Show Notes
David Urban and Matt Whitaker discuss the current situation in Pennsylvania politics, including the Senate and Governors race.David Urban serves as the President of the American Continental Group (ACG), a consulting firm based in Washington, DC. Mr. Urban is also a political commentator on CNN and is a member of the Trump 2020 Advisory Committee.
Mr. Urban has been referred to by The New York Times as a “Prominent Republican/GOP lobbyist,” a “Mover and Shaker” by Campaigns and Elections Magazine, and a “Top Influencer” by Politics Magazine. Corporate Board Member Magazine has named Mr. Urban one of “Washington’s Top 10 Lobbyists”. Roll Call identified “Urban [as] a member of Washington’s community of influential Republican moderates and pragmatists,” and The Hill has named Mr. Urban as a “Top Lobbyist” who has “mastered the art of working Capitol Hill’s hallways.” In a profile of Mr. Urban, Philadelphia Magazine said that “when [Urban] talks, Members of Congress listen.” When the Trump Administration was sworn in, Politico named Mr. Urban as one of the 30 most powerful people in “Trump’s Washington.”
Mr. Urban joined the Trump campaign in its early days working as an advisor in the Pennsylvania and Indiana primaries. After helping secure primary victories in those states, Mr. Urban moved to the Republican Convention in Cleveland where he served as the campaign’s senior political liaison at the convention. After the convention, Mr. Urban was named as a Senior Advisor on the campaign, leading the Trump campaign to a historic victory in Pennsylvania.
Mr. Urban began his career in Washington as the Chief of Staff for legendary United States Senator Arlen Specter (R-PA). Serving for five years, Mr. Urban was the Senator’s senior advisor on all legislative, political, media, and administrative matters in Pennsylvania and Washington. Mr. Urban was Senator Specter’s direct representative to the Senator’s 12 million Pennsylvania constituents as well as other Members of Congress, senior executive branch officials, ambassadors, and other officials of foreign governments.
Prior to his time in Washington, Mr. Urban was an attorney in private practice in Philadelphia. Mr. Urban’s diverse experiences in the law range from litigation involving director and officer corporate liability matters to structuring complex public bond financings for large health care systems. An active member of the Pennsylvania Bar, Mr. Urban is admitted to practice before the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit and the United States Supreme Court.
After graduating from West Point, Mr. Urban began his career as an artillery officer in the United States Army’s storied 101st Airborne Division. Illustrative of his distinguished record of consistently high performance during his time in uniform, Mr. Urban was awarded the Bronze Star Medal for meritorious achievement while engaged in combat operations against Iraq during Operation Desert Storm.
Mr. Urban earned a Bachelor of Science degree from the United States Military Academy at West Point, a Juris Doctor degree from the Temple University School of Law, and a Master of Government Administration degree from the University of Pennsylvania.
In May 2018, Mr. Urban was appointed by the President to be the Chairman of the American Battle Monuments Commission. In July 2019, Mr. Urban was appointed by the President to the Board of Visitors for the United States Military Academy at West Point.
Matthew G. Whitaker was acting Attorney General of the United States (2018-2019). Prior to becoming acting Attorney General, Mr. Whitaker served as Chief of Staff to the Attorney General. He was appointed as the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Iowa by President George W. Bush, serving from 2004-2009. Whitaker was the managing partner of Des Moines based law firm, Whitaker Hagenow & Gustoff LLP from 2009 until rejoining DOJ in 2017. He was also the Executive Director for FACT, The Foundation for Accountability & Civic Trust, an ethics and accountability watchdog, between 2014 and 2017. Mr. Whitaker is Author of the book--Above the Law, The Inside Story of How the Justice Department Tried to Subvert President Trump.
Mr. Whitaker graduated with a Master of Business Administration, Juris Doctor, and Bachelor of Arts from the University of Iowa. While at Iowa, Mr. Whitaker was a three-year letterman on the football team where he received the prestigious Big Ten Medal of Honor.
