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Of any purchase of $100 or more. That's promo code BRIAN. Please welcome a man that knows more about Texas politics than any human on the planet, and that is our friend Carl Rofe. Hey, Carl, thanks for joining us. Thanks for having me, Griff.
And is this going to be permanent? Have you forced Killmead into exile abroad something like that? That's right. Congratulations. I stole his TV seat and his radio.
No, he is off on some sort of important, crazy Brian Killmead mission. And I'm honored that they let me sit in. As you know, I was saying at the very beginning, you know, I was a kid producing radio back in the 90s with Ollie North and then Tony Snow and to be behind a microphone. It's such an honor. And also an honor, honestly, with all seriousness, an honor to talk to you right now about this Texas primary underway right now as you and I are talking.
Voters are going to the ballot box. But this, I think, you would know, correct me if I'm wrong, this is one of the most expensive Senate primaries maybe ever. And it looks like Ken Paxton may be headed towards victory today. And you can't discount that Trump endorsement carrying a lot of weight.
Well, you have to carry give it all credit to that. Polling the day before Trump endorsed the president endorsed Paxton, polling showed that among the people who had read, seen, or heard About Ken Paxton, 37% said they'd be more likely to vote for him in the primary, and 47% said what they'd heard about him would be less likely.
So he was on his way to defeat until the president came in and endorsed him. And you got to give the president credit. He's got a powerful endorsement to give in their primaries. He sure does. And what's fascinating is while we are At the Republican primary today, we sit today 161 days from the midterms.
And whether it's Paxton or Corin, he's facing off against James Tallerico, who, as you heard Paxton there, talking about all the crazy things he's been saying. It's almost Carl like James Tallerico turned to Betta O'Rourke and said, Hold my beer. Let me show you the crazy stuff I can say. And we pulled the latest one from him. Tellerico on a podcast had this to say: Cut 18, guys.
I think about someone like Pope Francis, I think about someone like Pope Leo. These are spiritual heroes of mine. Um Both of them are firmly opposed to abortion rights. Um So we disagree on that issue. Uh I trust Texas women.
To make decisions about their own bodies, to shape their own destinies in consultation with their family members, their doctors, their faith leaders. I don't believe that's a place for government. I don't believe it's a place for politicians. I don't believe it's a place for the state. Where's he going with that, Carl?
Well, remember the context here. He is a divinity student. He attended a Presbyterian divinity school here in recent years in Austin, Texas, very liberal divinity school. And so he is a Christian, albeit of a liberal bent. And so this was how he was squaring his views with the views of the Catholic Church.
Having said that, Paxton's right that he's going to go after the crazy things that Tal Erico is saying. But on the other hand, the Democrats are going to go hard at Paxton over the scandals that surrounded him. Remember, in 2023, it was a Republican state House of Representatives that impeached him. And, you know, we know that he's had multiple girlfriends. One, a corrupt business guy who was found guilty of bank fraud, gave one of his girlfriends a job so she could move close to Austin to be near Paxton.
The corrupt businessman set up a fake Uber account in the name of David P.
So we now have, because of the records of the impeachment, we now have, because of the impeachment, Texans know exactly when he left his house using the Uber account to go to his mistress's apartment and when he returned from the apartment in the middle of the night, or maybe didn't appear to return at all because she drove him home in the morning. And here's a guy who admitted. To violating the Texas Whistleblower Act and then pass the $6.7 million bill onto the taxpayer.
So, you know, in the general election, this will be Paxton talking about Tallerico saying God is non-binary and the Democrat backed by an enormous amount of money saying he's a crook.
So it's going to be one of the ugliest contests. And one of the things is Paxton is not a good fundraiser. He has raised $7 million through the end of May. At the end of March, Tallerico had raised $41 million.
