Alexander Heffner has been hosting a long-running conversation show called “The Open Mind” for 10 years. Now he is one season into a new show that focuses away from partisan infighting and distrust in government.
“Three years ago, I decided coming out of the pandemic, we had to do something more constructive in our dialogue with electeds,” Heffner said.
With so much polarization in national politics, he was concerned that Americans weren’t hearing thoughtful policy discussions. He had interviewing experience and a veteran production team and decided to try something new.
“I was hopeful that by breaking bread and having meals, that it would inspire a more authentic discourse, uh, rooted in the concerns of their constituents and states and communities,” he said.
Yes, having meals. Eating together. The new show is called “Breaking Bread with Alexander.” Heffner has a first season filled with centrist politicians talking about meeting in the middle. He eats steak and potatoes with Wyoming’s Republican Governor Mark Gordon, and visits a cheese factory with Wisconsin’s Democrat Senator Tammy Baldwin.
In an upcoming episode, Heffner sits down with Alaska’s senior Senator, Lisa Murkowski. They eat salmon burgers at Chena Hot Spring Resort during its annual renewable energy fair.
“I think I've been to 15 of the 17. When I come here because what goes on here is an imagination about Alaska's possibilities," she says in a clip of the episode. "You look around this place and everything is recycled, repurposed.”
In that episode, Murkowski teaches Heffner about Alaska’s salmon crisis.
“People don't just look to salmon as a food source. Salmon is an identity. Salmon is a culture. We are the salmon people,” Murkowski said.
He says the interview had a personal moment when he talked about stepping into hosting the show “Open Mind” that his grandfather had developed and hosted, and Lisa Murkowski stepping into the Senate seat formerly held by her father, Frank Murkowski.
“We were both tapped. In my case, my grandfather, who's a longstanding broadcaster, as host of The Open Mind, which now airs on the TV side," Heffner said. "And she, appointed by her dad to the open senate seat, that there's a lot of experience in how you make a mark of your own in the circumstances that you're inheriting.”
The series is premiering Thursday, July 4th on Bloomberg Originals and as a special series of PBS's "The Open Mind," which runs Sundays on KUAC-TV.
