Latest / The 47 Morning Update with Ben Ferguson / Barnstorming the Country—the Most Consequential Midterms of our Lifetimes
Transcript
- 0:00Speaker 1: Welcome.
- 0:00Speaker 2: It is Verdict with Senator Ted Cruz, Ben Ferguson with
- 0:03Speaker 2: you as well. And it's nice to have you with
- 0:05Speaker 2: us listening on radio stations all over the country. We
- 0:08Speaker 2: are just days away now from Election Day, Senator, and
- 0:11Speaker 2: you have been barnstorming the country. We've got a lot
- 0:14Speaker 2: to talk about.
- 0:15Speaker 1: Well, the election is just a few days away. And
- 0:18Speaker 1: all across the country, there are Senate races that are
- 0:20Speaker 1: incredibly close. There are eight to 10 Senate races across
- 0:25Speaker 1: the country that are basically tied. They're within the margin
- 0:28Speaker 1: of error. If we have a good night on election day,
- 0:32Speaker 1: we could have a fantastic result. We could end up
- 0:35Speaker 1: with 53 Republicans in the Senate. We could end up
- 0:38Speaker 1: growing our majority in the Senate. We could end up
- 0:40Speaker 1: at 54, 55. If we have a bad day, if
- 0:45Speaker 1: those eight to 10 races we lose, we could wake
- 0:48Speaker 1: up the day after election day instead of 53 Republicans
- 0:52Speaker 1: with 45. That big a delta is at play. Now
- 0:57Speaker 1: in the last several days, I have been all over
- 1:00Speaker 1: the country. I've been campaigning in Georgia, in Texas, in
- 1:04Speaker 1: South Carolina, in North Carolina, in Michigan, in Iowa, in Kansas.
- 1:10Speaker 1: I've been on the ground campaigning with candidates in every
- 1:13Speaker 1: one of those states. I want to break down what
- 1:16Speaker 1: is happening in those states, what to expect, and what
- 1:18Speaker 1: we need to do to ensure that we do not
- 1:22Speaker 1: lose the battle for the heart and soul of our nation.
- 1:25Speaker 2: It really is going to be intense, and we're going
- 1:27Speaker 2: to break down each of these states so that people
- 1:29Speaker 2: understand kind of where we are and what it looks like.
- 1:31Speaker 2: But before we get to that, if you have kids
- 1:34Speaker 2: or grandkids, one of the most important things you can
- 1:36Speaker 2: teach them is about helping others. Well, right now, somewhere
- 1:39Speaker 2: in the world, there's a child that's waiting, not waiting
- 1:42Speaker 2: for a birthday, not waiting for Christmas, but waiting for
- 1:45Speaker 2: someone to choose them. That is what Compassion International does
- 1:49Speaker 2: every single day. And I can tell you, as I
- 1:51Speaker 2: sponsor a child there, it is truly amazing. They connect
- 1:55Speaker 2: children living in poverty, extreme poverty, with someone who will
- 1:58Speaker 2: know their name, who will pray for them, who will
- 2:00Speaker 2: encourage them, and help provide the food, medical care, education,
- 2:06Speaker 2: and hope they need through a local church. That's key,
- 2:09Speaker 2: the local church. Now, this year, Compassion is expanding into
- 2:13Speaker 2: four new countries, Malawi, Zambia, Cambodia, and Myanmar, meaning there
- 2:18Speaker 2: are thousands of children that are being reached for the
- 2:21Speaker 2: very first time. Now, you can have a difference, and
- 2:24Speaker 2: you can teach your kids and grandkids about what it
- 2:26Speaker 2: means to help others. For just $ 43 a month, you
- 2:30Speaker 2: can be the reason one child stops waiting. So sponsor
- 2:34Speaker 2: a child today at Compassion.com. That's Compassion.com. All right, Senator,
- 2:40Speaker 2: so let's go back to the campaign trail and walk
- 2:43Speaker 2: us through it. Tell us what's happening. What does momentum
- 2:46Speaker 2: feel like? And what is your gut about where we
- 2:48Speaker 2: are right now in these closing days?
- 2:53Speaker 1: Well, overall, I am deeply, deeply worried. And so my
- 2:57Speaker 1: message to everyone listening, what we're seeing across the country
- 3:01Speaker 1: is massive Democrat turnout. Democrats are showing up. They are energized.
- 3:07Speaker 1: They hate, hate, hate Donald Trump. And I don't want
- 3:12Speaker 1: to bury the lead. I want to start with the
- 3:13Speaker 1: bad news right now. If the election were over today,
- 3:17Speaker 1: if just the early votes that have been cast so
- 3:20Speaker 1: far were counted, Republicans would lose massively. It would not
- 3:25Speaker 1: be close. We would lose both the House and Senate.
- 3:28Speaker 1: It would be a bloodbath. Now, the good news is
- 3:32Speaker 1: there are Republican votes out there to turn that around,
- 3:34Speaker 1: and here's how you assess elections. You often look, you
- 3:39Speaker 1: look at past voters, and you look at, typically the
- 3:42Speaker 1: way you do it is you look at what are
- 3:43Speaker 1: called 1Rs, 2Rs, 3Rs, and 4Rs. And those are voters
- 3:48Speaker 1: who you look at the last four partisan elections, and
- 3:51Speaker 1: a 4R is someone who has voted in four of
- 3:54Speaker 1: four Republican primaries. So a 4R is a reliable Republican voter.
- 3:58Speaker 1: There's someone that you can count on them. A 3R, obviously,
- 4:02Speaker 1: is someone who's voted in three of the last four,
- 4:04Speaker 1: a 2R, two, and a 1R, one. And by the way,
- 4:07Speaker 1: you do the same thing on the Democrat side. What
- 4:10Speaker 1: we have seen to date is four Ds. The reliable
- 4:15Speaker 1: Democrat voters are showing up in massive numbers. They're stalwarts.
