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G2 Edge, sensory by design. From the principal Toyota Studios, it's morning in Memphis with Todd Starns. And good morning, everybody. Welcome to you, all of you folks that are right now sitting in a kiddie pool or sitting in your freezer. Good morning to you.
It is going to be hotter than blue blazes. I'm going to tell you: the people that love this time of year more than anybody else are the Baptist preachers. This is when they hold revival outside and say, if you think it's hot here, You better get your heart right with the Lord because it's going to be hotter and you know where. I'm not sure if it's that much hotter, to be honest with you. Laura Huckabee, our chief meteorologist, on the way in just a little while.
Again, you heard the news, 101 degrees today.
So if you're heading out to high school football games, if you're heading out to the Memphis Tigers or Cooper Young this weekend, you gotta be gotta be careful and be sure to take this seriously. Hydrate, ladies and gentlemen. All right, we have got a jam-packed show for you today, a lot of ground to cover. Democrats in Memphis are at war with each other. We'll talk a little bit later about Henry Reeves, the attorney, attacking Mayor Paul Young.
It is a free-for-all. We're going to be taking your calls as well. 901-260-5926. That's 901-260-5926. KYM has been the place for politics in the Mid-South, and we're going to have a lot of candidates walking through the doors today, including our very first guest.
Right now, he is the mayor of Lakeland, Tennessee, Mayor Josh Roman. Mr. Mayor, good to have you with us today. Good morning, Todd. It's great to be here.
Well, look, we're going to jump right into it because you're running for reelection and you've got some opponents, and we're going to talk about that. Or an opponent, we're going to talk about that in just a moment. But I'm just wondering, Mr. Mayor, what is the biggest issue that you see right now in Lakeland? The biggest issue is keeping the momentum.
You know, we talk a lot about getting it done. In Lakeland, we're doing exactly that. You're seeing. true local politicians getting it done, meaning that we're backing our school system, we're backing the blue, and we're keeping taxes low.
So we need to keep that momentum going, Todd. You are you I mean, pretty much you're almost a life lifer there in Lakeland. You've been there, what, twenty, twenty five years? Twenty five years. It was the first home my wife and I ever purchased.
We're actually on our third home and we just celebrated our twenty fifth wedding anniversary.
So growing up military, it's the closest thing to a home I've ever known. Why Lakeland? What is it about Lakeland that sets it apart from all the other suburban cities?
Well, Lakeland, not only is it just a beautiful place, it's the people. I mean, we have a great community. Everybody says that, but Lakeland is exactly what you make it. You can be in a rural area in the northern part of Lakeland, or you can be closer to a suburban area. Lakeland is exactly what you make it, and I've seen it in action.
There has been concern about money and expenditures. You guys are putting in a lot of infrastructure, doing a lot of things. What is the money situation there in Lakeland? It's great. General fund hasn't ever been larger.
We have the lowest tax rate in Shelby County. We're getting a lot done on a very little amount. We're using some very fun opportunities that the Shelby County Commission has given us through tax increment financing to work with not only developers, but just. We're having fun in Lakeland, and we're keeping that bank full. I'm curious about crime.
That has been, of course, a major concern and focus, not just in Memphis, but Shelby County at large. What's the situation like there in Lakeland, and how are you guys dealing with the are you seeing any spillover crime coming up from Memphis? I'm glad you asked that, and it's actually one of the major reasons why I'm running for re-election. My opponent, Voted multiple times to not fund what we're trying to do in Lakeland to help lower crime. We got rid of two motels that were blighted.
They took a lot of resources from Shelby County Sheriff's Office. They were drug hotspots. We did something crazy in Lakeland. We actually funded almost $6 million to tear down those two motels. We created tons of resources for our partnership with the Sheriff's Office, and our crime rate is almost zero.
It's an anomaly in West Tennessee. You know, how do you figure that? I mean, what is it about Lakeland where you guys are able to do what the city of Memphis has not been able to do?
