Live from Music Row Wednesday 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 the former mayor of Maury County, Tennessee and 5th-district GOP nominee for Congress Andy Ogles in the studio to weigh in on his race, conservatives taking back the U.S. House of Representatives, and the races in Arizona and Georgia.
Leahy: In the studio for the entire six o’ clock hour is the former mayor of Maury County, that bastion of freedom, that turbocharged engine of economic growth, now GOP candidate for Congress in the 5th Congressional District, Andy Ogles. Good morning, Andy.
Ogles: Good morning, how are you?
Leahy: I was telling you as you came in, didn’t have coffee here this morning, and I thought, well, I got to make some coffee for Andy. So on the way in – I almost missed the opening of the show this morning – I had to go to two convenience stores to buy some coffee so I could make some coffee for you.
It wasn’t the standard. It was the only coffee I could buy. And so I thought, well, we’ll create some. It is hot, I will say, and it does have caffeine in it. Beyond that …
Ogles: It’s a little bitter, I’ll be honest with you.
Leahy: It’s a little bitter, but, you know, it’s six-something in the morning.
Ogles: I’m incredibly grateful, and I’m an Eagle Scout, so I came prepared in my truck this morning. I got up and brewed cup of coffee, and I actually made a cup of English Breakfast hot tea, and I had a Coke as well.
Leahy: So you got all your caffeine ready.
Ogles: I’ve got all the food groups.
Leahy: You got the bitter coffee. There’s a lot of bitter coffee that, when you’re running for Congress, you have to get up, because you got to get up early and do a lot of activities, and you’ve been doing a lot. Now you have your counter.
Ogles: Yes I do.
Leahy: You are down to 20 days.
Ogles: Well, you know what today is, it’s the beginning of early voting, and I think that’s important. People, let’s not take this for granted that I’m going to win or the Republicans are going to win. We’ve got a contested race there in Bellevue through the Antioch area with Michele Foreman for state House.
And my instincts tell me that she has the lead, the edge there. So it’s a huge opportunity for Republicans to pick up that seat and have a Republican and a conservative representing part of Nashville. But you got to go vote and have your voice heard.
Leahy: You got to get out the vote – 20 days, 13 hours, 50 minutes, and 48 seconds.
Ogles: The polls close.
Leahy: The polls close. So you were here a week ago, and we’ve got seven more days. You’ll be here next week. And we’ll keep the countdown going, actually for probably two more Wednesdays. So the big question here is, you know, it’s interesting, Joe Biden knows, and all the polls are indicating, that momentum is moving towards Republicans.
Joe Biden knows that he’s had a Democrat House and a Democrat Senate since he was inaugurated in January 2021. And all of a sudden, he’s announced, I don’t know, five months after, four months after the Dobbs decision overturning Roe v. Wade he said, if we get a democrat House back and a Democrat Senate back, the very first thing I’ll do is I’ll introduce legislation to codify Roe v. Wade.
He thinks abortion is the most important issue among voters, and yet all the polling shows that there’s very little interest in that one issue. The most important issue, apparently, is inflation. Your thoughts?
Ogles: Yeah, I mean, I think at this point, they’re grasping at straws. I’m confident in making the decision or the statement that Republicans are going to win the House. That’s really beyond a doubt. The question is by what margin?
And I think we win the Senate. I think we end up 52-48. We’re going to win Georgia. I predict we win Pennsylvania, Ohio, Nevada. I think that the big question will be Arizona. I think Masters is going to have to pull a rabbit out of a hat on that. He is closing the gap.
Leahy: But you know what’s helping in Arizona?
Ogles: Well, it’s got to be the border.
Leahy: It’s the border, but it’s also he is now campaigning with Kari Lake.
Ogles: Oh, yes.
Leahy: She’s running for governor. Kari Lake is doing the Ask Me Anything Tour. And last night there was a rally in Arizona. Tulsi Gabbard, former Democrat congresswoman, has endorsed Kari Lake for governor of Arizona. And so they had a rally last night. That is really big news.
Ogles: The same thing is happening in Georgia where you’ve got Kemp polling ahead of Herschel Walker, and so he’s going to drag Herschel Walker through the finish line whether he wants it or not.
Leahy: It’s funny because that phrase, dragging Herschel Walker across the finish line, it’s funny because he’s a superstar football player. (Ogles chuckles) But I think they’re going have to drag them across the finish line, and I think because of Kemp’s lead, I think you’re probably right. I think they will.
Ogles: Yes.
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 “Andy Ogles” by Mayor Andy Ogles for Congress. Background Photo “U.S. House of Representatives” by History, Art & Archives – U.S. House of Representatives.
