Vinnie welcome back to the program here 11 candidates running for congress in Congressional District 26 in northeast or north Texas here why so much interest in this race it's the one that that Burgess is leaving yeah hey look open Congress uh congressional seats don't come open you know very very often so you know this is a great opportunity but yeah 11 candidates you need a program and the money that has flown into this race it's mindboggling really is and and more com put that in perspective
for us what how big a deal is this because we we we see in North Texas here a lot of ads already on TV a lot of mailers and mailboxes right so we've got you you've got the 11 candidates they're probably the top three who are who are on TV right now I've got a I've got my cheat sheet here because there's so many candidates I can I can't keep them but we've got Brandon Gil uh John Huffman and then Doug Robinson is also on TV but but not only are they on TV but third parties are pouring the money i
n I mean millions of dollars coming into this race uh it's a really hot race kind of a proxy war I guess you know between some of the magga type Republicans and and maybe the somewhat less conservative Republicans who who wins out in the end well I I think uh I think you all win out with because the the ad budgets are staggering in this campaign so if a great time to own a TV station this this almost certainly goes to a runoff um which you know I'm a little surprised at the money coming in right
now so everybody wants to get one of those top two slots uh to transfer the runoff I think it's Brandon Gil and John Huffman um but we still got a ways to go Governor Abbott is is running against Republicans who uh you know refuse to endorse School vouchers which he's been trying to get past for a couple of Cycles here you know we've seen the governor have mixed success with this in years past do you think that's going to be any different this cycle well I I I do I think we've got a couple thin
gs going for the governor um not only is he endorsing Challengers he's endorsing a lot of incumbents who voted his way on the school voucher bill um the governor right now is is not only the most power most powerful and popular politician in Texas um he's really popular on the national stage too his popularity numbers are off the charts but I think what's really happening is when the governor shows up to do an event for you there's you're raising money you're getting good crowds plus the governo
r's campaign is putting in their own money uh doing ads and videos for these for these candidates he is working really hard and he knows what to do do you expect any incumbents right now are are vulnerable you know I think I I really think if you've got an endorsement from the governor right now if you're an in incumbent with an endorsement from the governor that you're going to do okay uh you know I think right now we're looking at you know certainly here in North Texas a collection of incumben
ts with endorsements from the governor and Challengers with endorsements from attorney general K Paxton and there's clear value difference between those two endorsements uh the the folks being endorsed by by the governor are raising a lot more money by and large uh than those that are endorsed by Paxton Ken Paxton's out for Revenge this cycle he doesn't bring the money to the table like like an Abbot would but do you think he's going to get revenge from any conservatives you know it's really har
d to say because he's picked you know that when you're trying to recruit so many candidates for so many races you know the quality is going to you know EB and flow so he's got a couple good candidates in there but a clinkers uh so some of them have managed to raise money which can make you competitive um but some of them haven't uh you know so there's been uh you know and the and the opponents that they're running against those people are ready they've raised money they've put together campaign
operations they were ready for battle um so but I but I think I think the Attorney General is going to come up short the other big race we're we're all watching across the state it's a democratic race for US Senate Colin alled clearly has way more money than than all the other Democrats who are running against him right does that mean he can avoid a runoff though Vinnie well I think he I think he's got to you know and he is spending a lot of money he is spending millions and millions of dollars
against you know no no disrespect to to uh you know uh to Roland Gutierrez from from you know down state but you know he's kind of a backbencher uh you know all red should really be cruising to Victory here so the question is is all red spending all this money uh just to pump up his name ID because we're all thinking about politics right now or is he really in trouble uh nobody's issued any polls um so you know you have to wonder what's really going on in the all red campaign what do you think's
going on you know what I I I I feel like he's spending money to be opportunistic I mean his brand is sort of blah you know people know him in Dallas but outside of Dallas people really don't know him so I think he's being opportun istic trying to raise His Name ID um I don't really think gueras is going to get within double digits of him to be honest in 2018 when when Ted Cruz last ran for reelection that that race set records between Cruz and Betto oror set Financial records with most money ra
ised what do you expect we're going to see later this year because red has already proven that he can bring in some money there's going to be plenty of money I I think all red will be able to have enough funding either from his own campaign or from third parties coming in to do whatever they need to do so I think on the Democrat side they feel like Cruz is vulnerable based on the the Betto campaign that being said it's a presidential year and you'd have to count on Cruz really underperforming th
e Trump vote and I just don't I just don't see it I I really don't think all Red's going to be able to get close but MoneyWise he'll have enough money to do whatever he needs when it comes to TV ads to mailers to texts we get on our phones it seems like we're being bombarded everywhere we look from from candidates but is is this cycle any different from years past this primary cycle certainly is here I mean you know we've just never had this many competitive State Rep primaries that I can rememb
er plus two open congressional seats uh you know in addition to all the other stuff that that's on the ballot so I mean I it's mindboggling and and it's kind of you know I I don't know if I like being in the middle of the storm of all the ads and mailers that we're all getting and to be honest it could have been even more you know some of these candidates who are Challengers kind of failed to launch on the fundraising so this could be even worse we're obviously gonna get a break this this spring
and this summer after the March 5th primary and after any runoffs here but do you expect we're going to see a as much activity in November certainly not there's really there's really only one big race we're only going to be watching in Texas when we get to the general and that's going to be the you know all red we assume he's going to win the primary all red versus Cruz and we'll we'll see plenty of that but that's really just about the only thing that's on the menu for us and the challenge for
that campaign is you know will the the we assume it'll be Trump versus Biden in the presidential election will they suck all the oxygen out of the room uh will will Cruz and alled actually have to fight for attention so should be interesting to watch that Republican donors are still giving Nikki Haley money she's still a thorn the side of the Trump campaign here where does this go how far does this play out because you know four years ago Biden was was you know he was still you know thought to
be a a loser at this point after finishing fifth in Iowa he didn't get turned around until South Carolina and super Tuesday right well you know look let's from a practical matter you know Nikki Hy can stay in as long as she wants to because she does have some money you know the the old saying goes you know presidential campaigns don't don't run out of time they run out of money so she's she's got the money um but for from a voting point of view it's over I mean she's going to lose she's lost the
primaries to this point she's going to lose South Carolina by double digits uh she can go on but it's really kind of a fo's erend at this point Vinnie always good to see you man great hey thanks for having me always fun
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