- 4:22Speaker 1: are showing up enormously. That's why I say, if the
- 4:26Speaker 1: election were over today, it would be really, really bad. Now,
- 4:30Speaker 1: we've got a lot of 4Rs, but at least so far,
- 4:35Speaker 1: our 4Rs are not showing up. Our turnout among 4Rs
- 4:38Speaker 1: is much, much lower than the turnout among the stalwart Democrats. Now,
- 4:45Speaker 1: the good news is, in most of these states, if
- 4:47Speaker 1: you do the math, There are more Republicans than Democrats.
- 4:51Speaker 1: So if you add our four R's and three R's
- 4:52Speaker 1: and two R's and one R's together, they outnumber the
- 4:56Speaker 1: Democrat primary field. And we're not seeing a ton of
- 4:59Speaker 1: new voters. It's primarily massive Democrat turnout among their hardcore
- 5:04Speaker 1: passionate people. Now, there is a skew historically. Republicans tend
- 5:10Speaker 1: to be less likely to vote early and more likely
- 5:13Speaker 1: to vote on Election Day. So normally Republicans have a
- 5:17Speaker 1: heavier turnout on Election Day. That being said, the imbalance
- 5:21Speaker 1: is really, really big. So I want to speak. This
- 5:24Speaker 1: podcast is being heard in all 50 states. It's being
- 5:28Speaker 1: heard as a podcast, and we're also on the radio
- 5:31Speaker 1: on 240 stations all across the country. So millions of
- 5:34Speaker 1: Americans are listening to this right now. I want to
- 5:37Speaker 1: ask you, I want to just about beg and plead,
- 5:42Speaker 1: if you have not voted, if it's still early vote
- 5:45Speaker 1: in your state, come out and early vote. If not,
- 5:48Speaker 1: the election day, It's Tuesday. No matter what is going on,
- 5:54Speaker 1: if it's rain or snow or a pack of wild
- 5:59Speaker 1: zombies descending on your town, please, please, please show up
- 6:06Speaker 1: and vote. If it's zombies, bring a gun. But show
- 6:09Speaker 1: up and vote because we need conservatives. We need independents.
- 6:18Speaker 1: We need libertarians. We just need common sense, regular voters
- 6:22Speaker 1: to show up because right now the crazies are dominating
- 6:26Speaker 1: the turnout. It is really, really strong. And look, you
- 6:30Speaker 1: can understand why. If you're hard left, what motivates you
- 6:35Speaker 1: right now? You hate with all of your heart Donald Trump.
- 6:42Speaker 1: And hate is a powerful motivator. Yeah, it is. Hate
- 6:45Speaker 1: gets people to show up, gets people to work, gets
- 6:49Speaker 1: people to give money gets people to encourage others to vote,
- 6:53Speaker 1: and the left is energized and they're excited. They see
- 6:56Speaker 1: an opportunity to fundamentally turn this country, to elect radicals.
- 7:01Speaker 1: And in many of these candidates, we're looking at open
- 7:05Speaker 1: communists and jihadists, Islamists. It is dangerous what we are facing.
- 7:12Speaker 1: And on the right, one of the problems of being
- 7:14Speaker 1: in power, we have a Republican in the White House,
- 7:17Speaker 1: a Republican Senate, Republican House, It's easy to be complacent.
- 7:20Speaker 1: It's easy to be like, well, we didn't do this,
- 7:23Speaker 1: we didn't do that. And there's a fundamental problem. Let's
- 7:26Speaker 1: talk about Texas, for example. By the way, Texas is
- 7:29Speaker 1: excruciatingly close. Understand, we could lose Texas. Let me repeat that.
- 7:34Speaker 1: We could lose Texas. And by the way, not just
- 7:36Speaker 1: the Senate race. We could lose every single statewide race
- 7:40Speaker 1: in Texas. That's how close these numbers are. Now, some conservatives,
- 7:45Speaker 1: they say, I don't trust the polls. The polls are
- 7:47Speaker 1: all wrong. Well, let me tell you that there is
- 7:50Speaker 1: a bias in the polls. They do skew left. But
- 7:53Speaker 1: I can tell you, having run a lot of campaigns,
- 7:56Speaker 1: have examined a lot of numbers, these data are not fake.
- 8:02Speaker 1: The Democrats are massively out turning out the Republicans. We
- 8:08Speaker 1: got to fix that. And I don't want to wake
- 8:11Speaker 1: up in a world where Texas is all blue, where
- 8:15Speaker 1: we've lost every statewide race. where the Democrats have a
- 8:19Speaker 1: massive majority in the Senate, a massive majority in the House.
- 8:22Speaker 1: And once that happens, there's no turning back. It's not
- 8:27Speaker 1: like the day after Election Day, you say, oh, no,
- 8:30Speaker 1: I didn't know that was happening. Maybe I should have
- 8:33Speaker 1: showed up. So I'm pleading with you, show up and vote.
- 8:37Speaker 1: It matters. This is the most important midterms, I believe,
- 8:40Speaker 1: of our lifetimes.
- 8:43Speaker 2: Senator, you said something a moment ago that I want
- 8:44Speaker 2: to go back to, and I think it's a really
- 8:46Speaker 2: important point. The voter turnout from the radical left, the
- 8:50Speaker 2: Democratic socialists, the Marxists, the communists, it is really, I think, concerning.
- 8:58Speaker 2: We're seeing the early voting numbers that have come out,
- 9:01Speaker 2: and you can kind of see who's voting, Republicans or Democrats.
- 9:04Speaker 2: The early voting numbers in Texas are very concerning. There's
- 9:07Speaker 2: several days left. early on that the Democrats were just
- 9:11Speaker 2: straight up beating Republican turnout. We've seen that trend that
- 9:14Speaker 2: has continued. And a lot of times we'll see those
- 9:16Speaker 2: numbers pick up on the weekend. I was talking to
- 9:18Speaker 2: one that said, hey, the weekend numbers did not give
- 9:20Speaker 2: us the gains that we needed or we thought we
- 9:23Speaker 2: were going to have in past elections. And that is
- 9:27Speaker 2: incredibly concerning, which is why you're explaining to people right now,
- 9:30Speaker 2: you've got to get out and vote.
