The Jenny Beth Show

Republican Midterm Convention & Three Battleground States | McKoon, Simmons, Grogan

Episode Summary

The Republican Party held a national convention in a midterm year for the first time in American history, and President Trump spoke on the second night. Jenny Beth Martin marks that week by going state by state with three Republican state party chairmen, recorded in the days before the delegates arrived in Dallas. Jason Simmons brought the number that should end the argument about whether ground work matters. When President Trump was first elected in 2016, Democrats held a 645,000-voter registration advantage in North Carolina. Today Republicans hold the advantage. Democrats have lost more than 300,000 registrations and Republicans have gained more than 300,000. Nobody handed that over. It came one registration at a time over ten years. Josh McKoon will not predict a Georgia win. His party has targeted about 400,000 low propensity voters, Mike Collins has cut a double digit Senate polling deficit in half since early July, and the governor's race is tied with both candidates under 50 percent. He thinks it comes down to five or ten thousand votes, which is why he wants poll workers and poll watchers in every precinct. Bob Grogan explains why the Chicago Bears are leaving Illinois for Indiana, what a $300 million annual stadium tax bill says about a state, and why seven members of the Chicago City Council now sit in a Democratic Socialists of America caucus. The hour opens on the one year anniversary of the loss of Charlie Kirk, and the three things Jenny Beth Martin believes honor him. Learn more at teapartypatriots.org and jennybethshow.com.

Episode Notes

Jenny Beth Martin is co-founder of the Tea Party movement and Chairman of Tea Party Patriots Action. She hosts The Jenny Beth Show, which airs Monday through Friday at 1:00 PM ET.

Josh McKoon is Chairman of the Georgia Republican Party. He talks about the roughly 400,000 low propensity voters his party has targeted, the Senate and governor's races that are both live in Georgia, and why he believes the state comes down to five or ten thousand votes in either direction.

Bob Grogan is Chairman of the Illinois Republican Party, three months into the job. He is a certified public accountant and a certified fraud examiner who served twelve years as a county auditor and has worked Republican grassroots politics for thirty years.

Jason Simmons is Chairman of the North Carolina Republican Party. He was the party's executive director before taking the chairmanship when Michael Whatley moved to the Republican National Committee.

Key topics:

The one year anniversary of the loss of Charlie Kirk, and the three things Jenny Beth Martin says honor him

The first Republican national convention ever held in a midterm year, and what each state's delegation hoped to see

Georgia's 400,000 targeted low propensity voters, and why turnout beats persuasion in a midterm

Mike Collins cutting a double digit Senate polling deficit in half, and a governor's race tied with both candidates under 50 percent

Poll workers, poll watchers, and what election integrity actually means

Why the Chicago Bears are leaving Illinois for Indiana, and the $300 million annual tax bill their stadium would have carried

Illinois as ground zero for the Tea Party movement, and the 20 of 27 original group leaders who left the state within five years

Seven members of the Chicago City Council sitting in a Democratic Socialists of America caucus

Hurricane Helene, and the contrast Jason Simmons draws between a bureaucratic response and a bulldozer

The 645,000-voter Democrat registration advantage in North Carolina that is now a Republican advantage

The call to action: Election Day is Tuesday, November 3, and every precinct needs a poll worker and a poll watcher it can trust

Timestamps:

00:00 — One year ago today: the rally in the rain, and the news that followed

00:54 — Three things, and the first is to study and then act

01:23 — He studied the Bible, and he studied being a good father

03:43 — A few more weeks until Election Day

04:34 — A historic convention, held in a midterm year

05:56 — Josh McKoon, Chairman of the Georgia Republican Party

06:41 — The 400,000 low propensity voters Georgia has targeted

07:47 — No competitive House races in Georgia, but the House still decides

10:28 — Georgia's own polling on the President's immigration record

12:03 — Mike Collins cuts a double digit deficit in half

13:41 — A voting record that does not match the campaign

14:12 — What Georgia's delegation expects in Dallas

14:51 — Two nights for a closing argument

16:17 — September 10, and the tribute he expects

17:31 — Five or ten thousand votes in either direction

18:44 — Georgia broke its own poll coverage records in 2024

19:34 — Election integrity means one thing, a level playing field

20:43 — Call your county election board and get the training

21:29 — Where to find the Georgia Republican Party

22:00 — Election Day is Tuesday, November 3

22:29 — Bob Grogan, Chairman of the Illinois Republican Party

24:21 — Pritzker fatigue and the longest COVID emergency in the nation

25:08 — The litmus test: the Bears are choosing Indiana

25:39 — They are basically tax refugees

26:29 — A $300 million tax bill every single year

26:59 — Taxing the tax on a gallon of gas

27:41 — Illinois was ground zero for the Tea Party movement

28:31 — A Republican governor who won 101 of 102 counties

29:10 — Gerrymandering that would make a salamander blush

29:47 — Fifty aldermen indicted, and seven socialists on the City Council

30:28 — The largest Polish community, and what it knows about communism

32:44 — Charlie Kirk was from Illinois

33:29 — He waged optimism

34:05 — Against the other guy, or for freedom, family and fiscal sanity

36:06 — At some point governance has to matter

37:22 — What Illinois needs to hear from the President in Dallas

40:36 — Jason Simmons, Chairman of the North Carolina Republican Party

42:48 — Absentee ballots started dropping September 4

44:11 — A party captured by the Democrat socialists

44:48 — Abolish the Senate, abolish ICE, abolish the police

45:27 — She ran as a centrist moderate

46:25 — Hurricane Helene, and where the government was

47:44 — The President sent bulldozers

49:35 — Answering the people who are still frustrated

50:53 — Iran, energy, and short term pain

54:14 — Ten years of voter registration trends

54:26 — A 645,000-voter Democrat advantage in 2016

54:42 — They lost more than 300,000, Republicans gained more than 300,000

55:21 — Why did you move to North Carolina

Links: helpatthepolls.com, gagop.org, jennybethshow.com and teapartypatriots.org