Do Primaries and Mid-Term Elections Matter?

Hello, this is Matt Slick from the Matt Slick Live Podcast, where I defend the Christian faith and lay out our foundations of the truth of God's Word. Your chosen Truth Network Podcast is starting in just a few seconds. Enjoy it, share it, but most of all, thank you for listening and for choosing the Truth Podcast Network.

Welcome to the Christian perspective. I'm so glad you joined us today, and I hope that you'll listen each and every day at your favorite radio station. Today, I've got a special friend of mine, Mike Mears. I'm so glad that you're here with us today, and I'm thankful for the work that you're doing across the country. Folks, we're talking about the midterm elections. It's election year. It's an important election year for us. And I know we always say it's the most important election ever, but this one really is very, very important. And my guest today is on the front lines fighting the battle each and every day to elect Christian conservative, godly men and women to public office. And he's done a great job in the past.

He is the former national national faith engagement director for the Republican National Committee, and he now has his own company called Mordecai Strategies. Mike, in case somebody did not hear you when you were home with us last time, do you mind taking a few minutes and just kind of sharing people, your background, who you are, and what you're doing? Yeah, absolutely. Thanks for having me on again, Chris. This is great. I think I got to be a part of your first week of doing these broadcasts, so I'm honored to be back.

It sounds like I must have done a good job the first time, so you're having me back, and I appreciate it. So yeah, I am what many people would call a movement conservative. I'm a Christian, Evangelical Christian first and foremost. And because of that, it informs my politics, and my career track is, I'm a political guy. And when I first got involved in politics, what I really wanted to be was salt and light wherever I went. And you think, oh, so you're going to be a Democrat, right?

Well, I got news for you. The Republican Party needs to hear the gospel just as much as anybody does. And again, I want to do my work in a godly manner, a way that glorifies Him. And do I fall short?

Sure, sure, absolutely. But before I went to the RNC eight years ago, I worked for some groups that I think folks would know. I had just left Family Research Council. Before that, I worked for Beverly and Tim LaHaye at Conserving for America and ran their pack. I worked with Susan B. Anthony List. I would like to joke that I broke the glass ceiling because I was the first guy that they had ever hired.

So I've kind of knocked around. And then there was an opportunity in 2013 to come to the RNC and work with what we call our strategic partnerships, folks who have an affinity towards the platform, who are probably going to vote for Republicans primarily. And so the problem was in 2013, we had lost two elections in a row, and conservatives were really getting fed up with the party. And so I was one of those guys. And so I got tired of hearing about a third party and feeling like, well, if we get a third party, I'll probably never see any electoral success again in my lifetime.

And so what can I do? And so I came over and I wasn't sure I would last eight months, let alone eight years. And it's been a great and fantastic education. You know, it's easy to have people say, well, you know, you're going to the establishment.

You're going to where all the rhinos live. I wish it was that simple. A lot of these folks are great people. Some are beginning of their careers. They're often taught as an RNC employee. You know, you don't have opinions. Your job is to elect Republicans. As long as they have an R by the name, your job is to help them get elected. And so I always throw it back on the folks that I'm talking with and say, that's the truth. And it is.

I've seen it happen. And our job out in the districts and the local levels is to bring the Republican Party candidates who are going to reflect our values. And I think that's where I take my claim now as I've come out and started Mordecai Strategies. I am unapologetically Christian, a believer in Jesus Christ. And so if you're a candidate for Congress or for U.S. Senate or as governor, if you're going to hire me, you understand that I'm going to have your back.

You're a believer. I'm going to have your back. I'm not going to tell you you need to you need to tone down your rhetoric or things like that, especially, you know, especially if what you're saying is Christlike. I'm probably not going to want to mess with you too much. A lot of these consultants out there badly, you know, given these hands some bad advice. And so I just come out as an alternative.

And it's been it's been pretty busy. Once you share, you had some success. You worked in the governor's race in Virginia. And that was a race that y'all were not supposed to win.

No way in the world. And God just used you and your team in a mighty, mighty way. Share with us because we've got a great Christian governor in Virginia now.

Absolutely. I had my first client, Glenn Youngkin, who was running for governor. And what they wanted was somebody to come in and really talk to the faith community and kind of build this faith coalition for them. And so that's what we did. One of the first things we started was a prayer call.

