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Speaker 1: Hi, this is new due to the virus. I'm recording

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Speaker 1: from home, so you may notice a difference in audio quality.

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Speaker 1: On this episode of News World, I have a chance

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Speaker 1: to talk with my good friend, Congressman and Chairman of

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Speaker 1: the National Republican Congressional Committee, Tom Ever from Minnesota, who

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Speaker 1: was talking to us from Cherpill, thirty degree weather. But

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Speaker 1: he had played a huge role in the remarkable House

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Speaker 1: Republican outcome in November. Tom, thank you for agreeing to

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Speaker 1: share with us what happened and how it happened and

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Speaker 1: what it means for twenty twenty two. It's always great

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Speaker 1: to be with you. Nu. When you were faced with

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Speaker 1: what had happened in twenty eighteen, and you knew that

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Speaker 1: you had to put together both a recruiting and a

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Speaker 1: campaign that would break out of the mold at a

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Speaker 1: time when all the so called experts said the Democrats

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Speaker 1: are probably going to pick up fifteen House seats. How

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Speaker 1: did you approach this whole campaign? Wow, it's a great

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Speaker 1: question because it actually goes back to the election itself

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Speaker 1: in two eighteen Nude, while I was one of the

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Speaker 1: members that was involved at the National Republican Congressional Committee,

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Speaker 1: I was actually getting ready to support my classmate Mimi

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Speaker 1: Walters from Orange County, California, to be the next chairperson

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Speaker 1: of the NRCC. And as you know, election night twenty

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Speaker 1: eighteen didn't go so well for our California friends, including Mimi.

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Speaker 1: And I got up the next day and I told

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Speaker 1: my wife. First, I said, I know what I have

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Speaker 1: to do. I've been doing this political thing, as you

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Speaker 1: know newt for almost two decades now, and I've been

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Speaker 1: involved in some very interesting campaigns, including a statewide campaign

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Speaker 1: in Minnesota and obviously the last six years working with

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Speaker 1: congressional campaigns across the country. I called Meme and told

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Speaker 1: her that, you know, we didn't know she was going

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Speaker 1: to lose at that point, but I called her and

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Speaker 1: told her I have to do this job. My colleagues

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Speaker 1: shortly thereafter elected me to the position, and I knew

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Speaker 1: we had a change a couple of things. You don't

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Speaker 1: recreate the wheel. In fact, your former chief, I believe

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Speaker 1: ant mex is a good friend. And I told Anette

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Speaker 1: when I was going to do this job what I

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Speaker 1: intended to do, and you know what she told me,

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Speaker 1: nut She said, well, that's exactly what Newton Company did

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Speaker 1: back in the early nineties, so I don't think we

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Speaker 1: were recreating the wheel. First. It was going back and

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Speaker 1: getting the culture within the committee what had happened from

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Speaker 1: an outsider's view, and I did, like I said, to

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Speaker 1: have a couple of years inside watching this happen. Much

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Speaker 1: like the super PACs seem to compete in the eighteen cycle.

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Speaker 1: Internally in the building we were having that kind of

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Speaker 1: territorial competition taking place as well between departments. So the

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Speaker 1: first thing was to push the reset button. You're dealing

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Speaker 1: with a two hundred million dollar our business with about

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Speaker 1: eighty to one hundred people in DC, and then a

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Speaker 1: network that spans the entire country of political organizations, of donors,

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Speaker 1: of other organizations that have a similar interests. What we

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Speaker 1: did when we came in was took a business that

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Speaker 1: had been extremely successful for about a decade, had pretty

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Speaker 1: much gotten back into almost a static position, and pushed

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Speaker 1: the reset button. Brought in Parker Poling is the executive director.

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Speaker 1: Robert Boland is the deputy executive the new communications team

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Speaker 1: led by Chris Pack, our finance team had some carryovers

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Speaker 1: but had new energy, and obviously our political team, led

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Speaker 1: by Justin Richards, did a phenomenal job. The other thing

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Speaker 1: that I think we did extremely well is in aligning

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Speaker 1: with our leader, Kevin McCarthy. He just quite simply is

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Speaker 1: the best fundraiser we have. He's the best political mind

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Speaker 1: as far as I'm concerned that we have. And look,

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Speaker 1: it's a customer service business. Kevin McCarthy is the number

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Speaker 1: one customer. Steve Scalies number and then so on. It's

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Speaker 1: Liz Cheney in the entire conference. But I think we

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Speaker 1: did very well in working as a team all the

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Speaker 1: way through the finish line, and the results I think

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Speaker 1: proved that. When you reached out, I was really impressed

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Speaker 1: both with the strength of your candidates and their diversity.

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Speaker 1: They were very strong candidates almost everywhere in the country,

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Speaker 1: and it's the most diverse class I think in the

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Speaker 1: history of the House Republican Party. How did you go

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Speaker 1: about that kind of recruiting all of it? Two things, Nut. One,

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Speaker 1: when I came to Washington, DC and listened to experts,

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Speaker 1: tell me who's the best candidate to run in Minnesota's

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Speaker 1: seventh district, Who's the best candidate to run in Minnesota's

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Speaker 1: first congressional district, Nut, I believe I know Minnesota better

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Speaker 1: than any Washington consultant. And so when I got this

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Speaker 1: job to chair the NRCC, the first mission on recruitment

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Speaker 1: was this, we were going to create a recruitment class

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Speaker 1: of members because I believe the delegations are the best

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Speaker 1: recruiting tools you have. I think this is where I

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Speaker 1: didn't recreate the wheel, because my understanding is you and

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Speaker 1: your team did a lot of this a couple of

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Speaker 1: decades ago. Basically, I took the attitude that I know

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Speaker 1: Minnesota better than somebody from New York, and guess what,

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Speaker 1: that person from New York knows the bench in New

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Speaker 1: York better than somebody in Texas, and so on. We

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Speaker 1: put Susan Brooks in charge of it. The other attitude

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Speaker 1: was this, and I know that Kevin and others have

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Speaker 1: adopted it. I've always taken the attitude we got to

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Speaker 1: stop playing with The Democrats are the left leaning media's words,

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Speaker 1: and they talk about how we needed to be more diverse.

