From Service to Flipping Seats in the Statehouse; A Conversation with Rep. Adam Moore

In this episode of the Blue Dot Podcast, hosts Natalie MacDonald and Brian Koehl welcome Kentucky State Representative Adam Moore, who flipped House District 45 in 2024. Moore discusses his first term in Frankfort, including the creation of Kentucky’s bipartisan Veterans Caucus and his efforts to support veterans and military families across the Commonwealth.

The conversation focuses on the rapid expansion of AI-driven data centers in Kentucky, exploring their potential economic benefits alongside concerns about utility costs, environmental impacts, transparency, and long-term sustainability. Moore also shares his work on election reform, campaign finance transparency, and fairer voting districts, arguing that public trust in elections depends on reducing the influence of dark money and partisan gerrymandering.

The episode concludes with a discussion on military leadership, public service, modern masculinity, and what gives Moore hope for Kentucky’s future: the people and communities that make the state special.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Welcome to the Blue Dot, Northern Kentucky's premier political podcast, brought to you by the Kent County Democratic Executive Committee.

SPEAKER_02 0:07

The military mindset is so great for preparing someone for politics because like when you're going into battle or you have an American flag on your shoulder, but you have no idea what the person's background is or the politics are. What matters is they're the soldier to the left of you and you're going to take care of each other. And so it instills that mentality that we're all in this together.

SPEAKER_00 0:36

Representative Adam Moore was elected to the Kentucky House of Representatives in 2024, and we're lucky enough to have him join us today to talk about all of the great work he's been doing in the state legislature. Thanks for joining. I'm Natalie McDonald.

SPEAKER_01 0:50

And I'm Brian Cale. That's right, Natalie. Representative Adam Moore serves District 45, which covers part of Fayette County, including Lexington, as well as part of Jessamine County. He was born and raised in Frankfurt, graduated from Murray State University, worked for Kentucky legislators in Washington, D.C., and later served in the U.S. Army Reserve with deployments to Africa and Afghanistan. Following his military service, Adam worked as a project manager supporting military health care systems and build a small coaching business. Today he serves in the Kentucky House while continuing his community and veterans advocacy work. Adam, thank you so much for being here. We're looking forward to talking to you.

SPEAKER_02 1:30

Yeah, great to be here and look forward to talking to you as well. And Natalie, you mentioned the original series was about flipping seats. I want everyone to know that we did flip a seat when we won in 2024. Love it.

SPEAKER_00 1:42

That is what we like to hear for sure. And you are, as we said, a first-term legislator. Uh, but you've quickly become really a leading voice in some of Kentucky's most pressing issues, especially when it comes to the growth of data centers, election and democracy reforms, and of course, veterans' uh advocacy. So you've been working on so much. So I'm just gonna send it over to you if you want to talk a little bit about the main priorities that that you've been working on.

SPEAKER_02 2:09

Yeah, uh it does sound like it's kind of all over the map, but uh when I came in, you know, I couldn't make any campaign promises. I was gonna be, if I won, you know, the 20th Democrat uh in the state House of Representatives, uh up against 80 Republicans, so I can't say I'm gonna pass this law or that law. So I talked about working on issues, and one thing I thought I could do was create the first ever veterans caucus, you know, a bipartisan group of legislators who could come together to serve those who've served and their families, you know, make Kentucky the most military and veteran-friendly state as possible, either to stay here or to retire here after your service is done. Uh and so that was like really the number one priority for me because it's not the expectation to get bills passed when you are a freshman or to get legislation passed when you're in the minority. So doing that was my top priority, and I was able to create that Veterans Caucus, which I now chair. But that has just allowed me to create so many relationships across the aisle that I now have the opportunity and the privilege to be a leading voice on data center legislation, other energy legislation, uh things around health care and affordability. So it's really cool that it's been a diving off point, but not something that I've been siloed into.

SPEAKER_01 3:18

Yeah, the uh the data centers um, well, number one, the veteran advocacy is fantastic, and that whole idea of a veteran caucus, to port caucus is a great idea. Um and uh we've seen veterans unfortunately get kicked to the curb a little bit with the current national administration. So I really appreciate you doing that. Uh and we have talked a lot about AI and especially data centers uh on the podcast. And it's a dichotomy, right? It brings a lot of great economic opportunity to Kentucky, but there are also a lot of risks and hidden costs. Can you kind of go through some of the pros and cons and where the legislation that you're spearheading lies?

