WEBVTT - It's a Numbers Game: Will New Jersey Turn Into the Next Swing State with Scott Presler 0:00:01.280 --> 0:00:04.120 Welcome back to a Numbers game with Ryan Grodowski. What 0:00:04.160 --> 0:00:06.760 can I say about this week's episode. It's about a 0:00:06.800 --> 0:00:09.520 place where men were born to run, a place that 0:00:09.560 --> 0:00:12.080 gets slippery when wet, and it's not a nursing home. 0:00:12.119 --> 0:00:15.360 It's a retirement community. Yes, I'm referring to the great 0:00:15.400 --> 0:00:18.880 state of New Jersey, home of Bruce Springsteen, John bon Jovi, 0:00:18.960 --> 0:00:21.919 and the Sopranos. This episode is all about New Jersey 0:00:22.160 --> 0:00:25.720 and whether or not it can become America's next swing state. 0:00:25.880 --> 0:00:27.640 But before I talk about the Garden State, I want 0:00:27.640 --> 0:00:29.360 to go back in time a little bit, all the 0:00:29.400 --> 0:00:32.159 way to the year two thousand. That election obviously was 0:00:32.200 --> 0:00:34.720 important for a number of reasons. It elected George W. 0:00:34.800 --> 0:00:37.520 Bush as the forty third president. It was the first 0:00:37.520 --> 0:00:40.720 election year that Hillary Clinton won an election on her 0:00:40.720 --> 0:00:43.000 own for the United States Senate in New York and 0:00:43.080 --> 0:00:46.600 began her political career, which obviously didn't go to the 0:00:46.600 --> 0:00:49.000 places that she dreamed. And it would be the last 0:00:49.000 --> 0:00:51.320 time that the state of Vermont would elect a Republican 0:00:51.360 --> 0:00:54.960 to the United States Senate after having consistently elected Republicans 0:00:55.000 --> 0:00:58.280 for over a century. But most importantly, it created the 0:00:58.320 --> 0:01:01.840 modern political map Now there have been six elections since 0:01:01.880 --> 0:01:04.520 the year two thousand, and for the most part, they've 0:01:04.600 --> 0:01:06.280 kind of more or less looked a lot the same. 0:01:06.440 --> 0:01:09.320 Thirty five states have voted the same exact way in 0:01:09.400 --> 0:01:12.920 all seven elections from two thousand to twenty twenty four. Now, 0:01:12.920 --> 0:01:14.680 you might say fifteen states is a lot that have 0:01:14.840 --> 0:01:18.200 changed direction over that time, and that's true, fifteen states 0:01:18.240 --> 0:01:19.760 is a lot. But if you cut up the states 0:01:19.760 --> 0:01:22.639 that have only voted one time at the last seven, 0:01:22.800 --> 0:01:25.200 so like voted six of seven times the same exact way, 0:01:25.240 --> 0:01:28.720 like New Hampshire, for example, or North Carolina or Indiana. 0:01:28.880 --> 0:01:32.160 And if you take states have only voted twice in 0:01:32.160 --> 0:01:34.560 in a different direction five of the seven, six of 0:01:34.560 --> 0:01:36.559 the seven or seven and seven states that have voted 0:01:36.600 --> 0:01:39.880 the same exact way in the last seven consecutive elections, 0:01:40.000 --> 0:01:43.680 you only have nine states left that have continuously flipped 0:01:43.680 --> 0:01:46.520 back and forth for a quarter of a century. Nine 0:01:46.520 --> 0:01:49.240 states is not that many, especially when you consider that 0:01:49.280 --> 0:01:51.680 in the seven elections before two thousand, that would be 0:01:51.720 --> 0:01:53.800 going back to the in nineteen seventy two, there were 0:01:53.840 --> 0:01:56.960 only thirteen states that voted the same exact way. I mean, 0:01:57.000 --> 0:01:58.880 you can throw in a few more states that only 0:01:58.960 --> 0:02:02.520 voted bublic in one time, like Minnesota, which went Republican 0:02:02.520 --> 0:02:05.560 in nineteen seventy two, or only went Democrat one time, 0:02:05.600 --> 0:02:08.040 which would be like Texas in nineteen seventy six. The 0:02:08.080 --> 0:02:09.840 ma gets a little more full, but you get my point. 