- What I know about Vic Mellor is that there has never been a worse candidate for any political office in Rhode Island before.

He's been arrested for beating up two women in two different states.

He was part of the violent mob that attacked the Capitol on January 6th.

- Welcome to "One on One."

I'm Ian Donnis.

Congressman Seth Magaziner has represented Rhode Island's 2nd District since first winning election in 2022.

Now with the midterm election less than a month away, polls showed Democrats with an edge for retaking the US House.

But Magaziner faces an energetic GOP challenger, and many Americans remain dissatisfied with both parties.

So what is the Congressman's plan for bolstering confidence in government and moving past the current dysfunction of Congress?

(light music) The Congressman from Rhode Island's 2nd District, Democrat Seth Magaziner, welcome to "One on One."

- Great to be here.

Thank you.

- Give me 30 seconds on why you're running for reelection.

- I'm running because I am fighting to end the corruption in Washington that is holding our country back and to make life more affordable for Rhode Islanders.

So that means that I am fighting to end President Trump's tariffs that are making life more expensive, to end the war in Iran that's making life more expensive, restore funding for healthcare so that people's insurance costs can come down.

But in addition to all of that, if we really want to address the root causes of all this pain that people are feeling, we have to go after the corruption that is enabling these big companies to price gouge people.

That's why I'm the lead sponsor of the bill to ban members of Congress from trading stocks, because we have to clean up Washington in order to make life more affordable for Rhode Islanders.

That's what I'm fighting for.

- The party out of power usually makes gains during midterm elections and polls show an advantage for Democrats heading into November.

If your party is able to retake the US House, what difference will that make for the next two years?

- Well, a huge difference.

First of all, I think you're right.

You know, the polling and just the mood on the street is that people are frustrated with what they're getting from Donald Trump's administration and from the Republicans in Congress who enable him.

They are frustrated by high costs.

They don't like the Iran War.

They are frustrated by the culture of corruption that has taken over Washington.

Donald Trump is at the center of that culture of corruption, but it's not limited to just him.

- So what difference would it make?

- Yeah.

So when Democrats take the majority, which I believe we will, we are going to push immediately to bring down the cost of living, make life more affordable by ending the war in Iran, ending the tariffs, and restoring the funding that was cut from healthcare last year, funding that the Republicans cut from healthcare in order to pay for tax cuts for billionaires and big corporations.

By doing those three things, we can bring immediate relief to people.

Then beyond that, I have assurances from our leadership, from Leader Jeffries that my bill to ban members of Congress from trading stocks will be on the agenda as part of a larger ethics reform agenda.

We need to stop the President from enriching himself off of his office.

He's selling his cryptocurrency to we don't even know who.

We don't know if it's foreign dictators- - Let me stop you there.

- Or anyone else.

- If Republicans retain control of the Senate, how would that affect Democrats' ability to do the things that you just outlined?

- I think the pressure on Republicans in the Senate is going to be immense.

It's not just Democrats who don't like the war in Iran.

The American people overwhelmingly oppose it.

They oppose it because it's an unnecessary war, but also because it has caused the cost of gasoline to nearly double.

When the cost of gas goes up, the cost of everything goes up.

There's gonna be enormous pressure on Republican, you're already seeing, by the way, Republican candidates around the country coming out in opposition to the war now that they are facing their voters and getting that backlash.

Same with the tariffs.

People do not like the tariffs.

They are raising costs, they are killing jobs.

And again, I see a lot of these Republican representatives and senators that were in lockstep with President Trump on the war and on the tariffs.

Now that they are home in campaign season facing their voters and getting an earful from their voters, they're starting to change their tune.

So I think Democrats are gonna win the Senate in addition to the House, but if we don't, then I think there is still gonna be enormous pressure on the Senate to go along with our agenda to end the war and the tariffs, restore healthcare funding and lower costs.

- What does accountability look like for President Trump if Democrats retake the House?

- Well, it's important to understand this is the most corrupt administration in the history of our country.

Donald Trump has gotten $2 billion richer since he took office last year.

- What does accountability look like?

- So first, it comes with exposing the corruption and showing the American people what's happening.

Where did that $2 billion come from?

Well, we know that a lot of it came from him selling cryptocurrency to people, but we don't know to whom.