SPEAKER_02 3:56

Sure. And we could talk for two hours, just the three of us. We really got uh and all the things. Um and what we've seen is that data centers, I would say, have largely built themselves as economic drivers, drivers of economic development. The utility companies, whether you're thinking of Duke Energy, Kentucky Power, are building it the same way as well. Um and there's always kind of the promise out there in the ether that in addition to you know bringing in new jobs to build those data centers or to staff those data centers, that there is the potential to bring down utility rates. Uh, we don't really see it bringing down utility rates unless data centers locate somewhere that currently has excess capacity on the grid. So if I want to move into eastern Kentucky and it currently has power generation for however many gigawatts, and say there is an unmet need there, uh, and so a data center comes in and it would not take building any new infrastructure, it could just plug in and play immediately, then yes, that cost of operating that that coal or that gas plant would then theoretically be dropped per customer because that loads being shared. What we see is that these new hyperscale data centers are coming in at hundreds of megawatts or even over a gigawatt, which is a thousand megawatts, which means you have to build all new facilities. That's new power plants, that's new transmission, the huge lines that you see that will run for hundreds of miles from the plant to other places. That is upgrading the distribution system, the boxes you see as well. And all those could be hidden costs that could theoretically be passed on to ratepayers. So when I got into the data center issue, it was protecting people like the three of us. It was just protecting our small businesses, our residential homeowners, renters from having their utility bills go up if a data center was to move in. That's how I got into it, and it has evolved so much from there.

SPEAKER_00 5:47

And there's also this whole environmental piece of it as well. We've seen some environmental protections be negated or walked back on. So I don't know if you have any input to that as as well. I think that's a really important part part of this that might get kind of put under the rug.

SPEAKER_02 6:05

Right. We are all worried about emissions. Uh we talk so much about these closed loop systems. Well, there's still going to be some off-gassing. You cannot maintain 100% of the liquid. There will still be evaporation. Do we have other chemicals that are evaporating along with that? If you don't have a closed loop system, what are the emissions either through the air as gases or liquid in the water system that could be going into the local sewer or septic system as well? A big thing has also been noise, uh, the decibels that come out of there. Yeah. Uh not just, you know, Brian and Natalie, are they annoying to you, the neighbors? Will they drive away wildlife, which is part of a thriving ecosystem that's nearby? Uh there's also been this accumulation of heat in the area at local zones. Will that heat have negative impacts on the local environment, plant life, animal life? Uh these are all questions. And I'm not here to say on the podcast that we know that they're all detrimental. It's literally a fact to say that we don't know. We are at the Wild West on this. We are at the kind of tip of the spear uh on this, and that we are right now living through the early days of hyperscale data center. We do not know what even the short-term, so of course the medium-term or long-term effects are of having these alongside uh our natural environments and alongside people. So that is something that there is no research on, and we are just kind of waiting and seeing what comes out of these large hyperscale centers.

SPEAKER_01 7:30

Yeah, I mean, it it it is the Wild West, and because the usage uh primarily is for generating artificial intelligence, we don't really know where AI is going. So we could be building data centers today that really could be useless or low-functioning or obsolete a few years down the line. There's all this expense and all this potential environmental damage and uh effects to the um you know the grid, et cetera. And then it could be abandoned because AI takes a different turn or new technology comes out that makes what we have today obsolete. So it's not like we're building for known storage demands and cloud capacity. It's really we're we're building proactively for something that I think a lot of people don't really even know where it's going to go.

