Straight Talk with conservative GOP Assembly candidate Gracey Van Der Mark... Join us for a wide-ranging, informative conversation!

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🎙️ This Week on the So, Does It Matter? Podcast — Assembly Candidate Gracey Van Der Mark

This week on So, Does It Matter?, I sit down with former Huntington Beach Mayor, current Councilmember, and Assembly candidate Gracey Van Der Mark!

Gracey’s story is not the typical political résumé. She shares, in her own words, what it was like to grow up in a struggling Los Angeles community, become a young mother, rely on public assistance, experience homelessness, and fight her way back — not once, but twice. What changed her life was not a government program or a political movement. It was the decision to take control of her future and demand better opportunities for her children.

That journey led her into local activism when she discovered serious problems in California’s public school system — including curriculum materials she believed were inappropriate and an education system that was failing students from communities like the one she grew up in. What started as a frustrated parent speaking up became a campaign for the school board, then the city council, and ultimately a seat at the center of one of the most closely watched local government turnarounds in California.

As a member of the Huntington Beach City Council majority — and now Mayor — Gracey helped lead efforts to reduce homelessness, restore public safety, challenge Sacramento mandates, and push back against state overreach. Those battles, and what she learned from them, are a big part of why she is now running for the California State Assembly.

In this episode, we discuss her life story, her path into public service, what it is really like to take on entrenched bureaucracies, and why she believes California needs leaders who understand firsthand what working families go through—not career politicians who have never lived it.

We also wrap with a lighter lightning-round segment that gives listeners a glimpse of Gracey beyond politics, rounding out a conversation that is both deeply personal and sharply focused on California's future.

If you want to understand the kind of lived experience that is driving a new generation of local leaders to step up and challenge the status quo in Sacramento, this is an episode you will not want to miss.

🎥 Watch the full conversation above — and find the video and podcast players below.

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Useful Links…

Gracey’s campaign website.
Jon Fleischman on X.

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EXCLUSIVE “ONE MORE THING” EXTRA VIDEO BELOW…...