- 9:32Speaker 1: Yeah. And here's the good news. Because the Democrat, the hardcore,
- 9:37Speaker 1: the 4Ds and the 3Ds are voting in such big numbers,
- 9:40Speaker 1: most of that pool has been exhausted. Most of the
- 9:44Speaker 1: loyal partisan Democrats have voted already. That means on election day,
- 9:48Speaker 1: they have a relatively small pool of passionate Democrats to
- 9:51Speaker 1: draw from. They may bring out some new voters, but
- 9:54Speaker 1: their hardcore supporters, almost all of them have already voted.
- 9:58Speaker 1: On the Republican side, some of our hardcore supporters have voted,
- 10:02Speaker 1: but many, most of the four R's and three R's
- 10:06Speaker 1: have not yet voted. As I said, historically, Republicans, many
- 10:11Speaker 1: Republicans prefer voting on election day you know, I always
- 10:15Speaker 1: vote early in Texas. It's pretty easy, easy to vote early.
- 10:17Speaker 1: You vote in person. It's, you go to the ballot
- 10:20Speaker 1: just like you would do an election day. Usually the
- 10:23Speaker 1: lines are, are shorter. You can do it pretty quickly.
- 10:25Speaker 1: And so we have two weeks of early voting. I
- 10:27Speaker 1: voted on, I think the second day voting was open.
- 10:29Speaker 1: So I've already cast my vote. Uh, but I'll tell
- 10:32Speaker 1: you when I showed up, there was a huge line
- 10:35Speaker 1: over an hour long line. And, and at least from
- 10:38Speaker 1: visual appearance, it, it looked like a pretty Democrat turnout. Um,
- 10:43Speaker 1: That's who was showing up early. That means we've got
- 10:46Speaker 1: a big pool. We've got three R's and four R's,
- 10:50Speaker 1: hardcore Republicans that are out there who haven't voted yet.
- 10:53Speaker 1: And the question is, every campaign, and I've been, I'm
- 10:57Speaker 1: going to walk you through each of the states I've
- 10:58Speaker 1: been in, but the question every single campaign is asking is,
- 11:02Speaker 1: are those voters going to show up? If our people
- 11:06Speaker 1: show up, we'll do fine. But if they stay home,
- 11:09Speaker 1: it is Katie bar the door, A bloodbath. And we
- 11:15Speaker 1: don't know. And many of the people who have stayed
- 11:17Speaker 1: home so far have been the rural voters, the farmers
- 11:19Speaker 1: and ranchers. And look, let's take Texas. Texas, you've got
- 11:24Speaker 1: West Texas, you've got East Texas. They are very, very conservative.
- 11:28Speaker 1: They tend historically to support Donald Trump at about a
- 11:31Speaker 1: rate of 70 to 30. If they show up in
- 11:34Speaker 1: big numbers, there are a lot of Republican votes in
- 11:37Speaker 1: West Texas and East Texas. But if they stay home
- 11:40Speaker 1: and you've just got the inner cities and Houston and
- 11:43Speaker 1: Dallas and Austin voting, well, then we are a very
- 11:46Speaker 1: blue state because those parts of the state are quite
- 11:49Speaker 1: blue and you need the rest of the state to
- 11:51Speaker 1: counterbalance it. And so the question every campaign is asking is,
- 11:56Speaker 1: are our people going to show up on election day
- 12:00Speaker 1: or are they going to say, I don't like this,
- 12:02Speaker 1: I don't like that? And look, there are all sorts
- 12:04Speaker 1: of challenges across the country. There are some conservatives who
- 12:08Speaker 1: are frustrated that we haven't passed the Save America Act. Look,
- 12:11Speaker 1: I'm frustrated we haven't passed the Save America Act. I'm
- 12:13Speaker 1: an original sponsor of it. I've been fighting tooth and nail.
- 12:16Speaker 1: We haven't had the numbers. We haven't been able to
- 12:19Speaker 1: get to 50. That is a simple math problem.
- 12:23Speaker 2: Yeah, remind them why we can't get to 50. There
- 12:26Speaker 2: are some disgruntled senators that are about to just be gone.
- 12:29Speaker 2: That's what's part.
- 12:29Speaker 1: Of what's been holding us up. Yeah, listen, listen. we
- 12:33Speaker 1: have 53 Republicans in the Senate and there are anywhere
- 12:36Speaker 1: from four to six Republicans who are no. And there
- 12:38Speaker 1: are several Republicans who have been beaten in primaries, who
- 12:41Speaker 1: are unhappy about it, who are not coming back to
- 12:43Speaker 1: the Senate, and who frankly don't really care what President
- 12:47Speaker 1: Trump says to them. And it's been a math problem.
- 12:49Speaker 1: I don't like it, but I don't have the ability
- 12:52Speaker 1: to turn 49 into 50. That at the end of
- 12:55Speaker 1: the day, there have been senators who have been hard-nosed.
- 12:58Speaker 1: So And by the way, if you want to pass
- 13:00Speaker 1: the Save America Act, you know the number one way
- 13:02Speaker 1: to guarantee it never, ever passes into law? Stay home
- 13:06Speaker 1: on Election Day and give us a 55-45 Democrat Senate.
- 13:11Speaker 1: And not only will you not get the Save America Act,
- 13:14Speaker 1: but you will get radicals who end the filibuster who
- 13:17Speaker 1: do the anti-Save America Act, who pass federal legislation eliminating...
- 13:23Speaker 1: Every election integrity law in the country, an outlawing photo ID.
- 13:27Speaker 1: And you might say, okay, Ted, that's too extreme. They'd
- 13:29Speaker 1: never do that. That is a bill that is in
- 13:33Speaker 1: every Congress for the last six years, the first bill
- 13:37Speaker 1: that Chuck Schumer files. It is S-1. The way they
- 13:39Speaker 1: number Senate bills, they number them in order. S-1 is
- 13:43Speaker 1: the first Senate bill filed. Every Democrat supports it. So
- 13:48Speaker 1: if you think Save America Acts.
- 13:51Speaker 2: Matters....