Well, I'm going to have to say leadership. In in the in the city of Lakeland, we've done things that that aren't aren't normally done. We had three votes to To invest in our city, and we're continuing that investment on a regular basis. We just opened up a new partnership with Shelby County Sheriff's Office. We actually put Put an office in Lakeland for them to have physical seats.
We're paying for that. We're footing the whole bill. Opponent would call that frivolous spending. I call that backing the blue.
So, when you are, so when you say we're funding that, you're talking about the taxpayers, the homeowners there in Lakeland. That's correct. That's correct. As a city, we're investing in ourselves. We're doing our part to give Shelby County all the resources they need to keep us safe.
So, again, ladies and gentlemen, Lakeland Mayor Josh Roman joining us. He's running for reelection, and this is a nonpartisan race. Your opponent happens to be a Republican, and you are a Republican, is that correct? He's bona fide Republican. We both are, which is great because you get to see two different sides of the coin: one where someone talks about being a conservative who votes no on everything, and the other one where you see Faith, family, backing, law enforcement, and actual action, what I would consider true conservatism.
Are you saying your opponent, who is coming on the program Monday, by the way, and we'll have the same sort of conversation, you're saying she's not a true conservative? No, 100% I'm saying she's not a true conservative. I mean, this is a joke. How can you say that you want to support a family when you're not worried about the next generation? A true conservative, in my opinion, sets a foundation for what comes after them, and they're not looking to.
Make a vote for the, or actually, in her case, non-vote for the next election. They're looking to. Build something for the next generation, and she's ducking that vote.
So, I have to tell you, I'm kind of surprised here because normally candidates do not, you know, they try not to even talk about their opponent, but clearly, it sounds like you've got a beef with her. That's funny you say that. I don't have a beef. I would think she's nice, but every time that I see her and she smiles at me, she shakes my hand, and we have a good a good relationship. Her father was actually a big supporter of mine, and she even said she wasn't going to run.
And so, and she was so she was very complimentary of me. And then, all of a sudden, you know, when she decided she was going to run, a light. A light switch flipped, and now all of a sudden, all the great things that we're doing are frivolous spending.
So it's not a beef. It's just that you've got to call a spade a spade. All right. Connie McCarter is coming on the show Monday morning, ladies and gentlemen, and we'll get her to respond and she'll have the opportunity to respond. And that's kind of how we do things here, Mr.
Mayor. Republican, Democrat, we invite everybody. And I think it's good, it's healthy for the community to hear the candidates and what they believe, what they don't believe. 100%. I agree.
All right, real quick here before we have to let you go, and we're going to get you back on as well. You know, we've got a lot of time between now and the election. Schools. A report came out yesterday. Memphis City Schools, another loss in enrollment down to 101,000.
Back when the district first started, it was 148,000.
So they have lost a lot of kids. You guys have your own school district. How is that going? And are you guys letting people from outside Lakeland enroll their kids? Thank you for asking.
It's actually a big point of pride in the city of Lakeland, Tennessee. We fought for over 10 years. Again, we had to fight against my opponent to be able to get the school system in the first place. And not only did we build a world-class school system, but we were using it as our calling card. In order to go to Lakeland City schools, you have to live in the city of Lakeland.
And so we're putting that as our best foot forward. All right. Mr. Mayor. Good to see you this morning, and we appreciate you dropping by K-Wham.
Thanks for having me. All right, where can people go if they want to get more information about you? I guess they could just run into you at City Hall, but where do you recommend they go? Best place to find me is on Facebook, Josh Roman, Lakeland Mayor. All right, got it.
All right, ladies and gentlemen, Lakeland Mayor Josh Roman here in studio this morning on K-Wham. All right, we're going to take a break. When we come back, Lauren Pingston, who is an independent, she's running for governor of the state of Tennessee. She's making the rounds here in the Mid-South, and we're going to have a great conversation with her. And it's also an opportunity right now for you to pick up a pair of tickets to see Cool and the Gang tonight at Live at the Garden.
If you would like a pair of tickets, we're going to take caller number two, 901-260-5926. That's 901-260-5926. Caller number two, we're going to send you and a guest to Live at the Garden tonight. We'll be right back. This is Troy Millins from Earn Your Leisure.
