December 7, 2024 • 49 mins
Curious about what drives someone to challenge the status quo in politics? Alaska State Senator Rob Yundt joins us to share his motivations and the strategic campaign that led to his success. Discover how his experiences, from a family trip to Pennsylvania to a pivotal moment at a fundraiser, fueled his commitment to represent the Mat-Su Valley. Rob’s story isn’t just about running for office; it’s about connecting community values with legislative action, ensuring Alaska’s future generations inherit a state that truly reflects them.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Kelly Tshibaka (00:08):
Welcome to Stand .
This is where we help makecourage contagious.
I'm your host, Kelly Tshibaka.
I ran the Alaska's Trumpcampaign this year, former
candidate for US Senate, and I'mjoined today by my best friend
and husband, Niki Tshibaka.
Welcome to the show, Niki.
Niki Tshibaka (00:22):
Thank you, kelly, it's great to be here.
Kelly Tshibaka (00:23):
It's great to have you here, excited to have
you, and we are at stanshoworg.
You can be one of our standoutsby following us there and
catching any of our famousepisodes, like with Bill
O'Reilly or Ben Carson or MattWhitaker, who was just appointed
by President Trump to overseeNATO.
Right, he's the.
Niki Tshibaka (00:41):
NATO ambassador.
Kelly Tshibaka (00:49):
Our NATO.
Right?
He's the NATO ambassador.
Yeah, fantastic, so you can gocatch all of those episodes.
We are excited to have youbecome one of our standouts.
Follow us on YouTube and socialmedia.
Today we have an exciting guestwith us.
We've had quite an election uphere in Alaska this year.
It is exciting and it is alsoconfusing, and so we want to
talk about it, because there areramifications for what happens
across the United States,including being one of the very
valuable pickup seats in the USCongress.
But we are excited to have oneof our newest members to the
(01:11):
Alaska State Legislature, RobYundt, who is one of our
standouts.
Rob, thank you so much forbeing with us on the show today.
Rob Yundt (01:17):
Yeah, thanks for having me.
I really appreciate it.
Kelly Tshibaka (01:19):
Yeah, we're excited to have you.
So you ran for the Alaska StateSenate out in the Valley,
mat-su Valley, wasilla andPalmer area.
For those who are unfamiliarwith Alaska, we wanted to ask
you what inspired you to runagainst the incumbent, who held
that seat for a long time in theAlaska State Legislature, david
Wilson.
Rob Yundt (01:38):
Yeah, definitely nothing personal.
I just believe that mypositions and my policy beliefs
were better suited for mycommunity.
I think David's a great guy.
It was never personal oranything like that.
So there are some things thatare very important to me and to
my community that have not beenbeing discussed in Juneau in the
(01:59):
last few years, and I knew thatI could be, I could change the
narrative down there, that thisone seat would change the
narrative.
Similar to you know, I didn'tgrow up aspiring to do to be in
politics at all.
Right, I didn't know that I wasgoing to run for assembly in
2020 until a few minutes beforeI signed up or become the deputy
mayor or anything like that.
But I I did not like thedirection we were headed as a
(02:23):
borough, with local policiescoming forward that would have
changed our government format tomatch that of Anchorage's, and
I don't think anybody out herewould agree with that, and so
when I signed up for that, itwas last minute.
I had no intentions of runningfor this seat until it really so
(02:48):
.
I had a fundraiser last year anda gathering for my reelection
on assembly, and I had broughtone person there.
I'm friends with a lot ofpeople in the legislature.
I respect a lot of them, Ithink they're great, but I only
invited one person who waselected in Juneau to come Right,
and she means a lot to me.
I grew up with her son.
What to come Right, and shemeans a lot to me.
I grew up with her son.
I really admire her.
(03:08):
Her name is Shelley Hughes.
I think she's amazing, and so Iinvited Shelley because
something that's important to meI have four daughters, an
amazing wife my ex-wife is oneof my best friends, right.
Like.
That's not common for a lot ofpeople, but I've coached a
couple thousand kids and I donot believe that boys should be
intruding women's bathrooms insports, and it's a strong belief
system that I have and I amwilling to fight for it.
(03:30):
And so I invited Shelley to myfundraiser to give a couple
hundred people an update onwhere she was at with trying to
pass legislation to protect ourdaughters and wives Right.
And it never really dawned on methat it would be something that
I was willing to go fight for.
I hadn't thought about it, andone of the members in the crowd
asked during questions have youever thought about running for a
(03:52):
statewide seat?
And I had not, and I had justgotten home from Pennsylvania.
I was down there at a wrestlingcamp for a couple of weeks with
my son, my wife, my daughters,and so we have.
Our family comes fromPennsylvania, and so I went to a
family reunion.
There was a couple hundred oldminnows there and coddles, and
so the minnows and the coddleshave been in the valley for a
(04:14):
while, right, but they all camefrom Pennsylvania, and everybody
that came up to me that daytold me their biggest, their
parents' and grandparents'biggest regret in life was not
following our side of the familyto Alaska, because there was no
opportunity left inPennsylvania.
Kelly Tshibaka (04:29):
So here I am.
Rob Yundt (04:30):
I'm at this gathering for my assembly seat.
Last year, I had just gottenhome from what turned out to be
more than just a wrestling campand a coaching opportunity for
me and my family.
It turned into a very movingexperience for me.
I've met a lot of my familyfrom the East Coast that I never
met before, and every one ofthem regret or not their regret,
(04:51):
but their parents andgrandparents was that they
didn't follow our family toAlaska, and so I came back and I
was really.
It hit me pretty deep and Idon't want to see my amazing
state become California right,and we're at a time where you're
seeing boys compete againstgirls athletically every day.
I'm an ex-professional athlete.
I know the difference between aboy and a girl.
(05:12):
I have fought in front ofmillions of people in Las Vegas.
There is a difference betweenmy two sons and my four
daughters.
It's disgusting.
And so I have Shelley at thisthing.
And then, all of a sudden,someone asked me have you ever
thought about running for astatewide seat?
And I said I just spoke fromthe heart.
I didn't know he was going toask me that and I paused for a
moment.
I said you know, if they can'tfigure out this issue, then I'm
going to take somebody's job.
(05:34):
So how do you, how do?
Kelly Tshibaka (05:35):
you hope to do that now that you're in Juneau
and you'll be in a minority withus?
Well, they call it a bipartisancaucus, but really it's a bunch
of Republicans who vote 90percent of the time or more,
with extreme liberals.
I would call them squadliberals, like Forrest Dunbar.
What do you hope to do?
Rob Yundt (05:57):
I.
I want to give everybody ablank slate and benefit of the
doubt.
Right Like I, I'm going into itlike common sense is something
that should be past 61 to 0,right Now, I'm not saying that's
going to happen, but I'm notgoing to adjust my moral compass
or my district's moral compassfor anybody else.
So I will pursue things that Ibelieve to be common sense.
(06:20):
And you know, on a nationalstage.
You're starting to see.
Of course, they didn't do verywell.
Democrats did not do very wellnationally and I'm grateful for
that, because I don't think theyhave a game plan that works for
our country right now.
I hope that they'll come backto that and we're starting to
see it.
And what I mean by that is oldschool Democrats, right, our
parents and grandparents'generations.
(06:41):
They could balance a budget,they believed that you couldn't
have a country without a border,they knew the difference
between their sons and theirdaughters, and so on and so
forth.
They were really good people.
They voted blue mainly becausetheir jobs told them to.
Does that make sense?
They've been pushed out of theparty.
Their voice has been taken away.
