Politicians, Career

Congressman Mike Walz is joining us live today on WNDB. Good morning, Congressman. I never thought I'd hear myself ask this question, but do you believe that there are sinister forces at play here that are trying to steal this election? Well, I think the president has every right to challenge what's going on in the courts. Number one. Number two, then you have to present evidence. But here's my concern, Mark. You can't present evidence if you're not allowed access. And these sites need to allow full access to Republican observers. They need to, you know, especially when you have areas that are transcribing ballots, right? So, for example, in a county in Georgia, the paper was the wrong size. It's the first time they've gone to paper ballots in years. And they have election workers actually transcribing the voter, what they marked, over to a new ballot that fits and can be run through the machine. We need to have full observers on that. And also in Philly and also in Detroit, you can't present evidence if you don't have access. So I think what these states are doing, particularly Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, in terms of allowing all of this counting days after the vote, which actually in Pennsylvania was contrary to the legislature's wishes, it was a Pennsylvania Supreme Court, is just irresponsible. There's no reason we can't have it done like Florida, like Texas. You have your ballots in by election day, and that's it. And if you're late, you're late. So yeah, I have a lot of concern. But I also think there is a process in place with the courts that you can't provide evidence if you don't get access to see what's going on. Turning to other things, the Republicans picked up some seats in the House in this election. And there's a lot of talk about change of leadership that Nancy Pelosi might be taken aside and somebody else might be put in. What's the real story here? Is that very much a possibility? Well, look, all of this talk, all of the hot breathing by pundits and the mainstream media about a blue wave across the country, Texas flipping, Florida flipping, was just wrong. And the polling industry is a mess, by the way. I'd love to talk to you separately about why that is, maybe another time. But Florida, I think, could really be the model for the Republican Party going forward. We turned out our base and we grew our tent, which is exactly what you want to do in terms of Jewish voters, every minority, African-American, Puerto Rican, Cuban, Southern Florida Hispanics, truly across the board. And we really had the party hitting at every level and rowing in concert with the governor, with the president's campaign and down at the local level. And I think that the big mistake the Democrats made was was shutting down their ground game. We were able to make our case in person, at doors. Pelosi's in real trouble. She is a political infighter, so I would never underestimate her. She is a politician in every regard, but she's in real trouble because she was predicting a pickup of 15 to 24 seats in the House. And I think they're going to lose upwards of 10. There was a big victory, too, from what I understand from veterans here. Amendment 6, I wanted to get your thoughts on that. That's the property tax benefit amendment for veterans and their spouses. When does that kick in, theoretically? I'll have to look at the actual, you know, the governor's office, the executive branch and the legislature will, I believe, put in implementing instructions in this. But what I love about it is it's taking care of families, Mark. You know how I feel about Gold Star Families and Benefits. It's a team effort to serve, and these families that do without their spouses for months and years while deployed, and then have to take care of them, you know, even if they come home disfigured physically or mentally. It's incredibly important. It's a team effort. I did want to ask you about a question that I know your office doesn't have influence on because it was a vote of the people, but they raised the minimum wage under this John Morgan plan. I'm wondering how that's going to affect the welfare of the state over the long run because it's not just small business. The cost of providing public safety for cities and counties is also going to, there's a long range effect to this, and I wanted to get your weigh-in on this. Yeah, well, I didn't like it, voted against it. The Florida Restaurant and Lodging Association put, you know, put out literature trying to explain that this is going to ultimately result in a loss of hours for workers and probably a loss of jobs. It's going to affect small businesses first, but it also could dissuade larger companies from coming in and investing in Florida. So I have concerns about it. The good news is, is it's going to be phased in over, you know, it won't actually get to 15 until 2026. So I don't think it's going to be a huge shock to businesses immediately that are already suffering, particularly the hospitality industry with the lack of international tourism and tourism. So I have concerns, real concerns about it, Mark. And let me just say one thing on the, you know, this was a campaign led by one trial attorney, Morgan, who financed the entire thing and was able to change our constitution. And I just have concerns about that process as well. One person financed the entire effort. Agreed. Coming back to the impact of this election, you've been a staunch supporter of Space Force. The president even talked about it. I think he could have talked about it a little bit more. It was a big initiative, plus the international peace plan. Many people, including Jewish residents in Florida, very concerned that if Biden ends up being declared the winner, the peace process the president started goes away. Your thoughts? Well, let's just look what happened when Obama and Biden came in in 2009. They killed the replacement for the space shuttle. And after the last landing, you know, thousands of pink slips went out all over, all over central Florida. So in order to pay for the, you know, the progressive policies that they want, you know, the money is going to have to come from somewhere. And Democrats, you know, since Johnson have a terrible history with space programs, and I think that's really, that's truly unfortunate. Exit question very quickly. I'm nervous about what the world is thinking as we go through this counting escapade. And I hope that it's wrapped up quickly, because I'm hoping some of our nefarious enemies aren't thinking of using this as an opportunity to take advantage of a lull in foreign policy. Your thoughts? Well, absolutely. And to your other question on the peace process, that process was able to happen where those Gulf Arab countries, you know, establish relationships with our greatest ally, Israel, in the Middle East, because we took a hard stand on Iran, because it aligned their interests in the Biden administration, very clear that they're gonna, they're gonna go soft on Iran. And I think it's going to blow up the process. But that's why, you know, what you're mentioning about this lull is why I think the state that are taking so long is just really irresponsible. It shows doubt here in the country, particularly when we don't have full transparency. And it makes America look weak around the world and unstable. And there's just, again, there's no reason we can't get this done like Florida did, like Texas did, and move the country forward. Congressman Mike Wells joining us live today for this Friday on WNDB. Congressman, thanks so much, as always, for the time. Have yourself a good weekend. Yeah, thank you, Mark. Have a good weekend. And let's pray the country will get through this. You got it, sir. Thank you.