(Upbeat music) - Welcome to A Shot of Ag.

My name is Rob Sharkey.

I'm a fifth generation farmer from just outside of Bradford, Illinois.

I started a podcast which led into an XM radio show, which led into a national television show, which led into me to be here today.

But today, today is not about me.

Today is about Travis Weaver.

How you doing, Travis?

- I'm doing well, Rob.

Good morning.

- I'm glad you are this, you're from Peoria.

- That's correct, lifelong.

- You grew up... Well, I think a lot of people know like where you grew up, right?

- Sure.

Because it was kind of an iconic place there going out, that used to be way outside of Peoria.

Now, it's almost engulfed.

- Yeah, I did.

You know, when we were growing up, my dad would always talk about, you know how far you are from the city, by how many stoplights there are between you and the city or stop signs?

- Yeah.

And you know, when I was a kid, I remember going down to War Memorial drive, which is now, you know, route 150, there's a mall on it and just riding our bikes down - Oh really?

And now, you know across the street, there's a mall and there's a hospital and there's a stoplight in our front yard.

- Yeah, it's probably... We call it the new mall.

- Yeah.

- When that came out, that probably changed the landscape and everything.

- Yeah.

- Yeah.

Now, you grew up there.

You were... do you say you were a farm kid?

- I do claim the farm kid's status.

You know, my grandfather was a long time farmer actually started with Angus cows, had the farm, we still have our family farm by Grand Prairie, bought it from Murray Baker, old CAT CEO, long time ago.

And you know, just was a farmer, a depression era farmer, broke, him and his brother would put ketchup and hot water together and call it tomato soup at times.

- What?

And then, you know, they'd fix their shoes with Wheaties boxes.

I mean, they were depression era farmers.

- Whew.

- Then you know, he was an entrepreneur, would try a lot of things.

Failed a lot of times, like many great entrepreneurs.

And just so happy to get into refrigerated trucking at one point, through that met the Colonel, Colonel Sanders and that kind of changed his stars.

- Whoa, whoa, whoa.

You mean actually met the Colonel?

- He met the Colonel.

- The white beard Colonel?

- The white beard Colonel.

- The real one, not the- - He wore the suit.

Yeah, he wore the suit and the tie.

- Okay.

- So he was taking chickens .

.

- Did he have to call him the Colonel?

- I think he called him, Mr.

Colonel.

- Mr. - Because that's, that was a family business, right?

- Yeah.

- They're the KFCs now.

- Yep.

- Kentucky Fried Chickens.

- Yep.

- Yeah, that's how you... Now, a lot of people would come on here and say, "Oh, as a kid, you know, I used to have to shovel poop and take care of everything.

But a lot of times they were lying.

- Yeah.

- You know, I can vouch for you.

- Thank you.

- Yes.

Because a long, long, long time ago when you were... yeah.

My wife would train polo horses at your family's farm and you were always out there because I don't know if you had to be or whatever, but you're always shoveling poop.

- Yeah.

- You would the wrapping, I don't even know the terms.

- Yeah, wrapping legs.

- Wrapping legs and the tails and all that.

So you grew up, humping it.

- I did.

And I always joke about, there's always more fence to fix.

- Yeah.

- Cause anybody who lived on a farm, I mean, you kind of go through your checklist, you clean stalls, you doctor animals, you mow.

If you get through everything, the backstop is, there's always fence.

I mean, if you got a mile of fence, there's always boards down.

There's fence rotting.

- Yeah.

- And so, you know, when we would get in trouble when we were kids, it wasn't so much, "Hey, you're grounded."

It's, "You were out past curfew, that fence over there needs fixing."

And so we'd rip out old fence, put in new fence.

I mean, it just always more to do on a farm.

- Yeah.

We were... Emily was training polo horses at your farm and then somehow she got pregnant, I don't know.

- Crazy how that happens.

- You were small.

So did you eventually grow up and start playing polo?

- I did, I played for a period of time.

I haven't played for several years now.

Although, I bet if we went out and found a field, I could still take you probably.

