Yesterday, Tom Perez spoke with Erica Campbell on investing in America’s black communities, voting rights protection, and common-sense gun safety measures. Click HERE to listen to the entire interview, and check out a few highlights from their chat below:

Tom discussed what the DNC did last year to invest in black communities across the country:

“I think the African-American community generally, and African-American women, are the backbone of the Democratic Party. And frankly, we all too frequently took that for granted. That’s why we invested roughly a million dollars in Alabama to support Doug Jones’ campaign. And we were one of the earliest investors because it’s not only how much you invest, it’s how you invest it and when you invest it.”

“African-American voters carried Doug Jones to victory. African-American women in particular. 98% of whom voted for Doug Jones. And I was also proud of the mayor of Atlanta—Keisha Lance Bottoms, wonderful person. A week before the election, her polling was showing her down by roughly five points. We had already invested some, but we doubled our investment. And then we did something that I was very proud of. We bought up 55,000 cell phone numbers, and our team contacted all of those voters. In today’s world, if you’re trying to persuade voters you got to meet them where they consume news, and for many people that’s on their iPhone.”

He also talked about defending the one right that protects all others—the right to vote:

“Unfortunately, the Republican playbook is about making it harder for people to vote. These voter ID laws that were put in place, quite simply, they were designed, and they weren’t really subtle about it, to make it harder for African-Americans and Latinos to vote.”

“It’s shameful. We should be making it easier for eligible people to vote, not harder.”

Tom spoke about how Congress needs to pass common-sense gun safety measures:

“We have to break the stranglehold that the NRA has on this Congress. This is not about Republicans versus Democrats or left versus right. This is about right versus wrong. This is about children. Parents should not have to bury their children. I have met so many moms, more often than not, African-American moms, who have buried their children as a result of gun violence.”

“And I have greater optimism now because this next generation, they’re not taking no for an answer, and they’re standing up. Women led the resistance after the 2016 election, and now our next gen is leading the charge on gun safety and they inspire me. Can’t wait for March 24^th for the rally in the Mall in Washington, D.C. We will be there. I will be there. And we continue to fight day in and day out for common-sense gun safety measures.”