Skip to content 5/20/2026 Tony Perkins Testifies Before Congress and Other Breaking News on Washington Watch Today May 20 · 54 min ...more
5/20/2026 Tony Perkins Testifies Before Congress and Other Breaking News on Washington Watch Today
May 20, 2026 · 54 min
Washington Watch follows FRC’s president, Tony Perkins, in the news testifying before the U.S. House Judiciary Committee hearing on the Southern Poverty Law Center. Additional topics covered include primary election results, government funding initiatives, the status of the Iranian War, the housing affordability language that cleared the House, and the weaponization of the DOJ.
Series Washington Watch with Tony Perkins - Audio
Family Research Council is serving in the kingdom of God by championing faith, family, & freedom in public policy and the culture from a biblical worldview.
May 20, 2026 · 54 min · Washington Watch with Tony Perkins - Audio
Washington Watch follows FRC’s president, Tony Perkins, in the news testifying before the U.S. House Judiciary Committee hearing on the Southern Poverty Law Center. Additional topics covered include primary election results, government funding initiatives, the status of the Iranian War, the housing affordability language that cleared the House, and the weaponization of the DOJ. ...more Show the full description Show less Washington Watch follows FRC’s president, Tony Perkins, in the news testifying before the U.S. House Judiciary Committee hearing on the Southern Poverty Law Center. Additional topics covered include primary election results, government funding initiatives, the status of the Iranian War, the housing affordability language that cleared the House, and the weaponization of the DOJ.
Series Washington Watch with Tony Perkins - Audio Support this leader Liking this video? Support this ministry.
Support this leader
Liking this video? Support this ministry.
Give
Support this leader Liking this video? Support this ministry.
Up next Autoplay More from Tony Perkins Ron Johnson, Andrew Clyde, Blaise Misztal, Michele Bachmann, Gary Hamrick Tony Perkins
11/9/2026 Reflections on How the Midterms Will Shape the Future Congressional Agenda and Foreign Policy Tony Perkins
From Tekoa to Bethel: A Shepherd’s Warning of Judgment Tony Perkins
Mercy Triumphs Over Judgment: God’s Desire to Restore Tony Perkins
David Wurmser, Ryan Bangert, Jeanne Seaver, David Closson Tony Perkins
11/6/2026 America’s Future Foreign and Domestic Policies and Responding Biblically to Cultural Challenges Tony Perkins
Joel 1:14 — Consecrate a Fast: A Pastoral Call to Repentance Tony Perkins
Randy Fine, Chris Mitchell, Amanda Dixon, Igor Bandura, Casey Harper Tony Perkins
11/5/2026 How Will Democrats Govern With Growing Anti-Semitism in Their Party? Tony Perkins
Hands on the Bow: Prophetic Authority and National Repentance Tony Perkins
Eric Burlison, John Rogers, Jack Hibbs, Suzanne Bowdey, Casey Harper Tony Perkins
0:01 From the heart of our nation's capital in Washington, DC, bringing compelling interviews, insightful analysis, taking you beyond the headlines and soundbites into conversations with our nation's leaders and newsmakers,0:13 all from a biblical worldview, sitting in for Tony as today's host, Jody Heiss.0:19 Turned out for them creating hate was more profitable than fighting it. That's exactly what they did. They ran a scam. They became the standard. They didn't get prosecuted, and they made a ton of money. But here's the0:30 good news, because there is some good news. Here's the good news. President Trump got elected, Todd Blanche is attorney general, Cas Patell is FBI director, and guess what? They're prosecuting these guys for running a0:41 scam, ripping off their donors, falsely labeling all kinds of good organizations like the Family Research Council, Moms for Liberty, Alliance Defending Freedom, falsely labeling them hate0:52 groups, but they got caught. Thank goodness they did.0:58 That was House Judiciary Committee chairman Jim Jordan earlier today highlighting how the Southern Poverty Law Center manufactured accusations of hate to target Christian1:11 organizations. Welcome to this Wednesday, May twentieth edition of Washington Watch. I'm your host, Jody Heise, an honor to be filling in for Tony Perkins today. Thank you for joining us. There's a1:22 flurry of news activity taking place out there. We're gonna get to as much as we can, so buckle up and hang on for the next hour. Among other things, Wyoming Congresswoman Harriet Hageman will be1:34 joining us with an overview of today's House Judiciary Committee hearing, which is you just heard examined how the Southern Poverty Law Center used its hate map
1:46 to target conservative organizations. Plus a little bit later, Tennessee Congressman John Rose will be joining us from the House floor to break down some of the votes taking place today on
1:58 Capitol Hill and what comes next in the effort to fund the Department of Homeland Security. So all that and much, much more is coming your way straight ahead on Washington
2:10 Watch. We begin the news today from Capitol Hill, where, as I just mentioned, the House
2:22 Judiciary Committee held a hearing examining how the Southern Poverty Law Center, also known as SPLC. Now this is a this is a far left nonprofit organization
2:34 that has placed groups like Family Research Council as well as other Christian and conservative groups on its hate map. And FRC president Tony Perkins was there today
2:46 and actually testified before the committee detailing what he described as the SPLC's pattern of targeting Christian and conservative organizations through
2:58 politically motivated accusations. Now keep in mind, this hearing came just 1 month after the Department of Justice actually charged the SPLC with fraud.