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Get down on it. Get down on it. Get down on it. Get down on it. Okay, we normally don't encourage people to get down on it on the morning show, but we got Cool in the gang tonight live at the garden right here in Memphis.
And we've got another pair of tickets to give away.
So if you and a guest would like to brave the heat and hang out tonight, get some great music, great food, and just a lot of fun, give us a call. Be caller number two, 901-260-5926, and you will win a pair of tickets to see Cool in the Gang courtesy of the Mighty 990 K-Wham.
Now, I promise, I told you we were like political Palooza today. We are so honored to have with us in studio making her debut appearance on the Mighty 990, Lauren Pinkston, who is running for governor as an independent. She has been all over the Mid-South. And I got to tell you, Lauren, that means something to me because a lot of times. The candidates forget that there is a western part of the state, and you have been all over the place.
All over the place. We've made over 300 stops, and that is important, right? That you are in every county in the state, but in especially in the rural parts of the state, that you understand what's going on. And as a West Tennessee girl myself, it's important to me that West Tennessee is represented.
So I'm just curious here, just between you and me, nobody else is listening. Was there a point when you're like, sweet Lord, this is a big state? Because usually it hits right outside of Nashville when you're heading up to East Tennessee. We are going to have a $100 billion road and bridge infrastructure backlog in the state going into this office. And I will tell you that we need a lot more roads to connect us because the northeastern part of the state is really underfunded and not well connected.
A lot of people don't realize when you're in Bristol, you are closer to the Canadian border than you are Memphis. That is exactly right. And my husband's family is from close to Bristol and John. County, and I grew up in McNary County here in West Tennessee. We live in Murray County and Middle now, so we really do have connections across the state.
So, this is, and we're going to get you back on between now and the election because I have a lot of questions. But a lot of our listeners may not know about you. And you actually, you're from West Tennessee, but you also have ties to Memphis as well. That's right. My husband went to UT Medical School here, and I started my career in the classroom here in Memphis.
And so, no one told me I was graduating in a recession.
So, I called 86 public schools begging for a job. Ended up at Christ the Rock Christian Academy here in Memphis for the very first year of my teaching career. Is that right? That's right. Do you miss?
I mean, you're still teaching, but is there any particular grade that you really enjoyed? I'm partial to fourth grade, I'll be honest. Fourth graders are still, they're so sweet, and I loved teaching fourth grade. I ended up teaching those same students when they were university students at the university level. I don't know why.
Fourth grade, when you said that, I immediately thought of. Mrs. Folk at Hope P. Sullivan Elementary School over in South Haven, my reading teacher. You know, and that was a pivotal year.
Yeah, it does. And you always, I love that that memory came back to you. Teachers are critical to our formation and to the future of our society. You know, on that note, I'm curious about education. We just had a story that dropped yesterday: Memphis Shelby County Schools dropping another year in enrollment down to 101,000 students, still the largest district in the state.
What do we do to make sure kids are in school? And is that going to be a big part of your platform? It's a huge part of my platform. And what I am watching is our public schools failing the families in Tennessee, right? We've put kids on screens.
We have forced kids to sit still and listen for six hours when it is not developmentally appropriate. And I think that AI is going to change the next generation, of course, more than any other generation before us. And if we don't transform our classrooms to be real places of learning and meaning-making, if our kids aren't touching grass, if they They're not working with their hands. I'm concerned that we are handing them a future that is going to not, it's going to make it impossible for future generations to survive. I've always believed that parents need to prepare their kids.
For me personally, I think kids need to be able to read before they step foot into a school building. That being said, once we're getting them inside Memphis-Shelby County Schools, they're still not reading at grade level. And as a taxpayer, as an investor, it concerns me that we're failing the kids here. What 70% of the kids can't read at grade level. As governor, how would you deal with that?
We have a 90,000 child care slot deficit in the state of Tennessee.
So I would move private school vouchers over to fund early childhood centers, and I would do that on-site and near-site to places of employment.
