was 15 my mom was struggling with addiction in no small part because of how stressful it is to live in poverty. And while she navigated going through a rehabilitation process, I was on my own. And this is actually pretty common here in the United States, one in 30 teens, 13, 17 experience hidden homelessness, which means not having a home of your own. Teenagers are pretty good at hiding this. It looks often like bouncing around between friends’ homes, living with extended family. For me, it was living with my boyfriend at the time and his family, two incredible Mexican immigrants. One was a landscaper, the father and the mom cleaned houses. And they didn’t have a whole lot extra, but they made space for me in their home. But at the very same time, I was being taught a sex education curriculum in my public school that was last updated in the ’80s that didn’t mention consent, that was medically inaccurate, that was subject to no promo homo laws here in Arizona.
And it was built to disadvantage young people like me who didn’t have parents at home to fill in the gaps. And so I started showing up to school board meetings, the most local of local government, and sharing my story. Demanding an update from school board members, one of whom I’m running against in this race, who had decades to update the curriculum but never saw it as their priority. Let young people like me go through this curriculum, mine was taught by the baseball coach. Without the information we needed to be successful until a young person like me showed up, shared my story, organized and demanded better. And after six months of bringing my peers along, we were packing the auditorium and we won a unanimous victory to update that curriculum in Southern Arizona’s largest school district. And I was just 15.
Tori Dunlap:
I joke every episode I cry, but it’s true. No, and moments like this, I think a lot of people feel very, very helpless. And we’re recording this after a mass increase in ICE raids in Los Angeles. And literally the No Kings protest was this past weekend. And it’s so easy to feel like I can’t do anything. This is so beyond me, but I want to get involved. And we’ve talked many times on the show about local politics. And about how anybody, even if you don’t have a political background, can be involved. And dear listener, she was 15 at the time, so you can’t tell me, “Oh, I don’t have any experience.” When a literal child was making a difference. So it’s just a testament that you can get involved and that you can make a difference, especially at the local level.
Deja Foxx:
Yeah. And a lesson I took away from that that I hope your listeners lean into is that you are an expert in your experience. It’s a lesson I’m actually taking with me into this run for Congress, which is that you don’t need a fancy degree or expensive job title to have something to say on politics. Each and every one of us is affected by politics every single day. And the experience of living it, being a young person, a kid growing up in section eight housing, relying on SNAP benefits and Medicaid, being the young person who is disadvantaged by inaction of my school board members around sex education reform, that is what qualified me to speak out of community calls and share my story and create change. And under the first Trump administration, if you can imagine this man’s been running for president for the last decade since I was 15 years old, I organized.
There was a moment in 2017 where Trump was pushing to defund Planned Parenthood centers here in Arizona. That’s where I got my care when I had no money, no parents and no insurance. I walked out with months of the birth control I needed at no cost to me to take control of my body and my future as a teenager. And Trump and his Republicans were trying to take it away. In fact, Republicans here in Arizona voted in favor of taking away that Title 10 funding. And one of the big political shifts for me was when I was 16, just about a year after that big win at the school board level, I scaled up my work. I began attending town halls with these Republicans who had voted to take care away from me and millions of others. And I demanded to know why my senator as a middle-aged white man who had never been to a planned parent center, never relied on these Title 10 services, would take them away from someone like me who didn’t have parents at home, was trying my best and relied on them.
And what’s so striking to me now that I’m a candidate was his response to me. He said in this room full of about 1000 people who’ve showed up to this town hall, “I support policies that support the American dream.” And I asked this man why he would deny me the American dream. If birth control was helping me to be successful, reach for higher education, be the first in my family to go to college. My parent was doing that as well, why would he deny me the American dream? And he responds to me in this video by going, “Thank you.” And I say, “No, thank you.” And I woke up the next day and millions of people had seen that video. My life went from private to public overnight. I was live on CNN, the next day I went and lobbied on Capitol Hill. And I share this story to say that when I was a sixteen-year-old girl working at the gas station, living with my boyfriend because I needed to, I was on even footing in the public discourse with the United States senator.
And that is unheard of in the course of history. We are in a very unique moment in time where anyone, anywhere can take up the voice, share a good story, connect with millions of people and be at the front of our narrative and political process. These are not normal times for so many reasons.
