September 25, 2025 • 10 mins
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
It's it's a field that picking up steam, getting crowded
every day more and more. But Tom Leonard joins us
right now, former former Speaker of the House here in Michigan,
and a really big I think, good showing there in
the poll sir, thank you for taking a time to
be here with us today. You got to be pretty
happy about it that I would think.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
Yeah, I mean, yeah, we were, and I believe justin
it shows a lot of momentum. I mean, as you know,
we got in this race much later than others. There's
a couple that been running since January. I think John
James got in in March. We got in in late June.
And frankly, you know, when I went up there, I
thought because of how late we got in, and second,
we didn't spend a lot of money, you know, taking
(00:40):
volunteers and stuff up there. Janelle, you know, Hannah, Thomas,
Danny and I we went up there, we enjoyed ourselves
with a couple of campaign workers, and we pulled really well.
And I think it shows a lot of momentum, shows
some great grassroots report or support, and frankly, we had
a really good showing on the panel. I'm convinced that
if that panel had been three or four hours earlier,
(01:02):
we might would have won that poll because the number
of people that walked up this said, my goodness, Tom,
after I watched that forum with all those candidates, there's
no doubt you are the one to lead us going
into twenty six. And I wish I had held my
vote until I had seen that forum. So we were
very excited about our showing on the island.
Speaker 1 (01:19):
I got I'd have to ask you, but that was
a really interesting panel, that's for sure.
Speaker 2 (01:23):
It was.
Speaker 1 (01:24):
There's quite a few of you up there, and some
that aren't even announced her in the race just yet,
And I thought, well, that was that was kind of
interesting to see the back and forth. But also I
think that when you watch something like that, you kind
of get it. We've got the chance to sort of
compare and contrast and you can sort of measure each
individual against the other, and in your case, it sounds
(01:49):
like for a lot of folks that's that was helpful.
Speaker 2 (01:53):
Yeah, absolutely, and listen, justin I've been very clear. Listen,
the Democrats gave Republicans a playbook last cycle for what
happens when you're void of a vision you don't know
what you stand for, and you wake up every day
and your only focus is hatred of one person, you lose.
And frankly, as conservatives and Republicans, we are not immune
to that. If we wake up every day and our
(02:15):
only message is I hate Gretchen Whitmer or I hate
Joslyn Benson, we will suffer the same. Faith. So I've
been very clear we've got to have a positive vision,
focus on solving problems for the state. And that's what
we did on this panel, and I think a lot
of people saw that we don't just have talking points,
we have a plan. In fact, yesterday we released We're
the only the only campaign this entire cycle on the
(02:37):
Republican or Democrat side. We released an entire policy plan
for how to turn this state around. That's what we're
going to be focused on in the months ahead.
Speaker 3 (02:43):
All Right, let's walk through some of that.
Speaker 1 (02:45):
People are just maybe getting not just getting to know you,
but becoming refreshed. Former Speaker of the House here, and
you've you've you're around the first time with President Trump
was was in office the first time folks may remember.
But what are the big things that stand out for you?
The most when you're looking at policy. We've had a
number of these conversations and I could maybe take a
(03:08):
few licks at some of the big things for me,
and I don't want to sway.
Speaker 3 (03:11):
I want to hear yours too.
Speaker 1 (03:12):
But for me, one of the biggest things I'm watching
right now is we see this effort to really restore
bring in manufacturing. I mean, this is making things in
America again. Essentially.
Speaker 3 (03:23):
I like to see yus make things in Michigan again,
and I don't want to see us miss out.
Speaker 1 (03:28):
I feel like we had this massive push and all
of this investment is coming into the country, but the
way things are set up here in Michigan, largely because
of the last nearly eight years scretching went We're in
the Democrats. These policies that have kept us, I mean
everything from infrastructure to roads and energy and everything else
that's keeping us from becoming I think a destination that.
Speaker 3 (03:47):
We ought to be.
Speaker 2 (03:49):
Yeah. Absolutely, and that's in our policy plan. So listen.