But it's interesting the way that we did it- - You think so, huh?

- I would hope so.

I would hope so.

And you know a lot of people think about polo and they think about prince Charles and West Palm beach, but you know, the way that we did it, we would buy $300 horses off the racetrack and spend our summers making 'em.

And it was really an interesting way to grow up because the horses that we rode were runaways and were buckers and it was really an adverse way to grow up because you just had to figure out how you were gonna fix the problem.

- Yeah, a lot of Coors light.

- A lot of Coors light helps.

- Yeah.

- Yeah.

- I mean, it wasn't the...

It isn't the ones you saw on TV.

I mean, this was like, I don't know, just a bunch of people that were getting together and just hammering out with each other.

- Yeah.

- When you were growing up, you did get involved in FFA.

- Yeah.

- Tell me that.

- It's just a great organization.

And I talk a lot about education.

It's a passion of mine.

I tutor GED students.

I substitute teach at Brimfield High School.

I chair the education committee at Wildlife Praire Par - You do that now?

- I still do, yeah.

- How awful is that?

I don't like kids.

- The sub or the tutoring?

- The kids?

I don't like, like being around 'em and stuff.

And you're like going in there and doing that on purpose.

- I think it's pretty inspiring because - Really?

- I think every generation in history has felt like the next generation's gonna be the one that does us all in, you know.

I mean.

- I think that all the time.

- Think about the Beatles and The Rolling Stones, how much damage they were gonna do.

And you know, for me, I think about it.

Like you look at TikTok and Instagram and I'm like, "This generation is gonna end the whole thing."

- Yeah.

- But then you go sit with kids and they ask good questions and you can see the gears turn.

And they're really, really good kids.

It looks different certainly than when you and I were going through high school, but that doesn't inherently make it worse.

- Yeah, I don't agree.

It is what it is, all right.

You can, you can enjoy the kids all you want.

I'll let you do that.

No, I'm joking.

It's great that you're willing and wanting to do that.

- Yeah.

- And yeah, if we don't teach 'em, I guess they're just gonna be worse than they are.

And going back to FFA.

- Yeah.

- It used to be Future Farmers of America for people that don't, I don't even know what's called now.

It's just FFA or something?

- Yeah, Future Farmers of America.

- Yeah.

That you were, you were president.

- Yep.

- How did that happen?

- Well, it was, you know, it was interesting looking at Dunlap progress kind of from my freshman year to my senior year where even my freshman year, when I was growing up, it was very much a farm school.

I mean, I was, I think the last class to have Drive Your Tractor To School Day.

- Oh yeah.

- And by my last year- - Whoa, whoa, whoa.

We gotta explain that.

So rural schools, well, you had FFA, there was one day a year.

- Yeah.

- Where the farm kids would drive the tractors into school and they'd park 'em out in front of the school.

- Yeah.

- Why would we do that?

- Why not?

- Anyway, continue.

- Well, so my freshman year, I mean, I remember rolling in on Drive Your Tractor To School Day and they were like tractors there, a lot of 'em.

And my senior year, it was like my tractor and somebody who had their John Deere riding lawn mower that brought it across the street.

I mean, it kind of dwindled, but FFA is such a great organization because I think Ag is a great way to engage kids in classrooms.

And you think about a time where we live now in 2022 and eighth graders haven't had a normal school year since they were fifth graders.

We've physically put a barrier between educators and students and a virtual barrier in some instances.

But if you can bring a pig into a classroom or take a kid into a combine, that's engaging kids and reminding 'em that learning can be fun and engaging.

- What'd you just say?

I hadn't thought about that.

That eighth graders have not had... - A regular full year of school since they were fifth graders.

- Isn't that crazy?

- Yeah.

- Huh?

- Time flies.

- So being a president of FFA, did that, did that light a spark in you?

- As far as wanting to lead?

- Wanting to lead and run for other stuff?

- I don't know that I would say that that's what lit the spark, but I just really appreciated the organization.

And it's a great example of where a leader can do great things.

And I'm not talking about myself as a leader.