Mr. Whitaker is now a Co-Chair of the Center for Law and Justice at America First Policy Institute and a Senior Fellow at the American Conservative Union Foundation. Matt is on the Board of Directors for America First Legal Foundation and is a Senior Advisor to IronGate Capital Advisors. He is also Of Counsel with the Graves Garrett law firm. Whitaker appears regularly to discuss legal and political issues on Fox News, Newsmax and other news outlets. He splits his time between Iowa, Florida and Washington, D.C.
Eposode Transcript
Matt Whitaker [00:00:00] Well, we're joined today on Liberty and Justice and CPAC now with the famous David Urban. I'm so glad that you're with us. How are you doing?David Urban [00:00:09] I'm great, Matt. Thanks for having me.
Matt Whitaker [00:00:11] Thanks.
David Urban [00:00:11] I think a lot of people are going to be with you.
Matt Whitaker [00:00:13] Yeah, I think a lot of people recognize you from CNN.
David Urban [00:00:18] No, no, nobody recognizes me None of your listeners or viewers recognize what segment of your viewers are listeners watching it. But I am. I am the only one of the and the only pro-Trump kind of conservative on CNN. Fighting the good fight every day. You know you were there at one point in time, but it is not an easy task.
Matt Whitaker [00:00:39] Yeah, I was there for four courageous months before I joined the administration. And oftentimes, you know, I was back in the big panel days where it seemed like there was a never ending. You know, if if six was good, it was better and 10 and then they get people remote and and it was it was crazy, but I wasn't.
David Urban [00:01:01] I will say this, you know, I get a lot of time. They give me that, give me time. And they, you know, I appreciate the platform and I think it's good, good on them for at least letting me on the air. And I applaud that, right? So I take the work under myself to do it. And but I applaud them for allowing me on and and for and for hearing me out and giving me giving me airtime and allow me to get another perspective up on that. Up on that screen that might not be there.
Matt Whitaker [00:01:28] Yeah. Well, I if if I ever watch CNN, I don't very often. But when I see you on there, I am always heartened to know that at least somebody of sound mind is arguing for, you know, the truth and all that. But the reason that I have you on today is to talk about Pennsylvania. We have two enormous elections, one for governor and one for the Senate. And I know, you know, you're a native Pennsylvanian. You know that state like the back of your hand. So I'll let you kind of guide the discussion. But if you want to maybe start with the Senate or even start with the governor first,
David Urban [00:02:06] well, we could we could start out. I mean, just give you a kind of an overview of redistricting in Pennsylvania, right? So Pennsylvania's a big state. 13 million people, you know, have a we have we're going to end up losing a kind of a Republican leaning seat here in the redistricting there. They're going to be now six Democratic leaning seats, eight Republican leaning seats and three kind of tossup seats in Pennsylvania. And the new map, we're going to lose one Republican leaning seat, which is which is bad. But during this this year, if there has to be any year for it to occur, I would like that in this year because, you know, the generic ballot Democrats are doing so terribly that, you know, if we can win those seats this year, if we can win all of those Republican leaning seats, I'm confident that, you know, we will, we will. We'll keep them forever. You know, so we could end up with, you know, those there's eight Republicans, plus the three Democratic leaning seats would be would be good. So, you know, so how does that that's that's a good thing that the Senate and House races are going to be tough. The Senate race, particularly, is the one that's, you know, probably getting all the all the smoke and light right now. There's also a governor's race, but let's talk about the, well, talk about the governor's race first. You know, the governor's race, the Democratic side is kind of settled. There's a attorney general. Josh Shapiro is a Democrat. He's been in politics his whole life. He's built up a sizable war chest, lots of lots of support. Lots of people try to pay himself as kind of a moderate, pragmatic Democrat. But you know, is it's none of those things, and he's going to have a very strong war chest and a lot of support. The Republican side is incredibly fragmented field of some 13 14. I'm not quite sure if anybody gained or dropped today of of of candidates, there's literally 13 or 14 candidates could be 13, could be 12. By the time this airs, maybe 50, maybe somebody joined right at this point in time,
Matt Whitaker [00:04:13] When is the filing deadline, I might get in.
