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New Republican Governors chair, pointing to campaign battles ahead, touts ‘our policies are better’

New Republican Governors chair, pointing to campaign battles ahead, touts ‘our policies are better’

FIRST ON FOX — Gov. Brian Kemp, the new chair of the Republican Governors Association, is aiming to build on the GOP momentum coming out of the 2024 elections as he looks ahead to the next gubernatorial showdowns. “We’ve had great successes,” the popular GOP governor of Georgia told Fox News Digital as he pointed to President-elect Trump’s 2024 victory as well as Republican gubernatorial, congressional and down-ballot triumphs this month. Republicans held onto their 27-23 gubernatorial advantage in the 2024 elections, thanks in part to the efforts of the RGA. HELPING TRUMP GET OFF TO A FAST START A KEY MISSION FOR REPUBLICAN GOVERNORS Looking ahead, New Jersey and Virginia are the only two states to hold gubernatorial elections next year, giving them outsized national attention and making them key barometers for the mood of Americans during the start of a new presidential term. A competitive GOP primary is underway in blue-state New Jersey, where Republicans hope to win a gubernatorial election for the first time in a dozen years. REPUBLICAN GOVERNORS SAY WITH TRUMP ELECTION, ‘WE’VE GOT A FRIEND IN THE WHITE HOUSE’ And in Virginia, the GOP is rallying around Lt. Gov. Winsome Sears as she aims to succeed term-limited Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin [Virginia governors can only serve one consecutive four-year term] and make history as the state’s first woman governor and the nation’s first Black female governor. “We’re ready to keep working as we move into what will be a tough cycle for us in Virginia, in New Jersey, and then having 36 races in 2026,” Kemp said last week in his first interview after being elected RGA chair at the group’s annual winter meeting, which was held this year at a waterfront resort in Marco Island, Florida. Kemp emphasized that “my goal is for us to continue to raise enough money to be competitive. The Democrats are outspending us because they have big check writers, but we have a lot of really dedicated donors. We’ll try to continue to build the tent, make sure that we have good candidates and win because our policies are better.” WHAT’S NEXT FOR THIS POPULAR GOP GOVERNOR AFTER HE LEAVES OFFICE Kemp said his own comfortable re-election in 2022 and Trump’s victory in battleground Georgia this month in the presidential election “gives us a lot of confidence, a lot of hope, but we also know that the ’26 midterm is going to be tough.”  Kemp is term-limited and can’t seek another term in office in 2026. The contest to succeed him will be a top gubernatorial election in two years. “I’m going to be very engaged, you can rest assured, to making sure that my [successors] are Republican. I have a vested interest in doing that,” Kemp said. “We’ll be working with the Trump administration and a lot of other people to make sure that that’s happening not only in Georgia but in other states around the country, in places like Kansas, where we have a Democratic governor right now, in places like Arizona, where we have a really good shot at winning the governor’s races. So we’re going to be on offense.” Georgia will also have a high-profile Senate showdown as Republicans aim to defeat Democrat Sen. Jon Ossoff in 2026. Asked if he’ll be courted by national Republicans to take on Ossoff, Kemp responded, “Well, I may.” But he quickly pivoted, stressing that “my focus right now, being just elected the chairman of the Republican Governors Association, is on raising money for us to be competitive in 2025 and 2026. I’ve made the commitment to do that, and I’m going to fulfill that commitment. We’ll see what happens down the road with anything else.” Asked if he’s not ruling out a possible 2026 Senate bid or even a 2028 White House run, the governor said, “I try to keep all doors open in politics.”

Inside how podcasters moved the voting needle with young men ahead of Trump’s massive win

Inside how podcasters moved the voting needle with young men ahead of Trump’s massive win