So near industrial parks, so that people who work second and third shifts can have a place for their children to go, near public schools, so that teachers can have a place for their children to go. That is how we address the preschool reading, excuse me, the kindergarten readiness. Circumstances, and we've seen this happen in Shelby County now. There's a big lawsuit being waged about the state takeover. Was that the right move?
Was it right to send the state in and take over these schools and fix what's broken? Do you think that a legislator in Nashville knows how to run a school in Memphis? Because I don't. Really?
So, even though they appointed all the local folks with this new board that's overseeing it, you don't think those people have a role in that? I think that what we need to do is invest in communities, and that's where we make a change. We don't fix a community by chasing a headline and strong-arming someone. We come in by investing. We invest in infrastructure, we invest in businesses, we invest in families, we invest in teachers.
The you're running as an independent. An independent has never really generated a lot of support statewide, including, I believe, the John Jay Hooker race, which is what everybody sort of looks back to. And that guy was incredibly well known in politics. How are you going to move the needle? This is not business as usual, Todd.
We are looking at a time where more independents are speaking up, and this is a year where independents outnumber Republicans and Democrats.
So people are looking for something different. We are in a year of political realignment. I call it a political renaissance of sorts. And just like Abraham Lincoln was a third party candidate, and he rose to the occasion when our country was deeply divided, that's what we're looking at right now. And it's going to take people stepping outside of the two-party system to fix it.
We're talking to Lauren Pinkston, a seventh-generation Tennessean from right here in the western part of our great state. Pinkston4TN.com is the website. You're going to be at the big Memphis Tigers game. I'm going to be at the Tigers game after the Cooper Young Festival.
So we're around.
So you're going to Cooper Young, too? Of course. All right. You wouldn't miss it. Are you prepared?
Because they say it's like really hip. It's like a hip festival.
Well, you know, my kids try to keep me young, and they also keep me honest.
So I'll be myself. No, you're going to have a great time. It's a lot of fun. You'll enjoy it.
So plenty of opportunities to meet Lauren and find out about her platform. And we'd love to get you back on as well here on the Modi 990 and we can talk maybe issues and things like that. That would be great. And anybody can sign up for a call from me on my website as well.
So I am extremely accessible. Let's talk about crime. Also, Memphis Saved Task Force 13,000 arrests since the Task force was formed as governor. And there was a lot of question about whether or not this was the right move to make. What would you have done if you had been governor and we were dealing?
How would you deal with the crime problem in Memphis?
So, this week is the one-year anniversary of when that task force was started. And from my friends at TBI who were there when the folks from D.C. walked in and started thinking, where are we going to go in Tennessee? Anyone who is from Memphis knew it's going to be Memphis, right? The federal government spent $221 million to outfit Hotel Indigo downtown with 14 federal agencies.
That, to me, is an irresponsible way of using your tax dollars when the Memphis City Police Force was already down 50% after George Floyd's death. If you want to make your streets safer, you invest in the recruitment and retention of police officers, and you make your streets safer by using sustainable choices. Outfitting one hotel for 10 months with $221 million, in my opinion, is a poor business choice when we're hunting and pecking people off of the streets. Hundreds of kids missing. Kids found, though, and 13,000 criminals taken off the streets.
And I know this has been a contentious topic here because people do feel that there has been a level of safety that has been improved. And I'm not disagreeing with that at all. My question is: is there a better way to use your tax dollars to make that sustainable? All right. That music, they're going to cut me off, Lauren.
It's so incredibly rude. Pinkstonfortn.com, go check it out. Lauren, good to see you. And we'll see you at the Tigers game in Cooper Young. Thank you, Todd.
We'll be right back. And welcome back, everybody. It is going to be a very warm day. K-WAM, the only radio station in Memphis, with our own chief meteorologist, Laura Huckabee, is going to be here in just a little while. She says it's going to be 101 degrees today.
So, if you're going to the Cooper Young Festival this weekend, you've got to hydrate. Big, big tailgate party tomorrow at Tigers Stadium down on Tiger Lane.