SPEAKER_02 8:19

Absolutely. We've seen this play out in Ohio, directly north of us in Kentucky. So when they were trying to think about load growth, how much generation would they need to be added to their grid for new hyperscale data centers? They thought they had to build another 30 gigawatts, so I think 30,000 megawatts of power just for new data centers. That number has been revised down, revised down, revised down to 5.8 gigawatts. So they've cut 80% off that. So it is so much a market of speculation. And what happens when the next generation of chips use a third of the power required of the current generation of chips? Well, now do you have abandoned warehouses and buildings that are on historic prime farmland that are sitting there because it's unnecessary? And we're building all these new hyperscale data centers when you and I are already having a conversation over Riverside, we already have Gmail addresses, we already have Google Gemini and uh Chat GPT through OpenAI. So they're talking about orders of magnitude of more AI out there, orders of magnitude of more data processing out there when we already have all these technologies and services. So the question is, what is it being built for? Uh a lot of people are concerned about the surveillance state. Um, you know, as you and I go walk out among the streets as we drive our cars, are we being watched and listened to and recorded without ever opting into that 24-7? I think we all kind of have a joke that we have a conversation with our spouse, you know, about needing to get asparagus, and then we see an ad on our phone that says, by the way, we have a sale on asparagus. Um it just feels like we're all just being watched and surveilled at all the time. And I think there is a concern that as we build up this capacity, is it just for more of a surveillance state in the future as well?

SPEAKER_00 9:59

Yeah, and you're sitting representative, so I I like to kind of get a little sneak behind the the curtain. What are you hearing? Do people want to act on this, or is it more like I don't know, I want to keep hands off because there's so much uh to take into consideration. I'm just curious what's being said down there in Frankfurt.

SPEAKER_02 10:16

Well, I'm not gonna keep my hands off at all. I'm gonna keep being a leader on this issue and trying to drive the narrative. I think the bare minimum that we are gonna do is we will put ratepayer protections into Kentucky statutes. We will make sure that you bring your own power or have to fully contractually be obligated to pay for any power that you take off the grid to include upgrades and new developments as well. I think we'll get that put into statute next year. That's the low-hanging fruit, and other states have already started doing that. I think we'll put into statute some type of uh application fee for data centers that might go into an escrow account as well, that might pay out if you ever do need to close down or shut down a data center if you have stranded assets that are left out there. That will also help prevent speculators from coming in and buying up land if they don't already have a customer to then take that over. Uh that's happening in a couple places in Kentucky. One of them closer to me is in Mercer County right now where that is kind of going on. So I think we can get that through the legislature. Now, what I would like to see is how do we increase transparency? Ryan, Natalie, you all have probably heard about, you know, the NDAs that are being signed, that a team of lawyers will come out of California representing Google or Amazon, and they're going to have all the local council members or the fiscal board uh sign these NDAs, and then these decisions are made behind closed doors. Can we make sure that we have as much transparency as possible, as much public input as possible? And I think it was maybe Brian started out on this topic saying that there's supposed to be all this economic development tied to it, whether it's new jobs and revenue. Well, if that's true, then instead of hiding behind closed doors, come be transparent, be public, say we want to work with you collaboratively instead of secretly, and this is what we want to do to be a beneficial member of your community. And if that is helping with the property taxes, if that's helping getting teachers increased pay, if that is lowering your bills on your homeowners uh things, then that is all things that they should be proud of and they should become out there pitching themselves as a new partner in the community instead of sliding in and sneaking in through the back door.

SPEAKER_01 12:22

Yeah, we want to see that uh we want to see some of that revenue and some of that profit stay locally. And that another aspect of this are the tax incentives that are dangling out in front of these companies to build where A, it is not uh not only is their revenue gonna go to some corporation somewhere else, it's not even gonna stay locally, but B, then they're gonna have tax cuts, tax incentives, low tax rates that aren't gonna actually feed that tax base in the local community and help it to thrive.

SPEAKER_02 12:53

And there is a uh a tax break for data centers right now. It's a sales tax uh exemption. So they would still be obligated for locality taxes, occupational taxes. But anything that they purchase to put into that warehouse that is gonna be a data center, they would not have to pay the same sales tax that you, Brian and Natalie, would have to pay. Anyone who's listening to this, if you go out to buy a server, you go out to buy a laptop, you go out to buy a fan or a cooling system, you will pay your six percent sales tax on that in Kentucky. Well, a hyperscale data center would not have to pay that. And that is potentially millions of dollars in the lost revenue that could help make up for shortfalls in SNAP, help make up for shortfalls in Medicaid and other critical programs.

SPEAKER_00 13:32

Absolutely. Yeah, so uh you're obviously taking leadership on that. And um I think maybe some of this bold leadership may come from your experience in the Army Reserve, perhaps. So I wanted to talk a little bit about your experience there and what you've been working on to help veterans. And if there's anything that isn't getting enough attention from policymakers here in Kentucky with our veterans, I know you mentioned the Veterans Caucus. Um, there's also the Veterans Council in Kentucky.

