Verdict with Ted Cruz - November 07, 2022


Democrats Are Fading Ahead Of Election Day, Senator Cruz Gives You His Predictions On The Big Races & How Big THE RED WAVE COULD BE!


Episode Stats


Length

40 minutes

Words per minute

166.05238

Word count

6,773

Sentence count

519

Harmful content

Misogyny

18

sentences flagged

Toxicity

15

sentences flagged

Hate speech

10

sentences flagged


Summary

Summaries generated with gmurro/bart-large-finetuned-filtered-spotify-podcast-summ .

Ted Cruz's final stop on his 17-state bus tour comes in Texas. He urges Americans to go to the polls on Tuesday and make sure they re there to cast their ballots. He also gives his predictions for the upcoming mid-term elections.

Transcript

Transcript generated with Whisper (turbo).
Misogyny classifications generated with MilaNLProc/bert-base-uncased-ear-misogyny .
Toxicity classifications generated with s-nlp/roberta_toxicity_classifier .
Hate speech classifications generated with facebook/roberta-hate-speech-dynabench-r4-target .
00:00:00.000 This is an iHeart Podcast.
00:00:02.480 Guaranteed human.
00:00:04.260 Welcome to Verdict with Ted Cruz.
00:00:06.560 Ben Ferguson with you.
00:00:07.820 Senator, this is our last show
00:00:10.120 before the American people go to the polls on Tuesday.
00:00:14.940 It is very clear that the red wave, I think, could be big.
00:00:19.820 It could be strong.
00:00:20.860 And we just came back from the final bus tour stop
00:00:24.000 that was truly incredible.
00:00:26.180 You started in Texas.
00:00:27.380 We ended in Texas to a very, very big crowd there.
00:00:31.140 And over and over again, when you talked about the economy,
00:00:34.340 the American people are responding to that issue.
00:00:37.520 And yet Democrats still seem to have not figured out 1.00
00:00:40.740 it's the economy, stupid. 1.00
00:00:43.120 Well, look, I think that's right. 1.00
00:00:44.760 We're a day away from Election Day.
00:00:46.680 Election Day is tomorrow.
00:00:47.960 I think you and I both believe
00:00:49.400 that we're going to have a really good election.
00:00:52.500 But believing it doesn't make it happen.
00:00:54.920 It takes action.
00:00:55.740 And at this point, 100% of the election is turnout.
00:00:59.660 There's nothing else.
00:01:01.520 So my message to everyone listening to this is vote, vote, vote.
00:01:07.280 But don't just vote.
00:01:08.900 Get your friends to vote.
00:01:09.920 Get your family to vote.
00:01:10.860 Get your neighbors to vote.
00:01:12.000 Literally sit there Monday, Tuesday.
00:01:16.060 Sit there on your phone and send texts to five people,
00:01:20.120 to 10 people, to 20 people, to 30 people.
00:01:22.380 The way this election will be won or lost is who physically shows up to vote.
00:01:28.840 And I think it's going to be a great election because I think the percentage of people who are pissed off
00:01:35.620 about the path the country is on is much greater than the percentage of people who are thrilled
00:01:40.080 with what's happening in Washington.
00:01:41.560 But everyone needs to remember that doesn't happen automatically on its own.
00:01:47.660 It only happens if we physically show up and vote.
00:01:51.440 You know, I talked to a guy last night.
00:01:54.020 We had the last event of the 17-state bus tour.
00:01:58.840 Talked to a guy at the bar afterwards.
00:02:01.520 One woman said, oh, I just voted today, last day of early voting.
00:02:04.620 And another woman, or another man rather, said, well, I went to vote today,
00:02:09.320 but the line was too long, so I left.
00:02:11.940 So I guess I've got to go on Election Day.
00:02:13.620 And I looked at him.
00:02:14.180 I said, please go on Election Day.
00:02:16.560 There may be a long line.
00:02:18.560 You know, go and bring a book.
00:02:20.520 Bring your phone.
00:02:21.360 Be prepared to wait in the long line.
00:02:23.980 Show up and vote.
00:02:25.140 I think if we have turnout, we will see a phenomenal election.
00:02:29.640 Senator, I want to get into some predictions in just a moment.
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00:04:19.160 You know, some of the predictions that are coming, Senator,
00:04:21.940 are ones that I think are genuinely shocking.
00:04:25.280 The House Republican Conference Chair,
00:04:27.560 Stefanik, said that he is predicting the coming red wave will also hit New York State.
00:04:32.960 That is something three, four, five months ago seemed unimaginable,
00:04:37.340 saying this is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to win back the state of New York
00:04:42.120 and really save our state there.
00:04:44.380 You look at this saying that Lee Zeldin has a very good chance of winning the governor's race there.
00:04:49.720 I think that tells you about the mentality of the American people
00:04:52.560 and also how much the American people are hurting.
00:04:55.580 Yeah, look, I think Lee Zeldin has a real shot at winning governor in New York.
00:05:00.960 I think we have a good shot at winning governor in Oregon, of all places.
00:05:04.660 And people are fed up.
00:05:06.060 We've got some governor's races where we could have some important wins.
00:05:10.740 And in terms of the House and Senate races, the battle isn't entirely turnout.
00:05:18.280 And part of why I think we're in such a strong position is the top three issues in the country,
00:05:25.180 according to the polling, have been the same now for several months.
