Discussion on this day two of hello and welcome. Thank you for joining us on day two of the 2020 national convention. You can find this event and the latest Convention News on our ehill. Com. Hub at th the presidency is not the only race up for grabs. Today, we look for the battle for control of congress. We have terrific guests joining us, but before we dive in i would like to thank the American Petroleum for their support of the event. The races have also been affected by the pandemic. What that could mean for republicans as they seek to control retain control of the senate and take back the house. Before we get underway, you can tweet us at the hill events thehill2020. Now, to kick things off, i am floriday a former congressman. Is a principal of communications and has been retained as an advisor by the miami mayor. A partner at rock strategy was the first person to serve in both the house and senate. In joining us is janel king, a rising star in the Republican Party and is currently cofounder of georgia speaks, approachative meant to do a kitchen type style. I was interested in the news last week that roughly two dozen haver republican members signed on the biden campaigned. They have endorsed joe biden. In 2016, you voted for a third party. Are you going to support joe biden in 2020 or President Trump or a third party . Good morning and many thanks to the hill. I decided that my best contribution to democracy these days argie to speak the objective truth, either through my work as an analyst and. Ontributor i think there is a major truth crisis in this country where there is a tribal is asian crisis in our country. Country. Zation crisisibali in our country. I am not going to be campaigning for either candidate. I will not be endorsing either candidate and i will not be discussing what i do with my boat. How do you think last night went . And say it went dark republicans coming into the convention said if trump is going to win, he has to make this choice, not a referendum. What was your analysis . There was a just a position between the people. The person of color i was happy to see the diversity that republicans put on stage. The messaging was fairly dark. There was fear, demonizing of the other side. I am a fan of campaigns and andidates who propose ideas try to inspire people with a new solution to challenges that we face. There are plenty of those today. I give them high marks for the and iy and diversity think the message left a lot of people wishing for more what our President Trumps plans for the next four years we already know the publican the Republican Party decided not to release a platform. That was disconcerting. Parties about 1 of the cult of this analogy tend not to do well person or of one about the cult of personality tend not to go well. Of diversity a lot in the Republican Party. There is not a lot of diversity for representation on capitol hill on the republican side. To be fair, there was a lot of fear on the democratic side. Analysis of what has been going on so far in with a need to do . That is a great point there there was fear on both sides. That is because we are living in scary times. What happened on the republican side is they showed you the reality of things and optimism. They discussed many issues that i feel would be awesome when it comes to building momentum. The music. Face we have a pandemic. We have riots busting out everywhere. We have Police Officers afraid to do their jobs. Message onsending a the sanity of america, i think with the Republican Party did show the diversity of america and showed there are people and real people dealing with real crises. There are a lot of people who have hope and faith in america. I thought it was great. The imagery was awesome, and i loved seeing so much diversity. I think they did a great job. Let me go to you as far as the political wind. You have seen the wind at the sback eared republicans feel good about retaining the house and winning back the senate. You and i both know that 70 days is an eternity in politics what does the Republican Party need todo as some republicans say turn joe biden into a Michael Dukakis who was also up in the polls . It is exciting to be here. Last night was very effective. Had much more Compelling Television that i think the first night of the democratic convention. That shows in some of the ratings we have seen. Republicans too important for publicans to continue to contrast joe biden. He has been around for decades and the fact of the matter is, the republicans were elected into office because joe biden and president obama set up the condition for that Sweeping Change in 2016. Continue toneed to decadesn to the failed that he was in office. I think it is going to boil down to october. The last two weeks of october will matter what the conditions are in with the state of our condition is in. Throughout this whole time, we have seen the trump base at 42 to 44 Approval Ratings for the president. They havent moved. , there needs that to be more for President Trump to bring it across the finish line. Biden that is joe part of the failed, tired, policies that have not solved the problems countries will go a long way. Do you focus on to go beyond the base . In 2016, there was dissension in the Republican Party. Remember ted cruz famously said vote your conscience, which was most shocking things ive seen at a convention. President trump has built his base and is now the Republican Party. We are not seeing a lot of conflict. Theyissues or things do need to talk about . Is it health care . Covid has to get better, but what would you stretch stress . Ron i would stress the economy. What he will do for the next four years to sell the economy, to improve the health care system. Obviously to tackle covid19. They are doing things in real time, like announcing the plasma strategy. They need to be proactive, more on talking about what they are