Latest / The Orange Report with Kira Davis / Ep.64 Return California to Law & Order with Michael Gates

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Ep.64 Return California to Law & Order with Michael Gates · The Orange Report with Kira Davis

• speaker-0: Hey everybody, welcome to the show. Today I'm Kira Davis. Follow me everywhere. You know what to do. we are we are crashing into election day. So everything you see from me in October is going to be making sure that you have all the information about all the candidates possible. I had Herb Morgan on the other day. You guys loved Herb, so you're gonna love my next guest joining me again today, a friend to the show and a friend of mine as well. The candidate for attorney general, Michael Gates. Michael, it's really good to see you again. speaker-1: Good to be here. Thank you. Thank you speaker-0: you. I know you must be getting exhausted. I feel like everything is just, you know, now we are in this time where everything is starting to focus on the same point, right? November 3rd, getting to the end. How are you feeling right now? I know you've been running I mean, this is what, like almost a year you've been speaker-1: Yeah, since January. So things are going pretty well. I'm not afraid to say and share some inside baseball that about fifteen weeks ago, internal polling was showing that we were about eight points behind Rob Bonta, and Rob Bonta's our attorney general right now, the incumbent. I'm running against him. and then about six, seven weeks ago the polling was that I was trailing by five points. And then about a week and a half ago we got updated polling that shows we're trailing by about three points. So what that suggests, what that signifies is that we have a lot of momentum. The gap is closing rapidly and it has been over the past fifteen weeks. And just so the listeners know too, gaps right now are they're not significant. although if you're narrowing the gap, that is significant. And here's what I mean. So when in 2014, when I was running for city attorney of Huntington Beach, was which is an elected position, I had done similar polling. And about six weeks out from election day in 2014, I was trailing the incumbent, again, challenging an incumbent, I was trailing by five percentage points. And then on election day, I beat the incumbent by eight points back in 2014. Now, granted, like every election's different, every race is different. I'm not going to sit here and tell you that. This race is going to be exactly like that race. But what I am going to suggest to you is that where candidates have momentum like we have and where the gap is closing, certainly within single digits like we are, we have a very, very, very, very good chance of prevailing on election day. So, Kierate, answer your question. I I think we've done a remarkable job. I think we've done a tremendous outreach. There may be a lot of folks in your audience because they may be Republican or conservative who are saying, hey, I haven't really seen much of this guy's campaign. And I understand that. And the reason that we're focusing on other party preference, like no party preference in Democrats and even Latinos, is because they haven't heard from me and they aren't they're they they're they need to hear from the candidates. My Republican base is is voting for me already, and we know that from the June. primary results. So I got three point four million votes in the June primary, which is record setting and but I don't need to get into that. What I will tell you is the three point four million votes that I got in June in the primary signifies that I got every single Republican who turned out to vote in June voted for me. And then I got eight hundred thousand more votes from the NPPs or independents and then Democrats. So I have the Republican base relatively short up. So str as a matter of campaign strategy, You know, candidates normally don't spend money on outreach to people who are already voting for them. So if you haven't heard from me, don't don't take that or interpret that as a sign that we haven't run a good strong campaign. We actually have. in total voter outreach, dollars spent is going to be in excess of $1.2 million, reaching out to voters, the NPPs, those in the middle, the Latino community, those who are convertible votes, those who may impulsively vote for another party or another candidate. But if we can reach out to them and talk to them and and talk about the issues and what new leadership means to them and me, then we can convert those votes. So th that's where the dollars are being spent. We're like I said, we're doing a fantastic job. The polling suggests we're doing a fantastic job. So I'm very happy, Kira, with where we are right now. And going in the last four weeks, obviously we're raising money like crazy to actually spend more on social media, to spend more on radio, to spend more on text messaging. So we're doing very, very good. I like I like our side of the football, as they say. speaker-0: That's excellent. Well, you brought up the different you know, sectors of California that you've been focusing on in this general part of the campaign. I had the opportunity to be with you at the gas station in Carson last week. You were with Tito Ortiz, who is an old friend of yours. A lot of people are familiar with him. Great guy, by the way. and he was there and you guys were rallying at the gas station. The owner was kind enough to sponsor three dollar