From the Principal Toyota Studios, it's morning in Memphis with Todd Starnes. All right, good morning, Memphis. Great to have you with us today. We have a jam-packed, busy, busy show for you. Great to have all of you with us today.
By the way, Laura Huckabee coming up in just a few moments. What have we done to irritate the Almighty? I ask that because when you look at the giant map of the United States, it's just over the Mid-South where a massive heat dome still remains. It is going to be a scorcher today. Heat advisory goes into effect around 11 o'clock this morning and will last until 8 o'clock tonight.
So it's going to be again super hot outside. You guys know what to do, but we need some relief here very quickly. By the way, our telephone number, 901-260-5926. That's 901-260-5926. Want to share with you a programming change today at 2 o'clock, immediately after my national radio show, we are broadcasting a one-hour special.
It's a documentary on Charlie Kirk. You're going to hear from Charlie himself some audio, some content. That you have not heard before.
So it's going to be an incredible moment. And again, that's all coming up at 7 o'clock today. I'm sorry, 2 o'clock today, 2 o'clock this afternoon, right here exclusively on the Mighty 990.
So you're going to want to be sure to listen to that. It's just so well done. And you're going to hear a lot of great voices talking about Charlie Kirk. Of course, today is the one-year anniversary. Of his assassination.
And there are a lot of folks that are going to be calling in today talking about the life and legacy of Charlie and the impact right here in the Mid-South. We had Mason Guerra on earlier this week, our new field rep for the area. And we understand TPUSA chapters are popping up literally all over. The Mid-South, and that is a great thing. As a matter of fact, this morning, and we want to give a shout out to our good friends over at Bouyaz in Collierville, Parker May, who's our sports director.
Parker May's favorite restaurant is Bouyaz. And this morning, the restaurant opened up at 6:30 for For the Collierville High School chapter of TPUSA.
So we want to give a shout out to the students there having their first meeting of the semester, and we wish those kids nothing but the very best. Our telephone number, by the way, 901-260-5926. That's 901-260-5926. While all that is going on, over at kwamradio.com, we have the exclusive story. Word came out late yesterday that the University of Tennessee at Knoxville was planning, or at least students there, were planning to hold assassination celebration parties today.
This is it's just so depraved. But students were putting up posters, flyers around campus inviting people to gather today at UTK to celebrate the murder of Charlie Kirk.
Now, we reached out to the university and they got back to us. And I want to share with you the statement from UTK. They're saying that this was not sanctioned by the university. They had absolutely nothing to do with it. As a matter of fact, the university condemning the students that are organizing, and they don't know who these kids are or who's behind the parties.
So, UTK is not only distancing themselves from whatever is going to happen today, they're saying that this is reprehensible. By the way, also getting reaction from a number of political leaders after KWM's story came out. And as State Senator Brent Taylor, running for the 9th Congressional District, says the murder of Charlie was political violence. Faculty and students at UTK. Should um That a UTK who treats his murder as something to welcome fail a basic test of decency and professional responsibility.
That's true. It's just absolutely outrageous. Also, Senator Marsha Blackburn weighing in.
So we appreciate all of the lawmakers who are calling out all of this behavior. And good on UTK, because I did point out. That if in fact the university knew about this, then we need to have a serious conversation about funding. Because I'm sure our tax dollars don't need to be going to any school that promotes or advocates or gives space. For this kind of stuff.
This is a very dangerous. This is what the communists did, by the way. They killed their opposition. Instead of having a lively debate and discussion, which is, by the way, what we do here on K-WAM, we had Jerry Green on yesterday. We have Democrats, Republicans.
We want to be able to debate the issues. As a matter of fact, All four gubernatorial candidates, and we've got two independents, a Republican, and Democrat, all four are going to be on K-Wham. Because that's what we do. And we love being able to provide that space for you. 901-260-5926.
Our telephone number. That's 901-260-5926. It is a war zone out there in Memphis, folks. Yet, another shooting yesterday evening. Three people were shot.