00:05:28.560 The number one issue in the country, hands down, is inflation and especially gas prices.
00:05:34.560 People are pissed at the price they're paying at the pump, at the price they're paying in the grocery store,
00:05:39.840 at the price they're paying for everything.
00:05:42.260 The number two issue in the country is crime.
00:05:45.240 Crime has gotten horrific under really misguided Democrat policies.
00:05:50.840 If Lee Zeldin gets elected governor of New York, crime will be the dominant issue that elects him.
00:05:58.680 And it's played out.
00:05:59.800 I mean, literally, the candidate was violently assaulted while on the campaign trail,
00:06:04.380 and the guy that tried to kill him was released from jail that same day under cashless bail.
00:06:10.360 I mean, if the sitting Democrat governor wanted to make a campaign ad for Lee Zeldin,
00:06:17.280 I'm not sure she could have done any better than that.
00:06:20.400 Pennsylvania, if Dr. Oz wins in Pennsylvania, crime will be the dominant reason.
00:06:25.600 And Fetterman's record on crime is abysmal.
00:06:28.660 So that is a big issue that is moving a lot of votes.
00:06:31.600 And then number three is illegal immigration.
00:06:34.380 We have now over 4.7 million people who've crossed illegally,
00:06:38.680 the worst illegal immigration in the history of our country. 1.00
00:06:42.540 That was a deliberate political decision.
00:06:45.220 That is an issue in the polls, especially in South Texas.
00:06:48.800 And so that combination, all three of those issues, Republicans have a double-digit lead
00:06:54.240 because the Democrats created those problems.
00:06:57.940 They are the creation of the Democrats.
00:07:02.220 Now, ironically, the media and the White House are trying to convince the American people
00:07:07.440 the problems don't exist.
00:07:09.520 And so, you know, you had Joy Reid on MSNBC saying,
00:07:13.080 oh, inflation, nobody talks about inflation.
00:07:15.820 This is a made-up thing that Republicans have just convinced people is a problem, 0.99
00:07:20.540 which I got to say is one of the stupidest arguments I've ever heard. 0.99
00:07:24.040 That, oh, really, you know, you don't notice when you go fill up your car or truck 0.99
00:07:27.520 and it's $100, $150.
00:07:29.080 That just never would occur to you, 0.87
00:07:30.820 except some big, mean, nasty Republican told you about it.
00:07:35.820 Listen, inflation is one of those issues that everyone sees every day,
00:07:40.680 and it impacts everyone.
00:07:45.220 That's part of what makes it so potent.
00:07:48.460 You know, even Democrats are understanding, I think, just how bad this is.
00:07:52.340 Bill Maher on Real Time started his show off last night,
00:07:57.600 and it was almost like he had no energy because he sees the red wave that's coming.
00:08:02.600 And he put it this way about the economy and how did Democrats get this thing so wrong.
00:08:08.520 A few days before the election, I see the big story demographically,
00:08:12.780 is somehow the Democrats lost white women. 0.98
00:08:15.940 It's funny, it looked so good for the Democrats, 0.60
00:08:18.700 like after the Roe versus Wade ruling,
00:08:21.120 it looked like abortion was going to be the big issue, 0.65
00:08:23.280 but that seemed to have fizzled.
00:08:24.900 They lost 27 points, a swing of 20.
00:08:27.660 That's unheard of.
00:08:29.220 Like, they were going to, the Democrats are going to win by 12,
00:08:32.100 and now the Republicans are going to win by 15 or something.
00:08:35.380 Why?
00:08:37.000 How'd they lose that demographic?
00:08:38.800 I think the biggest issue is the economy and inflation.
00:08:42.080 So if you look at, if you ask people what they think of the economy right now,
00:08:46.780 the pessimism is about as strong as it was in the depths of the 08 financial crisis.
00:08:53.560 And inflation is particular.
00:08:55.100 We've lived for so long in a period of low inflation,
00:08:58.200 we don't realize how spooky inflation is to most people.
00:09:02.360 Unemployment affects the people who are unemployed and their families, 10, 15%.
00:09:07.220 Inflation affects everyone.
00:09:09.120 And it robs middle class people of their savings.
00:09:11.320 It makes people, every time they go to the gas station,
00:09:13.720 every time you go to the grocery store, you're reminded of it.
00:09:16.860 I mean, there's a reason why inflation is what causes political revolutions.
00:09:21.320 If you think about the inflation of the 70s, this is what ushers in Reaganism.
00:09:25.840 It breaks the back of the New Deal, basically. 0.60
00:09:28.120 It brings in Thatcherism.
00:09:29.940 It just, you know, Iran had very high inflation right before the Iranian revolution.
00:09:34.120 And, of course, the iconic example is Weimar and the 20s, hyperinflation in Germany.
00:09:39.840 Venezuela recently.
00:09:40.720 Exactly.
00:09:41.440 So, I mean, inflation is much more corrosive than I think people realize.
00:09:45.940 You know, it is so corrosive.
00:09:48.640 And I do think people realize it.
00:09:50.580 And in the way that he put it, Senator,
00:09:52.640 this is just shocking that the Democrats screwed it up this big
00:09:56.020 and refused to admit there's a major financial issue in this country.
00:09:59.620 Well, I think that's right.
00:10:02.820 And I think the commentary there that is really powerful is that inflation is universal.
00:10:07.920 When it comes to unemployment, if you happen to have lost your job, you're pissed off about it.
