RNC Chair Joe Gruters on Texas Races & 2026 Midterms

All right, we are a week away from Election Day, and we're joined by the RNC chairman, Michael Whatley. I heard you got very acquainted with Texas today. Yeah, driving out to Wichita Falls, it was an incredible event, obviously, with the governor there and Ken Paxton. A lot of energy, a lot of excitement. You can see the momentum building on our side, and that's why you have so many visitors coming in. Obviously, the president coming in twice today, Corpus Christi and Lubbock, and then in a couple days, you're going to have the vice president. and uh listen they've been crisscrossing this country trying to absolutely crush it for our candidates because at the end of the day it's all comes down to turnout turnout turnout turnout if we turn our voters out we win if we don't we're going to be unsuccessful you're the RNC chairman so of course i know what you're probably about to say but my question i'm still going to ask it why the heck is the president and the vice president in red texas a week before the election it is ruby red texas and that's why these candidates like Tefrico shouldn't have any chance at winning but they but you know they're sticking around there this is a competitive race and not only do we have a u.s senate race the governor's race is close the a lot of congressional races here are close uh but the president's a turnout machine that's what he's done he's turned out low propensity voters three different times we think he could do it a fourth time that's why he says at these rallies you know look at me as being on the ballot because when he's on the ballot 49 percent more voters turn out and listen at the end of the day i think people will vote for the mainstream candidate and in this case this that's Ken Paxton uh that's Governor Abbott that's the rest of the republican ticket they don't want uh Chuck Schumer's puppet uh to get elected and they don't want these radical DSA candidates that are going to fundamentally change the way you and i live you're a lifelong republican did you ever think you would say a week out from an election that the senate race and the governor's race is close i mean you're saying this race is close in your opinion i would i would i certainly never thought i'd see texas being close as ruby red as it is but that's what happens in these midterm cycles you know what happens there's a lot of anger on the left and the more success that the president has the angrier that the left base is uh i think it's not only trump derangement syndrome i think it's american derangement syndrome i think they're rooting against the country i think they fundamentally want to change the way uh that you and i live and you look at their what their candidates say i mean believe them when they tell you they want to welcome matt on the southern border they want tens of millions of illegals to come in they want to tax you, you think Democrats want illegals to come in yeah they do and they did they let tens of millions in under Joe Biden they'll let tens of millions more in if they win and not only that they want to give them amnesty they want to get rid of the ICE they want to get rid of the police force they want to charge you more tax you more so they can pay for these illegals to have extended benefits and they want to tax you more to pay for their socialist agenda you think the economy is bad now, wait until, just remember, people have a short memory. Under Biden, gas prices were over $5. Inflation was over 9.5%. We don't want to go down the policies and the path that the Democrats want to take us to some type of communist utopia. It doesn't exist. Havana, Beijing, Moscow is not the way we want to go. And if anybody believes that you still have the opportunity of the American dream, that's what we're pitching. We're pitching it for you. Under this president, inflation is still high. Now, inflation was high under Joe Biden. Part of that was due to the inflation still the pandemic High, it's still high, but not nearly as high as under Joe Biden. And this president's gone to bat for the American worker since day one. Listen, I'll admit, D.C. elitists have sold the American worker out for five decades. It's this president that said we're no longer going to trade cheap goods for American jobs. Why does President Trump have such a low approval rating? Let's put Americans back to work. That's why I did no tax on tips, no tax on overtime, no tax on Social Security. The reason why he has such a low approval rating is because the mainstream media spends 99% of their time saying what a bad guy he is and saying that- they're trying 100%. And the more that he does. This is the first time we have a president that's willing to do what's in the best interest of the American people rather than the special interests. And the more he gets done The more the elitists hate him And the more the media hates him And the more they come after him And it's just a vicious cycle This president loves America He loves Americans He's trying to go bad for them every single day We've got to give him the opportunity to have these final two years Where he can have the runway to pass some more of his agenda And chairman, okay So you're here in Texas The president is in Texas The vice president is in Texas It seems like, and correct me if I'm wrong Feel free to interject Democrats here in Texas are energized, but the Texas Democrats are a bit nervous because they've seen this story before. National Democrats are energized about Texas because they see blood in the water. On the flip side, it seems like Republicans are super energized here in Texas, but nationally, some Republicans are a bit nervous. Let's talk about Texas and just nationally. Do you think Republicans can truly hold on to the House? In Texas? No. Across the country? There is a path for us to win, yes. And it starts with the fact that two years ago we started recruiting candidates that are common sense mainstream candidates that can win the left has nominated these radical leftists the same candidates, I think coast to coast not just in New York City and San Francisco everywhere in between so I think we have the matchups we want we have the resources that we need because we outraised the Democrats they spent money early on we saved it we're firing all of our shots now and I think we're overpowering them with the resources and then we have the president is our secret weapon going out there he's absolutely machine he's crushing it on the ground so you're not worried about holding the speakership I think that we have a path to win we just have to turn out our voters so that's what we're doing right now why do you think it seems like nationally Democrats are energized but in Texas they're energized but they're a little nervous because look Beto was a much better candidate than TalaRico much better he was more mainstream and TalaRico is like the worst candidate you could possibly put up, out of everybody in the entire state of Texas, the fact that the Democrats put up a guy who thinks God is non-binary, who thinks there's six genders, who wants to welcome man on the southern border, who's a vegan, who still shares a checking account with his mother. He was a vegan until it wasn't politically popular. This guy is a leftist wackadoo, he's a weirdo, and the fact that 50% of the people right now think that he should be the nominee, not only concerns me, it concerns me for Texas and the country. Where are we going? Do you believe in some communist utopia or do you believe in the American dream still? Because he's certainly not gonna take us down the path where you can achieve the American dream, where you could have that upward mobility, where you could still achieve whatever you wanna achieve if you put your mind and heart into something. Their society does not exist that leads to chaos and it's a disaster. My last question to you, we don't have a crystal ball, well, I'm gonna hit you back the day after the election. Please do. But, okay, if Republicans lose the House, hold on to the Senate, how will any work get done? I mean, a lot of bills have not been passed right now. The Democrats have no interest of passing anything. They have no agenda they're running on other than they think that the president's bad. What they want is they want chaos. They showed us what they were gonna do. under the 43 days they shut a government down. All they want to do is investigate, obstruct, impeach. They want to stop all momentum, and they fundamentally want to change the way you and I live. Think about what their candidates have said this cycle. Some of their candidates have said they don't want July 4th. They don't want Thanksgiving. They don't like America. That's what we're fighting for. We're fighting for America, its future, your kids, our ability to have that upward mobility to achieve the American dream. We have to vote Republican. Tell your listeners, go to swampthevote.com, create a plan. We have to win this. We have no excuses if we don't. We'll see what happens. RNC Chairman Joe Girard, thanks for your time. Thank you.