We understand two of those individuals in critical condition. Police have absolutely no idea who was responsible for the gunfire. Also, from the Shelby County Commission, they had their first meeting, and the same day as the first commission meeting, we had one of our county commissioners arrested. Commissioner Will Richardson, by the way, is correct me if I'm wrong. That was the seat that was once held by Edmund Ford Jr., who is serving time right now, or about ready to.
Now, the new Shelby County Commissioner, Will Richardson, arrested and jailed yesterday on two counts of falsifying. Tennessee revenue. and tax figures.
So that's not good. And by the way, what was it? Erica Sugerman was arrested for doing something vandalizing campaign signs. You know, if they keep this up, they're going to have to build a new jail because that's where the county commission is going to hold their meetings. My goodness.
All right, look, got to take a quick break. We're going to be taking your calls as well. Coming up, we have a very special guest. We have a. We have an organization that ranks free speech.
And you're gonna, maybe you aren't gonna be surprised where Tennessee's universities rank in that. All right, hang tight, everybody. Got to take a quick break. Commander Chuck, standing by with a look at your morning commute. For nearly 3,000 years, Homer's The Iliad has shaped the Western imagination.
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Hello, everybody. Welcome back to the morning show. I'm Todd Starnes. We are proudly broadcasting in the principal Toyota Memphis studio. Real quick, let's go to the phone lines, say hello to, you know, what we're going to do a double call today.
Melanie Mosley and Pam Proctor, both joining us from Dallas, Texas, at the big RNC convention. Ladies, good morning. Good to have you on the show today. Good morning. Good morning, Todd.
All right.
Sounds like one of you had a very late night. Actually, we both did. I've had two cups of coffee. Good for you, Pam. You came ready for morning radio.
I am ready. Pam, I want to start with you real quick. Already the reviews coming out from last night, just a home run by President Trump, a lot of great speakers. What's your impression, takeaway, any memorable moment for you? Yes, several.
Hi, Nelani. Um, good morning, it's been fun getting to be with Melanie this morning too. And in the last few days, I just she knows I just think the world of her and so proud of what she's done in Whitehaven.
So, um, Todd. Uh The fans last night were absolutely full. Um They uh there was a l there were Laughter continuously during President Trump's speech. He is He is something. But um some of my biggest takeaways were um The speakers did emphasize the tax cuts Um we have our Um Financial Um Increase in America.
Is twenty trillion dollars have been invested in the United States from foreign entities. I'm just That is astounding to me. We've got the lowest drug prices in America. Um Democrats have voted against every bill that has been put forth for hardworking Americans. And Pam, I think that's a lot about the messaging here.
That's been the challenge is we've got to have a unified message coming out of the convention. And it sounds like that, that is exactly what's happening. Melanie, I want to get your take as well. Any memorable moments for you last night?
So, Todd, the most memorable moment of last night for me was first of all when Trump came out on stage. I mean, the arena went up in a roar. And his pal said. The whole place the whole place was packed.
So if you go to White Hair Republican clubs, Facebook page, you will see the whole place was packed, not an empty seat. And uh So Trump was introducing his cabinet. And so he said Mike Johnson, and he talks about the job Mike Johnson is doing in the passing a big, beautiful bill. And I mean, everybody stood up and looked their way and they applauded Mike Johnson. Then he introduced.
Yeah, I'm feeling. When I tell you the whole arena style board, and it was nice up but y'all was still trying to talk and say, you know, you He's working on passing the Save America Act. And then it was like, pass the Save America Act, pass the Save America.
So that was still very important on the minds of the people yesterday at the arena. Pam, real quick on that Save America Act, you're talking to a lot of folks there, a lot of delegates, and the Tennessee delegation looks great, mainly because we have the most beautiful delegation out there, thanks to you two ladies. Real quick, Pam, was that an important thing, the Save America Act? People want that passed? It is so, and my understanding is it's over 80% of those that know what it is, you know, that follow.
