00:00with the Republican Senate primary there to compete against Senator John Ossoff.
00:05There's five people running, including two members of Congress.
00:09How do these primaries work and who do we think is going to take the edge here?
00:12Or do we know?
00:13Well, that's the difficulty here, Christina, because President Trump hasn't endorsed in this race.
00:18And it's one of the things that's making it very messy for Republicans.
00:22As you say, there are two current Republican congressmen running, Mike Collins and Buddy Carter.
00:27There's also a former University of Tennessee football coach in Derek Dooley,
00:31who has secured the endorsement of the Republican governor of Georgia, outgoing governor that is Brian Kemp.
00:37But the fact that President Trump hasn't weighed in here material means that there has been a lot of money
00:41that is spent amongst these candidates kind of going after each other.
00:44And that's one of the things that Democrats at least see as an advantage for them in this seat
00:48that they are trying to hold John Ossoff's in 2026, because he's just cruising right now
00:53and has a lot of money that he can wait and use and dispose of in the general election.
00:58As of his last filing, he had more than $30 million on hand,
01:02and that's all cash that he does not yet have to deploy until he has a firm Republican challenger.
01:07And I would note we may not know that at the end of this week or by the time Joe
01:10and I wrap up our time in Georgia.
01:12It's very likely this could go to a runoff on June 16th.
01:16Joe, why do you think the president hasn't endorsed in this race?
01:19A couple of things stand out to me.
01:20I mean, he likes to endorse winners, and he may be waiting to see if someone pulls ahead to then
01:24endorse them.
01:25Also, he has a complicated relationship with Brian Kemp.
01:29Does he want to stay out of backing the guy who wouldn't certify his election?
01:33Well, yeah, of course.
01:34Who did certify. Excuse me. Who did certify. I apologize. Yeah.
01:37Yeah, exactly. Well, you know, but this isn't the only race.
01:39We're actually looking at Texas as well, Christina,
01:42where we have not seen the president weigh in on another one that's going to a runoff,
01:46including an incumbent Republican senator, John Cornyn, who could have been the majority leader at one point in time.
01:52So he's picking his battles sometimes in strange places.
01:54And I'll remember or remind you that sometimes he likes to endorse both candidates.
01:59Maybe tonight, maybe Monday night, we'll see the president weigh in.
02:04And it may or may not matter in this particular case.
02:07And I'll remind everybody, if you keep your eyes on the race for Senate, he's got an old for governor,
02:14rather an old foe in Brad Raffensperger,
02:18famously on the perfect phone call in which the president asked him to find enough votes to win the state.
02:24He's still in the mix in Georgia.
02:26We're going to try to find him while we're there.
02:28We're talking about Louisiana.
02:29We're talking about Georgia, where you guys are headed.
02:32The others have flown slightly more under the radar.
02:34Are there any other races that you're watching particularly?
02:37And are there any other races where you're seeing this play out again,
02:40where Trump has not endorsed in places you expect that he would have?
02:44Well, one that we're going to be watching this week while we're in Georgia,
02:48we're also going to have our eye on Kentucky, specifically the seat of incumbent Congressman Tom Massey,
02:53who has basically made himself an enemy of President Trump because he often hasn't voted his way in the House
02:59of Representatives.
03:00He is frequently a thorn in the side, not just of the president, but of the Speaker of the House,
03:03Mike Johnson, as well.
03:05And Donald Trump has put a lot of energy and money and effort into primarying Tom Massey.
03:11And this has become kind of an example of the rift we see in the Republican Party right now.
03:19And the outcome of that could tell us a lot about the sway that Donald Trump still is able to
03:23hold over the base of the party,
03:26because Tom Massey is pretty well-liked in Kentucky.
03:29He has the endorsement of one of Kentucky's senators, Rand Paul, who has been out on the campaign trail campaigning
03:35for him.
03:35If he goes down in this primary, that's going to showcase the power of President Trump's, not endorsement,
03:41but of what happens if you get off sides with the White House.
03:46Of course, he did endorse in the governor's race in Georgia, and that's one thing that we should point out.
03:50It's an instance in the lieutenant governor, Bert Jones, total and complete, unyielding endorsement,
03:56as the president said on Truth Social, is now falling behind a health care CEO by the name of Rick
04:03Jackson.
04:03So that's something that we're going to look at pretty closely.
04:05If you want to get your head around this, though, Kayleigh framed the Senate race really well.
04:10They both have something in common in that there are massive fields of candidates on at least one side.