3:10 And joining me now to get this discussion underway is Washington stand reporter Casey Harper. Casey, it's a big big news item. What, transpired in that
3:21 hearing today?
3:22 Yeah. Thanks, Jody. A big hearing, a lot of eyes on it, and and a long hearing as well. It's called manufacturing hate. And And lawmakers on the house judiciary committee really questioned the credibility of the SPLC,
3:33 which has faced a lot of controversy. Now during the hearing, the house judiciary committee chairman, Jim Jordan, who you played a clip of, he accused the SPLC of manufacturing an extremism crisis for profit and for
3:44 funneling money to individuals connected to hate groups such as the KKK. And those are the very groups that SPLC purports to fight. Now president of family research council, Tony Perkins, he testified during that hearing
3:56 today about what could have been a deadly attack on the Family Research Council after that after FRC was put on the hate map. Here's a clip.
4:04 The issue before this committee is larger than SPLC fraud. SPLC was the hub, but there are many spokes that made up this wheel designed to crush Christians and
4:16 conservatives. The congressional inquiry should not stop with SPLC. In America, citizens should not lose banking services, digital platforms, public
4:27 credibility, and a sense of safety because they believe in biblical marriage and sexuality.
4:36 Now Democrats, Joey, on the committee, including ranking member Jamie Raskin, they took the opportunity to attack president Trump and the DOJ saying that the investigation, wouldn't hold water and even attacking the
4:48 recent 1800000000 dollar, fund for victims of weaponization.
4:54 Yeah. I remember asking very well. We served together on the oversight committee, and I'm not at all surprised by his reaction to that. Casey, if I can, turn, to
5:06 outside of the capital. As we all know yesterday, there were a number of elections, primary elections in, various states. My home state of Georgia, Kentucky, a host of others. Kinda break
5:18 down what were some of the the major takeaways that came out of yesterday, last night's election results?
5:23 Sure, Jody. Half a dozen states had these primary reference, primary elections as you referenced. And a couple of big takeaways. 1 was that congressman Thomas Massie of Kentucky lost his race. Now he had
5:35 been a big thorn in the side of president Trump, and president Trump endorsed his opponent, former Navy Seal Ed Galeraine. But also in Kentucky, Republican voters nominated Andy Barr as their candidate in
5:47 November's election for the senate. That's a seat held by senator Mitch McConnell for about 4 decades. Over on the East Coast in Pennsylvania, Democratic governor Josh Shapiro got his party's nomination for a second
5:58 term. No surprise there. Down in Georgia, Rick Jackson and Bert Jones have get to their primary runoff. Nobody got the 50 percent mark. So we're gonna see who's gonna be governor, the governor's candidate in Georgia down
6:09 there, Jody.
6:11 So a lot more yet to come Yes. With elections all across the the country. 1 other item, Casey, before I let you go. Earlier today, the house passed a bipartisan bill,
6:23 which doesn't really seem to happen very often these days. But, both sides seeking to address housing affordability and attempting to bring down cost. We're gonna be talking about this later in the program, but
6:35 but can you give us some of the details of what that bill is all about?
