Jeopardy! Champion to Congress Campaign Trail | Tyler Vandenberg

In Episode 6, we meet Tyler Vandenberg, a Master of Public Policy Candidate at the Harvard Kennedy School (HKS). Prior to grad school, Tyler was in the U.S. Marine Corps for seven years, and is a 2x Jeopardy Champion. Now, as he wraps up his final year at HKS, Tyler is campaigning for Congressman in California's Sixth District. Tyler shares his journey pursuing a career rooted in service, impact, and leadership. 

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

I think a lot of the inspiration comes from just wanting to do the most that I can with the time that's available. And the story of being at Harvard is an endless buffet of options that all sound really interesting. It's so fun to sit down with people who are all just herbo-trivianes. Like we all love this stuff. It's like baked into our genes. Listen, you're approved to go on the program and wear the uniform, but Marines don't lose, so don't lose.

SPEAKER_04 0:28

Welcome to the Beyond Harvard Podcast. I'm your host, Rashana Waresica, a graduate student here at Harvard University. And on this week's episode, we meet Tyler Vandenberg, a master's of public policy candidate here at Harvard Kennedy School. Take a listen as we learn more about who Tyler is here at Harvard and beyond. Enjoy Tyler Vandenberg, welcome to Beyond Harvard.

SPEAKER_01 1:06

Thank you, Roshana. It's a pleasure to be here.

SPEAKER_04 1:08

I am so excited to have you, Tyler. How does sitting down on this podcast compare to being on national TV playing Jeopardy?

SPEAKER_00 1:16

So much better, let me tell you. This is this is the top tier, my favorite experience so far. Don't let the Jeopardy people hear about that.

SPEAKER_04 1:22

The stakes are just as high, just as intimidating.

SPEAKER_00 1:25

That's right. There's a lot on the line here. You're making me very nervous. I'm I'm sweating. So hope I get through this okay.

SPEAKER_04 1:32

Um, Heather, I don't want to oversimplify or understate who you are, but you're you're a US Marine Corps veteran, you're a Jeopardy champion, you're a public policy student here at Harvard Kennedy School, and you're campaigning for congressman in California United States.

SPEAKER_01 1:50

I am, I am. It's uh it's quite a quite a resume when you say it like that.

SPEAKER_00 1:55

I appreciate you putting the gloss on it.

SPEAKER_01 1:56

But yes, um, I am all of those things. I did seven years in the United States Marine Corps, I very much enjoyed it. I loved my service uh to the country, I miss it sometimes. Um but yeah, Harvard became kind of the logical next step in my life. Um, military veterans get the GI Bill, and I wanted to focus more on policy and doing good things for the world, and that kind of led me down all of the rest of the path to get here and a diversion to play trivia on national TV and be on Jeopardy was a great honor that happened in the middle of it. So here we are.

SPEAKER_04 2:26

Yes, that's awesome. Um I'd love to get into all of the different areas and eras of your life, Tyler. Um, but maybe you could start. Take me take me back to your childhood. I'd love to, and maybe in the context of our class, put it story of self. Um Right. Right.

SPEAKER_00 2:43

And then we get into the awesome dominant.

SPEAKER_04 2:46

We're applying our learnings right outside of classroom. Um I'd I'd love to learn a little bit about your, you know, some of those formative moments for you early on what you think kind of shows up in your Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 2:58

Um so my childhood is uh not the usual uh story that kind of comes into all the things that you've just mentioned. Um I grew up in Canada, actually. Um it was a very nice place to live, you know, got Canadian family, um, my mom's Canadian. It was uh it was a good time. Um I enjoyed having the chance to live there and to grow up there. Um but when I turned 18, I decided to strike out on my own, and uh I've been uh a Californian ever since, on and off. Um went to school in DC, uh, joined the military, went overseas, came back, and now I'm here. Um that's kind of the wave tops of it. But um getting into all of these things, I mean, making these decisions, it was it was kind of a what's next and what's the most that I can be doing with my time, which brought me here too.

SPEAKER_04 3:48

So got it. I I'd love to dive into that a little bit further, Tyler. Because it seems like you're a very well-rounded person and there's also very clear interests that you've had through service. And and I'd love to know a little bit more about where you pull pull inspiration from, and maybe what you know perhaps drives some of the work that you do.

SPEAKER_01 4:08

Oh wow. Um I think a lot of the inspiration comes from just wanting to do the most that I can with the time that's available, right? I don't think it's uh a mistake or a mystery to to anybody that people at at Harvard tend to lean on the ambitious side, I think. Um, you know, what I've seen of you and our conversations lead me to believe that you're pursuing great things in life as well. Um but I think that the nature of going to a policy school, you don't make this choice unless you want to do things that change a lot of people's lives, hopefully for the better. And um that instinct, that desire to want to make things better, to ask why are things hard in this way or why are they like this, has always kind of been a part of my personality. And maybe it's a little naive or a little innocent of me to say that, well, we can do better. We ought to do better. But that's why I'm here. We're gonna give it a swing, right? What else what else am I doing with my time if I'm not trying to make things better for everybody?