And, you know, I've had candidates all across the country talk to me about doing the same things. And the hurdle is, the great thing about Governor Youngkin is that he believed it, right? This wasn't, I mean, he was going to do it regardless.

He didn't need to have to have somebody come in and help him do it. He was already doing it. So all of a sudden now, after this big win, I've got candidates all over the country who've talked to me and said, Hey, you know, can you help me start this prayer call? Will you be a part of it?

Well, you know, when I can and things like that. And so that's been kind of a hurdle. Glenn Youngkin really lived it out, lived his faith out. I mean, if you know anything about him, he helped found a church, started in the basement of his home, and then helped fund a building. He has been, I think, I believe he's on the board. I know he's been a donor of the Bible Museum. I mean, this guy's got some bonafide. And so anyway, that was a first big win for my little one-man company, and I've been pretty excited about it. Well, I thank you so much for helping him get elected.

And, you know, you and I both worked in the political world for many years. And it frustrates me when I see candidates, and I know you've seen these, Mike, that they court the Christian vote and act like they're Christians. But, you know, they show up at an event and they carry like their big family Bible.

And you can tell it's never been opened. You know they're not reading it, but they're trying to act like you're a Christian when they're at a Christian event. And that was a neat thing about Governor Youngkin, is he was, as you say, the real deal. I know somebody that sent out, I won't tell his name, but somebody that was at Governor Youngkin's inauguration and sent out a text that said, you won't believe this, he's not got anybody here to pray at the end of his inauguration. And then the next few minutes the text comes out, wait a minute, he doesn't have anybody else to pray because he's doing it himself.

And he did. You know, they gathered the family and leaders and held hands, and the governor himself led a prayer. And it wasn't some pre-scripted thing, something he was reading, it was from the heart. And I don't think you'll mind me sharing this, a good friend of mine, I don't know if you know Byron Fox, he's an evangelist that lives in Virginia. Byron works a lot with an organization called Faith Wins. Matter of fact, Chad Conley, your predecessor, runs Faith Wins, and he and Byron travel around the country trying to get Christians to register to vote and get churches to hold voter registration drives.

And they did a tremendous effort there. Matter of fact, they registered, I don't remember, but the number of voters they registered was more than the winning numbers for Governor Youngkin and his race. So they feel like they had a part to do in that by getting Christians to register to vote. But anyway, Byron's wife was very, very sick with COVID, almost died. And Governor Youngkin himself, on more than one occasion, called, but one time in particular, called to check on Byron Fox's wife and ask if he could speak to her. And he prayed for her and with her. And Mike, I don't know that I've ever heard, now certainly there are plenty of Christians that are in public office, and I'm sure that others have done that. But I mean, this man was governor now. If he wasn't the real deal, he didn't have to fool around with Byron Fox or Mike Meares or Chris Hughes or anybody else after that election. And here he took time away from being governor and said, I'm going to stop what I'm doing, and prayer is the most important thing that I can do right now for this lady, and called and prayed for.

What a powerful testimony that is. And Mike, y'all did not just the governor's race. We have a Christian lieutenant governor in Virginia and a Christian secretary of state, and y'all took a state within serious, serious trouble. The liberals had really infiltrated because a lot of the liberal D.C. establishment lives right there in Virginia. They drive to work from their homes in Virginia to D.C. And y'all took a very liberal state and really kind of cleaned house on the ballot and put a lot of Christians in the public office. And I'm just so thankful you did, because the influence that Virginia has is powerful across the country, and y'all were just successful.

And I thank you so much for what you and your team and your volunteers and workers did to elect godly men and women. You know, Winston Sears has kind of become a rock star in the conservative Christian movement now as well. It's exciting. Yeah, and so has Jason Meares, who is the attorney general. It was a real trifecta. You know, it's funny because a lot of these political types, they compete with each other.

They don't often like each other, and this was one of those rare times. I mean, I'd probably be saying this, whether we had profiled or not, this was just a fantastic and very fun campaign to be on. And like I said, Glenn Youngkin made it easy, made it very, very easy. Yeah, I've even heard that he opens every meeting with Perot.

That is pretty accurate. He certainly did that on the campaign. You know, one of his, I'm going to do what I've been doing every morning, you know, for I think, I forget how many years, 30 years or whatever. It's not going to be any different when I'm governor.

I'm going to start my day with prayer. You know, that's a pretty low bar in some respects, which tells you just how sad the state of affairs are nationwide and why having a believer in a governorship as influential as Virginia is so critical and so important. And he walks the walk and talks the talk.

