long before the first lady tossed her hat in the ring to unsee Senator Menendez longtime political activist Larry Hamm declared he was running the social justice Advocate and chair of newark-based people's Organization for progress is no stranger to the campaign Trail he challenged Senator Cory Booker in the 2020 Democratic primary but lost and this time around ham believes voters have more of an appetite for change Larry Hamm joins me now Larry Hamm thank you for joining me this is not your first bid at a senate seat in New Jersey how are you differentiating your campaign this time why are you running I'm running because I want to make life better for people I want to make life better for working people poor people everyday people and my campaign is differentiated in that um I'm willing to propose the big changes that need to be made to make life life better like what for instance we must change Health Care in the United States we're the richest country in the world we're the only rich country that does not have Universal Health Care or a system of national healthc care all the other Advanced industrial rich countries have it we should have it too we have millions of people who are uninsured we have millions more who are insured but who are burdened by all the additional costs that are involved that you have to pay even though you have insurance so we need Universal Health Care and we need it to improve the quality of Health in the United States so that's one thing uh that we need to do the next thing is we must do something to redistribute wealth in this country for instance the federal minimum wage is $725 it has not been increased in 13 years you cannot pay rent for a one-bedroom apartment anywhere in the United States on a wage of $725 an hour we need an immediate Inc increase in the federal minimum wage I'm the father of three lovely daughters of whom I'm very proud they all college graduates they graduated Ruck University here in New Jersey but I have to say uh I had to mortgage my home twice in order to get them through college and so many young people are graduating with undergraduate school with tens of thousands of dollars of student debt we have bailed out the banks in this country to the tune of trillion dollar we've bailed out major Auto Industries we can cancel student debt so our young people can have uh a chance at life you are obviously no stranger to organizing you've been doing that uh most of your life and and obviously your career how though are you going about this race when you have the likes of first lady Tammy Murphy jumping in just yesterday Andy Kim they both have a lot of money and already endorsements behind them right it's tough It's I'm I'm the first to admit it's an uphill climb but somebody has to be in this race that's going to speak for regular folk that's going to speak for working people that's going to speak for poor people that's going to give voice to the voiceless um yes I'm running against candidates who have a lot of money but what they don't have that I have is a very close connection to regular people I've been working and organizing uh in this uh social justice movement for over 50 years and um I feel I have a close connection to people and I know what people really want you know there's a reality in this country and this has been borne out by studies Princeton University and Yale University that we elect people to serve us and yet our interests are really not met so we need people in Congress in the house in the senate for which I'm running who are not going to be afraid to stand up to fight those uh moneyed interests so let me let me ask you this let's say we get to the primary uh let's say money wins out another candidate has that money that candidate gets uh gets the the nomination would you run off the line or are you seeking the backing of the establishment in the state well I'm running in the Democratic primary but after the primary look let's be clear as far as I'm concerned Democrats must retain control of the United States Senate I'm running in the Democratic primary I'm working to win the Democratic primary if I don't win I'm going to support the winner of the democratic primary and that goes not only for United States Senate it also goes for president of the United States we are facing a threat to our democratic system that we have never faced before and that threat is being led by the right-wing Republicans that are now in Congress and in the house I mean imagine this uh twice indicted president who is the lead candidate of the Republican party so I want to make it clear I'm running in the Democratic primary I'm going to do my best to win that primary but I'm going to support the winner of the primary both for Senate and for president of the United States Larry Hamm thank you so much for joining me thank you [Music]