Glaze and Grit
Glaze and Grit
Josh Boschee: North Dakota State House Minority Leader (Episode 03)
If you’ve lived in the Fargo-Moorhead area for even a quick minute, you’ve probably heard of or ran into Josh Boschee. Josh’s community involvement, social justice activism, and political contributions resonate across party lines. Josh is known as a thoughtful and servant leader, being elected to the North Dakota House of Representatives in 2012 and serving as House Minority Leader. Along with actively volunteering for a number of nonprofits and serving on numerous boards, including the executive committee for Prairie Public Broadcasting, Josh is a Realtor and business leader with Hatch Realty.
Josh is often asked to speak throughout the state on issues related to social justice, community engagement and political activism. His involvement in the greater Fargo-Moorhead community has allowed him to build relationships with individuals, employers, community groups, faith-based organizations and service providers to inform and represent some of the issues community members face locally and throughout the state.
We are thrilled to have Josh as our guest on Glaze and Grit and cannot wait to share Josh’s inspirational story with you.
Most of my life is on the interstate and the highways, but to go South Amanda and see the beauty on your way to standing rock reservation, it's just absolutely gorgeous driving through the children mountains for the first time, we're going up to the Pembina Gorge and now making sure that I go every summer to drive at sunset across basically the Northern border of North Dakota and the United States. There's so much greatness happening. And again, maybe as a Democrat in North Dakota where people say, well, why wouldn't you leave? You know, it's so conservative or there's there's people who aren't like you. And it's like, no, there there's people like me all over the place. We may not have the same political identity or sexual orientation or grew up the same way, but we love our communities. And that's what I believe.
Speaker 2:Hi, this is Jesse. This is Janine, and this is blaze and grant. We're on a journey to share the real story on the show. Today we hear from Josh Bushay, North Dakota's house minority leader, and what motivated him to run for state office. We get the inside scoop of what leaving North Dakota taught him and how he's led the state through the public health crisis of what is COVID 19. Here's John.
Speaker 1:Hey y'all can you hear me? We can, can you hear us? Okay. You're like a pro at this. You don't even, you came in and you just knew how to do all the tech stuff yourself. I just know enough of the like problems that I've had first. So Josh, can you believe it's been, I was thinking about India NCO 14 years since I first met you. How have you been? Things are going well and busy, busy, busy. So thanks so much for coming on. And so Jesse, how long have you been back there? Has it been almost a year? It's been a crazy, crazy year. All roads lead back to Fargo. So for you, one of those spots, a literally a spot. So I moved here from Idaho to accept a position. So I've been here about 10 months now, but even though Fargo's not my roots, I can understand why you guys see, everyone comes back here because it is an awesome place. It's a small world here in Fargo, too, which is kind of fun. Yeah. Everyone plays the do ITTO game. Like, you know, Oh, do you know Betsy? You know, then you find out you're either related or you played basketball against each other, basically. All right. Well, Josh, the most important question right off the bat and then the spirit of Midwestern values. What is your favorite hot dish? Oh, favorite hot dish, I guess anything with like chicken. So I get chicken casserole, but then when I'm breaking the rules, cause we were talking about hot dishes. So yeah, it was like a chicken. Think of my mom made a rice, it was rice base and had of course the frozen vegetables with the canned vegetables in it. I never had tater tot hot dish till I came to college. So I didn't grow up on the cliche ultimate hot dish, but certainly, uh, I think my mom would call it chicken casserole or I can still see the ceramic dish with the blue and the etching on the side that she'd make it in.