Is it organized crime figures?

Is it people looking for pardons?

Is it foreign dictators?

So we start by using our subpoena power, by holding public hearings and exposing what is going on.

Same with the Russian oligarch who paid for Don Jr.

's wedding.

Same with the Qataris giving Trump a jet as a gift.

We start with using our subpoena power to expose what is going on.

Then beyond that, there has to be accountability.

We have to say clearly that no one, including the President of the United States, is above the law.

And if there is a legal activity, then there have to be consequences.

And there's a range of different options, once again, we can refer these matters to prosecutors at the federal or state level.

You know, impeachment is something people talk about.

That's also a tool in the toolbox if it is warranted.

But again, I think it starts by exposing the facts to the American people and the American people want to know where did that $2 billion come from?

- Let me stop you there.

- Yeah.

- You recently unveiled a plan on energy costs.

One element of it would tax the windfall profits that the big oil companies have made during the war between the US and Iran, and you propose returning that money to American consumers.

Is this just a campaign soundbite type thing or does this actually have a chance of becoming law?

- Well, first of all, this passed into law already in the UK, in the United Kingdom, under a conservative government there.

So this is not a pie in the sky idea.

I did release a plan to lower energy costs for Rhode Islanders, and I will say at the outset, the most immediate thing that would lower energy costs the fastest is ending the war in Iran, which is why I've made that a priority.

But on the windfall profits tax specifically, just so that people understand what this is, the big oil and gas companies are making tens of billions of dollars of profits while people, Rhode Islanders, are getting gouged on the price of gas.

What this bill would do is require the oil companies to return a portion of those profits back to people in rebates, literally checks in the mail back to people.

Senator Whitehouse introduced this bill in the Senate.

It's been introduced in the House as well.

I'm a co-sponsor of that bill.

It's already been done in the United Kingdom and it's a check.

It's a way to say to the big oil companies, "Hey, if you are overcharging people, if you are making excessive profits, then you have to return that money back to the American people."

It's good policy.

It will, I think, act as an incentive for the oil companies not to raise prices so high to begin with.

Because again, the tens of billions of dollars that they've been making, this is not revenue that they're using to pay their workers.

This is not revenue that they're using to fund their operations.

This is profits and it's gotten out of control.

- Let's talk a little bit about your race with Republican Vic Mellor for reelection.

He came back to Rhode Island after living in Florida for many years.

We know that President Trump got about 42% of the vote in Rhode Island in 2024.

That's the same, about the same amount that your Republican opponent that year got, Steven Corvi.

So I wonder, do you think Mellor's ceiling in Rhode Island is about 42%?

- Well, what I know about Vic Mellor is that there has never been a worse candidate for any political office in Rhode Island before.

This is- - But where is his ceiling in Rhode Island given your criticism?

- Well, I think once people know, well, I think once people learn the facts about him, his ceiling is very low.

He's been arrested for beating up two women in two different states.

He was part of the violent mob that attacked the Capitol on January 6th.

As you said- - He says he did not take part in violence at the January 6th.

- Well, January 6th was a shameful day for our country.

Over 100 police officers were injured and the rioters were trying to stop the legal counting of votes in the presidential election because they didn't like the outcome.

And Vic Mellor says it was one of the best days of his life.

That's a direct quote.

I am sure that for those police officers, it was one of the worst days of their lives.

And in addition to all of that, we can talk about how he is a registered foreign agent for Cuba, all of these things, but I think the biggest reason, the biggest contrast in this race, the most important one, is that all of those Trump administration policies that we just talked about that have raised costs on Rhode Islanders and made life more expensive, the tariffs, the war, the healthcare cuts, all of those things that I oppose, he supports.

He supports these high-cost policies from the Trump administration.

I oppose them.

And so, I don't know what the ultimate percentage is gonna be that he gets, but once these facts get out, I don't think he's gonna do well and I think we will.

- Before costs went up recently, costs went up for American consumers during the Biden administration.

Why should voters in Rhode Island trust Democrats to get it right when the Biden administration was ineffective in controlling inflation?

- Well, first of all, Joe Biden's not on the ballot.

But what happened in 2020, as we all know, is that in the first year of the pandemic, people stayed home.