There is a lot of really goodDemocrats in this country that
don't have a voice in it, right?
(07:01):
Guess what?
They just voted for Trump,right?
They voted for Trump becausehe's giving them a voice.
And so now you've seen, sincethe election, a lot of elected
Democrats were standing up andsaying we lost because of these
radical, woke agendas.
And they're members of Congress, elected members of Congress,
(07:24):
democrats, who are saying weneed to protect our daughters,
right?
So I'm going to treat everybodyin Juneau with the utmost
respect.
I don't ever attack anybody byname.
I attack bad policy.
I have no problem with that.
But you'll never hear memention someone else's name.
I hope they give me the samerespect.
I am going to move legislation.
I will run a bill to protect mydaughters and their daughters
(07:46):
and granddaughters and niecesand wives.
So, as far as who may or maynot push back on that, I haven't
put any thought into thatbecause, again, I'm going to
give everybody an opportunity toto help with common sense and I
want their voice, I want theiropinion on that, I want
everybody's opinion on this,right.
So we'll where it goes.
But as far as the you know thelong game for Alaska guys, I'm
(08:10):
in the driver's seat, they'renot.
They just got rejected at anational level, big time.
Kelly Tshibaka (08:15):
Yeah, let's follow up on that.
So what's your take on why didour state vote overwhelmingly
largest majority ever for Trump?
We flipped our House seat backto Republican with Nick Begich,
which is a huge win for Congress, and then down ballot, though,
we voted to flip Juneau blue,and in the House and in the
(08:36):
Senate.
What's your take on that?
Why did that happen?
Rob Yundt (08:39):
I'll tell you exactly why, and I'm not trying to hurt
anybody's feelings, but we haveno message on education.
Conservatives have no messageon education.
I have a message right.
I was three times I was put inthis position to lower funding
for education in the Mat-SuBorough.
I never did it.
Once I helped.
Rather than lower funding,which I refuse to do, I wanted
to help make it more efficientand stretch farther.
(09:01):
Does that make sense?
I have a bill that I'm going torun that will empower teachers
to help make more decisions intheir classroom as well, coming
up that I don't want to go intotoo much detail on this right
now, but that I think will makesure the money's spent better.
Does that make sense?
But my message on education hasalways been we need to
(09:22):
duplicate what they're doing inFlorida and Mississippi, and if
I lived outside of the Mat-Suborough in any other part of
Alaska, I would be trying toduplicate what the Mat-Su
borough has done with education,because we are by far the
shining star in Alaska.
In fact, our test scores haverisen so much in the last five
years, and the last three yearsspecifically.
We're now starting to lift theentire state of Alaska right
(09:43):
compared to other statesnationally, and so I think we
can come together as Republicansand Democrats and solve this
problem.
I really believe that in myheart.
I don't think there's anybodydown there from either side of
the aisle who areill-intentioned.
Everybody wants to help ourchildren.
Everybody wants high testscores.
How do we get there?
(10:03):
Well, we're not going to getthere doing status quo what
Alaska has been doing becausewe've never tested well.
Right, we've made noimprovements other than the
Mat-Su barrel, right.
So what can we do that wouldwork.
Well, we don't need to reinventthe wheel.
Let's go find somebody that'sdone well and duplicate their
success.
Right.
This is what we've been aroundfor, you know, as a country for
(10:25):
hundreds of years.
We don't need to reinvent thewheel.
Find someone that did a goodjob and do what they did.
That's ford and mississippi.
And so I had a message the wholetime.
I don't think we as a party hada message.
That's why we lost.
That's why we lost.
So, in some of these races inin the house specifically that
were so close, good people thatlost, great people, phenomenal
(10:47):
candidates I never heard himtalk about how to solve the
education problem one time.
So I think, I think what'sgoing to come out of this will
be good in the long run.
I'm in my early forties, so Ican play the long game right
Like I'm.
I do not intend to be alifetime 40-year senator.
That's not what I'm saying.
But what I am telling you is in2031, we're going to adopt our
(11:10):
next map and the Mat-Su boroughis going to go from nine seats
out of 60 to 11 or 12.
And I can tell you right now weare the common sense
conservative area in the stateand when we become a much bigger
piece of the pie for thelegislature, the Mat-Su borough,
the state, and when we become amuch bigger piece of the pie
for the legislature, the MatsuBorough is going to take over
state politics, starting inNovember 2032.
Kelly Tshibaka (11:29):
I think that's right.
Yeah, there's a.
There's an obvious shifthappening across the country
where we see the mass ofAmericans rejecting policies
that have not been working andelecting candidates who are
going to do what's best forworking Americans and for
families across the country, andI think we're going to see that
in Alaska as well.
Rob Yundt (11:48):
I appreciate what you've said.
The Kenai Peninsula is a veryconservative common sense area.
Kelly Tshibaka (11:53):
right yeah, rob, let's pick up on the other side
of this break.
You're on stand with Kelly andNiki Tshibaja.
We're talking with Rob Yundt.
Stand by, we're going to pickup on the other side of this
break.
I know that Niki's gotquestions for you too.
Stand by, we'll see you in aminute.
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Niki Tshibaka (13:16):
You are back on stand with Kelly and Niki
Tshibaka.
We are talking to newly mintedstate Senator Rob Yundt about
his plans as he gets ready tomove into the Senate.
I want to backtrack a littlebit, though, and talk a little
bit more about your race.
It was a trifecta upset in theMat-Su Valley.
(13:41):
The Matsu Valley, not only didyou overturn incumbent Dave
Wilson, but school board memberJubilee Underwood took the seat
from David Eastman, who wasanother conservative legislator,
and Elexie Moore won JesseSumner's vacated seat against
well-known Valley resident CraigMenard.
(14:02):
So wondering just how did thethree of you work together to
accomplish that?
Because I think that could beperhaps a pattern and a strategy
that others could consider thenext go around to see if we can
get better results.
Rob Yundt (14:14):
Yeah, I don't know that my strategy is one that
ones are going to want toduplicate, but I'll speak to my
strategy real quick and and howit may have affected all three
of us, and so, um, I'm not a fanof rank choice voting.
I want to go back to the verybest Republican versus the very
best Democrat.
I don't think you'd getanywhere in life.
Uh, we did not put a man on themoon years ago with average
(14:36):
ideas, right?
I don't want average, I wantthe best of the best.
So, but with that being said,we live in a ranked choice world
, and so when there's only threepeople in these races, or four
or whatever, they're all goingto the final round.
Anybody that knows me well knowsI do not miss coaching kids for
anything.
Well, I needed five weeks thissummer to travel to Iowa and in
(14:58):
different states and to coach abunch of kids from Alaska and
get ready for nationals.
So I'm not going to miss thatfor anything.
Campaign aside, I don't care.
I'm a coach and so I want tohelp kids.
So I left, I didn't put out anysigns, I didn't do anything, I
didn't knock doors, I wascoaching children, and so I get
home and we're right up againstthe 30-day report coming out and
I told my wife.
I said, before I knock a door,before I put a sign out.
(15:20):
I want to look at the 30-dayreports and it was clear to me
when I seen my opponents, theincumbents 30-day report, where
all the money was coming fromspecial interests, that I wasn't
going to do anything before theprimary.
And I know that sounds crazy,but I told my wife I said I'm
not going to do anything becauseI don't want to motivate these
(15:42):
organizations to give him moremoney.
I'm going to bomb the primaryon purpose and so for fun.
I put out signs two days beforethe primary, just for fun, so I
could split test.
I love analytics.
I built two businesses from theground up.
I love to look at numbers.