0:02:09.880 --> 0:02:13.799 There were a lot more flippable swing states in the 0:02:13.840 --> 0:02:17.440 previous three decades that in the post two decades since 0:02:17.480 --> 0:02:19.840 the year two thousand. Now a number of states worst 0:02:19.840 --> 0:02:22.800 swing states since two thousand have become reliably blue like 0:02:22.880 --> 0:02:28.560 Oregon or Colorado, or reliably red like Tennessee, Missouri or Ohio. Yes, 0:02:28.600 --> 0:02:31.280 Tennessee Missouri worst swing states back in the year two thousand, 0:02:31.440 --> 0:02:35.080 but only one state went from being reliably red or 0:02:35.120 --> 0:02:39.160 reliably blue to becoming a state that is the other way, 0:02:39.240 --> 0:02:41.760 and that's Virginia. Virginia was a reliably red state is 0:02:41.760 --> 0:02:44.040 now a reliably blue state. And only af handful of 0:02:44.080 --> 0:02:46.440 states have really gone from being reliably red or blue 0:02:46.480 --> 0:02:49.080 to even being swing states, like Georgia and North Carolina. 0:02:49.280 --> 0:02:51.760 It's kind of that mid Atlantic strip right there that 0:02:51.800 --> 0:02:54.880 has seen a tremendous population growth from people all over 0:02:55.000 --> 0:02:56.960 the country and the world coming So with the post 0:02:57.000 --> 0:02:59.400 two thousand election. We've become very use to the idea 0:03:00.280 --> 0:03:02.720 swing states in America is only going to get smaller 0:03:02.720 --> 0:03:04.920 and smaller and smaller. But in twenty twenty four it 0:03:05.000 --> 0:03:09.240 reversed because a number of states moved sharply the right. Florida, Iowa, 0:03:09.320 --> 0:03:12.000 Ohio are no longer considered swing states. Trump won them 0:03:12.040 --> 0:03:15.120 all by over ten points. Texas, which Democrats had hoped 0:03:15.160 --> 0:03:17.280 and believed that they were in their grass by the 0:03:17.320 --> 0:03:19.520 end of the decade, that's kind of just gone out 0:03:19.520 --> 0:03:23.160 the window. Now. New York moved eleven points towards Republicans, 0:03:23.280 --> 0:03:28.440 California moved nine, Massachusetts eight, Rhode Island seven, and Illinois six. 0:03:28.680 --> 0:03:31.839 But even that tremendous growth to the right by those 0:03:31.880 --> 0:03:34.680 swing states, that dramatic swing towards Trump, none of them 0:03:34.840 --> 0:03:37.160 can be considered swing states because they're so far left 0:03:37.200 --> 0:03:40.040 to begin with. California, for example, would have to repeat 0:03:40.080 --> 0:03:43.800 that same swing two more times to even be considered competitive. 0:03:44.160 --> 0:03:46.680 New York would have to move that entire eleven points 0:03:46.720 --> 0:03:49.920 all over again to be competitive, and then still it 0:03:49.960 --> 0:03:52.880 wouldn't be a reliably red state. But that takes us 0:03:52.920 --> 0:03:55.920 back to New Jersey. New Jersey swung ten points to 0:03:55.920 --> 0:03:58.440 the right, with Trump Winny forty six percent of the 0:03:58.520 --> 0:04:01.040 vote to Kamala Harris's fifty two two percent. This is 0:04:01.080 --> 0:04:03.600 the best any Republican has done in the state since 0:04:03.600 --> 0:04:06.120 two thousand and four, when George W. Bush only lost 0:04:06.160 --> 0:04:09.680 it by six point seven percent to Democratic nominee John Kerry, 0:04:09.840 --> 0:04:12.720 and only the third time in the last thirty five 0:04:12.760 --> 0:04:15.720 years that a Republican came within single digits of flipping 0:04:15.800 --> 0:04:18.680 this very blue state. So in twenty twenty four, New 0:04:18.760 --> 0:04:23.279 Jersey was basically as blue as Arizona was red. And 0:04:23.320 --> 0:04:26.279 if Arizona is a swing state, then is New Jersey. 0:04:26.600 --> 0:04:28.400 That's the big question that I'm going to sit there 0:04:28.440 --> 0:04:30.680 and grapple with because something else is going on. It's 0:04:30.760 --> 0:04:33.760 more than a single election, It's more than just Trump. 0:04:33.880 --> 0:04:37.680 Every month since June of twenty twenty one, Republicans have 0:04:37.760 --> 0:04:41.520 been registering more new voters than Democrats, sometimes by a 0:04:41.520 --> 0:04:44.160 few hundred, sometimes by several thousand, but it's added up. 0:04:44.320 --> 0:04:47.279 In June twenty twenty one, New Jersey had two point 0:04:47.360 --> 0:04:50.880 five to five million Democrats and one point four to 0:04:50.880 --> 0:04:54.000 six million Republicans and another two point four to three 0:04:54.040 --> 0:04:57.280 million independents. And I'll break down numbers like this, New 0:04:57.360 --> 0:05:00.160 Jersey had one hundred and twenty thousand more Democrats than 0:05:00.200 --> 0:05:05.080 independents and one million, ninety thousand more Democrats than Republicans. 