gas for the community members and he invited the campaign to join that effort. And when I was there, Michael, I have to say I saw so many people who entered that gas station had never even heard of the position of attorney general, didn't know what it was. I watched you talking to people and watch their faces go, I've never heard of this. I don't know what this is. And yeah, you know, I am concerned about that. I I thought that was such a what a valuable experience for a candidate, particularly a Republican candidate, not only for those people getting to, you know, meet a new political side and a new political issue, but also you got to hear from people that you're not necessarily traditionally hearing from When you're on the typical circuit, like say here in Orange County, what was give me your version of that experience? Did you hear any stories or talk to anybody that really like made an impact on you? What was your feelings about that? speaker-1: Yeah, so great question. I'm glad you were there. It was a a fun event, very, very successful. There was a lot of posts on social media, clips and videos of that event. So it sort of went viral a little bit, obviously raised awareness. That whole event was centered around raising awareness that we can have a safer California. So it was about making our community safe, raising awareness that if we have new leadership and we vote differently in November, that we can actually have a safer California. Just so you know and the audience knows. California is the second most dangerous state in the country. According to the two thousand twenty six Consumer Affairs Report that did studies on all fifty states, California ranks second highest in crime or second most dangerous and forty ninth in public safety. And so we have a terrible track record here in California, and it's largely because of our attorney general who is soft on crime, who does not work with our district attorneys and sheriffs on a regular daily basis like he should to make sure that we're safe in our streets and in our business districts. He literally is asleep at the switch. And so when I was out there speaking to people at the Chevron event in in LA, I got to talk to them about what they needed, what they wanted, what they wanted for their community in this election. And they all resoundingly said, look, we do want safety. So whether they were African American, Latino, like Asian, all of the people that I spoke to from all different stripes, from all different areas of LA, frankly, Carson, Compton, commerce, they were all saying, look, we really do prioritize safety, and we do really want somebody who's going to be a crime fighter and be serious about enforcing the law. So that was pretty consistent across the board. And I think we spoke to a lot of Democrats, a lot of independents, and a lot of Republicans, and they were all saying the same thing. Now everybody's got their other issues too. Some were concerned about election integrity and so on and so forth. But one common denomin d denominator, excuse me, is that people want public safety back in California. They want crime fighting back in California. They want criminals held accountable in California. And they want violent criminals and criminals off of our streets in our neighborhoods. So that's pretty consistent. And so and that's what I represent. I re- I'm the law and order candidate. I'm tough on crime. As you know, I made Huntington Beach one of the safest cities in the entire state of California. And and that's that's no small feat, right? Huntington Beach is the 23rd largest city in the entire state out of nearly 500 cities. With two hundred thousand residents and fifteen million visitors a year. So if there was ever a city with a sort of a composition that would have a potential for high crime, it could be Huntington Beach and yet we didn't let speaker-0: I to interrupt you, Michael, for just one second to make a point to the viewers. So I know that you guys think of Huntingdon Beach right now as this like really cool like surfer city, it's super safe. It's like all the Republican dorks live there or whatever. You know, that's what you guys think of it now. It wasn't that way before Michael and the city council got there. You know, really Michael was there before everybody else. And it so I wanted to point out, Michael, that change is possible in California. That to me that's the biggest story of your time in Huntington Beach is that if you focus and if you have a strategy and a plan and then you you gotta get people with integrity in there who are willing to take all the slings and arrows, people we actually can ch I know it seems like, my God, we cannot turn this thing around. We can. Michael Gates was actually a part of that in one of our very own cities. speaker-1: Yeah, you're absolutely right. And the way the state leadership works, because I I think a lot of people think the attorney general position doesn't even matter to me. It's in Sacramento, it's out of touch. Like what does it do for me here on the ground? And what I will tell you is this the attorney general is actually the top law enforcement officer in the state, ultimately responsible for public safety. The attorney general has purview over all of the sheriff's departments in the state of California, all of the district attorneys' offices in the state of California. So it's up to the attorney general to work with the sheriffs and the district attorneys on a daily basis. To