- 13:53Speaker 1: Then the single worst thing you could do is stay
- 13:58Speaker 1: home because you're mad. Because if you give Democrats control,
- 14:01Speaker 1: they will change the law so that not only do
- 14:03Speaker 1: we not pass Save America, but the federal government strikes down.
- 14:07Speaker 1: In Texas, for example, we have photo ID. The Democrats
- 14:11Speaker 1: want to make that illegal. And so the stakes of
- 14:14Speaker 1: that are enormous. But in Texas, part of what's complicated
- 14:17Speaker 1: is conservatives are grumpy about that. But moderates are grumpy
- 14:22Speaker 1: because we had a contentious primary and Ken Paxton beat
- 14:24Speaker 1: John Cornyn. And more moderate voters supported John Cornyn. And
- 14:28Speaker 1: there's some moderates that are grumpy about it that say, OK,
- 14:30Speaker 1: my candidate didn't win. And listen, I stand out of
- 14:33Speaker 1: the primary. I'm friends with both of them. I'm friends
- 14:35Speaker 1: with Ken Paxton. I'm friends with John Cornyn. I've worked
- 14:38Speaker 1: with both of them for more than a decade. But
- 14:41Speaker 1: once the primary was over, and to be clear, Paxton
- 14:44Speaker 1: won by 28 points. So the people that are like, oh,
- 14:47Speaker 1: I don't like that outcome. This was not close. The
- 14:51Speaker 1: voters spoke resoundingly. And the challenge is there's some moderates
- 14:56Speaker 1: that are like, okay, I don't like the guy that won.
- 14:59Speaker 1: I don't like that my guy lost. So I'm going
- 15:02Speaker 1: to stay home. Or so I'm not going to vote
- 15:04Speaker 1: in the Senate race. Or so maybe even I'm going
- 15:05Speaker 1: to vote for the Democrat. And you know what? That
- 15:09Speaker 1: is how you take our state of Texas and you
- 15:13Speaker 1: light it on fire. You will not like what happens
- 15:17Speaker 1: to Texas if we become a bright blue state. And
- 15:20Speaker 1: I'll tell you this, if we adopt the policies of California,
- 15:26Speaker 1: we will end up with the outcomes of California. When
- 15:30Speaker 1: I was up campaigning in Michigan, one of the Republicans
- 15:32Speaker 1: running there said, you know, part of me kind of
- 15:34Speaker 1: hopes that you guys blow yourself up in Texas and
- 15:37Speaker 1: turn all blue because then everyone will flee Texas and
- 15:39Speaker 1: come to Michigan. We can create jobs here instead of
- 15:41Speaker 1: you're taking all our jobs and taking people from Michigan.
- 15:45Speaker 1: He was sort of joking, but not really. Those are
- 15:48Speaker 1: the stakes, so do not stay home. Come out and vote.
- 15:51Speaker 2: All right, before we get to more of that, I
- 15:53Speaker 2: want to take a moment. I want to talk to
- 15:54Speaker 2: you real quick about Regent University and the incredible work
- 15:57Speaker 2: that they are doing. Somewhere along the way, we got
- 16:00Speaker 2: the idea that a serious education and a strong Christian
- 16:04Speaker 2: faith have to live in two different worlds. They don't.
- 16:07Speaker 2: At Regent University, faith isn't an afterthought. It's at the
- 16:11Speaker 2: heart of the education. Students are challenged to think deeply,
- 16:14Speaker 2: pursue excellence, and see their education through a Christian worldview.
- 16:19Speaker 2: And make no mistake, Region is serious about academics. With
- 16:23Speaker 2: more than 150 areas of study, Region has earned national
- 16:26Speaker 2: recognition for academic excellence. Because a great education shouldn't just
- 16:31Speaker 2: prepare you to make a living. It should prepare you
- 16:33Speaker 2: to make a difference. Plus, you can get the same
- 16:36Speaker 2: region education online. Learn from wherever you are on a
- 16:41Speaker 2: schedule that works around your life. Getting started is easy.
- 16:45Speaker 2: Just fill out a simple online form to request information
- 16:48Speaker 2: and connect with an admissions counselor who will answer all
- 16:52Speaker 2: your questions about degrees, online programs, financial aid, and so
- 16:56Speaker 2: much more. Go to regent.edu. That's regent.edu. Exceptional academics, flexible
- 17:04Speaker 2: online learning, and unapologetically Christian values. Regent University, Christian leadership
- 17:10Speaker 2: to change the world. All right, Senator, so let's talk
- 17:13Speaker 2: about the momentum side of things and walk us through
- 17:16Speaker 2: where all you've been. You're one of those who campaigned
- 17:20Speaker 2: a lot. I believe you can tell through enthusiasm some
- 17:25Speaker 2: of the X factors at the very end. Is there
- 17:28Speaker 2: real enthusiasm? Are the crowds changing? Are they getting bigger?
- 17:31Speaker 2: Are they getting smaller? What were you seeing on the
- 17:34Speaker 2: campaign trail? And walk us through it. Sure.
- 17:37Speaker 1: So I started this week in Georgia. and we did
- 17:39Speaker 1: a big rally with Rick Jackson. Rick Jackson is running
- 17:42Speaker 1: for governor of Georgia. Rick is someone who I endorsed
- 17:45Speaker 1: in the primary. It was a very contentious primary, and
- 17:47Speaker 1: Rick won, and I think he was the right candidate
- 17:50Speaker 1: to win. Rick is a candidate who really impresses me.
- 17:53Speaker 1: He inspires me. His personal story is remarkable. So Rick
- 18:00Speaker 1: was born into a home with an absent father. He
- 18:02Speaker 1: never knew his father. His mother struggled with alcoholism. He
- 18:07Speaker 1: grew up in the projects in Atlanta, really rough, massive poverty.
- 18:12Speaker 1: And at a very early age, he found himself in
- 18:15Speaker 1: foster care. And he went to five different foster homes.
- 18:21Speaker 1: Every disadvantage Rick Jackson had. He ended up coming out
- 18:25Speaker 1: of foster care and building a business. He has now
- 18:29Speaker 1: built a multi-billion dollar business, an incredibly successful business in Georgia.