I put them out in one smallarea and it looked like I got my
butt kicked in the primary whenreally I took first place in
(16:03):
all four precincts where I hadout signs right and only had
them out for two days.
So Wednesday morning I woke upand I put signs everywhere so
that my opponent would not beable to tell what I did right,
so that he wouldn't catch on tothe fact that, wow, that's what
happened Right.
And so where he, where he hadsome signs, people realize most
people didn't even know I wasrunning Honestly.
(16:24):
I mean, I've born and raisedhere, my mom was born and raised
here, my great grandpa, right,we're all here for a long time
and I've coached a couplethousand kids in this community.
Most people didn't know I wasrunning, so it was an odd
strategy.
I know that.
And then I went to work afterthe primary with the intentions
of getting, you know, 50 pluspoints in the first round, and
so I would say that probablyaffected the girls as well.
(16:46):
You know that probably we wereall using the same political
consultant and I was gone.
I don't want to say I was beinglazy, I was being strategic and
helping kids, so it probablyaffected all of us a little bit.
The bottom line is, those girlsoutworked their opponents and
as did I, and we didn't barelyoutwork our opponents, we
significantly outworked them.
(17:07):
Right, it wasn't even close.
I made a lot of errors in my.
If I had to do this over again,I could have done way better.
I learned as I went in 2020,like I said, I little assembly
race, um, I ran at the lastminute.
I didn't do anything rightCause I had no consultants to
help me in 2023.
Last year, when I was runningfor your election on assembly, I
(17:29):
didn't have an opponent, sothis is my first campaign, this
is the first time.
It is Jubilee's, first time towhere it's a real campaign and
it was Elexie's and so we allmade a lot of mistakes.
We're all way better now thanwe were.
Um, but it basically came downto hard work.
It came down to hard work andso I knocked uh, between my wife
(17:50):
and I and volunteers, I wouldsay we hit close to, if not 10
000 doors, and my wife I need toput this out there right now my
wife is the MVP of this my wifehit 5,000 doors.
Wow, she personally hit 2,000doors and every door she hit in
District 28, she talked about meand she talked about Alexi.
And every door my wife hit in27, she talked about me and she
(18:11):
talked about Jubilee.
And I have nothing againsteither of their opponents any
one of them.
I like Steve Menard.
I think he's a great guy.
I think, he's a great guy.
I like David Eastman.
I have nothing against David.
He ran years ago on a platformof term limits and he's been
there for eight years and he'sgot a lot of great ideas, but he
(18:33):
hadn't passed no legislation.
So when you have a school boardpresident standing there at
your door because she hit thedoors Jubilee hit the doors you
have the school board presidentwho says I took boys out of
girls sports.
I took boys out of women'slocker rooms, which was
happening in our local highschool, one of them, right.
We had an 18 year old boy usingthe girls bathroom, right.
So she fixed these problems ina matter of a couple of years.
(18:57):
And um, and she's runningagainst someone that's been in
Juneau for eight years and hadnever passed a piece of
legislation.
He's a great guy.
I'm not being negative, I'm justbeing honest.
People want results.
They don't want people to sitthere and spin their wheels.
So when you got JubileeUnderwood standing at your door
showing you results I mean itwas I can't believe she didn't
(19:17):
win by 20 points.
I think she didn't because shedidn't start doing anything
until after the primary.
None of us did.
We didn't do anything untilafter the prime.
Niki Tshibaka (19:24):
So what I'm hearing?
There's a lot of uh, a lot ofhard work yet to out outwork
your opponents significantly,but you also all had each
other's backs.
You were, you were promotingeach other, basically, uh,
making it so that each of youwas knocking doors, even when
you weren't knocking doorsyourself physically, because you
had one of the other candidatesalso sort of plugging your name
(19:46):
as well, and I think I lovethat kind of teamwork in a camp,
in sort of the campaign season.
It'll be great to see that kindof teamwork continue into and
bleed into the next legislativesession in Juneau, which is what
I get.
Rob Yundt (20:01):
You'll get a kick out of this, because I know you two
are.
I mean, look at you're bestfriends, you're running a
podcast together.
It's so cool, right?
I worked District 28 mainly andmy wife worked District 27
mainly, right, it was just forwhatever reason, it's what
worked best for our family.
It worked best for me coachingbecause we live over here in
District 28.
And so it was easier for me tostill hit practices, and it was
(20:23):
nothing against District 27.
I love 27.
In fact, that's where I grew up, right, but I currently live in
28.
I coach over here, so it wasbest for our family.
But my wife hit 27 and workedthat one the most, and I hit 28.
And we did bigger numbers in 27.
And worked that one the most,and I hit 28 and we did bigger
numbers in 27.
So my wife likes to remind methat she did a much better job
(20:45):
than me.
And so, yeah, she was out thereworking very hard, and my wife
doesn't have anything againstwho Jubilee was running against,
she just wants results.
It's important to her that weprotect our daughters and we
need a legislature that getsalong.
We need a legislature that canwork together and do that, and
my wife is very grateful foreverything Jubilee did as our
school board president.
And so my wife went to bat.
(21:07):
I stayed in district 28.
Trenitie went to district 27.
And I mean, she's a workhorseman, she's not like, she's an
animal.
Niki Tshibaka (21:15):
Thank God for for spouses who are such great
supporters and work with us toachieve our dreams.
Yeah, so, but, but.
But moving forward from thecampaign season, we've only got
a few minutes left in thesegment, but I want to ask you
and you've sort of touched onthis a little bit, you know, you
, you already have clearly agood sense of what you want to
(21:36):
do when you move into thatlegislative session in Juneau.
I'd like to ask you about whatsome of your goals and
priorities are.
You've touched on education andthe whole bathroom issue, which
is a big issue, and, you know,making sure that sports are
divided along gender lines.
Maybe talk a little bit moreabout some other things that you
(21:58):
want to do, and I'd like to askyou about that in the context
of.
You know, here in Anchorage youmay have been following, you
know, our assembly doesn't seemto have recognized what's
happened on a national level andeven on a state level here
about people wanting to see morecommon sense policies, and what
we've just learned is they'vepassed legislation to apply a
(22:21):
tariff to a lot of goods nowcoming into, uh, into alaska,
and of course, that cost isgoing to be passed on to the
consumer and it won't just bepeople in anchorage, it'll be
people across the state who arewho are taking on these goods,
and so we've got that combinedwith a ballot measure, one that
just got passed, that'sincreasing the minimum wage and
(22:42):
requiring paid sick leave andthose kinds of things, and so
with all of that combined wecould see major inflation
happening or cost of livingincreases here in Alaska, even
as it's going down with thisincoming administration
(23:17):
no-transcript.
Rob Yundt (23:20):
I think they're going to be great for the budget in
the Mat-Su borough, becausewe're already getting calls for
people that want to dock overhere Right Tariff away, because
when stocks start shipping orcoming over here when we're
buying a massive crane right now, like the crane's already been
ordered, it's on the way we willbe prepared.
And so when we start doing muchmore revenue at the at the port
(23:44):
which we did do during myfour-year assembly, I helped
grow that immensely Well, that'smore money in our general fund,
and then we can lower ourproperty taxes even more, which
we've done a lot since I waselected locally, right.
So, yeah, I don't think thathurts the Matuburo in the short
run.
It might hurt us a tiny bittomorrow, but in the long run I
will tell you that's going tohelp us immensely.
So I hope they just keep doingwhat they're doing in there.
(24:06):
It's great for us.
Um, not so good for us, though,rob.
Yeah, well, you know it, uh, ituh.
There's still.