0:05:05.400 --> 0:05:07.760 So fast forward to twenty twenty five, when the new 0:05:07.800 --> 0:05:10.400 registration numbers just came up on March first. March first 0:05:10.440 --> 0:05:13.160 one twenty five, Democrats had two point four to four 0:05:13.160 --> 0:05:16.760 to eight million registered voters, Republicans had one point six 0:05:16.880 --> 0:05:20.360 one million, and independence had two point four million. Now, 0:05:20.520 --> 0:05:21.920 I know it's a lot of numbers. Are just throw 0:05:21.920 --> 0:05:23.719 a to you. I'll make it easy outbreak down this way, 0:05:23.839 --> 0:05:28.480 the Democrats voter advantage. Voter enrollment advantage in New Jersey 0:05:28.800 --> 0:05:33.320 went from one point zero nine million to eight hundred 0:05:33.360 --> 0:05:37.800 and thirty four thousand, so two hundred and sixty thousand 0:05:38.160 --> 0:05:42.480 voter advantage collapse over the course of four years. People 0:05:42.560 --> 0:05:45.080 registering for third party Actually, if you can mind, all 0:05:45.080 --> 0:05:48.520 the third parties have forty thousand more voters than Democrats do, 0:05:48.600 --> 0:05:51.679 which wasn't the case New Jersey. Usually Democrats were always 0:05:51.839 --> 0:05:56.200 the dominant party. And now remember voter registration changes like 0:05:56.240 --> 0:05:58.919 people changing their voter orstration. That is usually the last 0:05:59.080 --> 0:06:02.520 part of some one's political evolution. In other words, people 0:06:02.520 --> 0:06:05.520 will switch how they vote. They'll switch to what podcast 0:06:05.520 --> 0:06:08.240 they listen to, what papers they read, how they vote 0:06:08.240 --> 0:06:11.360 in local elections, usually in the national elections, or vice versa, 0:06:11.640 --> 0:06:14.720 depending on which election is coming up. The last thing 0:06:14.760 --> 0:06:18.440 to change is someone's actual voter registration. That's the last 0:06:18.440 --> 0:06:19.640 thing that's that they're going to do. They will be 0:06:19.680 --> 0:06:23.120 a registered Democrat and but Republican or vice versa, sometimes 0:06:23.120 --> 0:06:25.480 for decades before they actually make the switch, which is 0:06:25.520 --> 0:06:29.160 why I state like West Virginia or Kentucky or Louisiana 0:06:29.520 --> 0:06:33.960 had huge Democrat voter advantage dating back from the nineteen fifties, 0:06:34.279 --> 0:06:38.200 even though they'd been Republican states for many, many many years, 0:06:38.360 --> 0:06:41.880 going back to the Regular Revolution and Nixon Revolution. But 0:06:41.960 --> 0:06:45.880 that's the case for New Jersey. We're seeing this mass 0:06:45.880 --> 0:06:48.240 swing to the right, and we're seeing it with people 0:06:48.440 --> 0:06:53.080 actually re registering to vote. Twenty twenty four was not isolated, 0:06:53.279 --> 0:06:56.080 wasn't in a bubble. Twenty twenty four was the third 0:06:56.400 --> 0:06:59.840 consecutive election that New Jersey moved to the right. In 0:07:00.080 --> 0:07:03.240 twenty twenty one, New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy, he was 0:07:03.279 --> 0:07:06.719 supposed to sail to an easy reelection victory. Most polls 0:07:06.760 --> 0:07:09.320 had him winning between nine and eleven points, and he 0:07:09.440 --> 0:07:12.440 ended up winning by just three against Jack Chitdarelli, who 0:07:12.480 --> 0:07:15.280 was running again for governor this year. Three points was 0:07:15.320 --> 0:07:18.360 a shocker, and Jack Chitdarelli did not have national support. 0:07:18.600 --> 0:07:21.440 In twenty twenty two, Republicans gained a congressional seat in 0:07:21.520 --> 0:07:25.800 the state, despite it being massively jerrymandered in favor of Democrats. 