Morning Wire - Flipping Pennsylvania: Trump’s Secret Weapon | 10.12.24

Episode Date: October 12, 2024

Scott Presler has become a pivotal figure in Pennsylvania’s voter registration efforts, helping shift key counties from blue to red ahead of the 2024 election. To learn more about Scott’s work go to EarlyVoteAction.com. Get the facts first on Morning Wire. Birch Gold: Text "WIRE" to 989898 for your no-cost, no-obligation information kit. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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I just love my job. Get tickets now. The Devil Wears Prada 2 in theaters May 1st, directed by David Frankel. Be that you've heard of someone who's been. doing so much voter registration right here in Pennsylvania. His name is Scott Pressler, and he has done an incredible job. We have flipped Bucks County and Luzerne County from Democrat to Republican in terms of voter registration. And I would like to invite my friend Scott Presler to come up and say a few words to you folks, if you would welcome him, please, to the stage right now.

That was Laura Trump introducing Scott Pressler at the Butler, Pennsylvania rally last weekend. Pressler has wholly dedicated himself to registering Republican voters and what will likely be the most important battleground state. Presler wowed the crowd with his enthusiasm. From the top of my head to the tip of my toes, I love our great country. President Trump took a bullet for us. Please use your ballot and have his back on Tuesday, November 5th, and deliver Pennsylvania for Donald J. Trump. In this episode, we speak to voter registration activist and founder of early vote action, Scott Pressler, about his tireless work in the all-important state of Pennsylvania. I'm Georgia Howe with Daily Wire Editor-in-Chief John Bickley. It's October 12th, and this is a Saturday edition of Morning

wire. With the massive tax hikes proposed by Harris, you might be thinking it's time to make more of your savings, tax sheltered and inflation sheltered. This is where I trust the good people at Birch Gold Group to help. Birch Gold will assist you in converting your existing IRA or 401k into a gold IRA, a smart move to shelter your savings from both taxes and inflation. The best part, you don't pay a penny out of pocket. Just text the word wire to 98989898 and get a free info kit on gold today. That's the word wire to 989898 today. Joining us now to detail his extraordinary efforts in voter registration and activation is Scott Pressler. Scott, thanks so much for coming on.

Hey, thank you. So tell us a little bit about your work in Pennsylvania. When did you arrive and where in the state are you focusing your efforts? Well, I spent a month going into election day of 2020. And I kind of just have focused on the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania for the last four years. Just something in the back of my head just kept saying Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania, don't stop, just keep focusing on it. And I have traversed at this point, you know, the entire Commonwealth.

But really, our strategy has been to bump up Republican strongholds going to Butler County, the site of the assassination attempt, and focusing on places that are really ignored, like Northeast Pennsylvania, Wayne and Pike County. And I'm very proud to say that these efforts have translated into real, tangible results that Wayne and Pike, two ruby red rural areas, actually have produced the most mail-in ballot request per registered Republican out of the whole Commonwealth. And so our work is making a real difference. So tell us about the reception now versus in 2020. Do you sense stronger enthusiasm this time around? Personally, I would say, is there more activism than 2020? Absolutely. Is there

more excitement than 2020? Absolutely. Are young people more fired up than ever for President Trump's peace, not war, more jobs, a better economy, home ownership than prior years? Absolutely. But let's talk about the data for a second and why I think, objectively, we're in the best place to win Pennsylvania than we were four or even eight years ago. Two things that really stick out to me are A, since 2020, we have actually cut in half the amount of registered Democrats in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, that they had an advantage of 650,000 four years ago, and now that advantage has been narrowed to 33,000. And if you take out inactive voters, that's 160. But the other thing that leads me to believe that President Trump has a real

shot at winning Pennsylvania is the Democrats are down. 416,000 mail-and-ballot requests from where they were four years ago at the same time. And those two data points show me Pennsylvania is in play. Wow. So when you say there's something like a net of 300,000 fewer Democrats registered, is that meaning people are switching to Republican or is this newly registered voters just joining the pool of Republicans? Well, it's everything. Yes, some people are switching from Democrat to Republicans. And I want to give a shout out to Joe Biden and Kamala for their destructive Democrat policies that are pushing so many Democrats over to our party.

But we're seeing a lot of youth. I mean, you know, Charlie, Kirk just went over to Penn State University the other day. They registered 300 voters. And we have been courting students. And Center County, which has been traditionally a Democrat stronghold, they are under 1,200 voters away from flipping from blue to red. read. And I can tell you that my team at early voteaction.com, we have 50, 5-0 paid staff across Pennsylvania. The strong majority of voters that we are registering are all new, first time, never voted before. And it's really, it's running the gambit. It's not just new young people.