Tori Dunlap:
Well, and I would love to talk about that. Speaking of the power of media and social media, because I’ve been following you. We have met a handful of times. And one of the things I’m seeing both in the questions you’re getting asked as well as some of the comments is, “Oh, she’s too young.” “Oh, she’s too inexperienced.” But then we look at a lot of the discourse around let’s say President Biden for example, oh, he is too old. So in my mind, I’m like, what do you want? What’s the perfect age to run for office? Because we have the vast majority of people who are way too old, I believe, to hold public office. But then we also have clearly qualified fresh voices who are being told they’re too young. So how do you reckon with that?
Deja Foxx:
One of my favorites also, you’re too young, you’re too inexperienced, you’re just an influencer is one of my favorites.
Tori Dunlap:
Yeah, I get told that.
Deja Foxx:
And I’m like, okay, guys, I am using the tools at hand. I am thinking forward focused. I’m connecting with people where they’re getting their information. But my first viral video is me bird dogging my senator at his town hall. Let’s be clear, I’m not an influencer. I’m a leader. This point about what’s the perfect age to run for office? I had my 25th birthday in April, and that was my final qualifying factor to run for Congress. We had gathered the signatures, we were certified by the Secretary of State’s office. I just had to turn 25. So there are limits at the bottom of how old you must be, but there are not limits at the top. And we saw some really serious conversations around age in the 2024 election with Biden at the top of the ticket. Though I think we had those conversations too late as a party.
And case in point that we still have not fully reconciled this issue of age in our party, is that this special election that I’m running in here in southern Arizona for Congressional District seven in 2025 is open, is a vacancy because my member of Congress passed away in the seat. He is part of the three Democrats in the House of Representatives in the last few months alone who have died while in office. We cannot allow this to continue. We had three vacancies because people passed away in the Democratic Party in the house, three vacancies, do the math. We lost our budget bill vote by one vote, and now millions of people stand to lose their healthcare, SNAP benefits or food stamps could be cut, taking food, literally food off of the tables of our most vulnerable families. They’re attempting again to defund Planned Parenthood centers. And we lost by one vote, though we have three vacancies because we didn’t talk about age. And so we are forcing that conversation. If I was elected, I would be the youngest member of Congress, the youngest person working in that building.
And I would be the first woman of my generation, Gen Z, elected to Congress. We have an opportunity to make history in this election. I’m asking folks, you don’t have to live in Southern Arizona to care about this election. We can make history, but we only have until July 15th to make it happen. So we need people to get into our corner, get in this fight with us. It is difficult by design to be young, grow up working class, have a working class background and be in this race.
Tori Dunlap:
When we come back, we’re talking to Deja about exactly how much it costs to run for office, including some of the surprising costs she’s learned along the way. She also shares some stories of what it’s been like canvassing and the stories she’s heard from constituents while knocking on doors, and the pieces of her platform that are closest to her heart. See you soon. What was the most surprising thing financially you found when you were running for office? What costs were the most shocking for you?
Deja Foxx:
This shit is expensive. Oh my God, which we know that. If there were not so many barriers to entry, our halls of power would look more like our neighborhoods. There would be more women, there would be more moms, there would be more working class people, there would be more young people. But the barriers to entry are so high. We look at how much an election costs, how much money you have to raise. For our election it’s hundreds of thousands of dollars. We are currently almost at $500,000 raised. And I want to just shout out, and I would love to talk about this a little bit later, but our fundraising we don’t take corporate PAC money. We did not inherit a donor list. Somebody else in our race did inherit their father’s donor list. We don’t take corporate PACs. We’re not funded by billionaires.
99% of our contributors are small dollar donors, which is defined by the FEC as people who pitch in less than 200 bucks. But I would tell you that’s families like yours or mine, these are regular people. 99% of our contributors are small dollar donors. That’s unheard of. But it shows who we’re accountable to, regular working class people. And the final thing I’ll say about what feels surprising or hard financially about running for office is not just that big price tag that you see of this is how much a campaign costs, but the cost to your own life. How many of us can realistically take something like six months to a year off of work to be a full-time in your campaign, with no promise of a job at the end? And frankly, this is what I’ve heard from other women that have run for office, is that don’t expect to get a job after this. That you’ll put your name out there to a degree where it will be incredibly difficult to be employed or to get hired after this.