SPEAKER_02 13:59

So there's different organizations, of course. Uh and so what the Veterans Caucus is for, and anyone who's listening to this, they can go and they can research, you can type into Google um Caucus's Kentucky legislature. And a caucus is a group of legislators organized around a certain issue. So there is a bourbon caucus for those who represent areas with bourbon distilleries, and there's the equine caucus for those who represent areas with horse farms. And so, of course, the Veterans Caucus, it is members who do not need to be a veteran themselves, but those who care deeply about supporting our veterans. We have more than 40 uh active members across both the House and the Senate, across both Republicans and Democrats. And so I'm focused on that Veterans Caucus and if there are more civilian organizations. But what we do is we just bring the legislators together. And what I try to do with those meetings is I bring in representatives of either government organizations that serve our veterans or veteran service organizations. Think the VFW, think of the American Legion, and they can tell us directly these are what our name these are what our members need, these are what our members are missing in Kentucky. And a lot of them are part of national networks. And so they can say, Tennessee is doing this, and we need to get on board. We're falling behind. We talk so much um about economic competitiveness in Kentucky, about losing businesses across the river to Ohio or south of the border to Tennessee. We need to think about maintaining some of those best people who've served our country who we want to continue to be or become Kentuckians after they've served as well.

SPEAKER_01 15:31

Yeah, that's for sure. As I said earlier, I feel like veterans have kind of gotten short shrift here recently. And after the sacrifice and the service that they've given our country, we need to try to do everything we can to help with any health or other issues they may have. And then also, as you just said, take advantage of the experience uh and the skills that they develop through their service to the country and apply that in a civilian manner. I always I love to look across Kentucky and and U.S. Congress and look at how many veterans are in there serving and what that experience and skill and expertise uh and having worked with so many different types of people in so many diverse situations, what that brings to bear in that role, and we can apply that to so many other occupations.

SPEAKER_02 16:19

The military mindset is so great for preparing someone for politics because like when you're going into battle, you know, you are you have an American flag on your shoulder, you have your like your last name on one side of your chest, you have U.S. Army or your service on the other side of your chest. I'm an army guy, I'm used to the Army uniform, some other uniforms might be a little different, but you have no idea what the person's background is or their politics are. Like what matters is that they're the soldier to the left of you and you're gonna take care of each other. And so it instills that mentality that we're all in this together. And so you can bring that to the political world as well, too. I I represent a district that's, I think, 41% Democrats, 45% Republican, and the rest are independent and third party. Like, yeah, I'm a Democrat in the state house, but if I'm only representing Democratic interests, I'm missing out on something like 59% of the people I'm supposed to represent. So I think that the military mindset is great of thinking of it uh from that perspective.

SPEAKER_00 17:13

Yeah, we had George Wright on the podcast. We did a military month last year, and George Wright was one of our guests, and he leads up the the Veterans Council in Kentucky. And it's so amazing to see how many veterans are stepping up to run for office. And I can't think of, like you said, a a better background for someone to take up for a leadership position like that. So you know, thank you so much for what you're doing, and obviously thanks for your for your service as well. Appreciate it.

SPEAKER_01 17:39

Yeah, we spoke uh a little prior to the uh podcast getting started about uh our current Secretary of Defense, Pete Heggseth, and how he's redirecting military culture and sidelining women and people of color. What he's doing to the careers of of some of these uh service people have put 10, 20, 30 years into service and then some split decision and they're gone. And now he's pushing this war ethos narrative and mandating testosterone training, all this crazy stuff. It seems like this administration and the MAGA right in general is trying to redefine masculinity and it's become so toxic and so confrontational. Um and I know you have some thoughts on that, and we wanted to kind of discuss that with you a little bit. There's a lot to chew into there.