Our teacher sponsor, Mr. Barrington, just a great man.

He was a science teacher who was a farm kid himself.

And it was fun to go into the classroom and just see kids get engaged when he was talking cuz they respected him.

And he really was a great influence in my life.

- You are running for state rep?

- That's correct.

- Whoa.

- I know.

- That's... it takes, it takes, I don't know if I should say this cuz it could ruin your campaign.

It takes a lot of cojones to put yourself out there and do that.

- I appreciate it.

- It does because I mean, no matter what, you're going to pick a party and the people from the other party, you're gonna have that sector.

- Yeah.

- The ne'er do wells, the hooligans that are gonna just start ripping on you, making stuff up.

I mean, that's a lot to put yourself through.

- It is.

And the way that I think about it is when I'm down in Springfield, there's an R next to my name, because they put it there.

When I'm working at my district, I'm just a guy who wants to help businesses grow, help kids learn, help farmers have a better livelihood for their families.

And I just try to put the party aside cuz whether you vote for me or not, whether you gimme money or not, whether you endorse me or not, I'm gonna do my best job to represent you.

And I think when we think about the district, you know, Illinois's got a big battle ahead.

But the district that I represent is very rural.

It's kind of western side of Peoria up to Henry county to parts of Tazewell county.

And it's a good area where we can make progress.

- It used to be, you would... your Democrats and Republicans and it wouldn't necessarily be how they would vote.

Now it's, I don't know, it's such a shame anymore that an issue comes up and if you've got an R, you're voting this way, you got a D, it's like they don't even look at the issues anymore.

- Yeah.

- Are you gonna be different?

- I feel pretty good about it because you know, I'll have people say to me, "How the heck are you gonna get along with Democrats?"

I say, "What do you mean how am I get along with them?"

The same reason how I get along... same way I get along with you.

Same way I get along with a person in a grocery store.

- But you were gonna beat me in polo.

That's not how you get along with the Democrats.

I would suggest that's a little piece of advice, right?

- Yeah.

- Don't go out up there and tell 'em you could beat 'em in polo.

- I'll take that word of advice, but you know, you respect people and you treat 'em, you treat 'em with respect and dignity.

And I feel really confident that when you bring solutions to the table, people listen and we gotta put our swords away and work together on things.

- There's so many times when you'll be like down here, down state, right?

You'll be talking inside your bubble and they'll go like, "Oh, that one politician up in Chicago is horrible and they want to destroy this, that and the other."

And I've met them - Sure.

- and I'm like, "No, they really don't."

- Right.

- I mean, actually they're a very cool person.

The divide that has been created, but I don't know the media, whoever controls stuff.

- Yeah.

- But can that be overcome?

- I think so.

I think there's a lot of things we can do to break down barriers.

I'll give you an example.

I was recently talking with a farmer who said, "You know, Illinois does not a good job of how we depreciate our assets."

And you know, Iowa, Indiana have a better model for it.

And I don't think the people that wrote these laws were trying to hurt the Illinois farmer.

I think they just didn't understand how they impacted us.

And I said, "You're exactly right."

It's not that there's some discussion going on where they say, "How the heck are we gonna hurt the farmer?

Who's the backbone of the Republic."

And so I would love to do some things where these Chicago politicians take 'em out and let 'em ride in a combine and, and let 'em be a part of the harvest and bring them out and kind of see how we grew up.

And on the other hand, I'm more than happy to go into their homes on the south end of Chicago, on the east side of St. Louis and see how they live there.

I think their perspective is a good thing.

- One way streets are the best.

- I appreciate that.

- Why do this?

Why'd you decide to run?

- Well, it's not something that I saw coming at this point in my life, but there was a time sort of towards the end of the pandemic era when I just felt really clear that my priorities in life are my faith, my family, and serving my community.

And as I looked at Illinois and just the troubles that we had and the direction were going, I felt like there's two options on the table for what future can look like.

Option number one, change states.

Option number two, work to change my state.

And this is a good place with good people.

And if you love something, you fight for it.