David Urban [00:04:14] Well, exactly. So the filing deadlines coming up and people have to get on the ballot. They have to get, you know, signatures, 100 signatures in 10 counties. So some of them are going to make it, you know, so so you're going to have a pretty fragmented governor's race, which doesn't necessarily, you know, some in some instances as ensures you get the strongest candidate. In some instances, it does it because it dilutes the field. So it's such that somebody with 15 percent of the vote can end up winning the primary and then you don't end up with the strongest candidate making it to the general election.
Matt Whitaker [00:04:47] So there's no minimum vote required.
David Urban [00:04:50] There's no threshold, right? So there's no runoff. So you could win with 15 20 percent and end up being the nominee. You know, I don't know where that's going to end up. I don't know. Who the nominee is going to be there? There's a wide range of very good candidates. Literally, we could spend the whole show just talking about the governor's race. But, you know, it's kind of a jump ball really is a jump ball. A lot of people kind of elbowing to get that jump ball at this point. So it's really on what it's impossible to predict who's going to come out. And are you
Matt Whitaker [00:05:21] seeing are you seeing a lot of those candidates wrapping themselves in the Make America Great Again movement?
David Urban [00:05:28] Oh, so so you know, Matt Pennsylvanians, the Pennsylvania Republican primary electorate, is incredibly Pro Pro Pro. Make America great agenda, right? Secure borders. Everything that the Trump administration did resonates in Pennsylvania. Everything that stood for less regulation, more freedom. You know, energy independence. Pennsylvania's a huge fracking state. All those things that the Trump administration did so successfully. You know, really reverberates in Pennsylvania. The president, you know, want a close election in 2016, lost a close election in 2020. And I think if he runs again in twenty four, that he can win again in Pennsylvania and in a close election. So those those those positions are incredibly popular. So all the candidates are kind of, you know, to one extend or another Pro Pro Make America great platform, right? And and pro Trump. And so, you know, it's really tough, as I said, to kind of call it. So, you know, the Senate race is a little bit there's a little bit more of a narrowing. There are fewer candidates and I am, you know, full and fair disclosure. I'm more involved in that race. And one particular candidate, but I'll try to be as objective as possible. You know, Matt, I was born and raised in the western part of the state and and, you know, in western Pennsylvania, southwestern Pennsylvania, Aliquippa, Pennsylvania, I went away for college. I went to West Point, served the military for a bunch of years and then I came back. I went to law school at Temple University in Philadelphia, and then I went to the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, and then I was a public finance. I was invisible bond lawyer. I helped structure debt deals for four municipalities in Pennsylvania.
Matt Whitaker [00:07:04] But that sounds as exciting as it probably is pretty.
David Urban [00:07:07] It's it's pretty thrilling. Let me tell you, it's very, very heavily tax driven. And so and it's the older and the end of the year. So poor folks who are doing these bond deals don't get much of a holiday ever. And then I was a chief of staff for U.S. senator for a bunch of years in Pennsylvania. And so I've traveled around all 67 counties. I've seen them all, no kind of taste, no of the, you know, the difference between, you know, one county in the other. And then, you know, obviously in 2016 and 2020 2016, I played a bigger role in the president's election than I did in the 2020 campaign. And so so I have a little bit of sense of what's going on in the state and in the Senate race. You have some really big sluggers. You have Dr. Mehmet Oz of TV fame and fortune. You have my my good friend Dave McCormick, West Point grad, Princeton, Ph.D., captain, the wrestling team and born. Born and raised, born and raised, born and raised in Pennsylvania. You have Carla Sands. Ambassador Carla Sands was the Trump administration's ambassador to Denmark. I believe you have Kathy Barnette, African-American, former veteran. And then you have Jeff Bartos, who is a real estate lawyer. And so, you know, before where we are
Matt Whitaker [00:08:25] out here, because there's no well, that is
David Urban [00:08:27] that's the entire tier, right? And so and interestingly, interestingly, let's press, rewind and just go back a bit. And you know, for a while, there was only two candidates. There was Sean Parnell and there was Jeff Bartos and Sean Parnell, an army combat veteran, very pro MAGA Agenda Guy
Matt Whitaker [00:08:45] The President had endorsed him if I remember right
