The Daily Signal - They Call Him ‘Radio Show Host’ to Marginalize Him, but They Soon May Be Calling Him ‘Lieutenant Governor’ | John Reid

Episode Date: April 24, 2025

The Daily Signal’s Joe Thomas interviews new Virginia GOP lieutenant gubernatorial nominee John Reid about his qualifications for the job and how he intends to win in November going into the race with a 2-to-1 fundraising disadvantage. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

So this is a very bad precedent for me, and I shouldn't have allowed myself to be talked into it. But my friends at the Daily Signal have said, you know, if you did some video stuff, we could use that as well. I don't think they've had a really good look at me. So I went and I said, well, let's see if we can get somebody who's more attractive than I am on the program this morning. Not really for that, but we're doing this as a video and audio broadcast. It'll be up at DailySignal.com at some point. in the future, Knock Wood. And he is notably somebody who's blowing up paradigms all over the place.

He is now the Republican nominee for lieutenant governor in a race that, gosh, every four years after the presidential election, Virginia's executive branch goes up for election. And usually it is red meat for the Washington, D.C. media. Not so much this year because of the fire hose that President Trump is running outside of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. But the paradigm he's blowing up is the long-held axiom that radio people, though popular in their own world, don't wind up translating that into electoral popularity. Everybody always wants to say, Joe, you should run for this, or, John, you should run for

that. And you usually, I think Rush Limbaugh used to say, the political landscape is littered with the corpses of radio people who misunderstood. And to be fair, the most popular radio person you know is probably got a 15 share or maybe a 20 share of the ratings. That doesn't come close to winning an election. But John Reed, who you may read about in the national press, as derisively labeled radio show host turned politician, is a lot more than that. And he's on with us, John. He is now officially the lieutenant governor nominee here in the commonwealth of Virginia.

congratulations first and foremost let me say that john how are you doing sir oh well it's an exciting day i can feel the responsibility kind of on my shoulders and you know the way this came about was my main competitor who was a long time supervisor up in northern virginia in fairfax gentleman by the name of pat herody made the decision and i think it was a pretty selfless decision on his part to drop out because he was having a lot of health problems and i think he recognized that it takes a lot to campaign, a lot of physical stamina, and he made the decision to drop out. And I appreciate the fact that he made that decision because it gives us its chance as Republicans to unify and to have a long runway to get ready for the fall instead of beating each other up

and spending a lot of money, which we don't have because the Democrats are going to have a heck of lot of money. And so now, oh, yeah. So now I'm feeling excited, but also the responsibility of getting out and talking to people who didn't listen to my radio show, who've never met me, maybe have never even heard my name, and showing that I'm the real deal, that I'm a Reagan conservative. I used to work for Ronald Reagan, work for George Allen when he was in the U.S. Senate. I'm not just a radio host.

and I really am excited about introducing myself to people and earning each and every vote that's out there in the Republican Party. And quite frankly, I think there are a lot of Democrats who are fed up with the way their party has behaved since the riots of 2020 and the COVID disaster. And I'm not ceding any votes. I'm going to ask them to support me because I'm reasonable and I'm responsible. And I will bring the kind of leadership that I think people expect in the Commonwealth of Virginia. Well, certainly we see the behavior of vice chair of the Democratic Party, David Hogg, out there. And certainly if a Republican behaved that way, the Democratic Party would be out there saying, come join us.

You know, don't be it. So I think you have a winning strategy. Plus, you've put the shoe leather into it rather than a lot of folks who just, you know, traffic on perhaps what could be perceived as popularity already. You've been out for months now going around a very large state. with a lot of very powerful, you know, county committees meeting with them. How was that going? Because I know Pat Herody, the supervisor you mentioned, was well thought of, but not well known

outside of Northern Virginia. How was the ground game going because it needs to continue if you're going to be successful in November? Yeah, I've got an event tonight. It's here in the Richmond area. And I don't know whether there'll be 20 people there or 100 people there. I'm just not sure. but it doesn't matter. You got to get out and talk about issues. You got to listen to people.

