00:00:00.000Well, hello, everybody. It's good to see you again or hear you again. If you're just listening
00:00:14.100to me, I appreciate that. If you're watching on a video, you can see it's a little bit different
00:00:19.860background. You were actually down in my shop in our mountain location, and I thought a little
00:00:28.540bit more manly, masculine, whatever. You got a couple of deer heads behind me that I've
00:00:33.820hunted before and you have my fly fishing and my duck hunting. That's a mount of a canvas back and
00:00:41.080you can't see it real well, but that plate back there is our Labrador retriever, Deuce, Chocolate
00:00:48.620Lab has won a national championship. He's a master national hunter. So I thought you'd appreciate
00:00:56.120that. And there's some of the tools. I like to do projects like I'm sure a lot of you guys do. And
00:01:01.380ladies, a project is good for a guy to do. Let me tell you, if you've got a husband or a son or a
00:01:08.440brother or whatever that likes some projects, for them, that's actually relaxing. As long as you're
00:01:16.360not over pressuring him to get it done, it's very relaxing. I really enjoy doing that. You know,
00:01:21.920my grandfather was a carpenter, home builder, and I spent a summer with him one summer when I was
00:01:28.20014 years old. Best summer of my life, although I think my parents sent me there because they were
00:01:33.220a little concerned that maybe I was heading in potentially the wrong direction, but my
00:01:39.800grandparents were great people. When my grandfather passed away, he left me his hammer and his hand
00:01:47.780plain, which is how you used to get wood down to the type of size that you wanted it. And that was
00:01:53.320very special to me. But anyway, thank you. I'm Ron Simmons. I'm Allie's father,
00:01:58.000and I appreciate you supporting her podcast. I do this twice a month and it comes out on the
00:02:03.840weekend. In fact, this episode is coming out on the first Saturday in September over the Labor
00:02:10.660Day holiday. So I hope everybody has a great holiday weekend and a safe holiday weekend.
00:02:16.000But what I wanted to talk about today, since we're now officially into September and soon to be fall, is the campaign season.
00:02:28.300You know, during the summer, people don't pay that much attention to politics because they're busy with their families and vacations and other things.
00:02:38.060But now we are just just a little over. By the time this comes out, we'll actually be within two months of our midterm elections, which are very important.
00:02:49.220It's very important relating to public policy. And, you know, Ali always said politics matter because policy matters, because people matter.
00:03:00.760And so I want to pay attention to this for just the next few minutes and talk about what could happen in the midterm elections.
00:03:10.320You know, the president's not on the ballot, but there are, and I've got a lot of notes here with me today, 35 Senate seats, U.S. Senate seats that are up for election.
00:03:21.420And of course, you probably have in your state and in your county, you probably have a lot of local elections that are up as well to pay attention to.
00:03:28.520And I can't follow all the local elections, but I want to talk to you about the national elections today.
00:03:34.640And there, again, as I said, there are 35 Senate seats up for election in 2026.
00:03:41.080And as you know, there's 100 U.S. senators.
00:03:45.160So it actually takes only 50, if you're a Republican, to have the majority.
00:03:51.240because the vice president breaks the tie and we have a Republican vice president.
00:03:58.420When President Obama, I mean, sorry, President Biden or Obama was in the White House,
00:04:03.760then it only took 50 Democrat senators. So right now there are 53 Republican senators and 47
00:04:15.000Democrat senators. When I say 47, it's really 45, but there are two independent senators that
00:04:22.100caucus with the Democrats. So we consider them Democrats. So in order for the Democrats to
00:04:27.480overtake the Senate, they need to get to 51. And the reason they have to get to 51 instead of 50
00:04:34.060is because the vice president is a Republican. So they can't depend on the vice president
00:04:41.040to break the tie. They have to have 51. So they have to flip four seats in order to win
00:04:49.880the majority in the Senate. And let's look at those for just a second. According to the Cook
00:04:56.640political report, which was in July of 2026, there are several competitive Senate seats.