SPEAKER_04 5:10

Yeah, absolutely. And I want to get into your time here and what that's been like. But maybe before that, Tyler. Um, I'd love to talk a little bit about what your experience was like serving, and you were there for seven years, right? And I think you were stationed both domestically across different states and then internationally as well.

SPEAKER_02 5:29

That's right.

SPEAKER_04 5:29

And so I want to know how how that came about. Was there a specific moment that led you to was there a choice there? And talk us maybe through kind of making that decision and choosing to serve because it's a huge undertaking.

SPEAKER_01 5:42

Yeah, I I knew I wanted to serve when I was pretty young. Um, once upon a time I wanted to go to the surface academies, that didn't work out.

SPEAKER_03 5:48

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 5:49

Um, mostly because I was living overseas and I didn't have a congressman to recommend me. That's how it goes. But the thing about it is I knew I wanted to serve. My parents uh highly encouraged me to finish college first, which I did. I held up my part of the bargain. But while I was at American, um, where I did my undergraduate years, I uh joined a fraternity that was focused a lot on foreign service and foreign policy. That was kind of the stated MO of the group, and we had lots and lots of marine veterans.

SPEAKER_02 6:19

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 6:20

And through getting to know them, I just kind of realized there was something different about them. Like a like a qualitative, more organized, more squared away, sharper, better, faster. There's something about them.

SPEAKER_04 6:34

All the better adjectives.

SPEAKER_01 6:35

Yeah, and I went, well, if I'm gonna do something, I want to be the best at it. So obviously that means I need to join the Marine Corps.

SPEAKER_03 6:41

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 6:42

Which is how I ended up there. My time in the service was uh very strange. I was in during COVID, I was around in kind of strange theaters, places people don't usually think about. I never went to the Middle East, I was never um, you know, in a combat zone. Um I was stationed in the US uh during the end of the war in Afghanistan. Um I ended up going to Hawaii for a short time, but kind of the defining time in my service uh was in Germany, um where I actually helped out, oddly enough, with issues in Africa. Um so I was there for two years. I was around for some very big events that happened on the African continent. Okay. Sudan fell into its awful civil war while I was there. Um and getting to see up close what parts of the world that Americans don't think about a whole lot are like, or what our relationships with them are, was very eye-opening. And I think it actually kind of drove me to want to do more professionally with policy. It's how I kind of got pushed gradually into the thoughts that there is a whole world here to learn that I don't know anything about.

SPEAKER_04 7:44

So that was just your entrance into space, really?

SPEAKER_01 7:48

Yeah, basically. I mean, it's it's uh that era in my life changed me in a lot of positive ways.

SPEAKER_04 7:54

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 7:54

I think it made me a better, stronger person.

SPEAKER_04 7:57

How so?

SPEAKER_01 7:59

Well, something about military service is like anything else in life, you get out what you put in. And my time in the Marine Corps was characterized by wanting to be stronger or sharper or better at my job. Because I wasn't very good to start out with. Maybe nobody is. But in the end, the process of becoming better, of of driving oneself to be better, I think I think it's the most valuable thing I got out of my time. It just made me it made me capable of doing more, even if I didn't realize that's what was happening.

SPEAKER_04 8:46

That's powerful.

SPEAKER_01 8:47

Thank you.

SPEAKER_04 8:48

That is. Um, and I'd love to touch on you know, you mentioned that you kind of see yourself as a public servant artist. And I want to know how do you define that and what does that mean to you?

SPEAKER_01 9:02

To me, public service is doing the most good that you can for the most amount of people the most amount of the time. I think I think there's a lot of things happening in the world today that people wake up every day and we go, this should be better. Why isn't somebody doing something about this? Why aren't we acting? Why aren't we fixing this? It's obviously a problem. And eventually I kind of realized that if we want to talk about it in terms of privilege, right?

SPEAKER_02 9:36

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 9:37

White, male, 30-something, you know, Harvard educated, military background, maybe maybe I'm the person who's supposed to do something. And so, you know, given all of these advantages in life, given, you know, growing up in a happy family and serving in the military and not being, you know, physically or or mentally wounded by my service, and then getting the chance to go to an Ivy League school and to meet with all of these people who are doing great things from different fields, you know, maybe that's supposed to be leveraged into something more. And so I don't know if it counts as a mission, but it's certainly it's certainly something I want to do to give back with all of the things that have worked out for me so far.