You know this, Joe. If you're a talk radio host, one of the key components is listening to your guests so that you can actually come up with a decent response and probe the issues. And that's something that has been really remarkable. I hear common themes, different issues, but common themes when I'm in Bristol in Southwest Virginia. when I went to Damascus to see the cleanup that's happening after the flooding there. And then when I'm in Arlington and Alexandria, suddenly people in northern Virginia have the same worries about whether they're going to have a job tomorrow. It's because of the federal budget cuts. And I hate to break it to everybody with $36 trillion in debt, dramatic changes are going to have to be made. But there's some common themes here. Virginians want economic stability and prosperity and want to know that if they're,

lose their job. There's the chance in short order that they'll find another job. And that's going to take somebody like a Glenn Yonkin, like a winsome Sears. Like me, I was the editorial communications director for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. I worked with a lot of these startup companies and big Fortune 500 companies. You need someone who go out and sell Virginia and make sure that we don't throw away the things that make people want to come to the state, like your right to work, like a reasonable minimum wage that's not, you know, backbreaking to the average person who's trying to start a restaurant or a basic business, you know, not allowing the regulation to crush people. And I think my experience will allow me to articulate that to the general population, convince

them that we're the right party to put their faith in. And you could bet I'm going to raise cane at the Capitol to make sure that we don't lose our competitive advantage. That's important for Virginia going forward. Well, and talk about this on a grand scale because obviously New Jersey and Virginia are the two states that have executive branch elections right after the presidential years. So there's a lot of that, but there's also some congressional races because President Trump called people into his administration that are going to be happening as well. Break through the clutter of the narrative that it's a referendum on President Trump and his administration. And administration versus what's happening in Virginia, especially given Northern Virginia's employment

being in the swamp and these numbers, because I still say that there's got to be prosperity for everyone, especially if the value of our dollars go up, John. Yeah. I've got a lot of faith that President Trump, as brash as he sometimes is, wants America to succeed. You know, all these people who hate him. I'm so tired of arguing about his personality. I will tell you, I think he wants America and Americans to be successful financially and culturally. I think his heart is in putting us in a good place. Now, it's rough right now. 36 trillion dollars in debt and these cuts and the turmoil and the swamp kind of fighting back these days. It's rough. And so we're all going to have to get to the summer and to early fall and see where things are. But I think we'll be in a good place

in Virginia, largely because of Glenn Yonkin's excellent leadership as governor. I mean, you have a Christian man who I think keeps turning the other cheek. I mean, how many times this guy have been abused by the Democrats and he still won't lash out to him? So he's a pretty decent guy. He's got more patience than I do. Be honest with you. And he's a CEO. So he understands the business element to every bill that goes through the legislature and the social justice warriors are clueless about that. They're motivated by emotion and what they think is the right thing. Governor Yonkin has led us well and I think winsome Sears will do that. And I and Jason Miarris has a business mindset and I'm going to bring that. And I want to be the spokesperson for the state

in the role of lieutenant governor. John Reed, what's your website? We have a break coming up here. You know that being a radio guy, but what's your website? Yeah, it's John Reed for Virginia.com, all spelled out. The last name's R-E-I-D, John Reed for Virginia.com. So the question is, why do they do it? Why is the constant? It's signal gate. It's signal app flap, as I call it.

The misquoting. The chairman Powell is a loser. Carl Rove on TV saying he's dropped 10%. All this due process stuff. and Chris Van Hollen and Governor Healy in Massachusetts talking about due process. Now, that's their word of the week, David Hogg, all of this. Why do they do this for the one or two percentage points? And yes, most of it is geared towards the midterms.

That's their precious. They want to win the midterms, the progressive mind wants to win congressional control at least so that they can try to push any of President Trump's agenda under a rug somewhere and hopefully lay the seed for 2028. But I think some of it has to do with these next year elections in Virginia as well as in New Jersey and the congressional races that will happen there for senators and for the Congress people like Marco Rubio's seat in the Senate that may change in the percentages there. John Reed is one of those folks who wants to fight those headwinds.

And he knows those headwinds because he was there. He ran with many years for Senator and then Governor George Allen. You mentioned you even worked in the Reagan world. You've been in the Middle East. You've seen all these things. I mean, I've always wondered why in the world did you want to do radio after all of that? He was a successful radio show host in the capital of the Confederacy. Oops, sorry, sir, darn, I shouldn't have said it that way.

in Richmond, Virginia, John Reed for Lieutenant Governor in Virginia. Talk about those headwinds. And more importantly, the apathy that I hear all too frequently from people who get excited to turn out for Republican presidential elections and then go home and don't get heard from again for four more years, but we'll complain when things don't go right at the state level. Talk about that breaking through that wall, John. Yeah. Well, look, I think Donald Trump excited the base because he was a politician who leveled with everybody.

