A break down with Joe Fraser, GOP candidate for the U.S. Senate

[00:00:00] . Welcome to The Break Down with Brodkorb and Becky, a weekly podcast that breaks down politics, policy and current affairs. I'm Becky Scherr. And I'm Michael Brodkorb. We're excited to be joined today by Joe Frazier, Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate.

[00:00:50] For the past couple months you may have heard us discuss Frazier as he was seeking the Republican Party Minnesota endorsement for Senate. While Royce White came out of the convention with the endorsement, Frazier has since decided to continue with his campaign in the August primary.

[00:01:05] With Frazier we'll learn more about him and discuss his decision to run for public office. We'll then break down his campaign thus far and discuss the decision to move forward and the support he is finding along the way as he runs in the Republican primary.

[00:01:17] We'll end the show by breaking down the recent presidential poll in Minnesota. Thank you for joining us and we hope you enjoy this show. We are excited to be joined by Joe Frazier, again running for U.S. Senate.

[00:01:31] Joe, I want to start today by Michael and I have had the opportunity to chat with a lot of candidates and elected officials and it always takes a special kind of person who's willing to put themselves out there to campaign across the state,

[00:01:44] especially in this kind of case with full statewide campaign race. But want to get your take of why you decided what you've been doing up until this point and what made you decide to run for office? First of all, Becky, thank you.

[00:01:56] Thank you to you and Michael for having me on the show. I appreciate the time that you have to devote to me. I think it does take a special kind of crazy to do to run for office. I think it's a passionate type of energy that's needed.

[00:02:11] Put your family on hold, put your work on hold and just head out into the wild here and sit down and talk to people and listen to what their concerns and issues are.

[00:02:24] I define myself as someone who's had a life of service and while I was in uniform, it was a calling. And then when I hung up my uniform and I went back into the private sector and it started working, that calling never really ended.

[00:02:39] And my wife finally looked at me and said, you need to go back and serve. You need to go get involved to make that difference. And she was right. We decided to take that plunge and we talked about, do we run for Congress? Do we run for Senate?

[00:02:58] Do we run for state local office? Do something along those lines? And once again, my wife who was, who's been my rock for almost 28 years looked at me and she goes, you would be best served being in the Senate. Yeah. I mean, that's where it started for us.

[00:03:13] And when we launched our campaign in January, we have been consistent with our messaging of why we're doing this. It's for the betterment of Minnesotans. We want to, we want high paying good quality jobs here. We need to get a control of our spending in the economy.

[00:03:30] We need to secure our borders. We need to have a strong foreign policy that shows that America is, is the shining city on the hill that Reagan always described us as right? The shear of democracy and the best example of it.

[00:03:43] Along the way you spent time, you've been meeting with delegates and activists and voters across the stage. Talk to us a little bit about building up your campaign, putting together the team so you can get out and chat with voters. So I have an excellent team.

[00:03:57] I've been fortunate and blessed with having from a campaign management to consultants, to my media team, fundraisers, the whole group has been fantastic and so this is a team effort. It's I may be the, the face of it, but behind me, there's a bunch of people

[00:04:13] that lift me up and keep me moving forward and that enables me to have the opportunities to identify what BPO use I can go to, what caucuses I can, I can attend, whether it's a zoom call or whatnot in our approach

[00:04:29] has always been we had to get out into the state and see as many people who possibly could to meet as many delegates as we could to meet as we just average regular Joe's that are out there and to hear their problems, they listen to the concerns.

[00:04:44] And that's truly, I think what we're missing in many cases from career politicians such as Omi that she spends most of her time in the twin cities when she's herm, she'll make a grand to do when she heads out into the country.

[00:04:59] Like it's some special, like the Pope is coming to visit you, but I look at it as it is my responsibility to be out there and do that to connect and to learn. Talk a bit about where the race is today.

[00:05:11] You have a, you were running in the primary and Becky and I have a stake out the position that there needed to be a multi-candidate field in the primary. Talk about the message right now in the primary.

[00:05:22] And then if you're successful through that process, your reward is you're up against Amy Klobuchar and one thing I want to get your perspective on. I worked on Marks Kennedy's race when Senator Klobuchar first ran for the United States Senate and she ran in 2006, she ran in 2012,

[00:05:39] she ran in 2018 and you work historically. Those are good years. And obviously you don't want to take anything away from the electoral success and brand that she's built. But one thing I think is interesting about this election cycle is the environment is different.

[00:05:53] And so talk a little bit about the primary and how you message in that. And then the general, what type of environment do you think is going to be there for Republicans to be talking about it and what type of

[00:06:03] challenges you think that the Democrats like Senator Klobuchar may have running in this type of environment? So the first part is for the Republican primary piece. I think our message is consistent from beginning. It is that we want somebody that has experience.