SPEAKER_02 18:25

Um I was I first No, you're good. So I first watched Band of Brothers when I was deployed in Africa, and I'm re-watching it with my wife now because she's never seen it. Um her parents um immigrated from from Europe. Um her grandmother was in Auschwitz, another one of her grandfathers was in another labor camp. Um they were from the what was then Czechoslovakia. Her parents ended up fleeing as teenagers from Soviet occupation. So this is like part of her history too, in the war in Europe and the European Front. And uh when Colonel Winters, then Captain Winters and Banded Brothers, is talking about the different lieutenants he wants to step up and lead Easy Company. One of the guys he describes as someone who's seen too many war movies, but doesn't really know how to actually lead people. And I think that's the perfect way of expressing Pete Heggs. You know, he's never really actually led people. When he was in the military, he never took a position of command. He actually was forced out, I believe, because he couldn't continue in his position. And then now he's the guy who watched, you know, Rambo a bunch of times, which is great entertainment. This the Rambo series of movies is fantastic entertainment, but that is not how you bec lead as, you know, the Secretary of Defense or as he calls himself, the Secretary of War. And I think he said kind of referred to toxic masculinity, Brian. It's like, yeah, well, you know, the person who was the most testosterone is is the biggest man. Um I think being masculine or a good man or whatever is about you protect and you provide. If you think about that in the military, you're protecting your nation. And the local level, you think about you protect your household. Um, and you think about males historically being the providers, and maybe that is uh that's any any number of ways, whether that's the one who went out there and you hunted to bring down the big game and hunter-gatherer society, which hint, the women actually provided most calories back then when they were collecting the berries and everything else. Um but it's about being able to protect those you care about, providing for those that you care about. It's not about ripping your shirt off and showing how cool your tattoo is. Um that strikes me as someone who is insecure. So whereas if you're insecure in your own masculinity, you don't really have to brag about how masculine you are. Um you will just you'll just be a dude and you'll take care of things.

SPEAKER_00 20:33

I like they just just be a dude. And it it is funny because when I hear about how this whole hyper masculinity from a female perspective, it's a little weird because growing up, you know, my I guess the the men in my life, my brothers, you know, my uncles, my father. They were manly to me because they were strong and protective and they were also very respectful. They taught me how to respect myself. They teach other men in their lives how to respect themselves, how to respect women. Now they're trying to like redefine it. And I think it's interesting to hear you put it into perspective. It isn't about, like you said, the ripping off the shirt and the testosterone and everything else and the war ethos.

SPEAKER_02 21:14

I mean, Pete Heggsit and the Andrew Tates of the world, who are these masculine influencers, are people who've literally been incredibly accused or actually found liable for sexual assault or just assault in general of hurting people. And and if that is what they want masculinity to be, like I'm big and strong, and I show that by hurting people, then no, that is like internal weakness. That is you are internally weak and and insecure. And so the only way to feel good about yourself is to hurt others, to make yourself feel bigger. And that's not what being a man is. That's not what being masculine is. Um no, it it is like you said, I think the men were uh in your childhood, Natalie, who grew up around you. My dad wasn't a man because he had a rifle and was a deer hunter. He was a man because he raised my sister and I to be good humans. He taught us how to take care of the people. He made sure that we knew what a hard day's work was and what honest work was. You know, how to live life with integrity. I think those things are very much needed, more so than a YouTube channel yelling how actually it was a mistake to give women the right to vote or whatever it is that they're going on and on about these days.

SPEAKER_00 22:24

I don't know if you've seen this. But many women, they said the bear. And it goes back to like growing up, I was around men who didn't make me want to choose the bear, right? And um then you see Petexeth, and they say these things like, you say we women shouldn't be able to vote and all that kind of stuff. And um even some of the stuff they're saying are support rape culture with Andrew Tate and and those types of figures. It's just it's really just uh very disappointing.

SPEAKER_02 22:50

I grew up with um, you know, what was it to be a man? It was the it was the strong silent type. Now it's the loud brash type. It's a total 180 from what we grew up with men being. Um yeah, when you can when you're secure in your silence, that's real masculinity and security.

SPEAKER_01 23:05

Yeah, I remember last year, or it was probably 2024, I guess, because it was Obama doing some campaign speeching, but he had a like a 10-minute segment on what it meant to be a man, and it was about compassion and serving others, just like service leadership. Uh and i it was very impactful to me. I mean, being a man is basically just being a good, caring, compassionate citizen. That's the example that we that we need to set. That's the example we all need to set, men and women alike.

SPEAKER_02 23:34

And I think the world would be a better place if we had more people who are compassionate out there.

SPEAKER_01 23:39

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 23:39

Should be seen as a strength.