0:07:25.960 --> 0:07:28.640 In twenty twenty two, Republicans actually gained a congressional seat 0:07:28.640 --> 0:07:31.760 in the US House delegation, and the state's voting population 0:07:31.880 --> 0:07:33.960 moved five points to the Republican that was in the 0:07:34.000 --> 0:07:37.000 midterms of twenty twenty two. They moved another three points 0:07:37.040 --> 0:07:40.360 in twenty twenty four in the House. Now, it hasn't 0:07:40.440 --> 0:07:42.680 all been smooth sailing for the New Jersey GOP. They 0:07:42.680 --> 0:07:45.840 did lose six state Assembly seats in twenty twenty three, 0:07:46.000 --> 0:07:49.040 but that was mostly due to redistricting. Republicans have actually 0:07:49.480 --> 0:07:54.160 only decreased their support in that massive landslide loss by 0:07:54.240 --> 0:07:56.640 two points in the popular vote from the previous year 0:07:56.640 --> 0:07:59.880 when they won six Assembly seats. Yet all this proves 0:08:00.160 --> 0:08:03.240 is that there's a slow but progressive drum beat tours 0:08:03.680 --> 0:08:07.120 the GOP in the Garden State. Who knows. Like I said, 0:08:07.280 --> 0:08:10.080 we've been here before. George W. Bush became very very 0:08:10.120 --> 0:08:12.480 close to putting New Jersey in play in two thousand 0:08:12.520 --> 0:08:16.080 and four. I'll bite with a much different coalition. He 0:08:16.120 --> 0:08:19.160 had a lot more suburbanites in places like Morris County, 0:08:19.200 --> 0:08:21.840 while Trump has a lot more urban and minority voters 0:08:21.840 --> 0:08:23.960 in places like Pa sae It County. But he was 0:08:24.000 --> 0:08:27.080 the first Republican since George H. W. Bush to get 0:08:27.080 --> 0:08:29.560 that close in nineteen ninety two. So nineteen eety two, 0:08:29.680 --> 0:08:32.280 two thousand and four, in twenty twenty four, it's almost 0:08:32.320 --> 0:08:35.040 like every decade or two we're seeing this swing. This 0:08:35.120 --> 0:08:38.319 could be the permanent one though, If the realignment is real, 0:08:38.400 --> 0:08:41.520 If these former Democrats with heavy emphasis on the ethnic 0:08:41.520 --> 0:08:45.640 white Italians like an Ocean County and Asians and Hispanics, 0:08:46.000 --> 0:08:49.280 it's all very possible that this will be the coalition 0:08:49.320 --> 0:08:51.680 that makes New Jersey into play, makes New Jersey the 0:08:51.679 --> 0:08:54.000 next swing state. One last set of numbers before we 0:08:54.040 --> 0:08:56.720 get to our guests. An Emerson College poll, which is 0:08:56.960 --> 0:08:59.040 a hit and miss polling company. It's not my favorite, 0:08:59.040 --> 0:09:01.600 but I'll take it because it's not the worst. In 0:09:01.720 --> 0:09:04.800 late January, they found that President Donald Trump is more 0:09:04.920 --> 0:09:08.800 popular than Democratic Governor Phil Murphy in New Jersey. Phil 0:09:08.880 --> 0:09:12.080 Murphy is leaving office with a forty four percent approval rating, 0:09:12.200 --> 0:09:16.320 which isn't terrible, but when you consider among Republicans it's 0:09:16.360 --> 0:09:19.600 only fourteen percent and among independence is twenty seven percent, 0:09:19.920 --> 0:09:22.760 you realize on just how much he needs Democrat how 0:09:22.840 --> 0:09:25.280 much only Democrats are really supporting him, and supporting him 0:09:25.280 --> 0:09:27.240 by a lot. So could this mean that we end 0:09:27.320 --> 0:09:29.760 up with the red New Jersey, a Republican governor in 0:09:29.800 --> 0:09:32.360 the state or Republican legislature. Let's talk to our guest 0:09:32.400 --> 0:09:34.520 who's trying to make it all happen. You're listening to 0:09:34.600 --> 0:09:37.440 It's a numbers game with Ryan Grodowski. We'll be right back. 0:09:40.720 --> 0:09:46.080 Scott Pressler has become iconic among Republican circles, being over 0:09:46.160 --> 0:09:50.320 six feet tall with long brown hair flowing beautiful brown hair. 0:09:51.040 --> 0:09:54.640 People have taken notice because he's one been outspoken Trump supporter, 0:09:54.720 --> 0:09:57.200 but also because he's done the really hard work of 0:09:57.280 --> 0:10:01.160 registering new voters. He runs the nonprofit Early Vote Action, 0:10:02.400 --> 0:10:05.320 intending to register voters and get them to get Republicans 0:10:05.440 --> 0:10:08.079 vote early, which would be wonderful. Scott, thanks for being 0:10:08.080 --> 0:10:08.480 on the show. 0:10:09.440 --> 0:10:10.559 Hey, thank you, Ryan. 0:10:10.640 --> 0:10:14.040 Well, we delivered Pennsylvania last year and this year we 0:10:14.040 --> 0:10:16.400 were headed to the Garden State. 