There's still great places leftto build out here.
So it uh, we, you know otherthings that I I want to do.
I could go on about educationall day and duplicating the
success that we've had out here.
I'm very passionate about that.
I want to help childrenstatewide with good
(24:28):
opportunities to get their handsdirty in high school, because
you got to talk about the threeE's of education and I talk
about this all the time.
But if you're not enlisted andyou're not enrolled, then you
need to be employable, right?
So if a young man or young ladyis not going into college or
she's not going into themilitary, then what's that leave
?
The bulk of the children don'tgo to one of those two areas.
(24:49):
A majority of them go into thereal world and they need to be
employable.
So, career and technicaleducation has we more than
doubled that in my four yearsout here?
And I want to do that statewideand help these kids find
something that they really enjoyin high school, that they're
passionate about.
I don't care if that meansbeing a hairstylist or doing
(25:09):
makeup or nails, or if thatmeans being a cook.
It could be anything.
You don't have to be anelectrician, right.
It could be anything.
But let's let these, let's helpthese children touch those
things in high school, sothey're ready for the real world
, right?
Niki Tshibaka (25:21):
So so education, it sounds like, is going to be a
really big thing for you, whichI think is fantastic.
Hey, I want to pick up with youon this.
On the other side of the break,because we just ran into a hard
, hard break, you're watching,stand with Kelly and Niki
Tshibaka, looking forward tomore of our conversation with
(25:44):
Rob Yundt.
Don't go away, stand by.
Welcome back to Stand withKelly and Niki Tshibaka.
We are talking with Rob Yundt,a newly minted state senator
here in Alaska.
Rob, you were just talkingabout what your priorities are
going to be when you move intothe legislative session in
Juneau.
Coming up, you talked abouteducation and the three E's of
(26:07):
education enlistment what do yousay?
Employability and what was thethird Enrollment?
Rob Yundt (26:13):
Enrollment.
You're not going to be enrolledin college or enlisted in the
military.
They need to be employable.
Niki Tshibaka (26:18):
I like that, the three E's.
So what else are some of?
Rob Yundt (26:23):
the priorities.
You're thinking about Our gamegame management in Alaska.
So I've probably done morehunting in my life than most in
the legislature other than MikeCronk.
Mike's definitely got me rightnow, but I'm going to catch him,
trust me.
So I spend a lot of time in thewoods.
Mike's definitely got me rightnow, but I'm going to catch him,
trust me.
So I spent a lot of time in thewoods.
It's been really sad and hardfor me to watch our sheep
populations deteriorate duringmy lifetime.
(26:45):
So we need to step up.
The legislature needs to solvethis problem.
It's a bipartisan issue.
I think we'll work very welltogether.
I got some great ideas on thatand some good real world
experience that I helped bringto the table.
On that Lands.
The state controls 60% of theMat-Su borough.
The feds control 60% of thestate, and so all of the
(27:07):
boroughs are having an issuewith affordable housing.
And you got to remember thestate of Alaska does not pay
property taxes to localmunicipalities to help with
education or road.
So I will absolutely run a billasking the state of Alaska to
give back 5% of the acreage inevery borough municipality,
things like that.
Give it to the local government, give it to the Mat-Su borough,
(27:30):
the municipality of Anchorage,kenai, peninsula Borough,
Fairbanks, whatever, and thenthey can turn around and auction
it off to the citizens, whichwill bring down the cost of land
and help house make housingmore affordable.
Timber Bill Clinton shut us downon timber 1999.
We've done 15 times more timberharvesting in the Mat-Su
borough since I was elected outhere than we had before.
The state is ready for a match.
(27:51):
I mean we're.
There are so many areas.
We've seen the big fire down onthe peninsula a couple of years
ago.
That was.
There was a gentleman downthere, a timber harvest guy.
They had been begging the stateto harvest that for years and
then boom, it all burned up.
So sad right Now that we canself-grade lumber in Alaska,
which most people don't knowabout, we can actually start
creating our own products hereand have them be legally
(28:12):
allowable to go into homes so wecan bring down the cost of
housing.
With that Plus we can createjobs.
Timber used to create 4,000jobs a year in Alaska prior to
Bill Clinton doing what he didin 1999.
We're down to about 60 to 100jobs.
So there's an and we didn'teven use to be able to
self-grade.
So I think we can go past the4,000 jobs we used to have, so
there's a real opportunity thereto help our budget and our
(28:34):
economy and fight inflation.
So I got a lot of stuff thatwe're going to be working on.
I'm very, very, very, veryorganized and I have a lot of
bills that I'm already workingon that are bipartisan, common
sense, going to help everysingle one of us.
You're never going to see meattacking anybody.
You're never going to see metrying to run radical agendas.
(28:55):
I am going to be running commonsense stuff that will help
everyday Alaskans.
Niki Tshibaka (28:59):
Yeah, I mean, that's everything I'm hearing
right now is all reallycommonsensical stuff and it
should be by part, it should getbipartisan support.
You know you would think whatyou believe and sticking by it,
but also just that, thatapproach of I want to put
(29:22):
forward things that should be,uh, acceptable and agreeable to
both sides because they're goodfor all all alaskans.
The only arguably controversialthing that I've heard you talk
about that really, let's behonest, shouldn't be that
controversial is uh, boys, boys,sports, girls and girls sports,
boys and boys bathrooms girlsand girls bathrooms.
Rob Yundt (29:45):
It's going to get way better because they're starting
to eat their own.
Look, I have friends from everywalk of life.
One of my closest friends is agay man.
Right, I don't care, it's noneof my business what somebody
does in their wedding chapel.
What somebody does in theirbedroom, I don't care, none of
my business does in theirwedding chapel.
What somebody does in theirbedroom, I don't care, none of
my business.
And I don't think thegovernment should care.
But the agenda has gotten sofar left from just this crazy
(30:08):
minute small group of people.
And now you're starting to seethem reject that because they're
realizing this is radical whenpeople are rejecting it.
Girls have been voting inAmerica for over 110 years.
They've had Title IX for 52years to give them their own
sports.
We can't take all of the way.
That's what Iran did.
Iranian women were free in theseventies.
Now they're not.
That happened in 1979, right,like that was not very long ago.
(30:31):
We cannot let that happen here.
We have to protect our wives andour daughters and so I don't
think it's controversial, and I,because I have friends from
every walk of life and familymembers from every walk of life
I don't think I'll be seen asbeing, you know, partisan on
that.
It's not at all.
I have four daughters and twosons and I've coached a couple
(30:53):
thousand kids and I know thedifference and that's all.
It is right.
I love every man, woman andchild on this planet.
I don't care what color yourskin is, how much money you've
got, I don't care about any ofthat.
You know what your lovepreferences are.
It means nothing to me.
And so, yeah, I'm going to dothings that protect all of us
and help all of us economically.
That's that's where I'm goingto be focused.
Niki Tshibaka (31:15):
Yeah, and you know you're talking about
respecting the dignity of, ofeverybody, and and, and the way
that all of that has been framedis you can't respect somebody's
dignity unless you accept, youknow, that radical version of
how, how gender, uh, and orshould gender should collapse in
on itself, and um, again I'vecome, it comes back to.
(31:35):
Your common sense approach islike we know what biology says
and so we're going to stick withthat, but we can still respect
the dignity and the sanctity ofthe lives of the people who
suffer with gender dysphoria.
It doesn't have to be a zerosum game, so I love it.
Kelly Tshibaka (31:52):
Yeah, rob, I'm really happy that you ran and
that you're going to be in theSenate.
You're going to be doing reallygood things.
