WEBVTT - 2022 Midterms: A Mixed Bag 0:00:00.240 --> 0:00:03.119 So what exactly happened in the two thousand and twenty 0:00:03.160 --> 0:00:07.480 two midterm elections, How did Republicans end up coming short, 0:00:07.840 --> 0:00:09.920 is it as bad as the media is making it 0:00:09.920 --> 0:00:13.640 out to be, and what lessons should we learn? Ye 0:00:29.480 --> 0:00:31.880 I was originally hoping to do this recap of the 0:00:32.320 --> 0:00:35.000 Bitts firms and have it be extremely positive to be 0:00:35.040 --> 0:00:38.000 able to talk about how we won the House by 0:00:38.320 --> 0:00:40.760 you know, a bunch of seeds, we picked up the Senate, 0:00:40.880 --> 0:00:45.360 gubernatorial seats, the list goes on. Obviously, Republicans performance in 0:00:45.400 --> 0:00:48.479 the mid terms was a little underwhelming. However, we we 0:00:48.520 --> 0:00:51.080 also still don't have the full picture. We're still awaiting 0:00:51.120 --> 0:00:54.680 results in the House. We're still awaiting results in the Senate, 0:00:54.720 --> 0:00:57.840 so we don't know what the makeup of the House 0:00:57.920 --> 0:00:59.840 and the Senate is actually going to be yet. So 0:00:59.880 --> 0:01:02.840 I think it's unfair to fully write the story when 0:01:03.160 --> 0:01:06.679 it hasn't hasn't concluded, right, I mean, you can't really 0:01:06.680 --> 0:01:09.520 reflect on the midterm elections until we have the full results. 0:01:10.120 --> 0:01:12.160 But we're going to try to go through where things 0:01:12.200 --> 0:01:15.319 stand now and what you should know about it and 0:01:15.400 --> 0:01:19.000 perhaps some of the reasons why Republicans didn't have the 0:01:19.040 --> 0:01:22.760 red wave that so many people, like myself, we're expecting 0:01:22.800 --> 0:01:25.720 before we do that. I just want to give something 0:01:25.760 --> 0:01:29.320 that I've realized in working in politics for a long time, 0:01:29.360 --> 0:01:32.440 because before I got into media, I was a campaign person. 0:01:32.560 --> 0:01:34.600 I was a political person. I worked on Capitol Hill 0:01:35.040 --> 0:01:37.360 for a few different members of Congress. I worked at 0:01:37.360 --> 0:01:42.240 the NRCC in the historic election. I've worked on campaigns. 0:01:42.280 --> 0:01:44.319 I was a communications director in one of the top 0:01:44.760 --> 0:01:49.080 Senate campaigns in the country in Wisconsin during the election. 0:01:49.160 --> 0:01:51.960 I've worked on primary races. I was a vice president 0:01:52.000 --> 0:01:54.080 of a polling firm for a period of time. I've 0:01:54.080 --> 0:01:57.320 worked as part of consulting teams on top Senate races 0:01:57.360 --> 0:02:00.160 as well. So I've done a lot of this right, 0:02:00.160 --> 0:02:02.160 and so what I'm giving my perspective when I'm trying 0:02:02.200 --> 0:02:04.080 to dig in and get a fuller picture, it's not 0:02:04.160 --> 0:02:07.560 just based off of, you know, just throwing stuff against 0:02:07.600 --> 0:02:10.000 the wall and saying what sticks. It's basing it off 0:02:10.040 --> 0:02:11.520 of a lot of what I've learned, a lot of 0:02:11.520 --> 0:02:14.600 what I've seen. And I'm also talking to people who 0:02:14.639 --> 0:02:17.400 work on campaign committees, who work on these races, who 0:02:17.400 --> 0:02:20.640 are are pulling and looking at numbers in real Time, 0:02:20.760 --> 0:02:23.320 so I sort of collectively put that all together and 0:02:23.400 --> 0:02:27.080 trying to look at what the electorate's going to look like, 0:02:27.160 --> 0:02:29.600 what an election is going to look like. But before 0:02:29.639 --> 0:02:32.240 we feel too beaten down about the state of things, 0:02:32.280 --> 0:02:36.880 I always go back to Time magazine. And I don't 0:02:36.880 --> 0:02:39.600 know if you guys remember, but Time put a cover 0:02:39.919 --> 0:02:43.440 of the you know, the g B elephant and said 0:02:43.560 --> 0:02:48.520 endangered species. And this was May eighteen, two thousand nine. 0:02:48.680 --> 0:02:51.920 And and and what did Republicans do that mid term cycle? 