going to do. That would be very different from joe biden and what he was saying. They were running on a message that joe biden is a good guy and a moral guy and someone caring and compassionate. They did not talk about policies. Republicans can talk about in detail with what they are going to do with the economy and with health care, that will go a long way. The bottom line is showing President Trump is a strong leader. I think it matters that he is out there and going to north and now and traveling we are seeing him doing airport hangar rallies, so to speak. That is very different from joe biden sitting at home in delaware. Counts despitel our zoom video calls, which i am proud to be part of today. But when you see President Trump going in front of smaller crowds even in showing he is there will make a big difference. Bob as far as the lead joe biden has come as an analyst, where do you think the weakness is for joe biden and the Democratic Party question mark didnt hear a lot about law and order last week or the violent protests. We have seen that. Do democrats need to talk more about that, about getting certain cities under control, or is there another weakness . Ron the greatest risk for joe biden is get associated with the more radical elements in the Democratic Party, be that bernie republicans have pass this week the idea that democrats want to defund the police and support rioting or looting. That is the fear for joe biden. Rep. Curbello what the president and his team are trying to do is what they did to Hillary Clinton. It was easy to demonize Hillary Clinton, because she was a controversial figure, and still is today. She and her husband have been surrounded by scandal their entire careers, so it was easy to do that. For Hillary Clinton, it was difficult to build a coalition to win over the middle and build two build into the middle and win over the skeptical voters. Thebiden, it appears what risks and weaknesses are is why there was so much effort to unify the country last week. Wentiden reached out and out of his way to say that if the people didnt vote for him, there president. Vote for him, he would still be there president. Eir president. They have to be explicit and clear about what policies they support and in some cases what organizations they identify with and some they dont. The white suburban voters are likely to play a role in this election again. The president is trying to make up for some of those losses that we saw in 2018 in districts throughout the country, by insolidating some support hispanic and african americans. At the end of the day, team trump will need to regain the trust of the white suburban andrs if they will succeed some of the states that propel them to victory. They appeared to be with the , andharris ticket today the team has to be wary of the fact that the president is coming after those voters and ,he tool they are using is fear trying to tied joe biden to some of the more radical elements of the Democratic Party. Harder to do than it was against Hillary Clinton. Bob i want to talk about georgia. Two big senate races. The polls in the president ial tightre tight race are like 2016. What is the mood in the state and are you confident republicans can hold both seats . If they lose one seat it may flip. Janelle the mood in the state is just trying to figure out what is happening with the pandemic. You always have to keep that in the forefront. I will say that i dont see us losing republicans losing the state of georgia by any means. The message i heard last night and the message coming out of the administration is a message ral georgiaked to ru as well as atlanta. It has to be more than we want to be president. The democrats are not giving the residents here that there are platforms to make their lives better. I think that is what the administration is doing. Senator leffler is doing a tremendous job with rallying the troops. Tour and is going on another tour that will move her around the state. I know senator scott be in georgia this coming friday. Opponents and her as of senator purdue, he is facing a challenger who through 30 million in the race when he ran against karen handel in the sixth district and still lost. He is the stronger candidate. He has a bigger platform. Senator purdue is a proven later leader. I think that people are seeing that. I feel confident that georgia will be fine. Georgia is definitely the state to watch. It is an exciting time to be in politics. , theron, is a florida congressmans home state, a must win for trump in november . Ron absolutely. President trump when it last time and it is a key state for him to get to reelection. I think it is entirely possible and i think he is going to absolutely when the state of florida, no doubt about it. Bob congressman, do you believe that . Janelle rep. Curbello the polls give joe biden a slight advantage. It is a crucial time. Two key blocks in the state of florida will move it one way or the other can the president get an enthusiastic turnout from south florida, hispanic ,mericans, many who support him especially his Foreign Policy toward latin america, and can he when back some of those white suburban voters, which, of course, he did very well with in 2016. There was some erosion therefore republicans in 2018. If he can get hispanics in south florida turnout two turnout lly for him, i think he can definitely carry the state. I also think the bidenharris ticket will compete here. It is probably going to be a close election in florida the way it usually is, and could be a decisive state the way it was in 2016. Bob it is a key state more for trump than others. I want to thank you. You work all great. Thank you for joining us. Quickow it is time for a message from American Petroleum institute. Americas recovery will take energy. We cant depend on energy from unstable foreign government. Americanfe, secure, natural gas and