As we look ahead at the four presidential race, it's instructive to keep looking back, to keep figuring out what went wrong during the mid term elections. What do we need to do differently as we look ahead in four. I mean, Joe Biden sure looks vulnerable. I mean, the country is falling apart, but that still didn't get the job done in the mid terms. We knew all this
then people still chose Democrats for the Senate. So what lessons do we need to learn from the mid terms and what do we don't need to do differently as we head into four. And there's a ton of opportunities ahead for Republicans. Even looking at the Senate map for US, Democrats are defending twenty three of the thirty four seats that are up for re election in the Senate for four. And you look at seven states where Donald Trump won in either or as well, We've got really tough races
for Democrats like West Virginia for Joe Mansion. The guy faces really tough Republican challengers, including potentially the governor there, Jim Justice. He's potentially eyeing a run in a state of West Virginia. So Republicans have opportunities. We have to do well, We have to perform. We can't take anything for granted. I want to look back and also look forward. At the same time, with Congressman Lee's Elden, he ran for governor in the state of New York, a deep
blue state, only lost by less than six points. That's pretty substantial. It was one of the closest gubatorial races in New York in twenty years. Because he did so well at the top, he helped Republicans flip four seats in New York, essentially doing his part a great service for Republicans of winning back the House. He's responsible for that for doing so well at the top of the ticket. He received the most votes of any gurope nominee in
the States since Nelson Rockefeller. What does he think Republicans should have done differently, what we should do moving forward, and should we even bother in states like New York. So we're going to talk to him about all of it. And it also get into that terrifying day when he was on stage on the campaign row where a man tried to stab him. There's also dry by shooting outside of his home. So what does he think about this political environment that we live in moving forward, where he
had to face an attempted stabbing on stage. So we'll get into all of this with Congressman Lee Zelden. I hope you enjoy stay tuned. So, Congressman, you came less than six points of winning in a Democrat state where Republicans are outnumbered by something like two to one. You know, looking back at all of that sort of what's your takeaway from it? You know, what did you learn from all that? I have so many thoughts. It's a it's
a great question. We campaign for nineteen months and I'll say one thing, and this applies all throughout the entire country. It is important for Republicans to get into the cities. There are so many people inside of the cities who are waiting for us to show up. They agree you with us on the issues that matter most to their lives, and if we don't show up, we can't expect them to vote for us. We're seeing them continue to vote Democrats and democratic places because they feel like the devil,
you know, is better than the devil you don't. You have to show up, put a face to the name, and and don't pander, you know, don't show up in a black community or an Asian community or Hispanic community and say vote for me because I love black people, I love Asian people, I love Hispanic people. Instead, what we do is we show up and we say we need to make safety on these streets improved. Here's how we need to improve the quality of education in your
kids school. Here's how. And what I also would say about that is the media market in New York City, for example, it covers about two thirds of the congressional districts in New York, even covers congressional districts in Connecticut, New Jersey. And a lot of these reporters who are based inside of a place like New York City, they're not going to spend their whole day traveling around the suburbs. But if you show up inside of this city, you're
hitting issues that they have to cover. And then the people who are in the suburbs who care about the city, even though they don't live there, start their day with their morning news or and their night with the evening news seeing you leading the fight on the issues that they care a lot about. You're driving the message. And lastly, and you know, I'll I could go on with a thousand different answers, but I wanted to mention this this
city dynamic of it. But I would say that we need to understand why would a red wave hit New York as hard as it did, but not land nationally. And my message is this, it is important to articulate that you are against the policies of Joe Biden. It's important articulate what you see is the problems with the Democratic Party. But you cannot stop there. You have to talk about what you are for. Let people know what they're investing, and that's when they open up their heart,
their passion. That's when they believe in are filled with hope and they get more active and they get other people out to vote. If you want to create a movement, don't try to create a movement by just being you know, spicy about your opposition. That's maybe something where no matter how effective you can get, you might potentially add some
additional enthusiasm in your base. But if you want to get two ticket splitters, if you want to get to people who have always voted Democrat their whole life and they're ready to vote Republican, don't do it by acting like Democrats. Don't try to be democrat. Light explain to them why you have the positions that you do on the issues that matter most to them. And then I think what we would have and could have seen nationally