0:02:52.600 --> 0:02:54.520 I know I was at the NBCC at the time. 0:02:55.080 --> 0:02:57.280 We picked up sixty three seats in the House and 0:02:57.360 --> 0:03:00.840 six in the Senate. So you know, elections can be 0:03:00.919 --> 0:03:03.240 swing e They're all over the place. They changed from 0:03:03.240 --> 0:03:06.760 election to elections. So what happened this election cycle does 0:03:06.800 --> 0:03:11.040 not define what's going to happen in But that does 0:03:11.080 --> 0:03:13.240 not mean we should not try to learn lessons from 0:03:13.280 --> 0:03:15.640 it and and try to get an idea of what happened. 0:03:16.520 --> 0:03:19.120 So for starters, what I want to start out with is, 0:03:19.480 --> 0:03:21.400 it's infuriating that we don't have the results of the 0:03:21.400 --> 0:03:25.200 election right, and mail and ballots are are really the 0:03:25.240 --> 0:03:28.160 result of that. And what's wild is if you go 0:03:28.240 --> 0:03:31.680 back to presidential elections of the past. The Associated Press 0:03:31.720 --> 0:03:34.400 was able to call the two thousand twelve presidential race 0:03:34.440 --> 0:03:37.880 for Barack Obama at eleven thirty eight pm Eastern on 0:03:37.960 --> 0:03:43.080 Election Night. The AP called the election for Donald Trump 0:03:43.120 --> 0:03:46.440 at twenty nine am Eastern time the next day after 0:03:46.480 --> 0:03:50.160 the election. But in two thousand twenty two, with all 0:03:50.200 --> 0:03:52.360 the mail and ballots, the AP didn't call the race 0:03:52.800 --> 0:03:55.840 until eleven twenty six a m. Eastern on November seven, 0:03:56.200 --> 0:03:59.160 four days after election day. And now as we are 0:03:59.200 --> 0:04:04.040 awaiting finalized results in states like Arizona and Nevada for 0:04:04.080 --> 0:04:06.560 the Senate races, they're saying we might not know the 0:04:06.640 --> 0:04:11.440 final conclusions until next week. Now does that give you 0:04:11.640 --> 0:04:14.120 a great deal of confidence and our elections? I mean, 0:04:14.160 --> 0:04:16.919 particularly when you're looking at Arizona, where Katie Hobbs, the 0:04:16.920 --> 0:04:20.839 Democrat Canada in the gubernatorial race, is the secretary of State. 0:04:21.240 --> 0:04:24.160 And it also just raises questions because Democrats really try 0:04:24.200 --> 0:04:26.760 to set the groundwork for this. Remember that Joe Biden's 0:04:26.800 --> 0:04:29.240 speech that he gave in prime time before the midterm 0:04:29.279 --> 0:04:33.600 election where he said this, listen, in many states, don't 0:04:33.640 --> 0:04:36.960 start counting those ballots after the polls closing no member eight. 0:04:38.480 --> 0:04:40.279 That means in some cases we want to know the 0:04:40.279 --> 0:04:43.760 winner of the election for a few days until a 0:04:43.920 --> 0:04:47.640 few days after the election, takes time to count all 0:04:47.720 --> 0:04:51.440 legitimate ballots. So obviously laying the groundwork there on Twitter 0:04:51.520 --> 0:04:54.640 also pushed this propaganda. It's welcome message before the election 0:04:54.680 --> 0:04:57.200 said it takes time to count all of the votes. 0:04:57.240 --> 0:05:00.159 We know that the media went in and reinforced this 0:05:00.279 --> 0:05:02.400 idea as well. And look, I mean the use of 0:05:02.400 --> 0:05:06.160 mail and ballots and absentee ballots has grown exponentially since 0:05:06.279 --> 0:05:10.279 covid Right, Democrats really used covid U virus, which is 0:05:10.279 --> 0:05:13.359 about as deadly as the flu, to completely change the 0:05:13.440 --> 0:05:16.359 name of the game when it comes to elections, and 0:05:16.400 --> 0:05:18.960 they smartly did that. Right, We were idiots for not 0:05:19.080 --> 0:05:21.640 fighting it harder, for not pushing back, and and now 0:05:21.800 --> 0:05:23.880 you know we're ruining that day. I mean, you look 0:05:23.920 --> 0:05:26.360 at the use of mail and ballots and absolute ballots 0:05:26.600 --> 0:05:30.880 has grown exponentially from in two thousand four, which was 0:05:30.880 --> 0:05:36.200 a presidential election to presidential election. And then you'll get 0:05:36.320 --> 0:05:40.200 states like Nevada where we're still looking to see what 0:05:40.279 --> 0:05:44.000 the outcome of the Senate race there under Democrat control 0:05:44.000 --> 0:05:46.960 in two thousand twenty one, they passed a B three one, 0:05:47.400 --> 0:05:51.599 which requires county clerks to mail all active registered voters 0:05:51.960 --> 0:05:54.800 a ballot at least fourteen days before an election, making 0:05:54.839 --> 0:05:57.880 the state one of eight to offer universal mail and ballots. 