Speaker 3:Nice. Well, congratulations on your primary wind last week.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we still have the general election in November, but uh, I've loved this job, uh, since 2012 when I was convinced to run for it. And you know, we try really hard to stay engaged with folks. So it's, it's a great neighborhood to represent. What drew you into politics? Mostly. I mean, social justice work, it was, um, you know, as you and I had met Jesse around some of the social justice work in India, SU understanding my own privilege, uh, but also then dealing with my own sexuality as I was preparing to come out, I just kinda headed down that path of understanding how policy impacts lives then got involved with president Obama's campaign in 2008 and was able to travel the state and get college students and faculty and staff involved in that political campaign. And that's where I learned the value of listening and then use that skill, helping friends run for office, whether they're a city commission or legislature. And I always say, I like being a number two. I don't like being a number one. I don't like being the person up front. I like being the person standing behind holding up good people. Then in 2012, 2011, uh, was asked a couple of times to run for this legislative seat and said, no, wasn't interested in that. I wanted to continue to working and help support other great candidates. But if any of your West wing fans, I got the Westwind box set for Christmas. And uh, so watching a week's worth of Jed Bartlett, I was like, well, he's doing good work on this fictional TV show. You know, I could go do good work. And so that helped a little bit my drive to, to get off the sidelines and put my name on the ballot.
Speaker 3:Well, Josh did share a high level overview of your background for our listeners. You grew up in might not North Dakota attended North Dakota state university where you earned your bachelor's and master's degree. You are a real estate agent and broker with hatch Realty here in Fargo, and are a member of the North Dakota house of representatives where you represent district 44, you serve on seven committees and was elected as the house minority leader in 2019. Your community involvement is expansive serving on numerous nonprofit organizations and boards. Your dedication to the community alone is inspiring. So from that 18 year old graduating Bishop Ryan high school to being the North Dakota house minority leader, did you have a set plan or vision for what you wanted to be when you grew up?
Speaker 1:I didn't, that's one thing I reflect on a lot things have happened or worked out for me and I recognize that that's not, that's not the reality for a lot of people. A lot of people work really hard to get to where they're going and, you know, I've worked hard at the things I've been doing, but it's not been part of a plan. I was going to go to college to be a veterinarian that lasted a week. And then I didn't know what I was going to study. Uh, but then was able to find a career in working on a college campus and helping other students get involved, develop their leadership skills to, um, getting involved in political campaigns and social justice issues. And so for me, the common thread has always been helping people. And I think a lot of that, I know a lot of that is based off of growing up in a, with my grandma, going to church every Saturday night to St. John's Catholic church in mine at the bottom of the Hill there. So my Catholic faith, which I'm not necessarily active in now, I haven't been since college, but it's still a strong part of who I am and understanding that we're here to take care of one another. We're here to improve our lives and improve the lives of people around us. And we're all trying to just do the best we can with the resources we have.
Speaker 3:Renee Brown describes leadership as the willingness to step up, put yourself out there and lean into courage. Josh, you are the first openly gay candidate ever elected to the state legislature in North Dakota. You have paved the way and inspired so many within the LGBTQ community to share their own stories and be empowered with their own sexual orientation and how they identify. You've also helped advocates be more mindful, supportive, and aware of the challenges within the LGBTQ community with less than a quarter of a percentage of elected officials nationwide that are LGBTQ. What drives you to step out, put yourself out there and lean into courage?