Um that Want it in America, and I think it's even more than that. Democrats and Republicans want it. And the Democrats vote no on every issue. I um I wish I could have. had the media in At breakfast yesterday morning, when I listened to a Chinese naturalized citizen talk about That we are the freest country, and then there's, and she said, if America fails.
There's no place to go. That's it's a great point. Pam, I was very moved by that. Pam and Melanie, we want to have y'all in the studio when you get back. I know it's another big night tonight.
President Trump and the vice president speaking later this evening, and folks, you'll be able to hear all of that on K-Wham. Pam, Melanie, as you know, we have a lot of crazy breaking news today, but we wanted to hear from both of you. We just appreciate you representing Republicans here in the Mid South. God bless you both, ladies, and have a lot of fun. Thank you so much.
All right.
Awesome ladies there. Melanie Mosley, president of the White Haven Republican Club, Pam Proctor. And I do need to go right away to our Patriot mobile newsmaker line: A Crazy Study Just Out from the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression. Sean Stevens joining us. And the reason why, Sean, you're here is because I did a little bit of research based on your research, and not a good situation regarding free speech on campuses here in the great state of Tennessee.
Yeah, thanks for having me on. Happy to chat. All right.
Well, let's just jump right into it. We had a chance to look at some of the universities here in Tennessee. What's the overall free speech ranking for some of our schools?
So, yep, we surveyed and ranked four of Tennessee schools. I'd say three of them. Do fairly well. Vanderbilt University comes in at number five. Last year, they were also in the top ten.
I don't think this is terribly surprising. We've been doing these rankings now. for seven years. And one pattern we've seen emerge is having kind of a strong leadership on the issue in your administration, whether it's the college president or chancellor. With a very clear stance on freedom of speech, which I think Chancellor Diermeyer has.
that sends a very clear message to the campus community.
So I think closer to those of us here in the Memphis area is the University of Memphis. Yes, that's the one of the four that doesn't sue us. It's terrible. Let's go through the University of Memphis. They got an F.
That is not good. That's not good, Sean. Oh, it's not. I mean, and that's kind of they're below average. But I would point out that the average in our rankings was unfortunately it might have there might be cause for optimism in that we got the highest average score we've ever gotten in seven years, but it's still equated to a D minus on a traditional grading scale.
And so Memphis is a few points below that.
Some things we've seen this year is: I think some of this is the reverberation of the Charlie Kirk assassination. The data shows certainly that the effects are most acute at Utah Valley where that occurred. But it reverberated across the country, and students on campuses all over. you know, the nation and all fifty states are basically telling us that that was One of the reasons that they found it difficult to have more in-depth conversations about, they felt they couldn't have nuanced conversations about. The assassination And this kind of spanned the political spectrum.
We can get more into that if you want.
Well, let me just say, you know, and again, I am a free speech guy, but that also means that you have a right, if somebody's out there celebrating the assassination of Charlie Kirk, I think that you have a free speech right to call that person every name under the book. They should be exposed for their deviancy and their depravity. And unfortunately, some universities literally shut down all the speech. I mean, speech is speech, in my estimation. Yeah, and and we actually there's as I I was alluding to it, it we found evidence of of a chilling effect kind of across the political spectrum.
So clearly conservative students on on predominantly liberal campuses felt their their huge speech chilled. About this issue and others. But we also heard from a number of left-of-center students who expressed. Stop dismay. uh discomfort with Some of their peers Celebrating the assassination and some of the things that were being said, and felt that they couldn't basically speak up and say, like, we think this is wrong.
uh because of the consequences they would face. Folks, go to rankings.fire.org. That's rankings.fire.org. And it's super simple, great information. You can actually see all of the state rankings.
They rank there are several other universities, MTSU, UTK, in their list as well. And you can also really explore all around the nation to see where these universities rank in the 2027 College Free Speech Rankings. Sean, we're going to have to leave it there, but we certainly thank you and we appreciate the great work that you guys are doing. Sean Stevens with FHIR joining us today. 901-260-5926 is our telephone number.