0:05:58.279 --> 0:06:00.200 And I know that everyone tries to tell us there's 0:06:00.240 --> 0:06:02.440 no concerns with mail abouts. This is what the media 0:06:02.480 --> 0:06:04.320 wants to say. But the reality is it just touches 0:06:04.320 --> 0:06:06.359 more hands than if you just go in and you 0:06:06.400 --> 0:06:08.880 make your vote. That's just the reality. Remember when former 0:06:09.160 --> 0:06:13.200 Attorney General Bill Barr had this to say in September 0:06:14.600 --> 0:06:18.080 on CNN Listen, which is the Bipartisan Commission chaired by 0:06:18.160 --> 0:06:21.799 Jimmy Carter and James Baker, said back in two thousand 0:06:21.880 --> 0:06:26.880 nine that mail in voting is fraud with the risk 0:06:27.000 --> 0:06:32.440 of fraud and coercions. And until this improved it, let 0:06:32.440 --> 0:06:36.400 me talk please uh And since this, since that time, 0:06:36.640 --> 0:06:42.400 there's been in the newspapers, in networks, academic studies saying 0:06:42.600 --> 0:06:46.440 it is open to fraud and coercion. The only time 0:06:46.480 --> 0:06:50.200 the narrative changed is after this administration came in. But 0:06:50.279 --> 0:06:54.080 elections that have been held with mail have found substantial 0:06:54.160 --> 0:06:57.760 fraud and coercion. For example, we indicted someone in Texas 0:06:58.960 --> 0:07:03.320 ballots collected, and I'm not concluding that the election was stolen. 0:07:03.360 --> 0:07:05.000 I have no evidence of that. But what I do 0:07:05.080 --> 0:07:07.839 think is it it undermines and it erodes confidence in 0:07:07.839 --> 0:07:10.480 the election when it takes this long to get the results. 0:07:10.760 --> 0:07:15.160 And also Democrats are so concerned about democracy, why would 0:07:15.160 --> 0:07:17.720 they not want to boost confidence in elections? And we 0:07:17.760 --> 0:07:20.440 know that it can be done to get the results 0:07:21.200 --> 0:07:23.960 accurately and in a timely manner, because Florida has done it. 0:07:24.160 --> 0:07:26.640 You know, Florida's the third most populous state. They were 0:07:26.680 --> 0:07:28.760 able to give us results on election night my home 0:07:28.800 --> 0:07:30.960 state of Florida where I live now. You know, Florida 0:07:31.040 --> 0:07:33.720 is a population of twenty two million people and they 0:07:33.760 --> 0:07:36.520 were able to get it done. So what excuse do 0:07:36.640 --> 0:07:40.440 some of these other states have with much lesser populations 0:07:40.560 --> 0:07:43.240 and not being able to produce the results of the election. 0:07:43.440 --> 0:07:46.080 So this is something that needs to change. But we 0:07:46.160 --> 0:07:48.320 also have to be honest with ourselves, and we can't 0:07:48.360 --> 0:07:50.680 change it unless we win in some of these states 0:07:50.760 --> 0:07:53.440 and then go in and change the election laws. And unfortunately, 0:07:53.440 --> 0:07:55.600 to win in some of these states, we have to 0:07:55.600 --> 0:08:00.000 play the game. And the problem right now is Democrat 0:08:00.040 --> 0:08:03.520 has spent four weeks turning out the early vote with 0:08:03.560 --> 0:08:06.600 mail and ballots, of encouraging early voting, and Republicans really 0:08:06.600 --> 0:08:09.240 try to rely on one day on election day. You 0:08:09.280 --> 0:08:12.320 can't win under that scenario. You've got to encourage or 0:08:12.360 --> 0:08:14.840 like even in Florida, I remember Governor to Santass team 0:08:14.840 --> 0:08:16.720 were pushing the early vote. I even went out and 0:08:16.760 --> 0:08:20.120 early voted in Florida. Although Florida has tightened its election laws, 0:08:20.160 --> 0:08:22.080 so it looks a lot different here than it does 0:08:22.080 --> 0:08:24.840 in other states in terms of election to integrity. But 0:08:25.000 --> 0:08:27.320 point being is that we have to play the game 0:08:27.400 --> 0:08:29.040 that's in front of us, right. I know we want 0:08:29.080 --> 0:08:31.160 to change the game. I believe in changing the game. 0:08:31.200 --> 0:08:34.079 I just pointed out my concerns with mail and ballots. 