6:38 Sure, Jody. You're right. A rare moment of bipartisanship, but it came after several months of back and forth already. But the house passed the affordability legislation for housing. About 13 or 13 lawmakers voted
6:49 against it, all Republicans. And this bill is really aimed at increasing the supply of housing housing, encouraging homeownership, and and home construction, building new homes. So there's also interesting language in
7:00 that bill that would restrict the ability of corporate investors to buy up, single family homes, which is a real concern that these big companies are buying up all the homes and then just renting them out and and driving
7:10 prices up. But whether this can get passed in the senate, which is, you know, Jody, is where things sometimes go to die, I guess we'll see.
7:19 Yep. We will see. Casey, as always, thanks for getting us kicked off with some of the highlights of the news taking place. We appreciate it. Alright. I told you we're gonna be all over the place today. A lot of items to
7:30 cover. So I wanna turn now to the latest that's happening in Iran. Earlier today, president Trump told reporters that he was in no hurry to end the conflict with
7:42 Tehran. President Trump said that talks, there are in the final stages and at the same time, he warned of using military force if the Islamic Republic does
7:54 not agree on a deal, quickly. In fact, you may recall on Monday of this week, President Trump decided to postpone a planned strike on Iran. And
8:06 he put that off for a few days. So we're now about 6 weeks since Operation Epic Fury was paused. And I would also say some of the diplomatic progress is also Paul, at least it
8:18 appears to be in a stall. So what what's happening? Are we potentially close to finally seeing a deal secured that would end this conflict or we are we potentially watching
8:30 more escalation about to unfold? Joining me now to discuss more of this is retired Brigadier General John Tigert. He's a former assistant deputy undersecretary of the Air Force
8:41 for International Affairs. He also previously served as our nation's senior defense official in Iraq and served as the commander of joint base joint, bases
8:53 Andrews and Edwards Air Force Base. General Tigard, great to have you back on Washington Watch. I know there's a lot to cover. I wanna get to Iran. But before we get there, I just
9:05 have to get your reaction to the Department of Justice indicting Cuba's former president, Raul Castro, over a number of charges charges, but including murder and conspiracy to
9:17 kill US nationals. Your reaction to that?
9:21 Jody, in order to compel someone to do the things they may not wanna do, you've gotta increase the cost and the risks to them. And I think this indictment is just 1 additional tool
9:32 amongst many diplomatic, informational, military, and economic against the current regime in Cuba that helps them think about if they stay,
9:44 if they don't take the off ramp or the deal to leave the Cuban people alone, then now they may end up in a federal prison like Maduro. And I think this indictment is just another reminder to them that it's in their
9:56 best interest to take whatever deal is on the table so that they don't end up like Maduro.
10:02 Yeah. It's it's just fascinating what's going on there. I wish we had more time to talk about that. But let's get back to Iran. I wanna I get your, expertise opinion on, what's
10:14 happening there. Your reaction to President Trump giving Iran, what, 2 or 3 more days or whatever to secure a peace deal, after just earlier this week, he paused some planned attacks. What do you think is going on
10:26 there?
10:27 Jody, you mentioned a timeline earlier that we now are in the sixth week of a 2 week ceasefire. In fact, just a couple of days ago, the ceasefire duration exceeded the duration of kinetic
10:39 activity during Operation Epic Fury. And I'm okay with giving Iran a couple of more days, but I wanna note that they have not negotiated in good faith throughout this entire process, and
10:51 they're unlikely to. And I think that if we're trying to force them to do the things that we want them to do, then they need to understand that we have both strength of capability, we've demonstrated that, and strength
11:02 of will. And if we continue to let them disrespect us and our president by negotiating in bad faith, then it just empowers them to continue on without making a deal that's in our best interests.
11:15 Yeah. Absolutely. And I think being able to tighten screws is very important. But I wanted to ask you this, general. The while Operation Epic Fury, there's no question,
11:27 put forth heavy damages on Iranian, assets. There are reports that some of their missile stockpiles and even some of the nuclear materials
11:40 remain somewhat to largely intact. So my question, why has it been so challenging, to for us to achieve total destruction of of their
11:52 capabilities from the air? Why why has this been so difficult?