You know, there's many times I've gone on some of
these television shows and the host will ask me about
President Trump's tariffs and whether or not I think they're
going to work, and I've said, yes, I believe they're
going to But as somebody running for governor, I think
you're asking the wrong question. I think the question has
to be, when these tariffs start to work, and thousands
(04:10):
of manufacturing jobs start to come back to the United States,
will they choose Michigan. And my argument right now would
be no. We repealed right to work when right to
workers repealed. A couple of years ago, Michigan was thirty
six out of fifty front employment not good enough, but
now we're forty eight out of fifty. We were one
tenth of one percent off of the national average. Now
(04:31):
I believe we're two percent. We've done nothing but declined
since then. We got to bring right to work, but
licensure reciprocity. I gave this example on the forum. My
uncle married my aunt about ten twelve years ago. They
moved back here to be closer to family. He was
a journeyman electrician in South Carolina for twenty years. He
moves to Michigan. It takes him four months to find
(04:51):
a job, not because there wasn't a job available, but
because the state of Michigan forced him to jump through
all of these hoops to find one. A grant reciprocity.
If you're certified to work in another state, let's give
you a job when when when you get here. But
one of the big the one, one of the big
issues are examples I gave on the regulatory side. In November,
there were two bills that were introduced. One was going
(05:14):
to put a substantial burden on plumbers, the other electricians.
The one that involved plumbers made it to the governor's desk,
she signed it. The one that involved electricians it died.
Why because the environmentalists came in and said, if you
pass this bill and the substantial burden is placed on electricians,
we will no longer be able to build thousands of
(05:34):
acres of solar farms across this state. That tells me
there are legislators in Lansing right now that care more
about solar farms than they do care about building affordable housing.
That's wrong. That's a mentality we got to change.
Speaker 1 (05:47):
Yeah, that's a big that's a big topic of conversation.
A lot of people talking about, particularly those those solar farms.
And look, there's been such a push when we talk
about energy. It's not just here. Former Speaker Tom Leonard
with us right now running for governor here in Michigan
in twenty twenty six. But I've seen it in the Midwest.
I've seen it. You know, people's rates are going up residentially.
(06:10):
But also we look at energy when it comes for manufacturing.
I mean, these companies, they're taking a look at what
it costs to do anything here. And there's been this
push of wind, solar and unicorn farts as I call it.
But there's been this push that is just outpriced us.
Oh damn you, and we got to get away from that.
(06:30):
How do we break the back.
Speaker 3 (06:32):
On that thing?
Speaker 2 (06:34):
Well, you look at my plan nuclear. I mean, I
believe we need to start investing in nuclear energy. It's
more efficient, it's more effective, it produces lunergy, and hey,
for the environmentalists, it doesn't have the carbon emissions that
they're scared of. I don't know why we're not looking
at nuclear, but we just simply just need more competition.
I mean, if solar and wind is the way to go,
which I don't believe it is, then we should be
(06:56):
able to do this without subsidies and without mandates. The
free market, you know, fix itself. I believe we need
more competition in this market, but nuclear. But also we've
got to make certain we do everything we can to
build this Line five tunnel in northern Michigan. When I
was a House Speaker, we passed the legislation for the
framework to build the tunnel, and unfortunately, because of one
activist Attorney General, as you know, this tunnel has been
(07:19):
held up. Sixty five percent of the propeene users in
northern Michigan depend on this line are the energy that
goes through Line five. We've got to build this tunnel
as well.
Speaker 1 (07:29):
Yeah, that's unthinkable that we're still even having conversations about
this thing. It is, it's a big piece of it.
What else is in the path forward?
Speaker 3 (07:37):
The plan?
Speaker 1 (07:37):
As we speak with Tom Leonard, who's running for governor
here in Michigan, Well.
Speaker 2 (07:42):
You know, it talks about getting rid of implicit bias training.
I mean, we've got healthcare professionals right now. The state
of Michigan is supposed to be short of eight hundred
primary care physicians by twenty thirty. One third of the
counties in our state are considered maternity deserts because we
don't have an OBGYA available. Well, why in the world
do we force all of these healthcare providers now to
(08:04):
take implicit bias training, as well as our troopers and
police officers. I mean the kernel for the state police,
ninety eight and a half percent of the troopers that
he is supposed to lead have lost confidence in the
job he's doing. A lot of that is because the
implicit bias training that they have to take. Justin I
was a former prosecutor. I read hundreds, if not thousands,
(08:25):
of police reports. I went on the streets with these officers.