You know, one of the things that, again, I know we're talking about this because I think it's important to have good models for politicians, especially Christian politicians. And the day after the election, we were at a food bank. That was how we kind of celebrated. He was there.

We all, you know, we were all very excited, but we were packing up lunches for school children. And again, it's a testament to a man's heart. And I appreciate that.

It's fruit. It sure is. Folks, I'm talking to my good friend Mike Mears, who owns Mordecai Strategies. When we come back, we're going to jump into the election season of 2022. Talk about races to watch and what all sorts are with the Democrats and what Mike is doing after we learn just a little bit more about his company. Stick around.

Be right back. Walk in the footsteps of Jesus and see the Bible come to life. This December, join nationally syndicated radio host and founder of the Citizens for America Foundation, Dr. Chris Hughes, on a life-changing trip to Israel. It's one of the world's oldest and most fascinating travel destinations. Learn the faithful from all over the world for thousands of years. Visit Jerusalem's religious quarters and explore Christianity's most treasured religious sites, like the Wailing Wall, the Dome of the Rock, and the Via Dolorosa. Walk with Chris through the winding alleyways of Nazareth's Old City and visit ancient Bethlehem, the place of our Savior's birth. Float in the Dead Sea, visit the Sea of Galilee and the Jewish fortress of Masada. See firsthand where the events of the Bible took place. Touring Israel with Dr. Chris Hughes is a travel odyssey like no other.

Visit CitizensForAmericaFoundation.com and get ready for an unforgettable trip and memories that will last a lifetime. Do you desire to build family relationships that stand the test of time? Does creating a godly family seem like a daunting challenge?

You're not alone. I'm Connie Albers, author of Parenting Beyond the Rules and host of Equipped to Be. As a mother of five, I understand your struggles. For 35 years, I have been helping families just like yours build lasting relationships.

I'd like to invite you to tune in to Equipped to Be and visit ConnieAlbers.com where I share useful tips and proven strategies to help you navigate the seasons of motherhood, faith, and life with confidence and joy. History was made on today's date. Stay tuned for an American Minute with Bill Federer. The father of the American space program died this day, June 16, 1977. He developed the famed V-2 rocket for Germany before emigrating to the U.S., where in 1958 he launched America's first satellite. He became the director of NASA, the U.S. guided missile program, and founded the National Space Institute. His name was Wernher von Braun who stated, The laws of nature that enable us to fly to the moon also enable us to destroy our home planet.

The guidelines of what we ought to do are furnished in the moral law of God. This has been an American Minute with Bill Federer. For a free transcript, call American Minute at 1-888-USA-WORD. Welcome back to Christian Perspective. I'm Chris Hughes. My guest today is Mike Mears. Mike owns Mordecai Strategies. Mike, how did you come up with, I mean, I know how you did, but share with our listeners, you know, why Mordecai Strategies?

Why do you call it Mordecai? Well, I'm kind of laughing because, you know, you kind of had a side, sidebar was, well, I know, I know, I know where you got that. But a lot of people don't. A lot of people don't. A lot of my colleagues who are not of any faith at all, you know, scratch their head and said, Why did you do that? And when I say to them that Mordecai is found in the book of Esther and was what I would call a political advisor to Esther.

I mean, he was the man behind the scene. He had a strong faith in God. He understood what God was going to do and invited Esther to, you know, show up, be bold, and, you know, for such a time as that. And so, Mordecai has always been one of my favorite biblical characters. I've often joked with my Jewish friends that if he was Catholic, Mordecai would probably be the patron saint or political consultant.

He's probably being. To which they don't often laugh at that. But a lot of my Jewish friends have been very, very interested in, for the same reasons that you are, and that is, Why take Mordecai? Well, for me, it reflects my values. It reflects my faith. And, you know, it's a nod to a very, very important person in the Old Testament. Well, I think it shows where your heart is, Mike, because a lot of consultants, you know, would be like Chris Hughes and Associates or Chris Hughes Consulting or whatever. And you're just showing that this isn't about Mike Meares. This is about God. And here's a guy in the Bible that did what I'm hoping to do and is the voice behind the power. And so I just commend you for it. Thank you so much. All right.

So I've stalled long enough. Let's jump into what people are wanting to listen to today. You are working races across the country. There are a lot of important states and important races and toss ups with Democrats.