They weren't spending money.

And then when things opened up, people started spending a lot of money again and that there was a lot of pent-up demand and that caused inflation and it was painful.

And I think that we can look back and think that there were things that could have been done differently or done better to manage that.

But where we are right now is a place where costs are too high and people understand why that is.

It is not because of fate, it is because of conscious choices made by President Trump and Congressional Republicans, the choice to get us into the unnecessary Iran War that has caused the price of gas to nearly double, the choice to enact tariffs for no good reason, tariffs which are taxes on consumers.

These are things that can be and should be reversed.

And I believe that when we have a Democratic Congress after November, they will be reversed.

- To come back to Vic Mellor, he's run TV ads, he's on billboards, his campaign has knocked on doors in some very Democratic areas.

Is he doing a better job than you of asking 2nd District voters for their support?

- Well, every day that I'm not in Washington, I am in Rhode Island getting in front of voters, talking about the issues and asking for their support.

Again, every day, multiple times a day, I'm at senior centers, I'm at union halls, I'm at community events, holding town halls, meeting voters where they are and hearing their ideas, discussing the issues and asking for their support.

I don't have as much money to spend as my opponent.

He has spent $3 million of his own money trying to buy this seat after not living in Rhode Island for the last 30 years.

But I do believe that voters in Rhode Island are smart and they understand that when I am running on a platform of ending the tariffs, ending the war, and funding healthcare, and he is on the other side of those issues, that my platform is going to help Rhode Islanders and his is gonna continue the high costs and the pain that people are feeling.

- Congressman Magaziner, I'd like to ask you about a recent article in "The New York Times" magazine describing the poor view that many Americans hold of Congress.

Congressman Jim Himes of Connecticut was quoted as saying, "Congress is somewhere between dysfunctional and irrelevant and is despised by the people."

A Texas Republican said in the same article that, "Members of Congress are no longer elected to do good things and instead are there to fight and kill the other side."

How does Congress come back from this low state of affairs?

- Well, first of all, Congress is broken.

All of Washington is broken and corruption plays a big part in that.

That is why, again, I've been leading the charge to ban stock trading by members of Congress, because when members of Congress are focused on getting rich off of inside information, they are not focused on helping their constituents.

That is a bipartisan effort.

My co-lead on that bill is Chip Roy, a far-right member of the Freedom Caucus.

We have members of the left and the right.

- Your effort to ban stock trading is not gonna single-handedly overhaul the image of Congress.

- Yeah.

So I think that there's a number of ethics reforms that will help.

That is one.

Getting dark money out of elections will help as well.

But I also think that we have to show a willingness to work across the aisle when it's the right thing to do.

You know, on the stock trading bill, one of the things that I'm proud of beyond the fact that it's a good reform and will make a big difference, I think, in the culture of Washington is that it is a bipartisan effort.

And we have a group of us from the left and from the right who support this and we're working together well on it.

And I think that's a good example of the way that Washington should work.

- Democrats can see that their party has an image problem and an enthusiasm gap remains a concern heading into the midterm elections.

What does your party need to do differently to gain more support?

- Well, first of all, you know, it bears repeating that Republicans have total control of government right now and it's their policies that are deeply unpopular.

I think that Democrats are united on a lot of the big issues right now.

We're united that the war in Iran needs to end, that the tariffs need to end.

We need to fund healthcare.

We need to ask the wealthiest to pay their fair share, and we need to have a government that is responsive to the needs of working people.

Look, I think that unlike the Republican Party, which has essentially become a cult of personality around one person, Donald Trump, where what he says, everyone else in their party falls in line, the Democratic Party is not a cult, we're a coalition.

And in a coalition, different people join for different reasons and people can have disagreements and that's fine.

But we are a Democratic Party, not just in name, but in action because who our candidates are are driven by the primary process and we hash out our disagreements and that's the way democracy should work.

- Well, speaking of the Democratic big tent, you're a Providence resident and a Providence voter, so you're keenly aware of how David Morales unseated Brett Smiley, the incumbent mayor of Providence, the first time that's ever happened in a primary in Rhode Island.

What is your takeaway from the meaning of that kind of election and the growth of Democratic Socialism for Democrats?