I never saw an officer target anybody because of the
color of their skin. Now we are essentially telling our
officers and troopers, we believe you're racist, and we're going
to make you take implicit bias training before you can
go out on the streets and do your job. So
this plan would get rid of implicit bias training and
state government as well.
Speaker 3 (08:45):
Yeah, that's a big one.
Speaker 1 (08:46):
Lots of folks looking at that, and I think what
part of the big push obviously making America safe for again,
but Michigan as well. We've gotten away from common sense
and a lot of this just is really truth, logic
and common sense.
Speaker 3 (08:59):
As they say, that's it. Hey, folks want.
Speaker 1 (09:02):
To find out more well, I absolutely have you back
on as well in the coming day as as things
continue to heat up. But folks want to find out more,
they can go to the website, see the plan and
get all the details there.
Speaker 2 (09:14):
Absolutely Tom for Michigan, so it's Tom f o or
Michigan dot com. In the entire plan is right there
on the front. There's a link up top they can
click it. But listen, we're an open book. We're transparent.
Just like with Donald Trump the last election cycle, he
had a positive vision, he was transparent what he wanted
to get done. That's what we're doing with this campaign
as well.
Speaker 1 (09:33):
Tom Leonard, former Speaker of the House here in Michigan
running for governor. We appreciate you taking the time to
be here with us today.
Speaker 2 (09:40):
Hey, thank you, my friend. Looking forward to the next time.
Speaker 1 (09:42):
Absolutely, you got it there you Oh folks, I'm telling you,
we're going to get everybody in here and Tom's when
we wanted to.
Speaker 3 (09:48):
We just it took us a while to get it done.
Speaker 1 (09:51):
I'm thankful that we did and got a chance to
see him in the panel this.
Speaker 3 (09:56):
Weekend up in Macina. We had a fantastic time.
Speaker 1 (09:58):
So more coming up, butter in fact, I got some
good news I want to share with you.
Speaker 3 (10:02):
Coming up next
It's it's a field that picking up steam, getting crowded
every day more and more. But Tom Leonard joins us
right now, former former Speaker of the House here in Michigan,
and a really big I think, good showing there in
the poll sir, thank you for taking a time to
be here with us today. You got to be pretty
happy about it that I would think.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
Yeah, I mean, yeah, we were, and I believe justin
it shows a lot of momentum. I mean, as you know,
we got in this race much later than others. There's
a couple that been running since January. I think John
James got in in March. We got in in late June.
And frankly, you know, when I went up there, I
thought because of how late we got in, and second,
we didn't spend a lot of money, you know, taking
(00:40):
volunteers and stuff up there. Janelle, you know, Hannah, Thomas,
Danny and I we went up there, we enjoyed ourselves
with a couple of campaign workers, and we pulled really well.
And I think it shows a lot of momentum, shows
some great grassroots report or support, and frankly, we had
a really good showing on the panel. I'm convinced that
if that panel had been three or four hours earlier,
(01:02):
we might would have won that poll because the number
of people that walked up this said, my goodness, Tom,
after I watched that forum with all those candidates, there's
no doubt you are the one to lead us going
into twenty six. And I wish I had held my
vote until I had seen that forum. So we were
very excited about our showing on the island.
Speaker 1 (01:19):
I got I'd have to ask you, but that was
a really interesting panel, that's for sure.
Speaker 2 (01:23):
It was.
Speaker 1 (01:24):
There's quite a few of you up there, and some
that aren't even announced her in the race just yet,
And I thought, well, that was that was kind of
interesting to see the back and forth. But also I
think that when you watch something like that, you kind
of get it. We've got the chance to sort of
compare and contrast and you can sort of measure each
individual against the other, and in your case, it sounds
(01:49):
like for a lot of folks that's that was helpful.
Speaker 2 (01:53):
Yeah, absolutely, and listen, justin I've been very clear. Listen,
the Democrats gave Republicans a playbook last cycle for what
happens when you're void of a vision you don't know
what you stand for, and you wake up every day
and your only focus is hatred of one person, you lose.