So why don't you kind of give us a feel for the landscape of what to look for in 2022? Absolutely. You know, this is what we call a target rich environment if you were a conservative and a Republican. I think, you know, since the election of Joe Biden and just all the disastrous things that have happened from inflation to watching gas prices go sky high, I think we're already starting to see the housing market soften. Folks are going to be pretty disgruntled.

And we, you know, didn't take tea leaves to figure this out. I mean, this midterm election is going to be very, very critical. Is it going to be the most important?

It's the most important right now, that's for sure. And so normally, when you're looking at races, and I'm a campaign junkie, you know, for fun, if I'm in a town and there's a candidate that I care about, I'll go knock doors with them. Or they're volunteers. I just love I just love voter contact, I enjoy talking to people. You know, I don't necessarily hit, you know, 1000 doors in an hour.

But, but I get it done. And it gives me a feel for the district and what people are thinking. And right now, if you go to a door anywhere in America, whether they're Republican, independent, and even some some soft Democrats, they're not happy with with the direction of the country. And with all that, you know, normally, normally, I'd be looking at maybe 40 congressional seats. That might be in play.

I'd, I dare say 70, maybe. There's a, there's a tool that I use. You know, it's not perfect. Because they don't with congressional races, you don't always have access to polling, like you do with like Senate races and things like that. You've got to kind of do kind of a man on the ground type of thing, which is why, you know, I'm always on the phone talking to somebody in a district and, hey, what's going on? Well, this, you know, we just had a rally we had, we had 25 people on it.

Okay, that tells me that maybe it's not as strong as you think it is, brother. But you know, other rallies like, you know, Trump, President Trump, you know, he has a rally and he still commands 10,000 people. Okay, that's that shows me some enthusiasm and, and, and stuff like that.

So, um, so I'm, I'm looking at about 70 seats there. The tool I use is a website called cookpolitical.com, which is the Cook Report. And basically they have, it's a paid site, but there's, there's, there's a freebie area. And they do their congressional and Senate and governor's ratings. And anybody could go to that and, and look and kind of see what I'm looking at. And that is, okay, so here's, here's all the races that are toss ups. Here are all the races that are leaning Democrat. Here's all the races that are leaning Republican. And then the columns at the end are the likely Republicans and likely Democrats. And I would tell you normally in a normal year, I'm not even going to look at either of those two columns, those two last columns of the likely Republican or likely Democrat.

I'm not sure if you're following, you know, let me know that you understand me. But because of this environment, I'm almost, I'm almost putting those likely Republicans in a safe seat. There might be some anomalies, maybe there's some folks who are, who've got some personal baggage that have just come up, um, you know, come to fruition or, you know, people are hearing about it for the first time. But those likely Democrats, where a lot of people, most people would normally say, ah, they're going to be fine. I would say they are in play. And, um, and so, um, like I said, it's a target rich environment with, with, um, with just, uh, Democrat toss up seats. There are 24 races that we've already considered that are, that are toss ups. There's like four or five that are Democrat seats that we're already saying, eh, we think, we think the Republican's going to win, right? So they're, they're actually in the likely, uh, Republican column. Anyway, I'm getting in the weeds here, so I'm not sure, I'm not sure everybody's following, but.

No, I think this is good. So are you saying that we're going to pick up, the Republicans can possibly pick up 70 seats? No, I'm not saying that. I'm not saying that.

I don't, I don't, I don't go out on a limb like that. I'd say, I'd say, um, so I'd say there's about 70 seats that are competitive, that are going to be competitive, especially if it continues, the environment that we're in continues to happen. Oh, and by the way, you know, when Roe v. Wade is overturned and I believe it's going to be overturned, I think you're going to see excitement on both sides, but I, I dare say that, uh, conservatives are, are going to be very, very motivated. Um, and so all that, you mix it up and I, I look at, like I said, between 60 and 70 that are in play and I, you know, I hate to go out on a limb before labor day, but I'd say at least 30, 35 seats that I think the Republicans will pick up.

And probably maintain most of what they have to then. Yes, correct. Correct. So are there, are there any, uh, okay.

I don't want you to go anywhere. You don't want to go, but are there any like bigger, more, more of, you know, there are, there are plenty of congressmen and women that most people have never heard of. And then there are some of the bigger players that we see on the news all the time.