11:56 Well, Jody, first of all, I do think that from a military only perspective, Operation Epic Fury was a huge success because I do think that we massively degraded their ability to project power. And I think
12:08 there's a warning here that you don't just figure out a country's military capability by counting numbers of missiles or numbers of launchers. You have to look at it as a system. Do they have the
12:19 capability to use what they have to actually threaten? And that is a system of systems and the way that we prosecuted the war very effectively degraded, not individual
12:31 missiles or launchers, but their ability to use those to project power. But I do also wanna understand an important caveat that we need to think of what comes next if we
12:43 do reengage in kinetic activity as how do we strike not just military targets, but strategic targets. And for the most part, we gave the regime sanctuary, and we
12:55 gave their economic well-being sanctuary during Operation Epic Fury. And I think that if we do reengage in kinetic activity, we need to start striking those more strategic targets.
13:07 Yeah. Yeah. I've agreed. I think that's a brilliant thing. And this whole thing in the Strait of Hormuz, this is it's impacting the entire economy. And, it's we've we've got a lot to see where this
13:19 is going to go for sure. Thank you so much, retired Brigadier General John Tigert, former assistant deputy undersecretary of the Air Force for International Affairs. Always
13:30 always a privilege and an honor to have you joining us on Washington Watch. We appreciate it.
13:35 Jody, thanks so much again for having me.
13:38 Coming up, we are going to go back to Capitol Hill. In fact, we're going to go on to the house floor. We will be joined by Tennessee congressman John Rose, who is, gonna take us live. He is
13:50 live on the floor where votes are taking place. He's gonna give us the lowdown of what they are voting on and what's so important. So stay with us. We'll be back right after the break.
14:01 Join us for a time of prayer, inspiration, and action at this year's pray vote stand summit at Cornerstone Chapel in Leesburg, Virginia. Hear from Christian leaders, issue experts, and government
14:13 officials as we work together to build a foundation based on biblical truth. Early bird special tickets are on sale for 69 dollars when you register by June fifteenth. To register, visit
14:24 pray boat stand dot org. That's pray boat stand dot org.
14:31 Exodus chapter 9 verse 1 says thus says the Lord God of the Hebrews let my people go that they may serve me. You see America has freedom for a
14:42 purpose. The question is, are we living by that purpose today? In scripture, deliverance and
14:54 freedom is never an end in itself. It is a liberation unto obedience, to worship, and to a covenantal relationship. God's demand to
15:06 pharaoh was not freedom for freedom's sake, but freedom so his people could identify with and belong to and serve him. Freedom is not used to serve
15:18 God will not endure. 1 of the founders actually echoed a similar warning Thomas Jefferson wrote, indeed I tremble for my country
15:37 accountable to God for what he had granted to would be accountable to God for what he had granted to us. They sought freedom for a purpose,
15:50 and that freedom was given to us as a nation for that same purpose to serve God, to honor him, and to live as a people under his authority.
16:01 In this 200 and fiftieth anniversary year, we must ask the question, are we living by that purpose today as a nation?
16:14 Lord, we thank you for the godly foundation and heritage of our states. Lord, we will return to an of the freedom that you've granted to us. That freedom has a
16:26 name. His name is Jesus. And freedom has a purpose. It is to honor and glorify you. And I pray that our nation would return to that understanding
16:38 of the purpose of the freedom that you have granted to us. We thank you father by faith we pray that we would return to that purpose in Jesus
16:50 name we pray
17:01 Amen. Welcome back to Washington Watch. I'm Jody Heiss filling in today for Tony. Thanks so much for tuning in. Alright. There is a lot going on on Capitol Hill today
17:13 as I've mentioned, and that there's always a lot that takes place on Capitol Hill, but especially on weeks where congress is preparing to head out for a recess as it is this
17:25 week for Memorial Day. When you have special holidays like this, there's just a flurry of activities. And so we wanna try to hit on some of the latest developments that
17:36 are taking place in Congress. And, hopefully, we're trying to get him right now joining us on the Patriot Mobile hotline from the house floor, Congressman John Rose. He serves on the House
17:48 Financial Services Committee representing the sixth congressional district from Tennessee. And I understand we are still trying to get him. He's not on the floor. Alright. We're gonna continue trying to get
18:00 congressman Rose until he joins us. I wanna jump over to Josh. Alright. Well, we've got him now. Let me come back again back and forth. We've got ping pong going on. Congressman Rose, welcome back to
18:12 Washington Watch. Thanks for joining us.