ensure that there's consistent enforcement of all laws. And some folks may say, but what about the LADA Gascone? You know, he he was soft on crime and crime went up in in in LA because of him. That is actually Rob Bonta's fault. Rob Bonta was the attorney general at the time, and what he should have done is tell Gascone, you get tough on the law, like I want you to be tough on the law, which obviously Rob Bonta didn't want him to be tough on the law. But but it's it's up to Rob Bonta, the attorney general, to set the standard And it's up to Gascone to abide by that standard. And when the DA or district attorney does not abide by that standard set by the attorney general, the attorney general can reach down and prosecute those cases himself or herself. The AG can reach down into that county and prosecute those cases. And that's what I'm gonna do. So if I get resistant DAs like another George Gascone, I'm gonna sideline that DA and I'm gonna reach down and prosecute those cases myself. So Kara, to your point, n if you have a no exceptions, no excuses approach to law enforcement, and your goal, your aim is to make communities safe, come hell or high water, that you're gonna enforce the law aggressively and you're gonna send your prosecutors into court and not cut deals with the defense, but actually stand in front of judges and juries and demand maximum sentencing, maximum penalties to hold criminals accountable, you can reduce crime. And so my plan, my pitch To everyday Californians, is I am going to make the rest of California like I made Huntington Beach. We're going to make every city in the state of California as safe as we made Huntington Beach. I have done it in Huntington Beach. I will do it for the state of California. It is not for lack of resources. It is for lack of political will that we don't have public safety in California. It is because we have a philosophy dominating California that says soft on crime is better than being tough on crime. I'm going to change all that. I have a tough on crime philosophy. You see the fruits of it in Huntington Beach. I'm gonna bring that to the rest of California. And when we have law and order again in California, we're gonna have less suffering in California. And Kira, as you know, in Skid Row, for instance, just a f just as a for instance, and there are streets like this up and down the state of California. There are thousands of people suffering on the street. There are hundreds of people dying on the street, and there are even animals that are subject to cruelty on the streets because we have a lack of law and order, a lack of enforcement. I'm gonna turn all of that around. We're gonna reduce the suffering in California, reduce the victimization. And frankly, when you are tough on crime and it's we can use that as a deterrent, we actually have fewer criminals in the state of California. So it's the most compassionate thing to do is to enforce the law and be tough on crime so that you can prevent victimization, but also prevent criminalization. We do not want people to become criminals because we live in a crime-friendly society here in California. We want to make it a Hostile environment to crime in California by returning to law and order. speaker-0: You mentioned resources. You said, look, this is not a resource problem. We have the resource and I I just did my voter guide yesterday, Michael, and I was like looking at all of the different props on there and all of the money that they're asking us for. And I'm like, we don't need to give you any more of this money. I want to talk to you about the resources issue because one of my personal big issues, of course, crime and everything that's I'm with everybody else, crime affordability, but Personally, one of my big issues is all of the fraud. I have to tell you that it burns my puns to no end to watch, you know, conviction. No, thankfully these are s the charges, feds are bringing charges. We're starting to see this get rooted out, at least by the feds. And but I'm seeing, you know, five hundred million dollars fraud, ten million dollars, a billion dollars here in California. And I'm thinking about how I'm having to decide whether or not you know, I can make the tuition payment for my kid this month or, you know, or if the car payment's gonna be late and I'm doing well, you know, but even to do well, we're making these decisions month to month. It really angers me as a California voter. I mean, it really anchors me. Like it really upsets me. Like, this is not your money. How dare you come back to me and ask me for more of my hard earned money out of the mouths of my children while this is going on. So speak to that. I'm talking to you now not as an interviewer, but just as a really frustrated mom and taxpayer. Talk about that and what the attorney general what can you do for us on this? This is really getting me easy. speaker-1: Well, yeah, so it's prosecution, prosecution, prosecution. At the end of the day, we are looking at $425 billion of waste fraud and abuse. That's $425 billion of our taxpayer money that's lost to waste fraud and abuse. And in really it's all funneled through Sacramento. So Sacramento is ultimately responsible for the waste, fraud, and abuse. The $425 billion represents, ladies and gentlemen, $22,000 per taxpayer. So if you think to yourself, $425 billion, that sounds like a big number, but I don't know what that means. It means it's $22,000 out of your pocket. It's $22,000 per