Are there any of the bigger names that you think might be in trouble this year or have a big race on their hands? Oh my goodness. Um, well, sure. I mean, um, in Colorado, normally Colorado, I think most people consider that the, well, the Virginia of the West in a sense. I mean, if anybody knows Virginia, they knew that it was trending very, very purple if not, if not Democrat, if not blue.

Well, um, in Colorado, Colorado is kind of the same way. And we're looking at the possibility of the Senate seat being in play. We're looking at two seats that normally should be on the Democrat side as being considered either a toss up or maybe leaning Democrat. And again, I think if it's, if it's, if it's in the leaning column, I would, I'm going to go out on a limb and say it's, it's, it should be in the toss up.

But, um, um, so Nevada, Nevada is another great, um, example. So you've got, you've got, um, Adam Laxalt who will be facing a primary in a couple of weeks. Um, um, I suspect that he will probably most likely win that primary. But having said that, um, uh, it, it certainly looks like the environment is such that, um, whoever the Republican is in that US Senate race will have the inside track to, to knock off a Democrat. That doesn't tell the whole story because there are, there are, there are three seats in Nevada, congressional seats that, um, are, are held by Democrats and, um, they are now in play. If they're not, they're, if they're not toss ups, they are, they are, you know, leaning, leaning Democrat.

So these are very, very competitive. Um, you know, look, you're probably not going to ever be able to defeat electorally Nancy Pelosi. Uh, I certainly think that we're going to fire Nancy Pelosi, um, by, by the end of this campaign, but, but we're probably not going to take her out. Um, AOC, Congresswoman AOC out in New York, probably not going to replace her with, with a conservative.

But, um, in some of these other States or other seats where they're not household names, uh, but they've, they're either progressive Democrats or they've been in, in Congress for, for many, many years. Um, they're not, they're not sitting pretty like they have in the past. Yeah, this is going to be an exciting year. Folks, we're talking to Mike Mears of Mordecai Strategy, and he's giving us a great layout of what to watch and follow, particularly if you're a political junkie like me, he's going to share with us races to watch and why this year is so important. We're taking a commercial break. When we come back, we're going to talk more about the primaries and some strategies.

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Welcome back to Christian Perspectives. Chris Hughes, my guest today, is Mike Mears of Mordecai Strategies. He's a conservative Christian Republican political strategist, and he has done work all over the country and he's got a great feel for what's going to happen in this 2022 election year, which is so important for us as conservative Christians to be educated on the issues, know who the candidates are all across the country.

And we'll find out how we can get engaged too. Mike, before the break, you mentioned it kind of in passing AOC and how that's one we won't beat. Now, it's interesting, AOC is part of a very liberal left wing group, a socialist even, in the Democrat Party, and there's a group within the Democrat Party that is targeting Democrats that they don't consider to be liberal enough, and they are knocking them off in the primaries.

And that's exactly how AOC won. I can't remember his name, but she ran against a guy that was like number two or three under Nancy Pelosi, very powerful congressman from New York, but he wasn't as liberal as the very new left wing progressive, social, really communist, in my opinion, people were. So they targeted and they started with him and they they did almost like a casting call. Mike, I don't know if you've read her story. Her brother sent in her information and it was like they were looking for an actor to play lead in a movie and they were interviewing people to find people to run for office.

And she beat him. Is there any kind of strategy within the conservative wing, whether it just be conservative Republicans or Christians to go after? And, you know, you may not want to address the future of the business, but I won't say that you're doing it. But if you heard if there's any movement, because there are certainly some rhinos, Republican in name only is what rhinos stands for within the Republican Party who are not as conservative, particularly we as Christians. So have we looked at that strategy and said, you know what, we've got people like, you know, my mind's going blank, Chaney, Liz Cheney.

And you might you might not want to cross on this radio. But but I mean, so I'll say, OK, Liz Cheney is not where I would like her to be in the conservative Christian spectrum politics. Is there a movement on the conservative side to try to do the same thing that happened with AOC and maybe get rid of some of these questionable people on our side? Yeah, I think there's always been and not necessarily from like the Republican apparatus. Like I said, the Republican apparatus wants you to have an R by your name. And then with you coming out of that primary, they're going to support you.

There are some there are some rare occasions where they will not. And but at the same time, if you've got an R by your name, the Republican quote unquote establishment is probably going to get behind you. Where there's a movement is really with some of these conservative organizations like, you know, Family Research Council, you know, Club for Growth. Some of these folks who are who are realizing that, you know, if you're in Wyoming, it's pretty conservative state.