Speaker 1:When I came out in 2005, uh, which at that age, I would have been 23. You know, I didn't aspire to be the first openly gay anything, but I do recall my experience of coming out in terms of, I didn't have role models. I know that there were gay people out there will, and grace was on TV. I didn't have faculty that I knew were gay or coworkers very much, you know, there weren't out athletes or military or, or other political leaders that we really knew about. So, you know, I just was going to be me. And when I came out, I was fortunate that I didn't lose family member. I didn't lose friends. I didn't lose my job. Any of the fears I had of him was things happening didn't happen. And because of that, I was able to keep moving forward. And again, that's not the experience of a lot of people. And so we really need to celebrate things like happen the other day with the Supreme court saying you can't discriminate for someone, you can't fire someone, you can't kick them out of their apartment because of who they are or who they love. We have a lot of work to do still. And as much as I kind of cringe, anytime there's a story written about me and it says, Josh, Porshay comma first openly gay comma legislator. I think back to my 23, 18 year old 16 year old self. And if I had to read a story that said something like that, how different my life might have been growing up in Lynette or going to MBSU and understanding that, wait a minute, I can be who I am. Cause that guy up there, you know, is in the state legislature. And those are some of the best notes I get, get some really uplifting things from family members of LGBT North. Dakotans the letters from moms tear you apart. And so again, you know what we've seen a lot of progress is can't legislate against discrimination. We can only legislate protections for people. And so we have a lot of work to treat kind Lia folks to take care of one another and recognize that while we're different, there's much more that makes us a, like, that's how I legislate. That's how I do my policies. I am a person who listens. I, you know, and I might think one thing about a piece of legislation and hearing a side that I haven't thought about helps them inform me and better prepare me for the job. And I always tell folks that the hardest job of being a legislator is pushing that button each time. Because I know when I pushed that button, that yes or no button on a piece of legislation, I have to be able to answer for why I voted that way. I can't think about it anymore. I've done the action of voting and I have to stand by that decision.
Speaker 3:In 2018, you ran for secretary of state, but gained a different role. Instead as the house minority leader you share running for North Dakota, secretary of state was one of the highlights of your life thus far. Can you share what that experience taught you and what was it that made it a highlight of your life?
Speaker 1:I loved running for secretary of state. I always said again, like I said, I wasn't going to be a legislator. Once I got involved in politics, I said, I will never run for statewide office, but I loved it. I loved it. I loved it. I loved it because I got to spend time with people who love their communities. My first campaign stop quote, unquote to rugby. So I was running for secretary of state. One of the big campaign issues was on modernizing the office. There's about seven or eight folks that we sat around the table at this little cafe off the highway. Most of the people around the table were in their thirties and forties and hearing these leaders, you know, they're business owners, some of them were on the city council, um, worked in nonprofits, talk about their love for rugby. Many of them have the story of moving somewhere else and then coming back home to rugby. And when they came home to raise their family, many of them made the conscious decision of how do I make rugby a little bit more like Minneapolis or Seattle or Bozeman where they, Hey, I've lived for a short period of time. So they did. And they got involved and this was right around the time the governor had his main street initiative going on. So there's a lot of support from the state government to do some things like revitalize downtown kept hitting roadblocks. The city council would say no. And so they said, well fine. We'll run someone else for mayor. They ran one of the people's mom for mayor and she won. And so they kind of just took it upon themselves and said, we're not going to take no for an answer. We're going to make this the community. We want it to be, we're going to be a stronger, healthier community. And I love stopping when I go back home to mind, I'd say, I go the long way sometimes just so I could stop that. They are excellent people. I met with real quickly to talk before I get back on the road. But that's the story of why I love that. Wasn't every day it may have been one person. I was talking to her, but getting to talk to people over there. And on top of that, seeing how beautiful North Dakota is, most of my life is on the interstate and the highways, but to go South Amanda and see the beauty on your way to standing rock reservation, it's just absolutely gorgeous. I went through the killdeer mountains for the first time. We're going up to the Pembina Gorge and now making sure that I go every summer to drive at sunset across basically the Northern border of North Dakota in the United States. There's so much greatness happening. And again, maybe as a Democrat in North Dakota where people say, well, why wouldn't you leave? You know, it's so conservative or there's there's people who aren't like you. And it's like, no, there there's people like me all over the place. We may not have the same political identity or sexual orientation or grew up the same way, but we love our communities. And that's what I believe. I hope that other people see in me and don't see me as a threat, as a Democrat or a politician or, or someone who's going to try to change things. But someone who loves his state and his community, and isn't going to leave you going to fight for it. I love that. Just the power of community.