So the Democrats are going to come hard for Texas and money that could be spent in Maine or North Carolina or Michigan or Alaska or Florida or some of these other contests, Iowa, Nebraska, Kansas instead is going to have to be spent in Texas. And we got a guy who is not a good fundraiser and is also not a good candidate. In his last election, he trailed the other six wide. Statewide Republican candidates by 154,000 votes. And the election before that, he trailed them by 177,000 votes.
So, you know, problems. Warring she. It's an energy someone gives off when their appliances and home systems are protected by an American Home Shield warranty. Don't worry, be warranty. For 20% off plans, visit ahs.com/slash listen.
See AHS.com slash contracts for coverage details, including limited amounts, fees, limitations, and exclusions. Yeah, I mean, listen, I'm listening to you, and this is why it's so great to have you because nobody knows this stuff better than you. And it was really a sober realization because we've heard for years that politicians are going to turn red, Texas, blue, red, Texas blue, and it's not, it doesn't happen. But you're sort of laying out that this is a real concern here. I mean, this could be a very significant challenge, possibly uphill climb for Paxton.
Yeah, and look, even if Paxton wins, it could be like, remember in 2018, Ted Cruz barely held off Robert Francis O'Rourke, you know, 50.9 to 48.3. It was a close race. Yeah. Republicans lost two congressional seats and a dozen seats in the state house because the Democrat turnout grew, and the Republican turnout was not as energized as it could have been in 2018. It was President Trump's first midterm.
Well, now it's where his second midterm. And even if Paxton wins, Which is, I think, very much up for grabs. I mean, when he last ran, we didn't know all of this stuff. We didn't know about misuse of government funds or securities fraud. We're learning stuff today.
A guy in for a lawyer in Waco. The Attorney General has some special authorities in sex trafficking cases, and the Attorney General's office was involved in this case in Waco. A lawyer had sexually abused the friend of his child for years, and he was found guilty. And the Attorney General's office said, Well, let's give him time served, meaning like a couple of days in the pokey rather than 20 years. Even the judge said, I cannot believe that the state is recommending essentially no punishment for this man who committed this horrendous act.
Well, guess what? Turned out his lawyer. Was the same lawyer of the corrupt business guy who gave him the fake Uber account and paid for his girlfriend, his mistress, to have a job in Austin, and for whom the attorney general did favors. The attorney general literally appointed a quote special prosecutor whose only job it was to go after the creditors of the corrupt business guys.
So, anyway, the Democrats are going to, if Paxton is the nominee, and look, I say this, I'm a friend of John Cornens. I want to be clear about that. I've known him forever. We were young guys together in the Republican Party in Texas when the state wasn't that Republican. But let's not kid ourselves.
Paxton will be able to go around and say, This guy's a vegan, and this guy says God is non-binary, and there are six genders. But the Democrats are going to say, You're a crook, and let's talk about the specifics. It's not going to be a pleasant year for Republicans in Texas if he's the nominee. And what you're describing there is what we call bringing the receipts. It's not just an accusation you're making to.
Sort of Taint the candidate as being possibly poor character judgment. This is actual receipts. This is hard stuff that Texans are going to look at because Texans, I'll give you this. You guys are independent-minded. You're going to do, you love Donald Trump.
Trump's very popular in Texas, but you are independent-minded voters, and they're going to see this stuff. Yeah. And look, you know, here's a guy who admitted to violating the Whistleblower Act, but he did so after delaying it and delaying it and delaying it so that he would not be put under oath and forced to testify in it. And finally, you know, when all of those legal opportunities ran out, he said, okay, I admitted I violated the Whistleblower Act. And the penalty was $6.7 million.
And he said, well, you know what? I'm not going to pay it. I'm going to leave it up to the legislature to pay it on my behalf. Wow. We'll see where this goes.
Carl Rove, my friend, thank you for joining us. As always, great insight. Thank you. And we may be talking about that Senate race as the midterms come up, more so than any other in the country, if this is really how it plays out. Yeah.
All right.
Well, thanks again for having me and congratulations for filling in. Thank you, Carl. Have a great day.