[00:06:19] I may not have been an elected official before, but I understand and have worked in the halls of the bureaucracies in Washington, DC. Believe me, it's not a place that I just, I want to go back to,

[00:06:29] but it's a place that I feel is necessary to have me serve. To understand how our government works, to understand our processes, to understand the, just the budgetary pieces behind what builds out our government. I have familiarity with foreign policy.

[00:06:45] I have some familiarity with national security and be able to take that forward and take the 26 years of experience that I have and bring that for an already notable public service that I haven't done, I think provides the right skill sets necessary to challenge.

[00:07:02] And that's nothing against the previous candidates. But I am a cat that's a little bit of a different color, just based off of the experiences that I've had. And I think that message will play well in the primary.

[00:07:16] I think when you look at Royce White, you couldn't have two polar opposite personalities. He's foul, I'm sure. I mean, he can go over the differences from there. Uh, it's, I think when people look at his record, they're going to

[00:07:29] end it's a reason why Senator Boshowitz and Coleman and Governor Plenty endorsed me today. It's they look at the key, what is the content and the quality of the candidate and what skill sets they bring and who can bring the best fight to Washington, DC.

[00:07:45] And in being movie in the process. And I think that will help us in the primary. I think that will also help us in the foul. You bring up 2006 is a great example. That was George Bush's second term of the blood laying from the Republican party.

[00:08:00] And in 2012 and 2018, you had 12, you had Obama at the height of his game. So a popular president and the economy was going well. And then in 18, when she ran again, they had Trump in his midterm. Those have played out well for Amy this year though, it is different.

[00:08:18] She's 30% last poll, not as popular as she's least popular she's ever been. Her failed presidential bit is mixed in there and that highlighted a lot of negatives about her performance. When she ran in 2006, she was jumping lower medical and lower college costs and lower costs of living.

[00:08:38] And by the way, in her time she's tripled the national debt. Those, when you start looking at it going, yeah, you love to come across as being a bipartisan person, but you're killing us on the big issues.

[00:08:50] And she's always voted hard left when it comes to the issues that matter, like the budget deficit, like education, border security jobs. And when I talk about jobs here in Minnesota, I'm thinking mining opportunities up on the range. She's been quiet on that.

[00:09:07] She's one of those big issues. She just sits on the bench and she sat on the bench for the budgetary issues and the border issues. And she sat on the bench for what's going on in the Middle East.

[00:09:18] I want to come back to chatting a little bit about more about the differences between you and Senator Klobuchar and some of her shortcomings. But I don't want to gloss over something you just snuck in there. I think it's really exciting.

[00:09:30] Just right before we were taping this podcast, saw the endorsements from Senator Noam Coleman, Senator Rudy Boschwitz and Governor Tim Pawlenty. Really incredible, respected Republican leaders that Minnesota has had the honor of representing us. Talk us a little through how those conversations came to be and what

[00:09:49] you've heard from these men who decided to come out and support you in your campaign. It's funny. Go back to my team and go back to the organization that I'm surrounded by, they've given me great counsel and along the way,

[00:10:03] whether you're talking to the national Republican, Senator committee, you're talking to key people here in the state. They're like, have you talked to Rudy yet? Have you talked to Noam? You know, have you talked to Tim? And he's like, yep, we're working on it.

[00:10:14] And along the way I was able to connect with all three of those gentlemen and we talked briefly. And then really done the endorsement process because we were planning on moving forward, come out of the convention with an endorsement and start bringing people together.

[00:10:30] And we still happen to be able to do that. And I think now we have a better opportunity to unite the party and unite people behind, but I mean, excuse me, in the, in the courtesy, but they've been phenomenal, great support, good insight, very positive.

[00:10:47] And having them on the team has been, is really, hopefully will be the boost that we're all looking for. Did they give you any advice of things to do along the way or are they going to be council, maybe able to help you out when things pop up?

[00:11:02] Again, some really good respected folks. So I'm happy to have them in your corner and hopeful that they are able to help you inch towards that finish line and maybe be successful here. Yeah, of course they are. At least they'll answer the call, right?

[00:11:18] If I have a question, they'll answer the phone. They will go to voicemail. But yeah, they've been big provided council. I believe that to go in third, if we have a question or an issue that comes up, they'll answer the call and provide that, that insight support.

[00:11:32] I don't think this is not alone and done with them. We'll see them across the board here, I think in the next couple of months, just as their schedules are available and they're willing to participate in things.

[00:11:44] I was very excited about it when I saw it on social media. I thought it was fantastic. First and foremost, I think it's where Republicans need to be in the state. Number one, I think it's where Republicans need to be.

[00:11:54] Joe, this is the first opportunity I've had to talk with you directly. And I've seen some of your interviews, but Becky and I again have staked out the claim that Republicans need to have some options in the primary. I worked on Boschwitz's 96 campaign. I worked on Coleman's 98 campaign.