- 18:34Speaker 1: He employs thousands upon thousands of Georgians And if you
- 18:39Speaker 1: look at his legacy, not only has he had incredible
- 18:41Speaker 1: business success, but he is also, he is a Christian,
- 18:47Speaker 1: he is a devout believer, and he has a sense
- 18:50Speaker 1: of gratitude. He recognizes that he's been able to overcome
- 18:54Speaker 1: great obstacles with God's love and God's grace, and so
- 18:58Speaker 1: he's devoted enormous time and energy to giving back, and
- 19:01Speaker 1: in particular, he has a heart for foster kids. And
- 19:05Speaker 1: so he has, over the years... sponsored over 2,500 foster
- 19:10Speaker 1: kids and helped them find foster families. More than 400
- 19:14Speaker 1: of them have been adopted. And these foster kids, he's
- 19:17Speaker 1: also provided in Georgia college scholarships for more than 800
- 19:23Speaker 1: of those foster kids at more than 80 colleges and
- 19:26Speaker 1: universities throughout Georgia. So these are kids often with parents
- 19:31Speaker 1: who are alcoholics or drug addicts, parents who are in prison,
- 19:37Speaker 1: parents who have all sorts of challenges. And these are
- 19:41Speaker 1: kids that are on their own that are thrown into
- 19:42Speaker 1: the foster care system. And so often the foster care system,
- 19:45Speaker 1: there's abuse, there's physical abuse, there's sexual abuse. There can
- 19:49Speaker 1: be enormous challenges. And Rick has a heart for these kids.
- 19:54Speaker 1: I'll tell you, we did a huge rally. There's real enthusiasm. Rick,
- 19:57Speaker 1: I think, has a real shot at winning the governor's race.
- 20:01Speaker 1: And the enthusiasm at the rally, I mean, I saw
- 20:04Speaker 1: multiple people came up who'd come through the foster care
- 20:07Speaker 1: system who just would come up and hug Rick, and
- 20:10Speaker 1: they'd hug him with tears in their eyes. Rick has
- 20:15Speaker 1: also founded orphanages in Iran, in China. He's founded and
- 20:20Speaker 1: he runs the only Christian orphanage in China. It's an
- 20:24Speaker 1: amazing story, and I'll tell you, the governor's race in Georgia,
- 20:28Speaker 1: it is right now a dead heat. The outcome is
- 20:31Speaker 1: likely to be either Rick wins by a point or two,
- 20:35Speaker 1: or he loses by a point or two. It's that close.
- 20:39Speaker 1: And his Democrat opponent, Keisha Lance Bottoms, was the mayor
- 20:43Speaker 1: of Atlanta. She was a terrible mayor. When she was mayor,
- 20:47Speaker 1: the murder rate skyrocketed to record highs. And she basically
- 20:52Speaker 1: sat by while Atlanta burned, while angry mobs took over Atlanta,
- 20:59Speaker 1: threatened innocent civilians, and she ordered the police to stand
- 21:02Speaker 1: down and not stop the violence. And her record was
- 21:06Speaker 1: so bad, she didn't run for re-election. But yet she
- 21:09Speaker 1: is basically tied with a successful businessman who's running on
- 21:13Speaker 1: a common sense platform. And right now, Brian Kemp, a Republican,
- 21:18Speaker 1: is the governor. He's had a very successful record. And
- 21:21Speaker 1: the question in Georgia is going to be, are you
- 21:23Speaker 1: going to continue with the success we're having? Are you
- 21:25Speaker 1: going to move to a failed mayor who's produced a
- 21:29Speaker 1: disastrous outcome? I got to say, if you're in Georgia,
- 21:33Speaker 1: don't just show up on Election Day. Get out. two, three,
- 21:36Speaker 1: four other people to show up, because this race, it
- 21:39Speaker 1: could come down. It would not surprise me to see
- 21:42Speaker 1: this governor's race decided by a couple thousand votes. That's
- 21:45Speaker 1: how close it is, and it really makes a difference
- 21:48Speaker 1: who wins this.
- 21:49Speaker 2: All right, Senator, so where did you go from there?
- 21:51Speaker 2: Let's walk through these state by state.
- 21:55Speaker 1: Yeah, the next state I went to was Texas, and
- 21:57Speaker 1: I joined President Trump in two massive rallies in Texas,
- 22:01Speaker 1: one in Corpus Christi, one in Lubbock, both with Ken Paxton.
- 22:05Speaker 1: We had thousands of thousands of people there. Corpus was
- 22:09Speaker 1: important in South Texas to turn people out, to energize them.
- 22:13Speaker 1: Lubbock was important also because West Texas, as I said,
- 22:16Speaker 1: is a lot of very conservative voters. Now look, West
- 22:20Speaker 1: Texas has not shown up at the numbers we need.
- 22:25Speaker 1: And so the rallies were great. People were energized. The
- 22:28Speaker 1: people in the stadium were on fire. But there are
- 22:31Speaker 1: a lot of other people who haven't shown up. And
- 22:33Speaker 1: so listen, I want to underscore We could lose Texas.
- 22:37Speaker 1: And I run into people all over the country like,
- 22:39Speaker 1: this is not real. We can't lose Texas. I'm telling you,
- 22:43Speaker 1: it is. I don't believe it will happen, but it
- 22:47Speaker 1: is a very, very real possibility. And I'll tell you this,
- 22:51Speaker 1: if conservatives, if just regular Texans stay home, we will
- 22:55Speaker 1: lose Texas. And by the way, not just the Senate race.
- 22:59Speaker 1: We are at very real risk of waking up The
- 23:02Speaker 1: day after the election and seeing every single statewide election
- 23:07Speaker 1: being Democrats. Seeing Texas suddenly be California in terms of
- 23:13Speaker 1: radical left-wing Democrats in charge of the state. And that's
- 23:17Speaker 1: not just a disaster for the 32 million people who
- 23:19Speaker 1: live in Texas. That's a disaster for the whole country.