00:05:04.620There are three that lean Democrat. In other words, it's they're not solid Democrat, but they kind of lean blue. And there are four that are genuine toss ups. And there are two that lean Republican. So there again, they're not solid Republican, but they lean Republican.
00:05:25.760and the remaining races are solid Democrat or solid Republican. So of the 35, there's really
00:05:33.860only nine races that are going to determine the majority of the Senate. And we're going to go
00:05:41.480through five of those tonight to make sure that you understand where to be paying attention. And
00:05:48.840again, I want to remind you that when you're voting in the general election, we're voting for
00:05:54.460policy, not people. All right. So think about the policies that the Republicans support
00:06:03.200and the policies that the Democrats support. For me, I can stop after one policy and it's
00:06:10.840related to abortion. I'm a absolutely staunch pro-life advocate. And you know that Allie is
00:06:17.640as well. And she was raised in a pro-life household. Her mom has been involved in pro-life
00:06:24.220organization since we were early, early married. And Allie's grown up with that and she's developed
00:06:30.580her own beliefs. Obviously, she is a great apologist and she understands when I say
00:06:36.640apologist, she can defend her beliefs as well as anybody I've ever known, whether that's on
00:06:43.220some biblical principle, whether that's on some political principle, whether that's on some
00:06:48.020social principle. And I would like to think that she grew up in a household that helped
00:06:52.820frame that. Now, she got there on her own. We didn't tell our kids what to believe. We told
00:07:00.440them what we believe and why we believed it. And then they made their own decision. We're thankful
00:07:05.960that they all believe like we do and that unborn, protecting the unborn, is the number one issue
00:07:12.420that we have as, in my opinion, as Christians and as people. So when I look at policy versus people,
00:07:21.160the Republican policy on abortion and pro-life, there's nothing more clear than that.
00:07:30.860Democrats believe, elected Democrats, now maybe there are some of you Democrats that don't believe
00:07:36.900this, and that's why I want to talk to you, but elected Democrats believe that you can have
00:07:41.900abortion right up until, and in some cases, after birth of a baby. And to say that they don't believe
00:07:49.920that, you're kidding yourself because that's what they voted for. Don't listen to what they say.
00:07:56.280Watch what they do. And when you look at the votes, they vote against every abortion restriction
00:08:03.320and vote in favor of everything that has to do with killing unborn children. And Republicans
00:08:10.960are the opposite. They vote in favor of every abortion restriction and they vote in favor of
00:08:19.220protecting the unborn. Now, let's look at those five races, okay? The first one I want to talk
00:08:25.540about is one that's very dear to me, and that's the race in Texas. Ken Paxton, who's the current
00:08:31.340attorney general of Texas, versus James Tallarico, who is a state representative of Texas. I want to
00:08:38.280talk about why that is. Ken Paxton is someone that I know personally, and I'll just tell you
00:08:43.480something up front. Nobody is perfect. All right. If you're looking for a perfect politician that's
00:08:51.220lived a perfect life, then you're wasting your time. There is no politician that is perfect.
00:08:57.860The only perfect person that ever walked this earth was Jesus Christ. And Ken Paxton is not
00:09:03.460a perfect person. There's no question about it. But as I said before, we're voting on policy.
00:09:08.960Ken Paxton is a conservative, traditional Republican, meaning that he is going to vote pro-life, he is going to vote for a restrained government, he's going to vote for a balanced budget, so he's going to vote for everything that you and I, I believe, most of you and I would agree with.
00:09:31.320James Tallarico, on the other hand, and I know him because I have, I did not serve with him,
00:09:38.340but because of my involvement in the continued involvement in the Texas legislature with things
00:09:43.440like school choice and what have you, James Tallarico is a wolf in sheep's clothing.
00:09:50.600He is going to vote for abortion right up until birth. He's going to vote for girls,
00:09:55.660for boys, excuse me, biological boys being in girls' private spaces, including boys participating
00:10:02.400in girls' sports. He's going to vote for any type of transgender genital mutilation for minors.