SPEAKER_01 23:41

Hey, uh, we did want to also talk about your working on some of the broader election and and democracy legislation because the whole election integrity thing that's going on and um the gerrymandering, I think it's um it's kind of like uh the the piece-by-piece destruction of our democracy, or at least the attempt to do that.

SPEAKER_02 24:02

Yeah, um, this might get a little in the weeds for the listener. So like bear with me here. We'll try to make it as as play-doh as possible. So like if you haven't heard of Citizens United, essentially Super PACs can spend unlimited money in elections, corporations can give to campaigns, which essentially drowns out the voice and the dollars even that the normal person can give to a candidate. Like, I do want to be able to raise money through donations. If I'm a good candidate, then hopefully people will donate money to me, and then that way I'm more likely to win the election. But if a you know Elon Musk can write $10 million to a Senate campaign, well, you know, my donors can't compete with that at all. Uh so Hawaii has a bill to limit what's what uh corporations can do in our elections. Um we also can't see who some of the donors are in these super PACs, and so we can see that the name of the super PAC that's spinning in an election, but we can't see who their donors are. Arizona has a what I call a PAC Sunlight bill, so shine some sunlight, some transparency, incorporating that into what we're doing in Kentucky. As we look at AI being used to essentially depict people and their voices, Tennessee passed what's called the Elvis Act. And a lot of that came from the music industry because country music artists did not want AI stealing their voices and then making songs and tracks. So uh incorporating what Tennessee has done with the Elvis Act to Mystery Clear of impersonations, either the likeness of, the sound of a politician around campaigns. So those are some things that other states have already done. When we think about gerrymandering, uh Virginia has one of the best uh best, I would say, systems in place. Their system is so good that even when the legislature and the governor signed a bill uh and sent it to the people, and the people all voted for it, it was still unconstitutional for them to change their maps to gerrymander because the their constitution is so strong against it. Um so we could actually take a hit from what Virginia is doing for fair districts where you actually vote your community and you don't have districts that look like, you know, salamanders is where gerrymander came from. Um so there are some things that we're doing there. There's some other provisions in that legislation as well, but that came out of the fact that people often feel like their voice doesn't matter as much anymore because it's overwhelmed by super PACs and by dark spending, or because the politicians get to choose their voters instead of voters choosing their elected leaders. So my legislation was made to kind of target those things because what you hear so much is that from the White House and those on the right is people don't trust elections because so many illegals are voting. And that's been found to be false over and over again. It's just a talking point. But I I do think they're on to something that people do now distrust elections. But I think it is the flood of dark money, the flood of super PACs, the rampant gerrymandering, the like terribly partisan gerrymandering going on. So I'm working on actually addressing the real reasons that people are losing confidence in our elections.

SPEAKER_01 26:51

Yeah, I think some of that's going to backfire. Um I'm hoping. So I just saw where Elon Musk and his own super PAC now, he's authorizing something like 120 million, and I think it could be up to 200 million to keep the Senate and the House Republican. But it's out there in the news, and Elon Musk is such an uh toxic brand. I'm hoping that there will actually be a groundswelling, kind of a grassroots rejection of all that money. It's like you can pour as much money as you want to in an election, but we are seeing through that, and people are looking for who are the candidates that that meet my values. And I have seen some recent examples where tons of money have been poured in, uh, mostly on the Republican side, and a Democrat still won with a lot less of an investment just because the voters are are starting to become aware of that and are more savvy than they used to be.

SPEAKER_02 27:44

I I do think uh that there is an argument to be made that essentially uh declining returns on more and more money that is spent. Uh but that being said, I do think that you have to have money to win. So I I think one case made was a Supreme Court race in Wisconsin that Elon Musk poured a ton of money into. And I think they outspent the, you know, the was the other side, like $40 million to $10 million. So again, like four to one. But that the side that won had the people on their side, but they also had $10 million on that side. I think if it was $40 million to $2 million, then we probably would have ended up with the other person winning that Supreme Court seat. So you still have to have enough money to get your name out so people know who they're voting for. Um so I I I think yes, there's gonna be diminishing returns if the money floods in more and more and more, that you're spending more money per vote. But at the same time, you know, those uh I would say on my side, on our side, um, you still need to raise enough money to get your name out there. Um me just being against, you know, big money is not gonna be enough to win when I'm in the Lexington, Kentucky TV market. You know, I'm gonna have to raise and spend close to $200,000 because it's an expensive market. And that's what it takes because people need to know who Adam Moore is when they go to vote on November 3rd.