00:10:13.260 But if somebody else has their job, they're not necessarily as concerned about unemployment.
00:10:19.440 Whereas inflation, absolutely everybody is impacting it.
00:10:24.240 And it's a double whammy.
00:10:25.460 Not only are the costs of everything you're trying to do in life going up,
00:10:30.820 but the value of all your savings are plummeted.
00:10:34.640 And as the stock markets have been decimated, where you have senior citizens, 1.00
00:10:41.260 who, by the way, senior citizens generally are not reflected in unemployment numbers
00:10:44.900 because most seniors are retired.
00:10:46.460 But if you have a senior who's worked 30, 40 years, has saved responsibly, has a 401k,
00:10:53.700 where that senior is right now, the value of their 401k, the value of their retirement has dropped 20%,
00:11:01.220 maybe 25, maybe 30.
00:11:03.280 The national average is $34,000 is what people have lost on average in their 401k.
00:11:10.440 Those seniors are freaked out.
00:11:13.120 And understandably, suddenly their nest egg is significantly smaller,
00:11:16.660 and their monthly outflow is significantly bigger.
00:11:20.780 That's a really bad combination.
00:11:23.680 But it doesn't just impact people on the older edges of life.
00:11:30.000 If you're a young person, you're just, say, coming out of school, getting a job.
00:11:34.820 Suddenly rents are much less affordable.
00:11:37.320 Suddenly, if you're a young family, let's say you've got little kids, you're getting started,
00:11:41.880 you and I are both dads with young kids, you know, that's a stage when people start saving some,
00:11:49.320 start trying to provide for their needs, start saving for college.
00:11:54.100 The impact of inflation, if you had $1,000 when Joe Biden became president,
00:12:00.600 if you had $1,000 in the bank, right now that $1,000 is worth about $800.
00:12:07.320 That's sort of back-of-the-envelope math, but that's pretty close.
00:12:11.240 That means it is as if someone came and stole $200 from you because the money that you had responsibly saved
00:12:19.340 that you didn't use for something else due to no fault of your own is worth substantially less.
00:12:25.760 That combination, you don't need an economist to explain it to you.
00:12:31.460 You don't need a politician to explain it to you.
00:12:36.420 When you start discovering that the amount you spend just to fill your car with gas every week
00:12:43.140 has doubled or more, that explains itself to people in Technicolor.
00:12:50.760 You know, it's one of those basic questions that we've heard so many times from politicians,
00:12:55.080 but this year I think it's one of the most important questions.
00:12:58.400 It's, is your life better off now or was it better off two years ago
00:13:02.400 before the Democrats put in all these socialist agenda items and now look at where we are?
00:13:08.800 Look at the price of gas.
00:13:10.300 I'm very concerned about the price of gas because, as you've mentioned before on this show,
00:13:14.520 the strategic oil reserves, the two, you know, million barrels that we're releasing day after day after day,
00:13:20.680 that's going to end, guess what, right at the election day.
00:13:23.780 And then we're going to see much higher gas prices.
00:13:26.480 AAA has already come out and said they believe we should be back up in the $5 range after the election,
00:13:31.680 maybe even by Christmas.
00:13:33.320 And that's part of, I think, the big lie from the Democrats,
00:13:36.980 especially on the House side where they say, oh, we're going to get things under control.
00:13:40.920 And they know that this, this, this massive price increase is about to happen
00:13:44.560 on top of the issue that we have right now with diesel shortage in this country,
00:13:49.500 which the truckers are talking about.
00:13:51.680 Those putting diesel gas are already over $5 a gallon and we, and we have a real supply chain issue.
00:13:58.040 Well, look, that's exactly right.
00:13:59.720 And when it comes to energy, the Democrats are wildly unrealistic.
00:14:04.800 They're out of touch with working men and women.
00:14:06.900 And they frankly don't care about working men and women.
00:14:09.320 And their policies are being set by a bunch of hipsters sipping lattes who are essentially saying,
00:14:16.580 let them eat cake, let them drive electric cars.
00:14:19.280 And the reality of life doesn't concern them.
00:14:21.700 You know, just today in the news, Joe Biden just gave a speech in California where he said,
00:14:27.880 we're going to put all the coal plants in America out of business.
00:14:31.240 We're going to have everyone driving electric and there'll be no more coal.
00:14:34.240 And it's kind of funny, Joe Manchin from West Virginia is suddenly pretending like he's angry about this. 0.90
00:14:41.460 And he's saying, that's offensive, that's ridiculous. 0.72
00:14:43.800 He's never said that to me.
00:14:45.920 Well, Joe, I'm sorry if he's never said that to you.
00:14:48.140 He said that to the rest of the world repeatedly.
00:14:50.280 And if you haven't heard it, it's because you've had your head in the sand.
00:14:54.260 But because that is his agenda, all of the coal miners in West Virginia, he wants to bankrupt. 0.99
00:15:00.480 And I'll tell you, by the way, when they passed their Orwellian-named Inflation Reduction Act,
00:15:06.940 and I say Orwellian because the Inflation Reduction Act, the only impact of it will be to increase inflation.