- So I think all across the country, this is a change year when people are not happy with the status quo, and I think that that will yield a Democratic majority in Congress in November.

But one thing I will note about the Providence race specifically is that David Morales centered his campaign on affordability.

He talked about the affordability of housing, he talked about the affordability of utilities, and he had ideas that he ran on to try to make people's lives more affordable.

And so, I think that there's a lesson there for anyone who wants to run for office that you have to listen to what are the real pain points that your constituents are feeling and you have to offer a plan for how you're going to address them.

So again, for me, on affordability, I'm focused on ending the war, ending the tariffs, restoring healthcare funding so that we can bring costs down.

- When Democratic Socialists like Morales win, they're beating more mainstream Democrats, not Republicans.

Does that make you concerned about the ability of your party to attract middle of the road voters?

- I think the most important thing is that we have candidates who are focused on the needs of the voters, the needs that people are expressing in their lives.

Clearly right now, affordability is the number one issue.

I think that David Morales recognized that.

I recognize that.

And the most important thing in the general election is that we have candidates who understand that as well.

So again, when I look across the country, I see Democrats of all stripes running with plans for how to make life more affordable, how to make housing more affordable, healthcare, energy, et cetera.

On the Republican side right now, I see a group of candidates who are mostly afraid of their shadow and afraid to say anything unless Donald Trump blesses it first.

It's cult-like behavior on the Republican side, and I think that's, again, why Democrats are on pace to have a really good midterm election.

- Congressman Magaziner, let's do a lightning round.

What book or movie played an important role in your political development?

- I am currently rereading a book that I read years ago, Gordon Wood's "The Radicalism of the American Revolution."

It's a great read for marking the 250th anniversary of our country, and it's just a real reminder of what makes America unique, that we are a democracy, that we are not a land of kings, that we are a country that is based on the ideals of equality and participation.

And I'm rereading it right now, and I recommend it to everyone.

- If you could have any former president, living or dead, over for a dinner party, who would you select?

- Ooh, that is a good question.

You know, I think FDR is, you know, I think for many of us an inspiration, someone who not only had a strong sense of the role that government can play to make people's lives better, but also was able to get things done.

So I'd have a lot of questions for him.

- What's your biggest frustration about Rhode Island?

- My biggest frustration about Rhode Island.

Well, the joke I tell sometimes to people who are not from here is I say, "You know, in Rhode Island, spring, summer, and fall are really nice, but winter lasts six months."

I don't think that's actually true, but, you know, there are those days in February and March when you're like, "Okay, we've had enough of this winter weather."

- All right.

Speaking of frustrations, many Americans are looking on as Congress has failed to act on Social Security.

The Social Security Reserve Fund is due to run out in about six years, and that would pose about a 25% benefit cut for Americans if that is not addressed.

Why is Congress failing to act on this?

- Look, to me, the fix here is obvious, and we should start by saying Social Security has been the bedrock of American retirement for nearly a century.

Before we had Social Security, seniors were falling into poverty at a much higher rate than today, so we need to preserve Social Security.

And we can do it without any cuts, without any changes to the benefits.

The fix here to me is simple, and that is to apply the Social Security payroll tax to higher levels of income than it's applied to today.

Social Security is funded by a payroll tax on the first roughly $180,000 of a person's income.

What that means is that millionaires, billionaires, Elon Musk pays the same number of dollars into the Social Security Trust Fund every year as someone making $180,000 a year, right?

A school secretary's entire salary is taxed, you know, for the Social Security Trust Fund, whereas Elon Musk and these millionaires and billionaires, they finish their contribution within the first couple of hours of January 1st every year.

So if we just applied that same tax rate to million dollar and billion dollar annual income that we do to the first 180,000, you would have enough revenue, not only to extend the life of the trust fund for another century, but also probably to increase the cost of living adjustment to make it keep up better with inflation.

There is a bill to do this in Congress called the Social Security 2100 Act.

I'm a co-sponsor of it, I support it.

And to your original question of why hasn't this happened yet, look, you know, it's no secret that Congress is broken and, you know, tends not to act until the last minute.

So what I fully expect and hope is going to happen is that, you know, in the next couple years when we get close to that cliff, it will spur action in Congress, and we will have to make the case that we do not need to cut benefits, we do not need to raise the retirement age if we just have the wealthiest Americans pay their fair share into the system.