0:08:34.080 --> 0:08:36.040 But until that happens, you have to play the game. 0:08:36.080 --> 0:08:37.800 And the sad thing is you had a heck of 0:08:37.800 --> 0:08:42.120 a lot of Pennsylvanians who voted early before even watching 0:08:42.200 --> 0:08:45.640 that debate when Fetterman completely fell apart on stage against 0:08:45.679 --> 0:08:49.600 Dr Oz And that's not right, that's not fair. But 0:08:49.679 --> 0:08:53.080 the reality is the reality, and so Republicans need to 0:08:53.080 --> 0:08:56.640 play smarter in this new era of politics. Where the 0:08:56.720 --> 0:08:58.719 name of the game has changed, and if we want 0:08:58.720 --> 0:09:00.840 to change it, as I do, got to win to 0:09:00.920 --> 0:09:02.319 do that, and then how are you going to win? 0:09:02.440 --> 0:09:04.120 You gotta play the game that's in front of you, 0:09:04.200 --> 0:09:07.199 and then you can change the dynamics for more integrity 0:09:07.440 --> 0:09:13.880 once you win, quick break more inwo mid terms. The 0:09:13.920 --> 0:09:16.640 second part of it is okay, A lot of us, 0:09:16.720 --> 0:09:19.880 like myself included, thought that this would be a bigger 0:09:19.920 --> 0:09:22.800 election for Republicans, thought it would be a wave. I 0:09:23.080 --> 0:09:25.560 still stand by that the dynamics were set up for 0:09:25.640 --> 0:09:27.840 a wave election. We just didn't get it done. I 0:09:27.920 --> 0:09:30.400 was pointing out earlier the reasons why I thought it 0:09:30.440 --> 0:09:32.640 would be a wave election, and those things still stand. 0:09:32.679 --> 0:09:35.440 I mean, you look at the history of past elections 0:09:35.440 --> 0:09:38.160 since World War Two, the party out of power has 0:09:38.240 --> 0:09:41.440 picked up a net of twenty eight seats and forty 0:09:41.440 --> 0:09:44.360 three seats when a president's approval rating was below fifty. 0:09:44.400 --> 0:09:47.640 We have a president with an approval rating at this 0:09:47.679 --> 0:09:51.360 is a midterm election. History would demonstrate that this should 0:09:51.360 --> 0:09:54.719 have been big electoral gains in the House. Another thing 0:09:54.760 --> 0:09:57.640 to look at regarding the House and the electorate. With 0:09:57.679 --> 0:10:00.320 the Houses, we only needed to net five seats to 0:10:00.360 --> 0:10:02.640 win the majority. There were less seats in play than 0:10:02.760 --> 0:10:05.880 maybe some prior midterm election cycles, meaning the margins were 0:10:05.920 --> 0:10:08.480 already tight in the House. There was less fertile ground, 0:10:08.600 --> 0:10:10.280 so we were never going to have a sixty and 0:10:10.360 --> 0:10:12.400 you know, a net sixty three night like we did 0:10:12.400 --> 0:10:15.920 in the mid term elections. But we should have picked 0:10:16.000 --> 0:10:18.559 up more seats than what we are potentially on track 0:10:18.679 --> 0:10:21.280 too picked up. That's also a fact. Another reason I 0:10:21.360 --> 0:10:22.840 was looking and thinking that it was going to be 0:10:22.880 --> 0:10:26.360 a big wave election. It was the environmental factors, right. 