And some of the first calls I had to make were literally to figure out if I could afford to be in this race or not. And I’ll be honest, I’m putting my savings into this run, not because I’m sure I’m going to win but because I know I need to do it because I knew I couldn’t sit this one out. And so it means so much to me when I get messages from people who are barely making rent, who cash in their change jar to be in this fight with us, just pitch in five bucks. There are people who drive DoorDash after work to make $20 to contribute to be one of our donors, and they know the value of a dollar. So do I. That is just not true for so many of the people representing us in PC.
Tori Dunlap:
Well, and speaking of some of those stories, we know that face-to-face interactions with voters at the door are some of the most meaningful. Can you tell us about some of those interactions you’ve had so far?
Deja Foxx:
Yeah. I know what folks see online sometimes feels like it’s just video content or just content. But if you look at it closer, you’ll realize what we’re capturing is our on-the-ground moments. It’s me interviewing our volunteers or door knocking alongside them. It’s me out at community events, and I want to highlight a few stories. First and foremost, we at every single canvas we launch, where we go out and we knock doors, there is always a volunteer or multiple who have never knocked doors for a political candidate before. That is not supposed to happen in a special election primary buried in the middle of summer on and off year in Arizona where it’s 106 degrees every day. We are not supposed to be turning out new voters, let alone new volunteers. We are shaking this election up and it’s scaring people. We’ve had rap boys from the University of Arizona turn out and knock doors with us till the sun goes down.
We have one young man who drives in from Buckeye, Arizona, which is an hour and 40 minutes from here to knock the doors with us in the heat and neighborhoods he may not be familiar with. And one of the ones that’s really close to my heart was a young woman named Berta who I got to knock doors with personally. We partnered up and she’d never knocked doors before. She told me she thinks of herself as politically active, she pays attention. She critiques the things she does not stand for online, she’s vocal. But she had never found a political campaign or a candidate that she felt like she could trust enough to build something better with, that she could get excited about. And her and I stayed out and knocked the doors together, again until it was dark. And we’re doing the hard work to bring people who’ve been left out into this party, into our democracy.
And it shows at the doors. I’ll just share a few reflections on how me and our door knockers are received because we’re young people. We are young people showing up at your door energized, engaged, activated. One of our high school volunteers told me he knocked a man’s door who was a registered Democrat, who votes in every primary, who opened the door and said, “I’m never voting for a Democrat again. You all have lost to Donald Trump twice.” He spent 15 minutes there talking to this man about our story. What brings me to this work, the heart I have for this. And before he left, that man donated $100. I talked to an older woman and people often say, you’re not going to win this election on young people. They don’t turn out. I talked to an older woman and this is one of the misconceptions about our race, who was in her 70s, maybe even 80s. And she told me that she was engaged in this fight for things like Roe versus Wade.
And to watch it overturned and not know if she’ll be around to see it reinstated is scary. The word she used is, I’m scared. And I know that that’s true for so many people. I’m not separate, I’m scared too. That’s why I’m doing this. And it brought tears to her eyes and it felt so incredibly important to me that I’m not only able to bring young people in and say there’s a political home for you, but that I’m also able to look older people or elders in their eyes and say, “I am going to keep this fight alive.” That you don’t need to worry. Our generation is going to go forward and carry the torch on. And that is the assurance so many older voters are looking for. It is misinformation. It is a myth to say that older voters don’t understand why we need newer and younger leaders. Actually, they’re the ones who get it the most.
Tori Dunlap:
So you were mentioning, of course, Roe versus Wade being a huge focus of your work. You have some incredible platforms in addition to that, housing is a human right, economic justice, fair wages, Medicare for all, LGBTQ plus protections, child care that empowers families. Can you talk about what piece of your platform is closest to your heart and what it would look like to see that implemented?