I wanted to ask you what advicewould you give for other
Alaskans who are thinking I'dreally like to make a difference
in the state too.
They might be thinking or beinspired to potentially run for
maybe a lower level office, likesomething in their community
(32:12):
council, or maybe school boardor maybe they just want to get
involved and do something tomake a difference.
What advice would you give them?
Rob Yundt (32:18):
Yeah, call me.
Call you like, reach out, we'llhelp you.
I don't I mean that like myphone's on 24 seven.
Uh, reach out to your localRepublican party.
We are the party of commonsense, we are the future.
Um, we are not divisive.
Uh, we love everybody, we'retrying to help everybody, and so
, um, I want to get back to atime too.
(32:39):
By the way, I I'm notanti-Democrat at all.
I can't wait until theDemocratic Party goes back to
the old school JFK desk, becausewe have a lot of great what I
call JFK Democrats in thiscountry old school, our parents
and grandparents generation andsome of the youngers.
And I can't wait till somedaythe Democrat Party can say
they're the party of the workingclass American again.
(32:59):
Because they're not.
They haven't been in a longtime.
If they stop going so far left,they come back to the middle.
It helps all of us, right.
But right now I would say, ifyou're interested in that, reach
out to your local Republicanparty or call me 232-8340.
Find all the answers.
Shoot me a text, I will helpyou.
I'm very passionate about thisIn politics.
(33:20):
The closer to home it is, themore it affects your life.
Our school boards mean morethan anything.
In my opinion, they're.
They're the ones helping ourbabies.
Right.
To me, the school board is moreimportant than anything we're
doing right.
Local city councils it meansthe world.
Local assemblies it's a bigdeal right.
And so, yeah, call me if youneed help.
(33:40):
Shoot me a text message, reachout to your local Republican
party.
I'll do anything I can to helpyou.
Kelly Tshibaka (33:47):
I think that's good.
Another question I have for you.
This was on the ballot here inAlaska, across the United States
, in every jurisdiction wherethey tried to pass rank choice
voting and these jungleprimaries where anybody can run
without being vetted.
It failed, except for inWashington DC and here in Alaska
we tried to overthrow rankchoice voting.
(34:09):
All of the donations that camein were from Alaskans and they
put in $14 million to keep rankchoice voting in these crazy
primaries.
We had a violent felon from NewYork on our final ballot,
running for Congress.
We had a actress fromCalifornia who posed as a
pretend Alaskan running for USSenate in the last election and
(34:32):
it looks like that initiativebarely passed.
We have 700,000 peopleregistered to vote in Alaska,
something like that, and theinitiative passed by about 650
votes.
So they're going to keep rankchoice voting in Alaska, even
though it was 146 to one thatthe the ballot measure was
outspent right, 146, uh to one.
(34:54):
Outside money to keep rankchoice voting to the $1 Alaskans
could put in.
What's your take on all that?
Rob Yundt (35:00):
All right.
So before I like I'm I'm a veryopen and honest guy and I I
will speak positively aboutsomething if I like it.
So there is one small thing Ilike about rank choice and
there's a whole bunch that Idon't like.
So I want people to understandI don't.
I'm not looking at this as likewhat's a political position.
I'm looking at this as just mypersonal beliefs.
I like that the governor andLieutenant governor get to
(35:23):
choose each other.
So only thing about RankedChoice I like is I'm in the team
building business.
You know that it's the athleticside of me so they get to
choose one another and runtogether and they don't get
paired together later Maybe notlike each other.
Beyond that, the rest of it'sabsolutely terrible.
I worked with handicapped kidsfor three years in high school I
was an aid for Mr Ouellette'sprogram at Wasilla High School.
There are a lot of peopleamongst us that we don't know
(35:46):
and don't realize when you're inthe grocery store or driving
down the road.
But there are people in oursociety that have really severe
learning disabilities and youmay not even know it right.
It's not any different than anyof us.
They have a hard timeprocessing and stuff, and so
this really is a really hardsystem for them to understand.
The other thing is it's reallyhard on our elders.
(36:09):
I love my dad and my dad maywatch this and he'll get a
chuckle out of this.
If I have to text my father inhis mid-70s how to remember to
vote, that's not a good thing.
It's not fair, it's not rightand we'll be there soon.
So you're disenfranchising.
When you take those two groupsthat I just talked about, you're
disenfranchising 15% to 20% ofAlaskans every day.
(36:30):
For the rest of time, it'sterrible.
Beyond that, it disgusts methat $14 plus million from
out-of-state left-leaningorganizations was sent in here
by the helicopter loads to trickus right.
They should be ashamed ofthemselves.
The fact they didn't win by 20,30 points after spending $14
(36:54):
million goes to show you it's aterrible system.
The only reason they won bythis is because they actually
made it so confusing for somepeople.
They were telling people ifyou're a veteran, you're not
going to be allowed to vote inthe primary after this.
Are you kidding me?
Kelly Tshibaka (37:09):
Lies.
Rob Yundt (37:10):
Lies, right, Disgusting.
You'll never be able to get anabortion if this passes.
They brought abortion in.
This has nothing to do withabortion.
This has to do with.
There are people out here thatlive amongst all of us who are
darn good people, who are notthat young or maybe have
learning disabilities, and thisdisenfranchises them in an
always will rank.
Choice is not new.
It's been around for a hundredyears and tried in multiple
(37:32):
other States.
They all rejected it becauseit's terribly confusing for a
lot of us, right?
Not maybe not me or you, but itwill be for us.
Soon we're going to get sold.
You know it happens, right, butit just I'm disappointed.
You seen me run my race.
Did you ever see me attack myopponent?
Never once.
(37:53):
Did you ever see me make up alie?
Never once Did you ever see meeven mention their names?
I had other opponents besidesthe incumbent.
I would never do that.
Right, I'm not.
And just the amount of liesthat came out, but these are out
of state organizations.
They and just the amount oflies that came out, but these
are out-of-state organizations.
They don't care about makingyou.
They don't care about anyperson in the state.
They're looking at Alaska as acheap date to experiment and
tweak new systems, work out thebugs before they bring them back
(38:13):
to their state.
That's all we are is a cheapdate to the lower 48 radicals.
We're going to run anotherballot initiative and I'm
telling you we're going toreverse it.
Niki Tshibaka (38:27):
We, we're going to run another ballot initiative
and I'm telling you we're goingto reverse it.
We're going to win next time.
We got it because you know yousaid shame on the people doing
this and also shame on thepeople here in Alaska who were
being complicit with them.
To pull the veil over people'seyes with those kinds of lies,
just just wrong.
I mean, if you're going to doit, make sure you're doing it
honestly.
Rob Yundt (38:40):
Yeah, the other thing I don't like about the system
is I don't want to averagepeople doing this.
I don't, and that's what that'swhat rank choice is really
created to bring forward.
Is the average of this and theaverage of that?
No, I want the best of the best, right, like it.
Uh, it's just, it's not a goodsystem, you know.
So I do hope it goes away.
I'm in it.
You know that.
(39:00):
I'm sure there'll be lawsuitsand who knows the whole deal,
right?
I mean, there's so few ballotsseparating that maybe some get
thrown out, maybe the no winsbigger, maybe it loses smaller.
Who knows?
It's so close.
It's 0.1%.
Is the margin, right?
The difference is two, but it's0.1 difference either way.
And so, who knows?
There's going to be lawsuitsand stuff.
(39:21):
But I'm disappointed that theylied.
Tell the truth.
You like rank choice because ithelps get the left in there.
Just tell the truth.
Don't start making up liesabout our veterans.