0:10:26.520 --> 0:10:28.679 I just mentioned a president with a forty two percent 0:10:28.760 --> 0:10:31.960 approval rating, the fact that we have forty year high inflation, 0:10:32.360 --> 0:10:36.440 record high gas prices, All of these dynamics in play 0:10:36.559 --> 0:10:41.440 environmental factors that would prove positive to Republicans, particularly since 0:10:41.480 --> 0:10:44.400 Republicans have always done better and did do better on 0:10:44.520 --> 0:10:47.199 those who thought the inflation was the number one issue, 0:10:47.200 --> 0:10:49.640 which it was according to exit polling. I was also 0:10:49.679 --> 0:10:53.120 looking at where Democrats were spending time in the final days, 0:10:53.400 --> 0:10:56.720 and you had the Democrat Governors Association creating an independent 0:10:56.760 --> 0:11:00.160 Expenditure Committee in New York to boost Kathy Hokel, a 0:11:00.240 --> 0:11:02.840 state where Democrats out number of Republicans two to one. 0:11:03.080 --> 0:11:06.440 You had the Clintons spending time there, Joe Biden spending 0:11:06.440 --> 0:11:09.000 time they're all out for HOCO, which led me to 0:11:09.040 --> 0:11:11.360 believe that if they're spending time in a state like that, 0:11:11.400 --> 0:11:13.040 what does that mean for the rest of the country. 0:11:13.160 --> 0:11:15.240 We had Joe Biden also spending time in a state 0:11:15.280 --> 0:11:18.120 like Oregon, a deep blue state. And you had the 0:11:18.160 --> 0:11:21.960 first lady spending time in Virginia's tenth congressional district for 0:11:22.040 --> 0:11:25.280 Jennifer Wexton, which is a Biden plus nineteen district. She 0:11:25.360 --> 0:11:28.120 spent time there on mid term the day before the 0:11:28.160 --> 0:11:30.800 midterm election. So a lot of that concluded me to 0:11:30.840 --> 0:11:33.760 believe that Democrats were playing defense to a certain degree. 0:11:33.920 --> 0:11:36.600 And then you also had the polling and passed elections 0:11:36.679 --> 0:11:40.360 which underestimated support for Republicans. You know, this happened in 0:11:40.360 --> 0:11:41.920 a lot of states, in a lot of areas in 0:11:41.920 --> 0:11:45.600 the two thousand, eighteen and twenty ten elections. And if 0:11:45.600 --> 0:11:48.120 you look at the twenty elections, national polls were the 0:11:48.120 --> 0:11:51.280 most inaccurate they've been in forty years. State polls most 0:11:51.280 --> 0:11:54.440 inaccurate in twenty years, and and looking at that, national 0:11:54.480 --> 0:11:57.920 polls overestimated support for Biden by an average of three 0:11:57.960 --> 0:12:01.880 point nine percent. State poll were similarly skewed towards the 0:12:01.880 --> 0:12:05.959 Democrats towards Joe Biden, with a two favorable snapshot of 0:12:06.080 --> 0:12:08.320 him by four point three percent. So I thought, here 0:12:08.320 --> 0:12:11.720 we are again, where the polls are not picking up 0:12:12.280 --> 0:12:15.360 what is actually happening and what has all the makings 0:12:15.360 --> 0:12:18.280 and the fundamentals for a big way of election. So 0:12:18.360 --> 0:12:21.480 I still stand by that all those factors were true. 0:12:21.800 --> 0:12:24.240 We had a ripe environment for a way of election, 0:12:24.800 --> 0:12:28.240 but it didn't materialize. So you might ask me, well, Lisa, 0:12:28.320 --> 0:12:32.240 why didn't it materialize. Here's what I've concluded in conversations 0:12:32.240 --> 0:12:34.960 with people also looking at exit polling and trying to 0:12:34.960 --> 0:12:37.600 get a bigger picture of why we didn't quite have 0:12:37.720 --> 0:12:40.120 the night that a lot of us, including myself. I'm 0:12:40.120 --> 0:12:41.760 admitting I thought it was gonna be a bigger night 0:12:41.760 --> 0:12:44.439 than it did. I don't think I was wrong to 0:12:44.520 --> 0:12:47.400 have thought that, but I did miss some things that 0:12:47.480 --> 0:12:50.320 ended up happening in the midterm elections which I wasn't expecting. 