In this episode, Lauren Harper Pope is in conversation with Cait Conley, who’s running for Congress in New York’s 17th congressional district against Republican Mike Lawler.

Cait is a decorated Army veteran and national security expert. A fourth-generation Hudson Valley native, Cait served 16 years in the U.S. Army with six overseas deployments and later led counterterrorism efforts at the National Security Council and election security at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency. She’s been a mission-driven, independent leader focused on protecting democracy, lowering costs, and strengthening critical infrastructure, bringing real-world experience to the fight to deliver results for working families.

New York’s 17th congressional district is located in the lower Hudson Valley, just north of New York City, spanning Rockland and Putnam Counties and parts of Westchester and Dutchess. It’s a highly suburban, affluent, and diverse district with an economy tied to finance, healthcare, and professional services.

Politically, NY-17 is one of the nation’s most competitive swing seats: it’s rated near even and has recently voted for both parties in top races. NY-17 has a PVI of D+1, and Harris won the district by less than a point in 2024.

The district is on the DCCC’s Red to Blue list for the 2026 election cycle.

Here on the Winner, Winner podcast by Welcome, we speak with the Democratic Party candidates who prove they can win the middle, beat Republicans on Trump turf, and recalibrate the party to the median voter. Here at Welcome we work to strengthen a centrist faction that wins and governs responsibly. We support centrist Democrats running in Trump districts through WelcomePAC.

In this episode, Lauren Harper Pope is in conversation with Sarah Trone Garriott, who’s running for Congress in Iowa’s 3rd congressional district against Republican Zach Nunn. Sarah is part of Welcome’s Win the Middle slate for the 2026 cycle.

Sarah serves in the Iowa State Senate and has flipped not one but two seats in the Iowa Senate. She defeated a popular Republican mayor in 2020, and in 2022 after redistricting, she was drawn into a district with a Democratic colleague. Instead of running in a primary against her colleague, Sarah uprooted her home and moved to a neighboring district to take on the GOP Senate president in an R+5 district. Not only did she win, but she beat him by three points while running 10 points ahead of the top of the ticket. Sarah has a proven track record of over-performance and is the only Democrat in Iowa to flip multiple seats in districts that Trump won.

Notably, Sarah is also a Lutheran minister and works at an interfaith food pantry network.

Iowa’s 3rd congressional district encompasses central and southern Iowa. Iowa-3 has a Cook PVI of R+2, and Trump won the district by 4 points in 2024. The district is on the DCCC’s Red to Blue list for the 2026 cycle.

Here on the Winner, Winner podcast by Welcome, we speak with the Democratic Party candidates who prove they can win the middle, beat Republicans on Trump turf, and recalibrate the party to the median voter. Here at Welcome we work to strengthen a centrist faction that wins and governs responsibly. We support centrist Democrats running in Trump districts through WelcomePAC.

In this episode, Lauren Harper Pope is in conversation with Christina Bohannan, who’s running for Congress in Iowa’s 1st congressional district against Mariannette Miller-Meeks, one of the Republican Party's biggest under-performers. Christina is part of Welcome’s Win the Middle slate for the 2026 cycle.

Miller-Meeks won the district by just six votes in 2020, and she lagged the top of the ticket by 11 points in 2024. Christina ran for Congress in 2022 in a previous iteration of the district and went back for a rematch against Miller-Meeks in 2024. Christina lost that race by just 798 votes, the second-closest race in the country.

In her 2024 congressional campaign, Bohannan made a point to meet constituents in rural areas where voters had not seen or heard from Democrats in years. She was also able to differentiate herself by opposing Democratic policies that were not popular among voters like student loan debt cancellation and calling on President Biden to drop out of the race. This helped her achieve the strongest over-performance of any other Democratic challenger in the country, outperforming Harris by 8.2% and running 11.3 points ahead of a generic Democrat in her district.

All of this has put her in a great position to flip this crucial seat for her rematch against Miller-Meeks in 2026.

Iowa-1 has a Cook PVI of R+ 4, and Trump won the district by 8 points in 2024. The district is on the DCCC’s Red to Blue list for the 2026 cycle.

Here on the Winner, Winner podcast by Welcome, we speak with the Democratic Party candidates who prove they can win the middle, beat Republicans on Trump turf, and recalibrate the party to the median voter. Here at Welcome we work to strengthen a centrist faction that wins and governs responsibly. We support centrist Democrats running in Trump districts through WelcomePAC.