18:15 Great to be with you. Thanks for having me on the show, mister Perkins. Appreciate it.
18:19 Well, listen, I know you've got a lot going on with the, votes on the floor and just a ton of activity. Let's talk about the, affordable housing bill that,
18:31 is is taking place right now, has taken place today. Tell us a little bit about what's in that bill.
18:38 Well, it's a a lot of things. Obviously, a collection of different things. The thing that, that I'm most proud of is, we've got a bill that, that I've sponsored now been
18:50 in congress the last couple of of congresses that will remove kind of a bureaucratic requirement that mobile homes or modular homes have a permanent chassis under them, and that will
19:02 really lower the cost for entry level housing for lots of Americans and allow a lot of, you know, it, I guess experimentation how, you know, modernization, experimentation with
19:14 ways to make houses more affordable and create factory built housing. But it does a lot of things to modernize and streamline federal and local housing processes, you
19:26 know, creating, you know, removing bureaucratic, obstacles. It modernizes the HOME program, which is the largest federal block grant program for states to increase the
19:38 supply of housing, exempt small scale housing developments from burdensome federal environmental reviews and, that, you know, slow down and increase the cost for, Americans to
19:49 build new houses. It enhances community banking operations, you know, modernizing outdated banking regulations to expand local lending while maintaining financial responsibility,
20:02 cutting red tape. Just a a whole host of these kinds of improvements that I think are made. It's not perfect. We had a better product in my view coming out of the house,
20:14 but, you know, this is the way the founders set things up. So we have to work to consensus with the senate and and get the the White House on board. So we've made some compromises that are probably, in my view,
20:26 not ideal. It does provide some limits to institutional investors, investing in single family housing that I think, it it frankly, I support that idea because I
20:38 think we've priced too many, first time homebuyers out of the market, by putting them up against institutional investors who have financing pay, advantages over the typical
20:50 single family homebuyer.
20:53 Well, I understand that this bill still, and and you're right. I mean, the sausage, gets made is sometimes an ugly battle getting through all this. But, you mentioned the senate understands senator Scott, Tim Scott, and
21:04 Elizabeth Warren, were behind the senate's version of this bill. And they're they're saying that there's still a lot of work to be done. Any idea what the sticking points are that they
21:17 have?
21:17 Well, I know we made some changes on the house side and, you know, worked closely, my understanding and, with the senate and with the White House to get to language. So I hope they
21:29 will not, feel the need to to make too many changes because I you know, obviously, we've made some compromises on the house side. We're not 100 percent happy with where things are. My bill on removing
21:41 the chassis requirements, you know, I think is a pretty easy 1 to get to consensus on. But there's some other of the restrictions that the president wanted on institutional investors. A concern there that we don't
21:53 want to chase, investment away from the construction of housing. And so there there be some things like that. There there were a number of proposals from senator Warren and from the
22:05 Democrats on the house side that frankly were not ideal. We work to get those to a place where they we could live with them. For example, there's a hotline for filing complaints. Some people have mischaracterized
22:17 that as, you know, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau type intervention, but I don't think it rises to that level. In fact, I think it will be not that different from what already exists
22:29 at the Department of Housing in terms of a place to register complaints about mistreatment that you think you might have received. So I I feel like we got to as good a place as probably you can get with a
22:41 compromised legislation like this.
22:44 Okay. Let's, let's shift gears quickly to the reconciliation bill, the 2 Secure America acts. Where are we on funding the, Department of Homeland Security? Where where is
22:55 all this going?
22:58 Well, so the the hope is that the senate can actually get their work done. They're gonna begin what they call a vote a rama, I guess, later tonight. And, you know, the question is, can they get this
23:10 how quickly can they get their work done and send this back to the house? Obviously, a lot at stake here because we need to see this passed in order to fully fund, immigrations
23:22 immigration and custom enforcement and customs border protection, border patrol. And so, you know, the the Democrats have been playing games with the safety and security of the American people.