It's not just moms and dads. We're getting people in their 70s, 80s that have never voted. And I I think the biggest difference between 2020 and 2024 is in people's minds, they are treating this election with the seriousness that it deserves, that if we don't win this November, I don't see a positive future for our country. What would you say are the activating issues that are bringing out these people that have gone 70 years without voting but are now interested in voting? There are three issues that are on people's minds. The first one that I hear every single day is the economy.

We were at the Philly Expo Center. We go to all the gun shows to get our hunters because 30% of hunters are not registered to vote in Pennsylvania. That's 300,000 people. And so I'm talking to this woman. She was born in 1965. She's never voted. She goes, I'm registering and I'm voting because I can't afford anything. This is deeply an economic election.

People are struggling. moms are struggling to feed their kids to afford mortgages. And now look at the devastation that's happening in western North Carolina when the price of lumber and building homes was already sky high. People are really having a difficult time just surviving in this Kamala Harris and Joe Biden destructive economy. Number two, the issue at the forefront, I don't care what state you're in. I don't care if you're in Connecticut, Rhode Island. Every state under Joe Biden and Kamala Harris is a border state. This is an immigration election.

We are tired of 300 Americans dying daily from fentanyl. We are tired of having our daughters stolen from us. Like Lake and Riley, a college student that didn't deserve to be killed by an illegal alien, that she would be alive today if it weren't for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris having an open border. And third, and probably one of the reasons why so many young people are coming over to the Republican Party is this is a peace, not war election. I want to be overt in this messaging. Putin did not invade Ukraine under President Trump.

We had peace through strength. Israel was not genocided by Iran, aka Hamas, October 7th, under President Trump. We are seeing new wars that wouldn't have happened under President Trump and didn't happen. And it is a real threat. And I want all of our young men and young women to understand really what's at play in this election. A vote for Kamala Harris is a vote to send young men and women under 35 to fight endless wars. A vote for President Trump is a vote for peace and to make sure that young people are able to thrive and prosper in the United States of America and abroad. Now, you've also been making some efforts to reach the Amish community.

Have you had success getting the Amish who traditionally don't vote to register? Yes, we are courting the Amish vote. Every Tuesday, you'll find us at Roots, Country Market, and Lancaster. Every Wednesday, you'll find us at the Belleville Farmers Market in Mifflin County. And every Friday, you'll find us at the Green Dragon Farmers Market, registering voters and courting the Amish and Lancaster. And I want to make it clear how I thanked Kamala and the Democrats for pushing Democrats to the Republican Party. Governor Shapiro, he's a Democrat that's waging a war on school choice, on small businesses,

on religious freedom, on raw milk, on dairy, on farming. And those are all values that make up the Amish way of life. And so we have been registering the Amish in record numbers. And the thing that really sikes me out of my mind is we're seeing tangible results that the mail-in-ballot request applications, we are out-registering Democrats in mail-and-ballot requests in Mifflin County and Juniata County. which are two Amish-centric counties in Pennsylvania, and it just shows me the data is showing

that our courting of the Amish community is translating into registered voters, is translating into mail-in ballots, and perhaps with the community of 90,000 and a state that was decided by 80,000 votes in 2020, it could very well be the Amish that save Western civilization and elect President Donald J. Trump back to the White House.

Last question for you, and it's kind of a fun one. You have become the subject of several memes across social media. Just for example, there is one where a man is bear hunting. And then all of a sudden there is a bear in the picture and he removes his mask. And it's you asking the hunter if he's registered to vote. What's your reaction to those means? I live for them. And I know I probably shouldn't laugh at memes of myself.

But they are so gosh darn funny. And I just, I want to give a shout out to the X account. I don't even know who this person is, but their account is the number six, the letter H as in horse, and then the word sense, S-E-N-S-E. And this person has just been creating all these memes based on everything I've been talking about. 30% of hunters are not registered to vote are beautiful Amish. They even have me as V for Vendetta because this November's election is the 5th of November. And I mean, this person is just so talented, creative. I love that it's humorous.

And I think these memes are making an impact because humor is the great uniter in terms of language. All right. Well, Scott, thank you so much for coming on and talking to us today. Thank you. Love the Daily Wire. Thank you so much for having me back. That was Scott Pressler, founder of Early Vote Action. And this has been a Saturday edition of Morning Wire.