00:10:14.620He's going to vote for all of that because he's either voted for that in the Texas House or he's
00:10:19.900voted against bills to stop that. And he's the person that said that God is binary, that there
00:10:27.640are six different genders. And so for those of you that live in Texas, it's very important
00:10:34.520that you get out and support the Republican candidate. James Tallarico was raising a lot
00:10:41.100of money. In fact, he raised about $60 million in the primary to beat crazy lady Jasmine Crockett
00:10:48.260in March. And there are a lot of people that think this seat is in play. And for those of you
00:10:54.220that believe that there's no way a Democrat can win Texas, you're just fooling yourself
00:11:00.540because it is absolutely possible. And if the Republicans don't come out and vote,
00:11:06.900James Tallarico will win. And that will be a bad six years for Texas. So I encourage you
00:11:13.180to look at the policies, vote for what candidate you think supports the best policies.
00:11:21.700And also, even if you don't live in Texas, if you know people in Texas, if you have family in Texas,
00:11:27.220or you know friends in Texas, make sure that you encourage them to make sure they get out and vote.
00:11:32.020That's really important. The second race we're going to look at is Mike Rogers in Michigan
00:11:38.380versus Abdul El Saeed. It's even hard for me to think about that these are actually
00:11:45.880going to be the candidate on the Democrat party. This is an open seat, all right? The Texas seat
00:11:52.500was previously Republican. We're trying to keep it Republican. This was a Democrat seat,
00:11:57.440but the Democrat, I think Senator Peters, decided not to run Gary Peters. And so this is an open
00:12:03.620seat. And as you remember, Trump won Michigan in 2024, and Mike Rogers actually only lost by 20,000
00:12:14.460votes in the Senate race in 2024. So there's a good chance for the Republicans to win this seat.
00:12:22.920El Saeed is a far left radical. He is an anti-Semitic, pro-terrorist Democrat. And he's
00:12:35.060part of this whole communist socialist movement. And so again, if you're in Michigan, make sure
00:12:42.940that you look at the policies and vote for the policies that you think make the most sense.
00:12:50.180And the person that supports those, in my opinion, is Mike Rogers.
00:12:54.300If you have friends or family in Michigan, make sure you're calling.
00:13:42.240Go back and look what Sherrod Brown voted for or voted against.
00:13:46.380And if he voted for or against policies that you would think about, you know, if he voted against policies you would be in favor of or voted for policies you would be against, then that should tell you the answer to that.
00:14:00.060But this is a very tight race. Brown has a, first of all, it's a great campaign name, a ballot name. If you have a simple name, if you have a complicated name, people that are uninformed may not vote for you.
00:14:16.900but Brown is the simplest name of all. And he's been around for a long time. Ohio is a solid red
00:14:24.380state. If we don't win Ohio, Republicans I'm speaking about, it'll be hard for us to hold
00:14:31.480the Senate. So again, if you're in Ohio, make sure that you get out to vote and make sure that if you
00:14:37.940know people in Ohio, that you call them and have them make sure they're voting for the policies
00:14:42.860that they think best fit them. The fourth one is Maine. Susan Collins and Troy Jackson.
00:14:49.400This is a really interesting race. Susan Collins, she's a moderate Republican. Maine is a moderate
00:14:56.000state. In fact, Vice President Harris, Kamala Harris, won the state of Maine in the 2024
00:15:02.800election. In what really was a Republican landside nationwide, she still won Maine,
00:15:10.260which is kind of hard to believe. But if you remember this Senate race, this is a Senate race
00:15:14.900where there was another gentleman in, I wouldn't even say gentleman, another scumbag, actually,
00:15:21.320if you look at his history with how he potentially, allegedly abused women and others,
00:15:29.520that he had to drop out of the race even after he won the primary. So the Democrats had to put
00:15:34.920somebody else in, a guy named Troy Jackson. But this is a tough race for the Republicans to win.