Speaker 4:That's the core. All right, Josh, I'm going to jump in because I just have to share. It's been awesome to hear this beginning part of your journey and your story. And as I hear you talk about remembering the details of your mom's and dishware and the descriptiveness of visiting rugby and the interactions that you had with those people, you are an amazing listener, but the way that you're able to connect and retain memories and share that and articulate that is just so special. We've talked about community and your involvement. So many things that you've done, you've mentioned, you've always liked to be number two. And some of the words that I've heard you say, you said, I thought I would never do that. And it always sounds like it's you never were questioning whether you had the ability, but you consciously chose to be that support. That being said, when you took that leap into running for secretary of state or being that new board committee leader, or maybe having a conversation with someone who has a vastly different political view than you do, what mindset do you have going into those situations that allowed you to step up and be that front runner when maybe you were more comfortable in that number two support position?
Speaker 1:Wow. Um, good question for me. I realized that I can't be a complainer it's it's not fair to be a complainer. It's not fair to judge someone because they think they're doing something wrong or I would do it differently. And maybe that's why I find myself ending up in some of those leadership roles is cause it's like, well, let me try. Or these are my ideas. I'm not going to expect someone else to carry out my ideas. I'm going to step forward and, and hopefully bring others along with me. That's the biggest thing is, is when it all lands on your shoulders, it's a big burden to carry and trying to be collaborative in my processes. I'm in leadership roles, making sure that it's not just about me and advocating other good folks, I guess, back to your question. As far as the, the mindset, my 40th birthday is coming up in two years and they've been really contemplated about what does that mean? And not from a midlife crisis standpoint or anything like that, but about, I feel I've had a pretty good life and I've been fortunate to do great things and be able to help a lot of people. I'm really trying, I think, to intentional about what is the next half of my life look like? I think that's a product of not having those plans or things just working out so far and just trying to have the mindset of setting goals and working towards them. And you know, maybe a little bit more selfish, what do I want as an outcome or, or to be better at, or to be able to do. And I even hate saying that out loud, because I feel like that's selfish.
Speaker 4:I wanted to point out one specific thing you said at the end, because it relates so much to what Jesse and I started this podcast for. And it was exact moment that you said, I felt bad saying that out loud to take that time to focus on me like that selfish. So much of what we do day in day out is for other people because we collaboratively, we want, I believe most people are good people. They want to do good and be good by others, but it is shining that light on that, your personal journey, who you are, your passions and what truly fuels you is articulated and grown. I think by doing that just as you're sharing, we push ourselves forward so that we can build people even more. So even just hearing you say that is so good for someone like me to hear, to see how much you're involved in do those things, because the balance is key.
Speaker 1:Absolutely. And that's again, another thing I kind of maybe hate saying out loud what this public health crisis, tons of horrible things happening. People are dying, getting sick, but it's also forced a lot of us to slow down. We're working from home. You know, we're dealing with some of those issues where you interact with people less, but I landscaped my art. You know, I would've never done that cause it would have been so busy going to meetings and doing other things. Whereas I finally had an excuse to enjoy my art and I never thought I'd like landscaping, but I've got a couple of flower beds now that I'm working on it. You know, it's just taking that time to slow down. And maybe that's where some of the contemplations coming from for me is I've been forced to write while I've certainly been busy. It's a different kind of busy in my home place where I can stop and think can read an extra book every once in a while can put a garden together, mow the lawn a little bit more. So I know me and my partner, we've talked about that and the fact that, okay, so as we get into recovery and try to get to be a healthier community, what does that look like for us as two able-bodied people who still have our jobs and are doing fairly well through all this for us, it's like, well, let's eat out less and have friends over more. Even if that means we need to order food from our favorite restaurants that are going to our restaurant, how can we do it super intentional and slow down that way
Speaker 4:You have any tactics or things that have been really beneficial for you to be able to recognize that balance and move forward and seeing exactly that, how able-bodied people we can begin to invest more in our communities and ourselves pushing forward out of this pandemic.