David Urban [00:08:46] President had endorsed him. And then, you know, unfortunately, he's going through some family issues, tough divorce, and he decided to step aside to try to get those things right and get his family straight. And and so when when Sean stepped aside, I think a lot of folks saw that there was a vacuum created and there was a real opportunity for somebody strong to come in and run in Pennsylvania. And I know that that combined with, you know, what happened in Afghanistan and the Biden administration prompted a lot of folks can jump in where these things things stand right now. And this isn't just David Urban's kind of thing. This is some polling, both internal external polling and Democratic polling that the Democrat side. We can talk about that in the second, but it seems that the two top tier candidates now have kind of been it kind of separate. And this is in the, you know, you can read this in Breitbart and other things that it's Dave McCormick really kind of he's leading the pack. And then Mehmet Oz is kind of second and then kind of falls off to Carla Sands and then Bartos and and Barnett, Carla Sands, Bartos and Barnett are also limited by. Resources, they just don't have a lot of money where, you know, Mehmet Oz, he's got, you know, millions and millions and millions and millions of dollars, literally millions. And as he
Matt Whitaker [00:10:09] demonstrated that he's willing to spend that
David Urban [00:10:12] they're spending a lot of money, I think that this race probably the primary, this is the Republican primary. We'll probably all end with superPACs and spending will be probably north of 100 hundred million bucks in a primary would be my guess. And that's just in a primary, right? That's incredible, right? So resources are obviously important for getting your message out, right? There's still a lot of. If you look at the numbers are still a lot of like, not sure I like the, you know, not undecided is still pretty big, pretty big vote, right? And so for the McCormick campaign, I think that they find that heartening because, you know, Mehmet Oz has been on TV for now 20 years that everybody's living Roman and everybody knows the name. And so if you're if you know the guy's name, you think you know him. You know, generally in politics is not a good sign to be, you know, you start a hundred percent name ID and you're going down downhill from there. So you know, the issues, the issues, the issues that resonate in Pennsylvania are those that resonate across America, right? Safe borders. You know that not all in our communities, right, which is flooding across the southern border. You know, energy independence. Lack of regulation for freeing up America from this burdensome regulatory scheme. The wokeness that's overtaken local school boards in our local communities. Those things are all being played out in this election, right? They're all going to just like they did in in in governor, young kids going young guns election in Virginia. Those things that same things are very resonant in Pennsylvania right now. And so, you know, this race is very important because I think so goes Petzold goes. Pennsylvania will go to the U.S. Senate, right? This has been a Republican seat for a while. It's kind of a must hold. And, you know, I think that obviously, I think my candidate and my friend Dave McCormick, I've known for, you know, roughly 30 years, would be the best candidate to run for a wide variety of reasons. But, you know, I think that it's a good, strong Republican field. And I think that either, you know, Mehmet Oz or McCormack will end up. I don't think that at the end of the day, Carla Sands or Jeff Bartos or Kathy Barnett will end up having the financial resources to kind of go the distance they'll stay in the race. But I think it's things kind of as we get near and near to the primary just then in May that may 16th that things will, you know, the spend will continue to increase and they'll just run out of gas and it'll come down to a slug fest like a heavyweight fight here at the end to see who's left standing on the Republican side and the Democrat side of the ticket is really even more interesting, right? So you have there really three candidates in this race. There is John Fetterman, who is this your viewers may have seen him. He's a very tall, kind of tattooed
Matt Whitaker [00:13:02] looks like The Undertaker.
David Urban [00:13:04] Yeah, it looks like The Undertaker from all WWE days right now. And, you know, kind of bald like you and I get that which is appropriate. We're pro bald.
Matt Whitaker [00:13:14] It keeps the razor industry in business.
David Urban [00:13:16] Yeah, right, exactly. But he's, you know, he's actually he's not running. He's actually a socialist. So he ran in a democratic primary, is basically a socialist and a socialist, and unseated the Democratic lieutenant governor to become the lieutenant governor of Pennsylvania. Kind of on a, you know, legalize marijuana, prostitution, socialism, you know, defund the police, you name names. Some wacky slogan from the left and John Fetterman has embraced it at one point or the other.