- 23:21Speaker 1: Texas is our biggest and I immodestly think our most
- 23:25Speaker 1: important red state. If we allow it to be destroyed,
- 23:30Speaker 1: those consequences are disastrous.
- 23:33Speaker 2: Yeah, they really are. And you went from Texas, obviously,
- 23:35Speaker 2: back with the president on the plane, and then where
- 23:37Speaker 2: from there?
- 23:38Speaker 1: Went to South Carolina. I was campaigning with Darlene Graham.
- 23:41Speaker 1: Darlene is the sister of Lindsey Graham. Look, South Carolina
- 23:44Speaker 1: has been a reliably red state. I will tell you,
- 23:47Speaker 1: Darlene is in a neck-and-neck race. She is basically tied.
- 23:52Speaker 1: She is anywhere from one to two points up to
- 23:54Speaker 1: one to two points down. It could end up either way.
- 23:57Speaker 1: She could win that race. I think she will. But
- 24:00Speaker 1: she could lose that race. It is a very real risk.
- 24:03Speaker 1: One challenge is one of the candidates who ran against
- 24:06Speaker 1: her in the primary, a guy named Ralph Norman. I
- 24:07Speaker 1: like Ralph. He's a conservative. He has decided he's mad
- 24:12Speaker 1: that he lost the primary, and he's telling people, don't
- 24:14Speaker 1: vote for Darlene, vote for me. I'm really frustrated by that.
- 24:18Speaker 1: I think that's irresponsible. I think that's harmful. Because what
- 24:22Speaker 1: it will do is elect A left-wing radical, a candidate
- 24:26Speaker 1: named Annie Andrews, who is ostensibly a doctor, but you
- 24:30Speaker 1: know what she's been mostly? This will tick you off, Ben.
- 24:34Speaker 1: A gun control lobbyist. She's been paid hundreds of thousands
- 24:38Speaker 1: of dollars to lobby for gun control. South Carolina is
- 24:41Speaker 1: potentially on the verge of electing a left-wing radical who
- 24:46Speaker 1: supports the extreme transgender agenda and who wants to restrict,
- 24:51Speaker 1: if not take away, our Second Amendment rights. And yet,
- 24:55Speaker 1: because Republicans are divided, we could end up electing. And
- 24:58Speaker 1: I don't think that'll happen. But to the people of
- 25:00Speaker 1: South Carolina, I want to tell you this race matters.
- 25:03Speaker 1: And if you don't show up, it's a disaster for
- 25:06Speaker 1: South Carolina and for the country.
- 25:08Speaker 2: From there, there's also some very interesting races in North Carolina.
- 25:11Speaker 2: Let's talk about that.
- 25:13Speaker 1: Well, I campaigned with Michael Watley, who's the Senate nominee
- 25:17Speaker 1: in North Carolina. The North Carolina race is rough. The
- 25:20Speaker 1: polling has shown us down and down quite a bit.
- 25:23Speaker 1: And so it was a rally. We had great attendance
- 25:26Speaker 1: at the rally. We had enormous enthusiasm there. But you
- 25:29Speaker 1: can tell the people are beaten down when you see
- 25:31Speaker 1: polls of your candidate losing and losing by quite a bit.
- 25:34Speaker 1: That discourages you. I don't know if we will win
- 25:37Speaker 1: North Carolina. The polling is the roughest of these contested states.
- 25:43Speaker 1: But I went there to say, look, the media wants
- 25:46Speaker 1: you to give up hope. And I'll tell you this,
- 25:49Speaker 1: it's 100%. If you give up hope, we will lose.
- 25:52Speaker 1: That's the one way to ensure we lose. North Carolina,
- 25:55Speaker 1: President Trump has won it twice. We've got two Republican
- 25:58Speaker 1: senators there. We have the ability to elect Republicans in
- 26:01Speaker 1: North Carolina if we turn people out. And Michael Watley
- 26:04Speaker 1: is campaigning hard. He is fighting. And so I was
- 26:06Speaker 1: there on the ground telling people, listen, let's defy the media.
- 26:11Speaker 1: Let's defy what the polls are. Let's win North Carolina.
- 26:15Speaker 2: When you're traveling around these places and you see the
- 26:18Speaker 2: different states, different momentum, what has your takeaway been overall?
- 26:23Speaker 1: Look, it varies state by state. There's different enthusiasm. Alaska,
- 26:27Speaker 1: I was encouraged. I was in Alaska just a few
- 26:30Speaker 1: days earlier. There's real momentum on the ground. Look, in Alaska,
- 26:34Speaker 1: I traveled 1,100 miles in 24 hours. We flew in
- 26:36Speaker 1: a prop plane. that was literally held together by duct tape.
- 26:41Speaker 1: I mean, it was, which is, I love Alaska. I've
- 26:43Speaker 1: campaigned three different times in Alaska over the years, and
- 26:47Speaker 1: Dan Sullivan is an incredible friend. He's a great senator.
- 26:51Speaker 1: But there was momentum on the ground, but Alaska is
- 26:54Speaker 1: a very close race that it could come down to
- 26:57Speaker 1: the wire. Some states, it's surging. Other states, people are scared.
- 27:02Speaker 1: All across the country, the same question I hear from
- 27:05Speaker 1: every campaign, The far left is showing up. Are our
- 27:10Speaker 1: people going to show up? And that almost all comes
- 27:12Speaker 1: down to Election Day. And do the real principled conservatives,
- 27:16Speaker 1: do they show up and do they bring their friends
- 27:18Speaker 1: and family and others?
- 27:20Speaker 2: Yeah, before we get into more of that, the midterms,
- 27:23Speaker 2: they're here, folks. And the Democratic Socialists of America, they
- 27:26Speaker 2: won primaries across the country. Next, they're coming for Congress
- 27:30Speaker 2: and they're coming for you. If they win the midterms,
- 27:33Speaker 2: they'll defund the police. They've already said it. They'll reopen
- 27:36Speaker 2: our borders, and they'll force men into women's sports. All
- 27:39Speaker 2: of that is on their agenda. You are the last
- 27:42Speaker 2: line of defense, and GOPvotes.org is your partner in the fight.