04:15In the case of the governor's race, you know, you're going to see it probably on both sides, actually,
04:21with the former mayor of Atlanta, Keisha Lance Bottoms, in a questionable lead.
04:26But when it comes to that Senate race, John Ossoff is on his own here,
04:30and you're going to have Republicans likely going into a runoff here that we'll maybe meet again and talk about.
04:34This won't be decisive, though, I think, is the idea on Tuesday night.
04:37Why has the party allowed that?
04:40I mean, it does seem like they're eating their own momentum and burning money that they could be using to
04:46go after Democrats,
04:46not just in this race, but in other races as well.
04:49Does the national party not have enough command and control over these primaries to say,
04:53hey, that's our guy, the rest of you guys step aside, we need to focus on winning this race?
04:57Well, I think it's a question of how we're defining the party here, Christina,
05:01if it's a matter of the party or the president.
05:02Because you take a look at Texas, which Joe mentioned President Trump has not endorsed,
05:06and Republicans have had to spend a lot of money protecting or trying to protect the incumbent Senator John Cornyn.
05:11That is what the NRSC wants, is Cornyn to be the one who faces James Tallarico in the general election.
05:17And Senate leadership and leadership at the NRSC has made it clear that that is their guy.
05:22The problem is President Trump has not made him his guy.
05:25He doesn't necessarily come out in favor of John Cornyn,
05:29even though he also hasn't endorsed Ken Paxton, Texas' attorney general.
05:33So there's obviously a massive question as to how the president and party leadership elsewhere is lined up on this
05:39and whether or not they are deploying capital in a smart way.
05:42Keeping in mind, it was, what, $13 million spent just to unseat state senators in Indiana?
05:47I mean, that's crazy.
05:47Who didn't go along with redistricting.
05:50Yeah, we have to keep these figures in mind.
05:51Well, it's a message to a lot of Republicans out there.
05:53They're very aware of what happened in Indiana.
05:55And as we continue this effort to redistrict, now we're rolling through South Carolina.
05:58And Georgia.
05:59We could add other seats.
06:00Yes.
06:00And by the way, Georgia, that is going to be a big story while we're there.
06:04Be careful if you want to cross the president on this as we're learning.
06:07And talking about those two strains, possibly three strains,
06:10let's focus on two strains of Republican messaging.
06:13We had the chair of the RNC on our show last week,
06:15and we were going through some of these polls that show Republicans are losing ground
06:19when asked if Americans have confidence in them handling the economy, handling affordability,
06:24handling Iran.
06:25And we said, are you advising candidates going into the midterms to distance themselves from
06:30the president?
06:30He said, no, we are embracing the president fully.
06:33We are running towards the most successful administration in history.
06:36Are you seeing on the ground any candidates walk that line a little lighter than the chair
06:41might like to admit?
06:42Because it is a very hard message right now as Americans are feeling these kitchen table
06:47issues so acutely to endorse an administration that a lot of Americans see as not being beneficial
06:54for their bottom line.
06:55I would jump in on that to say wait till after primary season.
06:58They're going to need the president to get through primary season.
07:00Once you've actually got the nomination, somehow you find a backbone.
07:05And depending on what the issue is, you're going to see some real debate potentially in
07:10Washington.
07:10And it might even begin with war powers.
07:13Let's say this conflict is still underway, but also debt and deficit.
07:17And some of the policy changes that the president has called for, Kaylee, once we get into the
07:22race for the general election, everybody's running to the middle.
07:24This could feel different, right?
07:25Yeah.
07:25General election politics are very different.
07:28And that may be why in some ways you already are starting to see a little bit more resistance
07:31to things President Trump is pushing for on Capitol Hill, whether it be a federal gas tax
07:37holiday, which the president has suggested that he's wanted and received somewhat of a cool
07:42welcome or housing affordability legislation, that the House is trying to change the Senate's
07:47version.
07:48It's unclear how that's going to go forward.
07:49So you are starting to see, Christina, to your question, some of the distancing emerge,
07:53maybe.
07:53But Joe makes an excellent point that the closer we get to the election, it's more likely you
07:58will see more of it.
07:58Geography plays into it, too.
08:00Obviously, Christina, if you're talking to a New York Republican, they're going to give you
08:02a pretty different answer than a Georgia Republican.
08:05Fair enough.
08:06And geography will, of course, be playing a role in your show as Joel and Kayleigh go
08:10on the road for Bounds of Power this week, live from Georgia.
08:13Thank you both so much.
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