So, be sure to drink plenty of water. Adult libations do not count, so you need to have some water there. I told you it was a political palooza today, and we are honored to have Chas Mulder joining us. He is running for Tennessee's 5th congressional district. He's a mayor out in.
Well, you know, the middle part of the state. We call that the flyover part of Tennessee here on the western side, Mr. Mayor. Middleton, it's a bit of a statement. Middleton.
Is that what you call it?
Okay, very good. Mr. Mayor, first, welcome to Memphis, and great to have you with us today. Thanks, Todd. Thanks for having me.
We've been spending a lot of time in Memphis. As you know, Memphis is a city I know very well. Went to law school here, and coming back to Memphis is like coming home for me. You know, it's funny, we get a lot of grief sometimes because on this radio station, you know, I'm a conservative, but I also believe that we ought to be hearing from all vantage points and all viewpoints. And so we have just as many Democrats coming on K William as we do Republicans.
And I just think that's kind of fun. I think we've become too balkanized in politics. Oh, I totally agree. And honestly, Todd, that's one of the reasons I'm here. I think right now we have too many people in Washington that go to D.C.
and pledge allegiance to a party and don't have conversations with the other side. As you know, Howard Baker used to say, you have a conversation with the other side because they may be right. And During my time as mayor, I've focused on bringing people together, and that's the kind of policy and principles I want to take to Washington. I have about a bazillion questions for you, but we're going to get you back on later in the campaign as well. And because, again, there's a lot of ground to cover here.
But I have to share this with you. I host a national show, noon to 3 Eastern, on 150 stations around the country. I read, when you first announced, I read your platform, I didn't tell him anything else about it. I said, is this guy a Republican or a Democrat? And most everybody, I don't want to alarm you, but a lot of people thought you were a Republican just reading your platform there, Mr.
Mayor. Well, I think my platform is one that brings people together as a mayor of a community that voted for Donald Trump by 44 percentage points. And I was elected with 60 percent of the vote. I think that's a testament to the fact that I'm able to bring people together. And we've had a lot of independents and Republicans vote for me during my time as mayor.
And as we know, in this heavily gerrymandered district, that's going to be what it's going to take in order to win this fifth congressional district. And that's why we feel so optimistic about our chance. And in fairness, the Democrats heavily gerrymandered when they had control as well. Right. I think gerrymandering is a tale-as all its time.
I think the problem in this particular instance, Todd, is they gerrymandered after the deadline for the election had already passed. I mean, my wife and I tell our kids all the time: you don't change the rules after the game has begun. And that's what the legislature did here. I think most people I talk to on the trail think that we need a constitutional amendment to create a commission on redistricting so that we can ensure that this gerrymandering doesn't happen in the future. Because to your point, Todd, this has happened.
Republicans and Democrats have done it. I think in this case, though, the way that they did it, the timing of it, again, military men and women serving overseas had already begun requesting ballots for our election when the legislature changed the maps. But hey, look, that's in the past. We're looking forward and we're excited about this new district. Chasmolder.com is the website.
If you want to see his platform and check out his ads, your ad. I watched your ad, and it was, again, a fancy. Family sitting around the table holding hands, praying iced tea. I didn't see anybody with nose rings. I didn't see any DSA t-shirts.
What message are you trying to convey here? Because that did not look like a typical Democrat candidate ad.
Well, you know, the message that we're conveying is that I am a mayor of a small town. I'm a husband. I'm a father, and I'm a native of Columbia, Tennessee, and that loves my community and that loves my state. And I want to go serve my community at large in this 17-county district to go to Washington, D.C., to really be a problem solver, to focus on issues that people actually have and that they care about. And that's what we're hearing on the campaign trail: small business owners that are hurting, gas prices that are rising, health care that is less accessible and affordable.
And, you know, my family is my number one asset. My kids, I treat my kids as though they're watching me in everything that I do on the campaign trail and as a mayor. And I think that's why we've been successful in bringing people together. And that's why we're seeing this campaign have so much momentum. I hear exactly what you're saying.
Saying, and I remember growing up, my grandparents were Democrats. They were very conservative. They were longtime members of the White Haven United Methodist Church. I'm Southern Baptist, but they were Methodist. And I know you're a Methodist.