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Speaker 1: Look newt on main streets all across this country. The

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Speaker 1: Republican Party already is the diverse party. Not only diversity

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Speaker 1: in terms of people, gender, race, religion, all kinds of

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Speaker 1: different backgrounds, but we have a diversity of ideas like

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Speaker 1: the other side doesn't have and by the way, our

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Speaker 1: ideas work. The process from our standpoint was to reach

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Speaker 1: on the main street with this group of members who

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Speaker 1: are going to spearhead the recruitment effort and identify the bench.

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Speaker 1: Once we identified candidates, Kevin McCarthy was number one, we'd

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Speaker 1: make sure that Kevin was connected with these people. He

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Speaker 1: made a gargantuan effort to connect with every one of them.

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Speaker 1: Steve Scalies really my hat's off to him, and of

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Speaker 1: course myself and our team. We were doing it every

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Speaker 1: day at the NRCC, and you bring people in. I

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Speaker 1: remember one meeting in particular. You probably did a lot

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Speaker 1: of these back in your day. They come in and

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Speaker 1: they say, well, we really don't think we should have

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Speaker 1: a primary. We're going to be damaged coming through the primary.

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Speaker 1: And I'd look at him and say, what are you

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Speaker 1: afraid of? You know you're a better candidate coming through

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Speaker 1: a primary, and if everybody handed this thing to you,

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Speaker 1: you're probably not going to be the general election candidate

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Speaker 1: that you would like to be. The NRCC, which I'm

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Speaker 1: very proud of, made a very conscious effort not to

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Speaker 1: get involved in primaries. That doesn't mean we never helped candidates.

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Speaker 1: If a candidate had surrounded himself for herself with a

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Speaker 1: great team Newt and they were calling asking for help

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Speaker 1: with the press, asking for help with research other things

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Speaker 1: that they needed for their campaign, we helped everybody equally,

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Speaker 1: and we let the best candidates find their way through

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Speaker 1: the process. Now are members. Whether it was Kevin McCarthy,

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Speaker 1: Steve Scalies, or anyone else, they played in primaries all

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Speaker 1: across the country, and they won some and they lost some.

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Speaker 1: At the end of the day, the whole process made

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Speaker 1: sure that the National Republican Congressional Committee, and more importantly,

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Speaker 1: Kevin McCarthy as our leader the Republican Conference, had a

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Speaker 1: good night. On election n I was impressed. I did

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Speaker 1: a number of zoom fundraising events, and I thought you

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Speaker 1: had a lot of really mature candidates, people who didn't

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Speaker 1: fit the traditional mode like an NFL football player. You

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Speaker 1: had several Korean women who had been holding local elected

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Speaker 1: office who really understood Orange County in depth in California,

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Speaker 1: and so as I looked around, I just thought we

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Speaker 1: were seeing in a mergence of a new idea oriented

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Speaker 1: Republican party with people who are pretty self confident. I mean,

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Speaker 1: these aren't just thirty one year olds who hope somebody

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Speaker 1: will like them. These are people who really want to

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Speaker 1: make a difference. People were coming out of the woodwork

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Speaker 1: at a level of quality, and I don't know if

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Speaker 1: they were being attracted by Trump were driven by Pelosi,

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Speaker 1: but they seemed to be frankly better than most of

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Speaker 1: the candidates were recruited in the eighties and early nineties.

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Speaker 1: I'm very impressed with how mature they seem. I can't

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Speaker 1: say that it's all of the above. The Trump effect

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Speaker 1: drove it, the Pelosi effect drove it. I truly believe

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Speaker 1: the extreme left, you know, whether it's violence in our streets,

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Speaker 1: or it's the cancel culture, or at this extreme socialist

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Speaker 1: agenda of the Green New Deal and things like that.

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Speaker 1: I think it did wake up a lot of our

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Speaker 1: incredible candidates out there. And when you talk about they

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Speaker 1: were more mature. You hear this all the time. New

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Speaker 1: people who have come here from places like Venezuela, from Colombia,

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Speaker 1: from places in Europe, Eastern Europe, they will tell you

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Speaker 1: that too often they see Americans taking their freedom and

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Speaker 1: opportunity that this country gives us for granted. These people don't.

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Speaker 1: These people came from backgrounds. Some of them were first

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Speaker 1: generation Korean Americans. It's like Mike Garcia who want an

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Speaker 1: election special election in May and then held on to

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Speaker 1: his seat in the twenty election. But you know, you

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Speaker 1: look at Michelle Steele and Young Kim, first generation Korean Americans,

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Speaker 1: they take nothing for granted, and they are very proud

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Speaker 1: of the Constitutional Republican, not only their knowledge of it,

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Speaker 1: but of the opportunity it provides. And they just absolutely

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Speaker 1: breathe that spirit when they talk to people. You've got

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Speaker 1: people like Maria Elvirus Salazar and Carlos Jimenez in Florida,

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Speaker 1: it's the same thing. They come from similar backgrounds as

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Speaker 1: all of those Venezuelans, Colombians, Cubans that have migrated to

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Speaker 1: this country in search of not only freedom, but peace

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Speaker 1: in the streets where their families can row and prosper.

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Speaker 1: And then you've got some people who just they love

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Speaker 1: to take on challenges. Nancy Mace first woman to graduate

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Speaker 1: from the Sentinel. And you got Marionette Miller Meeks who

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Speaker 1: refuses to take no for an answer as she turns

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Speaker 1: out to win a landslide victory by six votes. It's

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Speaker 1: a very impressive class and that's why we had success

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Speaker 1: with them. In that context, I think for most of

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Speaker 1: our listeners, do you explain what does the National Republican

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Speaker 1: Congressional Committee do? So we're a two hundred million dollar business.

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Speaker 1: I guess after this cycle we'll start calling ourselves a

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Speaker 1: two hundred and sixty million dollar business since we raised

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Speaker 1: a record amount of money. But again, eighty two one

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Speaker 1: hundred people employed in Washington, d C. We are the

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Speaker 1: recruitment arm. We are the arm that gives our candidates

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Speaker 1: the tools to succeed in a campaign, not only in

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Speaker 1: the beginning of the campaign, but in the general election obviously.