would have been a red wave. I just feel like our party on messaging needs to get a lot better. I agree with that wholeheartedly. You know, I think a lot of people, you know, we look at cities like New York. I used to live there for three years before moving down to Florida. You look at the crime you've experienced the time firsthand, which you know I want to talk to you about as well. But it's sort of we always ask herself why would people vote against
their interests? And the interest here would be just safety, you know, being able to walk down the street without potentially getting murdered, being able to ride the subway without potentially getting murdered. And you know, why do you think people still voted for local knowing all of this? Well, first of all, I would say that while the crime and the economy were the top two issues in in this race for governor, there were other people who prioritize
other issues. They identifies their number one issue. It might be the number one issue to them, but it's not the number one issue overall. And I would say that there was a certain extent some of that for people who care about crime very personally. They might have just never voted Republican their life and they just couldn't bring themselves to break through that cycle. Fortunately, we're able to
break through a whole lot of it. We were able to double the percentage of how much the Republican candidate Goto I actually got more votes than any other Republican statewide in New York in fifty two years. So there is a silver lining here in analyzing the impact of these messages. I would say for some people, they need you to show up in person. Uh, they maybe are busy with a particular routine in life that doesn't have them watching TV. So you have to find other ways
to connect with them. You need to be active on social media, with your mail, with the grassroots campaigning, that door knocking and the phone calls. It all adds up. You have to run an effective campaign. I would say that there's a need to be built bridge building these bridges year after year and next year. For example, in your city city they have the city council races continue to talk to people to build trust where trust doesn't exist and where they feel like you are the devil
they don't know. Not only do they get to know you better, but they realize that you're actually not as bad as the Democrats were telling them that you were. So I would just use this as a challenge as
an opportunity. There we came really close in a state where there's about three point six million more Democrats than Republicans, we were just a few points behind, So I would say that we should view this as a measure of big progress in the state that Joe Biden won by twenty three points, so this is almost an eighteen point
shift to the right. We just have to keep working harder and not wait for more years, work hard with these local races in between, like we'll see next year, and always be effectively communicating what you stand for the astition in the way that you spend money, leaning to the election laws that are on the books, even if you oppose the particular election law when it was first passing through a state legislature. Once they actually pass it, do it better than the Democrats do it. Do it
so much better. The Democrats regret passing it in the first place, organized collaborate. There is a lot more that we should be doing nationally and uh, and I think a lot did work, but we just got to build
on it well. And for those listening, in addition to you know, you're doing so well, you're pretty much responsible for flipping four House seats in New York and giving Republicans they're they're victory in the House, and including taking down Sean Patrick Maloney, the chairman of the Democrat Congressional Campaign Committee, which is huge. And so you know it is important to run strong candidates in some of these blue states because of what you were able to do
with all of that. Do you think a Republican can win statewide in New York? Absolutely? Yeah. You know, we've spent a lot of time looking at the registration and also the turnout in different types of elections, and I would say that as of right now, my analysis today is that you need a Democrat in the White House these mid term elections. That's when uh, these statewide seats are up in New York, the governor's race, attorney General, lieutenant governor, controller. Uh, you need a Democrat in the
White House. That's when the turnout model becomes favorable enough to make a run. We saw a drastic change in the turnout model from two. You see on the flip side, if it's a red state, if there is a Republican in the White House, an opportunity for a Democrat to make a move in a red state. Um In this case, this was the first time that you had one party Democrat rule at every level d C Albany in New York City at the same exact time, So the timing
was right from that standpoint. So let's fast forward to twenty twenty six. What do we think to answer your question or we can be able to do this? Well, one thing that's out of our control is the question of well, who's going to be the president in twenty four If there's a Republican in the White House, I think it becomes more challenging than two. Doesn't mean it
can't be done. I believe that if Joe Biden somehow is the miracle himself to a second term, or some other Democrat got into the White House, I would think that should be even more favorable in New York than two is. So that's just a brief summary of of the lay of the land. In a state like New York.
