joining us this morning our 177 news political analysts we have Kathy abery on the right and Neil saapa on the left good morning to both of you thank you so much for coming in we appreciate it so Kathy I'll start with you last month in our inside California politics poll assembly member Vince Fong was shown to have a hefty lead over his opponents since then we saw that shake up with Sheriff Donnie Youngblood and Senator Shannon Grove uh almost breaking rank in a way to show their support for She
riff Mike buo with these endorsements and then the debate performance last tonight how big of a threat does budro pose to there being another congressman from Kern well I don't think it's a a competition of endorsements if it is I think having the former president of United States and most likely next Republican nominee and president of the United States Donald Trump supporting Vince Fong is a big deal I support Vince Fong but regardless that's a big deal to have that endorsement I thought bu tr
ied to belittle it but that's a that's pretty good thing to have so uh you know I I I believe we want a congressman from current County we've had one for 55 years and it' be good to keep it because of what you can get for support for our Industries our Commerce our lifestyle here but uh I think that what what the debate showed me last night was a little bit of of um uh lack of experience of how the system works I thought that to say things like when bu said that he supports DACA uh so your point
is that if people get here some way and not legally well that's okay after a while just make them citizens that's why we have this problem that's why they're pouring across I thought that was the weakest point for budro and I think that will be pointed out in the next two weeks what are these endorsements though uh that we were talking about Senator Shannon Grove and Donnie Young Blood mean for uh Vince bong and K County Republicans is it divisive uh it was anticipated young blood and Grove wou
ld vote for one of their own over to Larry county is Mike bu yeah I don't I don't think so I think people people see where they stand but people know Vince Fong so well already here they don't know the other candidates as well I don't see it having that kind of impact but that's their that's their call that's their choice they decided to endorse uh a candidate from another County uh I don't see long-term issue there Neil I'll turn to you now and this is a largely Republican district Kevin McCart
hy won this seat uh in 2022 with 67% of the vote over Democrat Marissa wood who is again in the running um how do you think the Democratic candidates performed last night you know I think they did well I think that it was refreshing to see Andy Morales uh and Marissa wood really uh vocally as Democrats especially Central Valley Democrats talk about what's happening in Palestine um calling it a genocide and actually um you know showing a a true significant difference between themselves and their
opponents their opponents although they may say that they are uh fiscal conservatives are willing to give money to different countries when they're bombing children indiscriminately and so uh I think that they did a good job at at showing um you know they they spoke in in fact I think you look at this debate in two in two lenses right one lens is just very non-bias who's who's really speaking about facts who's talking about policy and I think that the Democrats actually won last night if you loo
k at it in that lens if you look in the lens of this district and winning this race eventually and representing District 20 I actually think that uh Mike Buro won last night I think that he showed that he's the actual Maga candidate even though that even though Donald Trump uh uh backed Vince Fong I think he really Illustrated to folks watching if you are a magga voter you know your candidate is actually Mike buo it's not Vince Fong even though you know uh Donald Trump is doing favors for Kevin
McCarthy to stop the bleeding for Vince Fong uh we know who the Maga candidate is and with that the performance last night that you're referencing and then the recent endorsements by Young Blood and Gro what do you think that means for the race between Vince Fong and brro going for well it's going to be closer than it otherwise would have been McCarthy would have wanted to keep all of his ducks in a row make sure that Shannon Grove and and Young Blood stay with Fong but I think what really happe
ned here was there was a bucking of the system I suspect that Shannon Grove was actually set to run and then someone told McCarthy we can't have another margerie Taylor Green in Congress replacing you we need someone that actually knows what they're doing and Kevin McCarthy said okay well I like Vince Moore anyways I'll tell him to run and then there was a bucking within the establishment in the Republican party that's what we're seeing right now they're in shambles they're split up uh there's w
e have two very prominent Republicans from Kernan County backing a Sheriff from toer Kathy I'll give you a chance to respond as we uh you know go into we're only 11 days out from the March primary now well it's interesting to hear a rabid leftwing Democrat and analyze who's the best Republican candidate so uh I don't think I think the real issue of endorsements is the fact that the people here in Kern County and of course Vince Fong's been around the whole Central Valley for many years so he's g
ot a lot of support there I don't see any long-term uh issue with that your question is is about going forward between V and Vince Fong well I think it's going to be a hardfought race and because this seat was drawn by a so-called commission it's heavily Republican so they'll likely be two Republicans come out of it if for the general which is unfortunate you don't get both philosophies in the debate but do you see it going that way as well in the general you know actually I I could see a Democr
at making it I could actually see a Democrat you know depending on the plurality and how the vote is split potentially filling the rest of Kevin McCarthy's term but filling the seat in the long term is going to be very difficult to win a oneon-one battle with either of these Republicans with how the district is shaped um it could go to a two a two Republican race but it's just to be seen we've seen Vince Fong trying to elevate Marissa wood by sending mail to Democrats saying that she's too liber
al um for them to consolidate votes there so he's hoping that Marissa wood makes it to the to the next level so he doesn't have to face uh sheriff brro in the in the general election will be interesting to see what happens going forward Neil Kathy thank you both so much for coming in this morning we appreciate it of course
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