23:34 The reconciliation process is a way for Republicans to deliver. We've done that on the house side repeatedly, but the senate, continues to hide behind the filibuster. And so this is a way for them
23:46 to to get this work done and match what the house has been trying to get done in terms of funding the, you know, important operations that protect American citizens, and we hope that they can get their
23:58 work done. I think it will pass quickly on the house side. Alright. If then it can get their work done.
24:04 Less than a minute. In fact, 30 seconds or so, but when you say the Democrats are playing games here, yeah, many of them are still on this defund ICE mode. Are they going to come around real quickly?
24:15 Well, I don't think they have to come around here. We're that's the whole reason for using reconciliation is that we can pass this with Republican votes if if the Republicans in the senate stick together, and and I think
24:26 those in the house will. And so we will we will actually just pass this without the help of the Democrats. They're committed to defunding the police, and they're committed to
24:35 Right.
24:36 Protecting illegal immigrants.
24:38 Thank you so much for joining us from the house floor. Tennessee congressman John Rose, always great to have you. Our friends, coming up, as, we've discussed, a lot of elections took place yesterday. 1 very
24:50 important 1 in Kentucky. And, no, it's not the 1 you're probably thinking of. It's another 1, so stay with us.
25:01 Join Family Research Council for a journey through the book of first Samuel. Come witness the rise of Samuel, the fall of Saul, and the calling of David, and how each person's heart posture before God
25:12 shaped their path and legacy. Order Tony Perkins study guide, first Samuel, longing for a king to help you respond faithfully to God's voice in every season of life. Get it now at f r c dot org
25:24 slash store or text Samuel to 6 7 7 4 2.
25:32 1 nation under God, America's undeniable
25:42 foundation of
25:44 faith. The United States Capitol, an iconic symbol of the American Republic. But few know that this building at the heart of our nation's government was once something more, the
25:56 largest church building in America. Since its inception and for decades following, several rooms throughout the capital, including the house and senate chambers, were used to host church
26:07 services weekly. These services were filled with individuals from all levels of government. The attendance was so pervasive that often it was standing room only. Quote, going to the Capitol on
26:19 Sundays was then 1 of the most common things in Washington, Margaret Bayard Smith. This practice was not merely accepted but encouraged. Quote, I consider it as 1 of my public
26:31 duties as a representative of the people to give my attendance every Sunday morning when divine service is performed in the hall. President John Quincy Adams. Housing worship at the
26:43 center of our capital was a living representation of the role that biblical principles played as a cornerstone of our nation's foundation of faith.
27:03 Thank you so much for joining us today on Washington Watch. Welcome back. I'm Jody Heiss sitting in today for Tony. Glad to have you. And this segment is being sponsored by FRC Action as we're gonna be
27:14 diving in to some of the election talk from yesterday. As we've mentioned, there were 6 states that held primary elections yesterday. And 1 of the most contentious races
27:27 took place in Kentucky's fourth congressional district where congressman Thomas Massey actually lost to former Navy Seal Ed Galleran. But certainly while there was a
27:39 ton of national media media focus on that race, There was another Horton in the Bluegrass state that deserves attention. And that is the 1 of the state's legislative
27:51 seat for the 60 third house district of Kentucky. Now why is that 1 worth noting? Well, joining us now to share what happened is Cole Cusick.
28:03 He actually faced off an incumbent for that district and he won and he is also a former FRC intern. Cole, welcome to Washington Watch. It's,
28:15 great to have you. Let's start with just the basic question. What led you to run?
28:20 Thank you for having me, Jody. Well, I was running to bring conservative leadership back to the 60 third house district. I was born and raised here in Northern Kentucky. I come from a family
28:32 of servant leaders. My grandparents started a church in the district over 40 years ago. But I had worked for your state affiliate as as well, the Family Foundation, and been involved in public policy. And,
28:44 unfortunately, we had, our current representative with a very liberal voting record. I had been working with some other organizations, to bring conservative leadership back to the district. And,
28:56 the time had come for me to be able to run, and so I decided to run, with prayer, with talking to other people in the district, and, I threw my hat in the ring.
29:07 That is that is absolutely amazing, Cole. And let me be among the first here at FRC to, huge give give huge congratulations. Job well done. We're all proud of you and
29:19 praying for you as you go now to, represent, and to serve in the the state legislature there. What are some of the issues that you ran on? What were some of the big things
29:31 that, you you told your constituents that you were going to stand for?