person, per taxpayer, out of your pocket. So it's it's a it's gobs of money. It's a huge amount of money. For some people, that's a whole year's wages. For other people, that's a half a year's wages. That is a lot of money. And Sacramento doesn't seem to care and hasn't seemed to care. Let me share something with you. We can credit Nick Shirley for going out and exposing the waste, fraud, and abuse and revealing it to the public sort of en masse, right? Publicly revealing that. But the state auditor's report that came out a few months ago sa suggested that we actually don't need or didn't need Nick Shirley. State leadership knew about the waste, fraud, and abuse for years and chose to do nothing about it. So that means Rob Bonta, our attorney general, has actually known about the waste, fraud and abuse. The mounting $425 billion for years and chose to do nothing about it. That's why I always say this guy was put into office by Newsom in 2021 by appointment. He wasn't subject to an election then. Rob Bonta was placed there as an appointee of Newsom to run cover for corruption, to run interference on truth and justice, including criminal justice. Rob Bonta is a bad actor. He does not have our best interest at heart. he's running from the law in his own right, believe it or not. He spent a half a million dollars on criminal defense attorneys. When the FBI came knocking at his door and wanted to ask him tough questions about bribery, pay to play and and other form speaker-0: Those were our tax dollars, am I correct? speaker-1: A hundred percent. And so this he is a bad actor. He does he's unfit for service in Sacramento. He anyone running from the law like Rob Monta is shouldn't be our top law enforcement officer. Anyone running from the law like Rob Monta is shouldn't be our top criminal prosecutor. This guy is anything but rule of law. He is running from the law. And so I guess my point to you, Kira, is this when I'm the attorney general, we're gonna have law and order back, and that means fighting the corruption, the waste, fraud, and abuse. I think by virtue of my election alone, a lot of these cockroaches are gonna scatter. A lot of the people who have their hand in the cookie jar and are stealing from taxpayers are gonna suddenly disappear. But I'll track them down. I will track them down and I will bring them to justice. We're gonna put people behind bars. We're not just gonna engage in these lengthy, protracted investigations that lead to nowhere. People are going to go to jail. My investigations are gonna be swift and diligent. People are gonna go to jail and I'm gonna use the criminal justice system to claw back that money and return it to the taxpayer. So whether it's crime, traditional crime that you think of, or the corruption where there might be white collar crime, I absolutely guarantee you that people are going to go to jail and justice will be served. I'm gonna go to Sacramento not to make friends. I know I'm gonna make plenty of enemies, but I'm gonna go there and and work hard and I'm gonna sleep well every night, knowing that I'm doing the work of everyday Californians, protecting them, advancing their interests, and bringing justice. speaker-0: You have a an event on Friday at LAX. You're gonna be there with Sonia Shaw, who is running for super state superintendent of public instruction. You're gonna be with there there with Sophia Laurie. We love Sophia, and you're gonna be addressing the CIF and the issue of boys and girls sports. You're a dad. you have athletes in your family. You you're a former athlete yourself. Of course, we mentioned Tito Ortiz. You guys used to wrestle together. tell us a little bit about because I know as a parent, particularly here in Orange County, this is a battle we've been fighting. it's why I ran for school board in 2022. speak a little bit to this issue. if you're talking to a mom like me who's looking at her daughter having to just swallow it and change in front of a boy in the locker room. Or I talked to another mom whose daughter started her period at school and told the teachers, hey, I don't want to use our bathroom because it's a shared bathroom now here in California. I'm not asking for any like you to do anything. I'm just asking, is there like a staff bathroom I can use to deal with my issue? And they said they said, no, we can offer you counseling. You know, how what do you say to that mom who gets that response to her? speaker-1: Yeah, it's so insulting and help is on the way. I as you know, this is not directly on point, but it gives you an idea that I've already sort of engaged in these battles for parental rights and for children. when I was city attorney of Huntington Beach, I challenged the state's relatively new law, A B nineteen fifty five. That's the new law that mandates that teachers keep secrets from parents with regard to their children's gender trans issues. And the point that I'm bringing up in by by way of this example is this. My lawsuit against the state of California prevailed. It prevailed on the Fourteenth Amendment that parents do actually in fact have constitutional rights to preserve the parent-child relationship and parent-child communication. And the state cannot interfere in that relationship based on the fourteenth amendment. I prevailed in that case and the Ninth Circuit recently just affirmed that decision in favor of Huntington Beach and against the state of California. The lead plaintiff in that lawsuit is the city of