[00:12:07] And I was helpful at the party with Pawlenty in, when I was in 2002 and through his reelections, he's also a neighbor of mine. And so to see those, to see that kind of generational leadership come out and get behind you was really great.

[00:12:21] And I was excited to see it. And what a testament to you that you'd get those people to come out and get your support. And it really also, I think sends a message that Becky and I have been

[00:12:31] looking for, which is, was people getting out of the, in some ways, a little bit off the cheap seats and getting off the sidelines and getting back in. And I don't want it to ever say that Senator Boschwitz or Coleman or

[00:12:40] governor Pawlenty are ever in the cheap seat, but it's important that they get out and it's important that Republicans do that and get behind you. And so I was really excited to see that happen today.

[00:12:50] And when I was very excited that we'd have an opportunity to get your perspective on it and just talk about it on this podcast, because it is the type of situation and you had a great endorsement just yesterday from

[00:13:00] state Senator Michelle Benson, who is, I think has unimpeccable conservative credentials. Becky and I have also spoken to her before about messaging and development. And it's the type of grassroots campaign that you're running right now that I'm very excited about.

[00:13:15] And I'm just so fortunate to have you here and we can talk a bit about it because this is the last 24 hours. I think we've really started to see some people step out and give you the type of support aside from, and you're probably seeing it every day,

[00:13:29] but to an amateur like me who's gauging stuff on social media was great to see and congratulations to you and your team very well deserved. Thank you. And it is a team effort and you're right. We want to, we want to unify the party.

[00:13:43] These are not the last endorsements that we'll have coming out. We're still working on more. I think like that we will unify the party. We know that we're going to, we're not always going to agree on things,

[00:13:54] but we know that we have to work together if we want to be successful in this state and nationally. I think this is a great year for us from a party perspective. If you look across the ballots, we've got a great opportunity in CD3 with Ted Jude.

[00:14:09] We've got a great opportunity in CD2. We've got obviously our delegation across one, six, seven and eight. So I think there's some great opportunity there. Obviously been fantastic in their efforts in reserving the state.

[00:14:23] And I think we will be able to win back the house and to pick up that Senate seat, maybe two Senate seats in the special elections, which just all depends on who's at the top of the ticket for the state.

[00:14:33] And if it's not me, that's going to hurt us down ballot. My third opinion in that because the Democrats are going to hang every single Republican candidate in the state with Royce White, you know, his actions and his behavior.

[00:14:46] And that's going to hurt in-state and I believe it'll hurt President Trump as well. I believe that that's the case. I think you're absolutely correct. You're up against Klobuchar and that's who your final, your opponent is. My take is that your campaign is probably the most substantive that's

[00:15:05] occurred since she first ran. And so, but in that time, she's been reelected a couple of times and she's ran for president. Talk about what it's like in the battle that you're going to have against Senator Klobuchar and the issues that you think are, that draw the most

[00:15:20] contrast, particularly in a year, it's a presidential year. And I think something unique is happening here, which is another poll has come out that shows that this is a toss-up stage. So Minnesota is going to get a lot of attention and there's going to be,

[00:15:31] I think, more of an opportunity, I think, for split tickets. And I don't think people are going to be necessarily in lockstep, but talk about some of that contrast that you could offer with Senator Klobuchar.

[00:15:40] And I think, Becky, please disagree with me, but I think it's the first real contest she's had since 2006 and she, let me just be very clear. She beat Kennedy's operation, which I was on like a rented drum.

[00:15:52] This is, so I think this is going to be a real exciting time for Republicans. Yeah, I think I always go back to a couple of key issues that we learned from history and that when the economy is great, the incumbent has the advantage.

[00:16:07] When the economy is not so great, it's a, it's fair game. And Amy's had the benefit of having good economy or she even back when she won in 2006, that was a political year with the Iraq war three years into Iraqi freedom.

[00:16:21] When I was in Washington, DC station at the Pentagon time, it was. I wanted to acknowledge thank you for your service. I've never worn our nation's uniform and Becky, I always want to acknowledge

[00:16:31] it and just want to say that at the onset, just thanks again for your service. I appreciate that. It's humbling every time somebody says that and it's just like, I did right. My wife is same way.

[00:16:40] She, we met in the Navy and we always get a little bit uncomfortable when it comes to our take free service. We loved it. It was easy for us to serve, but with 2006, you saw that in the politics and Iraq wasn't going as well.

[00:16:54] And you had some really bad strategic decisions that were made there. And I think that really empowered the Democrats to do what they did in 2006 and ended up with secretary Roosevelt. Resigning in 2012, great economy, good president, the numbers, Obama was popular.