And frankly, as conservatives and Republicans, we are not immune
to that. If we wake up every day and our
(02:15):
only message is I hate Gretchen Whitmer or I hate
Joslyn Benson, we will suffer the same. Faith. So I've
been very clear we've got to have a positive vision,
focus on solving problems for the state. And that's what
we did on this panel, and I think a lot
of people saw that we don't just have talking points,
we have a plan. In fact, yesterday we released We're
the only the only campaign this entire cycle on the
(02:37):
Republican or Democrat side. We released an entire policy plan
for how to turn this state around. That's what we're
going to be focused on in the months ahead.
Speaker 3 (02:43):
All Right, let's walk through some of that.
Speaker 1 (02:45):
People are just maybe getting not just getting to know you,
but becoming refreshed. Former Speaker of the House here, and
you've you've you're around the first time with President Trump
was was in office the first time folks may remember.
But what are the big things that stand out for you?
The most when you're looking at policy. We've had a
number of these conversations and I could maybe take a
(03:08):
few licks at some of the big things for me,
and I don't want to sway.
Speaker 3 (03:11):
I want to hear yours too.
Speaker 1 (03:12):
But for me, one of the biggest things I'm watching
right now is we see this effort to really restore
bring in manufacturing. I mean, this is making things in
America again. Essentially.
Speaker 3 (03:23):
I like to see yus make things in Michigan again,
and I don't want to see us miss out.
Speaker 1 (03:28):
I feel like we had this massive push and all
of this investment is coming into the country, but the
way things are set up here in Michigan, largely because
of the last nearly eight years scretching went We're in
the Democrats. These policies that have kept us, I mean
everything from infrastructure to roads and energy and everything else
that's keeping us from becoming I think a destination that.
Speaker 3 (03:47):
We ought to be.
Speaker 2 (03:49):
Yeah. Absolutely, and that's in our policy plan. So listen.
You know, there's many times I've gone on some of
these television shows and the host will ask me about
President Trump's tariffs and whether or not I think they're
going to work, and I've said, yes, I believe they're
going to But as somebody running for governor, I think
you're asking the wrong question. I think the question has
to be, when these tariffs start to work, and thousands
(04:10):
of manufacturing jobs start to come back to the United States,
will they choose Michigan. And my argument right now would
be no. We repealed right to work when right to
workers repealed. A couple of years ago, Michigan was thirty
six out of fifty front employment not good enough, but
now we're forty eight out of fifty. We were one
tenth of one percent off of the national average. Now
(04:31):
I believe we're two percent. We've done nothing but declined
since then. We got to bring right to work, but
licensure reciprocity. I gave this example on the forum. My
uncle married my aunt about ten twelve years ago. They
moved back here to be closer to family. He was
a journeyman electrician in South Carolina for twenty years. He
moves to Michigan. It takes him four months to find
(04:51):
a job, not because there wasn't a job available, but
because the state of Michigan forced him to jump through
all of these hoops to find one. A grant reciprocity.
If you're certified to work in another state, let's give
you a job when when when you get here. But
one of the big the one, one of the big
issues are examples I gave on the regulatory side. In November,
there were two bills that were introduced. One was going
(05:14):
to put a substantial burden on plumbers, the other electricians.
The one that involved plumbers made it to the governor's desk,
she signed it. The one that involved electricians it died.
Why because the environmentalists came in and said, if you
pass this bill and the substantial burden is placed on electricians,
we will no longer be able to build thousands of
(05:34):
acres of solar farms across this state. That tells me
there are legislators in Lansing right now that care more
about solar farms than they do care about building affordable housing.
That's wrong. That's a mentality we got to change.
Speaker 1 (05:47):
Yeah, that's a big that's a big topic of conversation.
A lot of people talking about, particularly those those solar farms.
And look, there's been such a push when we talk
about energy. It's not just here. Former Speaker Tom Leonard
with us right now running for governor here in Michigan
in twenty twenty six. But I've seen it in the Midwest.
I've seen it. You know, people's rates are going up residentially.
(06:10):
But also we look at energy when it comes for manufacturing.
I mean, these companies, they're taking a look at what
it costs to do anything here. And there's been this
push of wind, solar and unicorn farts as I call it.
