In the video series “Breaking Bread” politicians talk about the middle

Alexander Heffner has hosted the long-running talk show “The Open Mind” for ten years. Now he is back with a new season that no longer deals with internal party power struggles and distrust of the government.

“Three years ago, I decided that after the pandemic, we needed to be more constructive in our dialogue with elected politicians,” Said Heffner.

With national politics so polarized, he was concerned that Americans weren’t hearing deep political discussions. He had interviewing experience and an experienced production team and decided to try something new.

“I had hoped that breaking bread and sharing a meal together would stimulate a more authentic discourse rooted in the concerns of voters, states and communities,” he said.

Yes, shared meals. Eating together. The new show is called “Breaking Bread with Alexander.” In Heffner’s first season, centrist politicians talk about finding a middle ground. He eats steak and potatoes with Wyoming’s Republican governor, Mark Gordon, and visits a cheese factory with Wisconsin’s Democratic senator, Tammy Baldwin.

In an upcoming episode, Heffner meets with Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski. They eat salmon burgers at the Chena Hot Spring Resort during the annual renewable energy fair.

“I think I was at 15 of the 17. When I come here, because what is happening here is an idea of ​​Alaska’s possibilities,” she says in a clip from the episode. “If you look around here, you’ll see that everything has been recycled and reused.”

In this episode, Murkowski briefs Heffner on the salmon crisis in Alaska.

“For people, salmon is not just a source of food. Salmon is an identity. Salmon is a culture. We are the salmon people,” said Murkowski.

He says there was a personal moment in the interview when he talked about taking over as host of the show “Open Mind,” which his grandfather developed and hosted, and about Lisa Murkowski taking over the Senate seat previously held by her father, Frank Murkowski.

“We were both tapped. In my case, my grandfather, a long-time radio presenter, as host of The Open Mind, which is now broadcast on television.” Said Heffner. “And she, who was appointed by her father to the vacant Senate seat, has plenty of experience in making her own name under the circumstances she is taking on.”

The series premieres on Thursday, July 4th.^th on Bloomberg Originals and as a special series of PBS’ “The Open Mind,” which airs Sundays on KUAC-TV.