[00:17:09] And so then back in 2016, 2018, we kind of was fine and Trump was unpopular. I think you're right though, when it comes down to it, the economy is going to be huge this year. I don't care if people say inflation is down.

[00:17:20] That just means it's not going up as much as it was, but it doesn't mean the price of eggs is going back to what it was four years ago. We've seen 25% inflation over the last four years during the Obama or during the Biden administration.

[00:17:35] Klobuchar hasn't done much to help advocate for policies that would help the average Minnesotan pay their bills. We've seen energy costs skyrocket. And that's as a result of Biden's really bad energy policies. The first day he came in, he killed Keystone pipeline.

[00:17:52] And that's an energy, that's an energy impact. And we've seen the energy costs impact things across the line. Think about it from this perspective, 30% car consumption in the state is the mines up on the range. And when energy costs become too expensive, money shut down.

[00:18:12] And that's what they're doing because they can't pay for their energy bills and turn a profit at the same time, and that impacts productivity, but the trickle down effects of that are huge. She's been quiet on that. Just domestically you talk about the economy, you talk about inflation,

[00:18:31] you talk about energy costs, and then you talk about the border and our security situation because of what's going on down South, we're losing resources up North and now as a result, we're seeing an increase in illegal foot traffic and drug trafficking activity on the Northern border.

[00:18:46] Where is she on that issue? She's been quiet. I think when you look at just the core fundamental issues that impact Minnesotans directly, she's going to have to answer to it and she doesn't have a good answer in my opinion. I completely agree.

[00:18:59] I think that's messaging is something we talk a lot about and reminding voters of the last two, four, six, 10 years under somebody like Amy Kolbuchar is certainly something we need to remind the voters of. When we look at the Minnesota landscape, I think we can look at

[00:19:16] what we need to talk to when we're in Minneapolis and St. Paul and what we need to talk about when we're in greater Minnesota, up on the mines, I arranged that area. One area that we've had many conversations over the last couple of years here are the suburbs.

[00:19:32] This is something that we've seen swing back and forth and unfortunately lately lean a little bit more towards the left, but I often, I'm a suburban mom myself and I think women in the suburbs are a place where Republicans definitely need to work to move that needle.

[00:19:47] And a lot of the items you talked about, especially when it comes to the economy and fiscal responsibility, I think is something that does move the needle with women in the suburbs and just suburban voters in general.

[00:19:58] But what are some of the things as you're campaigning around and in the suburbs, what are some of the things you are hoping to relay or talk about or hear from suburban voters about? So I live in the suburbs too.

[00:20:11] And fortunately I have a suburban woman who will tell me their opinion 24 hours a day. And I think when you look at a lot of suburban, a lot of folks in suburb suburbs, especially, I'm not sure where you're at, but I'm in Hennepin County.

[00:20:25] And so a lot of my neighbors are irritated. I think a little bit mildly about what's going on inside of Minneapolis. The fact that it's a sanctuary city, the fact that Minneapolis PD is now half the size it was four years ago.

[00:20:41] They can't hire and retain talent across the board that they need. And it's not to say that the cops aren't good. They're just stressed. They're overworked, over demand and under resourced. Right? And as a result of these progressive radical policies that go on in the

[00:20:58] cities, and as a direct result of that, as a taxpayer, I'm paying for all of that decay, I'm paying for that impact to the, there's a sewer system, to the health systems, public services because of really just reckless and irresponsible policies.

[00:21:16] And it doesn't mean that I don't have compassion for, for immigrants in this country, but we have a process, we have laws. We need to battle those processes, improve them and make sure that our laws are enforced.

[00:21:29] And when Minneapolis has just chosen to disregard those, it puts an economic impact on the suburbs. In our case in Hennepin County, and my neighbors are not really happy with that. They're, they have no problem. Same thing. They want good schools. They want good roads.

[00:21:46] They want police to be able to be resourced to do their jobs, but they need sensible leadership that advocates for the enforcement of policies and laws that are going to be followed. And I'll use one case study as a bird off of that.

[00:22:00] One of my neighbors is a lifelong Democrat, but he's a business owner and you run across a lot of small business owners out in the suburbs. Right. Um, he's voting for me because he's getting ready to sell his business.

[00:22:13] And he's realizing just the economic impacts of the Democrats' policies and the, and how that's really going to hurt his ability to profit from his life's work and use that money to turn around and start another business. He's a serial entrepreneur and that'll impact jobs down the line.

[00:22:32] When you look at kind of the stuff that's going on, that's just from an economic perspective, they talk about the education system and the impact that it's going to have that we see the bleeding of our tax resources to provide other services that shouldn't be done.

[00:22:45] Then you have a compounding impact on our schools and some suburbs are better than others when it comes to that, but especially the closer you get to the cities, the challenge, the more challenging that gets for their education system and making sure that our children have a good,

[00:23:01] high quality education. John, one, your Republican opponent, one of your Republican opponents in the primary rice white has said taking, I think your 26 years of service in the military and framed it up as you're an advocate for forever wars.