That's 901-260-5926. Coming up, Scott Golden, chairman of the Tennessee Republican Party, is going to join us live from Dallas, Texas, the site of the RNC convention. Also, Michael Bollinger from the Bartlett Performing Arts. Center is going to drop by. They are announcing their big 2026-2027 Performing Arts Series.
That's going to be a lot of fun. And we're going to be taking your calls as well, remembering Charlie Kirk this morning and the impact he made in the Mid-South. 901-260-5926. I'm Todd Starnes and the principal Memphis Toyota Studio. Here's something most people don't know.
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Again, account29.com. All right, good morning, everybody. I'm Todd Starns and the principal Memphis Toyota Studio. Great to have you with us today. It's a very busy Newsday.
Again, coming up 2 o'clock this evening here on the Mighty 9, 92 o'clock this afternoon. We'll have that one-hour special about Charlie Kirk and his life and legacy. I want to give a big shout-out to the Collierville High School Turning Point USA chapter. They got up at 6.30 this morning having Chick-fil-A for breakfast at Booyah's over in Collierville, off Poplar, and having their very first meeting, their very first gathering. We may have some of the students calling in in just a little while.
901-260-5926. That's 901-260-5926. Every driver in the city is going to want to hear this news. We understand that Memphis has so far filled 7,700 potholes.
So, for those of us who have had flat tires, this is a great blessing.
So, well done. That doesn't mean you can drive 90 miles an hour on Poplar, but it does mean that you probably aren't going to get a flat tire.
So, thank you, City of Memphis, for filling up those potholes. 7,700 potholes. That's a lot of holes to fill. Michael Bollinger's joining us, the artistic director from the Bartlett Performing Arts Center. You know something about potholes.
I mean, they're all over the place. No, that's impressive. 7,700 potholes, you know. Hey, I haven't seen you for a little while. Thank you for having me on.
And I love the. The studio, the way you've got it lit in your backdrop is cool. We are lit, as the young people said. We're lit. We're vibing or something.
I don't know. That's about as far as my Gen Z vernacular goes. That's good. You did good. Michael, first of all, it's great to see you again.
It's been a while. Yeah. And you're looking younger and younger. I don't know how you do this. Thank you.
I'll give you a dollar when we get done here. But I also don't understand how you guys come up with this incredible team. Calendar for the performing arts series. And I was looking through the lineup here. You guys bring in some really big acts, and it's just a lot of fun, and it's a lot of family fun as well.
Both, both. Yeah, and if you're not familiar in the area with it, it's in the city of Bartlett, but that really doesn't matter. This is all the, well, that matters greatly, but it's all the Mid-South, you know, because every audience has people from Bartlett, but people also from all over the Mid-South. But no, we work real hard. I think we're called the Bartlett Performing Arts Center.
And so I try to have a diversity of artists because it's not the Bartlett Country Center. It's not the Bartlett Dance Center. And so we've got a little of everything. And that's what I love about it: there's a little something for everybody. And this all kicks off in a couple of weeks with some family fun.
Love's labor loss. Tell us about it. Yeah, what this is, I started a partnership about four years ago with the Tennessee Shakespeare Company, and they are a wonderful person. Professional acting company. And so this will be the fourth year.
They come over and we set up a. I've got, if you're facing my theater, there's a nice park green and like appling kind of circles around my theater. And we set up a stage at one end of it and they actually perform. A Shakespearean play outside. And it starts at 7 o'clock, and it's on the 25th of September.
That's a Friday. And we'll have some food trucks there. And if it rains, we just move inside the theater, but they're really exceptional. Shakespeare and food trucks. That goes, yeah, yeah, yes.
Only at BPAC. Only at BPAC. I got to put that on my brochure next year. Shakespeare and food trucks. Steal that.
Please steal that. And the big thing is, you know, a lot of Shakespearean plays are like. What, three hours long? They do a real good edit.
So, all of the versions they bring out are 90 minutes. And unless you're a Shakespearean scholar, you don't know that anything's been edited out there.