And that party changed somewhere and it became unkind to people of faith. What do you say to folks out there? And they are looking for somebody to vote for, but they see some of the policies coming out of the Democrat Party and they say, that's not for me.
Well, look, I mean, I'm raising my kids in the same church that I grew up in. The only difference is that we sit in the back of the church today. My parents used to make me sit in the front of the church. I think that it is a misnomer to say that the Democrats are a party that don't have faith. I mean, my faith is part of my platform.
Everything that I do is faith-based. And so I don't agree with the premise that the Democratic Party does not have faith as a part of their platform. President Biden, when he was in office, had the FBI targeting Roman Catholic churches in the Richmond, Virginia area, and other areas of the nation, trying to encourage priests to spy on their parishioners. Those were in the FBI files. Looking at some of the policies, and again, I don't want to get into the weeds on that, but again, I think that's a genuine and legitimate concern that people have.
You know, are the Democrats a faith-friendly party?
Well, certainly my faith is part of my platform, and it's what guides me, and it's what drives me. And certainly that's something that I consider to be very strong, and I'm very proud of that fact. I'm curious.
So you sit in the back row.
So we have a name for that in the Baptist. It's called the Backrow Baptist. You guys.
Well, you know, I guess you can call me a back row Methodist. Primarily, it's because we're showing up a few minutes late because it's hard to get our three kids out of the door. But, you know, again, the Methodist Church and my Christian faith is very important to me, and I'm very willing and open to talk about that. And to your point, Todd, our first television ad that will go up on the air in Memphis next week depicts my family sitting around a table saying a prayer and having a meal. Is it, I mean, and I don't, I don't like labels, but would it be fair to suggest that you're presenting yourself as a moderate Democrat?
I would say that it's fair to say that I'm presenting myself as a pragmatic person that is focused on solutions to problems that matter. And I'll let other people label me. At the end of the day, I want to find problems and I want to solve those problems. I think that's what people want in Washington, D.C. right now.
Let's say you get elected and you are the congressman for the 5th congressional district. Jamie Wrangel has already said if the Democrats regain control of Congress and If you win the fifth, Democrats are retaking the House. Do you vote to impeach President Trump? Wrangel says that's one of the first things they're going to do is impeach the president. I don't think that should be the focus, Todd.
I think my focus in when we get elected is going to be solving the problems that people are talking about on a daily basis. Gas prices are over $4 a gallon. Health care is no longer accessible. Henry County, which is in this district, Todd, this 17-county district, they just lost their only labor and delivery unit.
So now if you live in Paris, Tennessee, you have to drive over an hour to go get those services. And I think that's what people care about. I'm not going to go to Washington to focus on impeaching the president. I'm going to go to Washington and focus on checking and balancing some of the decisions the president's making, including tariffs that are having a harmful impact on the people that live here. One of the things that I'd respect about Democrats and Nancy Pelosi, when she was Speaker of the House, is the Democrats voted together.
It didn't matter. Everybody was in line, marching in step. Are you going to be one of those march-in-step Democrats? I am going to be an independent-minded congressman that's going to focus on making sure that every vote I take is in the best interest of this district. You may have seen this week we just received the Blue Dogs endorsement.
There are 10 Blue Dogs in the House, and they have not endorsed any Tennessee candidate in over 40 years. And that's because we are an independent-minded campaign. We want to focus on fiscal responsibility in Columbia. We've had eight years of balanced budgets during my eight years as mayor that had no property tax increases. We've found solutions to problems, and I think that's what people want.
And I'm going to be independent-minded. Just a couple of weeks ago, Todd. Charlie Hatcher, our opponent, said that he couldn't think of one thing that he disagreed with President Trump about. I bet even Todd Starnes could think of something that he disagreed with President Trump about. I can't imagine surrendering my judgment to any president or to any party.
I'm going to be independent-minded. I'm not going to tow a party line. I'm going to tow the line that's in the best interest of this district. And if that's the case, I don't want to put you on the spot here, but is there one thing that you're like, because you've mentioned Charlie Hatcher, is there one thing that you're looking at your party and what your party is doing right now that you disagree with?