0:10:16.840 --> 0:10:20.079 Yeah, the episode's all about New Jersey. So I want 0:10:20.160 --> 0:10:23.960 to know before we get started. You know, people have 0:10:24.040 --> 0:10:27.000 known you for going out and registering voters and writing 0:10:27.040 --> 0:10:28.520 letters before that. I remember when you used to write 0:10:28.559 --> 0:10:30.480 letters thank you people vote for voting for Trump. This 0:10:30.559 --> 0:10:33.080 is back in like twenty seventeen. How did you get 0:10:33.120 --> 0:10:36.080 started in politics and was this always your ambition to 0:10:36.320 --> 0:10:37.600 work in politics. 0:10:38.280 --> 0:10:41.960 No, I never thought I would be doing this life. 0:10:42.679 --> 0:10:47.480 I graduated from college. I couldn't find a job despite 0:10:47.559 --> 0:10:51.400 graduating with a three point six y three in criminal justice. 0:10:51.559 --> 0:10:55.679 But this was under Obama. The economy was heearable. It 0:10:55.720 --> 0:10:58.680 was hard for millennials to find their place in society. 0:10:59.200 --> 0:11:02.080 And so as I'm walking dogs for a living, as 0:11:02.120 --> 0:11:05.520 I'm working at an elementary school, which were not my passions, 0:11:05.559 --> 0:11:08.719 but I understand that those are good integral parts of 0:11:08.760 --> 0:11:12.520 our society. I went, gosh, we can continue on this 0:11:12.600 --> 0:11:16.440 direction with President Obama, or I can be a cog 0:11:16.559 --> 0:11:20.160 in the machine and I can try to change society 0:11:20.160 --> 0:11:23.080 for the better, and so in twenty fourteen, I moved 0:11:23.120 --> 0:11:23.720 to Texas. 0:11:23.800 --> 0:11:25.959 That's why I always have cowboy boots. 0:11:26.440 --> 0:11:29.960 And my first political job ever was helping to elect 0:11:30.080 --> 0:11:35.240 now Governor Greg Abbot down in Galveston, Texas. And so 0:11:35.400 --> 0:11:38.560 for me, it's really been over the last decade a 0:11:38.720 --> 0:11:43.640 political evolution of going from starting with Governor Abbot to 0:11:44.000 --> 0:11:48.440 defeating Hillary Clinton in twenty sixteen to protect the Supreme Court, 0:11:49.040 --> 0:11:55.200 to doing trash pickups in twenty nineteen inspired by President Trump. 0:11:55.360 --> 0:12:00.360 Oh yeah, and now I'm really I think seen as 0:12:00.480 --> 0:12:04.400 one of the voter registration gurus on the right that 0:12:04.480 --> 0:12:08.400 has become a political strategist for the Republican Party. 0:12:08.600 --> 0:12:10.480 Yeah. You know, Scott, You're one of the people that 0:12:10.520 --> 0:12:12.440 I can kind of relate to the most in the 0:12:12.480 --> 0:12:14.840 sense of like you have an idea and you put 0:12:14.880 --> 0:12:17.240 the wheels behind it and you just make it happen. 0:12:17.280 --> 0:12:21.760 There's really no fixed, you know, job, Like you probably 0:12:21.800 --> 0:12:23.640 don't know what you're going to be in five years, 0:12:24.520 --> 0:12:27.480 but if you if your brain thinks of something worth 0:12:27.920 --> 0:12:30.400 running towards, I'm you could probably do it. It's a 0:12:30.520 --> 0:12:34.240 very unusual like life, and there's not many people I 0:12:34.280 --> 0:12:36.920 know who kind of have it. So I just thought 0:12:36.920 --> 0:12:39.360 of that, like, so what you do is not easy, 0:12:39.400 --> 0:12:41.760 and I'm seeing you give a lot of seminars and speeches. 