And he just told you what he was going to do. Didn't care. It wasn't trying to sweet talk everyone. And he picked issues that, quite frankly, a lot of Americans feel very worried about. Illegal immigration being one of them. Sure. of the economy and whether or not you can actually move up the ladder. I mean, look, I know things are rough right now. It's the first hundred days of the Trump administration. We're $36 trillion

of debt and some dramatic, very painful decisions are being made. This is not unlike what you would do if you were a CEO and you came in and you looked at the ledger and said, oh, my God, the company is hemorrhaging money and we've got 10 products and only one of them is making money for us. I mean, you would have to let some people go. You would have to recalibrate. It's awful. It's hurtful. I've lost my job before. I wouldn't wish it on anybody. I'm not laughing or mocking anyone. I think Republicans should be empathetic. But we also have to be honest and say, this is not sustainable. So Trump is making, I think, some reasonable and responsible decisions that are painful. And I think that's going to shake out. And we're going to be at a better place. I hope it's this year, because I got a lot of

riding on that, right? That's right. But yeah, I'm not, I'm, I decided to get into this race because I think we've got Trump in Washington trying to fix things up there, beating back the bureaucracy. And we need people who are tough and who have a good moral compass and a good sense of right wrong in both campaigning and leadership here. We've gotten that. Thank God, with Glenn Yonkin, winsome Sears, and Jason Miaris for four years. And I think it's imperative if we want to be competitive with what Tennessee and North Carolina and South Carolina and Florida and Texas, who could really eat our lunch if we're not careful, we need responsible leaders to be at the capital in Richmond. And I just think we're going to be in a good spot when we get through the summer and people start saying,

do we want to return to the Ralph Northam overzealous tyrannical attitude? or do we want reasonable, responsible people who are trying to let you live your life? And I'm one of these Republicans as a gay Republican. I know everybody freaks out about that. Don't freak out about it. I'm about freedom. I'm about freedom. I want you to be able to live your life, to worship as you see fit, for your church to be

completely autonomous. You do what you want to do and let me do what I want to do. and I'm going to stand up for your rights as lieutenant governor. You're not hiring me as your pastor. I'm not trying to be your pastor. I'm trying to be a reasonable public official who will protect your rights, whether they match up with my beliefs or not, is irrelevant. I want to protect your rights.

And I promise you, the Democrats don't have that attitude. They want your submission. And we've got to win to stop that. Well, and you bring up, you know, you bring up sensitive topics and subjects. Obviously, the key is the economy. Can I earn a living? Can I take care of my family, John? But it seems like traditional Republicans and our inability to grapple.

After the Dombs decision, I draw the metaphorical cartoon for people of somebody who was just tossed a boiling hot octopus covered in oil because that's what conservative seemed to be like, oh, my God, what do I do? with this? What do I do with this? But we're looking, we're staring down the barrel in Virginia of the most permissive abortion law on the planet becoming enshrined. It's extreme. The Democrats are extreme on this. And that's what I want to make is, is that they're the extremists in this. Are you hearing that on the campaign trail? Well, I think people are, we need to talk about it. I mean, everyone has told me, oh my God,

John, don't talk about abortion. Look, I'm pro-life. I'm not going to lie to you. That is my belief. If you're in my family, that is what we generally believe. I think I'm in the minority, probably, in Virginia, which hurts me. I think that's not a good reflection of our culture and society at the moment. But I think I owe it to the public, to be honest, that that's how I assess this. But with this amendment, the Democrats, They haven't restrained themselves at all. They haven't come up with, you know, where do we agree? And that's where I start with every conflict politically is where do we agree?

Where do we overlap? And I would have thought after what Ralph Northam did to his own party, the Democrats would have said, who, you know what? We can probably win on first and second trimester. I think they think they probably can and they don't want to, you know, and our people are often scared to talk about it. But we shouldn't talk about third trimester. They have gone so extreme that day of birth abortion is now.