Well, I think there are a couple of things that I could point to that I agree with that President Trump has done with respect to securing our border. I think that we need to have secure borders. I think that the Biden administration missed the mark in that regard. I think that standing up to China with respect to forced technology related issues is important. I think President Trump has done that.
I think with regard to criminal justice reform, I think that's very important.
So I'm going to be willing to agree with the president. When there's something that I think the president is doing right, that's in the best interest of our district. But the difference between Charlie Hatcher and me is, I'm also going to be willing to stand up when I think the president is making decisions that's harmful to this congressional district. You know, when you look at the western part of the state, it's a big ag community. I mean, this is where we have the farmers and the ranches.
And you mentioned President Trump completely disagreed with the idea of bringing in foreign beef. The cattle industry is hurting. Farmers are hurting. And they need somebody that's going to be looking out for their interest as well up on Capitol Hill. What do you say to those farmers here in West Tennessee that are listening this morning?
Well, I'm actually speaking with farmers on a daily basis. And the farmers that I'm speaking to are talking about how they are having the most challenging times of their careers. We have a number of farms that are now having to shut down because they can't afford their input costs. Farmers are very upset. I hear a lot of farmers that tell me, Todd, that they voted for the president, but they didn't vote for this.
And when they mean this, they're talking about. The fact that diesel prices are out of control as a result of the war, that the tariffs are having an impact on their input cost. And so farmers are very upset. Just the Tennessee Farm Bureau president a couple weeks ago actually stood up against this beef tariff deal that the president entered into, and that's not something that happens often. And so I support the Tennessee Farm Bureau and their members.
As you may know, Columbia, Tennessee, where I'm the mayor, is the headquarters of the Tennessee Farm Bureau.
So I have a good relationship with that organization and believe that we need to be supporting our farmers by supporting policies that are helpful for them, not that are having a harmful impact on them. And of course, K-WAM is proud to be the Farm Bureau station. We carry their farm reports here, and we appreciate that. I love on the weekends, I'll go to the farmers market, and we've got a lot of farmers that listen to the show as they're out in the fields, and we appreciate that. And we need lawmakers up on Capitol Hill that are going to have their backs.
Chan, can you hang on for a second? We've got to take a quick break. Can you stick around for a few minutes? Absolutely time. All right, we've got Chas Moller running a farm.
For a Congress. He is joining us in the studio today. Chasmolder.com is the website. You can get all sorts of information. And also, you're going to have an opportunity to meet him.
He's going to be in town this weekend. Got to take a quick break. By the way, when we come back, the next caller to the Mighty 990 will pick up a pair of tickets to see Cool and the Gang tonight live at the garden. Going to be a great concert. You can pack a great picnic or buy food there.
And it's going to be a wonderful time. We want to send you and a guest to Cool and the Gang: 901-260-5926. Our telephone number will be right back. And welcome back, everybody. It is going to be a very hot day here in the Mid-South, and we're honored to be hanging out with Chan Molder.
He is the mayor of Columbia, Tennessee, running for the 5th Congressional District, and he's going to be all over the Mid-South. But you've got a lot of ties. We were talking about just your background and everything. I didn't realize you've spent a lot of time. You have family connections here.
That's right. I went to law school here at the University of Memphis School of Law when they were in the old building on Central Avenue, not at their beautiful new building downtown. My wife is from Ripley, Tennessee. And so I've spent a lot of time in West Tennessee over the last 20 years of our marriage. And again, coming back to Memphis and coming to West Tennessee is like coming home for me.
So you have to explain the tie, though, for our radio audience here. There is even a West Tennessee connection to your tie. That's right. It's my good luck tie. It's my Ripley tomato tie.
And whenever I'm just looking for a good luck day, we're going to have a great day today here in Memphis. I wear my Ripley tomato tie. If you've never had a Ripley tomato, I highly suggest it. It's the best tomato in the world. It is the only tomato.