00:15:42.160Collins has proven as a moderate that she's been able to win Maine. And I'll tell you, folks,
00:15:47.460I don't agree with everything Susan Collins says. However, in order for the Republicans to keep that
00:15:54.380seat and she will agree with us on, let's say, 80 percent of the issues, we need to support Susan
00:16:00.040Collins. And if you know anybody in Maine, and I've got a few friends in Maine, Tyler and Gary,
00:16:06.060I know you're up there. You know who I'm talking to. I want to make sure that everybody gets out
00:16:10.720and supports Susan Collins on the Republican side, even if you don't agree with 100% of what
00:16:16.520she did. You do not want Troy Jackson to be a part of this. It's going to be very interesting
00:16:23.160to watch. Again, it's another race that Republicans, if they want to hold the Senate, really need to
00:16:28.120win. The next one is Dan Sullivan. Now, this is really an interesting, this is Alaska. Dan Sullivan
00:16:34.320versus Mary Peltola. Mary Peltola is the first Native American elected to Congress in Alaska.
00:16:42.560She's got a pretty good statewide name, but she lost her house race by three points in 2024
00:16:49.900because Trump won it by 11. So Trump carried her challenger over the finish line. The problem with
00:16:57.780this is there is another candidate on the ballot. I guess he's running as an independent. And guess
00:17:04.280what his name is? Dan Sullivan. The exact same name as the Republican candidate, which the
00:17:11.680Democrats put up to run to cause confusion. This is really interesting. In 2017, or actually 2018,
00:17:21.120I had in my primary a candidate named with my same last name, Kevin Simmons. And he ran just
00:17:28.700because he had my same last name, thinking that he could cause confusion. Now, it was in the
00:17:33.920primary, so it made it a little bit easier. But I beat him 86 percent to 14 percent. So I'm hopeful
00:17:41.900that people don't get confused on which Dan Sullivan that is running. Make sure that they're
00:17:48.720voting for the correct Dan Sullivan, the Republican Dan Sullivan. And again, I don't know that much
00:17:56.500about Ms. Peltola, and I appreciate what she's been able to do considering her background as a
00:18:02.760Native American and probably some of the struggles that she's been through. However, here's what I
00:18:07.880know. When she gets to the Senate, she's going to vote to kill babies. She's going to vote to
00:18:13.300increase government spending. She's going to vote to have government more control of your daily
00:18:18.500lives, and Dan Sullivan is not. So I encourage you to think about the policies that these two
00:18:24.620people support. Those are the five races. Now, there are a few more that are close,
00:18:30.780but those are the kind of key ones that we want to pay attention to. And again, if you have
00:18:35.840questions about your particular Senate race in your state, please email me ron at ronsimmons.com,
00:18:42.020and I'll be happy to talk to you and answer you on that.
00:18:48.500quick pause to tell you about our sponsor for the day. And that is cozy earth y'all. I just got new
00:18:55.260cozy earth pajamas. I am so excited. They are the softest, most breathable pajamas ever. I have so
00:19:03.260many sets of cozy earth loungewear pajamas. I love their sheets. I love their towels. I love
00:19:08.100everything, but I am in a cozy maxing season right now because if it's still hot outside,
00:19:13.640I want to feel like it's fall inside. So I want to be cozy. Plus as I'm preparing for postpartum,
00:19:19.400I'm getting all of the loungewear so I can be as comfortable as possible after this baby gets here.
00:19:24.960Cozy earth is a big part of that. I got, I think it's like a light green sage color of the pajamas
00:19:31.160that I got. And they're so cute and so luxurious. These make for great gifts for yourself, for the
00:19:36.660loved one in your life, especially as you start to think about those Christmas presents, cozy earth
00:19:40.960Related Bros out there, perfect for your wife. Go to CozyEarth.com. Use code RELATABLE. You'll
00:19:47.460get up to 20% off home and sleepwear. CozyEarth, code RELATABLE.