SPEAKER_00 29:01

I think it's getting through to people. I I it's all kind of fun in games when they're putting money into like your candidate. But now we saw what happened with Massey and we're seeing it everywhere where people are like, wait a minute, I don't want all of this crazy outside money to come in here and they're seeing how much it is. And I think it's universal that people don't want this and they want limits on it. So I commend you for taking that on. Thank you. And hopefully we get some good legislation around that.

SPEAKER_02 29:26

At least um I hope it frames the narrative. I hope it gets people to pay attention. I'm trying to also work with outside groups who really care about our elections that are nonpartisan, because I'm not gonna sit here and lie to your listeners and say we're definitely gonna pass this and Kentucky's elections are gonna be the new gold standard across the U.S. Like I don't think my version of the bill is gonna pass as is. If we pass anything, it would probably be a watered-down version that would have compromises tied to it. But if we pass anything, it's gonna be because the people rise up and speak out for it, because they're making phone calls, they're sending emails, they're writing letters, they're showing up in the streets or at their members' office to say that we need this. And if you don't pass them like this, then we're gonna vote you out. And until people start to feel that their seats getting hot and they might face consequences at the ballot box, then they don't have that incentive to essentially change, you know, the way they've been doing things.

SPEAKER_00 30:15

And thanks for being transparent too by saying, you know what, it's not gonna probably pass without some compromises. And we obviously need more of that too. I think one of the main things we've been hearing a lot about is is transparency. Um and we can actually give you an opportunity to give us some more transparency with a uh lightning round that we do with all of our guests if you'd be up for that.

SPEAKER_02 30:35

Oh goodness. All right. Well, I'm ready to be struck.

SPEAKER_00 30:39

It's it's not bad, just five fun quick questions, uh, just to end on a happy note here before we let you go. So uh we talked about your military experience. Um, what is the the best leadership lesson that you learned uh in the military?

SPEAKER_02 30:53

You you have to make a decision and lead it with confidence that you you can make the right decision or the wrong decision, but making no decision is not an option. You have to make a decision and move forward, and then you can adjust if you need to, but you can't just sit there and do nothing.

SPEAKER_00 31:08

I like that. I feel like in in my own personal work that sometimes you just have to make that executive decision. If it's not the right one, you'll figure it out at the end. All right. So when I go visit my family in Lexington, what's one restaurant that I must try?

SPEAKER_02 31:22

Okay. Um, so I want you to come and have coffee at Luna's uh coffee, wine, and butterfly cafe. It's in the 45th house district. Whoa, okay. Now, North Lime Coffee and Donuts has some of the best donuts in town, and they have uh one off Clay's Mill that's also in the 45th House District. So then go to there. And then I'm a really big fan of Bella Cafe and Palomar as well. But I I would be I've got to say Ramsey's. Ramsey's is classic Southern. Everything is fried. There's so many things on the Minow. I highly recommend the Buffalo Chicken. Um, and they have one of those in the 45th House District off Harrisburg Road as well. So yeah, get some coffee in the morning at Luna's, get some donuts, uh, go and get Ramsey's, then maybe finish the day back at Luna's for a glass of wine.

SPEAKER_00 32:09

And and maybe be up a couple pounds.

SPEAKER_02 32:13

Um vacation calories don't count, Natalie.

SPEAKER_00 32:16

Well, I'll be down there for the the forward together dinner, and uh my nephew lives down there right now. So next time I'll be sure. I definitely want to get those donuts.

SPEAKER_02 32:25

Good.

SPEAKER_00 32:26

All right, uh, if you could wear anything to work, would it be a suit and tie or boots and jeans?

SPEAKER_02 32:33

I'm gonna say neither. Sorry, it's a lightning round. So my civilian job is I'm a CrossFit coach. So I would wear my athletic shorts, my t-shirt, um, a pair of my my Reebok Nano CrossFit shoes, um, and I would just feel great. And whatever the day hands me, I can take it on. Um, that's the most comfortable thing, and I would definitely wear that if I could.