Don't start trying to deceivepeople.
And that's what they did.
That's what disappoints me.
Kelly Tshibaka (39:38):
Yeah, we appreciate that, rob.
Thank you so much for being onour show when can people find
out more about you as you?
move forward into the Senate.
What's your website?
Robforalaskacom.
No-transcript.
(40:09):
Welcome back to Stand.
You're with Kelly and NikiTshibaka.
Niki, I want, were so surprisedand a bit discouraged about how
(40:36):
the nation really expected a redwave and instead there was a
red trickle.
We had thought that between theBidenflation and the horror at
the border and we had gone fromenergy dominance to energy
reliance on foreign adversaries,the war in Ukraine the people
(40:58):
would go.
We really want to see ourdefense not decimated but
instead rebuilt.
We want to see a stronger andsecure border.
We want to see jobs filled andreturned.
We want to see an end to theemployment crisis across the
country.
We want to see a boomingeconomy again instead of this
(41:19):
radical inflation.
We want to see families doingwell.
We want to see a stop to theprogressive agenda madness.
We want to see healthy foreignpolicy.
We want to see things returnedback to normal again.
We want to see families caredfor, etc.
And instead we eked out a razorthin majority in Congress of
(41:42):
people who would advocate forthose kind of policies.
We saw the lowest voter turnoutever in the history of Alaska.
We lost key seats across thecountry that we thought we would
pick up in swing states and, ofcourse, we saw what happened in
the country playing out theselast couple years as a result of
the Senate having a majority inthe Biden administration going
(42:05):
virtually unchecked, and wethought, ok, what do we do,
especially on the heels of ourfamily, laying it all out on the
line and losing just by about19,000 votes that election when
we had 19,000 super voterRepublicans who didn't vote in
Alaska?
Niki Tshibaka (42:23):
I thought it was just 8,000 or 9,000.
Kelly Tshibaka (42:25):
When you do all the rank choice voting, if more
people had shown up.
Yeah, it was just a reallysurprising election turnout when
we'd heard across the statethat so many people wanted to
see change, that they said it'stime for change and that their
voices weren't being heard.
And then they just chose to optout of their voices being heard
, and so we said, well, what canwe do?
(42:46):
We really believe in not givingup.
It's one of our mottos asTshibakas never quit.
We also believe that Tshibakasnever lose, because losing is a
choice.
You might not always win, butyou can choose not to lose.
And so we decided, well, whatare we going to do?
And part of what we wanted todo was really inspire people,
not just in our state but acrossthe country, that you can make
(43:07):
a difference.
And I was really encouraged bywhat happened this election
cycle.
Not only that, trump won by, Ithink, flabbergasting margins.
You know, the entire countrywas surprised, even CNN, when
they flipped to that map inwhich counties did Kamala
overperform and the whole mapwas blank and they lingered on
(43:30):
it for like 30 seconds, beingsurprised that she didn't
perform over perform anywhere,that we were able to flip our
our house seat by a hugepercentage margin.
Some of the seats that we wereable to flip in Alaska were
really encouraging, but I wasencouraged by other seats that
were flipped in even swingstates across the country, like
(43:50):
the Pennsylvania Senate seat,the Ohio Senate seat, for
example toppling incumbents thatwere really powerful.
These are all reallyencouraging signs.
But the thing that was reallyencouraging for me and I wanted
to kick this over to you becauseI know that you have great
thoughts on this is that itwasn't just Republicans or
people who would identify asRepublicans or people who lean
(44:11):
to the right who came togetherin this election, and I think
that that's really key, becausewe've brought on people who
identify as Democrats or don'tidentify as Republicans on this
show, all saying the same thing,and those have been some of the
interviews that you and I haveenjoyed the most, some of the
most thought-provokinginterviews.
It's people from acrosspolitical spectrum, or people
who have different politicalideologies, all coming to the
(44:34):
same conclusion in thispolitical cycle to say this is
actually the best way forwardfor America.
That created what we would calla red wave, but it's not
because they're identifying witha political party.
It's because they'reidentifying with what's best for
America, and I wanted you totalk about that because I
thought that was what was reallyencouraging in this particular
(44:56):
cycle.
I think that's what's soimportant.
Niki Tshibaka (44:59):
Yeah, in fact, even the red wave imagery I
think we've talked about thisbefore.
I saw it very much as a red,white and blue wave.
It was, to your point, aboutthe country coming together.
We recognize as a country thatwe were losing what made us and
makes us exceptional.
Not exceptional in the sensethat other people are inferior,
(45:20):
other nations are inferior, butexceptional in the sense that we
are unique.
Unique in the principles thatundergird and that are
responsible for the flourishingthat we've experienced as a
country for almost 250 years now.
Unique in the makeup of ourpopulation that's so diverse and
(45:42):
that we're united around acommon set or at least have been
for 250 years, almost a commonset of core values and
principles that make you anAmerican.
You're not an American becauseyou're of a certain color or
ethnicity.
You're an American because youshare a conviction and an
allegiance to and a loyalty to acertain worldview about what it
(46:08):
means to be human and what thenature of government is and
should be and how it relates tous as human beings and what that
interaction should be.
So it was very gratifying andexciting and encouraging to see
our nation realize, you know,what we don't want to go down
the road that Kamala and Bidenhave been leading us and the
(46:32):
people on the far left end ofthe political spectrum, because
that is not America.
They actually want to destroyAmerica as we know it and to see
people across the politicalspectrum say no, I am an
American and I want to seeAmerica great again.
Us not poo-poo or denigrate ourgreatness but, embrace it as a
(46:55):
good thing that we can dowonderful, wonderful things with
going forward and into thefuture.
So I was very encouraged bythat.
I was encouraged to see alsothe president-elect recognize
that red, white and blue waveand start making cabinet picks
and appointments that wereconsistent with that, you know,
(47:16):
with.
You know Tulsi Gabbard as the,you know DNI nominee and RFK and
all of that.
And at the local level here inAlaska.
Unfortunately, as you weretalking about with Rob, we
didn't see that, you know thattrickle down in the same way,
but we saw it at the federallevel.
You know people electing, youknow the candidates at the
(47:36):
federal level as well, acrossthe political spectrum here at
our state.
So I'm really encouraged, I'mexcited about what the future
portends, because I think wehave the potential to see the
country move forward in a reallygood direction if we can stick
together and not let the forcesthat are trying to divide us,
(47:57):
you know, tear us asunder.
Kelly Tshibaka (47:58):
Yeah, I think that's really good.
I was just looking for a tweetthat I saw Naomi Wolf had
reposted from DC Drano and Ithought that he summarized it
really well.
He said you know, in the lastfour years they
unconstitutionally mandated thatpeople take the COVID shot and,
at the risk of at the threat oflosing their jobs you had to.
(48:20):
If you didn't take the COVIDshot, then you lose your jobs or
you lose your medical practice.
They, because you would loseyour license they opened up the
border and ushered in recordlevels of human trafficking and
opioid trafficking.
People have lost their relativesand loved ones to opioid abuse
and to murders and homicide.
They've flipped our schools andflipped our hospitals and
(48:42):
flipped our social services togive away free care to illegal
immigrants at the expense of thetaxpayers.
And he just chronicled all ofthe abuses that have happened at
the expense of you know theywithheld FEMA care in emergency
situations but sent all of ourtaxpayer dollars over to wars in
foreign countries.
(49:03):
They refused to help our alliesin other countries when it
would require peace for ourallies.