29:36 Yes, sir. I ran on a very clear platform as a conservative Republican that I'm pro life and pro family, something I learned very clearly at the Family Research Council while working under the FRC Action
29:48 Pack as an intern back in 20 16, which was a great experience. And, that I was running to defend constitutional liberties, our free speech, religious freedom, our right to self defense, right to privacy, and
30:00 states' rights, and then lastly, to eliminate the state income tax. We're surrounded by a few states with a lower in state income tax. As you're probably aware, some states have totally eliminated it, and that's
30:11 something that I'm wanting to see happen here in Kentucky. So I really leaned heavily into my social conservative values. My opponent, has a very liberal voting record. She was 1 of the
30:22 last, Kentucky legislators to still support, quote, unquote, conversion therapy, which is taking away, free speech and religious liberty from our religious counselors and helping out children
30:34 and families. She's, voted to keep transgender surgeries for minors. She failed to protect women's sports. So I really made a contrast with my background and my faith
30:46 in Christ, reverence for the scriptures, and wanting to bring that conservative leadership back because because this is a very conservative district. We have great private schools, public schools. We're very religious,
30:57 great churches here, and, a lot of people had been looking for a return to that. She had never had a Republican challenger in the 6 years that she represented this district, and I won by 13
31:09 votes just yesterday.
31:11 Wow. That is remarkable. So, yeah, 13 votes. That's so let me ask you this. I've been through this many times. Of course, the campaigns, and there's always things that happen along the way that are very
31:23 memorable. Winning about 13 votes, that's huge. Anything along the way that unfolded that you will never forget?
31:31 Oh, wow. How about election night to start out? But, just going back at the door, I knocked on, 13 to 1400 doors by the end of the election. I will say about a week before the
31:43 election, they were running 8 negative mailers on me in the district. They were running ads on Fox News, Fox Business, on Netflix, everywhere they could. And I
31:55 oh, a lady opened the door and said, oh my goodness, Kolkusick. I've seen your signs. I've looked you up and your opponent. I'm voting for you. And when I look at a race this close, I think back to conversations like
32:06 that, and I know that the Lord was fighting battles on my behalf. He was working on the hearts of my soon to be constituents that I was running a positive campaign. I was showing contrast. I was not afraid of
32:18 the values that, are deeply important to me and and deeply important to so many people in the district, and they saw that and that resonated with them. So I'm thankful to God of people that he's brought me across.
32:30 And, and then on election night too, as the results were coming in, I was down. I got farther down. K. I got as, far down as 84 votes, and then all at once, all the votes came in about
32:42 2500 votes at the end, and that was up for third up up by 13. So I know it was only God there at the end.
32:49 Only God. And that's all you need, Colt. That's all you need. And he is going to be by your side every day while you represent your constituents in the legislature
33:01 there. And again we are we are proud of you. We are grateful that God has blessed you and he's blessed the the constituents of the, 60 third district
33:13 there. And may the good hand of God be upon you as you go from this point to serve in a in a powerful and a mighty way. Thank you for joining us today on Washington Watch.
33:25 Thank you, Jody. Have a great night.
33:28 Alright. Cole Cusick. What a great great story. And friends, I tell you, I wish we'd had more time to get into it because there's some of you watching listening right now that the Lord
33:40 may be tapping your shoulders for a future run to get involved, to represent Christ in the public square. Alright. Coming up, we've got more to dive into,
33:52 specifically the House Judiciary Committee hearing today on the Southern Poverty Law Center. Stay with us. We'll be right back.
34:00 I think all people really need to have this type of education.
34:04 Well, I can tell you that it's been an amazing course period.
34:07 I think this course is a reminder that a biblical worldview should really impact everything. It impacts our government from the federal to the state to the local. It should impact what we're doing with our families and
34:18 with our work.
34:19 God and government is a video driven bible based training course from Family Research Council that explores the connection between biblical principles and American government. In
34:31 this 6 session video series, FRC president Tony Perkins equips participants with a practical understanding of civil government from a biblical world view.Show more
Comments No comments yet. Start the conversation.
Comments
Keep it kind. Comments are public.