0:12:51.160 --> 0:12:52.920 Right again, we have to learn from these things. We 0:12:52.960 --> 0:12:55.440 have to look at what happened and and and try 0:12:55.480 --> 0:12:57.360 to look at what do we need to do different 0:12:57.360 --> 0:13:01.439 heading into again, what happened this election cycle doesn't define 0:13:02.400 --> 0:13:05.439 as I pointed out with Time magazine saying that Republican 0:13:05.480 --> 0:13:08.760 Party was extinct in nineteen or two thousand nine and 0:13:08.800 --> 0:13:12.400 the Republicans went on to have a massive midterm election 0:13:12.440 --> 0:13:17.440 in So you have to take everything with a grain assault. So, 0:13:17.640 --> 0:13:20.280 as I was talking about, the conditions for a wave 0:13:20.400 --> 0:13:24.680 were there, but we didn't execute. So why not you 0:13:24.720 --> 0:13:27.720 know what happened where it was a breakdown? I mean, 0:13:27.720 --> 0:13:30.720 if if you think about midterm elections are normally a 0:13:30.760 --> 0:13:36.280 referendum on the president the party in charge. Presidential elections 0:13:36.280 --> 0:13:38.760 are these choice elections where you're really choosing between these 0:13:38.760 --> 0:13:42.480 two people. But in order to win a midterm election, 0:13:42.640 --> 0:13:45.959 you need a couple of things. You've got to motivate 0:13:46.000 --> 0:13:48.000 your base more than the other side, and you've got 0:13:48.000 --> 0:13:51.400 to win independence. And if you look at exit polling, 0:13:51.400 --> 0:13:54.400 we didn't do that. Democrats were motivated to turn out 0:13:54.440 --> 0:13:56.360 in a large part because of doubs, because of the 0:13:56.400 --> 0:13:59.240 issue of abortion, which we see an exit pulling actually 0:13:59.280 --> 0:14:02.880 ended up being second most important issue in national exit polls. 0:14:03.000 --> 0:14:05.640 The Democrat base they were motivated. We should have been 0:14:05.760 --> 0:14:08.160 more motivated, So they gave them an issue, a reason 0:14:08.240 --> 0:14:11.000 to turn out, and we didn't went over independence, And 0:14:11.040 --> 0:14:13.080 I think to some degree that also speaks of what 0:14:13.200 --> 0:14:17.000 kind of society we're living in where the desire to 0:14:17.080 --> 0:14:20.800 murder a child supersedes you know, being murdered in a 0:14:20.880 --> 0:14:23.160 street with crime. But you know, that's where we are 0:14:23.200 --> 0:14:26.040 as a country. It's pretty wild. And you know, there's 0:14:26.040 --> 0:14:29.280 been a lot of finger pointing at Trump this election cycle, 0:14:29.360 --> 0:14:31.000 so I want to get into that a little bit 0:14:31.120 --> 0:14:33.840 as well. So I think some of it's fair in 0:14:33.920 --> 0:14:37.000 terms of, you know, their candidate quality argument that's out there. 0:14:37.280 --> 0:14:39.280 I mean, you look at someone like Doug Mastriano. He 0:14:39.280 --> 0:14:42.000 he did get crushed in the Pennsylvania gubernatorial race. I 0:14:42.000 --> 0:14:43.800 mean that's just a fact. He shouldn't have lost by 0:14:43.800 --> 0:14:47.760 that much in Pennsylvania and Dr Oz losed by much less. 0:14:47.880 --> 0:14:50.680 But I think Mastriano really hurt him. I'm not even 0:14:50.720 --> 0:14:53.000 an OS fan, but that is just what the number show. 0:14:53.320 --> 0:14:55.880 And you look at Don Bullock in New Hampshire, he 0:14:56.000 --> 0:14:59.520 lost significantly as well, like that race should have been competitive, 0:15:00.080 --> 0:15:02.440 is in So some of that is true in terms 0:15:02.480 --> 0:15:04.960 of you know, the candidate selection and sure, yeah, voters 0:15:05.320 --> 0:15:08.720 have to go out and select these candidates. But you know, 0:15:08.760 --> 0:15:11.640 if Trump hadn't endorsed them, would they have been elected? 0:15:11.680 --> 0:15:14.160 I don't know, Probably not right. And then you know 0:15:14.200 --> 0:15:16.440 he also had about a hundred million in the bank 0:15:16.960 --> 0:15:18.960 and didn't use that to boost some of these candidates, 0:15:19.120 --> 0:15:21.520 and you know throughout the general elections. I mean, I 0:15:21.520 --> 0:15:24.200 think those criticisms are are somewhat fair. I mean, we 0:15:24.280 --> 0:15:26.400 got to look at this and look at it truthfully. 