00:15:12.900 It was hundreds of billions of dollars of new spending.
00:15:15.720 And it was billions of dollars of new taxes on energy.
00:15:18.640 It was literally, OK, energy prices are too high.
00:15:21.560 What should we do?
00:15:22.220 Let's put new taxes on it. 1.00
00:15:23.400 The only outcome of that is to drive energy prices higher.
00:15:27.580 And I made that point to mention on the Senate floor as they were voting.
00:15:31.900 I said, this bill is screwing energy producers in the United States. 0.98
00:15:37.740 And Joe insisted that wasn't the case.
00:15:40.200 Well, he's suddenly discovering what his party is trying to do, which is to take every coal miner in West Virginia and in Ohio and in Kentucky and in Pennsylvania and put them all out of a job. 0.62
00:15:51.760 And, you know, as John Kerry derisively said, learn to code.
00:15:56.460 That's the Democrats' response to blue-collar America is we don't like your jobs and we are happy to destroy them with no idea what you can do next.
00:16:07.620 I want to remind everybody that's listening right now.
00:16:10.600 Make sure that you join us on election night because we're going to be doing a live verdict that we'll be able to put that video out live on YouTube.
00:16:19.020 Also, I think on Twitter and Facebook simultaneously.
00:16:21.920 And so make sure you join us on election night.
00:16:25.140 But let's look at the election and give an overview first, Senator, and then we'll move into some of the House races and some of the important races that you've been supporting candidates.
00:16:35.000 But how should people look at election night and where should they be looking for key indicators of what races could really kind of tell you early on on the East Coast what could be happening in middle America as we head out West?
00:16:48.840 Well, on the East Coast, there are going to be a number of fairly early results.
00:16:53.500 You're going to get early results in New York in the gubernatorial race.
00:16:58.720 You'll get early results in the Senate race in New Hampshire.
00:17:02.260 You'll get early results in Pennsylvania.
00:17:04.620 You'll get early results in North Carolina.
00:17:07.360 You'll get early results in Georgia.
00:17:10.500 You'll get early results in Florida.
00:17:12.700 You'll get early results in Ohio.
00:17:14.540 That'll be the first wave.
00:17:17.040 Wisconsin will be not long thereafter.
00:17:19.560 Many of those are hotly, hotly contested races.
00:17:23.940 There are also states like Virginia where there are several highly contested congressional races.
00:17:29.820 And so we'll get early results from those as well.
00:17:32.700 Now, it may be that Pennsylvania, the results are delayed for multiple days.
00:17:38.080 The way they do elections in Pennsylvania, unfortunately, is deeply messed up.
00:17:42.500 They have many, many mail-in ballots, and the Pennsylvania Secretary of State has already made clear they have no intention of counting all the ballots by the end of election night. 0.99
00:17:52.100 I find it utterly bizarre most places in the world, certainly most places in the United States, can count the damn votes on Election Day. 0.77
00:17:59.600 And yet these bright blue Democrat strongholds suddenly seem to plan on, well, we're going to count for three, four days, maybe a week. 0.97
00:18:09.100 It's not complicated that if you're counting three, four days after the election and you know the outcomes everywhere else and you know how many votes you need,
00:18:17.080 it is an invitation to cheating, it is an invitation to misconduct, but that's what Democrats do.
00:18:26.120 We will get those early results will come in as the night gets going.
00:18:31.640 And so you and I are going to be doing a live verdict that night.
00:18:34.520 And as those results come in, we're going to be analyzing them as they come in, and then we'll move further west.
00:18:42.440 We'll be moving to states like Arizona, states like Nevada, states like Washington State, all of which have hotly contested Senate races, states like Oregon and the gubernatorial race.
00:18:55.760 So we'll see that play out as it moves west, but there will be an early bevy of decisions that come in relatively early in the night from the East Coast that will give us a strong indication of what's likely to happen.
00:19:10.940 You know, you look at this red wave, and I do believe it's going to be a red wave.
00:19:15.860 We've talked about the Senate, you've said on this show early on that you thought it could be 52-53, then that changed from 52 to a solid 53.
00:19:24.660 And now, where do you feel like we might be on election night on the Senate side before we move to the House?
00:19:31.240 You know, I'm at 53 or 54, and if you pressed me, I'd probably say 54 now.
00:19:36.220 I keep getting more optimistic as the days move forward.
00:19:39.580 I think the momentum is steadily on our side.
00:19:41.940 I think the Democrats keep screwing things up when Biden's final election pitch is, 1.00
00:19:49.640 vote for me, you damn fascist terrorists, or else the universe will end. 0.99
00:19:55.960 I think that seems like an angry, out-of-touch person that has no idea about the policy failures that the American people are suffering through. 1.00
00:20:05.440 And so I think the momentum is in our way.
00:20:08.040 I also think it's striking that you look at where Joe Biden is going to campaign.
00:20:11.980 He's going to campaign in California and Chicago.