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – President-elect Trump turned to podcasts during the 2024 election cycle, rallying support particularly among young men who have trended to the right in recent years and helped deliver Trump’s massive victory.  “I want to thank some people real quick,” UFC CEO Dana White declared from the election night podium following Trump’s win, thanking a list of podcasters who spoke with Trump on the campaign trail. “I want to thank the Nelk Boys, Aidan Ross, Theo Von, Boston, Bussin with the Boys, and last but not least, the mighty and powerful Joe Rogan.” Ahead of President Biden dropping out of the race, and before facing two assassination attempts and pouring hours of work into seven key battleground states and beyond, Trump joined the popular podcast “Full Send,” also known as the “Nelk Boys,” for an interview in March 2022. This interview marked his entrance into the podcast world while appealing to a voting bloc of young men. Trump discussed not only his policies and vision for the U.S., but his family and sports, and he allowed voters to take a peek into his life beyond politics.  TRUMP SAYS MEDIA IS ‘VITAL’ TO MAKING AMERICA ‘GREAT AGAIN,’ VOWS TO WORK WITH ‘FREE, FAIR AND OPEN’ PRESS The Nelk Boys interview touched on Trump’s golf game, his favorite songs, such as “YMCA” and “Hold on I’m Coming,” to play on the campaign trail, as well as his thoughts on the Biden administration’s handling of COVID and Russia.   “If you put up this whole interview, let’s see what happens when Instagram and Facebook and Twitter and all of them take it down,” Trump quipped during the podcast, only for the interview to later be pulled from YouTube, setting off a firestorm of condemnation from Trump.  TRUMP VICTORY PROVES IMPORTANCE OF CANDID, LONGFORM PODCASTS AS PLATFORM SHOWED ‘HUMAN SIDE’ OF ONE CANDIDATE “Whatever happened to free speech in our Country? Incredibly, but not surprisingly, the Big Tech lunatics have taken down my interview with the very popular NELK Boys so that nobody can watch it or in any way listen to it,” the 45th president said in a statement released by his Save America PAC at the time.  “In the 24 hours that it was up it set every record for them, by many times,” he continued. “Interestingly, on the show I told them this would happen because Big Tech and the Fake News Media fear the truth, they fear criticism about Biden, and above all, they don’t want to talk about the Rigged 2020 Presidential Election, all topics discussed.” Fast-forward to 2024, Trump again joined the Nelk Boys, and a bevy of other podcasts as he worked to rally support among young men, including joining Joe Rogan, who hosts the most popular podcast in the U.S. with 14.5 million followers on Spotify alone and endorsed Trump just a day ahead of the election.  In August of this year, the Nelk Boys debuted Send the Vote on their podcast, which was a massive nonpartisan voter initiative aimed at youth, especially young men.  “Making a post on Instagram or making a tweet, that’s cool,” Kyle Forgeard, one of the Nelk Boys, said in a promo video back in August, the Wall Street Journal reported. “But every single one of you guys needs to register to vote, and you need to make your voice heard. Don’t be f—ing lazy, get your ballot in the mail, do whatever you got to do, plan around it.” JOE ROGAN SAYS HARRIS SITDOWN WAS SCRAPPED AFTER CAMPAIGN TOLD HIM SHE ‘ONLY WANTED TO DO AN HOUR’ Armed with about a $20 million budget, Send the Vote placed ad buys targeting 1.1 million inactive, registered male voters between the ages of 18-34 to vote. The ads reached more than 35 million people, Fox News Digital learned, while countless others also saw the ads via the Nelk Boys’ social media accounts. SendTheVote.com saw more than 2 million visitors, while 210,000 first-time voters who saw the ads and subsequently voted, and 110,000 people who visited the site requested they be reminded to vote.  TRUMP TALKS COCAINE, BIDEN AND HEALTH CARE IN INTERVIEW WITH COMEDIAN THEO VON Send the Vote reached more than 140 million people through influencers, nearly 1 million on streamed content, and nearly 7 million people through podcasts specifically, Fox Digital learned. Send the Vote ads were featured on other wildly popular podcasts, including on comedic shows KillTony, Theo Von, Tim Dillon, as well as the sports-oriented podcast “BS with Jake Paul,” as well as viral TikTok celebrity Hailey Welch’s “Talk Tuah” podcast.  Send the Vote launched tailgate events during the Penn State vs. Wisconsin game in October, which appealed to young voters in two top battleground states. Volunteers knocked on frat house doors and held a voter registration concert in Atlanta with pro-Trump rapper Waka Flocka Flame.  “Too many people in our country felt like their voice didn’t matter and that the barriers to making real change are too big to overcome. The goal of Send the Vote was to tear down those barriers and remind our audience that posting on social media does not count as a vote and they need to physically show up to vote. Sick of how much things cost? Go vote. Tired of unnecessary wars? Go vote – it’s not as difficult as they make it out to be.” – John Shahidi, co-founder of “Full Send” told Fox News Digital.  Trump leaning into podcasts this election cycle, as opposed to traditional media interviews, paid off among Gen Z men and millennials. The Fox News Voter Survey published earlier this month found that men aged 18-44 supported Trump at 53% compared to Vice President Kamala Harris’ 45%.  TRUMP APPEARED ON JOE ROGAN’S PODCAST FOR NEARLY THREE HOURS: HERE ARE THE TOP MOMENTS In addition to the Nelk Boys, and other podcasters who highlighted Trump, Rogan’s endorsement of the 45th president was viewed as a massive success. The former and upcoming president had joined