That, you know now is imminentthreat and dangers for us as we
let terrorists into the UnitedStates and what happened was so
significant on Election Daybecause he said we have got to
remember this because this isexactly what America is built on
(49:24):
.
Welcome to Stand .
This is where we help makecourage contagious.
I'm your host, Kelly Tshibaka.
I ran the Alaska's Trumpcampaign this year, former
candidate for US Senate, and I'mjoined today by my best friend
and husband, Niki Tshibaka.
Welcome to the show, Niki.
Niki Tshibaka (00:22):
Thank you, kelly, it's great to be here.
Kelly Tshibaka (00:23):
It's great to have you here, excited to have
you, and we are at stanshoworg.
You can be one of our standoutsby following us there and
catching any of our famousepisodes, like with Bill
O'Reilly or Ben Carson or MattWhitaker, who was just appointed
by President Trump to overseeNATO.
Right, he's the.
Niki Tshibaka (00:41):
NATO ambassador.
Kelly Tshibaka (00:49):
Our NATO.
Right?
He's the NATO ambassador.
Yeah, fantastic, so you can gocatch all of those episodes.
We are excited to have youbecome one of our standouts.
Follow us on YouTube and socialmedia.
Today we have an exciting guestwith us.
We've had quite an election uphere in Alaska this year.
It is exciting and it is alsoconfusing, and so we want to
talk about it, because there areramifications for what happens
across the United States,including being one of the very
valuable pickup seats in the USCongress.
But we are excited to have oneof our newest members to the
(01:11):
Alaska State Legislature, RobYundt, who is one of our
standouts.
Rob, thank you so much forbeing with us on the show today.
Rob Yundt (01:17):
Yeah, thanks for having me.
I really appreciate it.
Kelly Tshibaka (01:19):
Yeah, we're excited to have you.
So you ran for the Alaska StateSenate out in the Valley,
mat-su Valley, wasilla andPalmer area.
For those who are unfamiliarwith Alaska, we wanted to ask
you what inspired you to runagainst the incumbent, who held
that seat for a long time in theAlaska State Legislature, david
Wilson.
Rob Yundt (01:38):
Yeah, definitely nothing personal.
I just believe that mypositions and my policy beliefs
were better suited for mycommunity.
I think David's a great guy.
It was never personal oranything like that.
So there are some things thatare very important to me and to
my community that have not beenbeing discussed in Juneau in the
(01:59):
last few years, and I knew thatI could be, I could change the
narrative down there, that thisone seat would change the
narrative.
Similar to you know, I didn'tgrow up aspiring to do to be in
politics at all.
Right, I didn't know that I wasgoing to run for assembly in
2020 until a few minutes beforeI signed up or become the deputy
mayor or anything like that.
But I I did not like thedirection we were headed as a
(02:23):
borough, with local policiescoming forward that would have
changed our government format tomatch that of Anchorage's, and
I don't think anybody out herewould agree with that, and so
when I signed up for that, itwas last minute.
I had no intentions of runningfor this seat until it really so
(02:48):
.
I had a fundraiser last year anda gathering for my reelection
on assembly, and I had broughtone person there.
I'm friends with a lot ofpeople in the legislature.
I respect a lot of them, Ithink they're great, but I only
invited one person who waselected in Juneau to come Right,
and she means a lot to me.
I grew up with her son.
What to come Right, and shemeans a lot to me.
I grew up with her son.
I really admire her.
(03:08):
Her name is Shelley Hughes.
I think she's amazing, and so Iinvited Shelley because
something that's important to meI have four daughters, an
amazing wife my ex-wife is oneof my best friends, right.
Like.
That's not common for a lot ofpeople, but I've coached a
couple thousand kids and I donot believe that boys should be
intruding women's bathrooms insports, and it's a strong belief
system that I have and I amwilling to fight for it.
(03:30):
And so I invited Shelley to myfundraiser to give a couple
hundred people an update onwhere she was at with trying to
pass legislation to protect ourdaughters and wives Right.
And it never really dawned on methat it would be something that
I was willing to go fight for.
I hadn't thought about it, andone of the members in the crowd
asked during questions have youever thought about running for a
(03:52):
statewide seat?
And I had not, and I had justgotten home from Pennsylvania.
I was down there at a wrestlingcamp for a couple of weeks with
my son, my wife, my daughters,and so we have.
Our family comes fromPennsylvania, and so I went to a
family reunion.
There was a couple hundred oldminnows there and coddles, and
so the minnows and the coddleshave been in the valley for a
(04:14):
while, right, but they all camefrom Pennsylvania, and everybody
that came up to me that daytold me their biggest, their
parents' and grandparents'biggest regret in life was not
following our side of the familyto Alaska, because there was no
opportunity left inPennsylvania.
Kelly Tshibaka (04:29):
So here I am.
Rob Yundt (04:30):
I'm at this gathering for my assembly seat.
Last year, I had just gottenhome from what turned out to be
more than just a wrestling campand a coaching opportunity for
me and my family.
It turned into a very movingexperience for me.
I've met a lot of my familyfrom the East Coast that I never
met before, and every one ofthem regret or not their regret,
(04:51):
but their parents andgrandparents was that they
didn't follow our family toAlaska, and so I came back and I
was really.
It hit me pretty deep and Idon't want to see my amazing
state become California right,and we're at a time where you're
seeing boys compete againstgirls athletically every day.
I'm an ex-professional athlete.
I know the difference between aboy and a girl.
(05:12):
I have fought in front ofmillions of people in Las Vegas.
There is a difference betweenmy two sons and my four
daughters.
It's disgusting.
And so I have Shelley at thisthing.
And then, all of a sudden,someone asked me have you ever
thought about running for astatewide seat?
And I said I just spoke fromthe heart.
I didn't know he was going toask me that and I paused for a
moment.
I said you know, if they can'tfigure out this issue, then I'm
going to take somebody's job.
(05:34):
So how do you, how do?
Kelly Tshibaka (05:35):
you hope to do that now that you're in Juneau
and you'll be in a minority withus?
Well, they call it a bipartisancaucus, but really it's a bunch
of Republicans who vote 90percent of the time or more,
with extreme liberals.
I would call them squadliberals, like Forrest Dunbar.
What do you hope to do?
Rob Yundt (05:57):
I.
I want to give everybody ablank slate and benefit of the
doubt.
Right Like I, I'm going into itlike common sense is something
that should be past 61 to 0,right Now, I'm not saying that's
going to happen, but I'm notgoing to adjust my moral compass
or my district's moral compassfor anybody else.
So I will pursue things that Ibelieve to be common sense.
(06:20):
And you know, on a nationalstage.
You're starting to see.
Of course, they didn't do verywell.
Democrats did not do very wellnationally and I'm grateful for
that, because I don't think theyhave a game plan that works for
our country right now.
I hope that they'll come backto that and we're starting to
see it.
And what I mean by that is oldschool Democrats, right, our
parents and grandparents'generations.
(06:41):
They could balance a budget,they believed that you couldn't
have a country without a border,they knew the difference
between their sons and theirdaughters, and so on and so
forth.
They were really good people.
They voted blue mainly becausetheir jobs told them to.
Does that make sense?
They've been pushed out of theparty.
Their voice has been taken away.
There is a lot of really goodDemocrats in this country that
don't have a voice in it, right?
(07:01):
Guess what?
They just voted for Trump,right?
They voted for Trump becausehe's giving them a voice.
And so now you've seen, sincethe election, a lot of elected
Democrats were standing up andsaying we lost because of these
radical, woke agendas.
And they're members of Congress, elected members of Congress,
(07:24):
democrats, who are saying weneed to protect our daughters,
right?