00:20:17.000 And then also, interestingly, the only battleground place they're taking Joe Biden is Pennsylvania.
00:20:23.620 And you've got Joe Biden there, you've got Barack Obama there, you've got Donald Trump there.
00:20:27.900 So the people of Pennsylvania are getting it from all sides.
00:20:30.800 I hope they just focus on how radical John Fetterman is and realize we want to change a path.
00:20:37.880 But Biden there will infuriate people on the right.
00:20:41.200 Trump there will infuriate people on the left.
00:20:43.340 And who the heck knows what happens in that blender that results.
00:20:50.840 But in virtually every other contested Senate race, Biden and Kamala Harris are nowhere to be found.
00:20:57.900 So Biden is not going to Ohio or New Hampshire or Arizona or Georgia or Wisconsin or Nevada.
00:21:08.140 All of the close contested Senate races, Biden is nowhere to be found.
00:21:14.420 And that ain't accidental.
00:21:16.360 It's the simple reality that no Democrat on the ballot in anything resembling a red or purple state wants to be seen within a thousand miles of Joe Biden.
00:21:27.000 And that's that's a problem for those candidates.
00:21:29.800 And I thought it was one of the one of the biggest blunders, political mistakes I've seen.
00:21:34.700 The president coming out with what the chief of staff described from the White House the other day is is his final warning.
00:21:41.420 When he had this, you know, six days before the election, this primetime speech, he mentioned the issue of border security.
00:21:48.140 Zero times crime, zero times, inflation, zero time, gas prices, zero times, education, zero times, police, zero times, fentanyl, zero times.
00:21:58.880 It was basically a fear mongering speech that dealt with none of those issues.
00:22:03.420 I think that actually hurt the Democrats, him coming out with that speech.
00:22:07.620 And I think it took away.
00:22:09.040 I think it actually gave momentum to the Republicans.
00:22:11.640 So you're saying when the top of your tickets doesn't talk about any issue, any actual voters care about, that that's a problem.
00:22:20.920 Yeah.
00:22:21.360 Call me crazy, right?
00:22:23.780 It's the most bizarre thing.
00:22:26.100 You know, when you're in the D.C.
00:22:27.740 Beltway, the reporters and the Democrats are all obsessed with a set of issues that literally I mean, I've traveled the entire country in the last month.
00:22:36.200 I've been to 17 states.
00:22:37.420 Nobody in those states cares about the issues that are animating MSNBC and and the Biden White House.
00:22:46.120 And that disconnect is is really dangerous for Election Day.
00:22:51.660 Canadian women are looking for more, more to themselves, their businesses, their elected leaders and the world around them. 0.96
00:22:58.100 And that's why we're thrilled to introduce the Honest Talk podcast.
00:23:01.900 I'm Jennifer Stewart.
00:23:02.940 And I'm Catherine Clark.
00:23:03.960 And in this podcast, we interview Canada's most inspiring women, entrepreneurs, artists, athletes, politicians and newsmakers, all at different stages of their journey.
00:23:13.740 So if you're looking to connect, then we hope you'll join us.
00:23:16.960 Listen to the Honest Talk podcast on iHeartRadio or wherever you listen to your podcasts.
00:23:22.340 Two more things I want to get to before Election Day, and that's number one.
00:23:26.860 Let's talk about this.
00:23:28.080 Twenty five for twenty.
00:23:29.240 You busted your tail traveling around the country.
00:23:33.940 You're not on the ballot this time, and you made sure that you got out there and worked for hardcore constitutional conservatives.
00:23:40.960 You even helped find candidates.
00:23:42.680 One of those we were with last night, who I believe is a rock star in a very tough race where she, you know, and based on history, she has no business winning her race.
00:23:54.180 It's a Democrat district, yet sure enough, it's extremely tight race.
00:23:58.960 You found these incredible conservatives to back and support.
00:24:04.480 And I think there's a lot of people hoping that those are the types of candidates that actually went on Tuesday.
00:24:09.820 Well, I agree.
00:24:11.280 This is something that I started doing two years ago.
00:24:13.500 So two years ago in the 2020 cycle, I decided to get very, very engaged in House races, and we launched an initiative that we called 25 for 20, where I looked across the country and I tried to identify 25 candidates who were running for the House of Representatives.
00:24:30.580 And those 25 candidates I endorsed, I campaigned for, I got behind, of them, 23 of them were challengers.
00:24:41.240 So only two were incumbents.
00:24:43.260 The other 23 were either running for open seats or running against Democrat incumbents.
00:24:48.580 And I brought all those candidates together, raised about three and a half million dollars for those 25 candidates.
00:24:56.220 Now, all of the money that I was raising was hard money.
00:24:58.280 In other words, I raised the money and transferred it directly to them.
00:25:01.820 They got it directly.
00:25:03.160 So it wasn't me controlling the money and me spending it.
00:25:06.620 I was operating under the assumption they know how to run their campaign better than I do, and I don't need to micromanage their campaign.
00:25:12.500 But we ended up being, for most of those candidates, we were the single largest fundraiser for those candidates.
00:25:19.060 And of the 25, 14 of them won.
00:25:24.040 It was a remarkable result.