Matt Whitaker [00:13:50] So he would be perfect for Washington, D.C. that
David Urban [00:13:54] he'd be part he'd be perfect for this, the current administration, we should hopefully find him a job there and he can go work there. You know, the the next candidate is a state senator, African-American gay guy named Bob Kenyatta Johnson, who's got a lot of support for from different communities and then third candidate is interesting. What used to be called kind of a Blue Dog Democrat, right, that don't exist anymore, where he fancies himself that way is Conor Lamb, the sitting congressman from the western part of the state. The unfortunate part for Conor Lamb is he's got a voting record. And despite him saying like, Look, I'm a conservative Democrat, I'm a conservative Democrat. He's voted with Nancy Pelosi about 90 plus percent of the time. So, you know, that's the tough part. When you're a member, you've got a voting record and you know, you can you can be held to account. So. So all three of these candidates, it's highly unlikely, in my opinion, right? So interestingly, the state party had their POW wow a few weeks ago, and in the middle of this day, Lancaster, maybe they had the Republicans relaxed. I'm not sure if the. Democrats, I think they had theirs in Harrisburg, and they normally they vote to endorse or not to endorse. And there was a lot of push. There was a big push behind kind of establishment Democrats to get Conor Lamb the endorsement. So he would be the endorsed candidate because I believe the Democrats realize that they are doomed, doomed, right? And that if they don't get Conor Lamb, somebody who they can, you know, Conor Lamb is a handsome young guy, Marine Corps veteran right from a, you know, well-established family in the Pittsburgh area. He's a very nice guy. Nice enough guy, right? If they don't get Conor Lamb as their standard bearer, they don't stand a chance and do not stand a chance in election. And despite their best efforts, there was not an endorsement. And you know, if you look at the numbers like Fetterman has, I think something like, you know, I could be off here a little bit, but he's got like 13 million dollars cash on hand from like a hundred and fifty thousand individual donors, right? And Conor Lamb has like, you know, 3000 individual donors and Johnson has less right. So the yeah, he like grassroots movement and the surge behind. Right. Fetterman is really tremendous, right? Because as you know and your viewers know, like who votes in these primaries, right? Really, it's really activist kind of party members who are really energized and get get behind, you know, primary voters. And you know, unfortunately for the Democrats, their primary voters are defund the police. They are for, you know, intrusive intrusive measures in the schools, right? They are for open borders. They are for kind of a socialist system,
Matt Whitaker [00:16:40] masking force, vaccines, all the, you know, all
David Urban [00:16:43] this other stuff that you know, people in America, not not just Democrat, not just Republicans, but like people across the United States have said no enough like enough on this. All right, like, we reject these things, right? The other night, right? I just, you know, the other night I watched the State of the Union, right? And it was almost like, you know, on social media, I saw this. It was just like parody, right? Because you saw the president, United States, President Biden get up there and just and kind of pound his fist about, we are we want to fund the police and, you know, do all these things and. And I thought to myself, I'm like, No, you guys just can't come up now and say that obviously. Now the State of the Union heal up into the State of the Union. You know, Matt, everyone's wearing masks, everyone's hide in their and their basements, everyone's cowering and all this thing worshiping at the altar of Foushee. And, you know, all of a sudden, magically, magically, right before the State of the Union, the mask mandates are lifted. You can go to restaurants now all of a sudden, you know, when, like all of a sudden, like Tuesday, somebody some magic thing happened and everybody's fine now, right? And I think the Democrats woke up and just figured out that Americans want freedom. Americans love liberty. Or it doesn't matter if you're Democrat or Republican, you don't want to be told to be locked in your House. You have to wear a mask and you got to do these things like people are smart enough to make their own mind up on things and. And I think that the Democrats really misjudged. And you know, and the numbers, the president's numbers are terrible. The parties, the Democratic Party's numbers are terrible because of it and they're going to pay dearly. So I am hopeful that the Republicans stay energized to this election through this primary and through the general. And you know, we take back the house and take back the Senate and we can start returning some sanity back to our governing in America.