So, and what I, if you haven't been to a Shakespeare show outdoors, it's an entirely different experience. And when I lived in New York City, worked at Fox News. I used to go to the Shakespeare, they had Shakespeare in Central Park. That's a big one, yeah. A big one, and just so much fun.
And folks, you're going to love it. Let's talk because you've got some great musical artists too coming up October 9th. John Waite, and then a couple of weeks later, Brittany Spencer. Yeah, John Waite is a sort of a rock icon. He was the lead singer of a band called The Babies.
He's British. He was the lead singer of a band called Bad English. And then he went out on his own. And some of the songs that. You would have heard his voice on her.
Isn't it time every time I think of you when I see you smile? Missing you, and he still brings it. And it's going to be a great show, and it's going to sell out. Tell me about Brittany Spencer. Brittany Spencer has been around for a while, but not a lot of people know her because she's out of Nashville.
She's African American. Th the only reason I mentioned that is there aren't a lot of black country singers.
So she sings country music. Uh but she's mainly the first ten years of her career been a backup singer to to some huge Artists like Willie Nelson, Jason Isbel, Brandi Carlisle, and then on with the with Beyonce and her album Oh, Cowboy Carter. Cowboy Carter. Beyonce asked her and two other ladies. to be her backup singers on that album.
So, this is her solo with her own band, singing stuff from Cowboy Carter and singing stuff from her own album. And so, she's trying to get her wings. And, you know, she likes the big gigs because they pay her well. But, you know, but she's trying to go out on her own. But she's got this voice that will knock you out.
And that's Brittany Spencer. And if country's not your thing, it's okay because what, about a week or so later, you've got the James Taylor Hourglass Tribute concert. Yeah, I do two or three tribute acts a year. And what I like is. They got to be good artists.
Whoever's the lead singer, you close your eyes and you got to go, oh my gosh, that's James Taylor. But I don't like them to act like James Taylor. Right. I hate that. Like, I'm James Taylor.
No, you're not. He's still alive. Stop it. You know, but this guy's out of New York, actually, Long Island, and he and his seven-piece band are coming to join us. For a two-hour set of nothing but James Taylor music.
And James Taylor had stuff like Carolina in My Mind, Fire and Rain, my favorite song, Mexico, Shower the People, and and a whole bunch of others. And he's Really great. He will also sell out. He's very close to it right now. Michael Bollinger is the artistic director at the Bartlett Performing Arts Center.
And today we are announcing BPAC's 2026-2027 performing arts series right here on K-Wham. There's a very weird photograph in the brochure, and a guy who looks like he came-I don't like the Muppet Show. He kind of looks like Beaker from the Muppet Show. Kinda. It's a show called Super Scientific Circus, and I've worked with these guys before.
There's only two guys in it. This guy is really short, but they both used to work for the Ringling Brothers Barnum Bailey Circus when it really had like elephants and stuff. You know, he was a clown, the other guy was a mime. But they use all of their circus skills, all of their comedy, some magic. But to teach kids science.
So it's called Super Scientific Circus, and they use a lot of audience participation. And the kids will not only have fun, but they'll walk away going, Oh, that's cool. I didn't know that. Yeah, I'm looking at the description here, and I see things like boomerangs, bubbles, and bull whips. But this is a family-friendly event.
I just want to make sure. Yes, no, this is a family-friendly show. The day before, they're going to do a double performance for 700 school students. Oh, wow. Just Arts and Ed.
That's the Arts and Ed show. I love that. And this is a Saturday matinee. And the thing with the bull whip, here's what they do with it.
So the tall guy puts a cigarette in his no cigarettes are lit in this show. Like, no animals are harmed, right?
So he puts it in his mouth. He stands profile to Mr. Fish, the short guy. He gets out a 10-foot-long bull whip and steps back 10 feet. And he practices a couple times, and then he snaps it.