00:19:57.560Now let's go to the House. We don't know who's going to control the Senate, obviously.
00:20:02.460Before we get to the House, the Decision Desk HQ, Republicans have a 52% chance and Democrats a 48%
00:20:10.860chance. That's essentially within the margin of error. We don't know what's going to happen. It's
00:20:14.680going to be very, very close. And a lot of this is really about Donald Trump. And even though he's
00:20:20.240not on the ballot, the president is always theoretically on the ballot in the midterm
00:20:26.180years. And it's been very difficult for a president to be able to maintain his margins
00:20:35.240in the House and Senate during the midterms of his year. It's just always been very difficult.
00:20:40.860a lot of presidents, Democrat and Republican, have lost seats in both the House and the Senate
00:20:45.340in midterm elections. Let's talk about how this works. The history is one reason Democrats are
00:20:51.260expected to pick up seats in November 26th, and that's because the president's party almost always
00:20:57.180loses seats. However, this is really an interesting, this has never happened before, so I don't know
00:21:02.480how it's going to affect, but 10 states, if you remember this, in the last year or so, they
00:21:07.900redistricted. It's really interesting. A lot of the models actually are showing that Democrats
00:21:13.440will win a small majority, but they have to flip 13 seats in order to be able to win that. And
00:21:20.760that's pretty hard to do. We'll see what happens. So here's kind of the way that how Democrats are
00:21:29.760favored in the House. We have a full screen shot of that that we're going to put up here.
00:21:33.860And it shows that you can see the blue line if you're watching this, can see the blue line is a little bit above the red line.
00:21:40.200And well, that's not that unusual. We'll see what happens.
00:21:43.580Now, the interesting thing about house races is they're really not national races.
00:21:48.260They're individual races in a local house district.
00:21:51.260And a lot of times the local or state issues are what really has the effect on them.
00:21:56.240But we're going to go through the top five competitive races real quick.
00:22:00.100Number one is New York 17 with Mike Lawler versus Kat Conley.
00:22:04.800Lawler won this in 2024, even as Harris carried his district just barely.
00:22:11.720So it's a it's a big Democrat target because Harris carried that particular district.
00:22:18.840Conley on the Democrat side is pretty well funded and she's a combat veteran running a center left race.
00:22:25.440Now, she's running a center-left race, but she will vote far left.
00:22:31.380She will vote with whatever her party tells her to do.
00:22:34.760And her party will tell her to impeach Trump, will tell her to raise the budget, spend more money,
00:22:41.420will tell her to allow boys and girls private spaces,
00:22:45.200and will tell her to be okay with killing unborn babies right up to the time of birth.
00:22:52.920That's what their party will tell her.
00:22:54.480And in my opinion, that's where she will vote. So think about the policies. Lawler's going to vote just the opposite of that. So those of you in New York 17 district, make sure that you take a look at that.
00:23:08.140The second one is the Michigan district, which is Tom Barrett versus Will Lawrence.
00:23:24.460It was a Republican seat currently being held.
00:23:27.980And the Lawrence, however, has already been backed by Bernie Sanders.
00:23:33.220That ought to be a red flag. And Rashida Taib, one of the squad, which is if you followed her at all, her vulgarity alone is something that make you not want to vote for her.
00:23:46.000Just her language. But again, Michigan, we need to make sure that we keep this seat in Michigan.
00:23:52.360So if you know anybody that lives in the in this district, the 7th District of Michigan, make sure that you get them out to vote and vote for the policies that they support.
00:24:04.440The third one is Arizona. The first congressional district in Arizona, Jay Freely versus Amish Shah. This is a retirement of a Republican representative, Mr. Schweikart, and it's the state's most competitive House seat.
00:24:22.900And we're going to see what happens in this particular election. Mr. Shaw ran for governor, lost in 2024. And again, he is going to vote. Just like I said with the gentleman from Michigan, he's going to vote with the Democrat majority on everything he does.