But there's been this push that is just outpriced us.
Oh damn you, and we got to get away from that.
(06:30):
How do we break the back.
Speaker 3 (06:32):
On that thing?
Speaker 2 (06:34):
Well, you look at my plan nuclear. I mean, I
believe we need to start investing in nuclear energy. It's
more efficient, it's more effective, it produces lunergy, and hey,
for the environmentalists, it doesn't have the carbon emissions that
they're scared of. I don't know why we're not looking
at nuclear, but we just simply just need more competition.
I mean, if solar and wind is the way to go,
which I don't believe it is, then we should be
(06:56):
able to do this without subsidies and without mandates. The
free market, you know, fix itself. I believe we need
more competition in this market, but nuclear. But also we've
got to make certain we do everything we can to
build this Line five tunnel in northern Michigan. When I
was a House Speaker, we passed the legislation for the
framework to build the tunnel, and unfortunately, because of one
activist Attorney General, as you know, this tunnel has been
(07:19):
held up. Sixty five percent of the propeene users in
northern Michigan depend on this line are the energy that
goes through Line five. We've got to build this tunnel
as well.
Speaker 1 (07:29):
Yeah, that's unthinkable that we're still even having conversations about
this thing. It is, it's a big piece of it.
What else is in the path forward?
Speaker 3 (07:37):
The plan?
Speaker 1 (07:37):
As we speak with Tom Leonard, who's running for governor
here in Michigan, Well.
Speaker 2 (07:42):
You know, it talks about getting rid of implicit bias training.
I mean, we've got healthcare professionals right now. The state
of Michigan is supposed to be short of eight hundred
primary care physicians by twenty thirty. One third of the
counties in our state are considered maternity deserts because we
don't have an OBGYA available. Well, why in the world
do we force all of these healthcare providers now to
(08:04):
take implicit bias training, as well as our troopers and
police officers. I mean the kernel for the state police,
ninety eight and a half percent of the troopers that
he is supposed to lead have lost confidence in the
job he's doing. A lot of that is because the
implicit bias training that they have to take. Justin I
was a former prosecutor. I read hundreds, if not thousands,
(08:25):
of police reports. I went on the streets with these officers.
I never saw an officer target anybody because of the
color of their skin. Now we are essentially telling our
officers and troopers, we believe you're racist, and we're going
to make you take implicit bias training before you can
go out on the streets and do your job. So
this plan would get rid of implicit bias training and
state government as well.
Speaker 3 (08:45):
Yeah, that's a big one.
Speaker 1 (08:46):
Lots of folks looking at that, and I think what
part of the big push obviously making America safe for again,
but Michigan as well. We've gotten away from common sense
and a lot of this just is really truth, logic
and common sense.
Speaker 3 (08:59):
As they say, that's it. Hey, folks want.
Speaker 1 (09:02):
To find out more well, I absolutely have you back
on as well in the coming day as as things
continue to heat up. But folks want to find out more,
they can go to the website, see the plan and
get all the details there.
Speaker 2 (09:14):
Absolutely Tom for Michigan, so it's Tom f o or
Michigan dot com. In the entire plan is right there
on the front. There's a link up top they can
click it. But listen, we're an open book. We're transparent.
Just like with Donald Trump the last election cycle, he
had a positive vision, he was transparent what he wanted
to get done. That's what we're doing with this campaign
as well.
Speaker 1 (09:33):
Tom Leonard, former Speaker of the House here in Michigan
running for governor. We appreciate you taking the time to
be here with us today.
Speaker 2 (09:40):
Hey, thank you, my friend. Looking forward to the next time.
Speaker 1 (09:42):
Absolutely, you got it there you Oh folks, I'm telling you,
we're going to get everybody in here and Tom's when
we wanted to.
Speaker 3 (09:48):
We just it took us a while to get it done.
Speaker 1 (09:51):
I'm thankful that we did and got a chance to
see him in the panel this.
Speaker 3 (09:56):
Weekend up in Macina. We had a fantastic time.
Speaker 1 (09:58):
So more coming up, butter in fact, I got some
good news I want to share with you.
Speaker 3 (10:02):
Coming up next
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