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Speaker 1: And we're the fundraising arm that runs these campaigns. A

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Speaker 1: lot of people never know what the NRCC is. I

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Speaker 1: will tell you what we do, also Newt, and I'll

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Speaker 1: use the California special election California twenty five with Garcia

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Speaker 1: last May as an example. Mike Garcia came out of

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Speaker 1: a primary on March third as the winner. He had

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Speaker 1: very little resources left because it was a hotly contested primary.

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Speaker 1: Our team sat down with his team on March fourth

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Speaker 1: and mapped out as strategy to win that seat. First off,

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Speaker 1: we can use dollars call it coordinated money or hybrid

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Speaker 1: money to match with the candidate to get him up

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Speaker 1: on air. And our guys had a plan to get

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Speaker 1: Mike Garcia and his team on targeted cable by April first,

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Speaker 1: with the idea that there's a special election on May twelfth.

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Speaker 1: The targeted cable was going to be a positive message.

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Speaker 1: Mike was going to run as the fighter pilot, first generation,

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Speaker 1: Hispanic to go to Annapolis flu fighter jets defended our country.

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Speaker 1: Now he wants to work for you. He's a family

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Speaker 1: man in the Los Angeles suburbs. Positive message. If his

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Speaker 1: campaign germinated, the hope was by the end of April,

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Speaker 1: he could graduate to broadcast TV in the LA market,

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Speaker 1: which you know, Knute is very expensive. On our side,

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Speaker 1: we set off with our researchers to find what is

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Speaker 1: the most important thing to voters. When it came to

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Speaker 1: the hand pick candidate by Nancy Pelosi, a woman named

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Speaker 1: Christy Smith who was in the California Assembly, our guys

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Speaker 1: are the best researchers in the business. They looked at

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Speaker 1: several different things, but there were two votes nude that

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Speaker 1: were devastating to Christy Smith. One she took several votes

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Speaker 1: as a school board member before she ran for the

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Speaker 1: California Assembly that actually cost teachers their jobs. The other one,

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Speaker 1: as a California assemblywoman, she made sure to vote to

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Speaker 1: give herself a raise at the taxpayer's expense. Our guys

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Speaker 1: found that when you combine those two things, the firing

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Speaker 1: of teachers and the giving herself a raise, it was devastating.

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Speaker 1: You know, here's another self interested politician that takes care

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Speaker 1: of herself at the expense of everyone else. The Democrats

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Speaker 1: didn't realize how this was working until about the third

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Speaker 1: week of April, and when they saw what was happening

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Speaker 1: last April, they brought in Bernie Sanders first. That didn't work.

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Speaker 1: So they brought in Hillary Clinton, and I would have

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Speaker 1: argued back then that's like throwing an anville to a

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Speaker 1: drowning man. That didn't work. And so the last week

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Speaker 1: they brought in Barack Obama and knew what, that didn't

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Speaker 1: even work. Mike ended up winning that seat by almost

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Speaker 1: ten points, and it proved to be what we said

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Speaker 1: it was that a bell weather for the twenty twenty

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Speaker 1: general election. So do you think that he would have

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Speaker 1: not been able to build the momentum. And I remember

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Speaker 1: the very first time we picked up a California's seat

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Speaker 1: since what nineteen ninety eight? Correct? I think a lot

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Speaker 1: of people were startled in Washington, And I agree with you.

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Speaker 1: We had two Bellweathers in ninety four that told us

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Speaker 1: we might win the House for the first time in

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Speaker 1: forty years, and especials sometimes you really learn a lot

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Speaker 1: from them. But what I was curious about was when

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Speaker 1: you were faced with that at the same time, you

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Speaker 1: have all of the Washington establishment saying that Pelosi is

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Speaker 1: going to pick up fifteen seats. How do you maintain

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Speaker 1: your own morale in a situation like that? But it

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Speaker 1: is twofold, and let's talk about the members. First. I

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Speaker 1: found through this two year cycle. You know, a lot

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Speaker 1: of my background is on a hockey rink before I

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Speaker 1: got into my professional life and raised a family newt

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Speaker 1: And while I was raising my family, I coached for

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Speaker 1: twenty years. And it's amazing what young people will do

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Speaker 1: if you can convince them that they have the capacity

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Speaker 1: to do something together. I found everything I learned over

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Speaker 1: twenty years of coaching applied to this job. I mean

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Speaker 1: you would get people all repped the tips of their skates,

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Speaker 1: ready to run out onto the rink and do something

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Speaker 1: that they never thought they could accomplish. And guess what

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Speaker 1: new twenty four hours later, somebody put a story out

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Speaker 1: there or some poll came out and they'd all be like,

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Speaker 1: Oh my gosh, now what do we do? I mean,

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Speaker 1: are we ever going to have a chance to actually

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Speaker 1: accomplish this thing? That was constant? That was constant. And

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Speaker 1: I got to thank our leader who he hung in there,

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Speaker 1: and he was getting advice towards the end too. He

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Speaker 1: told me about a week before the election, he goes,

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Speaker 1: I know, Tom, but my guys are telling me that

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Speaker 1: this is possible, that we can lose ten to fifteen seats.

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Speaker 1: And I just kept saying, Kevin, anything's possible. But I'm

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Speaker 1: just not seeing it, just not seeing it. We got

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Speaker 1: great candidates, We had the right message newt Right. It

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Speaker 1: was freedom versus socialism. It was about law and order,

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Speaker 1: peace in the streets. I mean, they're supporting rioters and

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Speaker 1: they're equivocating when it comes to their support of law

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Speaker 1: enforcement across this country. So at the end of the day,

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Speaker 1: we had enough resources for me personally I talked to

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Speaker 1: our friend Norm Coleman after the election. He called a

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Speaker 1: couple nights later and said, now that it's over, we

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Speaker 1: can talk, you know, because he does the stuff with

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Speaker 1: CLF And I had to tell him. You know, they

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Speaker 1: were telling me six months earlier, you got to start

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Speaker 1: managing expectations. And I said, Norman, that's just not in

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Speaker 1: my DNA. I mean, have you ever had a coach

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Speaker 1: nude who walked into a locker room and said, look,

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Speaker 1: if you guys gave it everything you've got, if you

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Speaker 1: commit your heart and soul to this effort, you might win.

