Republican Midterm Convention co-Chair Ray Washburne Talks Midterms

SPEAKER_1 (0:02)

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Kailey Leinz (0:07)

We're going to speak with the co-chair of this convention in just a moment. But first, I want to bring in my colleague, Julie Fine, who of course is our Texas Bureau Chief. She's always based here in Dallas, and has been in charge of running things for us here at Bloomberg in the run up to this event. So Julie, obviously, this is a big deal that this is happening, that it's happening here. Walk us through just quickly what we can expect to see over the course of the next two days.

Julie Fine (0:31)

Well, you can expect to see programming from four until ten each night. Republicans have many members of their leadership. They are really trying to hammer the message home that things are in good shape, and they want to talk a little bit about what they are hoping to do in the next two years. It's a big night. You're going to see a big two nights. You're going to see a lot of President Trump. He will be speaking both evenings. And again, Republicans are really trying to energize their base here in Texas.

Kailey Leinz (0:58)

Indeed, they are, and they're trying to raise some money while they do so. Julie's going to be sticking with me, because on the money side of the equation and a number of other subjects, we turn now to Ray Washburne, who is here with us in our Dallas studio. He's co-chair of the RNC Midterm Convention. He also is on top of the board at Seneca and is co-founder of the M Crowd Restaurant Group, which owns 46 restaurants as well. So there's a lot to discuss with Ray. Thank you for being here on Bloomberg TV and radio. Appreciate you joining us. You had to raise, what, $45 million to put this convention on in a very short amount of time. How much more money are you expecting can be raised for Republicans over the next couple of days?

Ray Washburne (1:37)

Well, I'm chairman of the host committee here, so raising money for candidates is not in my wheelhouse, but there's a lot of networking going on. There are major donors from all over the country here, candidates from all over, so I'm sure there's gonna be a lot of handshaking in the next couple of days.

Julie Fine (1:51)

Well, one thing that there will be a lot of handshaking with Republicans over is the Senate race here in Texas. It is a critical race, it is a dead heat right now. What does Attorney General Ken Paxson have to say to voters to get them in the box for him?

Ray Washburne (2:06)

Well, it's interesting. Ken Paxson won by 28 points in the primary, and so the summer's been kind of quiet in Texas and Taller Rico started his ag campaign in August. And Labor Day is kind of the kickoff time, not only for the football season, but also for the political season. And so Trump dropped about $10 million into his campaign last week. Elon Musk has committed millions of dollars to the campaign as well. And so you're going to start seeing wall to wall ads from Ken Paxson from now through the end of to the election day.

Kailey Leinz (2:33)

Well, of course, MAGA Inc. has committed $10 million to Ken Paxson. I wonder if you expect that the ultimate price tag, at least the checks that are being written, need to be a lot greater than that, considering the fundraising prowess that James Taller Rico has proven he has.

Ray Washburne (2:46)

Yeah, we've had it so far. I don't know how much more the Democrats want to put in because much like Beto or Wendy Davis or others, they've always gone down a rabbit hole every time on this candidate.

Julie Fine (2:57)

Do you think it's money wasted?

Ray Washburne (2:59)

I do. Republicans, we haven't lost a race in the states since 1994, and so a statewide race. But Ken Paxson, the MAGA, is going to come in with more money, in addition to that $10 million, and we're going to now start seeing Taller Rico being framed up for the type candidate that he is.

Julie Fine (3:16)

Ray, you were co-chair in 2016 of Victory Fund. So you obviously know how important the state of Texas is to keeping both the House and the Senate. The Rio Grande Valley, that has redistricted. You have the candidates running for that, speaking at this convention. But are you confident that Republicans did the right thing by redistricting?

Ray Washburne (3:36)

By redistricting the state? Yes, yeah, absolutely. You know, the Valley voted for Trump last time. The first time we started the win away from the Democrats down there. So redistricting was the right thing to do there.