It's really tough sledding in any year, but it becomes a lot harder if you have the Republican in the White House without all With all that being said, I am all in to do absolutely everything in my power to help make sure that we're getting a Republican in the White House in a couple of years. Let's take a quick commercial break more with Congress and Lee's eldn
How vulnerable do you think Biden is? I worry? You know, it's like we look at two obviously a lot of us, including myself, you know, I thought we would do better in terms of nationally for the mid terms. Are we underestimating Joe Biden? Or how vulnerable do you think he is? He is so vulnerable? He is so beautiful? Oh my, how how did this happen in the first place? In you know, like you know, you look at why wasn't
a red wave all across the entire country? In um In theory, this should be like one of the most beatable incumbents in the history of American politics. And for us on our side, that should give us no over confidence whatsoever. Nobody should be jumping on a board to ride in a wave. What we need to do is all day, every day from today until November to absolutely every thing in our power everywhere to tell everyone we know why it is important for us to make a
change in the presidency. And as we're articulating it, it's not just saying, oh, you know, Joe Biden, he's he's getting so old, and he's embarrassing himself in these speeches and you know he's reading end of sentence into you know, from the teleprompter, it's actually coming out of his mouth. It's okay if you want to point that stuff out. I mean, that is something that people are going to be reminded of, either on their own or reminded by
other people. But that isn't a secret sauce that's actually, don't know, win the race. The secret sauce that's gonna win the race is us talking about how we're committed to doing absolutely everything in our power to save our country. Now we want to make America the best version of itself. Well, you have people right now on power in Washington who want to make America like some other countries somewhere else.
We want to do everything our power to save our nation and these Democrats who are there right now are doing everything in their power to save themselves. Talk about how we can make our border more secure, how we can put more money into people's pockets, that we can make their life, their family, their street, their home safer, what we are going to do to improve the quality
of education side of their kids schools. When we're talking about that disciplined message of what we stand for, why are we Republican, what we will do differently, that is when a movement ends up getting created. In twenty four and this very vulnerable incomment, Joe Biden will be delivering a concession speech. Who do you think's best poised to beat them? From the rate, I honestly think that every single one of these names that are being mentioned can
all beat him. I think I'm I am confident that the Republican nominee, whoever the Republican nominee ends up being, is the favorite head to head against Joe Biden. Now that doesn't I'm not saying guaranteed. I'm saying favorite, and there are plenty of ways to make mistakes to end up coming up short. We'll see who ends up getting into the race. I mean, one of the dynamics that ends up playing out. We saw it in is. You know,
Donald Trump is in the race right now. If somebody was to enter the race tomorrow, you know President Trump's style, He's coming at you. You know, how does how does that candidate withstand that attack? Okay, how how do you what kind of a campaign do you run? One of the questions of like, you know, which candidate is going to be the best candidate if you were to fast
forward to November. You know, there's all these different names out there, But if you look at history, people perform above and under expectations on a debate stage, some more harder than others, some are better and more efficient in the way that they fundraise. What type of a campaign
organization they have. Are they flying by the eat of their pants every single day, just doing whatever they decide in their morning meeting, or do they go into a race for president having already planned out from uh election day backwards, from victory backwards, and they know exactly what they're gonna do today because they've already decided last week that Tuesday of next week or Wednesday of next week, this is what our plan is. And they're implementing a
war gamed, well thought out, well executed plan. So I would say this, obviously, we have to see what the field looks like. We have to see what type of campaigns they run, how do they withstand scrutiny, Do we learn new things about people we didn't know previously, and and we'll find out. I think that the strongest candidate ends up emerging from that process. Uh And I have
a feeling that's going to be a big, robust field. Well, and I hope so, because I think competitions, you know, good, and we want the strongest person to emerge from all that. You know. I also you know, thinking, and you know a lot of people are saying this about changing the way we look at Mail and Balladay. I mean that's completely a ended the political process since COVID. Uh So, I think that's a big one too that we need to look at and revamp or strategy on. Absolutely. And
I'll give you one example. I could think of plenty of others. Election Day in Nevada, there was a big snowstorm in northern Nevada that impacted their election day turnout and they end up barely losing. Some of these statewide races. If in your state, if they have early voting, lean into it. If if your state, some other state out there in this country is proposing ballot harvesting and you
totally oppose ballot harvesting. When they're going through the process of deciding whether or not to legalize ballot harvesting, fight it with all of your might. Oppose it, Explain why it's bad. If it gets through, if it gets implemented, do ballot harvesting better than they do it. I think that is really important for Republicans to be leaning into
all these election laws on the books. And you can spend time, whether it's it's litigation or it's proposing changes of laws between now November to fight for election integrity, to make it easier to vote and harder to cheat. But at the end of the day, when the rules are set and it's now time for the ballance to go out, people to actually start checking a box. That is where Republicans need to go all in with every method that is on the books and to beat the
Democrats at their own game across the board. May I voted early here in Florida for for Governor to Santis quick break more with Les Eldon before we go wanted to ask you real quick. Obviously crime big issue in your race. I mean you had unfortunately that the shooting outside of your home, someone tried to stab you on stage. We know a man recently tried to assassinate Brett Kavanaugh.