[00:23:15] I'd like to give you an opportunity to respond to the charge on forever wars and push back and give some context to, or at least answer it. I said this to Tom Hauser and when I was on that issue a little over a

[00:23:27] week ago, he uses that as a bumper sticker and originally that bumper sticker, at least my understanding of how he originally pitched it was supporting Ukraine and supporting Israel or the sense of freedom and liberties and their rights to exist.

[00:23:42] Last weekend, he confused, I think a lot of people when he was talking about, I think the message he was trying to get across was the military industrial complex and how the cost of the funding, funding the department of defense is too much.

[00:23:57] That's to me where he came across as sounding like he wants to cut defense spending. He wants to cut the department of defense and he wants to limit our abilities to not only defend freedom and democracy here at home, but also

[00:24:10] support our international allies and partners in critical hotspots. You know, as somebody who is one of the uniform, as somebody who's seen the wounded come off the battlefield, as somebody who's seen people deal directly with the impacts of combat and PTSD, as somebody who

[00:24:29] understands the cost of service. I also understand the risk of silence. And I think America, when people look to America, they look to us to be the deacon of democracy and hope for people who want to have a better way

[00:24:46] of living and our military is critical to supporting not just the defense of our own borders and our own policies globally, but also stands as a partner for those who want to be free. And his message, I think is quite honestly very short-sighted. I think it's ill-informed.

[00:25:05] I think like I said, I think it's a bumper sticker that he, if he wants to talk of defense acquisitions, I'll sit down and educate him on it all day. I have a master's in business in defense acquisitions. I know how the department of defense buys weapons system.

[00:25:20] I've been there. I'd seen it. I know how much money we spend and how we get to the point on the cost of warfare and the cost of liberty. I think that he just likes to sell it as a way that makes it sound good.

[00:25:33] But the biggest forever war that we've been in is the fight for liberty and freedom, and we've been doing that since the 17 hundreds, and I will continue to support that cause until the day I die.

[00:25:45] So Joe, before we wrap up here, if people want to learn more about you, follow your campaign, get involved, donate anything of the sort, where can people follow along and find you? They can find us on, on the interweb at.com.

[00:26:02] We also have a Facebook page, a Twitter account, Instagram as well. And you can get to those from the website, but yeah, that's where they can go to find out more about me, more about our campaign, sign up to volunteer and of course donate.

[00:26:17] And donations are always key and critical. Wait, that's how we, that's how we get into this. And when Amy's sitting on five and a half million dollars, and a little startup like ours is really going to have to be smart with how we spend

[00:26:28] our money and we have been, but yeah, that's how I can, that's how folks can get ahold of us too. We want to thank you for the opportunity of speaking with you today. And also, first of all, thanks for coming on and having just a really informed discussion.

[00:26:42] It was really what Becky and I are hoping for with candidates. And we're really excited to speak with you today and appreciate you getting in and giving Republican voters an option. And I think the contrast is going to be pretty stark.

[00:26:53] And so we appreciate what you're doing and the fact that you're in the arena and the way you are, and we look forward to having you back on. If there's opportunities to come back on, we would certainly look forward

[00:27:04] to having you back on and talk about the issues as we get closer to the primary and certainly into the general election, because I think you're the type of candidate I think that is voices we need to elevate and have a part of that discussion.

[00:27:16] So just thank you for stepping into that arena and you're taking arrows from all sides right now, but we appreciate you doing it and we're glad you're running. Okay. Thank you, Michael and Becky for having me. I take the time to allow me to ramble a little bit.

[00:27:29] It's I love to have an informed conversation. I think this is that's key to making sure that our Republic is strong, successful in the future is having good dialogue and discussion. And I look forward to coming back anytime we will work to find time

[00:27:45] that works with your schedule. And of course, talk about it if we want to spend some time to delve into some key issues as we go forward. I'm looking forward to that. Absolutely. That's great. Thank you. Thank you.

[00:27:59] Now, Becky, we just spoke with Joe Frazier who is running for the United States Senate, state of Minnesota as a Republican, your take on the interview, by the way, my first time meeting him and talking with him, I don't know if you've met him before, but your take.

[00:28:13] First time here as well. And I haven't even had the liberty to hear him speak at any events or anything, so this was all brand new to me and he's very impressive. I think he's very well spoken, articulate, knows what he's talking about.

[00:28:28] And I think one of the things that stood out for me aside from very impressed with these endorsements that just came out right prior to in recording this podcast today, but I love somebody who understands that

[00:28:43] you need to talk about different things depending on where you are in the state. And again, I remember we talked about this one point and somebody on Twitter said that we were saying you need to flip-flop opinions. I'm not saying change where your stance is.

