Anti-polarizing strategies from a purple city — with OKC Mayor David Holt and Rapid Response’s Bob Safian
DAVID HOLT: What we’ve had is a workforce shortage in Oklahoma City now for basically the whole time I’ve been mayor. So finding people to take these jobs and all kinds of jobs, highly skilled jobs and low skilled jobs. And so the historical American answer to that problem has often been immigration. And yeah, sure, I mean, it has to be controlled and regulated. I mean, it’s not an argument for open borders, but you can’t just close your border either. I mean, you have to find some reasonable middle ground where you are taking in a pretty healthy number of immigrants. If you don’t do that, yeah, you’re going to suffer economic consequences.
BOB SAFIAN: That’s Oklahoma City Mayor, David Holt. As U.S. cities of all sizes face unprecedented pressure from federal budget shifts, ICE raids and potential National Guard presence, I wanted to talk to Mayor Holt, who’s the current president of the U.S. Conference of Mayors. Mayor Holt is a Republican in what he calls a deeply purple city. And he offers a refreshing perspective about why cities are thriving and what statewide and national institutions can learn from mayors’ on-the-ground experience. There are plenty of lessons for business leaders too about how to lead and appeal to a broad constituency without being polarizing or alienating. So let’s get to it. I’m Bob Safian, and this is Rapid Response…