0:12:41.760 --> 0:12:48.040 You kind of spurred this like voter registration, grassroots effort, right, 0:12:48.480 --> 0:12:50.960 how is that? How did that come about? And what 0:12:51.120 --> 0:12:51.680 is that like? 0:12:51.840 --> 0:12:57.440 Net So, going into twenty eighteen, I was working for 0:12:57.480 --> 0:13:00.800 a not for profit that I couldn't be political, And 0:13:00.840 --> 0:13:03.439 I want to make it clear. Early Vote Action respectfully 0:13:03.600 --> 0:13:06.959 is a political action committee or APAC, so we can 0:13:07.000 --> 0:13:12.120 take unlimited contributions, but we are not tex depectable and. 0:13:12.040 --> 0:13:14.920 That's Early Voteaction dot com. So I just want to 0:13:14.960 --> 0:13:15.640 make that clue now. 0:13:15.679 --> 0:13:16.960 No, it's important, it's important. 0:13:18.200 --> 0:13:22.280 And I knew that twenty eighteen had the potential to 0:13:22.360 --> 0:13:25.679 be really bad for the president. You know, the Democrats 0:13:25.800 --> 0:13:30.360 kept saying over and over that Hillary won the popular vote, 0:13:30.400 --> 0:13:32.640 and you know, that was the me too movement, and 0:13:32.679 --> 0:13:35.320 it was the year of being a woman, and I 0:13:35.400 --> 0:13:37.480 was like, gosh, twenty eighteen is going to be so bad. 0:13:37.640 --> 0:13:40.840 So a month before the election, I was like, Okay, 0:13:40.840 --> 0:13:42.360 I need to quit my job. I'm going to do 0:13:42.400 --> 0:13:45.640 everything I can, travel to Florida and New Jersey all 0:13:45.679 --> 0:13:50.120 over and try to keep members of Congress in those seats. Now, 0:13:50.200 --> 0:13:54.520 ultimately we lost it, and so going into twenty nineteen 0:13:54.679 --> 0:13:57.520 was a regrouping period for me. And I was like, Scott, 0:13:57.920 --> 0:14:02.839 you have no job with Scott. The Republican Party right 0:14:02.880 --> 0:14:05.839 now just lost big time. What are we going to 0:14:05.960 --> 0:14:09.040 do to shake things up? And I just had this 0:14:09.120 --> 0:14:11.240 idea pop into my head, kind of like what you 0:14:11.360 --> 0:14:14.400 said just a moment ago, and I went, You're going 0:14:14.480 --> 0:14:15.280 to travel. 0:14:14.960 --> 0:14:18.200 The country and you're going to teach people how to register. 0:14:17.920 --> 0:14:21.280 To vote, because even the Republican Party is not doing 0:14:21.360 --> 0:14:27.000 the grassroots organizing required in order to win elections. My 0:14:27.160 --> 0:14:32.280 first event, Ryan was in Connecticut, where they have more 0:14:32.440 --> 0:14:36.240 cows than people over in that state. And my first event, 0:14:36.320 --> 0:14:39.359 and I think it was dan Berry, we got protested 0:14:40.040 --> 0:14:44.160 because I think the Democrats knew, Wow, this guy, if 0:14:44.160 --> 0:14:47.000 we don't stop him now, is going to become an 0:14:47.120 --> 0:14:51.080 organizer within the Republican Party. And despite the fact that 0:14:51.080 --> 0:14:54.720 they protested us, we had more than double, perhaps triple 0:14:54.760 --> 0:14:58.640 the amount of attendees. And I literally just started going 0:14:58.680 --> 0:15:03.880 across the country from Connecticut to Fuquey, Verina, North Carolina, 0:15:04.160 --> 0:15:08.280 down to Sarasota, Florida, and each of them I did, 0:15:08.680 --> 0:15:14.040 gathered more attendees, got bigger, My social media profile grew, 0:15:14.200 --> 0:15:17.960 and people went, Wow, this guy is getting stuff done. 0:15:18.560 --> 0:15:23.600 And so I spent twenty nineteen through twenty twenty two 0:15:24.200 --> 0:15:29.800 all on my lonesome organizing, traveling probably forty plus states 0:15:29.840 --> 0:15:33.920 across the country, teaching people how to register other people 0:15:33.920 --> 0:15:34.320 to vote. 0:15:34.520 --> 0:15:36.760 Yeah, it was really inspiring. First of all, I think 0:15:36.800 --> 0:15:38.880 I'm going to start talking about myself in third person 0:15:38.920 --> 0:15:42.000 when I'm having internal conversations like you. I think that 0:15:42.120 --> 0:15:44.400 that would be really good for me. But to know 0:15:44.600 --> 0:15:47.520 that it was I as I mean, we started, I 0:15:47.520 --> 0:15:49.440 don't even know what we met, but I saw the 0:15:49.480 --> 0:15:52.720 growth happen, and I saw the growth happen very quickly 0:15:52.840 --> 0:15:55.800 because it is very hard work and it's something that 0:15:55.880 --> 0:15:59.320 is not sexy and it's not