[00:28:57] I'm saying you talk about different things in the iron range, different issues are important to them, are their top priorities just as different issues are the different priorities on the top of people's priorities list in the suburbs and different things are on the top of priority list for

[00:29:10] people in Minneapolis and St. Paul and a candidate who understands that going different places means you need to talk about different issues and speak their language and really pull them in with what matters most to them.

[00:29:23] It seems like it should be, it should be a no brainer, but I really appreciated that he understands that and he understands where some of Senator Klobuchar's shortcomings are in some of the votes she's taken and the stances she's taken. I was very impressed. I was too.

[00:29:39] And not, and I was impressed too and not stick anything away from him, but the Benson, the state's Senator Benson endorsement, and then the Palinti, the governor Palinti, Senator Coleman, Senator Bosch with his endorsement was, and that was, that was surprising.

[00:29:54] That was, that's a couple of reasons why they're surprising. Number one, this is a complicated process right now. And to get three Republicans of that significance plus Senator Benson, let's not, Senator Benson has not run statewide before.

[00:30:08] She's not been an endorsed candidate statewide or been on the general election ballot. She is going places and I have long, and I think that she would have been a great Republican endorsed candidate for this, for the, for governor last time around. We've had her on our podcast.

[00:30:23] So to see Benson, plus she also has very good credentials inside the party with the activists and she is a conservative, but she's, but she understands the value of winning elections. And so to see her step out and endorse Joe Frazier and then

[00:30:40] see governor Palinti, Senator Coleman and Senator Bosch would get in, I think it's very, very significant. And it's the exact type of thing that needs to happen right now is Republicans need to start rallying around Frazier because I think that

[00:30:57] in terms of the type of conversation that, and we've talked about this before, but the type of conversation that it would exist with him on the ballot versus someone else, I think it is important. And I also will say that having, I have been, and we've talked about

[00:31:11] this before that I'm a glass half full person. It's very difficult for me to be negative all the time. And so hearing Frazier talk and having him, a dialogue with him in seeing him just having a back and forth, I felt much more, I'm

[00:31:27] much more how important is it? There's a pro alternative rather than just be negative. And I think Frazier would be an incredibly good representative of the Republican party in the general election against Senator Klobuchar. I think it would be a spirited campaign.

[00:31:41] I think it would be the exact type of campaign that we'd want it to be. And I think in this political environment, I understand the rankings of where the Senate race is in terms of, but the fact that

[00:31:50] there's a quality candidate like Joe Frazier out there ready to run, I think Republicans should be very appreciative of that because I hadn't thought about it before, but I think Kennedy in 06 was the last time I think Klobuchar has had a substantive opponent in

[00:32:06] terms of just, I think credentials and bona fides. And I think Frazier, the messaging coupled with the environment. I still think that this is a, I think it's an uphill battle against Senator Klobuchar, but I think Frazier is going to really elevate the discussion.

[00:32:20] And I think that's great. Absolutely. And I think he mentioned this, but we've spoke about it on recent podcasts as well as avoiding unforced ears, right? Avoiding the distraction and somebody on the ticket that has potential to pull people off or dissuade people from voting.

[00:32:40] I think that he has the ability to be in that top of the ticket under Trump, obviously, but top of the Minnesota side very strongly and be a good steward of that position and really be a good messenger and communicator for Republican policies and reminding folks what the

[00:32:56] Democrats stand for and what they've been passing, they've been in charge. So it's very excited to talk to him. He lived up to expectations. I'm looking forward to seeing how the momentum with these endorsements comes. And now that he's building out his campaign a little bit

[00:33:10] more as we go forward. Do you know why my eyes are all big? What? Because they just realized something. I don't say momentum. I say Joe Mentum because of Joe Lieberman. We can now say Joe Mentum about Joe Frazier. There you go. Yeah.

[00:33:26] I come from that Apple world where we just, yeah, I guess we can say Joe Mentum. He's got Joe Mentum. That's why I was excited. That's very exciting. Nothing's going to live up to Emergy for me, for the record.

[00:33:36] That's always my favorite, but Joe Mentum is pretty good. Emergy. Yes. Okay. That's fine. We'll do Emergy and Emer, when I was in, when I was out in DC and I was in, I was with my family and I was walking through the halls of Congress

[00:33:51] having just left Congressman Emer's office, House Majority with Emer's office, I said to my kids, that guy's going to run for governor someday in Minnesota and that's going to be a good time. And so that's what we got to hold out for.

[00:34:02] But Frazier, I think we got a little, we got Joe Mentum right now and we got some Emergy yet to come. There you go. I love it. I'm on board. Let's pivot to the next subject. Presidential poll. Yes.