Where is this all heading and politics? Very bad situation when you look at what happened with the Steve Scalie shooting, when you look at the attacks, the threats, the protesting of the Supreme Court justices in a way that is beyond harassment. Uh, the attacks on the pro life pregnancy centers. Uh. And that list goes on. And we saw it all play out during the riots after George Floyd was killed. And it has gone so far where people were taking
over city streets and they were attacking courthouses. And what this requires is for elected officials to be willing to stand up and lead the people who are their followers. Instead, what you have are too many people who are weak need they are weak, they are led by their followers. They want to capitalize on that anger and frustration to harness it to add fuel to that fire. And what happens is that our country continues to go down a
trajectory where at any moment. The next attack can be lit on a moment's notice, and people can get hurt the way that we engage in debate. I'm a I'm a conservative. If somebody was a liberal and they wanted to voice their opinion, I believe that you should have a social media account. I believe that you should be able to have your your protest and have your voice. I believe, in my view where I actually want to debate you, let's have the best idea win. Now, liberals
on the other side, they want to cancel everything. On the other side, they they want to brand conservatives as Nazis, as white supremacists, as racists, regardless of whatever is coming out of our mouth. They've run out of other things to call us. They tried the extremist thing, you know, your two party extreme as. Through the years, they've tried all the other names. This is becoming third world nation
crap where you have. You know, in the Middle East, everyone calls their adversary a terrorist, regardless, just everyone calls everyone else who isn't totally aligned with their views a terrorist. What have we gotten to in this country because that's the only name that's left now. I think that this is a responsibility on the part of the individuals who are public figures who have a following to engage in this debate. Substantively share your ideas. You can encourage others
to share theirs. Let's have the best idea. When this is America, baby, We're the We're the greatest country in the history of the world. We shouldn't be silencing voices and censoring opposing voices. But at the end of the day, what we shouldn't be doing is just trying to own the opposite view in a way where you're just simply making a total full of them where they um, where you're you're going next level where that person should be targeted.
You know, that person should be branded with the name you're You're you're gonna own them by branding them as a as a terrorist you know, or whatever other Nazi or Nazi sympathizer. At KKK, it's gone so overboard, and I think it's time for us to be able to know. I'm not talking you know, uniparty stuff here. I'm not talking that this is some moment where you know, Republicans
and Democrats should start being the same party the same person. No, we we should have competing views and computing competing voices. But stop going overboard with the hate where you're not just winning an argument, you're trying to destroy the other person. Where others who are following you are taking matters into
their own hands and they're being destructive with it. And then when that comes your follower taking matters in their own hands and harming other people, you think that you're going to get away with just sitting back and not saying anything. Now, that's not an option. If you step up and you want to be a public figure with a following mean, that must have been pretty terrifying. Well, I'll say that for for me. You know, for example, that we had a you know, the drive by gang
shooting on our front yard. My sixteen year old daughters were at home. From what I've been told by law enforcement, my home was not targeted because of because I'm a sitting congressman or a candidate for a governor. Two people were shot. They were lying on the ground ten feet from where my daughters were sitting there doing homework on a quiet Sunday afternoon. A bullet landed about thirty feet from where they were sitting. Uh, you know, you know, what In one way, I would say, thank god both
of them are there. It would have been a lot scarier if there was only one of them being there. They responded quickly and smartly, and the scariest part was not having enough information. They were locked inside of the upstairs bathroom. They thought that the voice is the screaming they heard that those three individuals were actually coming for them. They don't know if they had come inside of the house.
