WILL HAMPSON INTERVIEW 8-7-26

Or if you're someone in Washington who is part of a conservative group, if you're part of the Freedom Caucus, if you're part of the Heritage Foundation, all of those bubbles where you really do want good conservatives to win elections, I think you continue to look at examples like Andy Ogles and go, this is really not good. And I think that conservatives really need to start waking up because they are losing a lot of elections and a lot of really conservative legislators who have incredible records continue to lose because at the end of the day, voters are either being duped into thinking that the other people are more conservative because they're able to spend more money or they just don't frankly care about how conservative you are if they don't like you. And either way. Those are pretty serious things that I think Republicans in conservative states like Tennessee have to start to reckon with. Speaking with the legendary Will Hampson, the official DC insider of the show, this is why I like bringing you on as an insider because, you know, you had mentioned Andy Ogles's antics. And we see a lot of that publicly. I really think it just started to turn people off, the voters off, because it just seemed like you wanted to be more of a social media influencer than actually a member of Congress. And you went into that about how he campaigned, was terrible at raising money. But you're saying actually behind the scenes as well with other like members of Congress he wasn't even liked. Is it because, yeah, he had a conservative record but just constantly had this baggage? Or was he actually kind of kind of a jerk behind the scenes too? I mean, I know you can't say everything that you've heard, but what do you think? I think all of the above. I mean, look, Freedom Caucus types, generally speaking, they are not the most, they're quirky individuals for the most part. They're really nice people. They're nice guys. But look, being the old man screaming at the clouds comes with some downsides. And that's what it seems like the Freedom Caucus as a whole has kind of become. You moan, you complain, you know, you try and be a pain in the butt, you vote against rules, you go to your, you know, your free dinners where you can't get enough votes to take any policy position. All of these things have an impact. And when you start to look at it, what are you accomplishing? The Freedom Caucus used to be a really powerful tool, yeah, Afi. And again, you talk to some former Freedom Caucus members, like Mo Brooks, a mutual friend of ours, Congressman from North Alabama for a long time in the Freedom Caucus, he would tell you that it was just as important what the Freedians was killing or stopping or slowing down as it was what they were accomplishing.

Well, they're not even really doing that anymore. You have a really conservative block of individuals that just aren't getting very much done. But what they are doing in the process is ticking off a lot of people. You've got leadership who control the purse strings in a lot of these elections. You're voting down their rules. You're making them have to go cut deals with Democrats to try and get things done. All of these things that don't make you friends. You can't do that and then go back and not be accountable to your constituents. You can't not be going and doing all of the important grassroots work that gets you friends in your district. You can't be a poor fundraiser, someone who is not willing to take the time. to bring in money if you're going to be acting and operating in that way. And again, I think that's my greatest frustration with the Freedom Caucus types is they don't seem to understand that, right? You are going by nature when you are going up against... the powers that be when you're going up against leadership regularly when you are going and voting against rules when you are taking on the establishment and you are taking really conservative positions like they do all the time you have to be prepared to work incredibly hard on the things that you control you have to be able to be out there and go fundraise. You have to be willing to set a ton of time aside to make those calls knowing that those establishment powers that be are not going to let their donors donate to you. They're not going to let money flow to you. You have to be really good with the relationships in your district. You have to know all of your county GOP chairs. You have to have good relationships with them because those are the people that are going to be able to help you. And the reputation of someone like Andy Ogles, he just didn't do it. He didn't see that that was important. He wasn't willing to spend time to build those relationships, to build those networks, to put in the time doing the things that you have to do. And you can't be a thorn in everyone's side and then not be able or not be willing to do the hard work that you have to do if that's going to be the case. So do you think the redistricting played a role here at all? I've heard that, you know, with this district changing a little bit because they redrew the maps, he had much more rural areas. And so that's obviously going to help his opponent, Charlie Hatcher, who was the agriculture commissioner, had roots to those areas, knew the people there, the farmers, everything else. Do you think that played a role? Yeah, absolutely. I think obviously he's in a district where it's more expensive to get on TV being in the Nashville media market. That makes it tougher. You, again, you need more money there to be able to reach a lot of these more rural voters. You need to be able to golers out there. I mean, all of these things that cost money to reach these people. And again, it is tougher by nature to meet.

more rural people. When your district changes, when it's less metro, and it is more of those kind of traditional grassroots types, they're harder to reach. You have to work harder to get to them. There is not as centralized of a deal where you can go out and meet voters. You have to really be willing to work and earn it. And I absolutely think that that dynamic was a very serious one for sure. A large portion of his district changed. These were people that had never voted for him before. They didn't feel any attachment to him. He lost incumbency per se in a lot of these areas, the people that had never voted for him before. And again, it just goes to show you he had to work really hard. He had a lot of dynamics that were kind of stacked against him. And for whatever reason, maybe it was the fact he thought that the Trump endorsement was going to be enough that he didn't have to work hard in his own right. But for whatever reason, the dynamics were certainly stacked against him. But it just seems like everyone you talk to, whether it be in the state, in the district, or in Washington, the perception is just Andy botched it. He didn't work hard enough and do the things he had to do to win. And this is what you get. So I only got about a minute left, but I did want to ask you about the gubernatorial race, Marsha Blackburn. I mean, she won and pretty much everyone expected her to win, but it was only by 11 points. There's some thinking that if Monty Fritz wasn't in the race, John Rose probably could have been close, if not had beaten Marsha Blackburn. What do you think about that race? Yeah, I think this was always an interesting race. Obviously, Rose has a good relationship with President Trump. I think him being in the race is the reason that the president didn't endorse Marcia. He liked Rose. He didn't want to be on the other side. But Marcia did everything she had to do to win. And I think at the end of the day, look, you know, everyone loves to discuss margins and yada, yada. Marsha Blackburn is going to be the next governor of Tennessee. That was always her goal. And she is on a path to do it. I think she's going to be successful. And I think she's going to be a good governor. And so absolutely. I mean, she underperformed, I think, from what some people were expecting. But expectations are one thing. And at the end of the day, Yaffe, either you win or you lose. And she won. She did everything she had to do. And she is going to be the next governor of Tennessee. So certainly different dynamics there than the Andy Ogles race. But I think she at least did everything she had to do, especially without a Trump endorsement. Keep that in mind. If she were to have been endorsed by Trump, I think you end up a 20 plus point victory. That's a good point. That's a good point. The legendary Will Hampson. Yep, the official DC insider of the show. Well, always appreciate you coming on. I hope you have a good one. We'll talk to you again next week. Absolutely. Thanks, if you have a great weekend. You as well. If you have any reaction to that, a lot of good takes there on the Tennessee elections. We'll get your take on the text monster. 423-2671023, sponsored by Warren and Griffin. Chattanooga's the largest injury law firm. Coming up next, I'll kind of update the latest on Iran. And yes, now we've got to talk about $20 subs instead of $20 burritos. We'll be back in a moment on Yappy Live.

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