It's an easy fix.

- You bought a house in Cranston after first winning your congressional seat in 2022, said you were gonna move into the 2nd District.

You later said your life had changed and you reversed course, you live in Providence in the 1st District now.

What do you say to Rhode Islanders who are upset that you went back on your word on that?

- Well, listen, I live in Providence, which is one of the 21 cities and towns that I represent in Congress.

I work every day for residents of the 2nd Congressional District.

I'm fighting to lower their costs, to fix their healthcare, to make life better for Rhode Islanders in the district.

In just the last year, I've delivered $280 million of federal funding for police departments and infrastructure projects and education all across the district.

I'm 100% committed to serving the district.

As you said, my life circumstances changed, specifically my wife got a job that requires her to commute to Cambridge, Massachusetts every day, so we had to live close to the train station, but I show up every day for my constituents.

I work hard and am proud of the results that I'm producing.

- You voted for the Ratepayer Protection Act, which aims to protect local utility rate payers from higher costs due to data centers, but that's being held up in the Senate where Democrats oppose it, your colleagues, Senators Jack Reed and Sheldon Whitehouse oppose it.

What do you say justifies support for that?

Why are your Democratic colleagues wrong on that?

- Well, I think we need to lower energy costs.

I've come out with a plan to do that, and I think that requiring data centers to, at the very least, pay for their own energy is a part of that.

When we say data centers pay for their energy, what we really mean is the big tech companies like Amazon and Meta that are worth trillions of dollars.

They can afford to pay for their own energy, and they shouldn't pass those costs onto consumers, as far as the bill specifically goes.

The bill that moved through the House, unfortunately, was a largely symbolic bill.

It said that the data center companies should consider voluntarily paying for their own energy or something.

It had no teeth to it.

Now, I voted for it because even though it was just symbolic, I wanted to send a message.

I think the view of some senators, Democratic senators, is that because it was just symbolic, that it doesn't merit passage.

However, all of that being said, I am very excited because Senator Whitehouse, along with a number of other Democratic and Republican senators, just released a new bipartisan permitting reform bill a couple of days ago that includes an actual requirement for data centers to pay for their own energy, not just like a voluntary symbolic thing, but an actual requirement.

And I'm hopeful that that bill, which includes the data center piece will get a vote as soon as Congress reconvenes in November, it's something that I strongly support.

- Earlier this year, you instituted a policy banning your staff members from using prediction markets like Kalshi and Polymarket.

Do you believe those kind of entities should be regulated like gambling entities?

- Yes, absolutely.

Yeah, I mean, gambling in general is a very highly-regulated industry for a good reason.

I think that we have a real societal problem right now where these unregulated prediction markets, you know, which include things like sports betting have become so addictive and are so unregulated, you know, people are actually becoming addicted to this, and there are no guardrails.

It's crazy that, you know, all of these requirements and restrictions are in place around gambling, you know, at Twin River, but not on Kalshi, or on, you know, the other prediction markets.

It's also crazy that, as it stands- - Will Congress have the appetite to regulate those entities?

- I hope so.

I think so.

Because again, I think that there is a real societal problem with people becoming addicted to these unregulated online markets.

And that's just, you know, sports betting and other traditional kinds of gambling.

The other issue that you alluded to is, you know, right now, outside of my office, there are virtually no restrictions on people with inside knowledge betting on world events and on politics.

You've already had instances, for example, before the United States took military action against Venezuela, you had people betting that that was going to happen because they knew it was going to happen.

It creates all kinds of perverse incentives when policymakers are betting on the outcomes of bills, on the outcomes of world events that they have themselves have a stake in.

So that should be banned entirely, in my view.

- We've got to leave it there.

Thanks so much for joining us, Rhode Island's 2nd District Congressman, Seth Magaziner.

- Thank you.

- Thanks for watching "One on One."

I'm Ian Donnis.

You can find all of our past interviews on the Ocean State Media YouTube channel.

You can also listen to "One on One" wherever you get your podcasts.

And if you love Rhode Island politics, sign up to receive my free TGIF column in your inbox every Friday at oceanstatemedia.org/TGIF.

We'll see you next week.

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