A Conservative Resurgence in California?

**SPEAKER_2** (0:10)
Live from the Liberty University Studio in Memphis, Tennessee, it's Common Sense Conservative Commentary from Todd Starnes.

**Todd Starnes** (0:27)
Well, hello everybody, welcome to the Todd Starnes Radio Show. Great to have you with us today. And man, do we have a busy, busy show for you and a lot of ground to cover. We had some pretty major elections last night, a half a dozen primaries across the nation, including in places like Iowa. We're gonna be checking in with Jeff Stein in just a little while. Also, New Jersey, where there is some crazy stuff happening there.
A witness for the defense in the 9-11 attacks actually won the Democrat nomination to be a member of Congress. So we'll get into that story a little bit later on today as well. Also, some really interesting races coming out of the Midwest in South Dakota, where a sitting congressman and a very popular congressman went down in defeat in a big race there because he was not a Trump supporter. And I think one of the lessons we're learning here in all of these races is that Donald Trump's endorsement is the gold standard. And then there's California. And I have to tell you, I am very encouraged by what I have seen over the past, well, almost 24 hours now. Let me say that we will not know the final results for days. And that's because California, well, we'll get into that with Josh Jones in just a moment, but that's because California has one of the most antiquated election systems. And by the way, it's not all that old. I mean, they've only been doing the mail-in ballots like this for about six years or so.
But I want to go right away to the Patriot Mobile Newsmaker Line and bring in our good friend. He is our chief Republican political strategist here on the Todd Starnes radio show, Josh Jones. Josh, what a wild night in politics.

**Josh Jones** (2:21)
Yeah, it was an interesting one. To your point, I mean, we had obviously the elections in California that are still, the ballots are still being counted because as you know, California has the worst system in the country arguably.
But to your point, we saw some big upsets in the Midwest, in South Dakota, and then also in Iowa last night. And then to your point, we saw what, we all know the Democratic Party is becoming, but what the Democratic Party future looks like in New Jersey by them electing a radical left is progressive. That's now going to be a member of Congress because that's a safe blue sea. So, unless something extreme happens, he'll be in Congress next year.

**Todd Starnes** (2:59)
I want to go through the numbers. And again, these are all changing. One of the things that I think really worried a lot of Republicans who went to bed late last night, I called it a night around midnight, and Steve Hilton was doing quite well. The problem though is they have all of these ballots that come in late, and they always seem to favor the Democrats. So while Steve Hilton may be, and the latest numbers I'm looking at here, Hilton is leading the field with what? 28% of the vote, Javier Becerra at 25% and Tom Steyer at 20%, then Chad Bianco down there at 11%.
What do you make of these numbers as they now stand?

**Josh Jones** (3:40)
I mean, as they stand as of right now, look, we still have about half the ballots still out there that haven't been counted. As they stand as of right now, it looks like Steve Hilton is going to advance to this November election and face one of the two Democrats here. So, so far so good and also just looking at the raw vote numbers, even going to LA where Spencer Pratt looks like he's going to advance to the November election.
Look, there's Republican enthusiasm in California and across the country as well. But particularly in California, I think that's emblematic of some of these deep blue states that people are just fed up with Democratic one-party control and are looking for alternatives. Now, look, these are votes to count, don't want to put eggs in one basket. So, we'll see how things shake out. But if I'm Steve Hill. And I'm Phil, I'm pretty good right now.

**Todd Starnes** (4:27)
You know, I want to go back to Spencer Pratt because again, I mean, as it now stands, you could have Spencer Pratt in the general election going up against Karen Bass. But the reality is, I mean, we've only got what, 50% of the ballots counted. I mean, it could be that the Republicans are wiped out.