[00:34:15] We are in poll season where we're going to see them pop out every once in a while and here Minnesota Star Tribune, NPR and Kara Levin joined up for a poll. They took of voters June 3rd through the 5th and let's just start with a couple of numbers.

[00:34:32] Let's just start with the horse race here. So it has Biden at 45, Trump at 41, undecided at 7% and RFK at 6%. Seems right around that four mark that we've been seeing in polls lately really close to the margin of error and about right. Any shock for you there?

[00:34:53] I am surprised that there's 7% undecided. That's fair. There's, I'm, as I've said to you before, I have didn't vote for Trump in 16 or 20. I'm not voting for the him around this time around, but I know who I'm

[00:35:07] voting for that I'm going to wait to say it until much later in the episode. I'm going to build out some excitement because for no one to care, but I'm surprised by the undecided 7% and RFK at 6%. I think they're significant.

[00:35:22] Let me re- I'm surprised by the 7% undecided because I'm legitimately surprised in a race between Biden and Trump who is undecided. Who's waiting for more information in the undecided race. Now I could see some of those going to RFK at 6%. I'm certainly not undecided.

[00:35:38] I'm just not telling, but there's a difference between being undecided. And so I would really love to find someone who is seriously, I don't know if I'm going to vote Biden or Trump. That's the person that should be our next show is to find, we

[00:35:51] should try to find 7% of the, we should try to find someone to represent someone who's undecided between Trump and Biden. Are you undecided between Trump and Biden? Kind of. Because I just truly, I truly struggle with this and we'll get into that

[00:36:06] maybe a little bit more of another day. But if you, if I had a ballot in front of me right now, I, it's, I don't know where I'd go. It just got interesting. I don't feel good about Biden or Trump, but I also don't love

[00:36:19] a non Biden or Trump vote. I guess I that's where I'm leaning is a non Biden, non Trump vote. Not that I'm going RFK. I would write in, I don't love a write-in. I'm really struggling with it. I'm really struggling with it.

[00:36:33] I will just say just to help you out a bit about my choice. I am not voting for Biden. I am not voting for Trump and I'm not voting for RFK. All right. I'm voting for it. Okay. Interesting. But you're apparently undecided. I don't come for me that 7%.

[00:36:48] We'll chat more about that on a future episode. I do want to chat through a few other things from this poll. One of these, I expected the enthusiastic numbers to be a little bit more similar between these two men and they are not.

[00:37:05] When we look at Biden, when people were, when folks were asked, how enthusiastic are you about your preferred presidential candidate this year? When it comes to Biden, only 31% were very excited. When it comes to Trump, 62% were very excited.

[00:37:21] Trump runs it out with 21%, somewhat excited, and Biden gets 36, somewhat excited. Excited. So Biden rounds out at 67%, somewhat and very excited. Where Trump's at 83%, somewhat and very excited. 28 people or 28% came in not very excited about voting for Biden. Sounds like they are still voting for Biden there.

[00:37:43] That's their preferred presidential candidate this year, but that is not shocking. I think the shocking thing is not that 28% of people are not very excited to vote for Biden. I thought that they would be a little bit more similar and Trump voters

[00:37:57] would have a little bit more trepidation with their vote, but 83% are rather excited, very excited for voting former President Trump. That is a nightmare for the Democrats. And even though I'm not a Trump person, I have not self-diagnosed

[00:38:17] myself, nor has anyone ever said that I've Trump's arrangement syndrome. Because I try to explain my biases and then sit back and still have conversations. I don't try to filter it out. The 31 to 62, the fact that Republicans are twice as excited, or let me rephrase that.

[00:38:32] The fact that Trump voters in this state are twice as excited to vote for Trump to me is second only to the significance of the closeness of the race is very telling to me because it's something that we have talked about a lot.

[00:38:46] I think, and please correct me if I'm wrong about this, the Republican intensity. And I think the environment we've talked about some of the environmental, the political environment that we're in. I think that what we saw when we had Kip and John on talking about kind

[00:38:58] of the lead up to the Trump event, talking about the significance of that event and that event was very unifying. And so I was surprised by that. And that intensity, I think is out there. You can feel that Republicans are excited and they're energized.

[00:39:12] And there's a lot of division inside. I think the Democrats, I think the war has really created some issues inside the Democratic party. What's going on in Israel and with their battle against Hamas, I think is significant.

[00:39:25] I think that the Democratic National Convention is going to be incredibly challenging for the Biden-Harris ticket. The fact that it's in Chicago harkens back to the 68 convention where there was a lot of, I did not attend that convention as much as people think I'm old.

[00:39:39] But it's going to be a very interesting race. And I was very surprised. And I think that bodes very well for Republicans. The enthusiasm. I absolutely agree that an enthusiasm gap of that significance helps determine those 28% of folks who are not very excited to vote for Biden.