If this passes, this extreme amendment, day of birth abortion for any reason will be acceptable. Now, look, I have a lot of friends who are pro-choice who will argue with me nonstop. When I tell them that, when I show them the writing and say, this is what this means, they wince. And they say, wow, that's too far. And so it's incumbent upon us to talk about it. John Reed is visiting with us. We're going to continue this conversation because I want you to go to daily signal.com and watch this when we posted there.

But I've also got more questions for John than I have minutes left in the broadcast. A talk media network going to pull the plug on us in about 10 seconds there. So John, sit tight for a little bit. And then tomorrow go to daily signal.com and watch this. Until tomorrow, for all of us here, so long. And thanks for all the fish. Okay, so now we get to continue. Now the fun can begin.

Now we're in the green room. No, I actually just want to pick up on what you were saying about the issues running headlong into it. Because if the Spanberger campaign wins and we don't change any of the makeup of the house and change the leadership there, we're looking at a lot of very radical bills, not just. H.J1 going through that Governor Yonkin record-setting veto that he has had over the last few years will all just go right through into law and all these things that the governor has vetoed will become law. Talk about that case because this is this is not just Winsome Sears and yourself and Jason Miaris getting to continue some of the work that's already been done, perhaps even doing more with a majority in the House.

But the things that Governor Yonkin has been able to stop. Yeah. Well, I'm putting together the top 10 bad bills from the Democrats this year. I don't even have to go back. Typically. I don't even have to go back. The proposals that the Democrats actually put on the table are crazy. You know, insane things.

Like if you were, if your kid over. doses for some reason at school. It's debatable whether you're going to call the parents. I mean, he's serious. This isn't, this is, this is exactly why the Democrats lost for you. I mean, Glenn Yonkins, a great candidate. He's a good looking guy. He's articulate. He's got a lot of money. I mean, he's the perfect candidate, right? But he put in the work. He, and he put in the work. He won because the Democrats screwed up and they, they told parents that they didn't matter. And And nobody wants to hear that. Nobody wants to hear that.

They will not accept it. And I think Republicans understand they're your children. And you get to raise your children with your values. And whether they align with mine or the guy down the street, that is not relevant. They're your kids. And the public school system has been hijacked by a group of radicals. And I think Republicans can push back on that. And they, the Democrats continue to want to spend.

they won't give a tax break. I mean, remember when not everybody was lucky enough to be able to sit at home and do Zoom calls in their underpants every day during COVID. Hey, I have more than my underpants on. Stop. Some people actually had to get up, get in their truck, go do service calls, you know, risk their lives supposedly. They had to go work like normal. And the gas prices were crazy. And Republicans were trying to give everybody a break.

Like, let's let's let's let's let's. Let's take a three-month holiday and we'll let people keep more of the money that they're spending on gas without taxing. Oh, no, Democrats weren't interested in that. And so time and time again, they talk a good game like they care about the working people. But then, no, they don't because what are you working for? You're working for money. And the Democrats are constantly trying to take it from you. And when there's a crisis, they don't care.

They don't give you a break. So I think there are a lot of issues where the Democrats have really developed a certain arrogance and an obnoxious attitude that the average person, when they hear about this, are going to say, yeah, is there anybody else who can help me? Well, here I am. I know what it's like to live paycheck to paycheck. I wish I was Glenn Yonkut with all his money. I don't have that money. I understand this situation. And I think people are going to say, here's a real. reasonable, responsible person who's going to put my needs first and get out of my life. Let me live my life. I think most Virginians want that.

John Reed on with us. John Reed for Virginia.com. Yeah, John Reed for Virginia.com. Running for lieutenant governor, now the GOP nominee for lieutenant governor. Last case, and getting that message out requires a lot of shoe leather. I watched Bob McDonald, Ken Cucinelli, and Bill Bowling. triangulate the state in ways I'd never thought it was almost like a door to door knocking campaign they were in every town

every week there was a rally either the LG or the they were all over the place is that commitment there on the ticket now I know it's oh gosh hours old that's yeah but you know are you going to hit every county to make that case because I really think that was what Glenn Yonkin and Winston Sears and Jason Miare's can you guys replicate that again this year?

