Latest / Brian Thomas / AFP - Early Voting and Endorsements

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AFP - Early Voting and Endorsements · Brian Thomas

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  Speaker 1: You're a seed the talk station.
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  Speaker 2: Seventy nine if you have KERCD talk station. Happy Wednesday,
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  Speaker 2: Brian Thomas always looking forward to talking to Donovan and
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  Speaker 2: Eel with his hat on as senior advisor for AFP
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  Speaker 2: Americans for Prosperity Action in Ohio. Welcome back, Donaldan and Neil.
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  Speaker 2: Let's talk about early voting, which is going on right now.
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  Speaker 2: Welcome back my friend Brian.
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  Speaker 1: Always a pleasure to be with you. Yeah, it's that
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  Speaker 1: time of year. The doorhangers are arriving, the mails in
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  Speaker 1: the box, the digital apps are fired up. It's it's
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  Speaker 1: time to get out and vote folks.
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  Speaker 2: At the issue that came up yesterday, I was talking
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  Speaker 2: with Tom z Awastowski from We the People Convention. He
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  Speaker 2: was all over the primary and people getting you know,
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  Speaker 2: got to get out and got to get out and vote.
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  Speaker 2: And in some of the races we talked about and
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  Speaker 2: I started a step back and I said, wait a second.
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  Speaker 2: In an all red state like Ohio, and it is
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  Speaker 2: pretty predominantly red, so the default position for mine is like,
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  Speaker 2: is there really anything to worry about, like, for example,
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  Speaker 2: the goobernatorial race. I mean, is it possible that Democrat
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  Speaker 2: could win, and his point was is people have to
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  Speaker 2: get up and go vote, oh just because you're in
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  Speaker 2: a solid red state. If you don't vote as a conservative,
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  Speaker 2: Republican or libertarian, you can end up with Democrats winning
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  Speaker 2: because they're fired up apparently more than the Democrat or
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  Speaker 2: more than the Republicans. Your reaction to that sort of
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  Speaker 2: observation Donalin.
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  Speaker 1: Well, absolutely, I mean, you know, humans are creatures that
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  Speaker 1: have it, Brian. If you know you don't do something
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  Speaker 1: on a regular basis or with some level of frequency,
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  Speaker 1: most people stop doing it, and voting is no exception.
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  Speaker 1: But I also and I agree with that sentiment in
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  Speaker 1: terms of we hear that a lot, well, Hio's a
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  Speaker 1: red state, We're going to be fine. I hear it
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  Speaker 1: from our folks on a national level. You know, my
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  Speaker 1: colleagues and other states they say, well, you know, Ohio's red,
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  Speaker 1: You're you're gonna hold the Senate seat against shared Brown
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  Speaker 1: with John Hughes said, they said, well, actually, you know,
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  Speaker 1: that's the kind of thing and that gets us in
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  Speaker 1: trouble because you know, you assume your neighbor's going to
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  Speaker 1: go vote, and so you don't have to. But the
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  Speaker 1: reality is this is a responsibility we all share. And
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  Speaker 1: you know, it's not that long ago that we were
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  Speaker 1: a truly a purple state that had a number of
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  Speaker 1: Democrats elected statewide.
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  Speaker 2: Yep, you've got that. And then, of course the Trump factor,
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  Speaker 2: which is a big unknown entity out there, and I
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  Speaker 2: just kind of expeculate in the future, what are the
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  Speaker 2: Democrats going to do when they don't have Donald Trump
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  Speaker 2: to complain about all the time anymore. They're going to
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  Speaker 2: have to come up with a strategy of their own
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  Speaker 2: that isn't nonsensical. But the Shared Brown race is an
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  Speaker 2: important one, Donald, But I'm glad you said that one
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  Speaker 2: out loud. That is going to be a national level race.
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  Speaker 2: There's going to be millions and millions of out of
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  Speaker 2: state dollars being pumped in to help support Shared Brown.
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  Speaker 2: So money raising money is going to be an issue.