Chances are, if you're a Republican there, you can be a member of Congress there for many, many years, as long as you don't cross Republican orthodoxy. And I would dare say, and I am kind of being careful a little bit, but I don't think I need to be. Personally, I'm not I'm not all that impressed with with how Liz Cheney has has handled things since January 6. You know, and so I think that she, you know, she does have a challenge.

And I believe that that challenge is probably going to prevail. The president is going to be spending a lot of time in Wyoming. He wants to make sure that Liz Cheney is gone. But but beyond that, I think you're you're seeing it in some of these these open seats and some of these open seats that are in solid red districts. That's really where you can have a champion, somebody who who doesn't really need to worry about, you know, the, you know, what what some of the folks in suburbia are thinking is because they've got these solid red district.

And there they have the freedom to push the caucus a little farther to the conservative side. And I you know, I think that's I think that's fantastic. And and I think it's, you know, folks who there's there's folks that I care about, that I that I, you know, hang out with who are not very happy with Marjorie Taylor Green out of Georgia. Right.

My my standard line is, well, guess what? You know who likes her? Her district. Her district thinks that she's running just fine.

That's why she just won another primary. And she's, you know, you may not I don't always like her style. You know, I don't always like what everybody comes what comes out of folks mouth. But at the same time, you know what?

That's up to her district. And, you know, sometimes if somebody goes and I'm not I'm not thinking about Marjorie Taylor Green as much as there's there's a there's there's quite a few. If they say something that's so outrageous, that's where that's where somebody comes in and goes, you know what? Yeah, they've gone too far. You know, that kind of thing. Now, you don't have that on the Democrat side.

That's why that's why you you have these outrageous things that the so-called squad is saying. And and nobody stops them. Nobody.

Nobody. Nancy Pelosi doesn't say, wait a second, you've gone too far. I almost wonder if there there is a too far when it comes to Nancy Pelosi. I think I think secretly she, you know, wants those folks to do her dirty work.

Right. Whereas on the Republican side, they try to be a little bit more disciplined. And that's that's how sometimes they get in trouble. And it's one of the reasons why being speaker of the House is is is just not the greatest job in the world.

If you're a member of Congress, because your job is to to to worry about what all your Republican colleagues think, not just, you know, your district. So can you tell me a little excited about this stuff? Look, I get a little bit on the weeds. So so you've got some questions.

I'm happy to answer. No, I think this is great and it's educating listeners. So let's get in the weeds a little bit more and talk about primaries. There might be people, you know, believe it or not, there are a lot of people that are not like you are. And I am like to don't eat and breathe this stuff and don't love it like we do. And they hear terms they don't even know what they mean.

So do you mind sharing with us? Explain to our listeners what a primary is and why they're so important, because there's a lot of them going on right now. So a primary, let's just talk about it from a Republican standpoint.

Republicans generally have a primary date anywhere from February till around September, where, you know, anybody who is a registered Republican and meets the constitutional requirements can run for office as a Republican. And they, you know, in some of these races, we've had as many as 15 people, Republicans, in Alaska. I've lost count of how many Republicans are running.

You know, most people think about Sarah Palin running for Congress again. But there are, I'd say like 25 other Republicans in that race, and that might be a conservative number. And so you have this primary, and basically it's kind of market-driven in a sense. You know, whoever got their message out, you know, the enthusiasm of their volunteers and their supporters allow these folks to prevail and come through the other side. Those are traditional primaries. There are some states that have some screwy things, like for instance, California just recently had their primary, and they have what is called a jungle primary. And so everybody, both Democrats, Republicans, and independents are running together, and whoever the top two vote getters are, regardless of party, they go on to the general election. And so in a couple cases in California that I saw, there are, sadly there's no two Republicans running against each other, because that would be great, but there's like two or three in California where it's two Democrats running against each other.

And normally it's a progressive versus a more traditional, and I put my air quotes up, traditional Democrat. And that'll be fun to watch in November. So we've had, I tell you what, before I jump into this, let's take another quick break, and then I'm going to kind of jump in to have you tell us about some of the primaries that have happened already, and any surprises there, and maybe some big races to watch in the primaries coming up in the next few months. Now we're talking to Mike Mears, he is with Mordecai Strategies, he's a great political strategist, and he's giving us kind of the lay of the land of what's going to come in the next few months.