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Speaker 1: You got a chance. That's not the way it works.

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Speaker 1: So if somebody was going to suffer a loss on

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Speaker 1: this thing, it was going to be me. And at

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Speaker 1: the end of the day it worked out really well.

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Speaker 1: I'm mostly disappointed that we didn't climb the entire mountain

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Speaker 1: because I thought with the candidates we had and the

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Speaker 1: message we had, that we were in a place to

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Speaker 1: make history that nobody thought we could make. I admit

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Speaker 1: you there are those moments when you just think what

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Speaker 1: else could have broken? If you take the next layer

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Speaker 1: out of the races that were very, very close, what

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Speaker 1: do you think might have made the difference. I'm reluctant

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Speaker 1: to be critical of anyone having run a statewide campaign

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Speaker 1: myself ten years ago where I think I left it

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Speaker 1: all out on the field and it just didn't break

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Speaker 1: my way. This is the point where people will do

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Speaker 1: the hindsight right note and it's like, well, if you

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Speaker 1: would have done this, if you could have done that.

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Speaker 1: It's all about timing. Perhaps that first debate, if that

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Speaker 1: first debate would have looked like the second debate, perhaps

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Speaker 1: we would have seen even more success in the House races,

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Speaker 1: and by the way, in the Senate races as well,

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Speaker 1: and the presidential race. So but it's tough for me.

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Speaker 1: We're still taking it apart. I look at the David

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Speaker 1: Young race in Iowa and how close that was, and

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Speaker 1: it's just amazing to me that David, who ran a

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Speaker 1: great race, is the one that doesn't get through and

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Speaker 1: we pick up both Ashley Hinson and Marionette Miller Meeks.

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Speaker 1: I look in places like Texas where west Hunt was

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Speaker 1: a great candidate. I'd love to see west Hunt run again.

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Speaker 1: And let's put it this way. The other part of

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Speaker 1: me says, look, if the partisan courts had redrawn the

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Speaker 1: line in North Carolina. If the partisan courts hadn't redrawn

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Speaker 1: the line in Pennsylvania, knew we would be in the

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Speaker 1: majority right now and we'd be getting ready to elect

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Speaker 1: Kevin McCarthy as the next Speaker of the House. I

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Speaker 1: had some of those experiences because we've been in a

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Speaker 1: minority for so many years that you'd see the Washington

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Speaker 1: Post headlines that morning and they would always be negative,

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Speaker 1: and you have to stop yourself and say, wait a second,

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Speaker 1: this is the Washington Post. And then you would sort

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Speaker 1: of take the story and move it about forty degrees

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Speaker 1: towards conservatism and will be okay. But it was an

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Speaker 1: almost everyday experience of the media trying to demoralize us

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Speaker 1: and convince us we couldn't do anything. You've got a

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Speaker 1: couple of really narrow victories. Are you afraid that the

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Speaker 1: Democrats in the House may try to repeat what they

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Speaker 1: did in Indiana in nineteen eighty five and actually just

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Speaker 1: playing outright steal those seats? The answers, Yes, But in

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Speaker 1: a degree, I would tell you I'm less concerned about

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Speaker 1: Iowa's second congressional district than i am about New York's

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Speaker 1: twenty second Iowa's second you know Rita Heart. There was

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Speaker 1: an article over the weekend. I forget what the publication was,

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Speaker 1: but it said her campaign team and herself have committed

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Speaker 1: political malpractice, and it goes through how she has done

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Speaker 1: everything wrong. Every single decision she made was the wrong one,

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Speaker 1: including the last one which was to bypass the last

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Speaker 1: state remedy that she had and say, you know, we're

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Speaker 1: going to go straight to Nancy Pelosi because that's the

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Speaker 1: only place that we can get the result that we want.

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Speaker 1: And she's lost everybody on the left, notote when the

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Speaker 1: des Moines register has gone against you. You know that

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Speaker 1: you've made a mistake as a Democrat. As I've told

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Speaker 1: doctor Miller Meeks. You know, if they would somehow steal

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Speaker 1: that election, that is going to cause damage to the

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Speaker 1: Democrats in Iowa and beyond four years. And you better

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Speaker 1: believe the branding that we did with the Freedom versus Socialism,

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Speaker 1: because these are not my grandfather's Democrats. They have proudly

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Speaker 1: announced their socialists. And you've got the crazy left represented

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Speaker 1: by Acasia Cortez, Rashida Talib, my colleague Ilhan Omar, and

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Speaker 1: Aana Presley from Massachusetts, New they're out there saying right now,

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Speaker 1: the reason that the Republicans did well, the reason that

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Speaker 1: Democrats in the House didn't do as well as they

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Speaker 1: should have, is because they weren't crazy enough. If you're

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Speaker 1: going to follow that kind of an agenda and be

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Speaker 1: even more crazy over the next two years, and you're

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Speaker 1: going to try and steal either Iowa's second district or

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Speaker 1: New York twenty two where Claudia Tenne is in a

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Speaker 1: very close battle and the courts have gotten involved, now

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Speaker 1: this is going to have ramifications for the broader messaging

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Speaker 1: I believe over the next twenty four months, is we

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Speaker 1: close out taking back the majority. I was really impressed.

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Speaker 1: The Republicans won twenty eight of the twenty nine most

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Speaker 1: competitive House races as projected by Nate Silver and five

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Speaker 1: thirty eight when we won in ninety four for the

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Speaker 1: first time in forty years, I'm not sure we did

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Speaker 1: as well in the most competitive races as you did.

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Speaker 1: That's really a remarkable achievement. That meant that in those races,

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Speaker 1: the Democrats knew they were competitive, they were piling in

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Speaker 1: amazing amounts of money, and they had convinced themselves that

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Speaker 1: this was going to be a great winning year, and

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Speaker 1: to win twenty eight out of twenty nine is just

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Speaker 1: an amazing achievement. I commend you and Parker, the entire

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Speaker 1: in RCC team, and Kevin and Steve and the others.