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  Speaker 1: Oh absolutely, Well, it's the number one race for the
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  Speaker 1: Senate Leadership Fund they release their spending figures. I forget
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  Speaker 1: the number off the top of my head, but it
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  Speaker 1: is already the number one race nationally for Republicans. And
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  Speaker 1: we actually just rolled out a if the Action rolled
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  Speaker 1: out a half a million dollar our first salvo in
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  Speaker 1: this effort digital aid campaign for Houston, one of the
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  Speaker 1: largest so far this cycle for not just HUSET that
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  Speaker 1: I believe, but also nationally with our organization. So we've
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  Speaker 1: got our sites set on this number one race for
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  Speaker 1: AFP Action as well.
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  Speaker 2: Is there any early polling on that race?
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  Speaker 1: Donovan and Neil, Yeah, I mean, we've got some internals
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  Speaker 1: that track. I would say, largely with what you see
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  Speaker 1: out there in the public. You know, it's a closed race,
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  Speaker 1: and I think there's two factors that are driving that
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  Speaker 1: right now. One is Democrat energy is just higher folks
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  Speaker 1: on a generic ballot right now, given some of the
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  Speaker 1: national sentiment around the war and I ran and other things,
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  Speaker 1: are you know, more inclined. It's just sort of how
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  Speaker 1: these trends go. Number Two, there's about twenty to twenty
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  Speaker 1: five percent of the electorate who do not have an
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  Speaker 1: opinion yet on John Houstead. And that's what makes our
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  Speaker 1: work so impactful because we're out there helping frame the debate,
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  Speaker 1: frame the frame the way voters think about John Hustad.
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  Speaker 1: And the reality is it's not too surprising to me
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  Speaker 1: because at this stage in the year, most folks aren't
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  Speaker 1: paying attention to elections and that's why we're out knocking
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  Speaker 1: doors telling them that's happening right now.
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  Speaker 2: All right, Well, Sary Brown does have a primary contender.
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  Speaker 2: It looks like Johnny used to does not beyond the
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  Speaker 2: libertarian candidates, which all acknowledge are there. But at least
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  Speaker 2: on John Houston doesn't have a Republican challenger, unlike I know,
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  Speaker 2: the gubernatorial race when you've got that Casey Puch guy
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  Speaker 2: trying to out to beat V. V. Ramaswamy. Any internal
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  Speaker 2: polling on that particular battle.
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  Speaker 1: On that one in particular, no, I think Favk walks
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  Speaker 1: away with that quite handily. I just saw, you know,
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  Speaker 1: I've been to a number of events, and you see
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  Speaker 1: the sort of crowds that he's able to bring together
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  Speaker 1: in the pust of vision he puts forward. And you know,
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  Speaker 1: that's exciting for a state like Ohio where we don't
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  Speaker 1: traditionally elect we just never have candidates who are big, bold,
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  Speaker 1: visionary thinkers. And I think we're we've got. There's a
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  Speaker 1: real excitement out there for someone like him who can
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  Speaker 1: come in and really deliver on the promises that so
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  Speaker 1: many Ohio Republicans have been Democrats have put out there
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  Speaker 1: for us I think he's the kind of guy who's
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  Speaker 1: going to get it done.
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  Speaker 2: So yes, And I like to think Amy Acting in
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  Speaker 2: this state, given her COVID nineteen re sponsors, has not
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  Speaker 2: a snowballs chance in hell in November. That is my hope,
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  Speaker 2: It is my prayer. But it's also a kind of
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  Speaker 2: a profound belief. I just can't imagine her getting traction
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  Speaker 2: because when the campaign money starts flowing and the ads
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  Speaker 2: start running, everyone is going to be reminded about Amy
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  Speaker 2: Acting and her nonsensical reaction to COVID nineteen here in
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  Speaker 2: a while.
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  Speaker 1: Oh yeah, I say it all the time, right you me,
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  Speaker 1: Joe Struck, We're all we're all kind of weird as
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  Speaker 1: we eat, sleep, and breathe this stuff every day, and
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  Speaker 1: so we're following it all. But a lot of voters
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  Speaker 1: are just trying to get their kids to the soccer
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  Speaker 1: game on the weekends, make ends meet, to pay you know,
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  Speaker 1: their utility bills, or you know, get to work or
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  Speaker 1: find some time for a week long vacation. They forget
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  Speaker 1: who Amy Acting was. And I think, yeah, on once
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  Speaker 1: that campaign starts up, to remind folks of who she
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  Speaker 1: was and what she did the last time she was
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  Speaker 1: in the public spotlight. I think that voters are going
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  Speaker 1: to have a bad taste in their mouth, as they
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  Speaker 1: should af the action.