And I don't wanna be on the sidelines and watch Illinois continue on this track record that it's going down.

- It does get old being a laughing stock, right?

Cuz you mentioned you're from Illinois and automatically they're making fun of you.

And I'm thinking, what if you were just here, right?

If you just saw what I saw, that's an amazing state, amazing people.

Yes, we have got major problems in our political system.

That's what you're gonna be up against.

- Yeah.

- You ready for that?

- I feel pretty good about it.

You know, my dad was a state senator for a short period of time, five years.

And I only say that to say, I know what I'm signing up for.

I would go campaigning with him.

I would be in town halls with him and listen to what people said.

I know the challenges that he dealt with working across the aisle in Springfield and getting bills passed.

So it's not like I'm going into this naive, not sure what I'm signing up for.

I know what I'm signing up for.

And I feel really good about our ability to help Illinois, but really to help this district.

- I don't know if I can do it, honestly- - I'd vote for you.

- Well, what's your running for... thank you.

- As long as you're not running against me.

- Hey, hey, you already breaking promises.

- Sure, yeah.

Busted.

- I know it's easy to say, right?

Who cares what people think, right?

- Yeah.

- People are just gonna be saying what they are, but I mean, it does get to you.

I mean, you get enough bad comments, you get enough people hammering on you.

You're going to make mistakes.

- Right.

- And when you do, people are going to jump right on that.

I would have, I would honestly, if I was honest with myself, I would have a hard time with it.

- You know, that's kind of just another thing that I saw walking into it, knowing there's gonna be highs and lows, peaks and valleys.

And when the attacks come, don't let it get you down.

And when the praise comes, don't let it get you too close to the sun because there's a valley right around the corner.

And so I just try to focus on what the future holds, keep marching towards where I'm going towards, serving the Almighty and knowing if you do things the right way.

good things happen.

- Yeah.

It's gonna be hard to know who to trust.

I don't know how you navigate that.

I mean, I suppose you know people that have been there, and could say, "All right, this person's gonna say this, but watch out."

- Yeah.

- Yet another thing you've got- - Very insightful, Rob.

- Yes, thank you.

- Politicians are hard to trust.

Where'd you come up with that one?

- I'm trying to be nice.

- So is that this November?

- June 28th will be my primary election.

- Oh, okay.

- As of right now, there's not a Democrat on the other side of the ballot.

- Gotcha.

- So June 28th is really it.

And then November, there will be a general election where there's somebody on the other side or not.

- Okay.

The one you're running through is fairly Republican, right?

- It's about two thirds Republican as a district.

- Okay.

- And you know, in this year where we're kind of all expecting a red wave, it would be really hard for a Democrat to flip this seat just objectively.

- Gerrymandering, that could go both ways, too.

I don't like it.

- Yeah.

- I hate those maps.

They drive me insane.

- Yeah.

- When you do that, but I mean, that's what it's meant for.

They're like, "Okay, we're gonna give your district to the Republicans.

It'd be nice to see it a little more.

- I know.

- Common sense.

- It's really too bad.

I mean, when Gerrymandering was invented in the 1800, it was kind of like, "Hey Rob, you take that part of town where you know everybody and I'll take this part of town where I know everybody and we'll all just kind of have a handshake agreement."

Now, with software, if they want to have a district that's 57.5% Republican, they're gonna get it.

Interestingly, I have an uncle who lives on this street and the district goes right up to his house, carves him out and then it keeps going.

So I have all of his neighbors, but I don't have my uncle.

And of course, the maps were drawn long before I was ever doing this so it's a total coincidence, but it just highlights.

They carved that one house out cuz he was voting one way or the other and they needed to get their number for what they wanted the district to look like.

- Yeah.

To me, that's so wrong.

But I mean, you can do that on your second year.

- Yeah.

- Also, with running for office, I mean, it's a constant, it's a constant chug, right?

Can you even like take a day off when you're like, "Oh, I gotta meet with the rotaries or the Red Hats or whoever?"

- Yeah.