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Speaker 1: Correct me if I'm wrong. I don't think you lost

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Speaker 1: a single incumbent who was running for reelection. That is correct.

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Speaker 1: We not only didn't lose any incumbent, which is the

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Speaker 1: first time since nineteen ninety four, which you remember well,

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Speaker 1: but we also didn't lose anybody from our Patriot pro

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Speaker 1: which includes obviously in the incumbents. But I point that

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Speaker 1: out because the Patriots, those are the most vulnerable incumbents.

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Speaker 1: John Katgo from New York, a good friend of mine.

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Speaker 1: He actually spearheaded that with John Billings, who was the

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Speaker 1: director of that program, who's now going to be the

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Speaker 1: executive director of the NRCC for the next two years.

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Speaker 1: These guys actually took a different attitude from the past news.

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Speaker 1: They took the Patriot program and said, rather than saying

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Speaker 1: these are our most vulnerable candidates when you look at

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Speaker 1: the list, much like the Democrats put out their Frontline program,

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Speaker 1: these are the ones most at risk. Catgo and Billings

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Speaker 1: took the attitude that these were going to be the

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Speaker 1: most prepared candidates because that's what I had seen two

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Speaker 1: years ago. The big fear that I had personally from

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Speaker 1: January of twenty seventeen through the November eighteen elections was

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Speaker 1: not the Tier one candidates. They were doing what they

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Speaker 1: needed to do, they were building their campaign reserves, etc.

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Speaker 1: It was the tier two candidates. You know, great people,

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Speaker 1: but guys like John Culverson in Houston, in the old

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Speaker 1: HW Bush. John was a great member, but he hadn't

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Speaker 1: had a race, a real race, for several cycles, and

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Speaker 1: when the race came, it was tough to get that

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Speaker 1: muscle memory back and get back out there and actually

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Speaker 1: be able to defend yourself. And he almost pulled it off.

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Speaker 1: But we had a whole bunch of those, as you remember,

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Speaker 1: in the fall of eighteen. I think out of the

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Speaker 1: races we lost, those vulnerable races in eighteen, about one

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Speaker 1: hundred and five thousand votes nationwide separated us from being

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Speaker 1: in the majority versus the minority. Where we ended up.

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Speaker 1: We didn't lose one incumbent, first time since y're ninety

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Speaker 1: four experience, which I'm pretty proud of. By the way,

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Speaker 1: there was a great matching pair of pictures. I think

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Speaker 1: they're on Facebook or Twitter. We had Nancy Pelosi meeting

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Speaker 1: with all the Democrats who had lost, and you had

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Speaker 1: Kevin walking by himself through Statuary Hall and had said

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Speaker 1: leader McCarthy and Republican incumbents who lost, And there's nobody

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Speaker 1: in the picture. He said, Kevin. I thought that the

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Speaker 1: two pictures together told a big story. I also want

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Speaker 1: to go back to some of you'd mentioned, because I

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Speaker 1: think as you're recruiting people who did pretty well but

432
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Speaker 1: didn't quite get there. I remember campaigning with you in Winona.

433
00:24:13,960 --> 00:24:17,119
Speaker 1: I think it was ten years ago for governor, and

434
00:24:17,720 --> 00:24:20,560
Speaker 1: I ran three times. I lost the first two times.

435
00:24:21,160 --> 00:24:22,760
Speaker 1: And so I think sometimes you have to go to

436
00:24:22,800 --> 00:24:25,520
Speaker 1: guys for whom you know they think it's all or

437
00:24:25,600 --> 00:24:28,240
Speaker 1: nothing once and say, you know, that isn't always the

438
00:24:28,280 --> 00:24:30,680
Speaker 1: way it works. And if you really want to serve

439
00:24:30,760 --> 00:24:33,280
Speaker 1: your country, if you learned a lot, if you came

440
00:24:33,359 --> 00:24:36,200
Speaker 1: reasonably close, dust off your shoes and get back out

441
00:24:36,200 --> 00:24:38,919
Speaker 1: there shaking hands and raising money, and you're sertainly are

442
00:24:38,960 --> 00:24:40,919
Speaker 1: an example of that. I mean, how many races have

443
00:24:41,000 --> 00:24:44,160
Speaker 1: you been in your career? Oh, if you go back

444
00:24:44,200 --> 00:24:48,040
Speaker 1: to two thousand and four, so there were three in

445
00:24:48,119 --> 00:24:51,880
Speaker 1: the Minnesota House. Actually I started with city councils years ago,

446
00:24:51,920 --> 00:24:54,160
Speaker 1: so you could go back to the early nineties new

447
00:24:54,320 --> 00:24:56,720
Speaker 1: but the three in the Minnesota House. The governor's race

448
00:24:56,800 --> 00:25:00,040
Speaker 1: was two complete years of my life and my bride a.

449
00:25:00,359 --> 00:25:03,800
Speaker 1: We traveled the whole state, which quite frankly, that's the

450
00:25:03,840 --> 00:25:06,119
Speaker 1: reason I'm still involved in politics, because you know, you

451
00:25:06,160 --> 00:25:08,600
Speaker 1: get any state houses or I guess if you go

452
00:25:08,720 --> 00:25:11,399
Speaker 1: right to the Congress, and you might actually come to

453
00:25:11,480 --> 00:25:15,800
Speaker 1: believe that that rarefied air and that echo chamber is

454
00:25:16,000 --> 00:25:19,320
Speaker 1: the main street in a small town in Minnesota. When

455
00:25:19,320 --> 00:25:21,680
Speaker 1: I got to run, because I kept thinking, I can't

456
00:25:21,680 --> 00:25:24,040
Speaker 1: just be me, I can't be this far out of

457
00:25:24,040 --> 00:25:27,960
Speaker 1: the mainstream. I realized that I was main street Minnesota,

458
00:25:28,040 --> 00:25:30,800
Speaker 1: while the guys that were in that rarefied air were

459
00:25:30,840 --> 00:25:34,320
Speaker 1: just adopting their own political class. That I didn't know

460
00:25:34,359 --> 00:25:36,800
Speaker 1: that I was going to come back newt but I'm

461
00:25:36,840 --> 00:25:40,280
Speaker 1: glad that I did. You're right, you'll learn from mistakes.