00:24:43.500So make sure that you're taking a look at this and that Jay Feeley is the one that we support because he is the one that's going to vote for the policies that you and I agree with.
00:24:55.000Number four is Marionette Miller-Meeks Republican versus Christina Bohannon.
00:28:58.620as they meet their spouse, if they get married.
00:29:02.000But also in everything else that they do
00:29:04.300to really understand how other people feel.
00:29:08.200A dad's influence is teaching that young man
00:29:12.920how they can be a leader, all right? And how they can lead their family, their own life,
00:29:20.820their business, whatever it is they're doing, their vocation, how they can do that in a proper
00:29:26.220manner. And he's also teaching them how to protect. One of the jobs of a dad and one of the
00:29:35.100jobs of the man in a household is to protect. How do we protect those around us that we care for?
00:29:40.780How do we make sure that they are taken care of first before us?
00:29:45.760We have to be willing to sacrifice ourselves, whether that's physically, financially, mentally,
00:29:52.440whatever that is, sacrifice ourselves for those that we care for.
00:29:57.480And that's what a dad is supposed to do.
00:30:00.060And so it's a totally different influence.
00:30:02.780And that's why it's so important for moms and dads to stay together.
00:30:07.560We got a text from our daughter-in-law this week, and I don't know if she'd want me to share this or not.
00:30:14.020So if not, I apologize. But it was a really special text.
00:30:18.300And the text said, I just want to thank you two, me and Lisa, for staying together and being the example for our oldest, Justin, on how to have a marriage that's committed to each other.
00:30:32.680She has some friends that are going through some very difficult marital times.
00:30:36.600And so she's experiencing that as a close friend of the wife.
00:30:41.420And I'll tell you what, that text meant as much to me as any text I've ever gotten.
00:30:46.000And that's really, Dad, what we're about.
00:30:48.740Keeping things together, protecting the family, leading the family.
00:30:53.140You can't be the whiner in the family.
00:30:55.640If you're the one whining, then you're taking on the wrong role.
00:30:59.700your deal is to make sure that you're teaching your boys how to be the leader, but do it with
00:31:06.760a velvet glove. Okay. Meaning that just because you have the hammer, which you can see right there
00:31:12.740behind me, doesn't mean that everything's a nail. Sometimes you have to be able to be the softer as
00:31:19.780well. And that's what the dad's role is. All right. Hope that helps. Now move on to the next
00:31:26.440question real quickly. Teaching teens about money. Well, the first thing I think we need to teach all
00:31:31.600our teens about money, the best way to do that is to give them cash. Do not let them charge
00:31:36.880everything on a credit card or debit card or on their phone. Make them learn how to manage cash
00:31:42.700first. Give them their allowance or whatever, even if they work at a job, make them take out
00:31:49.880the money they're going to spend in cash and put it in envelopes or come up with a system on note
00:31:55.740cards or whatever so that they spend cash, so that they understand how much they're spending.
00:32:02.200That's really important. And I do think it's important when your kids are teenagers and
00:32:08.460they're making some money or you're giving them some money for their allowance, for doing things
00:32:12.900around the house, that you sit down with them on a regular basis and go through how they're
00:32:16.920spending their money. Now, again, when you use a debit card or a credit card, it's easy because
00:32:24.480you've got a you got a tracking system for that. But it's better, in my opinion, at first to help
00:32:30.100them understand how to manage cash, because when they're looking in their wallet or their envelope
00:32:34.300and there's no more money, they know they're out of money. That's the thing that I would do. And
00:32:39.140also make sure that you always teach them to give money first to the church and secondly to save.
00:32:48.100And then after they've done that, and if they have to put aside money for taxes, they can do that.
00:32:55.260But then after they've done those two things, that that's their money that they can spend.
00:33:00.680But make sure those first two things, giving money to the church and saving money, minimum of 10% each, that they do that first.