Matt Whitaker [00:18:29] Yeah. Back to that State of the Union address. I think you're right. I mean, the Democrats would they're usually they're very disciplined and they're standing up and sitting down and applauding for the way things. But you know, you had that bizarre moment of, you know, Nancy Pelosi rubbing her paws together on burn pits. And then you had Schumer standing up enthusiastically before the punch line, and they just seemed a little disconnected from what the president was actually saying.
David Urban [00:18:58] And then if you watch like MSNBC afterwards, you had AOC and others on there just talking, lamenting about the grant, the Green New Deal and things like, you know, there's a war in Europe right there in the United States. The economy is in the tank. Inflation is going crazy, right? And they're talking about like, you know, windmills and you know, it just, you know, it's it's ludicrous, right? And so the disconnect between that just people, working class people in America, Americans who go to work every day and want nothing more than a bright future for their kids, just like everybody else, has one the throughout this great country's history, right? Democrats just disconnected from those people for some reason. I'm not quite sure you know how and why, but they just don't get it. They're just really missing the big message they get. Like, they get New York City. They get like San Francisco. They get like Chicago, but they don't get the rest. You know, there are 3000 plus counties in America. I think they get probably about 50 counties. Of those three thousand, the rest is kind of scratch their head and they look at every. You like there, aliens.
Matt Whitaker [00:20:02] That's so true. So back to Pennsylvania, the Senate race you mentioned, Fetterman is clearly based on that small dollar, you know, broad fundraising base. He looks a lot like Bernie Sanders at all.
David Urban [00:20:16] He's a big, very big Bernie Sanders acolyte, unabashed supporter of Bernie Sanders.
Matt Whitaker [00:20:21] Yeah. And so that'll be interesting if he pulls it through. And then you think it's going to be just a slug fest, most likely between us and Dave McCormick?
David Urban [00:20:32] Yeah, I think so. Yeah, I do. I think so. I think that, you know, just because they have both sides have a lot of money like Mehmet Oz is not going anywhere because he's got plenty of money and he's invested in this and he shows canceled, right? And and, you know,
Matt Whitaker [00:20:47] does he stand? I have not. I mean, I followed this race a little bit, but I have not heard any of the messaging, I guess, of any of the candidates. But what's you know is other than sort of just being sort of the Republican, you know, conservative, right leaning, pro-America sort of Donald Trump agenda, have they have has odds distinguished himself at all? Or is it just sort of I'm a celebrity, you know my name? Vote for me.
David Urban [00:21:14] And there's a little bit of that. All right, Matt. I mean, I think unfortunately, you know, Americans are obsessed with celebrity. I think a lot of people show up at his rallies and kind of take a photo and they're not going to vote for him. But they're interested in seeing and meeting someone who's been on television a bunch. And, you know, if you look at his campaigns, his announcement campaign is announcement roll out ad look like he could be running for Senate in any state, as he mentioned Pennsylvania, and his initial is a national campaign ad. It could have been it could have been shot in a studio in Burbank, in Ohio. And by the way, during the campaign, you may have famously seen Dr. Oz got a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. This is how this is. How kind of I mean, I don't know, you know who's advising him on this, but you know, he went out to while Dave McCormack and Carla Sands and Jeff Bartos are riding around Pennsylvania, McCormick's riding around in his Ford F-150 is farm riding around and stuff. Mehmet Oz is literally on his knees on Hollywood, kissing his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Well, during a press during a Pennsylvania Republican primary election, like the discordant messaging of like, you really kiss the ground in Hollywood versus, you know, kiss the ground in Pittsburgh, I'm not quite sure I know the famous Donald Trump
Matt Whitaker [00:22:38] I am not sure I would kiss the ground in either place, but probably Pittsburgh would be.