Huntington Beach. So that was my case. So I have done this before, gone to bat. gone to the mat against the state of California on for parental rights and to protect children. I'm gonna do the same when I'm attorney general. We're gonna make sure for starters that we're compliant with Title IX up and down the state of California. I am going to send a memo to every school district and every sports program in the state of California letting them know what Title IX is and what compliance looks like and what compliance doesn't look like. And if they are not compliant, they're going to have to get into compliance. And if they don't get into compliance, I will sue them As the attorney general, I can sue school districts, I can sue school boards. Obviously, as you know, Rabanta is suing school boards so that they don't protect children, right? So that they don't, so that they can't protect children. I am going to ensure that we protect parents and their constitutional rights on the one hand and protect our children on the other. We're gonna get little boys out of little girl sports and young men out of young women's locker rooms and bathrooms. And if if if for no other reason other than the Fourteenth Amendment, there's a right to privacy. And these children have are entitled to a right to privacy as well. So I and I frankly I don't care what's been going on in Sacramento up to this point on this issue where they're actually trying to legislate the commingling of boys and girls in bathrooms and locker rooms. I am going to fight, challenge those laws. I'm gonna fight for parents. Look, if there's if if people people who know me know me this by this. The thing that propels Michael the most in this race for attorney general is really to protect the most vulnerable in our society. And that means protecting victims. That means protecting young girls. This means protecting young women. This means protecting the animals that are subject to cruelty. This means protecting anyone and everyone who are s you know the most vulnerable in our society. And we can see this if you go downtown LA, the streets of LA and you're Figueroa Street, you see these young girls like 13, 14 years old being prostituted in broad daylight. You don't even have to wait till the sun goes down. You can see these young girls being prostituted and the local authorities do nothing because They believe that those young girls are victims of human trafficking and they shouldn't touch them. Yet these young girls are being victimized every single day and there's nobody there to rescue them. We're gonna bring law and order back. We're gonna rescue the most vulnerable in our society, whether it is prostitution on the streets, whether it's human trafficking, whether it's our young girls just trying to get a good education in a safe environment. I am going to be there to fight for you every single day of the week. I will take on the legislature if need be. I will take on school districts if need be. I will take on school boards if need be. We're gonna make things right again in California. Parents are gonna have their rights back, their constitutional rights, and our children are gonna be made safe to be able to get an education. And look, the the fact of the matter is that we're actually turning these young innocent girls into victims. We're victimizing them because we are forcing young men into young girls' bathrooms and locker rooms and in their sports. That is unconscionable. That's what Title IX originally set out to it to do the opposite, right? To give women, to give young girls a safe space. in school and sports to compete and to excel and to grow as individuals. Title IX was designed to protect girls. And now in California we're so perverted in Sacramento that we're using Title IX as a justification to victimize girls, to not protect girls, to expose them to danger, physical danger, but also embarrassment. Girl young women shouldn't have to grow up in this kind of environment. I have two daughters of my own. I grew up with six sisters. I understand how important it is for young women to grow up in a safe environment, both in their homes but in their schools and sports. So I'm gonna be there to advocate for young girls, to to advocate for children and to advocate that parents maintain their constitutional rights so that they can have good, healthy relationships with their children. speaker-0: That's what I want to hear as a parent. I d I mean, I just have had just about enough of this silliness. Michael, I've had just about enough. And I think that is the general theme of this election, period, across the board, which is everyone's had enough. Look, I do want to respect your time because I know you're so busy. I want to let you go. But before I let you go, I wanna do a little bit of a lightning round with you. So what I'm gonna do is I am going to let me just find my notes here. I'm going to just give you a phrase or a name and then I'll ask you just to give me your first thoughts. It doesn't have to be one word or what you know, it can just be whatever your thought is. All right, here we go. Yep. Gavin Newsome. speaker-1: Failure. speaker-0: Daycares and hospices. speaker-1: Right now, fraudulent. speaker-0: I talked to Herb about that last week. We had a quite an interesting conversation, Herb Morgan, one of your running mates, and we're not in good shape. All right. No. Antifa. speaker-1: hopefully disappearing. speaker-0: Would you think what can what role