SPEAKER_04 10:22

Wow. I I respect you for that, Tyler. That's I mean, I and I thank you for for your candor there. Um, I I think that's a perfect segue into student Tyler and and what your experience has been like here at at HKS.

SPEAKER_00 10:37

Well, this person you know better. So this let's let's get onto some familiar ground here.

SPEAKER_04 10:41

Um so maybe we could start, Tyler. I our paths crossed when we took a public narrative class at the Kennedy School together. Um and I first would want to start. I'm in a very different field than you are. And so maybe you can break it down for us in our audience in terms of why specifically you chose policy policy, and then why Harvard Kennedy School in particular? What was the decision there in terms of you know choosing to step back and come back to come back to school?

SPEAKER_01 11:10

Yeah, yeah. Um my decision to come to Harvard actually came because I had a chance to work with people who had taught here, actually outside of the school, long before I applied to HKS, long before I was in Germany. I spent six months, I was doing reserve service, I had time for a full-time job.

SPEAKER_03 11:28

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 11:28

And so I spent some time working for a firm in Arlington, um, appropriately for the Harvard Innovation Labs called um IncuTel. And uh the nature of that job was I did policy work for them. I was never, you know, one of the super bright, you know, tech entrepreneurs or the thinkers on that side. I was just there helping to write policy papers as an intern in the internet. Memos and yeah, you you know exactly what it is. Exactly. But I had the wonderful chance to work for someone um who had been not just a senior official in the US government, but who had also been a professor at HKS. And her time talking about what it was like to meet students from there and just her her rave reviews of this place, I went, that sounds like somewhere I would want to go. Yeah. That's how it ended up on the application list. I took the GRE blind, I went, I might as well do this, see what happens.

SPEAKER_00 12:20

Yeah, I walked in, you know, into an office in Honolulu after a week of looking at the guide, and we're in Hawaii at the time.

SPEAKER_04 12:28

Wow. I can't imagine taking a GRE in Hawaii, by the way.

SPEAKER_00 12:32

It's very hard to study there, let me tell you. You go to the beach and you're like, I'm not looking at this book again.

SPEAKER_04 12:38

I was in Connecticut and it was winter, and it was like, all right, we're getting we're stuck in the Uh, you're good.

SPEAKER_00 12:42

I've gotta look at my desk anyway with my.

SPEAKER_04 12:48

That's right. Um You were committed. You you you saw the vision through.

SPEAKER_00 12:53

You know, we we got through it.

SPEAKER_01 12:55

Um I scored well enough to want to apply for for high-tiered schools. And because of my interest in policy and because I'd heard so many good things about HKS, I kind of went, well, it's going on the list.

SPEAKER_03 13:08

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 13:09

And we made it. We got in. So here we are.

SPEAKER_03 13:12

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 13:12

Um the journey to coming to HKS kind of happened by by fits and starts, but now that I'm here, I I can't imagine being anywhere else. It's been exactly the right experience for me at this time in life, I think.

unknown 13:23

Really? Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 13:24

That's that's great to hear. I I'd want to touch into that because you're graduating now in May.

SPEAKER_03 13:28

I am.

SPEAKER_04 13:29

Yeah. And so talk to me through what were your intentions coming into the program and how does that map to as you reflect on your time here in the program or where you are.

SPEAKER_01 13:38

Yeah. Um, let's. I will keep this in as general of partisan terms as I can possibly manage.

SPEAKER_03 13:44

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 13:45

But what I wanted when I came in, it was uh the summer of 2024. We lived in a very different time in the world back then. What I wanted to do was um climate economics and security. This is sort of a partially self-made-up field. Um but what it basically is, is the idea that what I would like most is for us not to have climate change. But here we sit at the end of February with a 50-some degree day outside in Boston, and I think maybe that ship has sailed. And so what I actually wanted from my time at HKS is I wanted to focus on how are we going to adapt, how are we going to protect as many people as possible, and how are we gonna live on the other side of this process that will now define all of our lives, whether we like it or not. And I wanted to do that right up until I found out that the US government was never going to pay for that sort of thing in the near future again. Which led me to my current transition. This is kind of the big alarm bell of somebody ought to do something about this, finally turning into, I'm gonna do something about this. We'll get there eventually, I'm sure. But what I wanted at the time that I started at Harvard is not necessarily where I ended up, but that's okay. I think a lot of people, the graduate school journey is finding out as much about what you want as what you don't want, right? Where you don't want to go. Finding out more about a field that you didn't know anything about and then having to learn in real time. Maybe this isn't for me, or maybe this is for me, or opening new doors, and and HKS is really good for that.