I have no doubt that the lieutenant governor will win some sears. Our candidate for governor is going to work every single day. Jason Miaris, our attorney general, has done this. He was in the House of Delegates. I know they are committed not just to their own political success, but to the political and practical success of Virginia citizens. And they like being out there. And I do too.

And, you know, I have tried to demonstrate since I started to demonstrate, since I started my campaign on January 27th, Easter Sunday was really the first day that I took the whole day off and spent it with my mom. Good choice. Yeah, I thought that was important to take a day off. And then yesterday, I wind up as the nominee, but I'm committed to being out there and really working hard. I've been doing two or three events a day, you know, whether it's an interview like this or

whether it's actually going out and sitting in a room with 20, people in a small county. And some people are obnoxious and they would say, oh, I don't want to go talk to 20 people. I need to hear what people in smaller counties in Virginia have to. Everybody knows what people in Fairfax and Richmond and Norfolk think. I need to know what people, you know, in Giles County are thinking and saying. And sometimes our political leaders ignore the people who don't have, you know, big towering buildings with multi-million dollar corporations. And I'm a native Virginia. I have respect for

everybody in the state and I'm going to do my best to meet as many people, whether they're wearing fancy suits or whether they're wearing overalls. I want to know what people are thinking and how I can help. John Reed for Lieutenant Governor, it's John Reed for Virginia. See, that's a radio guy's attitude. So you learned quickly is that, you know, it's not the big crowds because most people are only listening to the radio one at a time. I was just reading a scholarly piece about podcasts. And what we're doing here for Daily Signal is most podcasts are only consumed by one person sitting there. So if you talk to broad strokes, then you're tuning out most of those people. Congratulations again. And I don't think it could have happened to a nicer guy. And I appreciate watching. It's a long run. I think the

voting begins in November, somewhere in mid-September. Can you believe it? There's 45 days of voting. I'm glad that we're not going to burn money and beat each other up with this primary, and we can get ready and focus and be as we can leading into the general election of the fall. Well, and do you need volunteers? Is the same website for volunteers and contributions, of course? Yeah, well, yeah, it's funny.

You mentioned the contributions. Absolutely. You know, the Democrats are going to have tons of money because all of those national Democrats are desperate to win Virginia. As you point out, it's New Jersey and Virginia on the ballot this year, and they want to win. And Abigail Spanberger has raised a heck of a lot of money. I'm, as I mentioned, I'm not rich. I can't write a check and make this happen. So I have been dependent on people who've known me for years, who know that I've advocated for responsible leadership and have some faith in me. And I'm going to try to earn. earn that trust with more people. If you go to John Reed for Virginia.com, I hope you'll feel confident that I'm standing up for the things that we as conservatives believe in, and that I'll be bold and smart and aggressive about that. And if I can impose upon someone, even if it's a $10 donation, that helps.

This stuff is crazy expensive. And, you know, the last time I was around George Allen was 20 years ago, and the prices for everything are through the roof. It's just mind-blown. Yeah, all the mailers alone, never mind the franking costs and everything. Yeah. It's just, but it's successful. We have a state senator, Luther Ciphers, who I think won his primary by mailers because nobody else in that race sent any mailers out.

So most of the people I know are like, hey, Lou, have you heard? And everyone had seen the mailers that had come out because it. gets through the clutter. And I guess that's really the key. Bless you, sir, you have a great day. And I'm sure you have a lot of these lined up. So you've warmed up beautifully. Oh, I'm so happy to talk to you. And I hope I'll see you. You know, I, when I was a competitor of yours, I felt like we saw each other all the time out there and around Charlottesville. Here's a little John Reid story. So we were just, just did the radio show in Concord, Massachusetts. And I was thinking of you while we were up there, John, because the last time you and I were together for radio

was at the 400th anniversary of the oldest elected general representative body in the world. In Jamestown. Yeah, in Jamestown. There we were. You and me. You were under your radio station tend. I was under mine and looking around and saying, nobody else thinks this is important. And so I appreciate your efforts, as always.

You're missed on the radio. I'm sure they're filling in with you for you grandly. But I hope they don't get you back soon. I'm going to work hard to make this successful for myself and more importantly for Virginia. I love this state and I love the people here. Well, thank you, John. Happy trails. Thank you.

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