would an attorney general have to play in mon at least monitoring Antifa? They are a designated troublesome sh speaker-1: Organization. Yeah, so so free speech is alive and well. It will be in California again when I'm attorney general. So people can say things. Obviously, there are boundaries that obviously courts have placed on even free speech, but free free free speech, excuse me, is going to be alive and well. What's not going to be alive and well is using or committing crimes in the name of free speech. So we're absolutely not gonna let anyone engage in criminal activity. And I will tell you this too, just so you know how serious I am about that. And these are this is not just rhetoric. we are not even going to allow a mass protest to shut down our streets. If you want to exercise your free speech and demonstrate, you grab a sign and you go stand on the sidewalk or you stand in a park. But the minute you step foot in a roadway and you block cars or you try to shut down intersections or freeways, you're going to jail. We're gonna have a zero tolerance policy on that. Free speech, yes, alive and well, but it's gotta be done orderly, peacefully, and according to the law. It cannot be done in a criminal. way. So we are going to be very tough on that. So Antifa, you want to grab your sign and stand on a sidewalk or or in a park, fine. But if you want to rush into the streets and you want to occupy the streets, the intersections, the freeways, you want to burn buildings and cars, you're going to go to jail and we are not going to tolerate it. We are not going to allow for a second this criminal destructive behavior that threatens our business districts, that threatens our communities, our residential areas in the name of your free speech. That is ridiculous. That is not free speech at all, that's criminal behavior, and we are gonna have zero tolerance. speaker-0: All right, then the next phrase I have on the list is appropriate. Street takeovers. speaker-1: Well, same thing, right? Criminal. criminal not gonna be tolerated. speaker-0: What was your thoughts about the Newport Beach Street takeover, Michael? I wrote a little article, went viral. I said, look, this is this is war. This is like w police can handle ten kids, but a thousand? What is a local police force supposed to do? speaker-1: Yeah. Yeah. Well you noticed it didn't happen in Huntington Beach, which is the city right next to Newport Beach. Newport Beach is a much smaller city. Huntington Beach is a much bigger city with a larger, larger beach. So that didn't happen in Huntington Beach. Why did that did that why didn't that happen in Huntington Beach? Because those folks knew that if they came to Huntington Beach, we were going to be tough on the law and not allow that kind of activity to take place. So being tough on the law works. Having a reputation for being tough on the law actually works. We see chatter on social media all the time saying Don't go to Huntington Beach. They're gonna get ya. So that's good stuff. Newport Beach, it's absolutely unfortunate. they are a si or s sister city, so to speak, right next door to us. they are a good city. They are largely a well run city, but they were overrun on the fourth of July. It is unfortunate. and we have got to end this type of behavior. I do hope in the future, Newport Beach does have a reputation or picks up a reputation for being tough on the law so that this does not happen again in the future. But Newport Beach, these cities that get overrun, there are sheriff's departments. The Orange County Sheriff's Department, there are other cities that are available to help out. And I'm going to encourage, as Attorney General, cities to work with counties. As I said, I have purview over all of the sheriff's departments in the state, including the Orange County Sheriff's Department. I'm going to encourage agencies and cities and jurisdictions to work with each other to make sure that there's maximum law enforcement possible to prevent crimes like this. So we're gonna coordinate, we're gonna build coalitions and we're gonna make sure this kind of thing doesn't happen in the future. speaker-0: Great, very good. Just two more. La second to last one, Rob Bonta. speaker-1: TV lawyer, fake, not real lawyer. He's just not a real lawyer. He's a career politician. He's a career politician. I no, well he he did go to law school, so nominally he's a lawyer, but he never stepped foot in a courtroom. I always tell people while he was and he's been a career politician. So while he was been at dinners with, you know, lobbyists and special interest groups, having wine and fancy, you know, f meals with lobbyists and special interests, I've spent my career in the courtroom. I've been fighting for everyday Californians, even a city attorney. I refuse to give up going to court. So I would go to court and try the many to try the multi million dollar cases. I would go to court and argue in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. I stayed in court fighting for Californians while Rob Bonta was at fancy dinners. So yeah, he's just a career politician. speaker-0: All right, last one, California. speaker-1: Golden. It's a gem. you know, if for those who may know about California's history, long before it was officially a state in the United States, it was settled here by St. Jin of Paris era by the Spaniards. the missions were built. There was a bit of a formal, sort of sort of formal government structure here. It