SPEAKER_04 15:24

That's awesome. I think your the way you phrased it, Tyler, in terms of finding out what you don't want to do is just as important, if not more than finding out what you want to do, right? Because it helps helps cross things off the list. Um I I think that's a powerful framing. And most of our, we have uh listeners who are interested in pursuing higher education and so might be interested in in the policy school itself. So could you talk us through a little bit about, especially when you compare year one and year two, what has that experience been like so far? And then anything you have to see on classes or or professors for all ears?

SPEAKER_01 15:58

Yeah, uh wonderful question. I think the experience, I was warned about this by people who'd studied at HKS. And the big experience of the Kennedy School and of Harvard generally, right? Um, you know, you have taken cross-registered courses as have I. And the story of being at Harvard is an endless buffet of options that all sound really interesting. There's so many things that you can do. There will never ever be enough time. They'll offer you a hundred courses a semester that sound amazing, or I have to take this, or I'm gonna regret this the rest of my life, but never take it. And then that's what it all feels like. I need to bid all my points, I need to get in, and then the semester happens, and you get to the next semester, and there's more life or death classes you have to take. And it's like, oh no. Um I think that I think that my experience of school has been, again, finding out not just what I want from life, but what I wanted from the experience. And the biggest lesson that everybody has to learn, I think, in real time, you can be warned and warned and warned. But one of the reasons I was so happy to come on this podcast is because one of the biggest things that you can do at Harvard is take the time to get to know the people around you, to make the connections, to invest in talking to and building a relationship with people you would never have a chance to meet in your life for any other reason, right? I, you know, I think about the diversity of perspectives and backgrounds and the people in my classes who I want to get to know or I want to know more about. You know, we shared class with government ministers and you know, public organizers and labor activists, and you know, people who have been human rights defenders overseas, and you know, then there's coteries of military officers, and then there are professional politicians, and there are executives who are taking a break from their education, and all of these people are around you. And my experience of that has been just jump in the deep end and try to get to know these people. Because maybe they graduate next semester, maybe they graduate in a year, maybe they'll be here after you're gone. But while the classes are uh amazing and the professors are uh um so unique and so educated and so proficient in their fields, uh the classes are just one part of the experience. And it's the whole Harvard experience, the whole getting to know people exactly. It's uh it's the nature of being at this place that uh an endless percentile of people will never have access to. And for whatever reason, you are one of 180 people or 200 or 300 people in a year that they open the doors to, you gotta get every bit of juice out of the squeeze.

SPEAKER_04 18:49

Well said, Tyler. Thank you. I mean, I think that's it's important though to frame it that way because it does feel quite fleeting. Yeah. Right? It's like when you start, like, oh, I got some uh some room to play around with, but then you're like, I'm graduating, you know, you're I've got two years, it'll be fine.

SPEAKER_00 19:06

No, you don't.

SPEAKER_04 19:07

Yeah, exactly. And so it's it's sand through an hourglass, right, as they say, and and it feels quite fleeting. And so I think to your point, it's how do we maximize and all of the opportunities and and you know, and engage with the people around us, and and and it's the diversity of thought that you mentioned that I think is most important, right? It's all the different folks and backgrounds that they come with. It's it's fascinating.

SPEAKER_01 19:31

That's exactly right. I think sand through an hourglass is exactly the right description. This is not a place for people with crippling degrees of FOMO. You can't show up here and be like, I'm missing something. You just have to accept. You've missed a lot, but whatever path that you choose, you make it worthwhile. And that's the experience that you're going to come out on the other side being so grateful that you had.

SPEAKER_04 19:55

Absolutely. Yeah. And um, I feel like we'd be remiss, Tyler, if we didn't talk about the elephant in the room here. Um in the summer of 2025, you you announced that you'd be campaigning for congressman in California.

SPEAKER_01 20:12

Yes.

SPEAKER_04 20:12

Casually just dropped that button.

SPEAKER_01 20:14

That's right.

SPEAKER_04 20:16

And and I'd like to say for our audience too, I found out you very casually just told me that that you were campaigning for congressman. I was like, what? Like that was not prepared at all. Um but it's uh it seems such an undertaking, especially and a daunting task, especially while while you're still a full-time student here. And um, so I wanna I wanna get into that, Tatter. Sure. Talk to me a little bit about the decision there. Bring us maybe if there's a specific moment where you decided you you wanted to pursue it. Um, and then I'd I'd love to know how how it's been going so far.

SPEAKER_01 20:51

Yes, absolutely. Um so I guess that I will say that it is an undertaking, as you say, but it's also a privilege to be able to do it. Um the chance to run for office in this country, it's quite an undertaking. But one of the things that I was told, one of the best pieces of advice that I ever received about this.