oil. The our next president is est is reid gue wilson. We will go to you. I think your phone is muted. Sorry about that, bob. Bob sometimes i would like to have that button. Thank you. Austin chambers, the president of the state republican committee. Thank you for joining us. We Pay Attention to senate and house races. Thats talk about the state legislative races. Why should people be paying attention . Thank you for having us. Right now, everything is on the line in 2020, from the president ial race down to the statehouse. There are 14 states across the country that are critical for us, where if we dont win the statehouse racist, we are going to be locked out of power for at least the next decade. No one in washington draws their own map. What we have to make sure of is that we win the state legislative races so republicans have a chance to control congress for the next decade and pelosi tollow nancy shrink it downwards. The 2010, the last time redistricting was at stake for republicans, you do maps to ensure a Republican Congress for eight solid years. What is the difference between being a minority being in new jersey . When you look at the target states across the country, it is could swing Seats Congress by as much as 136 seats. That is the best Case Scenario 42136. Republican map, in some state you have a oneseat margin and in some you have a threeseat arjun. In North Carolina threeseat margins. It all comes down to can republicans hold onto these chambers and make sure there is fair and accurate redistricting . If we get that, we have a shot of having power in washington for the next decade. If not, we will be locked out of state policy power and locked out of washington. You mentioned North Carolina what other states do we need to Pay Attention to . Georgia, new york, florida, minnesota, wisconsin, iowa, arizona. That is our focus right now. If republicans can win in those, not only is it important politically important, but we will be in great shape for redistricting. A lot of the state you mentioned are the critical battleground states for the president ial contest, for the senate races how does that impact the state legislative races, where Strong Campaign might bring 100,000. How do you compete and make a difference when you are the 17th or 18th race on the ballot . The National Election certainly impacts this. There are 115 districts across our target states that donald trump one in 2016 that he will likely win in 2020. We need him to be successful in those so we can win those districts. There are some places where we will have to win where the president might not do so well in. Having the president on the ballot is a great benefit in those target districts, where we need to hold legislative majorities. To comethat enthusiasm out and vote for the president and go all the weight down the ballot for congress, u. S. Senate, and state and local elections. You mentioned President Trump and the efforts. Does it worry you that he is trailing joe biden by 10 or more in some critical battleground states . We dont Pay Attention to the public polls on election day. In 2016, he had a 96 chance of losing and he won and one bigger than most people expected. I think we will have that again in 2020. We are focused on target districts across the country, and the president is doing at her and those that he is doing in the Media National polls. I believe he will be successful and republicans up and down the ticket will be successful. We saw last night the very best of they were bob good party. We will continue to see that over the next three days. As thell benefit contrast plays out between those who love this country and want to make it better, and the other party that is focused on just defeating one president and has a disdain for this country that people just dont have. We talked to your counterpart at the Democratic National committee, she talked about districts that cost republican the house of representatives two years ago. What are some of the districts youre targeting in those critical battleground states . It very much is the same suburban districts will make or break the majority across the country. When you look at iowa, pennsylvania, critical places we need to hold, there are great pickup opportunities in the rural areas. The National Party has completely drifted away from average americans, middle america, and have become an innercity, urban party. There is a lot of opportunity to win in the suburbs, but to flip ruralle street the states. How is the coronavirus pandemic changing the way your campaign is operating . In the legislative races where a few thousand votes could make a difference, that is where people have the in person meetings. You cant do that. How are they campaigning . We have candidates who have ,one a great job adapting whether it is doing zoom town halls or telephone town halls or hosting virtual meet ups. Those are the things we were doing over the last several months, but we have candidates who are adapting to safely getting back out and knocking on doors and safely Holding Small functions to make sure proper protocols are in place. We know we cant run campaigns from basement and stay separated forever. It is important that we get back out and start engaging with people one on one. A lot of the legislative geordie majority races will be decided by a couple of votes. In some of those places, a couple thousand votes will determine if we have a majority or minority. Door to door and facetoface contact will be a huge advantage for republicans who arent just going to hide out and do everythingproperly continue talo people. States,ave talked about the Republican State Leadership Committee and other groups spent money in a primary and alaska trying to win back the statehouse. How important is it republicans have majorities in even deeper red states, like alaska . Our number one goal is to help republicans win in down