Live from Music Row, Friday 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. – guest host Gulbransen welcomed Knox County, Tennessee, Mayor Glenn Jacobs to the newsmaker line to express the importance for Republicans to get out the vote on election day November 8th.
Gulbransen: On our newsmaker line is who I call Tennessee’s favorite mayor, Knox County Mayor Glenn Jacobs. How are you, sir?
Jacobs: Hey, good morning, Aaron. Thanks for having me on.
Gulbransen: We appreciate it. Always, always a good time. We were chatting offline a little bit, and I know we want to hammer home the importance of the November elections, and there were some interesting observations you had about the August elections that may feed into November. So let’s talk about the importance of the November elections first.
Jacobs: Sure. Here in Tennessee, we have off-cycle elections, I guess, at the county level. So our primary is in May, and then our general election is in August, which is the same as the state and federal primary.
And our turnout was 30 percent down from 2018. In 2018, of course, you had to contest the governor’s race. In our area, we had a contested US congress race. The US Senate race was heating up. But nevertheless, when turnout drops that much, it’s concerning.
And then from a partisan viewpoint, the Democrats turned out just a little bit fewer, but not that much. But there was a precipitous decline among Republicans. And of course, if you’re Republican like I am, that’s extremely concerning.
We often think of Democrats don’t have a chance here in East Tennessee. But I’ll tell you, they work hard and they’re very well organized and they get their people out.
So it really is important. In this, the November election it’s going to be determining the course of our country, and I think that everybody’s looking and realizing there’s a massive divergence between the two parties at this point.
And it really is important. If you’re complaining about how things are going, you have a chance to influence it on November 8th. So I encourage everyone to get out and vote.
Gulbransen: Mayor Jacobs, I’m asking everybody about this because I believe it’s a very important issue. I don’t think your stance on it is in doubt.
But why don’t you talk about the importance of Amendment One, which is on the ballot as well in November, and that which is the right to work amendment?
Jacobs: Yes. So Tennessee doesn’t have a state income tax. Part of the reason we don’t have a state income tax will never have a state income tax is because it’s in our Constitution. And anytime something is not in the Constitution, then the legislative body, in our case the General Assembly, can do whatever.
They can alter it, they can change it, and they can keep it. Whatever right to work is very important, and that’s part of what is driving our economic growth here in Tennessee, and that’s good for all of us.
When businesses are coming here, people have better opportunities for good careers, and our local tax revenue increases, so we don’t have to raise taxes on individuals and things like that.
And part of the reason is that we’re so business friendly. And part of that is the fact that we give people the choice of if they want to join a labor union or not. And none of us, I don’t think, have an issue with labor unions.
It’s the forced joining that we see in other places that’s problematic. So amendment one codifies that in the Constitution, which means it can never change, unless, of course, it goes back to a referendum and the voters take it off.
And that’s just extremely, extremely important that we keep our right to work status as is and strengthen it by incorporating it into making it a part of our Constitution.
Gulbransen:Â Did you happen to catch which I’m sure you did, but did you happen to catch the debate between Dr. Oz in Pennsylvania and the Senate race there and John Fetterman?
And did you have any thoughts on that? I personally think it’s kind of emblematic of what the Democrats are doing nationwide.
Jacobs: Yes, I didn’t see the whole thing. I caught clips of it. I feel very bad for John Fetterman because obviously, he does have some issues with, they say, auditory processing. It’s kind of amazing to me at this point that there’s been that, oh, it’s okay, and it’s going to be fine.
I guess you’re making fun of a disability, which no one is doing, simply pointing out that the job of a US Senator involves having a clear mind and being able to make decisions and being able to gather information and being able to articulate your message, and listening to people.
And what we saw at that debate was Mr. Fetterman is having a hard time doing that. But instead of acknowledging that and of course, this is a strategic mistake by the Democrats, they should have withdrawn from the race and had someone else in that spot, but instead, it just turned into a spin.
And at this point, it’s like Orwell says that your eyes and ears are saying one thing, but you’re being told something else. I think it’s just a terrible situation. But as you said, it is emblematic that Democrats at this point are willing to do anything to hold on to power and try to gain more.
There’s also this double standard of you can’t say anything about say for John Fetterman, but I always get stuff on my Twitter feed and then I don’t care, I think you’re funny about being a former wrestler and getting hit in the head with chairs and then that’s funny, but don’t say anything about John federal.
And that’s just a double standard we see throughout society now, unfortunately. If you’re a conservative, there’s one standard. If you’re liberal, there’s another.
Gulbransen: Yes, that’s always the rules for them and not for me thing. I noticed yesterday that it appears as if Senator Chuck Schumer is now catching on to the idea that Democrats are in danger of losing the Senate.
He was caught on a hot mic telling President Biden that the party is going downhill in the elections in Georgia as well. So he told the President that they were in danger of losing the seat and he also continued to comment on Pennsylvania and a number of other things.
So it looks like the National Democrats are starting to realize that they’re going to be in big trouble in November on the Senate side as well, which makes me think they’re going to throw everything against the wall over the upcoming week and a half that we’ve got. (Jacobs laughs) I mean, what do you think we’ll see?
Jacobs: It’s going to be very interesting. I agree with you. I love the website Electionbettingodds.com which is run by John Stossel and aggregates the betting websites for elections the swing over the past several weeks has been breathtaking.
A couple of weeks ago, well actually it might have been as late as last week they were predicting Democrats to hold the Senate with a slight edge. It was like 51 or 52 percent that is now flipped where they’re predicting Republican control by 65 percent.
I’ve never seen anything like it. So yes, desperate times call for desperate measures and if you’re a Democrat, you’re desperate right now. And I’m sure they are going to be doing everything they possibly can.
And it’s not only the Senate races, it’s the gubernatorial races as well. They’re in trouble in Oregon, in trouble in New York, they’re really in trouble in Michigan and of course, Arizona looks like Kari Lake is in a pretty strong lead there so it’ll make for a very interesting week and a half.
Listen to today’s show highlights, including this interview:
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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.
Photo “Glenn Jacobs” by Glenn Jacobs. Background Photo “Election Day” by Phil Roeder. CC BY 2.0.