Deja Foxx:
Yeah. My signature issue for the last decade has been reproductive rights, whether that was fighting my school board for better sex education, standing up to Republicans here in Arizona when they tried to defund Planned Parenthood centers or working as an activist and advocate. I’ve been arrested protesting on Capitol Hill after the overturn of Roe v. Wade in an act of civil disobedience. And something I think will really speak to your listeners is that reproductive rights is an economic issue. There is no bigger financial decision you can make than if and when to start a family. This isn’t about ideologies. Putting in place these abortion restrictions across the country, cutting funding to our healthcare centers or rather centers and clinics that provide reproductive care has everything to do with power and control. And when I look ahead, I see that we need to restore Roe.
But that Roe was the floor, it was never the ceiling. We have had the Hyde Amendment on the books for so long under times in which we had Democrats in the presidency. We had control over the house, and yet still the Hyde Amendment which does not allow for Medicaid funding to be used for abortion care, which in essence means that low-income women may have the legal right to abortion but do not have access because how much money they have in their accounts. That is a moral failing. You deserve healthcare, including reproductive care, regardless of your zip code or how much money is in your accounts. And I see a world in which, and I have the opportunity because I’m young and I will be in this fight for a long time, to not only restore Roe but to go a step further, pass the Women’s Health Protection Act, repeal the Hyde Amendment, and make abortion access, not just a legal right again but one that is accessible to everyone.
And I think that’s the kind of thing that changes people’s lives, gives them a shot not at just getting by, but getting ahead. I know for me, being able to have quality sex education and access to no-copay birth control, are what made it possible for me to be the first in my family to go to college, which has made it possible for me to run for Congress. There is a direct link between our ability to access reproductive care and our ability to take up space in public life, our ability to get ahead economically and take control of our finances and our families. And so that’s one of the issues I care most about and I can see taking real action on. Not just checking the boxes, but being a champion.
Tori Dunlap:
It’s one of the things we’ve talked about on this show many times, and I appreciate you touching on it, is abortion is not really a moral issue. It is an economic one. And it is about making sure that everybody has the right to do what they want with their own body. And that affects not just them, but generations to come of exactly who has access to college, who has access to other job opportunities. If you’re splitting expenses with your children and you have a child that you did not expect, well, you’re splitting halves into thirds or fourths. And it’s such an economic issue and I wish more people talked about it like it was.
Deja Foxx:
Yeah, I think it’s one of the failings of Democrats in some ways. We’re in a deficit of good messengers in this party. It’s why Democrats have a 27% approval rating. And you would think that when a candidate like me comes around, who has the kind of personal story that makes these policy decisions feel personal, again, brings in people who are rural and urban, red and blue, older and younger because they can see themselves in these stories that I have lived, these policies that have impacted my personal life. And we see the metrics, in this campaign we’ve accumulated over 15 million views, 10 million alone on our debate content. That is not supposed to happen in a special election primary in Arizona on and off year, but it is because we are running the kind of campaign that people are hungry for.
People want candidates like us, and yet our party continues to put their thumb on the scale in an open seat primary where all Democrats are running to prioritize the status quo, to put legacy last names at the front. And it’s so disappointing, but it’s not surprising. And in this moment, we need leaders who are not only going to stand up to Republicans, but who are going to be guiding forces and build our bench of leadership in a party that seems to be in a complete lack of messengers and leaders.
Tori Dunlap:
Okay, I need you to go back and listen to that again. We’ve talked time and time again on the show about how abortion is a financial issue, and Deja is talking about that as well. And I’m so fired up all over again. When we come back, we’re wrapping up our conversation with her, including how you can support either her campaign or campaigns like it and local campaigns in your neighborhood. See you back here soon. So my last question for you because I know you got shit to do. How can we support your campaign if we live in Arizona? How can we support it if we don’t? And then how can we support campaigns that look like yours?
Deja Foxx:
Visit us at dejafoxx.com. It’s sort of our hub. It has our story where we fall on the issues, opportunities to volunteer. If you’re here in Arizona, you can come knock the doors with me. And if you’re not, you can phone bank, you can text bank. Give us an hour of your time and make some real connections. If you’re feeling hopeless right now, if you feel angry and frustrated, the best thing you can do is take action. It will make you feel better, I promise. And I’m going to ask you directly to pitch into this campaign. Young working class candidates are not supposed to be in races like this. And it has been made possible because something like 14,000 people have pitched in to make it possible. In this race, I’m running against someone who inherited their dad’s donor list. I’m running against someone who takes corporate PAC money, and yet still we are staying competitive on fundraising because we are raising small dollars at scale.