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  Speaker 2: Donovan O'Neil's possible bring Donovan back talking about some of
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  Speaker 2: the other primary races we need to keep her eye on,
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  Speaker 2: and how we can collectively get involved either a lot
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  Speaker 2: or a little bit, to help advance the more sane
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  Speaker 2: issues here in the state of Ohio and ensure that
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  Speaker 2: we remain in a red state this November seventh, third
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  Speaker 2: to the Americans for Prosperity Action in Ohio. Donovan O'Neil,
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  Speaker 2: Real quick here, Donovan, bear with me just a moment.
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  Speaker 2: I got a message from submariner Cribbage. Mike, who is
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  Speaker 2: big into the Honor Flight, was there for the welcome
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  Speaker 2: home ceremony as well as the sendoff yesterday, just sent
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  Speaker 2: me a message. He said it was a phenomenal welcome home.
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  Speaker 2: So first report I got other than the photographs. I
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  Speaker 2: just want to let my listeners know since I'm always
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  Speaker 2: looking forward to those wonderful events and thank God for
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  Speaker 2: Honor Flight tri state and everybody who gets involved in it.
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  Speaker 2: Back over to Donovan O'Neil in the primary, which is
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  Speaker 2: coming up. Early votings already there, get it out of
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  Speaker 2: the way, Just get out and vote so your vote
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  Speaker 2: is reflected. And we seem to be collectively in the
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  Speaker 2: nation in an environment where we're kind of looking for
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  Speaker 2: political outsiders. You know, we're sick of incumbents, we're sick
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  Speaker 2: of the Mitch McConnell's in the world being around for
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  Speaker 2: decades and decades and looking forward to a change. And
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  Speaker 2: one of the ones that I think this is going
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  Speaker 2: to come into play with the primary, and I think
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  Speaker 2: we're going to be well served in Ohio regardless of
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  Speaker 2: who wins the primary. For Secretary of State, your choices
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  Speaker 2: of Marcel Sturbage and Robert Sprague. Now, Sprague has a record,
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  Speaker 2: and I had a listener call early this morning. It
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  Speaker 2: was critical of Robert Sprague's record and is you know,
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  Speaker 2: whatever he did or didn't do in so far as
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  Speaker 2: ferreting out fraud, waste and abuse in Ohio. But there
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  Speaker 2: he is on the ballot. Marcel Sturbage, I've interviewed both
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  Speaker 2: of them. He is a strong candidate. He doesn't have
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  Speaker 2: a record to run on, which kind of frees him
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  Speaker 2: up as some of the baggage. Sprague might have if
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  Speaker 2: you want to look at Spragge's record and be critical
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  Speaker 2: of it. But that's one where I am impressed by
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  Speaker 2: both men. And I'm wondering if you have any sense
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  Speaker 2: from going door to door and talking to Ohioans what
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  Speaker 2: their opinions are in that particular race.
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  Speaker 1: Donovan O'Neil, Yeah, not so much door to doors as
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  Speaker 1: we're you know, usually focused on the specific candidate or
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  Speaker 1: of a door hanger and that sort of where the
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  Speaker 1: where the topic of conversation lends itself. But you know,
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  Speaker 1: just kind of traveling around the state and you know,
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  Speaker 1: being at events with the grassroots around the state. I
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  Speaker 1: think I think your assessment is largely right now. You know,
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  Speaker 1: I've known Robertspray for for a really long time, and
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  Speaker 1: I think, you know, he's somebody who haven't been able
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  Speaker 1: to talk with him about the different you know, issues
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  Speaker 1: and things that he's focused on to where he sees
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  Speaker 1: Ohio going. I think he does a I think he's
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  Speaker 1: got a real strong vision. And the more folks who
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  Speaker 1: get to get to meet him and talk to him,
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  Speaker 1: I think they they feel that same way. But you know,
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  Speaker 1: it's uh, you got to go out and win the primary.
