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Standing beneath towering shelves of kegs in the back of Vancouver’s Loowit Brewing, U.S. Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez has just given a thank-you talk to her supporters after squeaking through another tight election. As she wraps up her remarks in that December gathering and pauses for questions, a man in the crowd speaks up: “I’d like to see you expand the Blue Dog Coalition … I think that’s exactly what we need at the broader level.”

“I have had so many people come up to me in D.C., and be like, ‘Hey, you know, I think we should, like, maybe start something that’s oriented around people in the trades and who are working for a living,” Gluesenkamp Perez said to the crowd. “And I’ll slowly put on my Blue Dogs hat, ‘Like you mean what we’ve been doing?’”

In the latest episode of The Depolarizers podcast, Rep. Adam Gray (CA-13), Whip of the Blue Dog Coalition, discusses the importance of authentic, place-based leadership in addressing the unique needs of his community and fostering bipartisan collaboration.

“The singular, most important influence on a Member of Congress should be what the needs of their district are,” Gray says—underscoring his belief that effective governance begins with listening to constituents and crafting policy rooted in local realities.