ballot races. Alaska is a great opportunity to get a governing republican majority. Elections,general that we have to be engaged in. We have a great chance of electing a republican speaker of the house in alaska, a chamber we would pick up. In a year, it would be a tough one for republicans given how much we have to defend. Any chamber is important. We need good, conservative policy anywhere we can get it. The democrats have become cocky. They are way ahead of their skis. Theyre getting comfortable with the lead they think they had across the country. Realityds do not match of the cockiness. Last one for you. We have seen your side and the democratic side. Are donors tuning into down ballot races in away way they have not before . They have. We have broken records every quarter. We outraised our democrat counterpart 21. It is important to continue to do that. They have special Interest Groups and big donors who will write to milliondollar checks at the drop of a hat and dump them into these down ballot races. You have obama and eric holder focused on it. It is important republicans focus on it. We are pleased we have have Great Success on the fundraising side and i believe we will have Great Success at the ballot box in november as well. Thank you for joining us. Thanks. Our final guest of the morning is a chairman of the national Republican Congressional committee. Welcome, congressman. [indiscernible] i want to get your reaction to last night. Day one of the convention, some say, was dark. Others counter, wait a minute, we have to make this a choice, not a referendum. What was your reaction . I thought it was fantastic. Nikki haley was amazing. Donald trump, jr. Did a fantastic job. Tim scott, he was something special. The only people saying it was dark are the people who oppose and do not like this president and quite frankly, do not support where we are going. Associated press article this morning that we spent the night misrepresenting joe bidens positions. Again, i thought it was very positive. President isle the introducing he and his administration kept safe from bad places, people who escaped socialism in cuba. I thought it was uplifting. The story of the year is covid19. Shows the approval level of President Trumps handling of the pandemic is 31 , which is quite low. Do you think the president has done a good job on covid19 and wire those numbers solo why are those numbers so low . As a country, we have done unprecedented things. I am impressed by the administration, leaning in, making sure, when there was a shortage of ventilators, they made sure no one was denied any of that. The administration trying to build up national stockpile, which they inherited in a depleted state, everybody, whether the federal government or the congressional members of congress, at least through april may, i think everybody has really pulled together when it came to response to covid. We are going to disagree on some details. Overall, i think we are moving in the right direction. Hopefully, these therapies and possibly vaccine we will see in the nottoodistant future, which will mean a lot. In december, you said democrats were going to lose their majority. In january, you said this would be the first time in a cycle since 1952 the house would flip. Are you sticking by that . Independent handicappers say there is a low chance of that. Failed tose democrats keep promises to voters and that is why theyre going to lose. They were out running as moderate republicans. They have done none of the things they promised. This time, rather than run on a resume, a biography, they have to run on the record. That record is not good. They will lose their majority. Example, in californias 25th district, suburbs of l. A. , perfect example, experts said that would not flip. That would stay democrat. Boy, a seat Hillary Clinton one by seven points in 2016. The disgraced democrat that had to resign had won by nine points. We had a first generation hispanic american, mike garcia who won it by 10 points in may. That seat is a bellwether for what you will see in the fall, since we have now 43 democrats sitting in seats positioned better for republican candidates than that one in california, 25. We only need 17 to flip the house. Controversialwo republican nominees who support queue and on qanon. Marjorie greene and laura lynn. Have you talked to either of them . I have. And, do you support their candidacy . Actually, the voters are the ones that support them. They won their respective primaries. Obviously, the people in those districts support those candidates. Will the nrc get involved in those districts . One of them is r 26. The conversations we had basically our congratulations. Let us know how we can be of assistance. Right now, both candidates youre talking about by the districtsof the 435 in the u. S. House, we are contesting almost 425 of them. We have a Record Number of women running for the house as republicans. These are great women. Women like the former mayor of irving, texas. Nancy mason of south carolina, the first to attend and graduate from the citadel. Amazing stories across the country. A Record Number of minority candidates running as republicans on the general 4. Lot, like owens from utah burgess owens, polly right after the primaries showed he is already the favored candidate in that district. We have a great slate of candidates across the country. House democrats failed to keep promises they made to voters in the fall of 2018. They will lose their majority. Housefar as money, democrats are in the majority. That is normal. Are you urging the rnc to help House Republicans by giving to the nrcc and other candidates . We have done very well. We are not going to have their money. We will have enough money. Our digital operation is breaking records. Our first milliondollar day at the nrcc the last day of june. Our second milliondollar day in history the