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  Speaker 1: And that's what that's the beautiful part of the part
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  Speaker 1: of the process, right, just getting out there and actually,
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  Speaker 1: you know, making the case for your campaign and then
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  Speaker 1: earning those votes and you get it better. I think
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  Speaker 1: you get a better general election candidate and a better
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  Speaker 1: public servant when folks have to you know, sort of
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  Speaker 1: sort of make their case and earn it.
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  Speaker 2: What are you hearing about inflation? Obviously the timing couldn't
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  Speaker 2: be worse for you know, coming up to the November election,
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  Speaker 2: depending on how this Iran situation works out, but profoundly
• 8:53
  Speaker 2: impacting at least the price of gasoline, and of course
• 8:56
  Speaker 2: that's going to trickle over into food inflation if the
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  Speaker 2: fertilizer continues to be held up and diesel prices continue
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  Speaker 2: to go through the roof. So we've got a problem
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  Speaker 2: on our hands, notably since Trump ran on lowering inflation.
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  Speaker 2: Is that something that you're hearing in the state of Ohio.
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  Speaker 2: That's a big issue for folks, And if so, what
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  Speaker 2: is the answer in how do you address it when
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  Speaker 2: you're going door to door talking with people.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, without a doubt, affordability, whether it's in healthcare, utility
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  Speaker 1: and energy costs, or just going to the grocery store. Well,
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  Speaker 1: folks have seen some relief, and I think as they're
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  Speaker 1: finding their taxes, they're seeing even more and appreciating the
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  Speaker 1: work of the one big beautiful bill, the Working Family
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  Speaker 1: Tax Cuts Package. But here, I mean, here's the reality there.
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  Speaker 1: Somebody needs to be sound on an alarm here because
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  Speaker 1: you know, as we find ourselves entrenched in the Middle East,
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  Speaker 1: as you know, we have bills like the Speed Act
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  Speaker 1: that would unleash energy abundance in the nation once again
• 9:52
  Speaker 1: salled in the Senate and Congress not not set, not
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  Speaker 1: in DC doing its job, or when it's there being dysfunctional.
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  Speaker 1: That's a real problem, Brian. That is going to if
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  Speaker 1: it hasn't already, it is going to catch Republicans, It's
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  Speaker 1: going to catch conservatives and Democrats are certainly capitalizing on
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  Speaker 1: that right now. And so there's a path out of this,
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  Speaker 1: there's a path forward. We have a vision for what
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  Speaker 1: can be done at America's prosperity. We've got a vision
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  Speaker 1: through our Affordability Agenda. The President has laid out a
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  Speaker 1: number of items that Congress can tackle. I think House
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  Speaker 1: and Senate leadership both understand the importance. But it's a
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  Speaker 1: matter of actually getting those respective caucuses into DC, into
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  Speaker 1: action and focused on a shared vision, or it really
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  Speaker 1: truly could be a disaster this November.
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  Speaker 2: Yes, and that's what's got me down, you know, on
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  Speaker 2: the heels of this CNN poll that just came out.
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  Speaker 2: I believe yesterday Democrats are well doing pretty poorly in
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  Speaker 2: terms of perception. Only twenty eight percent of Americans have
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  Speaker 2: a favorable view of the Democrat Party, which you think
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  Speaker 2: will good, that's right, but they only have a thirty
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  Speaker 2: two percent favorable view of Republicans, so the margin is
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  Speaker 2: pretty slim there. So I just I hate the idea
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  Speaker 2: that this moment in time, that this in you know,
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  Speaker 2: the price of gas for example, that we're living right
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  Speaker 2: now at this moment in time, which we know is
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  Speaker 2: going to resolve itself at some point, that that could
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  Speaker 2: be the defining moment in November in the election, when
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  Speaker 2: there is such a vast cavern of difference cosmid difference
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  Speaker 2: between the Republicans and Democrats. I mean, Democrats still run
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  Speaker 2: on the same woke playbook, you know, diversity, equity, inclusion,
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  Speaker 2: LGBTQ plus issues, higher taxation, expanding Medicare, medicaid, making it
• 11:32
  Speaker 2: more available to illegal immigrants and not wanting to evict
• 11:34
  Speaker 2: you know, criminal illegal immigrants. This is all they're about.