462
00:25:40,640 --> 00:25:43,560
Speaker 1: You learn from disappointments. The question is what do you

463
00:25:43,640 --> 00:25:46,400
Speaker 1: do with them. It's no different than on the hockey rink.

464
00:25:46,480 --> 00:25:48,920
Speaker 1: You're either going to succeed or you're not. And if

465
00:25:48,960 --> 00:25:51,119
Speaker 1: you don't succeed, do you have the courage to give

466
00:25:51,160 --> 00:25:53,600
Speaker 1: it another try? And when you do it, what are

467
00:25:53,600 --> 00:25:56,720
Speaker 1: you going to learn? What did you do? What were

468
00:25:56,760 --> 00:25:59,160
Speaker 1: you in control of that you could have done better

469
00:25:59,240 --> 00:26:01,639
Speaker 1: or differently? By the way, in this job, it's great

470
00:26:02,119 --> 00:26:04,960
Speaker 1: because now I got a whole bunch of colleagues. Not

471
00:26:05,000 --> 00:26:07,159
Speaker 1: all of them have that experience, So it's great that

472
00:26:07,200 --> 00:26:09,160
Speaker 1: you're able to share it. It's great that you're able

473
00:26:09,160 --> 00:26:12,359
Speaker 1: to put it the use. You know. I did a

474
00:26:12,400 --> 00:26:16,199
Speaker 1: podcast of the day with at least stephanik and about

475
00:26:16,200 --> 00:26:19,639
Speaker 1: her work in recruiting women, and it was always struck

476
00:26:19,680 --> 00:26:22,280
Speaker 1: that the house rolling a party now is producing a

477
00:26:22,320 --> 00:26:25,199
Speaker 1: new generation of younger leaders who are actually just going

478
00:26:25,240 --> 00:26:28,200
Speaker 1: out and getting things done. There was a period there

479
00:26:28,240 --> 00:26:31,800
Speaker 1: where there was a kind of passivity that had grown

480
00:26:31,880 --> 00:26:34,919
Speaker 1: up in the party and it's exciting to think that

481
00:26:35,000 --> 00:26:37,840
Speaker 1: maybe one of the outcomes of twenty eighteen and of

482
00:26:37,960 --> 00:26:41,640
Speaker 1: Kevin style of leadership is that lots of different mid

483
00:26:41,760 --> 00:26:44,520
Speaker 1: level players are now going to have a chance to

484
00:26:44,600 --> 00:26:49,480
Speaker 1: really have an impact and make a difference. Well, you

485
00:26:49,560 --> 00:26:51,480
Speaker 1: just took me back. First off, she's one of the

486
00:26:51,520 --> 00:26:54,040
Speaker 1: brightest people that we have in our conference. She is

487
00:26:54,080 --> 00:26:57,480
Speaker 1: that next generation of Republican that's going to remake the

488
00:26:57,560 --> 00:27:00,360
Speaker 1: party and take it forward. The only party the way

489
00:27:00,359 --> 00:27:04,080
Speaker 1: that I believe has a chance to actually make the

490
00:27:04,160 --> 00:27:07,160
Speaker 1: constitutional Republic work and make it better, because you can

491
00:27:07,200 --> 00:27:10,440
Speaker 1: see the socialists on the other side are not interested

492
00:27:10,440 --> 00:27:12,639
Speaker 1: in that kind of a future. We no longer have

493
00:27:12,760 --> 00:27:15,960
Speaker 1: that choice newt between the size and scope of government

494
00:27:16,080 --> 00:27:18,720
Speaker 1: versus the right of an individual to self determine. We

495
00:27:18,840 --> 00:27:22,160
Speaker 1: literally have this argument about whether we believe in what

496
00:27:22,240 --> 00:27:26,200
Speaker 1: the greatest experiment and freedom provides, or if we're supposed

497
00:27:26,200 --> 00:27:29,959
Speaker 1: to follow this path of failed socialist theory. But at

498
00:27:30,000 --> 00:27:32,040
Speaker 1: least is a great example. We're going to have thirty

499
00:27:32,040 --> 00:27:35,119
Speaker 1: two women in the conference. It's a new energy. And

500
00:27:35,240 --> 00:27:37,640
Speaker 1: this is what you reminded me of, and you must

501
00:27:37,640 --> 00:27:39,359
Speaker 1: have lived through it, because I've thought about this for

502
00:27:39,359 --> 00:27:41,640
Speaker 1: a long time and I wanted to ask you about it.

503
00:27:41,640 --> 00:27:45,120
Speaker 1: It's hard to win the majority. It's easy to sit

504
00:27:45,160 --> 00:27:47,000
Speaker 1: in a minority if you want to just go to

505
00:27:47,040 --> 00:27:50,160
Speaker 1: Congress and have a card and vote. I think that's

506
00:27:50,160 --> 00:27:53,359
Speaker 1: what happened to Republicans from the fifties on to ninety

507
00:27:53,359 --> 00:27:56,800
Speaker 1: four and perhaps it was your experience back in eighty

508
00:27:56,840 --> 00:27:59,760
Speaker 1: four when they stole a seat from the Republicans and

509
00:27:59,800 --> 00:28:03,080
Speaker 1: Indiana that woke everybody up that this is a shirts

510
00:28:03,080 --> 00:28:05,000
Speaker 1: and skins game and if we're going to have a

511
00:28:05,040 --> 00:28:07,680
Speaker 1: real say in the direction of America, we got to

512
00:28:07,760 --> 00:28:09,840
Speaker 1: lean in and we got to fight. And that was

513
00:28:09,880 --> 00:28:12,920
Speaker 1: probably the most important thing the last two years when

514
00:28:12,920 --> 00:28:16,800
Speaker 1: you talk about Kevin McCarthy's leadership, Newt Kevin McCarthy and

515
00:28:16,840 --> 00:28:19,359
Speaker 1: the Committee gave me the backing that I needed to

516
00:28:19,400 --> 00:28:21,680
Speaker 1: do the things. He said, We're going to have to

517
00:28:21,720 --> 00:28:24,480
Speaker 1: break a few plates to win a majority, because you know,

518
00:28:24,520 --> 00:28:27,400
Speaker 1: there's a lot of people that get squeamish about defining

519
00:28:27,440 --> 00:28:30,080
Speaker 1: our opponents, about making it clear who they really are.