SPEAKER_04 21:12

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 21:12

Somebody came to me who had run for office before and is actually currently running for office again, and they said, listen, you gotta drive it like you stole it. You may never get this chance ever again in your life, right? Because it's such an undertaking, because it requires you to be at a special position in your life, because it will be all consuming for the entire time that you're running, win or lose, you know, it'll cost a lot of money, you have time, you'll meet lots of people, you'll have this great experience, but you will you will be exhausted at the end of it or during it, right? Because that undertaking is so much, lots of people do it once and then never again. I don't know that that's the path that I would end up going down, but the answer is the same either way. You need to treat it like this is the only chance that you're ever gonna get. It was strange to decide to do this while still going to school. I thought about taking time off, but I also realized at the same time, if you think about it, if if your representative in Congress is good at their job, actually what they'll be doing is they'll be in Washington for most of the week and then they'll fly back home to do constituent services several times a month. It's so common that congressmen have special, not exclusive flights, but many flights out of DC on Fridays are chartered at specific times that Congress is getting out of session so people can fly home to their constituents. This is a very common way for people to do the job, and so I kind of view it as practice. Go to school, focus on policy for the week or for three days at a time, bunch up all your classes, work really hard at that, go home, campaign, do the things that you want to do for your constituents, and then go back to doing the policy work because I don't have a lifetime of experience in elected office. All I can do is get the best education possible to offset that lack of experience. It's the only other option.

SPEAKER_04 23:01

So this is just the prep for the this is quite parallel to what it's like. It worked out nice to be. And when you frame it that way, it makes sense now. But you have to talk us through your schedule a bit, Heather. What is what is the travel like? How do you even so you said you're you're here on campus during the week and then you're flying back to California on weekends? Yes. Talk us through that.

SPEAKER_01 23:26

Yeah, so to this point, I've managed to do it with one or two exceptions every single week.

SPEAKER_04 23:32

Every single week. Hold on.

SPEAKER_01 23:34

Well, the way that it works is I bunch up my schedule in the middle, Tuesdays and Thursdays usually.

SPEAKER_03 23:41

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 23:41

I take Wednesday to do administrative work and some homework and to fundraise and whatever else I can do on that free day.

SPEAKER_02 23:49

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 23:49

I get out of class on Thursdays, I get on a plane, I'm home for Friday morning, campaign season stretches through until Monday midday, and then we fly back and then straight into class. I get a lot of flight models.

SPEAKER_04 24:02

Just as easy like that, right? You make it seem so much simpler. Yeah, just hop on the flight and campaign for a little bit, come back.

SPEAKER_01 24:11

Yeah, it's like it's like having uh it's like having a traveling job. I I view it the same as lots of people who fly for work all the time. You know, executives do it. I'm sure you know, listen, you're gonna sit in a C-suite somewhere someday, you're gonna have to do it. Just remember back to this conversation when you said it seemed impossible when you have to do it as well, because that's it's coming.

SPEAKER_04 24:32

I appreciate that, Tyler. Um I'd love to just touch on your perhaps some of the pillars of of your campaign.

SPEAKER_01 24:40

Sure.

SPEAKER_04 24:40

Um, and maybe what are you focused on? What are some of you know the avenues that that you want to?

SPEAKER_01 24:45

Yeah, so so putting the usual disclaimers on here that I am not endorsed by Harvard University, I'm not speaking on behalf of the university, I am not implying that Harvard University is supporting my campaign in any way, I'm a private citizen when I am outside of these walls. Um, my usual uh statements here um would be that I'm running because there's two things happening at the same time in this country. I'm worried about um where we're going and our democracy and being a safe place for everyone. And I think at the same time, as much as that fight needs to be had, it's time that we build a better vision of the future as well, right? People want to know that the future is not just, you know, climate change and you know a decaying democracy. They want to believe that something better is gonna happen. And not only do I believe that something better is gonna happen, I think I have a pretty good plan to get there. Now, you know, staying away from the partisanship of it all. I think realistically everywhere in the world right now, and one of the great advantages of having this kind of international program of students and people around me, is it's really helped me to realize this is not unique to the United States. Lots of places are undergoing really uh significant change right now. Huge changes because people, especially young people, are very upset that the horizon of possibilities seems to be shrinking all the time, that a better life is becoming less and less possible for them. And hearing that perspective, whether it's from Europeans, from people from Northeast Asia, from you know South Asian countries, right, um, many of these folks say things in a different register that have the same meaning. Which is we want the future to be better, we want solutions, and we want people to try something else. And that's why I'm here, to just give it a try, you know. 31, graduating soon from you know, an Ivy League university, if Congress doesn't work out for me, I think I will be okay. But taking the chance, looking at the window of time that is shrinking in front of us and saying, I'm never going to be satisfied with myself if I didn't try everything that I could. That's what drove me to make the decision of like, well, let's let's try to keep both of these balls in the air at once. Let's see if we can do it.