Our average contribution is less than $28. If you have $30 to spare, you would be one of our big dollar donors. And so I’m literally asking you to get into this fight with us. We cannot do it without you. And yes, every dollar at scale makes a difference. So I’m asking you to get in this fight with us, follow along at Deja Foxx to watch us out there on the trail. Our election’s coming up fast July 15th. It’s the first referendum on if we learned our lessons in 2024, and who we will be as a party in a country come 2026 midterms.
Tori Dunlap:
And I also want to highlight again that I’m pissed off at the Democratic Party. It’s not just Trump. I’m pissed off. And the fact that you’re running against other Democrats. This is a primary, you’re running against other Democrats in this race, and so your voice is the kind of voice we need more of rather than, old money and donor money that’s been multi-generational. So I’m just so excited for you. You don’t need me to tell you this, but I’m so fucking proud of you no matter what happens. And I just am so thankful for your work.
Deja Foxx:
Thank you. I appreciate that. We stack up wins every single day. I’m incredibly proud to be in this race. And July 15th is just around the corner, let’s get it done.
Tori Dunlap:
Yep. Amazing. Thank you.
Deja Foxx:
Thank you.
Tori Dunlap:
Thank you so much to Deja for joining us. You can learn more about her, her policies and donate if you feel so inclined. I don’t live in Arizona, I donated to her campaign. Dejafoxx with two Xs, D-E-J-A F-O-X-X .com. But here’s what you can also do, I need you to find the Dejas in your community, the young progressives running for office, big and small, and throw your support behind them. Get involved. Knock on doors, phone bank, donate, talk to friends and family, make sure you’re checking your voter registration. We talked about a lot of these things that you can do, especially leading up to the presidential election. But as we know, politics are not a monolith and they are not a one-time commitment. Activism, focusing on getting the policies and the kind of people we want into office is not a one-time thing. Calling your legislators, supporting the kind of policies and politicians we want to see, running for office yourself if you don’t like any of your options, these are real and specific ways that we’ve actually seen change the country, change the world.
So I cannot have you get into that feeling of hopelessness and stay there for too long because we’ve got fucking work to do. Thank you for being here Financial Feminist, thank you for supporting Feminist Media, and will see you back here soon.
Thank you for listening to Financial Feminist, a Her First $100K Podcast. For more information about Financial Feminist, Her First $100K, our guests and episode show notes, visit financialfeministpodcast.com. If you’re confused about your personal finances and you’re wondering where to start, go to herfirst100k.com/quiz for a free personalized money plan.
Financial Feminist is hosted by me, Tori Dunlap. Produced by Kristen Fields and Tamisha Grant. Research by Sarah Sciortino. Audio and video engineering by Alyssa Midcalf. Marketing and Operations by Karina Patel and Amanda Leffew. Special thanks to our team at Her First 100K, Kailyn Sprinkle, Masha Bakhmetyeva, Sasha Bonar, Rae Wong, Elizabeth McCumber, Daryl Ann Ingman, Shelby Duclos, Meghan Walker, and Jess Hawks. Promotional graphics by Mary Stratton, photography by Sarah Wolfe, and theme music by Jonah Cohen Sound. A huge thanks to the entire Her First 100K community for supporting our show.
Tori Dunlap
Tori Dunlap is an internationally-recognized money and career expert. After saving $100,000 at age 25, Tori quit her corporate job in marketing and founded Her First $100K to fight financial inequality by giving women actionable resources to better their money. She has helped over five million women negotiate salaries, pay off debt, build savings, and invest.
Tori’s work has been featured on Good Morning America, the New York Times, BBC, TIME, PEOPLE, CNN, New York Magazine, Forbes, CNBC, BuzzFeed, and more.
With a dedicated following of over 2.1 million on Instagram and 2.4 million on TikTok —and multiple instances of her story going viral—Tori’s unique take on financial advice has made her the go-to voice for ambitious millennial women. CNBC called Tori “the voice of financial confidence for women.”
An honors graduate of the University of Portland, Tori currently lives in Seattle, where she enjoys eating fried chicken, going to barre classes, and attempting to naturally work John Mulaney bits into conversation.