520
00:28:30,160 --> 00:28:32,800
Speaker 1: These are people who ran on a fraud in twenty eighteen.

521
00:28:33,240 --> 00:28:35,959
Speaker 1: They ran saying they were moderates, They ran saying they

522
00:28:36,000 --> 00:28:39,080
Speaker 1: weren't going to vote for Nancy Pelosi. They raised saying

523
00:28:39,080 --> 00:28:42,640
Speaker 1: they supported your constitutional rights, the Second Amendment at all,

524
00:28:43,120 --> 00:28:45,120
Speaker 1: and guess what they came to Congress and did just

525
00:28:45,200 --> 00:28:48,000
Speaker 1: the opposite. So we had to be very hard hitting

526
00:28:48,040 --> 00:28:51,440
Speaker 1: and direct and defining who our opponents were. And then

527
00:28:51,440 --> 00:28:55,280
Speaker 1: guess what Kevin put out the commitment to America at

528
00:28:55,320 --> 00:28:58,880
Speaker 1: the end and gave a value proposition to voters that

529
00:28:59,000 --> 00:29:03,200
Speaker 1: excites I leave this new young group of Republicans that

530
00:29:03,240 --> 00:29:05,360
Speaker 1: are out there because you've been saying it for years.

531
00:29:05,440 --> 00:29:09,240
Speaker 1: We are a party of ideas. Our ideas work. We

532
00:29:09,360 --> 00:29:11,760
Speaker 1: just have to have people that are more connected to

533
00:29:11,840 --> 00:29:15,280
Speaker 1: main street selling those ideas because that's what not only

534
00:29:15,280 --> 00:29:19,640
Speaker 1: attracts new people to Congress, to state legislators, to city councils,

535
00:29:19,680 --> 00:29:22,280
Speaker 1: that's what attracts the voters to our candidates. That's how

536
00:29:22,280 --> 00:29:25,960
Speaker 1: you win. So imagine just from for the person listening

537
00:29:25,960 --> 00:29:30,960
Speaker 1: and our conversation, Imagine when you're on the phone trying

538
00:29:31,000 --> 00:29:35,480
Speaker 1: to convince somebody to run, what's your ultimate pitch? What's

539
00:29:35,480 --> 00:29:38,040
Speaker 1: the elevator version of why they ought to get in

540
00:29:38,120 --> 00:29:40,840
Speaker 1: the game. It depends on the person. I mean, there

541
00:29:40,840 --> 00:29:43,640
Speaker 1: are some that I say, really, how crazy are you? Right?

542
00:29:45,320 --> 00:29:47,600
Speaker 1: I have done that, by the way, and it's really

543
00:29:47,640 --> 00:29:51,160
Speaker 1: about your country now more than ever. I just told

544
00:29:51,160 --> 00:29:54,760
Speaker 1: you new It's not a choice between candidates anymore. This

545
00:29:54,840 --> 00:29:57,800
Speaker 1: is not a choice between being a Republican or a Democrat.

546
00:29:58,240 --> 00:30:02,040
Speaker 1: The choice today is really about two completely different visions

547
00:30:02,080 --> 00:30:05,000
Speaker 1: for the future of this country. On the Republican side,

548
00:30:05,080 --> 00:30:08,720
Speaker 1: it is a choice about freedom, the freedom to self determine,

549
00:30:08,720 --> 00:30:10,800
Speaker 1: the freedom to choose your own doctor, the freedom to

550
00:30:10,880 --> 00:30:13,560
Speaker 1: choose how you want to educate your children, the freedom

551
00:30:13,600 --> 00:30:16,719
Speaker 1: of choice that this free market economy is supposed to

552
00:30:16,720 --> 00:30:20,680
Speaker 1: give us choice and opportunity. On the other side, unfortunately,

553
00:30:21,080 --> 00:30:25,560
Speaker 1: it really is something completely different. It is turning over

554
00:30:25,680 --> 00:30:28,800
Speaker 1: our choices to government and more importantly, the people who

555
00:30:29,240 --> 00:30:32,280
Speaker 1: run the government and eventually will own the government. That's

556
00:30:32,280 --> 00:30:34,479
Speaker 1: what this is all about. And I tell people, if

557
00:30:34,520 --> 00:30:36,720
Speaker 1: they haven't for years, they should go back and read

558
00:30:36,800 --> 00:30:41,120
Speaker 1: The Road to Serfdom by Hyak because it literally lays

559
00:30:41,120 --> 00:30:43,239
Speaker 1: out for you what we're dealing with today. And if

560
00:30:43,280 --> 00:30:46,360
Speaker 1: you want for your children the ability for them to

561
00:30:46,600 --> 00:30:50,520
Speaker 1: self determine and succeed, have freedom and prosperity, you want

562
00:30:50,520 --> 00:30:52,760
Speaker 1: to vote Republican. And we need you to run as

563
00:30:52,800 --> 00:30:55,760
Speaker 1: a Republican because the stakes are just too high. And

564
00:30:56,320 --> 00:30:58,720
Speaker 1: as you can tell newt, I hope I get a

565
00:30:58,720 --> 00:31:01,600
Speaker 1: little passionate about it and people get a little excited.