And he first cuts the cigarette in half without hitting the guy in the nose. And second though, what you learn about that is, you know, where there's that pop at the end? That's because the end of the bull whip has broken the sound barrier. Oh, wow. Look, I had no idea.
You learned something. The more you know of the Mighty 990, the more you know. I want to fast where we've got Hannah Harper coming up in November, but then I want to move to Christmas if we can. But Hannah Harper's huge. She just won American Idol just this May.
And I've got two performances, and she's almost sold out.
So she's going to sell out. She will. The ticket prices are so reasonable, too. Yeah, they are. Let's talk Christmas real quick.
You got it, buddy. You've got three great events coming up, and this is a lot of fun. Kicking off the holidays with Christmas with the Petersons. Right. And the Petersons are a big family and they live down around Branson, and they're one of the top three-selling shows in Branson.
But they have a special Christmas show.
So they're going to come to me to BPAC and do nothing but Christmas music for two hours the weekend before Thanksgiving. Um, do you want to tell me what the next one is? Matilda the musical. Matilda the Broadway musical. We produce a couple of musicals ourselves every year.
This is our youth production. It's professionally directed and lit and built and all that. But all of the artists, young artists, are from greater MIP broadcast. Bartlett and Greater Mid-South. And we had like a hundred kids audition.
It's going to be a great show. And we have at least three performances that. And wrapping up the old tide season, we have a classic The Nutcracker. Yes, yes. We're missing a male ballerine at ballet, the dancer.
Would you help us out? Yeah, I'm not good at that. I'm a Baptist. I got no rhythm. Ah!
Well, then don't do that. Don't do that. But at any rate, we've been that's a partnership with um uh with another da with a dance company, and they've been there for the last four or five years, and and every time they're in residency for that weekend, it is sold out. Wow.
Now there's plenty of tickets left right now. But by the time we get to it, it it should be sold out. All right.
Uh bpac.org. That's BPACC.org. That's the website. People can go there, get tickets and information. Right, right.
And you can buy your tickets online or you can call the box office, 385-5588. They open at 10 o'clock. Um and the neat thing about VPEC is Uh we only have three hundred and fifty seats.
So, even if you're sitting in the back row, you've got a great seat. It's like Hannah Harper or whoever, you know, is performing in your living room. You know, it's great. Love that. Michael, it is great to see you.
Good to see you, sir. All right, folks, it's going to be a lot of fun at BPAC, the Bartlett Performing Arts Center, the big 2026, 2027 season. Go to bpac.org. You're going to have a great time, great family fun. All right, got to take a break.
Coming up, going back to Dallas, Scott Golden, chairman of the Tennessee Republican Party. This is Todd Starnes. I told you guys it was a busy day. Don't forget, 2 o'clock today, the Charlie Kirk special airing exclusively here on the Mighty 990. I want to go right away to our Patriot Mobile newsmaker line and back to Dallas at the RNC, the Republican Convention, midterm convention.
Scott Golden, chairman of the Tennessee Republican Party, joins us. Scott, good to have you with us today and set the scene for us. What a night last night. Fantastic, Todd. Good to hear from you.
Yeah, we're all a little Coarse and tired, you know, everything as we've learned, everything's bigger in Texas.
So, the walking, everybody's got their steps in this week, but. What a fantastic scene last night. The momentum in the hall was just incredible. President Trump did a great job. I don't know if everybody's having the opportunity to watch some of the speakers that begin at three o'clock, but Tim Scott gave one of the best speeches, and that may have been around five thirty or five point forty five.
So I would encourage everybody, if you got a chance, turn on whatever channel is watching it because There are some really fantastic things being said about how important this midterm election is. I thought Brandon Gill, and a lot of people after his remarks last night, said this guy could be a presidential contender one day. By the way, Dinesh D'Souza is his father-in-law. Brandon Gill really brought down the House and I think really defined what this midterm election is really all about, especially with the extremists on the other side of the aisle. I mean, clearly, you're seeing the message And, you know, look, this is something that's never been done before.