Well, Mississippi Red are good, but you're right, that Ripley tomato, tomato sandwich, that's what I live for. You can't eat a store-bought tomato on a tomato sandwich. A little-known fact, the tomato is the state. fruit in Tennessee.
So when you're eating a tomato sandwich, you can take relish in the fact that you're eating the state fruit while you're at it.
Okay. I know the guy's a Democrat, ladies and gentlemen, but he knows that a tomato is a fruit. That's right. Absolutely. Which those of us who grew up in the church, I had big issues with veggie tails because the tomato.
That's right. I'm like, the tomato is a fruit. It's a fruit. That's right. The official state fruit at that.
So you're traveling around. I mean, what is something that's really struck you as you're traveling around, you're going to all the festivals and you're meeting all the Tennesseans? What is it that's been striking for you? I think for me, people are paying attention. I think people are very upset.
Again, to go back to this gerrymandering that occurred late in the game, I think people are confused. You know, they don't know what district they live in, particularly in Memphis. Memphis has been carved into three separate congressional districts. My hometown of Columbia, where I've been the mayor for eight years, actually was carved into two. They carved Columbia, Tennessee, a population of 50,000 people, is one half in the fifth and the other half in the ninth.
I think the other thing, Todd, is that people are paying attention to the issues. People are feeling the hurt. People understand that prices are rising. Gas prices, just grocery prices, the tariffs that are being put on some of our longtime trading partners that are having an impact. I was with a small business owner in Franklin a couple of weeks ago that was talking about the fact that the tariffs have had a direct impact on his prices that he's having to charge his customers.
And he's having to deal with the prospect of either continuing to increase his prices to his customers or shut down the doors. And I don't think that those are helpful to our local economy. We just celebrated in Columbia just this week a small business that has been in operation in Columbia, Tennessee for 80 years. And that's something that we can all be proud of. But unfortunately, these small businesses are feeling the hurt from this economy that is, again, causing prices to rise as a result of tariffs and entering into a war of choice that doesn't seem to have any end in sight.
And the big, beautiful bill that added $4 trillion to our deficit tax. And that, I think, is a very important issue that people are waking up to and understanding that we've got to get our hands around that. Looking at the 5th Congressional District and specifically Memphis and Shelby County, West Tennessee. What is it that you're traveling this part of the district? What is the big issue you see out here, something that you think, you know what, I think I can be of help here in Congress?
Well, I think constituent services is so very important, particularly in this area. I mean, to focus on casework and our veterans who need assistance at the federal level, that's something that's very important to me. We've said it once and we'll say it again. When we're elected, we're going to make sure that we have an office presence in Memphis. I think it's very important that the people of Memphis know who their congressman is and so focus on constituent services.
To a policy issue, though, to your point, Todd, I think health care is so very important. Everywhere we go, people are talking about the fact that health care prices are rising, that health care is less accessible today than ever before. And I think we want to be part of a problem solving.
Solving caucus in Congress to help find solutions to these issues. As a mayor, you know, mayors have to solve problems. When someone comes to me and says that their trash didn't get picked up, I don't ask them what political party they're in. I go figure out a way to get their trash picked up. And I think that's the kind of approach that I want to take to Washington, to D.C., to focus on what the problem is and be a part of the caucus, Republican and Democrat, that's going to go find a solution instead of being a talking head and creating this continued chaos and corruption that we're seeing and finding solutions to problems that actually exist.
DSA, it's becoming an issue for the Democrats. And I think a lot of folks in your party are trying to figure out how do we get a handle on this. Where do you stand there? You know what? I'm sorry.
I didn't realize the music was coming up. We're going to save that question for the next time we get you on.
Well, what I'll tell you, Todd, is I'm a capitalist, not a socialist. And the best way to ensure that that does not overtake the party is to elect Democrats like me who are focused on pragmatic solutions to problems that matter. Mr. Mayor, you watch the clock better than I do. I do.
Good to see you. Thank you, Tom. And have fun. Cooper Young District tomorrow. All right, folks, it's been a great day.
We'll see you back here at 11. Right here on KWA.