glamorous, and most people 0:15:59.400 --> 0:16:02.080 don't want to do because there are easier, sexier, glamorous 0:16:02.080 --> 0:16:06.880 things to do. When we talked, we spoke in twenty 0:16:06.920 --> 0:16:09.720 twenty four or twenty twenty three, whatever. I mentioned to 0:16:09.760 --> 0:16:13.560 you that there were forty four million non college educated 0:16:14.160 --> 0:16:17.080 white Americans who were not veraged voting. Two point eight 0:16:17.080 --> 0:16:21.160 million were in Pennsylvania. What did you notice in Pennsylvania 0:16:21.240 --> 0:16:24.040 that other people didn't like? How did you even find 0:16:24.280 --> 0:16:26.400 how to like non registered people? 0:16:27.600 --> 0:16:28.000 Well? 0:16:28.400 --> 0:16:33.880 I am very much a data guy and mathematical and 0:16:33.960 --> 0:16:39.040 so here's how I approach elections. I went, gosh, Joe 0:16:39.040 --> 0:16:44.160 Biden quote unquote one a Pennsylvania by eighty thousand votes 0:16:44.200 --> 0:16:47.640 in twenty twenty, and I went, okay, how are we 0:16:47.760 --> 0:16:52.160 going to recoup those eighty thousand voters and turn those 0:16:52.160 --> 0:16:57.400 into Republicans? And so I went as opposed to conversion 0:16:57.440 --> 0:17:00.600 and persuasion, which are important. Don't get me wrong. We 0:17:00.680 --> 0:17:04.880 need to be in the business of courting Democrat voters. 0:17:05.320 --> 0:17:08.560 But ultimately, there are so many Republicans that are not 0:17:08.680 --> 0:17:13.440 registered to vote. Eighty thousand truckers in Pennsylvania. I would 0:17:13.480 --> 0:17:16.560 assume logically the majority of those are going to be Conservatives. 0:17:17.000 --> 0:17:20.359 My organization is really vote Action. So I went, okay, 0:17:20.400 --> 0:17:23.760 a trucker is probably not voting because that person is 0:17:23.800 --> 0:17:28.280 busy serving us and they're probably driving rigs on election day. 0:17:28.600 --> 0:17:31.040 Let's get them a meal in ballot, Let's get them 0:17:31.080 --> 0:17:33.960 to vote early and lock in those eighty thousand votes. 0:17:34.440 --> 0:17:38.600 Then we have the Amish community over especially in the 0:17:38.680 --> 0:17:40.440 hub of Lancaster, Pennsylvania. 0:17:40.920 --> 0:17:43.080 Now, this community, let's be real. 0:17:43.359 --> 0:17:47.480 Governor Shapiro, a Democrat, has been attacking, waging a war 0:17:47.920 --> 0:17:51.760 on their raw milk, their dairy they're farming. Then you 0:17:51.960 --> 0:17:54.479 have society as a whole, which is coming down on 0:17:54.520 --> 0:17:58.440 their bodily autonomy to choose not to have a vaccine 0:17:58.560 --> 0:18:02.320 put into their children, their families. And then you have 0:18:02.440 --> 0:18:05.040 the government coming down on their religious freedom and their 0:18:05.080 --> 0:18:08.120 school choice. And it just clipped, and I said, why 0:18:08.160 --> 0:18:12.679 are we not making a real concerted effort to register that. 0:18:12.720 --> 0:18:13.639 Amagh to vote? 0:18:14.280 --> 0:18:20.520 Knowing Ryan that they get married on Tuesdays in November, y'all, 0:18:20.800 --> 0:18:24.160 what happens on Tuesdays in November election day. 0:18:24.440 --> 0:18:26.440 Let's get the homage to Meilan Ballot. Let's get it. 0:18:26.560 --> 0:18:28.679 They only get married on Tuesday November. 0:18:29.160 --> 0:18:32.560 They get married largely on Tuesdays in November. 0:18:32.800 --> 0:18:37.000 Yes, I never knew that before. Okay, that's fascinating, all right. 0:18:37.240 --> 0:18:38.000 Oh yeah, oh no. 0:18:38.400 --> 0:18:41.040 And it was like a full circle moment because this 0:18:41.240 --> 0:18:43.880 was like a week prior to the twenty twenty four 0:18:44.000 --> 0:18:46.800 deadline to register to vote, and we're over in Lancaster 0:18:46.880 --> 0:18:49.679 at an Amish benefit and this Amish woman comes up 0:18:49.680 --> 0:18:52.760 to check her status because she can't do it herself online, 0:18:52.840 --> 0:18:55.600 so we did it for her. She wasn't registered, they 0:18:55.640 --> 0:18:58.840 removed her, so we got her registered and she goes, oh, 0:18:58.920 --> 0:19:02.000 you know what, I'd better get myself a meal on ballot. 