On today’s BradCast: A mess in Texas (several of them!), a call for unity from the Democratic Presidential nominee, and a newly discovered, scientifically-supported way to finally reach evangelical and Catholic supporters of Donald Trump and help turn them toward Joe Biden. [Audio link to full show is posted below summary.]
First, the GOP War Against Voting and Voters continues, shamefully, to gain ground in Texas as the all-Republican state Supreme Court, on Wednesday, nixed the Harris County Clerk’s plan to send absentee ballot applications to all 2.4 million registered voters in the Democratic-leaning Houston area. That follows on the heels of Gov. Greg Abbott’s proclamation late last week that no county may have more than one mail-in ballot drop-off location. (So, Dem-leaning Harris County’s 2.4 million voters get just one drop-box in the nation’s third most populous county stretching across 1,777 square miles…as do the 60,000 voters of GOP-leaning Rockwall County, on less than 150 square miles.)
Many of the new restrictions for the general election were not in place during this year’s primary in the Lone Star State, which is just one of five that is not allowing expanded mail-in voting during the pandemic, thanks in no small part to its radically far-right Attorney General Ken Paxton. Among other efforts to prevent voting, he went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court to prevent voters under 65-years of age from citing fear of contracting COVID-19 as a valid excuse for requesting an absentee ballot.
The Republican War on Voting in Texas is aided, no doubt, by the fact that Joe Biden is just over 3 points behind Trump, according to the RealClearPolitics’ polling average today, in a state which hasn’t elected a Democrat for President since 1976. Moreover, a large “blue” turnout this year could mean that Democrats finally take control of the state House of Representatives for the first time in 20 years.
But, here’s the kicker, AG Ken Paxton, the man spearheading the state’s war against democracy by claiming that loosening voting restrictions would violate state and federal laws and lead to massive “voter fraud”, is himself under criminal felony indictment for securities fraud. He has been fighting those long-standing charges for years. But now, over this past weekend, 7 top executives in his own office — including Paxton’s own first assistant — have asked federal law enforcement officials to investigate the state AG for what they describe as “improper influence, abuse of office, bribery and other potential criminal offenses.”
Gov. Abbott says the charges by Paxton’s own employees “raise serious concerns” and the AG’s former top aide turned Congressman, Rep. Chip Roy, has called on Paxton to resign immediately. All of this comes as Paxton continues to suppress Texas voters while the federal lawsuit he headed up with 17 other state AGs to strike down the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) in its entirely will be heard by the U.S. Supreme Court just ten days after Election Day.
So, yeah, it’s a mess in Texas.
While it remains to be seen if Democrats can finally turn the Lone Star State blue — especially with these extraordinary efforts by Republicans to block the vote — Biden’s lead over Trump continues to expand across the nation and most of the states considered to be battlegrounds, according to recent polling. But our guest today, DOUG PAGITT, Executive Director and Co-founder of the faith-based group Vote Common Good, believes an interesting new scientific survey carried out by his organization in consultation with human behavior experts from universities around the country, may have finally found a way to reach evangelical and Catholic voters who supported Trump in 2016.
Pagitt, a progressive evangelical pastor and, coincidentally, radio host at our affiliate station am950 KTNF in Minneapolis/St. Paul, is now on the road in five swing-states with Vote Common Good, a non-profit organization focused on reaching voters with the message that Americans can actively spread good in their own communities through the voting booth. He recently wrote an article for NBC News about his organization’s fascinating polling of Christian voters in those five key battlegrounds — Florida, Michigan, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin — in August, revealing what he says is the key to turning enough Christian Trump voters in favor of Biden to flip at least four of those five states.
The “>survey [PDF] spoke to Catholic and evangelical voters about seven core virtues (kindness, generosity, humility, chastity, modesty, diligence and patience) and seven sins (lust, sloth, greed, wrath, gluttony, envy and pride), asking them to compare Trump and Biden. He explains how just one of those virtues — or, in Trump’s case, lack thereof — was more central to any other vice or virtue in changing the minds of his 2016 voters.
“The one thing that causes someone to move away from supporting Donald Trump is his lack of kindness,” Paggit explains. Surprisingly, it wasn’t his many “sins,” which were largely well known in 2016 during his race with Hillary Clinton. He goes on to explain why that is and how the group’s surprising finding can effectively be used to reach out to your faith-based friends and family members who may now be on the fence or even still supporting Trump. His organization has even set up a way for you to reach out to those voters in swing states with postcards and yard signs that include the necessary message.
Please tune in for this fascinating discussion!
Finally, speaking of bringing people together, Biden attempted to do just that on Tuesday, in an effective speech delivered at the Civil War battleground of Gettysburg, PA yesterday. We close today’s program by sharing some extended remarks from his address…
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