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  Speaker 1: It.
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  Speaker 2: Every single one of the issues I just mentioned are
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  Speaker 2: eighty twenty issues with most of Americans, which tould suggest,
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  Speaker 2: why would you vote for the Democrats just because, oh
• 11:46
  Speaker 2: damn it, I paid five bucks a gown for gas yesterday?
• 11:50
  Speaker 1: Well get you no voters, God love them, they're the
• 11:53
  Speaker 1: attention's been there is very short, right, and you know,
• 11:56
  Speaker 1: when you're in the minority, you don't actually have to lead.
• 11:58
  Speaker 1: It's the benefit of being in the mind minority. Those
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  Speaker 1: Democrats are right now. And so you know, you'd get
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  Speaker 1: folks like Shared Brown who have the freedom, quite frankly,
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  Speaker 1: to run around the state saying whatever they want to
• 12:08
  Speaker 1: say and positioning themselves as semi moderate, you know, common
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  Speaker 1: sense man of the people. And we know who Shared
• 12:13
  Speaker 1: run as anything but that right. And so the task
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: right is to go out and actually make sure though,
• 12:18
  Speaker 1: because it's not enough to just say this guy is
• 12:20
  Speaker 1: a phony. You actually got to provide a counter vision,
• 12:22
  Speaker 1: a positive vision that'll you know, win the voter over.
• 12:25
  Speaker 1: And that's that's the task at hand. But you know,
• 12:27
  Speaker 1: the biggest favor that Congress can do, that Republicans on
• 12:31
  Speaker 1: a national level can do for the grassroots folks, and
• 12:33
  Speaker 1: to help secure this majority for the last two years
• 12:35
  Speaker 1: of President Trump's term would be to get things on
• 12:39
  Speaker 1: track right, get DHS funded, open the government, finally, get
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: that Speed Act done so we can actually get energy
• 12:45
  Speaker 1: permitting moving once again in this country, and you know,
• 12:48
  Speaker 1: avoid finding themselves in situations like we find ourselves in
• 12:52
  Speaker 1: Iran right now, where again you've got a lot of voters,
• 12:55
  Speaker 1: a lot of voters scratching their heads saying this. You know,
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  Speaker 1: this isn't what I voted for. I don't know why
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  Speaker 1: we're why we're entirely involved here, and you know, because
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  Speaker 1: at the end of the day, what they care about
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  Speaker 1: is affordability. Brian, and I don't say all this on
• 13:07
  Speaker 1: the air to you know, be a damper or a
• 13:09
  Speaker 1: Debbie Downer. So, I mean, there's we're talking to folks
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  Speaker 1: at the doors, and there's a real there's a potential
• 13:15
  Speaker 1: catastrophe coming down the line if Republicans nationally don't get
• 13:18
  Speaker 1: on the right track and start focusing on the things
• 13:20
  Speaker 1: that voters care about.
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  Speaker 2: It's affordability, right exactly, And that's why we need listeners
• 13:24
  Speaker 2: to help out. We're working with AFP Action at Ohio.
• 13:26
  Speaker 2: How do we do that?
• 13:27
  Speaker 1: Donovan O'Neill well for AFP Action, of course, go to
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  Speaker 1: AFP action dot com. That's how you can get involved
• 13:34
  Speaker 1: on that race to help re elect John Houston to
• 13:37
  Speaker 1: the US Senate and protect this seat and the Republican
• 13:39
  Speaker 1: majority in Washington. But if you want to help at
• 13:41
  Speaker 1: the state level and a lot of a number of
• 13:43
  Speaker 1: things that AFP Ohio is doing, you can, Goys, go
• 13:45
  Speaker 1: to Buckeye Blueprint dot com.
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  Speaker 2: There's your websites. Get involved a little or a lot.
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  Speaker 2: Everybody could use your help so we can save ourselves
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  Speaker 2: from what a lot of people are saying is inevitable,
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  Speaker 2: which is the Democrats taken over control of Congress in November,
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  Speaker 2: and that scares the crap out of me.