00:25:26.180 And really what we're trying to do is a couple of things.
00:25:28.600 Number one with this initiative, we're looking for the strongest conservatives who can win.
00:25:35.640 And both of those are needed.
00:25:37.300 The who can win matters.
00:25:38.280 If you're the best candidate ever, but you're running in a D plus 20 district and it's just hopeless, I'm not going to ask investors to invest their resources in tilting at windmills.
00:25:50.020 The stakes are too high.
00:25:51.340 We got a country to say.
00:25:53.300 But what I'm looking for is people who, A, have a real shot at winning, but, B, when they win, will be principled fighters, will stand and fight and make a difference.
00:26:04.260 And of the 25, we had people like Burgess Owens, we had people like Yvette Harrell, we had people like Lauren Boebert, people who came in as among the strongest conservative leaders that came in in the newly elected class.
00:26:19.100 Well, Ben, this time we're doing the same thing.
00:26:22.800 This time we called it 25 for 22, I guess because I'm really bad at naming things.
00:26:29.860 And we've got 25 candidates who, if anything, are more impressive than the first wave we had.
00:26:37.360 We've got candidates like a candidate I was with just a couple of days ago up in Michigan, John Gibbs.
00:26:44.860 John Gibbs is running in Michigan 3.
00:26:49.120 He is an African-American man.
00:26:51.280 He was graduated from Stanford.
00:26:53.640 He has a master's degree from Harvard.
00:26:55.780 He was a Christian missionary in Japan for a number of years, fluent in Japanese.
00:27:02.460 He was a senior appointee in the Trump administration.
00:27:06.400 He's smart.
00:27:07.480 He's principled.
00:27:08.740 He's conservative.
00:27:09.600 And he's running in a district.
00:27:10.980 I think he's going to win.
00:27:11.860 And when he wins, he's going to be a rock star.
00:27:15.440 Someone else who's in this group, Jennifer Ruth Green.
00:27:18.580 Jennifer Ruth Green is running in Indiana 1.
00:27:21.600 Indiana 1 is a toss-up race.
00:27:25.160 Jennifer Ruth went to the Air Force Academy.
00:27:27.980 She served a couple of decades in the Air Force.
00:27:31.760 She has a master's from Liberty University.
00:27:35.460 She's an African-American woman, a conservative, strong, passionate.
00:27:39.400 She's got a good shot on winning. 1.00
00:27:44.580 And if and when she wins, she's going to be a real leader.
00:27:47.940 Someone else in the group, Harriet Hageman.
00:27:50.460 Harriet is the one who primaried and beat Liz Cheney in Wyoming. 1.00
00:27:57.180 Harriet is a constitutional lawyer.
00:27:59.700 She is smart.
00:28:00.560 She's engaged.
00:28:01.420 She's going to be another rock star in the freshman class. 0.82
00:28:05.080 I'll tell you someone else in the group, Eli Crane.
00:28:08.620 Eli Crane is running in Arizona, too.
00:28:11.360 Eli Crane is a Navy SEAL.
00:28:14.580 He spent 13 years as a Navy SEAL with five wartime deployments.
00:28:20.100 He's also a small business owner.
00:28:23.320 And he's smart.
00:28:24.560 He's principled.
00:28:25.540 We did a big rally with Eli in Tucson.
00:28:28.820 And he's someone else who is going to really shake things up when he wins.
00:28:34.000 Not only that, there's a whole group of candidates we included in this.
00:28:38.780 And this has been a major focus of mine for some time, but particularly this cycle, which is Latina conservatives.
00:28:46.220 And there are three in Texas.
00:28:49.360 There is Myra Flores, who ran in the special election a couple of months ago in the district in Texas along the Gulf Coast.
00:28:58.440 Starts just south of Corpus Christi.
00:29:00.440 Goes all the way down to Brownsville, the southern tip of Texas, right on the border of Mexico.
00:29:05.120 That is a district that had not elected a Republican since 1871.
00:29:12.160 Special election happens.
00:29:13.780 Myra wins.
00:29:14.640 She is Republican.
00:29:18.020 She is the first Mexican-born woman ever elected to Congress.
00:29:23.300 She is married to a Border Patrol agent.
00:29:25.700 She is smart, dynamic.
00:29:28.200 That district is the most Hispanic district in the country.
00:29:32.680 Out of 435 districts, it's the most Hispanic.
00:29:35.540 It now is represented by a Republican.
00:29:38.420 In the district next to it, Monica de la Cruz is running. 1.00
00:29:42.180 Monica is fantastic. 1.00
00:29:43.160 She's a small business owner.
00:29:44.500 She's a single mom.
00:29:46.480 She ran two years ago and almost won two years ago with almost zero money. 1.00
00:29:52.680 She came within 2,000 votes of winning last time.
00:29:55.740 And the National Party didn't support her at all.
00:29:58.220 It was a shoestring budget.
00:29:59.560 This time she's got resources and I think is very likely to win. 0.53
00:30:03.480 The district next to her is Cassie Garcia.
00:30:06.840 Cassie, you and I were just last night at a big rally for Cassie.
00:30:10.160 Cassie is someone I know very, very well.
00:30:12.940 Cassie worked on my staff for eight years.
00:30:15.720 She was my South Texas director.
00:30:17.280 She was my deputy state director.
00:30:19.740 Cassie is smart, principled, conservative. 0.94
00:30:22.820 She is beloved in the Rio Grande Valley.
00:30:25.500 She, too, is married to a Border Patrol agent.
00:30:27.980 Her husband is the sector chief in the Del Rio sector, the sector with the worst illegal immigration right now.