SPEAKER_04 27:11

Yeah. I commend you for that, Tyler. Thank you. Because I think a lot of people recognize that window is shrinking, but not everyone is as moved to perhaps take action on it.

SPEAKER_01 27:20

Or or doesn't necessarily know what the avenue is or doesn't have the resources to do it. Exactly. Yeah, yeah. I think that's exactly right.

SPEAKER_04 27:28

Yeah. And so um I when we had initially connected on it, you were campaigning for California the third. Yes. Correct. And now there's been some redistricting.

SPEAKER_01 27:39

There sure has.

SPEAKER_04 27:40

And it's California the sixth.

SPEAKER_01 27:42

Yes. So uh the very short version for the viewers at home who are not familiar with the uh gerrymandering, redistricting fight that is occurring all over the country right now. Um the state of California redrew its congressional district uh a couple of months, well, several months after I got into the race originally. Um what I was originally running for was the old California Third, which is a huge, was a huge district that covered like I mean, I would tell people it was about the size and shape of the country of Laos. Like it was huge.

SPEAKER_03 28:12

Wow.

SPEAKER_01 28:13

It stretched the entire border basically of Nevada and California. It covered basically all the big mountains, um, Lake Tahoe, and then it stretched down into the area of Sacramento for its urban centers. With redistricting, um, that district was cut into six pieces, and I wanted to keep running for as many people as I'd always been running to represent as possible. The population center of the old district uh was in the very western edge, it's a place called Placer County. And the western reaches of Placer County, where the big urban centers are, were now in the sixth. And the congressman who had previously served in the sixth decided to run in a new district, and so it became an open seat, and I said, Well, I want to keep doing this mission, I want to keep fighting for the people I've always been fighting for. It makes sense for me to continue in this place where I'm known, where people know me and have seen me showing up for things, and that I care about very deeply. So that's why the decision was made. And it became this kind of big um rearrangement all over the state, but that's okay. And it's led to a totally different kind of race. But I think it's very exciting, and I think it's it's going quite well, actually.

SPEAKER_04 29:19

Yeah, and despite the the districts being sort of changed, and um has your mission shifted?

SPEAKER_01 29:27

Not at all. Not at all. Um, my uh fight is still for the things that I've always been talking about. Um some of the issues change in salience um in this new district. Uh for instance, we no longer have um huge amounts of mountains or federal lands. Defending our public lands, our national parks, and our national forests has always been and will always be one of my priorities.

SPEAKER_03 29:52

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 29:53

But it doesn't make a whole lot of sense to go to suburban communities and talk about we need to hang on to our national parks is like your number one issue because people are like, that's nice, but what else? What else are we doing here? So maybe the emphasis has changed a little bit, but my platform has been the same throughout. And the things that I care about don't change, and so I you know look forward to being just as consistent after winning and going to Congress for people as I have been right from the very beginning.

SPEAKER_04 30:17

Yeah. I'm I'm excited, Tyler, to watch your journey. Um we before we get into the closing out segment here, I have to touch on Jeopardy for a second.

SPEAKER_01 30:27

All right, let's talk about Yeah, we we have to.

SPEAKER_04 30:29

Um how many times were were you on the show?

SPEAKER_00 30:33

Uh okay, so the other disclaimer, not endorsed by Sony Pictures Television or the Jeopardy Television Program, speaking as a private citizen.

SPEAKER_01 30:41

Um I was on twice. Uh I initially applied actually to be on um in 2021. It was COVID. Uh I wasn't doing a whole lot with my time. Um they opened up the applications to take a quiz and then to go through the application process, and I said, sure. I made it through, um, and I ended up kind of it was very strange. The military was sending me to a training school at the time, and I couldn't go. I had to I had to decline going on Jeopardy the first time, which was a heartbreaker. I made it all the way through the application process into this last little pool of people, and I said I can't go. Well, and I graduated and I went, I wonder if they're still taping the season. So I called them. I literally just called them back at the producer number they called me from and I said, Do you have any open slots? I'm the guy who applied to be on in uniform. They said, Can you be in LA in two weeks? And so I flew out. I went on the program, it was very strange because the COVID protocols meant that like all the usual fun fixings of going on a TV program are not available, right? There was no green room. Um we went out into the parking lot to like eat from a truck because we couldn't eat inside. It was all very tightly controlled. But the fun thing was our holding pen, for those who don't know at home, uh, the Jeopardy stage is right next to the Wheel of Fortune stage. Okay. They're produced by overlapping teams. And our holding pen was the Wheel of Fortune stage. So they would just put us there and say, hang out, don't touch the wheel.

SPEAKER_00 32:12

There was a big sign that said, do not spin the wheel, because everyone wants to spin the wheel. I just I want to spin the wheel.

SPEAKER_04 32:19

It's so tempting, too, if it's right there.