was it was it was what do you call it, established or developed long before it officially became a state. And I do think It was dedicated. It was it was blessed. This was holy ground. it was dedicated to God. It is a gift from God. And what we have gone so far astray from that, we've so far afield from that even concept that, you know, I pray for California every day. I love California. I'm I've lived here my whole life. I've been married here for almost thirty years, have five kids and four grandkids here. We want to stay here. It is it is blessed, hollowed ground in my humble opinion, particularly because of its history, its beginnings. A lot of people relate California to our late Guadalupe, right? The Hispanic culture, the Latino culture, because there's such a heavy population here. So I do believe it is a blessed, holy ground. It was dedicated by the original settlers here. and so I just think we need to get back there. I don't think for a second God has given up on California. I think with prayer and with diligence, with voting, with campaigning, in this election we have an opportunity to rescue California. And I do think with A little blessing from God and and some of his help. I think we can make that happen here in November. So I'm very, very excited. I love California and I am in this race to help rescue California. So God bless California for sure. speaker-0: I echo everything you just said. it's important to everyone to get out there and vote. And I would love for you to share this interview as well with somebody that you think has not heard of Michael Gates and doesn't know about the attorney general. I'd ask you to go follow him everywhere on social media. And this is the part you play, America, California. This is the part that you're playing in the election. This is a team effort. This is not just Michael Gates running up and down the state trying to be the big guy. He he can't win without you. And so and and believe it or not, your little social media posts, your little comment on Facebook, that one little share, you know, that makes a difference because every person who hasn't heard of Michael Gates and then gets to see his face and understand what this office is, that's another vote in the quiver. And every vote is going to count. So you see Michael's website. Up there, please go support him. They're still taking money, everybody. They're still taking donations. I know that a lot of people feel reticent to get political donations, but at this juncture, I think all bets are off. If you can, you should. we are fighting to save California. Thank you, Scott. Michael, any last things you want to say? Anything you wanna say before we let you go, direct anyone anywhere. This is your speaker-1: Yeah, thank you for having me. You can find me on social media, like Kira said, interacting with my accounts is huge. That helps spread those and spread the word. Going to my website, making a donation, obviously, is huge. I just want to say it would be an honor to serve as your attorney general. I've been fighting for California for ten years or more as your city attorney. I was in private practice before that. I love fighting for my clients. I love fighting for my folks. I love fighting for everyday Californians who have lived in Huntington Beach and I'm hoping for the opportunity to fight for everyday Californians. statewide as your attorney general, we can rescue California. If you're thinking to yourself, my vote doesn't matter, we've got to stop thinking that. If you're frustrated about the high crime, if you're frustrated about the homelessness, if you're frustrated about the corruption, I'm begging you, please go to the polls and just vote even harder. Just cast your vote even harder. Take your frustration out of the polls. Because if you sit home or you sit it out, then certainly nothing will change. That's a certainty. That's a certainty. But if you go out and vote, we can make it too big to rig. We can outpace any election integrity issue or any concern. We can outpace any voter fraud. LA specifically, if you look at LA, a lot of people say, Spencer Pratt should have won, but he didn't win because of voter fraud. No. No, he did. There was voter fraud, and the federal government is investigating that. But it's only on a certain scale. It's not on a mass grand scale, such that it's dispositive of the election outcome. If you look at the numbers in LA, The turnout was not very high. In fact, it was very, very average. If the turnout had been higher in Los Angeles, Spencer Pratt would have been in the top two. You can get the turnout high enough to make it too big to rig to outpace the fraud. And how do we know that? Trump got reelected. Right. And so we know it's possible. I'm asking all of the voters, all the listeners out there, please go out and make it too big to rig. Don't sit it out or sit at home and think your vote doesn't matter. It does matter. Go vote. I need your vote and we can do this together. We can rescue California. Thank you. speaker-0: Amen for that. All right. Thank you, Michael. I'm gonna let everybody go. Michael, I'm just gonna ask you to hang on and make sure your feed gets uploaded before you completely say goodbye. But good luck to you, sir. I will see you on the campaign trail and to everybody else. Don't forget that sunlight is the best disinfectant. So go out there and sign up shine a light. Bye everybody. Thank you, Michael. Really appreciate it. Good luck out there.