00:30:34.580 He's fighting it every day despite his political superiors effectively tying his hands behind his backs.
00:30:40.860 I think Cassie's going to win.
00:30:42.580 I think we're going to come out of this race with all of the Rio Grande Valley represented by Republicans, all three of whom are Latina.
00:30:52.620 And every one of these districts has been Democrat for over 100 years.
00:30:59.660 And let me go a little broader than that.
00:31:01.620 Three other candidates.
00:31:02.980 So I brought those three candidates to just north of Houston, to Montgomery County, along with three other candidates.
00:31:09.880 Catalina Loft, who is running up in the suburbs of Chicago, young Hispanic, served in the Trump administration, passionate.
00:31:18.760 Ana Polina Luna, who's running in Florida in the Tampa area.
00:31:22.000 Same thing, smart, principled, passionate, very good chance at winning.
00:31:27.900 And then Yesli Vega, who's running in Virginia.
00:31:31.260 We did an awesome rally with Yesli.
00:31:33.680 I think Yesli's got a great shot at winning.
00:31:35.680 Let me tell you Yesli's story, Ben.
00:31:38.200 Yesli is the daughter of immigrants from El Salvador.
00:31:44.120 Yesli's younger brother was shot and nearly killed by MS-13.
00:31:50.900 So for her, illegal immigration, it is real and it is personal.
00:31:57.400 Yesli is married to a soldier.
00:31:59.820 They were stationed overseas in Korea for some time.
00:32:03.040 Yesli is a mom of two kids.
00:32:05.800 And she's also a cop.
00:32:07.520 When her younger brother was shot, she decided to sign up and become a police officer.
00:32:11.840 She spent over a decade as a police officer.
00:32:14.900 And Yesli is a firebrand. 0.89
00:32:17.700 You see her on the stump.
00:32:19.500 She is just a firebrand. 1.00
00:32:23.800 We had the six of them, Ben, together in Houston.
00:32:27.920 I hosted a fundraiser for them.
00:32:29.820 It was the easiest fundraiser I've ever held in my life.
00:32:32.400 I essentially had to get out of the way, just shut up and let them shine.
00:32:37.280 And everyone was blown away.
00:32:39.400 We raised over $1 million for those six candidates, six Latinas, all six of whom can win in November.
00:32:47.340 However, the group promptly dubbed themselves the Spicy Tacos, making a playoff, as you know, Jill Biden offensively referred to Hispanics as unique as breakfast tacos. 1.00
00:33:02.840 And so they're owning it.
00:33:05.180 And I got to say, if we get to January and we have a new generation of strong, principled conservative leaders, many of whom are Latina or African-American and they're young and they're committed, that's how we don't just change the Republican Party.
00:33:22.400 It's how we change the country.
00:33:23.600 It is a generational and paradigm shift.
00:33:27.140 And that's why I'm devoting so much time and energy to trying to make that happen.
00:33:30.720 You know, I think Carrie Lake said it great this week.
00:33:33.700 She said, we're tired of being silent.
00:33:35.980 She's blasting big tech, blasting the mainstream media, blasting cancel culture. 0.94
00:33:40.920 I think there's so much of that.
00:33:43.020 And so many of these candidates where they're just saying we're tired of being silent, are being silenced by the left and we're standing up for what we believe in.
00:33:53.540 There is one concern.
00:33:54.840 And I've heard this a lot, Senator, and I want to close with this.
00:33:57.960 I want to remind everybody listening, we will be live with Vertic Live.
00:34:01.080 You can watch us on YouTube, on Facebook, Twitter, on election night.
00:34:05.520 Make sure you make that part of your election night.
00:34:07.520 Watch, you know, agenda.
00:34:10.020 Senator, there's always a worry that when Republicans get an opportunity, we screw it up.
00:34:15.740 When we get the majority, we screw it up.
00:34:18.220 There are many that are concerned about the Republican leadership, that they will immediately push these hardcore conservative new people to the back of the room and say, wait your turn and see how we do things in Washington.
00:34:30.460 How do we avoid that disaster if, in fact, we do have a big red wave on election night and we do have Republicans, you know, that show up that are new, even like, you know, J.D. Vance and others who are coming from behind, now leading in the polls.
00:34:47.960 How do we make sure they don't get sent back to the back of the room and say, okay, be quiet, you just got here?
00:34:54.580 Well, that is exactly what is going to happen, what leadership is going to try to do.
00:35:00.680 And it's important for people to realize that the battle is not over on election day.
00:35:06.160 The battle just starts on election day.
00:35:08.080 If you and I are right that we're going to come out of election day with big Republican majorities in both houses, then we got to act like it.
00:35:17.200 Then we got to use it.
00:35:18.340 Then we got to stand up and use those majorities to deliver on what we promised, to fight back against the disastrous policies that are hurting the American people.
00:35:27.580 And what will play out is we will see Republican leadership in both houses, in the House and Senate.
00:35:33.720 Leadership will say, no, no, we can't fight on this.
00:35:36.660 No, no, you can't fight Biden on that.
00:35:38.580 No, you can't use that lever.
00:35:40.000 No, you can't actually fight to win.
00:35:43.400 I will say when I first got to the Senate, I was elected in 2012, showed up in 2013.
00:35:49.340 That's where we were.