Speaker 1:One big life lesson I've had in terms of being able to slow down or to be even a better leader is I'm right on the cusp of the beginning of being a millennial. I don't have to do everything. I can do one thing really well. And I think that's one thing. Maybe it's more than just millennials, but those of us that were of that generation to be really involved and engaged in our community, we had to do it all because if we didn't someone else might not do it. And recognizing that if you create space for other people to, to rise up and fill those voids, things will be fine. Things have been fine for hundreds of years before me. They're going to be fine hundreds of years after. And so really just being intentional, it doesn't all have to fall on your lap. I get asked to be a part of, a lot of different things. Tell myself I don't have to do it all and there's opportunities for others. And how do you bring those others in to the tablets opportunities? Because people are naturally always going to go to people like me, but there's 27 people holding me up the leader. So how do I reach back and help those other folks have some of the spotlight as well, or an opportunity to grow and learn and lead.
Speaker 4:Josh, obviously you spend the time to invest in others. You take the time to invest in yourself, moving forward. You've created. I would imagine just being in this conversation inspired a lot of individuals to take that next step or to move up and have a little bit more of that spotlight who are some individuals that have brought you inspiration throughout your life.
Speaker 1:My parents. And I think that's important for a lot of us and maybe even our expanded about more about the women in my family. So first of all, my mom phasing, beautiful woman, she's a nurse at Trinity hospital. It might not. I never realized until about five years ago, how young my parents were when they had us boys, my brother Boyd was born when my mom was 18. I was, my mom was 21. And then my brother Wyatt was 23 and they were just my parents growing up. So I thought the recording would old. You know, they were parents. They, that was their age parents. And it wasn't until, you know, I think probably around my 30th birthday when I was like, wait a minute. I, where my mom, I have an 11 year old, a nine year old, a seven year old. Right? And so that really was like this understanding of metal. I mean, I've always appreciated my mom and my parents, but once she overcame as a young parent to finish up nursing school to be a great nurse, I mean, I've always heard amazing stories from folks. Everyone knows who Sandy is. She's worked hard, both her and my dad have gotten into leadership positions with their employers. And it's not, I don't think cause they want it to be again. I think it was just because they were hard workers. They were dedicated to their job. They wanted the best for us boys. But before my mom was her grandma who was my grandma, her mom, and I think of grandma Clara, who at the age of, I can't remember if it was six or eight had polio and spent, I think it was 13 months of her life in an iron lung. And when she came out of that iron lung as a child, you know, she had has a leg that didn't work anymore. So used a brace. I never knew my grandpa. But then to find out that my grandma, you know, left an abusive relationship and raised four kids on her own and the sixties and seventies worked hard at the hotel, just persevere. And, and so I often look back at the women in my life and my family and the things they just did. A lot of it's survival it's they had to write, they had to put food on the table or they had to make sure that their kids had a better life than they had. If someone who doesn't have children and doesn't necessarily have a desire to have children. Now I think about that a lot in terms of how can I help other kids? How can we be great fairy godfathers and provide, uh, the best thing for some of our kids, our friends as kids. And so, yeah, you know, it's my parents, it's the women in my family who have really inspired me.
