Live from Music Row Tuesday morning on The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy – broadcast on Nashville’s Talk Radio 98.3 and 1510 WLAC weekdays from 5:00 a.m. to 8:00 a.m. – host Leahy welcomed official guest host Aaron Gulbransen in the studio to highlight local races and predict Republican wins nationally and across the state in Tennessee.
Leahy: Welcome to our microphones the official guest host of The Tennessee Star Report, Mr. Aaron Gulbransen. Good morning, Aaron.
Gulbransen: Good morning on this most wonderful Election Day, my favorite day of every two years.
Leahy: It’s interesting you say that because I was about to add that to your introduction, because I could see the gleam in your eyes.
Not only is this one of your favorite days just because it’s Election Day; the question is, will it be a red wave or a red tsunami?
Gulbransen: To use a pro-wrestling term, which is very appropriate in this situation, I have become very bullish on the Senate over the last month. I think a number of things turned. But I believe tonight the Republicans are going to stomp a mudhole in the Democrats and walk it dry.
Leahy: Very good. I love that phrase. Everybody in our listening audience now is smiling. (Gulbransen chuckles) We gotta get into the WWE SmackDown talk, don’t you think? I think that’s good.
Gulbransen: (Chuckles) And as I always say, to quote the great Rick Flair on Election Day, this is my way of pumping myself. We all do our things, especially when we have a race. But to be the man, you’ve got to beat the man.
In this case, the Republicans, to gain control of both Houses, got to beat the current occupants. You’re going to see there’s been some funny things going on.
There’s a local thing I want to point out, just because I think it’s hilarious. You’ve got the chairman of the Sumner County Republican Party running for Ward 5 as the Republican nominee.
Leahy: County commission.
Gulbransen: Yes. And they are maybe aldermen, but I’m looking at this email that got sent out by the Democrat nominee, calling the Republican nominee “corrupt like Bill and Hillary Clinton.”
Leahy: The Democrat said this?
Gulbransen: The Democrat is pretending they’re Republican, I guess, and they’re blasting the Republican, complaining that they’re very much like Bill and Hillary Clinton. So there you go.
But as far as I’ve done in my research, I think the charges of that against Janna Garton by her Democrat opponent are absolutely baseless. So there you go.
Leahy: It’s amusing.
Gulbransen:Â I mean, you get your little shenanigans today.
Leahy: What other amusements do we have on tap tonight?
Gulbransen: I don’t know about you, but I am going to – well, of course, we’re going to be on the air tonight.
Leahy: At 7:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. Brought to you by USS.
Gulbransen: Yes, there you go. And I’m going to be recording MSNBC and CNN so I could watch it back as they melt down later on.
Leahy: That will be fun. It will be a little bit like November of 2016, election night, when we saw all the tears of the young people at the Hillary Clinton headquarters. Just tears, tears, tears. It brings joy to my heart.
Gulbransen: It’s a beautiful thing.
Leahy: It’s a beautiful thing.
Gulbransen: It can warm the blackest of hearts. But the interesting thing is – I’ll give people a little insight into what consultants and political professionals do.
Leahy: You did this for 20 years. You were a consultant for 20 years.
Gulbransen: Exactly. And I was a little more hands-on than some of the others. I will tell you, there was a consultant team known as Tim Phillips and Phil Cox, both still active in politics – and this was no secret nor is this as an insult but their habit was, in the middle of Election Day, there really wasn’t much to do for them when your strategy is already out there in place, and other than just calling around trying to figure out what’s going on, which you don’t know anything until the polls close, they would go to the movies. I, for a span of about 10 or 15 years, didn’t sleep in the 48 hours consisting of Election Day and the day before.
I’m the type where I do call around all day, because I can’t just stop. And I will probably do the same thing, trying to figure out what’s going on. It’s mainly a way to pass the time.
Leahy: Yes. Basically, because nothing really happens until the polls close at 7:00 p.m. Four big races here. Let’s take a look at what you think is going to happen. Tennessee-5, Andy Ogles and Heidi Campbell. Tennessee-6, John Rose versus some Democrat whose name I can’t remember. And then Tennessee-7, Mark Green versus Odessa Kelly. And then “Yes on 1” statewide. What do you think of those?
Gulbransen: The congressional races that you just mentioned, they’re going to be Republican in a walk. They’re drawn for Republicans. Ogles may be the closest, but you’re still talking anywhere between 8 and 12 points and maybe higher than that.
Leahy: I haven’t seen a Heidi Campbell campaign, have you?
Gulbransen: No, I have not. Other than her trying to use what has become a tired old trope of saying Republicans are extreme on abortion and Andy Ogles is extreme on abortion. No, he just happens to hold the correct position on the issue, which is being pro-life.
“Yes on 1” is very important because there have been some waters muddied a little bit with it. I think it’s going to pass with roughly 60 percent, but you need to make sure you go vote “Yes on 1.”
And the importance of “Yes on 1” is it is the right-to-work amendment. I’ve seen this time and time again in other states. Anytime you get a chance to enshrine the right to work in the state constitution, you take that opportunity.
They made that mistake in Virginia, where they waited till it was too late and the state had changed it to try to get it in the Constitution. It failed. And then a session or two later, right-to-work went bye-bye in the state.
Leahy: In Virginia, it went from red to purple to blue, and now it’s kind of trending back purpley a little bit, right?
Gulbransen: Yes. And to be clear on the right to work, the conservative position is to vote “yes” on 1. The leftist Communist Marxist position which is held by the AFL-CIO, the Metro National City Council, the Democrat Socialist of America City Councilman Sean Parker and others, the Squad, Nancy Pelosi, Hillary Clinton, and Bill Clinton – all of those, right to work, and are against …
Leahy: Yes. It’s pretty clear “Yes on 1” is the conservative position.
Gulbransen: And if you’re not for it you’re not a conservative. Honestly, you’ve abdicated your ability to call yourself that. I think it’s going to pass. I think it’s a common-sense thing.
How often do we have a specific issue where literally every statewide elected official and half the general assembly are on the piece of paper endorsing it? More than half the general assembly, local leaders, and that sort of thing.
Listen to today’s show highlights, including this interview:
– – –
Tune in weekdays from 5:00 – 8:00 a.m. to The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy on Talk Radio 98.3 FM WLAC 1510. Listen online at iHeart Radio.
Background Photo “U.S. Capitol” by Trev Adams.