[00:39:57] Maybe they forget to order their ballot. Maybe something comes up and their kid's sick on election day. Those 28% are folks that easily fall off actually showing up or casting a ballot for their person. And enthusiasm gaps can make or break a race here.

[00:40:14] And so I, yeah, that's very significant. And I'm sure you were right. The Democrats should be very concerned about that. Rattling through a few of these other ones, nothing too big of note. One thing I did want to talk about though is we see it asked at caucus,

[00:40:32] we've seen asked in polls, do you believe Joe Biden did or did not legitimately win the 2020 election? 69% of folks said, yes, this is largely on party lines here. 69% said yes. 25% said no. 6% are not sure. The only surprising thing that to me, aside from the party, the party

[00:40:50] votes is very telling, very obvious that it's going to be split more on party lines here, but 23% of independents say that they do not believe that Joe Biden legitimately won the election in that was a little surprising to me. Did that pique your interest at all?

[00:41:07] Do you believe Joe Biden did or did not legitimately win the 2020 election? The fact that yes was 69, I was surprised that it was that low. I would have thought the yes would have been a little bit higher. And the 23% of independents I think is also significant too.

[00:41:25] I think that there are still some legitimacy questions about that. There are some people out there who still have questions about the 2020 election. And it surprises me how that continues to fester. There are people out there who still believe we didn't land on the moon.

[00:41:40] And I just, I got to be honest, I don't know what to say to them. I just can't help. I just can't help them. I don't know what legitimate means because I know what it means to me. And maybe they have some complicated definition of what legitimate means.

[00:41:54] I don't know, but there, I think there are 23% of independents need help. And I think the 31% that don't believe he was legitimately elected, I think also need some help. But again, it's surprising. I'm just going to rattle off a few more numbers.

[00:42:10] You let me know if you want to dig deep. People were asked about the age of the two. 25% said Biden's too old. Only 2% think Trump is too old. 52% said both and 20% said neither are too old to serve a second term as president.

[00:42:25] They were asked about New York jury has convicted Donald Trump of falsifying business records to conceal a hush money payment. Do you think he received a fair and impartial trial against, but against party lines? 54 said yes. 44 said no.

[00:42:38] 7% of Republicans said yes, he did get a fair and impartial trial. So I guess that's the only real thing I plucked out of there. And then when asked, do you feel that someone who has been convicted of a felony should or should not be eligible for the presidency?

[00:42:53] 37 said should, 55 said should not and 8% are unsure. So majority of Minnesota voters do believe that if you've been convicted of a felony, that should not be eligible. But then again, when they're talking about Donald Trump, all bets are off. Yes.

[00:43:09] I would say to you the most surprising to me and this piggy backs on something that we talked about. Biden is 82 on inaugural day. Biden would be 82. Trump would be 78. I think the challenge, and we've talked about this before, that if

[00:43:23] this is an election where the age of the candidates becomes an issue. I do think that, and I will say this to you, there's it's, I don't think that there's much, I know from a math perspective that Biden is older.

[00:43:36] But again, I think that if it comes down to age and vigor, it's something that we've talked about before. Trump is just more energetic. He's much more animated. Now, is he prone to saying things that are bizarre? Sure.

[00:43:51] Is Biden somewhat, is his gate somewhat slowed and he comes across? Does he do things? I think both of them do. I think both Biden and Trump, both exhibits, both exhibit behavior that is indicative of their age.

[00:44:07] But I do think in a one-on-one contest in terms of where the candidates are at, I do think that Trump shows much more vigor and he's much more animated and active. We can disagree on what he's saying, but it's one of the things we talked

[00:44:21] about with the state of the union is that Biden came out swinging. And so I'd be very curious in the debate when both of them are on the stage and you're looking at that because again, they're not always together.

[00:44:33] And so when they're on the same stage, how does Biden keep up with, I think a very energized and aggressive Donald Trump, because on the age issue, something that we've discussed, I think, I think we were both of

[00:44:46] the opinion, correct if I'm wrong, that Trump was showing just a little bit more vigor. Is that fair to say? Absolutely. Okay. Completely agree. We've just a little over two weeks away from that first debate, so we'll be chatting about that more soon.

[00:45:02] Becky, this was an action packed episode. Thank you for making time and for doing this week. Happy to. It was a good conversation. Thanks for lining up, Frazier. And we will see how it all goes. We'll be back next week. Thanks, Becky. Bye.

[00:45:19] We want to thank you for listening to the breakdown with Broadcorps with Becky. And before we go show some love for your favorite podcast by leaving us a real and Apple podcasts, Spotify, or on the platform where you listen.

[00:45:29] You can leave a review or give us a shout out on our website or across all social media platforms at BB Breakpod. The breakdown with Broadcorps Becky will return next week. Thank you again for listening.