0:15:26.480 --> 0:15:27.960 And then too, you know, as I was mentioning, in 0:15:27.960 --> 0:15:30.480 the midterm election, it's tend to be a referendum. I 0:15:30.520 --> 0:15:33.440 do think Trump having a big role in this election 0:15:33.520 --> 0:15:37.520 and also looking ahead at and talking about presidential election 0:15:37.640 --> 0:15:40.200 maybe made it more of a choice election where it's 0:15:40.240 --> 0:15:42.560 not just a referendum, it's about and a whole another 0:15:42.640 --> 0:15:44.760 aspect of it. So I think the water's got a 0:15:44.760 --> 0:15:47.600 little muddied with the abortion aspect. And then you know, 0:15:47.640 --> 0:15:50.160 Trump having a big presence in the midterm elections as well. 0:15:50.200 --> 0:15:52.280 I mean, we know that he motivates the Republican base, 0:15:52.320 --> 0:15:55.080 but we also know that he turns off some independence 0:15:55.080 --> 0:15:57.080 and that you know, Democrats hate him, and when you 0:15:57.120 --> 0:15:58.680 have to turn your base out more that does have 0:15:58.760 --> 0:16:01.160 an impact. That's not, you know, be mean towards Trump. 0:16:01.200 --> 0:16:02.960 It's just to actually try to really look at this 0:16:03.000 --> 0:16:04.800 and dig in and figure out what happened. But if 0:16:04.800 --> 0:16:06.720 we're going to take him at Trump, which a lot 0:16:06.760 --> 0:16:08.840 of people are, you gotta look at the bigger picture too. 0:16:08.920 --> 0:16:11.800 I mean, the Republican Party at large really failed to 0:16:11.840 --> 0:16:13.840 do what they were supposed to do. I mean, you 0:16:13.920 --> 0:16:15.880 gotta look at Kevin McCarthy, you gotta look at the 0:16:15.880 --> 0:16:19.040 committee chairman, and Ronald McDaniel at the r n C, 0:16:19.320 --> 0:16:22.080 or Tom Emer at the nr c C or Rick 0:16:22.120 --> 0:16:24.480 Scott at the NSC as well, because they didn't do 0:16:24.520 --> 0:16:26.400 what they're supposed to do either. So I mean, if 0:16:26.400 --> 0:16:28.320 you're gonna do a pox on Trump's house, it's really 0:16:28.320 --> 0:16:30.880 got to be everyone you look at. Mitch McConnell probably 0:16:30.960 --> 0:16:34.040 deserves a significant share of the blame because he canceled 0:16:34.440 --> 0:16:37.680 ten million in TV ads for Blake Masters in Arizona 0:16:38.040 --> 0:16:41.320 while spending millions in Alaska. When you're gonna have a 0:16:41.360 --> 0:16:45.760 Republican candidate end up winning in Alaska regardless, you're always 0:16:45.800 --> 0:16:47.680 going to have a Republican out of that race, So 0:16:47.760 --> 0:16:50.240 why not spend the money on races that would define 0:16:50.280 --> 0:16:53.320 the balance of power. So I think Mitch McConnell deserves 0:16:53.360 --> 0:16:55.560 a significant, you know, part of the blame. But you know, 0:16:55.600 --> 0:16:58.280 the bottom line is everyone's sort of trying to decide 0:16:58.280 --> 0:17:00.760 in real time what these election and mean, and what 0:17:00.800 --> 0:17:03.240 the midterms elections mean when we still don't know what 0:17:03.280 --> 0:17:05.280 the final resorts are, right Like, we're still waiting for 0:17:05.320 --> 0:17:08.280 house races. We're still waiting to figure out what's going 0:17:08.320 --> 0:17:10.560 to happen in the Senate. We also have the runoff 0:17:10.960 --> 0:17:14.800 in December with Raphael Warnock and Herschel Walker as well. 0:17:14.960 --> 0:17:18.080 So we're really trying to write a story that is, 0:17:18.359 --> 0:17:20.879 you know, still somewhat unwritten as we sort of await 0:17:20.960 --> 0:17:23.280 some of these details and the outcomes of some of 0:17:23.320 --> 0:17:25.320 these elections. I do want to end with this in 0:17:25.359 --> 0:17:28.399 the sense of, Okay, yeah, we're all disappointed, right we 0:17:28.480 --> 0:17:31.640 were expecting a bigger election, and you know, I admitted 0:17:31.680 --> 0:17:33.280 I really thought it was going to be bigger. I mean, 0:17:33.280 --> 0:17:36.119 I think I had justifications for thinking that, but it 0:17:36.160 --> 0:17:38.200 didn't end up the way I believed. I'm going to 0:17:38.280 --> 0:17:40.639 take ownership of that, but there were some bright spots 0:17:40.680 --> 0:17:42.560 as well. I think some of those bright spots is 0:17:42.560 --> 0:17:45.200 the fact that Joe Biden is going to remain in office. 