last day of july. Our Digital Program now funds everything at the nrcc, so all the money outside of that goes to races to make sure we can get across the finish line and win back a majority. They will have more money. I anticipate we will have enough money to do what we need to do. When it comes to the rnc, it is the trump campaign, the rnc, the nrscee in the nrc see and the nrcc. I expect the alignment to continue in the fall when we reelect donald j. Trump for four more years, we will hold our majority in the u. S. Senate and we will flip the house for the first time in a two year president ial cycle since 1952. President trump is concerned about mailin ballots. Senator tim scott said this morning, the mailin ballots are going to be just fine and kind of downplayed the issue. Where do you fall . When you look at the results we have so far, you need to be careful about vote by mail. Cannot have elections taking over a month to decide like we saw in the primary in new york. We cannot have dead people voting as we have seen in some of these other vote by mail primaries. Orderedersey, a judge an entire new election because of a fraud issue. President trump and republicans are highlighting the irregularities vote by mail can present. There is nothing more important to our democracy than our electoral process. Republicans are going to make sure we get this thing right. I agree with tim scott. I also agree we need to be very vigilant and make sure we dont have these irregularities. The battleground for the was ins it was in 2018, large part suburban women. Right now, the president s numbers with suburban women are not good. Suburban women helped nancy pelosi become speaker again. How are you going to turn numbers around in the next 70 days to win back control of the Lower Chamber . The numbers you are looking at are most likely from the same people predicting Hillary Clinton in a landslide 4 years ago. When you have two thirds of americans who do not want to tell you where they are at politically, i dont know how you can rely on this. Minnesota, there were three polls in the last month showing the president ial race within a margin of error. The last one showed a tie. If that was a case, it would suggest the president is running five points ahead. Really, it comes down to this. Who is best prepared to rebuild the American Economy . Donald j. Trump and the republicans. Who is going to keep you safe . Who is going to end this anarchy, the rioting in the streets, the destruction and violence we have seen . Again, i believe the choice is easy. The Republican Party has struggled to come up with a comprehensive health care plan. That is a key issue now in the era of covid. The president has been saying recent weeks the party is going to have a health care plan. It was going to happen a couple weeks ago, then, the end of this month. Are we going to see, the first time in many years, one big plan from republicans on health care, which democrats to enjoy the polling advantages on health care . They enjoy the what . Polling advantages. They have done well. Taxes and the economy, republicans do well. Health care is a democratic stronghold. House democrats, perfect example. They promised they would do something. They have done nothing. The only solution they have and they cannot seem to acknowledge whether they are for it completely or against it, is the government takeover of our health care system. Socialized medicine is their answer. If you talk to bernie sanders, to others on the other side, aside from that, they have offered nothing in the last two years, which again is why they will lose majority in the house. They made these promises, they failed to keep them, they now have a voting record and it is not good. Will we see more specifics from your party on health care . Listen. This is going to be a choice when we get to november. Republicans have always, i disagree with your premise, put out a choice when it comes to health care. What we want to do is empower the states, once again, to create the offerings, the rules that are most appropriate to their citizens. Look. We were doing a great job in minnesota before obamacare was passed. 96 of citizens have access to health insurance. Those that did not was mostly because they chose not to access it. We had a program to protect people with preexisting conditions. Republicans have been for this from day one. Handsput the power in the of the citizen of the American People to make the decisions they believe the best for their health care. We can do that. We have done it before. The previous president said if you like your doctor, you can keep them. That was in fact, not true. Congressman, thank you for joining us. Thank you. That brings us to the end of our program. People shy away from both predictions. He is again saying, the house is going to flip. That is newsworthy. Thank you to the American Petroleum institute for their support and all of you in the audience for joining us on our First Program of the convention. We will be back at 1 00 for a deep dive on affordable housing. Join us then and for any of you who missed the conversations earlier, you will find clips on the Convention Hub shortly. Cusack, signing off. Cspans live coverage of the rnc continues tonight, 8 30 p. M. Eastern with melania trump, mike pompeo and rand paul. Watch live on cspan, Live Streaming and ondemand at www. Cspan. Org rnc or listen. Ith the cspan radio app 6 00 for speeches from melania trump, Jesse Jackson and mary fisher. Cspan, your unfiltered view of politics. Tonight, on the second day of the rnc convention, the focus will be on affordable housing. There will be a discussion on the topic this afternoon, previewing live speeches. Live coverage of 1 00. You can watch online at www. Cspan. Org or listen live on the free cspan radio app. President trump was nominated for a second term last night during the first day of the