David Urban [00:22:41] I'm I'm, you know, I'm a born and I'm a born and raised yinzer. So that's, you know, I'm kissing the ground and in Pittsburgh at any time. But you know, that just shows the disconnect. I think that, you know, Oz is not a Pennsylvanian. McCormick was born and raised in Pennsylvania and got his nomination from West Point from Pennsylvania, ran a big company in Pennsylvania, moved away, obviously to run another company in another state. But you know, it was moved back, you know, by all accounts, as is renting his house from his in-laws. And you know, so it's, you know, it's a tough it's a it's a tough race. You know, as just has a ton of money, I think without his money. The race, sort of he would have faded away much more quickly. You know, Carla Sands has some money, but she is fading, you know, it really can't. And you know, this like nothing success begets success. And so when your polls or your polling numbers look good, people donated and and you know, and continue to donate. And if your polling numbers don't look good and people don't donate. And so I think that's what I think Bartos campaign in the Sanders campaign and and Kathy Barnette campaign are lacking from that a little bit. They. People don't sense there's a there's an inevitability there. I do think there's an inevitability around like the McCormick candidacy. I think there's still going to be, you know, still going to be a sprint to the finish.
Matt Whitaker [00:24:04] When is the primary date,.
David Urban [00:24:05] May 16th. And so I think that, you know, you know, it's still, you know, 60 days away, which is 100 years away, right? There could be, you know, lots of things take place. I mean, as we just see what's going on in Ukraine day by day, right? Things change by the moment. And they're so you know, it's it's it's not going to be an easy race. I do like, you know, the chances. I think McCormick will be a great U.S. senator from Pennsylvania. I think Dave's, you know, right on all the issues is a very bright guy. He's, you know, he's been a public servant for a very, very, very long time. His wife, Dina Powell, worked in the Trump administration for the president and the National Security Council. She's a very bright woman, very successful in her own right. They're, you know, dynamic team and be, you know, Pennsylvania be lucky to have in the senator from our state. And I think once he makes it to the primary, I think the general election will be a lot. I don't want to say easier because you never know. There's two ways to run an election, I've always been told. Scared and unopposed, right? So but but I do think the general election will look different, have a different feel and complexion than this primary. You know, the primary issues are kind of, you know, kind of the old, you know, the the odds and McCormick and Barnett and Sands, you know, the issues are pretty big. The people's positions are pretty, pretty similar, not too dissimilar on all this. It's really about, you know, who do you think is going to do the best job? Who's going to represent you the best? I've I've been around the corporate. You know, David called me my whole life and know he's a great retail politician and you get that. You mean, you know, when he walks in the diner or a room or a gym, you know, everybody when he leaves is like, Wow, what a great guy. He's just a great guy. And you know, that's, you know, it's not a very efficient way to campaign, but you know, in Iowa, right there, the caucuses and the primaries and you know, people in Iowa say, you know, this map, you people will say, like, what do you think of this guy or that woman? And they say, Well, I don't know. I've only met MM 10 times. Right, right. You know, people, people, people expect that they expect to see their their own, their senators campaigning. So, you know, these folks are making their way around the Commonwealth and shaking hands and making their pitches directly to to the primary voters, which I think is OK, it's beneficial for democracy when this happens, right? You get really, you know, get people that are engaged and you get people who are, you know, who want to who want to participate in Pennsylvania's fortunate. They have so many people to to participate. Look, I'd like to see. I wish that they weren't all running for the Senate. I would if I had my druthers, I'd encourage people to run for county commissioner seats. Really important big counties that have, you know, huge budgets and big agenda that encourage people to run for lieutenant governor or, you know, different congressional seats that you know, may have not the strongest candidates in it right now. But, you know, unfortunate Edwards run for Senate. But we've got a lot of strong folks, so we're blessed in that regard.
Matt Whitaker [00:26:55] Well, in the last couple of minutes, let's take a step back and look nationally. What do you see happening as national trends, obviously. You know, the Pennsylvania Senate seat very important for Republicans to hold to, but to pick up seats. We're looking at places like Nevada, you know, Arizona, we're looking at, you know, just
David Urban [00:27:17] got to got to hold Missouri.
Matt Whitaker [00:27:20] Yeah, we have to hold Missouri. I mean, there's the map is as far as it goes for Republicans, is not a great map. This is actually the map. Yeah, I think it's for now. And 12, I believe, is when we really got lost a bunch of seats.