- 27:47Speaker 2: So go to GOPvotes.org right now and make a plan
- 27:50Speaker 2: to vote early. Now, if you live in the critical
- 27:53Speaker 2: Senate battleground states of Maine or Ohio, early voting is
- 27:56Speaker 2: already underway starting this week. Democrats, they're energized and the
- 28:01Speaker 2: stakes have never been higher. We can't afford to have
- 28:04Speaker 2: people like AOC and her communist cronies running the show.
- 28:08Speaker 2: That's why I need you to make a plan to
- 28:10Speaker 2: vote early right now. Go to GOPvotes.org to find your
- 28:14Speaker 2: polling location, vote early, and stop the socialist takeover of America.
- 28:20Speaker 2: Paid for by the SLF PAC, not authorized by any
- 28:24Speaker 2: candidate or candidates committee. Senator, we're talking about the midterms.
- 28:28Speaker 2: You're all over the country, that is, and working your
- 28:32Speaker 2: tail off trying to help get Republicans elected. There's three
- 28:35Speaker 2: other states that we need to break down real quick
- 28:37Speaker 2: that you've been to, and let's do that.
- 28:41Speaker 1: Well, just a couple of days ago, I was in Michigan.
- 28:43Speaker 1: And I'll tell you, I'm encouraged by Michigan. Michigan is
- 28:46Speaker 1: a battleground state. Michigan's a swing state. Michigan voted for
- 28:50Speaker 1: Donald Trump, but right on the edge. It was very,
- 28:52Speaker 1: very close. Michigan right now has two Democrat senators. I
- 28:55Speaker 1: think it is our single best pickup opportunity in the country.
- 28:59Speaker 1: And I believe Michigan, along with Texas, are the two
- 29:02Speaker 1: most important Senate races in the entire country. And a
- 29:06Speaker 1: big part of the reason is the Democrat nominees in
- 29:09Speaker 1: those two states are the most radical Democrat nominees, not
- 29:12Speaker 1: only in the whole country. I think they may well
- 29:14Speaker 1: be the most radical Democrat nominees in history, and they're
- 29:17Speaker 1: both profoundly dangerous. James Tallarico in Texas, we've talked a
- 29:20Speaker 1: lot about how extreme and radical he is. We're at
- 29:23Speaker 1: real risk of his winning. We've got to stop that. Michigan,
- 29:27Speaker 1: you've got Abdul Al-Sayed. And by the way, if you
- 29:29Speaker 1: did not listen to Wednesday's podcast, Wednesday's podcast laid out
- 29:34Speaker 1: the objective evidence that is overwhelming that Abdul Al-Sayed has
- 29:42Speaker 1: for decades been a vocal and passionate supporter of the
- 29:45Speaker 1: Muslim Brotherhood. The Muslim Brotherhood is a terrorist organization that
- 29:49Speaker 1: has murdered tens of thousands of people, and the objective
- 29:53Speaker 1: evidence is compelling, and so Mike Rogers is the Republican nominee.
- 29:58Speaker 1: I think Mike is a really strong nominee, a really
- 30:00Speaker 1: strong candidate. He's an Army veteran. He served in the
- 30:03Speaker 1: FBI and in law enforcement. He represented Michigan for decades.
- 30:08Speaker 1: And the energy on the ground was palpable. And I'll
- 30:11Speaker 1: tell you, people are really frightened about, you know, my
- 30:14Speaker 1: nickname for Al-Sayed was the jihadi leprechaun because he's a
- 30:19Speaker 1: little bitty guy. And actually, as I joked, the Irish
- 30:23Speaker 1: American Society... issued a cease and desist order to ask
- 30:27Speaker 1: me to stop saying that. This guy, if Abdul Al-Sayed
- 30:34Speaker 1: is the next senator from Michigan, and understand that is
- 30:36Speaker 1: a very real possibility. This race is also, if not tied,
- 30:41Speaker 1: it's either plus one or two or minus one or two.
- 30:44Speaker 1: And the polls are all over the map, but they're
- 30:46Speaker 1: very close. If Abdul Al-Sayed is elected, It will move
- 30:51Speaker 1: the Democrat conference significantly to the left, and I've made
- 30:54Speaker 1: a prediction. If Abdul Al-Sayed is the next senator from Michigan,
- 31:00Speaker 1: I believe the Democrat nominee for president in 2028 will
- 31:04Speaker 1: be AOC. The knock against AOC in the Democrat primary
- 31:08Speaker 1: is she's too extreme to be elected in the general.
- 31:11Speaker 1: If Michigan, the quintessential swing state, elects an open communist
- 31:16Speaker 1: and Islamist, I think that argument gets blown out of
- 31:20Speaker 1: the water. And look, Republicans might say, okay, that's great.
- 31:23Speaker 1: If AOC is the nominee, we win. Listen, we are
- 31:26Speaker 1: such a divided country that if you think it is
- 31:29Speaker 1: impossible for AOC to win the general, you have not
- 31:32Speaker 1: been paying attention. New York City on 9-11, could anyone
- 31:36Speaker 1: have imagined that Zoran Mondami would be the mayor of
- 31:39Speaker 1: New York City? No. I don't want to see a
- 31:42Speaker 1: Democrat nominee who is a radical communist who hates America.
- 31:46Speaker 1: And so Michigan, I think, matters enormously. I think we're
- 31:49Speaker 1: going to win in Michigan. The momentum on the ground,
- 31:52Speaker 1: there was an enthusiasm on the ground in Michigan that
- 31:55Speaker 1: I actually think was greater than I felt in any
- 31:57Speaker 1: of the states I was campaigning in. So Michigan, I'm
- 32:00Speaker 1: bullish on. I feel good about that. From there, I
- 32:05Speaker 1: went to Iowa. And Iowa is an incredible state. Ashley
- 32:09Speaker 1: Henson is running for Senate there. I'm a big fan
- 32:11Speaker 1: of Ashley. I think she's a great Senate candidate. She's
- 32:15Speaker 1: a young mom. She's got two teenage boys at home.