SPEAKER_00 32:53

It is comfortable, right? And then you can then you don't have an excuse to not go work out. You're already in your clothes, like just get it done. So Amen. So, yeah, so that's your percent. You got the beard, you got the military background, you're a fitness coach. Um, but what's the most surprising thing that uh uh about you that maybe a lot of people don't know?

SPEAKER_02 33:11

I am definitely a natural introvert. Uh I never could have done this uh run for office before. And and I wanted to get into politics, but I could have never been the candidate. I was the person who was shy to speak, I was the person who was quiet and very meek. Um and you you learn to speak up for yourself in the military, but you're not very verbose in the military uh or anything. You you have your team that you work with and you can give orders. But what enabled me to do this was being a CrossFit coach. And then you're yelling over the sounds of fans and clanging barbells, and you just you just learn to be the center of attention, you're making sure everyone's doing things the right way and that they can see you and they can hear you. And it teaches you kind of how to command a room and to be big and to be loud. So yeah, I'm very much a natural introvert. Um, whenever I go to a big event, I'm still looking for people I already know to introduce me to everyone else because um I'm not the best person to just get out there around strangers. Uh but yeah, being a CrossFit coach is is what allowed me to be a politician, not studying political science or working on Capitol Hill in DC.

SPEAKER_00 34:12

Well, that makes sense because you're interacting with people and fitness when you feel good, you feel confident, and confidence is what makes you uh feel like you can you can get out there. Um But anyway, we'll end on what gives you hope about Kentucky's future.

SPEAKER_02 34:26

What gives me hope about Kentucky's future is literally the people here. I the coolest thing about this job is I get to meet so many new people. Like I would have never met you, the two of you, if I was not doing what I'm doing right now. And it's the same way every time I go and have a coffee meeting at Luna's, every time I have a lunch meeting at Bella Cafe, whenever someone comes and has office time with me in Frankfurt, like there are just like so many incredible people that if you turn the news off for a day and you just go out there and you just have face-to-face conversations, your faith and humanity can be restored. Part of that is what what is it we say, you know, go touch grass or whatever. Yeah. But but turn off Facebook and turn off the news. Uh the people are still amazing. People are still amazing. Everyone's personal story could be made into like a made-for-TV movie. Um, there's so much to gain by just talking to that person who might be next to you wherever you are. And that's what gives me hope is that again, the people are are still incredible. Um, we're all still Kentuckians, we're all still Americans, we still love our country. Um, no matter how bad the news looks on TV, they're just trying to get your clicks and your eyeballs. So it's the people that, you know, maintain my faith.

SPEAKER_00 35:38

Awesome. I love it.

SPEAKER_01 35:39

Well, I couldn't agree with that more. And also, I just, you know, I'm really so happy that you said coolest thing, and then Natalie and Brian all in the same sentence. That made my day. Wow, this was the best podcast ever. Clip that, I'm putting that on my own. I'm clipping that, man. Oh, yeah. That's going to all the socials. Well, so thanks so much for joining us, Adam. It was a lot of fun. And um, you know, I know you're an introvert, but uh you have this magnetism around you, and I think uh people can see that you're uh a person that that that service leadership, you really uh embody that. So we really appreciate having you on and uh sharing that with everyone. How can uh people learn more about you, your campaign, support you? Where do they go?

SPEAKER_02 36:29

Absolutely. Um so always you can Google Adam Moore, but my website is KYDeservesmore, M-O-O-R-E.com. So again, Kydeservesmore.com. You can just, of course, read about me. You can see my endorsements and my bio, you can see the platform there. There are also ways for you to sign up for my newsletter, which I think is fantastic. You should definitely follow that. Um, but you also can learn how to join our volunteer team or even contribute and donate if you're someone who is able to help make sure that we can get our word out. Um, but come there, find a way to be involved. We have opportunities for everyone, whether you are an introvert or an extrovert.

SPEAKER_00 37:04

Thank you.

SPEAKER_02 37:05

Sounds good.

SPEAKER_00 37:06

Thanks again. Thanks so much. Thank you both. Take care. Well, that's it for today. Uh, thanks so much for joining. And be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel so you don't miss any of our upcoming podcasts or exclusive material. And don't forget you can join the conversation at our Facebook and Instagram pages or at Blue Dot Podcast.com. Until next time, stay curious, get facts and focus, never stop fighting for what matters. Peace out, everybody.