SPEAKER_01 32:21

It's right there, they put a tarp over it, don't touch the wheel.

SPEAKER_04 32:23

Oh man.

SPEAKER_01 32:24

Um, it was a lot of fun. I was on in regular season play, I was up against uh some really excellent other players.

SPEAKER_03 32:32

I bet.

SPEAKER_01 32:33

And it's so fun to sit down with people who are all just turbo trivial. It's like we all love this stuff. It's like baked into our genes. And it was a lot of fun because it's people who are there to play the game because it means something to them. And they've always wanted to do this, right? It's in a way, it's kind of like coming to Harvard, or it's kind of like joining the Marine Corps in that aspect, right? People really want to be there. They've always wanted to be there, they've made it through all of these qualifications to get it, and now it's like, now we're gonna find out who's best of us. And the thing is, I played two games uh and one, lost my third, and I said, that's it, right? It was a wonderful experience. I won, I think, $42,400. And I went, thank you. And I went, that was great. I'm glad I got to do that. It was a lot of fun. And I kind of figured it was over. Um normally in regular season play, um, when Jeopardy Champions win five or more games, which I didn't, you get to go on the tournament of champions. Yeah. But a funny thing happened in the two years after my run on the program, which is that several people won like 25 to 30 games in a row, which meant that whole seasons had nobody who had won five or more games except for these three people. And so there was no one for a tournament, as I understand it, right? This is me interpreting, I don't have any inside baseball knowledge. And so I got a call while I was in Germany, uh, a text first and then a call. On like the one day that I was back in Germany from like time elsewhere and then coming back. Uh, do you want to come back on the program? And I said, I live in Germany. How would that work? And they said, pick a flight. So I did. Um, I flew back from Frankfurt to LA.

SPEAKER_04 34:26

And what was the turnaround on this?

SPEAKER_01 34:28

This was I think this one was a little longer. I think it was a couple of months.

SPEAKER_04 34:31

Oh, okay, okay, okay.

SPEAKER_01 34:32

And still the reaction was so much fun. Every time I went on, I had to notify my chain of command.

SPEAKER_02 34:38

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 34:39

And there was uh a lieutenant colonel the first time I went on who called me out of the blue. I'd never met him. And he said, Vandenberg, you know, I'm your I'm your boss's boss, your your battalion commander. Listen, you're approved to go on the program and wear the uniform, but uh listen, Marines don't lose, so don't lose. And then he hung up the phone on me.

SPEAKER_04 35:00

Uh sure, by the way.

SPEAKER_01 35:01

Right.

SPEAKER_00 35:02

And so I this was always kind of going on in the back of my mind whenever I wore the uniform to go on the program. Don't don't disgrace us, don't lose.

SPEAKER_01 35:11

And in the end, going back for the tournament was a lot of fun because this time it's people who've all been on the program before, who know what they're doing. Oh. And so it's like you've kind of you've jumped up a little bit. Yeah. Like you're already in the varsity level by playing on the program for real.

SPEAKER_04 35:28

Yeah, now you're in the big leagues, right?

SPEAKER_01 35:30

That's right. And so now I'm up against people who know how to play, and I'm like, oh man, this is a problem. It was a lot of fun though. Um, I ended up getting second in the tournament that I was invited back to. I was uh beaten by a very excellent gentleman named uh Young Shen Wong, who was awesome. Um it just, it was such a privilege to be invited back on the program. Second place wasn't too shabby. I think I got $50,000 out of it. Um it was awesome. I loved it. And Jeopardy will always kind of have this special place in my heart because even though I'm doing something overtly political now, overtly partisan, um, you know, I I try to bring up only things that are relevant to my campaign, but when people find out, they want to know. Everyone loves the program. It's America's program. And and it's just such a it's always a fun conversation when you're speaking to a total stranger and they go, oh wow, you were, you did the thing. This is you. And it's like, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 36:30

I have to ask Tyler, is there a chance you're gonna you're gonna go on?

SPEAKER_01 36:35

It's up to the producers. I would love to go back.

SPEAKER_04 36:38

Okay, so we might see.

SPEAKER_01 36:41

I'm I'm not gonna speak for the program. I do I do not, as of time now, I have no knowledge that I will ever be able to go back on ever again. But if they called me up tomorrow and said, we really want you to come back, it's just a question of when do you want me? Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 36:58

So it really does have such a special place in here. It does.

SPEAKER_01 37:00

And I think that's true for all the contestants. You know, win or lose, we all get to be on that stage and and to look, you know, to look our best and to to talk to Ken Jennings or the guest hosts, or if you were on long ago, to Alex Trebek himself.

unknown 37:13

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 37:13

Incredible. Um, all right, Tyler. We're gonna transition into our last part of the setting here. This is Rapid Fire with Rashana.