00:35:50.560 Barack Obama had just been reelected.
00:35:52.520 We had a Republican House.
00:35:53.580 We had a Democrat Senate.
00:35:54.520 And our leadership was convinced there was nothing, nothing, nothing we could fight on, that what we needed to do was roll over on everything.
00:36:01.700 And I had some epic knock-down, tear-down battles with my own leadership trying to get us to follow through on our promises.
00:36:11.420 Now, to be clear, I'm not saying fight on everything always.
00:36:14.320 If you fight on everything, you're fighting on nothing.
00:36:17.380 You've got to prioritize.
00:36:18.400 You've got to pick battles that matter and have a smart, serious strategy to engage on those battles and win.
00:36:25.580 But leadership historically has been afraid to do so.
00:36:30.660 Now, you asked, how do we change that?
00:36:32.720 The single best way to change that is doing what you and I have been doing for the last month,
00:36:38.100 which is electing rock-ribbed conservatives to the House and to the Senate.
00:36:44.720 Why?
00:36:45.820 Because leadership is in many ways a mirror.
00:36:48.840 Leadership reflects the conference.
00:36:51.240 If the conference is a bunch of squishes, leadership is going to be a squish. 0.99
00:36:56.440 If you elect a bunch of rock-ribbed conservatives who are ready to fight and lead, 0.99
00:37:01.700 leadership in Washington is in many ways followership.
00:37:06.980 That the best way of changing the agenda and infusing a backbone in Republican majorities is ensuring you've got strong leaders.
00:37:16.900 It's why I think it's so important to seek out and support people who will be those strong leaders, who won't roll over.
00:37:25.640 And listen, by the way, leadership has exactly the opposite interest.
00:37:29.680 They want to see elected people who will be docile and follow their orders.
00:37:36.700 I want to see people who are the opposite of that, people who will follow the orders not of the party bosses in Washington,
00:37:43.880 but the people who elected them.
00:37:45.440 And so these races are a battle where I'm trying – and you know what? 0.55
00:37:49.600 Look, you also don't have to transform the entirety of the conference in the Senate.
00:37:56.060 You don't have to have half of the Republican senators be rock-ribbed conservatives.
00:38:02.820 I'd love it.
00:38:04.340 But to change the place, you don't need to control all the numbers.
00:38:08.840 You need big enough to be able to shift the dynamic in the conference.
00:38:14.780 In the Senate, literally one or two senators can make that difference.
00:38:18.060 In the House, it takes more, which is why I'm playing in a lot more races.
00:38:23.000 But the objective is the same, which is to elect conservative leaders who will do what they said they would do.
00:38:29.940 It's going to be very, very fun to watch election night unfold, Senator.
00:38:37.000 I do mean this sincerely.
00:38:38.980 Thank you for your leadership on this 25 for 22 and getting behind some of these candidates.
00:38:44.920 Also, even helping with some Senate races as well, like Mike Lees, which is looking a little bit better in Utah.
00:38:50.800 This is going to be an important day.
00:38:52.720 Our closing argument for every one of you listening is make sure you vote.
00:38:59.120 Make sure you talk to your family and friends and get them to vote on Election Day.
00:39:03.240 We will also be with you live on election night to break down the results.
00:39:09.060 So make sure you follow Verdict.
00:39:11.640 Make sure you follow the senator on Twitter and Facebook.
00:39:15.640 And we will go live there for you.
00:39:18.000 Share this podcast with your family and friends.
00:39:20.180 On a side note, Senator, I know you're excited because you get to make memories with your family.
00:39:25.920 You got the World Series.
00:39:28.400 I want your prediction quickly.
00:39:30.400 What do you think is going to happen?
00:39:32.420 Well, you and I are recording this Saturday afternoon.
00:39:35.360 Tonight, I'm going to Game 6.
00:39:37.100 I'm going with Catherine, my 12-year-old.
00:39:39.600 My prediction is Strozen 6.
00:39:41.540 We'll see if that happens.
00:39:42.560 When this comes out, you'll know if that was right or wrong.
00:39:45.080 I hope I'm not eating crow, but I feel pretty good about it.
00:39:48.060 Well, and a lot of people don't realize this has become your and your daughter's thing.
00:39:52.540 It's become a tradition of yours, which makes it so special.
00:39:56.720 It is amazing going to playoff games with Catherine.
00:40:01.580 We've been doing it every year for six years in a row now.
00:40:04.800 We started back in 2017 when the Astros had that incredible run and won the World Series.
00:40:10.120 And they've been in the ALCS every year since then.
00:40:14.440 Six consecutive years, four of the last six World Series.
00:40:18.320 And I've taken Catherine to a whole bunch of those home games throughout. 0.98
00:40:23.620 And it has become probably my favorite daddy-daughter bonding time.
00:40:28.000 It's awesome.
00:40:28.660 We'll enjoy the game, Senator.
00:40:30.000 We'll see all of you guys listening on election night as well.
00:40:35.060 And we'll see you then.
00:40:36.640 Thanks for joining us as always.
00:40:37.760 Hit that share button and hit that subscribe auto-download button.
00:40:40.880 And we'll see you back here in a couple days.
00:40:43.720 This is an iHeart Podcast.
00:40:46.580 Guaranteed human.