With 70 Days Until the Election, Here’s What’s at Stake

CLAY: What is it, like 70 days until the election, Buck, in November? It’s gonna be here before we know it, particularly coming out of Labor Day, which is Monday. We’re officially gonna be in the sprint run of the midterms. You all out there listening to us right now, I 100% believe, have the ability to determine the outcomes in the elections in Nevada, in Arizona, in Georgia, in Pennsylvania, in Wisconsin, and I’m gonna toss this state in because I do think it’s starting to move in a way that is a bit intriguing, New Hampshire.

Right? Not a lot of discussion right now about the idea of flipping New Hampshire, frankly, since Governor Sununu decided not to go, and New Hampshire has one of the latest primaries of anywhere. I think it’s in mid-September. So, this is a real sprint up in the Granite State. I think I got that right. Those six states are going to determine who controls the United States Senate. You guys out there listening to us right now will make — I firmly believe this — the difference in many of these states.

Good news. I know there’s been sort of a drumbeat would you say, Buck, of negativity over the last couple of weeks about Republican chances, about where we are likely headed? Poll came out during today’s show in the state of Georgia. Battleground state, you’ve got Governor Brian Kemp going head-to-head against Stacey Abrams, you’ve got Reverend Raphael Warnock, current Senator there, going up against Herschel Walker. Good news.

Doesn’t mean you can let up at all — I think Herschel Walker’s gonna be on with us Friday — but this latest Emerson poll, Buck, has Herschel Walker up two and Brian Kemp up four. For those of you who are intrigued by presidential politics, Donald Trump has a five-point lead in this poll over Joe Biden. Biden’s approval rating, 42%. I think it’s fair to say, dragging down Warnock and Abrams, not helping them at all. This would be a big deal because you pick up a Senate seat.

You take one away from the Democrats, and, to me, the pathway that looks foreseeable is add Nevada, add Georgia. I think those are the two states right now that are the most likely to be picked up for Republican candidates. Buck, you taking any glee, any pleasure at all in this poll that’s coming out? First one in a while that’s had Herschel Walker up. At least good news in that respect.

BUCK: Yeah, absolutely. I want everybody focused in here on sprinting to the finish across the country. We have so many people listening to this whose votes are really gonna make a difference, really going to count, because you’re gonna have some of these Senate races might be 10,000, might be 5,000, might be 500 votes, right? This has happened before. Look at the Norm Coleman, Al Franken showdown in Minnesota some years ago. I think at one point the margin was, like, a couple of hundred votes.

CLAY: Oh, yeah.

BUCK: It can be very… so, everyone has to understand that this is the first time we have a real referendum opportunity here on the situation of covid — to our previous call, I totally agree — crime, energy, the border, those issues should be absolutely front and center. I think that there is a media gambit that we’ve seen recently to try and suppress GOP turnout. And I think what they want to make… I mean, Clay, when you’re talking about, for example, the polling on abortion.

That’s real. Clearly, in these states, we’re seeing it, and it has been for some GOP candidates a drag. What we see, though, is they want to make this election about Trump, first and foremost, and then probably the freedom and choice issue and, you know, post-Dobbs as much as possible. ‘Cause everything else is going to be negative for them. Everything else is going to be a challenge for them. And so, I think that they’re trying to depress turnout on the GOP side and get the left-wing base excited that they can hold the line here against the red wave. And Herschel, Oz, Masters, they are all very much in it.

The fact that Herschel’s up a little bit now, I think that number is likely to grow. The party in power, the Democrats, are the ones who I think with greater focus will be losing support. And we have to see, what does the opponent want us to do here? The opponent wants us to be about Trump, Mar-a-Lago, MAGA, and abortion. I mean, I don’t think — oh, and, you know, racism and the usual stuff that they always talk about. But those two issues I think play to Democrat strengths in this because Trump isn’t on the ballot.

So, it becomes a weird distraction for a lot of people who want to vote on kitchen table issues, I think, they want to vote on the economy. And, you know, we’re trying to win over independents, we’re trying to win over people who are persuadable. So, I think that’s where it all really factors in, and I just think the Democrat machinery is trying to suppress GOP votes by saying…. I think they’re exaggerating the abortion polling, I think they’re exaggerating the decline in Republican support for some of these candidates, as a function of polling, which, Clay, I mean, we all remember what happened, first of all, the Youngkin race, there were polls showing Youngkin losing by like seven points.

CLAY: Yeah. Look. I was down in Georgia campaigning for Herschel on Saturday and for Brian Kemp. And there is tremendous optimism about Brian Kemp’s campaign. Current governor of Georgia, trounced Sonny Perdue in the primary. They are convinced that Stacey Abrams has been unable to basically get a glove on him, in a boxing match analogy, and that he is going to win and he’s gonna win comfortably. This is the analysis there. That doesn’t mean if you’re in Georgia listening to us right now you can take it easy.

You’re winning with Brian Kemp. And there is increasing optimism that Herschel is sort of finding his stride and that he is going to be able to run alongside of Brian Kemp and that the overall Republican ticket is going to do well. I’ve said this for a while on this show, Buck, Georgia is the ultimate battleground. Now, I think Arizona’s number two on the ultimate battleground sort of map nationwide. Pennsylvania is up there and everything else. But Georgia had been a red state for a long time.