SPEAKER_00 37:21

Okay, here we go.

SPEAKER_04 37:22

Are you are you ready?

SPEAKER_00 37:23

Uh ready as I'll ever be. Let's go.

SPEAKER_04 37:25

But this time we're gonna do a little spin on it. We're gonna do Jeopardy Edition, Tyler. Okay. Okay. All right, all right, all right.

SPEAKER_00 37:33

Not endorsed by the program. Again, we're gonna be. All right, all right.

SPEAKER_04 37:38

We're doing Jeopardy Edition. So I'm gonna give you, we have a couple categories, Tyler. We have only at HKS, public spotlight and campaign.

SPEAKER_01 37:45

Oh no.

SPEAKER_04 37:46

All right, and I'm gonna give you the answers, and you have to respond in question form. In in the what is you, you know this. Yep. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 37:54

Yep. Okay. Are you ready? Yes.

SPEAKER_04 37:56

Okay. Um, we're gonna start with only at HKS. All right, that's a category.

SPEAKER_03 38:00

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 38:01

The class that had the greatest impact on you.

SPEAKER_01 38:07

I gotta cheat a little and give a parallel answer of two. Um what is uh public narrative was was excellent. It totally the class we shared. It broadened my mind about what people are doing when they talk to you, what they're doing when they give a speech and what it means to like engage and motivate and lead an audience. It completely flipped my perspective after years and years and years of speech and debate training. The other one that I would say um I need to give significant props to a class that I took last year and that I TA'd for this year, um, Central Challenges of American National Security and the Press, um, with uh Dr. Graham Allison and uh David Sanger and Derek Reveron. Dr. Derek Reveron, um all excellent professors, uh, a sought-after class, uh, a marquee course of the HKS experience. Um I was lucky enough to be invited back to assist with the work of that class being taught. And it will always kind of have a special place in my uh time at HKS, you know, both in my learning and and emotionally.

SPEAKER_04 39:17

I love that. And I'm glad public narrative made the made the cut. I'm right there with that. Absolutely. Umggest myth about policy students.

SPEAKER_01 39:26

Uh what is uh we are all extremely nerdy. Um policy has turned out to be a world of people who are wonderful and incredibly bright and very motivated and come from just a whole battery of experiences, right? The first time I talked to someone who was like, I just left a C-suite executive job at a Fortune 500 company to come do this. I'm like, excuse me?

SPEAKER_04 39:53

Very nonchalantly.

SPEAKER_01 39:54

I'm doing this because I wanted another degree and I had some free money from the government. Like that's that's cool.

SPEAKER_04 40:01

All right, Tom, we're gonna switch into a different category now. All right. We're gonna do public spotlight.

SPEAKER_01 40:05

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 40:05

Biggest difference between running for office and competing on Jeopardy.

SPEAKER_01 40:11

The biggest difference. What is the fact that the Jeopardy taping program ends at some point? The biggest difference for me is that being on the stage for Jeopardy, maintaining professionalism and a competitive mask and staying focused and in the game. It's an all-consuming experience. People talk about this a lot. I mentioned it to friends when my program was airing for the first time. I went, I don't remember shooting a lot of this. And what it comes down to is the adrenaline is pumping, you're so focused on the game, and then you see it played back, and you're like, oh yeah, there was a question about that. Campaigning, though, is a slightly different experience while you have this constant rapid fire engaging with people and doing the right thing and being in public and maintaining the demeanor and the kind of uh impression that you want to give, right? Because all you have in politics is your reputation. That's a constant process. It never stops. There is there's no point at which you get to put the burden down and say, all right, game's over, I know what my score is. You're always engaged in it. That's the biggest difference for me.

unknown 41:24

Wow.

SPEAKER_04 41:25

All right, Tyler, we're gonna do one more one more question here. This is for the category of campaign trail.

SPEAKER_01 41:30

Sure.

SPEAKER_04 41:30

The narrative I want to write for my district.

SPEAKER_01 41:35

A narrative that what is that better things are possible and that the way things are isn't the way they have to be. I think people are worried, afraid, frightened, upset about what's happening in their site and all over the country and around the world. And not only can we make things better, can we make that kind of gnawing feeling go away? We can build something that makes sure it never comes back again. That's the story in broad terms that I want to write. And whatever the policies are that get us there, I look forward to fighting as hard as possible for them.

SPEAKER_04 42:15

That's that's very powerful, Tyler. Thank you. Thank you so much for coming on Beyond Harvard. I'm excited for all that's ahead of you, Tyler, and I appreciate your time.

SPEAKER_01 42:24

Thank you, Rashana. I appreciate your time as well. Thank you.

SPEAKER_04 42:29

That's it, Tyler. We did it, we did it!