Stick around and be right back. In a world crowded with viewpoints and voices, I believe the message of this financial problem. Only one voice matters, God's. This show is brought to you by Generous Joe's, the coffee company with the Christian perspective. This is the answer that Christians and conservatives have been looking for, a coffee company that gives back to causes you care about.

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Welcome back to Christian Perspective. I'm Chris Hughes. My guest today is Mike Mears of Mordecai Strategies. Mike is a Christian political activist and consultant who works in conservative Christian campaigns across the country. And this is an important election year. There's so much going on in our country.

You know, with gas prices, inflation, and groceries on the shelves, no baby formula. We need to be paying attention to what's going on. And races that may not have seemed important to us in the past are so important now as we have an opportunity as conservative Christians to take back the United States House of Representatives, the U.S. Senate, and state House and Senate races and local races across the country. And we're talking with Mike Mears about races that are going on right now. And he was, before the break, explaining to us what primaries are.

Primaries are basically where people within the same party, in most cases, are running against people within their party to pick the winner that will go head to head with the person in the opposite party in what's called the general election in November. So, Mike, we've, in the last few months, we've had a series of states where there have been important primaries. I live in North Carolina, and, you know, one that was kind of, I think, it didn't surprise me, but surprised some, I think, were Madison Cawthorn, who was, I think, the youngest congressman in the country. And certainly, he liked the headlines. He was in the papers a lot. And Madison lost his primary election, which, you know, a year ago, people would have thought that's unheard of because, you know, Madison's on the news all the time. He's all over the country.

He's like this young rock star. And he lost. And I thought it was funny because I know the liberal media, Mike, was saying, well, this is just an example because President Trump had endorsed Madison Cawthorn, an example of where President Trump is losing his power.

Mike, I didn't see that at all. In fact, the national media didn't really cover, but Madison had other aspirations, and he had jumped around. He left his congressional district in the Asheville, North Carolina area, which is in the southwestern North Carolina mountains, and was going to run in one district, and then he was going to run in another district, and then finally came back to run in Asheville. But when he got out of the Asheville race initially, Mike, people that were friends of his, you know, you're talking about somebody running against Sarah Palin, a bunch of people got in that race that would have never gotten in the Republican primary had Madison stayed where he was in the beginning. And then when he came back, you know, people in the media, it had nothing to do with President Trump.

It wasn't a reflection on President Trump. It was a matter of people that were friends of Madison were now running against him, good friends. I know some of them. I endorsed one of them because Madison was out of the race.

You know, so I kind of get a kick out of it. They try to make it, you know, the win rate for President Trump has been tremendous in the primaries so far, but that was a race. And then we had a Senate race because, you know, the Senate is very tight right now, and we had a very interesting primary. But the man, Ted Budd, who is a congressman right now, was endorsed by President Trump, and he ended up winning Herschel Walker in Georgia.

So what are some of the races? Have you seen any surprises? And again, I mean, I think to the world, Madison Cawthorn, what a surprise to dozens of us who knew what was really happening. Have you seen any surprises in the primaries so far? Do you think there are races we need to be watching in the coming months? Surprises?

No. In my opinion, it's going kind of scripted. There's a real diverse cadre of candidates on the Republican side. I'm thinking about in Indiana 1. Indiana had their primary gosh back in May, and there's a freshman congressman by the name of Frank Mervan. I'm not really educated on his voting record, although I'm pretty sure he's lockstep with Nancy Pelosi. But we just put up a candidate, Jennifer Green, African American woman, lieutenant colonel in the Air Force, now as a commercial pilot. And so that's not a surprise to me, because I've seen some real great diversity in our party, especially in the last five years. But this is a race that I'm watching. I'm watching a lot of the California races. California is a liberal state, but there's a lot of pocket of conservatism in the state of California, and there's probably about seven or eight seats that are in play on the Democrat side. And then there's probably another three or four on the Republican side that I'm just kind of watching.

I think they're going to be fine. So I think about the Orange County. Everybody should know Orange County. That's the home of Disneyland, home of my beloved Anaheim Angels, also John Wayne. Orange County was considered the bastion of conservatism in the West.

It has been trending blue. We've got a couple. We've got Young Kim out in the Diamond Bar area, who looks like she's going to have a tough race, but I think that she's going to prevail again. She's the first freshman Congresswoman. You've got Michelle Steele, who's out in the Huntington Beach area. She knocked off a liberal Democrat last cycle, and I think he's going to try to come back and get his seat back. I bring those two up again because there's, again, diversity within the Republican Party. Michelle Steele is Korean, and so is Young Kim. Both very, very good candidates, solid candidates.