It's historic. We're blessed to be here. I know I was with Chairman Gruyter's a lot yesterday, different meetings that we're doing here for the RNC. And he and I have talked about this for a couple of months and he said, look, we have to do things differently. We know what the in the last forty one midterms, the party that controls the White House has lost thirty nine of the forty one midterms.
So, you know, history says. We shouldn't be in this race, but A couple things going on. First of all, it's President Trump and the ability to sell the message. Secondly, it's the success. That President Trump has had, look no further than Memphis, and what four years makes a difference between what the Biden policies are and the Trump policies.
And finally, how. Really radical, the Democrat candidates are that have been nominated. And of course, we're seeing this in Tennessee as well. Scott, let's talk about Tennessee. Of course, there's great hope that we are going to pick up that additional congressional seat with the redrawing of the ninth.
And there was some polling data out. I'm not quite sure why the Democrats were excited about this. There was a far-left polling agency went out and they discovered that Brent Taylor is beating Justin Pearson by four points. I suspect it's much higher than that. But anyway, it's looking good for the Republicans here in Tennessee to pick up that seat.
Yeah, about the same for Charlie Hatcher, who's also got a piece of Shelby County as well. Obviously, great poll numbers out for Senator Blackburn and her race.
So I, you know. we're not going to take anything for granted. I know all of our party chairs and all the apparatus of everything. We're going to work hard for the next fifty four days. There's no question.
I don't look, poll numbers, that tells us that at least in Tennessee, you're seeing a lot of excitement among the Republicans. But we need to make sure that we translate that excitement, make sure that they're at the polls. That's what we're going to be doing for the next 54 days. I mean, So we're not going to take a shot. In Tennessee, of turning our government back over to some of the policy ideas.
That we've seen nationally. Scary times. Yeah, no doubt about it. And of course, Marshall Blackburn looking very, very strong in the gubernatorial race. But again, I think the philosophy I've always heard is campaign like you're 10 points down.
Just get out there and leave it all on the playing field. It's exactly the way we feel as well. I'm not looking at poll numbers. I'm looking at, okay, tell me when these people are going to, as soon as early voting opens, you know, we're going to be encouraging. I tell people all the time: if you're sick of getting mail and text, Make sure you go out and vote early.
Once you take that vote, we're removing you off the list. We're not gonna bother you anymore.
So I said, that is the greatest encouragement for voting early, you don't have to get all of the information that's coming out.
So get Republican voters day one. Let's get the votes in the bank and let us start focusing on every other voter we can get. We have Scott Golden joining us on the Patriot Mobile Newsmaker line from Dallas, chairman of the Tennessee Republican Party. And Scott, as you and I are talking here, they're wrapping up a Turning Point USA chapter meeting, Collierville High School. These kids meet at 6:30 in the morning, one of the local restaurants, and Collierville opens their doors to the kids.
And I'm wondering what you guys are doing at the state level to get these young people involved in the party and get them involved in politics. Yes, encouraging mainly because you get a bit as we've seen and certainly this is a very tragic anniversary of Charlie Kirk. Um, and that we're all going to be thinking about throughout the day. But you know, as these clubs get, you know, they kind of blow up, they do some different things. Our job is to sort of, okay, look, you've got the passion for politics now.
You see why it's important, and then it's okay. Let's translate it into some of the young Republicans' activities. Shelby County has a great young Republicans group down there. Then we take them and get them into the regular party or the women's party and invite them to events so that they can start that participation. I think that's going to be the legacy of Charlie Kirk.
I see it in my own life. I had two college-age daughters. Um, that were really drawn into politics over the last year had a lot to do with Charlie Kirk.
So it's it's translating them from the sidelines, getting them on the people. Love it. Scott, the music means we've got to scoot out of here. I'm going to let you get some breakfast. I know you guys have a long day, but thanks for the great work you and your team are doing.
Nice Todd, thank you. Appreciate all that you did really well. We look forward to call us if you need us. We're down in Dallas. Hope everybody's safe.
All right.
There you go. Scott Golden, everybody.