0:17:45.280 --> 0:17:46.800 Right it looked like they were trying to kick him 0:17:46.800 --> 0:17:49.159 to the curb. You can't do that based off of 0:17:49.200 --> 0:17:51.439 this election outcome. So Joe Biden will likely be the 0:17:51.480 --> 0:17:55.560 candidate in a damaged candidate. You know, approval ratings at 0:17:55.600 --> 0:17:58.679 fort and the economy is probably going to get worse sadly, 0:17:58.760 --> 0:18:00.680 gas prices, all these things. Things are still going to 0:18:00.760 --> 0:18:05.159 hang over him heading into election. Republicans will also end 0:18:05.240 --> 0:18:08.000 up probably winning the popular vote as well. A really 0:18:08.000 --> 0:18:10.600 really bright spot in the state of Florida with Governor 0:18:10.680 --> 0:18:12.920 Ron De Sante's I mean, he beat Charlie crist by 0:18:12.920 --> 0:18:16.280 twenty points. That's insane. That's the biggest margin in any 0:18:16.359 --> 0:18:19.400 Florida gubernator race in forty years. I mean, that's literally insane. 0:18:19.440 --> 0:18:23.080 Florida was previously a competitive state. Now it's a red state. 0:18:23.240 --> 0:18:26.000 He won sixty two of the state's sixty seven counties. 0:18:26.200 --> 0:18:29.080 That's crazy. He won the heavily Hispanic Miami Diade county. 0:18:29.160 --> 0:18:31.399 That's the first up governor candidate to do it in 0:18:31.440 --> 0:18:34.080 twenty years. And what I think he did even more 0:18:34.119 --> 0:18:36.760 importantly is that with this midterm election. Yeah, there was 0:18:36.800 --> 0:18:39.680 a lot to vote against with Democrats, but Governor de 0:18:39.760 --> 0:18:42.639 Santas gave Floridians something to vote for. I mean, he 0:18:42.840 --> 0:18:46.159 led with freedom, He kept Florida open, He fought the 0:18:46.160 --> 0:18:48.879 opposition on that, he took on corporations with Disney, if 0:18:48.920 --> 0:18:52.199 he fought indoctrination in schools. Even if you look at 0:18:52.280 --> 0:18:55.080 his response to Hurricane Ian, it was flawless, so much 0:18:55.080 --> 0:18:58.199 so that even Joe Biden gave him props. And you know, 0:18:58.280 --> 0:19:00.960 the bottom line is that Rep. Bookends are still going 0:19:01.000 --> 0:19:03.000 to be better off than they were before this election 0:19:03.040 --> 0:19:05.040 in terms of you know, we will gain seats in 0:19:05.080 --> 0:19:07.560 the House. We'll see what happens in the Senate. So 0:19:07.680 --> 0:19:09.800 not the outcome that we wanted, but we got to 0:19:09.800 --> 0:19:11.800 look to the future, and you look to the future 0:19:11.840 --> 0:19:15.560 and Democrats also have a terrible Senate map in so 0:19:15.560 --> 0:19:19.000 we'll probably increase our margins that cycle. Next cycle, they're 0:19:19.000 --> 0:19:21.680 defending twice as many seats as US and including nine 0:19:21.800 --> 0:19:24.920 really really competitive Senate seats as well. Was the selection 0:19:25.119 --> 0:19:27.920 what we wanted? No, we still don't have the final results, 0:19:27.920 --> 0:19:29.840 so I think we kind of need to hold out 0:19:29.920 --> 0:19:31.800 see what the full picture looks like at the end 0:19:31.800 --> 0:19:33.800 of all of this, but we also have a lot 0:19:33.880 --> 0:19:37.199 to look forward to. I do think that could go 0:19:37.200 --> 0:19:40.800 our away, and I do believe that the issues that 0:19:41.280 --> 0:19:44.160 remain in the country and the country falling apart. I mean, 0:19:44.240 --> 0:19:47.000 we can't just give up. We can't just stop fighting. 0:19:47.080 --> 0:19:50.360 We can't just seed the country to these people. We've got, 0:19:50.400 --> 0:19:52.920 you know, big, big problems, and it's going to take 0:19:53.280 --> 0:19:56.440 real leadership. And we've realized that we do have real 0:19:56.520 --> 0:19:58.720 leaders in this country as well. It's gonna be okay. 0:19:58.800 --> 0:20:01.119 But what we'll keep following us as we move forward 0:20:01.280 --> 0:20:03.359 and you know, we get more information, but you know, 0:20:03.400 --> 0:20:06.520 don't give up. The fight continues and it's all going 0:20:06.560 --> 0:20:27.280 to be okay. Y that was my election recap. I 0:20:27.320 --> 0:20:29.240 hope you enjoyed it. We're obviously going to cover this 0:20:29.280 --> 0:20:31.720