Speaker 4:As we're talking back again, maybe more about reflection, inspiration moving forward. What do you think is something that everyone should do at least once in their life,
Speaker 1:The answer is do something new, go somewhere new, somewhere unfamiliar. And that's my own advice I had to. That was my experience. And it made me a better person because of grew up here in North Dakota, live here. I've been here 38 years of my life, except for three months, there were three months where during graduate school, I went to the university of Tennessee Knoxville for graduate internship, as someone who's never wanted to go anywhere else who feels comfortable where he is. I was able to do that three month experience because I knew I was coming home at the end, but that was such a powerful experience because of the different types of students I met. It's actually where I gained the courage to come out to myself and set a plan to come out to my friends and family afterwards. And it took me leaving everything that was familiar to gain that confidence, to understand that things are a little different and maybe it's because it's elsewhere, there's different types of people or whatnot, but it really was. It just, it got me out of my comfort zone. I've always been envious of people who just can pick up and go. I don't feel I can do that. I feel I have to have a plan. We have to know where we're going and why we're going there. And what's the purpose friends who go backpacking for six weeks, whether it's up in Canada or Alaska or over to Europe, I'm always envious of them. And I've not gained the courage to do something like that for myself because I'm too nervous about the what-ifs. And it's not part of a plan. I had the opportunity in the last year to travel internationally a little bit that was in Japan for two weeks for a, uh, political exchange. And that was a great experience was down at the Southern border, us Mexico border for about 10 days this February, I'm trying to branch out and experience those things a little bit more to just get outside of my comfort level, you know, go try something new
Speaker 4:The next time we connect. You'll have to tell us about your backpacking trip across Europe, wink, wink, try something new. It's really interesting what you said, Josh, because it really resonates with me, the whole being a little bit scared to take on the new and the change. And I would imagine a lot of the listeners feel that way as well. Something also, I find interesting listening to you this whole time is even though you say you're not a planner and you know, that balance just the way that you are so intentional and the way that you look and think about life, even though maybe it doesn't seem like you've had a plan. I think subconsciously you are so observant and focused and think through all of these scenarios and processes that it's kind of created this opportunity because you are so willing to think through and think of others. So in-depthly, and to be so focused on the, in the moment now, which is amazing, like I'm going to take a step back and be a little bit more part of my conversations. I think after ours, looking to the future, what are you looking forward to in the coming months and years,
Speaker 1:I'm really excited about the opportunities for North Dakota. The things that this public health crisis has exposed in terms of the equity in terms of this impacted everybody, but also highlighting the inequity and how there are some people who have lived in crisis most of their life. And we're just feeling it for a little bit. They've always been in crisis and they've needed additional assistance through some of this, or even maybe persevered even better because they've, they've, they know how to live in crisis, but that we can be a state that can put our resources to making sure that we're taking care of the basic needs of everybody. And a little bit more of an equalizer in, in my hope in that comes from knowing how to just trying to be an unrealistic thinker, but of, you know, the leadership we have in our current governor in terms of let's reshuffle, the deck let's think differently about how we deliver services and provide government. And while he, and I will have differences in terms of what those priorities are. I think we certainly agree in that we can do things differently and we can do things better. And for me, the, the flag I've been working on planting in the last six months is I think North Dakota can end poverty. If we put our mind to it and said, our goal is to make sure no one lives in poverty, we can do that. It's amazed me how the public health crisis and the response that our state government has had has advanced. Some of the conversations I thought were going to take six weeks or six years. It took six weeks because I'm going to have to get into go mode and realize that we have to make sure everyone has a home homeless people who get sick with COVID. You can't have them in homeless shelters. So what ha what's it look like if everyone has a hotel room, what's it look like if we didn't have anyone sleeping on the streets, what does it look like when primarily women who experienced domestic violence have somewhere safe to go other than just kind of a rundown apartment work with our community, because that also then supports small business owners because they can, we can tap into them providing meals. And while there's a great number of North Dakotans who receive government assistance or government programs, it's a small number compared to the greater scheme of the country. And I really think that if we put our mind to it, we can help those 20,000 families out with some really focused policy and supports. And we're just a stronger state because of that. So that's what I'm hopeful for
Speaker 2:Josh. It's been a pleasure. Thank you so much for sharing your journey with us. Thanks for joining us for this episode. Glazing grit. If you enjoyed this episode and want to continue on this journey with us, please like subscribe and leave us a review. If you know of an amazing community member to showcase, please reach out to glaze in grit@gmail.com and connect with us on glazing grid, podcast.com signing off Jesse and Janine.