- 32:18Speaker 1: She's a member of the House right now. She's represented Iowa.
- 32:22Speaker 1: She reflects Iowa values, common sense conservative values. Her Democrat opponent,
- 32:29Speaker 1: Josh Turek, has an extreme left-wing voting record. He's voted
- 32:35Speaker 1: repeatedly on immigration in favor of amnesty. He supports amnesty
- 32:40Speaker 1: for illegal aliens who are convicted of drunk driving, which
- 32:45Speaker 1: is just horrific. We were in a community where a
- 32:48Speaker 1: young woman, 21-year-old woman, just graduated from college, was killed
- 32:51Speaker 1: by a drunk driver who was an illegal alien who
- 32:55Speaker 1: had been convicted of drunk driving previously and been released.
- 32:58Speaker 1: And then he drunk drove again and killed this young woman.
- 33:03Speaker 1: He wants to grant amnesty because he thinks apparently drunk drivers,
- 33:07Speaker 1: if they're illegal... That's who we want in this country.
- 33:10Speaker 1: I don't even understand the reasoning behind that, but that's
- 33:12Speaker 1: who he is. And I'll tell you on the transgender agenda,
- 33:15Speaker 1: Josh Turek, he's voted in favor of men in girls' bathrooms,
- 33:20Speaker 1: in favor of boys in girls' sports. He's voted in
- 33:22Speaker 1: favor of government funding for transgender sex change surgeries for children. Now,
- 33:30Speaker 1: he's doing what James Tallarico has done. James Tallarico's voting
- 33:33Speaker 1: record is almost identical. But both of them are running
- 33:36Speaker 1: TV ads claiming to oppose everything they voted for. They're
- 33:39Speaker 1: trying to lie to the voters. I think Ashley Hinson
- 33:42Speaker 1: is going to win in Iowa also. But it is turnout, turnout, turnout,
- 33:46Speaker 1: because what we're seeing in Iowa, like everyone else, is
- 33:50Speaker 1: a huge turnout of the radical leftists. And the question is,
- 33:55Speaker 1: do the common sense Iowans turn out?
- 33:58Speaker 2: As we wrap this up, we've obviously gone state by state.
- 34:01Speaker 2: What is the closing message to voters that are sitting there?
- 34:04Speaker 2: Maybe listening right now, Senator, they're saying, you know what?
- 34:07Speaker 2: I just don't, I'm not that enthusiastic about where we are.
- 34:11Speaker 2: I think you got to explain what's at stake here
- 34:13Speaker 2: and why they should go out and vote.
- 34:17Speaker 1: Well, let me finish the last state on this run,
- 34:19Speaker 1: which is Kansas. So I'm in Kansas right now. I'm
- 34:21Speaker 1: in Wichita. We're going to do a big rally tomorrow morning.
- 34:24Speaker 1: Roger Marshall's the incumbent Republican Senator. Um, This is an
- 34:29Speaker 1: exceptionally close race. If you look at Republicans who have
- 34:32Speaker 1: a real possibility of potentially losing, Kansas is near the
- 34:36Speaker 1: top of the list. Now, I like Roger. He's a
- 34:38Speaker 1: good friend of mine. He's been a good senator. He's
- 34:40Speaker 1: a conservative. And yet, Kansas, you've got farmers who are unhappy.
- 34:45Speaker 1: They're unhappy because diesel prices are high. They're unhappy because
- 34:48Speaker 1: fertilizer price is high. They're just grumpy. And the Democrats
- 34:54Speaker 1: did a good job of candidate recruiting. They recruited a very,
- 34:57Speaker 1: very liberal pastor of a megachurch in Kansas City. Now,
- 35:02Speaker 1: he is just about as much of a whack job
- 35:06Speaker 1: as James Tallarico, who also is a seminarian. They both
- 35:10Speaker 1: use the sort of vestige of Christianity to cover extreme
- 35:16Speaker 1: left-wing views. But this liberal pastor has preached from the
- 35:21Speaker 1: pulpit that in heaven we won't just see Christians, we'll
- 35:26Speaker 1: see Jews and Muslims and people of all sorts of
- 35:28Speaker 1: different persuasions. It doesn't matter if you actually believe in
- 35:31Speaker 1: Jesus to whether you'll be saved. Now look, there are
- 35:36Speaker 1: differences in denominations. You know, baptism, you can believe, you
- 35:40Speaker 1: and I are both Baptist, you can believe in immersion
- 35:42Speaker 1: or you can believe in sprinkling. Those differences are okay.
- 35:45Speaker 1: I don't think those differences are the end of the
- 35:48Speaker 1: world one way or the other. There is nothing more
- 35:51Speaker 1: fundamental to Christianity than the understanding that Jesus is the
- 35:58Speaker 1: path to salvation. I am the way, the truth, and
- 36:00Speaker 1: the life. No man comes to the Father but by me.
- 36:02Speaker 1: That is what Jesus said. And you've got a pastor
- 36:06Speaker 1: who preaches against that, and yet this guy is tied
- 36:09Speaker 1: or maybe even leading. And so the question in Kansas,
- 36:14Speaker 1: in Iowa, in Michigan, in North Carolina, in South Carolina,
- 36:18Speaker 1: in Georgia— And in Texas is turnout, turnout, turnout. I'm
- 36:22Speaker 1: begging you, if you love America, if you love the Constitution,
- 36:25Speaker 1: if you don't want to see communists and Islamists taking
- 36:29Speaker 1: over the Democrat Party and taking over America, show up
- 36:32Speaker 1: and vote and bring everyone you know.
- 36:34Speaker 2: Amen to that. Don't forget we do this show as
- 36:36Speaker 2: a podcast three days a week. Download Verdict with Ted
- 36:38Speaker 2: Cruz wherever you get your podcasts. We'll obviously be breaking
- 36:42Speaker 2: down the election results for you all week long on Verdict,
- 36:45Speaker 2: and we'll see you there. Have a great night, and
- 36:47Speaker 2: don't forget, get out and vote.