You know, I really enjoy it and it's not fun.

Like, you know, a day at six flags is fun.

- Yeah.

- But it's fun in the sense that it's fulfilling.

And when I'm talking with you or when I'm talking with farmers or small business owners or concerned parents, it's not work when you're having thoughtful discussion, you're trying to help people.

I mean, there are long days.

I don't feel like I take a lot of days off, but I really enjoy what I'm doing.

And I'm certainly ready for June 29th when I can kind of have the primary behind me and breathe for a minute, but it is a pretty full-time job.

And it's really enjoyable.

It's really fulfilling, I found.

- Yeah.

Well, I mean, best of luck to you.

- Thank you.

- That is a world that I don't know anything about.

A world that intimidates me.

And for someone like yourself to just hit it head on.

- Yeah.

- It says something about you.

- Well, I appreciate that.

And you know, this is a little bit unconventional, but I do my best to let everybody know how to get ahold of me.

I believe that legislating should be a collaborative process.

- Do you wanna give your cell number out?

- I'm gonna get my cell number out.

It's (309) 645-5892.

Call me anytime.

Some people call me just to say, "Hi, I can't believe you're actually picking up.

- Okay.

- I love it.

I've had very few spam mean phone calls that 99% were good.

- Okay.

- And I can either try to guess what people's problems are or I can just let 'em call me.

- Okay.

What's your bank number?

- Not sure I got it off hand for you.

- Okay.

Well, you can email.

I'll call you.

- Well, you can Venmo me if you want to @traveweave, feel free to Venmo me.

- Well again, that says a lot.

And you know, this is not a political show.

- Yeah.

- I mean, I can't endorse you.

I don't... yeah.

It's not what it is, but I will say, best of luck.

- Thank you, sir.

- How about that?

- I appreciate it.

- All right, let's get back to this area, right?

- Yep.

And agriculture needs of that.

I mean obviously, farming is shrinking.

- Yes.

- And people really are getting, you know, disconnected where their food comes from.

Let's go back to the education.

Any ideas on how to improve that?

- Well, I'll tell you, there's one really interesting program going on up at Kewanee High School, where they have a pig in their Ag classroom, she had 12 piglets.

The kids were apart of the insemination.

They were part of the birthing.

They were there from the very beginning.

And I just think it's really cool when you can have kids.

See what goes on, see where the bacon comes from, see where the corn comes from.

And that's one thing that's fun about education is just, you know, when we're kids, education's a blast, cause it's about trains and dinosaurs and tractors.

And somewhere along the way, trigonometry happens and education starts to stink.

I mean, I think it's important to get kids back to this environment where learning is fun.

It's interesting, you're learning about things that are relevant to you, where your food comes from.

- This Kewanee, would that be in the district you're running for?

- It is, yep.

It's right in the district.

- Okay.

It's time to stump Travis.

- Oh great.

- Yeah.

And this is a mean question.

I know what's mean, but I'm gonna do it anyway.

What is Kewanee's unofficial title?

- Hog Capital, it's Hog Capital of the world.

- Okay, maybe it wasn't that mean.

Maybe that wasn't that hard of a question.

It used... everybody used to know that, right?

And then it...

I haven't seen the sign out anymore.

- Yeah.

- But yeah, they aren't anymore, by the way.

- Don't tell the Kewanee.

- They're not even close, but yeah, I'm sure back in the day, they probably had more hogs than anybody else.

So wow, that's knowing your district.

- Thank you, sir.

- Yeah.

- Thank you.

- What's Bradford's unofficial title?

- I got nothing.

- Yeah, okay.

- What is it?

- I don't know, something about meth labs.

I don't know.

So yeah, you do have.

- Bradford just east of Toulon.

That's the unofficial.

- You are gonna have some hard issues like that coming up.

I mean, the rural communities and what's not happening there.

- Yeah.

- That's gonna be some pretty heavy stuff that would weigh on you if you win.

- Yeah.

You know, Donald Rumsfeld used to talk about in life, we've got no knowns and no unknowns.