When this happens to me as a sitting member of Congress, as a candidate for governor, there are all sorts of millions of other New Yorkers who are thinking themselves, well, this can happen to them. They don't want to be told by the person who's sitting in the Governor's office that there's nothing to see here, look away, that this is perception that you know what, when I said at the debate, you know, here we are question after question, if a question about crime, you still haven't spoken about
the need to lock up the bad guy. Let's talk about locking up the criminals. And she says that she doesn't understand why that's so important to me. When she's saying in that about you know, to me, she's saying that to all other New Yorkers who feel the same way that I do. So there are a lot of New Yorkers who are concerned about rising crime, about rising costs,
New York leads the entire country, and out migration. But for me, as far as that one variants, it was something that a lot of other New Yorkers had related to as well, because they know if it can happen to me, that day can happen to them next uh. And they also realized in the weeks that followed that they don't have a governor taking this seriously enough. We have d a's who are weak and they feel like the DA stands for Defense Attorney ins that have district attorney.
We're not supporting our law enforcement enough. Listen, my daughters are okay, my family strong, We're able to move on. But you don't know who that next victim is. And we need elected officials and office doing everything in their power today to prevent new victims from becoming UH targeted with that that next attack come tomorrow. Don't greet gaslight us about there's nothing to see here. They tried that in the eighties. At Kach was saying that as he
was inside the New York City subway system. We see the pictures now their social media, we see the news. Know what we want to hear from you are the solutions. We want to know that you're committed to doing absolutely you think in your power to make these streets safe, to make these subways safe, to get the bad people off, lock them up if they owe a dentist society, and make sure that you're prioritizing law a bodying New Yorkers
instead of criminals. That's what New Yorkers want well. And also just I imagine having the guy try to stab you when you're on stage. I mean that was I don't I don't know how you were able to get back up there and and finish the event. I think most people would be pretty rattled after that. That's pretty scary. Yeah, I honestly was ready to continue speaking as soon as
the guy was detained. We waited until law enforcement showed up and we got him uh into the squad car and they took him down to the local sheriff's office. But you know, I was asked backstage, where are you going to continue with the tour. This was my first rally of fourteen rallies and fourteen counties over three days four days. Of course, I'm going to continue. Um, now there was an increased security presence, but we continue, need us scheduled, but you know, are you going to retake
the stage? Of course, we're going to take the stage. We're going to continue delivering our message and not be deterred at all. Ever. Um, you know, during the campaign, there were there were mornings we woke up and we were doing We're doing press conferences in the most dangerous street corner in the state, you know, one of the most dangerous street corners in the entire country. And I'll do it on a Friday morning because there was a stabbing the night before as the fourth night attack in
ten hours. The person was killed the night before. That's exactly where we have to be. I'll wake up, you know, a week later, ten days later, and go right to whatever that next crime scene is to highlight what policies are responsible for why this is happening, while the other side is trying their best to make believe like none of this is even happening at all. So for me, listen,
it's a tough assignment. If you sign up to be a security detail with me, because you know, I believe that leadership, if you're sending up for a job like this, is to be there where people feel helpless, where people feel like government has given up on them, where where streets have been abandoned to criminals, to make sure that there's that hope that we have an opportunity here in the immediate future to be able to turn it all around.
And if if I went back to run this race again, I wouldn't change absolutely anything of the way that we approached aggressively the need to make the streets and subways safe again. And before we go real quick, what's next for you? I have to get my daughters their learners permit. They just turned sixteen years old. Uh they I feel bad for anyone on Long Island who um might be
on the roads with them. I personally will be making sure I should get one of those cars where I is sitting in a passenger seat, have a gas pedal. And you know, I would say, for me personally, a
bunch of different options that are out there. What I know for sure is that committed to doing actually everything in my power to elect a Republican president and a Republican Senate and to make a bunch of bigger majority in the House, to wind down ballot races, to get our message out, to grow a party, to explain effectively what it is that we stand for. I want to be able to make a positive difference. As Congressman we
zeld In. Appreciate you guys tuning in and listening every Monday and Thursday, but you can listen throughout the week. Please leave us a review, give us five stars on Apple podcasts. I love reading those. I want to thank John Cassio and my producer for putting it everything together. Thanks so much for listening that