0:19:02.040 --> 0:19:05.399 I'm going to three weddings on election day. And it 0:19:05.520 --> 0:19:05.880 just went. 0:19:05.960 --> 0:19:09.440 It was like an Aha moment that what I had 0:19:09.480 --> 0:19:12.960 been practicing in the field had been come into fruition. 0:19:13.520 --> 0:19:14.800 And we used mail in. 0:19:14.840 --> 0:19:19.879 Ballats to deliver President Trump the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Then 0:19:20.640 --> 0:19:25.240 we have eight hundred thousand veterans in Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania is 0:19:25.280 --> 0:19:29.920 the fourth largest home to veterans in the entire nation. 0:19:30.520 --> 0:19:32.800 So we went to every VFW, we went to every 0:19:32.840 --> 0:19:35.560 American legion, and you would be shocked by the amount 0:19:35.560 --> 0:19:39.640 of veterans that tell me, Scott, I already served our country. 0:19:39.920 --> 0:19:42.760 I already did my part. I don't have to vote 0:19:43.040 --> 0:19:46.760 because I already stopped communism overseas. And so really that's 0:19:46.800 --> 0:19:48.440 where I come in. And we have to court them 0:19:48.440 --> 0:19:51.000 and say, listen, thank you so much for your service. 0:19:51.040 --> 0:19:54.440 We're so grateful for your sacrifice. But communism is here 0:19:54.680 --> 0:19:58.359 domestically it's on our shores, and this is something we 0:19:58.440 --> 0:20:03.080 must be continuously vigilant by voting here in our country. 0:20:03.359 --> 0:20:06.560 And last, and probably the most important, and you'll notice 0:20:06.680 --> 0:20:09.320 all of these groups. What were you talking about with 0:20:09.440 --> 0:20:14.359 the forgotten men and American people, the white working class, Well, 0:20:14.840 --> 0:20:16.760 if you look at the demographics, I would assume that 0:20:16.800 --> 0:20:19.600 a lot of truckers are of that group, the homisher 0:20:19.680 --> 0:20:23.040 of that group, veterans are of that group. And last, hunters, 0:20:23.320 --> 0:20:29.240 three thousand hunters in Pennsylvania, thirty percent, three zero are 0:20:29.359 --> 0:20:32.800 not registered to vote. That's three hundred thousand votes. 0:20:33.000 --> 0:20:36.680 That is game over. That is the election. We went 0:20:36.720 --> 0:20:39.560 to every gun shop, every gun show, and I do 0:20:39.680 --> 0:20:44.359 believe that our work at early vote Action registering fifty 0:20:44.400 --> 0:20:50.200 five zero thousand voters helped to deliver the Commonwealth and 0:20:50.720 --> 0:20:55.359 two congressional seats Ryan mackenzie and Resnahan protecting. 0:20:55.000 --> 0:20:56.840 Seven eight right. 0:20:58.000 --> 0:21:01.320 Seven and eight, and then protecting Scott Peri in tenths 0:21:01.960 --> 0:21:05.400 over in York, Adam Staffin. And then last, the most 0:21:05.480 --> 0:21:08.800 important thing that we helped deliver as a family was 0:21:08.960 --> 0:21:11.359 Senator Dave McCormick. 0:21:10.880 --> 0:21:13.680 Right, I mean his vote, his election was very very tight. 0:21:13.720 --> 0:21:16.640 So yeah, absolutely, I completely agree you're listening to It's 0:21:16.640 --> 0:21:19.000 a numbers game with Ryan Gerdowski. We'll be right back 0:21:19.080 --> 0:21:25.840 after this message. Going back to New Jersey. You know 0:21:25.880 --> 0:21:29.280 in twenty twenty one that Phil Murphy the governor, won 0:21:29.359 --> 0:21:32.320 by eighty four thousand, two hundred and ninety four votes. 0:21:32.440 --> 0:21:36.879 That was his margin of victory over Jack Chidrelli. The 0:21:37.119 --> 0:21:39.840 Republicans since them have one hundred and seven thousand new 0:21:39.920 --> 0:21:42.760 voters and Democrats have lost one hundred and twenty eight 0:21:42.760 --> 0:21:46.720 thousand voters. There's clearly momentum Republicans in the state, in 0:21:46.760 --> 0:21:50.440 the Garden State. What is your goal then, going forwards 0:21:50.520 --> 0:21:52.400 is how many you want to write short to vote next? 0:21:52.560 --> 0:21:55.480 I guess seven months or whatever it is. Six months. 0:21:56.200 --> 0:22:00.800