You've got things where, you know you're an expert and you've got things where you know that you're not an expert.

For me, I know I've got a background in finance.

I've got a background in education.

I'm working to get a stronger background in Ag, but I've also got a lot of areas where I know they don't have a background.

I've never been a cop.

I've never been a full-time teacher.

And so that's why I like to give out my cell phone number is because if somebody's got some wisdom or advice they wanna give to me, I wanna lean on the 108,000 people in my district and empower experts and know that it's not my job to have the right answer.

It's my job to get to the right answer.

- We've got a lot of ditches to mow around the farm.

I would think if you want to learn about farming, probably the thing would to do would become and... - Mow your ditches?

- Mow our ditches.

- Is that how I pay you for giving the opportunity to be on Sharkey?

- Well, I know I wouldn't be paying you.

- That's how I pay you back is by mowing your ditches.

- Yeah, it's gonna be such a huge learning curve.

And I think that was supposed to be the goal of it, right?

You don't know about Chicago, but they do.

And you were supposed to talk.

- And somehow that got lost.

- Right.

- So I'm excited for you.

- And you know, I also think it's important to know that politics isn't a career.

I'm not accepting the pension because it's not a career for me, it's service.

You know, you look back at how Abe Lincoln did it.

He was in the Illinois house of representatives for a period of time, then he stepped away and practiced law.

Then he was in US Congress for a period of time.

Then he went back to his law practice.

Then he ran for president.

I mean, it was never intended to be this career where you're in politics for 40 years.

So I believe in term limits for me, this is a 10 year commitment in this role, I won't be in the seat for longer than 10 years.

I actively try to grow my business outside of it so that, you know, if I need to take a hard vote in year six, and that means I lose, then I'll lose.

It's not my identity.

And it's empowering to know that if I'm done at year 10 anyway, and year six, I gotta do something hard.

That means that I'm not gonna get reelected.

- Yeah.

- I'll be done.

I'll expedite my plan by four years.

- I would, I would run.

I would win and I would go on for a week and I would just collect that pension for the rest of my life.

That's how you gotta do things.

- Man, you got a lot of wisdom.

And then you got me mowing your ditch for free.

I mean.

- It's a good day.

- Yeah.

- All right, if people want to find you, right?

I'm sure you got a website, like social media, all that stuff.

Go ahead and run it on down.

- Yeah.

My Instagram @voteweaver.

My Facebook, Travis Weaver.

That's my own personal page.

And then there's a campaign page.

You can email me, travis@weaverforillionois.us.

My website is weaverforillinois.us.

- Okay.

- So please reach out, love to hear from folks.

- TikTok?

- I'm not a Tiktokker.

- Be Real.

Are you on Be Real?

- This is the first I've ever heard of Be Real.

- It's a hip new thing.

- Okay.

- All you do is, you take a picture of yourself the same time every day or something.

You can do that.

- I can take pictures.

- Yeah.

Well, imagine that everybody would be like, "Oh, I wonder what Travis is up to today."

- Yeah.

- You could be all set.

Okay.

I'm gonna set you up a TikTok and a Be Real.

- Okay.

- And LinkedIn.

- It's about progress, man.

Sharks don't swim backward, they swim forward.

- This guy's good.

It's fun for me, personally.

Like I've said, I've made no bones about it.

I've known you since you were... Yeah.

It's been fun for us to watch you grow up to the man you are.

- Thanks man.

- Your family is very well-respected by us.

And I know most of if not all the community, so yeah.

Good luck with this.

- Thank you, sir.

- I'm sure whatever happens, whatever you decide to do in life, you're going to be a huge, huge success.

- Thank you, sir.

- So I'm thinking @tweave, maybe tweave, that's a good- - That's my Be Real?

- I think in TikTok.

- The real tweave.

- Yeah, I might have to think about this.

- Okay.

- Maybe people can call you and suggest.

- Text.

- Yes.

Well, Travis Weaver Peoria.

Thank you for being you on the show.

Really, really appreciate it.

Good luck.

Everybody else, we'll catch you next week.