566
00:31:02,000 --> 00:31:04,840
Speaker 1: Kevin McCarthy follows up with a similar pitch or a

567
00:31:04,880 --> 00:31:06,760
Speaker 1: better pitch, and just tells him you want to be

568
00:31:06,840 --> 00:31:10,000
Speaker 1: part of something bigger in your life. Join us and

569
00:31:10,120 --> 00:31:14,360
Speaker 1: it works. If somebody listening decides they want to get

570
00:31:14,400 --> 00:31:17,080
Speaker 1: involved and help, not necessarily be a candidate, but be helpful,

571
00:31:17,880 --> 00:31:20,480
Speaker 1: how do they reach the NRCC. What's the right way

572
00:31:20,520 --> 00:31:23,360
Speaker 1: for them to get in touch? Several different ways. I'll

573
00:31:23,360 --> 00:31:26,240
Speaker 1: tell you. Ericashaki, who turned into a pretty good candidate

574
00:31:26,280 --> 00:31:28,720
Speaker 1: in Michigan, will see if he wants to run again,

575
00:31:28,800 --> 00:31:31,280
Speaker 1: depending on how the redistricting goes. You know how I

576
00:31:31,320 --> 00:31:35,120
Speaker 1: found him. He contacted me over LinkedIn. He messaged me

577
00:31:35,200 --> 00:31:38,640
Speaker 1: on LinkedIn. There's plenty of ways to find me. But

578
00:31:38,760 --> 00:31:41,560
Speaker 1: you can reach out to your state delegation. I mean,

579
00:31:41,560 --> 00:31:44,840
Speaker 1: if you're interested in running, you should reach out to

580
00:31:44,960 --> 00:31:48,160
Speaker 1: Republican members of Congress in your state. You should reach

581
00:31:48,160 --> 00:31:51,560
Speaker 1: out to local leaders and have them connect you. Because look,

582
00:31:51,920 --> 00:31:54,640
Speaker 1: the best candidates are the candidates that come directly from

583
00:31:54,680 --> 00:31:57,640
Speaker 1: main Street and that main Street has taken ownership in

584
00:31:58,160 --> 00:32:00,520
Speaker 1: the candidates. The thing they can come to Wahington and

585
00:32:00,560 --> 00:32:03,560
Speaker 1: get tapped. Oh look, this person can self finance. They've

586
00:32:03,560 --> 00:32:06,960
Speaker 1: got a great personality. If people aren't bought into your

587
00:32:07,000 --> 00:32:09,360
Speaker 1: brand and your product and that comes from main Street,

588
00:32:09,760 --> 00:32:11,320
Speaker 1: it's going to be a lot harder to make the

589
00:32:11,360 --> 00:32:14,320
Speaker 1: process work, So there's many different ways to do it now,

590
00:32:14,720 --> 00:32:18,160
Speaker 1: but I would say contact your delegation. If anybody that's

591
00:32:18,200 --> 00:32:21,600
Speaker 1: listening to this podcast wants more information, they can contact

592
00:32:21,640 --> 00:32:25,120
Speaker 1: me directly at the National Republican Congressional Committee. We have

593
00:32:25,160 --> 00:32:27,640
Speaker 1: a website. You can go through that, or you can

594
00:32:27,680 --> 00:32:31,320
Speaker 1: find me on LinkedIn or John Billings. Like I said,

595
00:32:31,520 --> 00:32:34,600
Speaker 1: he has been announced as our next executive director and

596
00:32:34,720 --> 00:32:37,400
Speaker 1: you can find him as well. But there's many different

597
00:32:37,400 --> 00:32:40,600
Speaker 1: ways to reach out, and we're interested in anyone who

598
00:32:40,720 --> 00:32:43,280
Speaker 1: is interested in being part of something bigger than themselves

599
00:32:43,280 --> 00:32:46,880
Speaker 1: and protecting the freedom of this country promises to everyone

600
00:32:46,920 --> 00:32:50,520
Speaker 1: who chases their American dream. We'll put the contact points

601
00:32:50,560 --> 00:32:53,960
Speaker 1: on our show page, and I just want to close

602
00:32:54,000 --> 00:32:56,480
Speaker 1: by thanking you, you know, having done this for a

603
00:32:56,720 --> 00:32:59,840
Speaker 1: good bit of my life. You only get the kind

604
00:32:59,840 --> 00:33:02,880
Speaker 1: of change that you're bringing about when you have courageous

605
00:33:02,920 --> 00:33:07,960
Speaker 1: people who spend endless hours between the telephone the airplane,

606
00:33:08,520 --> 00:33:12,840
Speaker 1: meeting after meeting. So I know how much of you

607
00:33:12,840 --> 00:33:16,440
Speaker 1: you're personally pouring into this. I appreciate your family supporting

608
00:33:16,440 --> 00:33:19,080
Speaker 1: you do it because it's hard, and I think that

609
00:33:19,200 --> 00:33:22,000
Speaker 1: what you achieved in this cycle is amazing, and I

610
00:33:22,040 --> 00:33:25,360
Speaker 1: am very confident that when we do one of these

611
00:33:25,400 --> 00:33:28,040
Speaker 1: and twenty three, I'll be talking about how you got

612
00:33:28,080 --> 00:33:31,160
Speaker 1: to be a majority and what speaker Kevin McCarthy is

613
00:33:31,160 --> 00:33:33,320
Speaker 1: going to be doing at that point. That's the goal,

614
00:33:33,360 --> 00:33:35,800
Speaker 1: and we're going to finish what we started. NEWT Thank you.

615
00:33:39,040 --> 00:33:42,880
Speaker 1: Newts World is produced by Gingwich three sixty and iHeartMedia.

616
00:33:43,360 --> 00:33:47,440
Speaker 1: Our executive producers Debbie Myers, our producer is Garnsey Sloan,

617
00:33:47,840 --> 00:33:51,600
Speaker 1: and our researcher is Rachel Peterson. The artwork for the

618
00:33:51,640 --> 00:33:55,840
Speaker 1: show was created by Steve Tendley. Special thanks to the

619
00:33:55,880 --> 00:33:59,560
Speaker 1: team at Gingwich three sixty. If you've been enjoying news World,

620
00:34:00,040 --> 00:34:02,720
Speaker 1: I hope you'll go to Apple Podcasts and both rate

621
00:34:02,800 --> 00:34:05,720
Speaker 1: us with five stars and give us a review so

622
00:34:05,880 --> 00:34:08,880
Speaker 1: others can learn what it's all about. I'm new Gangwish,

623
00:34:09,320 --> 00:34:10,160
Speaker 1: this is news WORL