And then unbelievable disaster happened I think, frankly, in the state of Georgia. Two Senate seats that are given up and, in the process, Georgia flips to a blue state. Georgia’s gotta take back that state. Georgians listening to us right now all over have to, and that’s a good sign that they’re starting to be coalescing around Herschel. I would say this too. The benefit that Herschel has, Buck, is he’s a known quantity. So, they are gonna spend tens of millions of dollars attacking him the likes of which you haven’t seen in a long time.

And most Georgians are gonna say, “Hey, I’ve known Herschel Walker since 1980 when he came to go play for the Georgia Bulldogs.” It’s hard for you to change people’s opinion of someone that many of them have known for 30 or 40 years in terms of as a public figure. And so I think all these attack ads from Reverend Raphael Warnock are not gonna land. And I think this student debt cancellation in Georgia is a big deal, ’cause Warnock has come out in favor of it. I think the vast majority of Georgians don’t think that decision is right.

BUCK: I really want to see Herschel Walker victorious and, you know, Dr. Oz, I think, is also —

CLAY: He’s starting to get comfortable.

BUCK: Starting to get into his groove. And also, you know, take the issues to the people. The Democrats do not have… As a party right now, they do not have a strong record at all to stand on. They’ve been in control of the government the last two years.

CLAY: Yeah.

BUCK: And things have been a mess. It has been a rough two years for America. I remember 2018, 2019 telling my radio audience then, Clay, before we teamed up, guys enjoy this ’cause this is about as good as it gets. America at peace, massive prosperity, same governance, you know, and the biggest issue we had was dealing with the Russia collusion madness which was all a lie and we knew it but the point is for the country overall things were actually going really, really well.

Things have been crappy. And people, you know, have a right to think so ’cause that’s relate for the last couple of years, and I think as long as they remember that the things… Look, obviously America is still a great country, we’re lucky to be here, all the rest of it, but in terms of decisions, cause and effect, Democrats have made the economy worse, the border worse, crime worse, made energy prices go up. And there needs to be accountability for those decisions at the ballot box. And as long as people focus in on what matters with that and not, “Oh, Trump, semi-fascism!” and all this other stuff the media is gonna try to push, then I think we’re gonna be in really good — I think these — more specifically, I think these candidates you’re talking about are gonna be in really good shape.

CLAY: Yeah. And we need to talk more — there’s been a lot of media attention on, oh, the Republicans didn’t pick their best possible candidates, right? How often have you seen that article, how often have you heard that talking point, frankly, even from Mitch McConnell himself? Fetterman is the worst major political party candidate for a major state senate race like this that I can remember seeing in forever. You can be in Pennsylvania right now.

And maybe you’re a big McCormick, maybe you’re a Barnett person. That was a really bruising Republican primary. But Fetterman is a Bernie Sanders clone. And that does not fit the people of Pennsylvania at all. So, for all the talk about nominees and who’s running and who’s not, the worst nominee — I really do believe this — in a competitive Senate race this year is Fetterman in Pennsylvania. He cannot be the representative of Pennsylvania, and I think people are starting to recognize just how radical he is.

BUCK: He’s radical, and also didn’t he just…? He had a major stroke, a serious, serious health issue. This is not like people exaggerating or playing politics with it.

CLAY: Yes.

BUCK: Look. We want everyone to be healthy. I wish him, you know, many decades of good health and a long and, you know, happy life with his family. We’re just talking about whether you’re in a position right now at this point in time to, to your point, represent the state of Pennsylvania in the United States Senate and health-wise he’s not —

CLAY: For six years.

BUCK: I remember, we used to hear about Dick Cheney’s heart from the lib media during the Bush administration every five minutes. Every five minutes. And there were jokes on late-night TV about it all the time and the whole thing. And he was the vice president. He wasn’t even the president. With Joe Biden and now Fetterman, you can see they just… You can be too old for the job; you can be too sick for the job. None of those standards apply if they think they can get a Democrat into that position of power, all that matters is whether it is a checkmark for their team.

CLAY: Dr. Oz has challenged him to five debates. So far, Fetterman has not agreed to a single debate, and there are legitimate questions about whether he could even sit for an interview.

BUCK: Do you think this is gonna fly with the people of Pennsylvania? I mean, Pennsylvania is one of these states where, you know, the kitchen table issues right now should be determining how this election goes —

CLAY: It’s a blue-collar state.

BUCK: Yeah, you got a lot of people working hard for the money they have trying to pay their bills and, you know, it’s a place where the city’s obviously, particularly Philadelphia has had a really rough go the last few years. It’s really gonna fly with them that this guy Fetterman is not even gonna show up for debate?

I mean, people are gonna be okay with that? I can’t imagine. Look. The far left will, but when I say the people, you know what I mean. Those who can be persuaded, what are you gonna do for me if you get the job? Those people who ask that question and want a real answer, I can’t imagine, you know, sweatshirt Fetterman is gonna be the guy they go with. But maybe.

CLAY: I think Oz is gonna catch him, he’s gonna get into a fight with him, and, you know, like those close quarters campaigns, and I think Fetterman’s gonna crumble. I think he has got no substance to him.

BUCK: You think when Fetterman goes to, like, a friend’s wedding he still wears the like shlumpy sweatshirt and, you know, I love sweatshirts. I’m wearing one now. I’m just wondering, though, do you think, like, this is his thing all the time? Is he like Steve Jobs where he has one outfit and that’s it?

CLAY: Doesn’t matter what the event is? That’s a fantastic question. I have no idea. Would he wear it on the Senate floor? Is he gonna take the hoodie off?

BUCK: It’s a good question.