And then, gosh, look, with 70 campaigns that I'm looking at, it almost all gets jumbled together. But I'm watching the Colorado race. We haven't, the Senate race, we haven't had a primary there yet. I don't have a good sense of who's going to come out of that, but my suspicion is that this is going to be a competitive race, and a lot of the outside groups are going to spend money there and try to look at them on my list. While you're thinking about this, let me ask you about Florida. Do you think Marco Rubio is in trouble?

No. I mean, it's going to be competitive. That would be a surprise to me if Marco Rubio, or if somehow we, if Ted Budd doesn't win that seat in North Carolina, or J.D. Vance doesn't win the race in Ohio. I would be really shocked.

Does that mean we shouldn't spend some time there? And I know if you go to my favorite tool, Cook Political Reports, they're going to have those three as leaning Republican. I think it's more likely Republican.

It's not going to be safe. That doesn't mean it won't be close, because it's always close to Florida, always close to North Carolina. But if I was a betting man, and I'm not, just in case somebody in my family is listening, I am not a betting man. If I was, I would be pretty confident that those three, Marco Rubio, Ted Budd, and J.D. Vance, would win those.

Yeah, there would be big money spent on those races. What about Georgia Herschel Walker, and then Arizona, another interesting race in Arizona too. Yeah, so Arizona hasn't had their primary yet. It's coming up. President just endorsed Blake Masters, but there's some other candidates. I haven't looked at the polling. I tend to look at polling about a week out, or two weeks out. I don't have a real sense of that.

In Georgia, I don't know if we talked about this last time we talked, but I spent 65 days in Georgia for the runoff last year, or in 2021, and it was just heartbreaking. And so, and seeing the Reverend Warnock become U.S. Senator Warnock, and listening to some of the things that he has said, I mean, at one point, he gave like an Easter tweet out, and talked about how, you know, there are many ways to come to faith in Jesus Christ, and to go to Heaven. And it's not just one, and it's like, he was way against Christian Orthodoxy. Now you've got Herschel Walker, who's got strong faith. This is another man who is not afraid to talk about his faith on the campaign trail, and was not afraid to talk about his faith even before, and he's been very, very candid about some of his health problems. He did play football for many years, and he's had, I don't know if he's been diagnosed with what they call CTE, where you get your head banged in enough times that things get a little nutty up there, but they caught it.

It sounds like he's doing well, but I'm not telling any secrets here. This is something that they have been very, very open and transparent with, and so that's a race that, you know, I may not get to sleep for three or four days that first week in November, because there'd be so many, you know, races that may or may not be determined the winner on election night, sadly. Yeah, isn't that so frustrating? I mean, when you and I were younger, every race you knew that night, and they all just dragged, you know, just like recently with Dr. Hodge's race, they'd just go on and on and on. Certainly in Georgia, you know, with Stacey Abrams there, you know, that one's going to probably make the governor's race and the Senate race are going to probably drag on for a while. Well, Mike, thank you so much for being with us. It's always great when you're on the show and you know so much, and we're going to have to have you on periodically between now and November and to get you to continue to share wisdom. Thank you for being with us today. My pleasure.

Thank you. Folks, if you're thinking about running for office, I want to encourage you to take a look at Mike Mears with Mordecai Strategies, a strong, strong follower of Jesus Christ. And as you've heard today, he is a brilliant statistician and political consultant. He is following things and has his finger on the pulse of the nation and what's going on.

You couldn't have a better consultant than Mike Mears of Mordecai Strategies. He's just a great guy. And I'm going to ask you all our listening audience to be praying for Mike and his team because they're doing hard work. They're involved in races where many times a lot of Christians running for office don't come from this world.

They don't understand it. And they need to have somebody that they can trust to guide them and just pray that Mike will have sound wisdom when he's guiding his candidates and that God will continue to use him in a mighty, mighty way. Thank you all for listening today. This has been a great show. Download the podcast that will be released later today and of course this on your favorite radio station tomorrow and every day. Now let's go impact the culture for Jesus. Thank you for listening. The Christian Perspective with Chris Hughes. Learn more about impacting the culture for Jesus. Visit citizensforamericafoundation.com