David Urban [00:27:36] That's a tough, listen, The Senate map is tougher. Much tougher, right? The House map. Look, you have 30 plus House Democrats like saying they're not running again, right? That that tells you something when you're a senior house member and you're not going to run again and you're basically saying, I don't want to be in the minority. I've been here long enough. I don't want to be in the minority and they know they're going to be the minority. So each one of those House seats is vacant, even if it's a if, even if it's a D plus C or D plus whatever means in the Democratic Campaign Committee or the Congressional Democratic Campaign Committee needs to spend money on that seat. Right. And so that's a drain on resources. You know, the House Republicans are very, very strong. I spent some time recently with them with future speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy, and, you know, very strong. He's out raising money for people in so many different seats around America, around this country. And there's a there's a there's a really tough border seat along the Texas-Mexico border. It's one of the most, you know, Hispanic plus plus plus districts that we won last time with a guy named Tony Gonzales, great American, great Republican. And we need to we're going to hold those seats again. These are these are these are big pickups, right for Republicans, you know, among the Hispanic community among these border towns? You know, we need to keep expanding our party just beyond the traditional members, right? We've got there's a huge Hispanic population in Nevada where I think Laxalt is going to win. So you're right, the map and nationally is tougher in the Senate, but not impossible, right? Not impossible.
Matt Whitaker [00:29:15] I think the math is tough, but the mood and the environment is very advantageous. And you know, I mean, I continue to believe that actually Republican messaging and message is much stronger than the Democrat messaging because they're being pulled so far left. And if you look at what it took for the Democrats to win in 20, it probably took five to eight times the amount of money that Republicans spent, and they barely have a majority in the House and Senate. And so I think we're heading into a pretty interesting and advantageous year for Republicans. But you know, as a, you know, dyed in the wool Republican myself, I know we can always figure out a way to screw these kind of things up
David Urban [00:29:56] that look, unfortunately. Sometimes we're our own worst enemies, and I think there are, you know, there are so many great things done during the Trump administration, right, that I just like to see kind of put back in place, right? I think America are our national security goals and should be aligned with our energy. We should have, you know, our national security policy and energy policy, which match right. We should not be weird energy independent country and we should we should go back to doing that right. The fact that the Biden administration, you know, turned off the spigot here is just disgraceful. I think, right? I mean, they are.
Matt Whitaker [00:30:32] Yeah, all you have to do, Dave, is look at what Germany is doing and that is, is that they, you know, essentially didn't do the two liquid natural gas terminals that they promised they were going to do. They've been shutting down their nuclear power plants, and now they're dependent to for 40 to 60 percent of their energy needs in Russia. And that's and that's how they end up in this mess in Europe right now. Yeah.
David Urban [00:30:56] Yeah, well, you know, it is so, so so I'm hopeful right now, and I'm hopeful that we get the Congress back right that in some of these policies can be put back in place and then we can blunt some of the the bad things that are happening because the Biden administration, right, we can stop some of these things from going forward. They've given, you know, thank goodness for cinema and Joe Manchin holding the line and being sensible for America, right? I mean, I never thought I would be, you know, openly so grateful for just moderation. And look, that goes for Republican moderation, right? I think there's something some members of the Republican Party that are acting disgracefully and they need to be, you know, kind of really take a good hard look and think about what they're doing and if it's helpful to the party or harmful, right? And so we have to make sure once we get that gavel back that we use it responsibly and we do things that are going to help, you know, help Americans and their day to day lives and put back some sanity and into our country.
Matt Whitaker [00:31:55] Good. Well, David Urban, thank you so much for joining me today on Liberty and Justice, which,
David Urban [00:32:03] Thanks for having me. Thanks for having me My friend.
Matt Whitaker [00:32:04] Premieres every Friday on CPAC now and distributed widely across all the podcast channels and on Rumble and YouTube and anywhere else that you've searched for really good programing. You find us. So thank you, David. I will talk to you soon, my friend. I can't wait to see you.
David Urban [00:32:24] Go go Hawkeyes!