So I'm going to treat everybodyin Juneau with the utmost
respect.
I don't ever attack anybody byname.
I attack bad policy.
I have no problem with that.
But you'll never hear memention someone else's name.
I hope they give me the samerespect.
I am going to move legislation.
I will run a bill to protect mydaughters and their daughters
(07:46):
and granddaughters and niecesand wives.
So, as far as who may or maynot push back on that, I haven't
put any thought into thatbecause, again, I'm going to
give everybody an opportunity toto help with common sense and I
want their voice, I want theiropinion on that, I want
everybody's opinion on this,right.
So we'll where it goes.
But as far as the you know thelong game for Alaska guys, I'm
(08:10):
in the driver's seat, they'renot.
They just got rejected at anational level, big time.
Kelly Tshibaka (08:15):
Yeah, let's follow up on that.
So what's your take on why didour state vote overwhelmingly
largest majority ever for Trump?
We flipped our House seat backto Republican with Nick Begich,
which is a huge win for Congress, and then down ballot, though,
we voted to flip Juneau blue,and in the House and in the
(08:36):
Senate.
What's your take on that?
Why did that happen?
Rob Yundt (08:39):
I'll tell you exactly why, and I'm not trying to hurt
anybody's feelings, but we haveno message on education.
Conservatives have no messageon education.
I have a message right.
I was three times I was put inthis position to lower funding
for education in the Mat-SuBorough.
I never did it.
Once I helped.
Rather than lower funding,which I refuse to do, I wanted
to help make it more efficientand stretch farther.
(09:01):
Does that make sense?
I have a bill that I'm going torun that will empower teachers
to help make more decisions intheir classroom as well, coming
up that I don't want to go intotoo much detail on this right
now, but that I think will makesure the money's spent better.
Does that make sense?
But my message on education hasalways been we need to
(09:22):
duplicate what they're doing inFlorida and Mississippi, and if
I lived outside of the Mat-Suborough in any other part of
Alaska, I would be trying toduplicate what the Mat-Su
borough has done with education,because we are by far the
shining star in Alaska.
In fact, our test scores haverisen so much in the last five
years, and the last three yearsspecifically.
We're now starting to lift theentire state of Alaska right
(09:43):
compared to other statesnationally, and so I think we
can come together as Republicansand Democrats and solve this
problem.
I really believe that in myheart.
I don't think there's anybodydown there from either side of
the aisle who areill-intentioned.
Everybody wants to help ourchildren.
Everybody wants high testscores.
How do we get there?
(10:03):
Well, we're not going to getthere doing status quo what
Alaska has been doing becausewe've never tested well.
Right, we've made noimprovements other than the
Mat-Su barrel, right.
So what can we do that wouldwork.
Well, we don't need to reinventthe wheel.
Let's go find somebody that'sdone well and duplicate their
success.
Right.
This is what we've been aroundfor, you know, as a country for
(10:25):
hundreds of years.
We don't need to reinvent thewheel.
Find someone that did a goodjob and do what they did.
That's ford and mississippi.
And so I had a message the wholetime.
I don't think we as a party hada message.
That's why we lost.
That's why we lost.
So, in some of these races inin the house specifically that
were so close, good people thatlost, great people, phenomenal
(10:47):
candidates I never heard himtalk about how to solve the
education problem one time.
So I think, I think what'sgoing to come out of this will
be good in the long run.
I'm in my early forties, so Ican play the long game right
Like I'm.
I do not intend to be alifetime 40-year senator.
That's not what I'm saying.
But what I am telling you is in2031, we're going to adopt our
(11:10):
next map and the Mat-Su boroughis going to go from nine seats
out of 60 to 11 or 12.
And I can tell you right now weare the common sense
conservative area in the stateand when we become a much bigger
piece of the pie for thelegislature, the Mat-Su borough,
the state, and when we become amuch bigger piece of the pie
for the legislature, the MatsuBorough is going to take over
state politics, starting inNovember 2032.
Kelly Tshibaka (11:29):
I think that's right.
Yeah, there's a.
There's an obvious shifthappening across the country
where we see the mass ofAmericans rejecting policies
that have not been working andelecting candidates who are
going to do what's best forworking Americans and for
families across the country, andI think we're going to see that
in Alaska as well.
Rob Yundt (11:48):
I appreciate what you've said.
The Kenai Peninsula is a veryconservative common sense area.
Kelly Tshibaka (11:53):
right yeah, rob, let's pick up on the other side
of this break.
You're on stand with Kelly andNiki Tshibaja.
We're talking with Rob Yundt.
Stand by, we're going to pickup on the other side of this
break.
I know that Niki's gotquestions for you too.
Stand by, we'll see you in aminute.
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Niki Tshibaka (13:16):
You are back on stand with Kelly and Niki
Tshibaka.
We are talking to newly mintedstate Senator Rob Yundt about
his plans as he gets ready tomove into the Senate.
I want to backtrack a littlebit, though, and talk a little
bit more about your race.
It was a trifecta upset in theMat-Su Valley.
(13:41):
The Matsu Valley, not only didyou overturn incumbent Dave
Wilson, but school board memberJubilee Underwood took the seat
from David Eastman, who wasanother conservative legislator,
and Elexie Moore won JesseSumner's vacated seat against
well-known Valley resident CraigMenard.
(14:02):
So wondering just how did thethree of you work together to
accomplish that?
Because I think that could beperhaps a pattern and a strategy
that others could consider thenext go around to see if we can
get better results.
Rob Yundt (14:14):
Yeah, I don't know that my strategy is one that
ones are going to want toduplicate, but I'll speak to my
strategy real quick and and howit may have affected all three
of us, and so, um, I'm not a fanof rank choice voting.
I want to go back to the verybest Republican versus the very
best Democrat.
I don't think you'd getanywhere in life.
Uh, we did not put a man on themoon years ago with average
(14:36):
ideas, right?
I don't want average, I wantthe best of the best.
So, but with that being said,we live in a ranked choice world
, and so when there's only threepeople in these races, or four
or whatever, they're all goingto the final round.
Anybody that knows me well knowsI do not miss coaching kids for
anything.
Well, I needed five weeks thissummer to travel to Iowa and in
(14:58):
different states and to coach abunch of kids from Alaska and
get ready for nationals.
So I'm not going to miss thatfor anything.
Campaign aside, I don't care.
I'm a coach and so I want tohelp kids.
So I left, I didn't put out anysigns, I didn't do anything, I
didn't knock doors, I wascoaching children, and so I get
home and we're right up againstthe 30-day report coming out and
I told my wife.
I said, before I knock a door,before I put a sign out.
(15:20):
I want to look at the 30-dayreports and it was clear to me
when I seen my opponents, theincumbents 30-day report, where
all the money was coming fromspecial interests, that I wasn't
going to do anything before theprimary.
And I know that sounds crazy,but I told my wife I said I'm
not going to do anything becauseI don't want to motivate these
(15:42):
organizations to give him moremoney.
I'm going to bomb the primaryon purpose and so for fun.
I put out signs two days beforethe primary, just for fun, so I
could split test.
I love analytics.
I built two businesses from theground up.
I love to look at numbers.
I put them out in one smallarea and it looked like I got my
butt kicked in the primary whenreally I took first place in
(16:03):
all four precincts where I hadout signs right and only had
them out for two days.
So Wednesday morning I woke upand I put signs everywhere so
that my opponent would not beable to tell what I did right,
so that he wouldn't catch on tothe fact that, wow, that's what
happened Right.
And so where he, where he hadsome signs, people realize most
people didn't even know I wasrunning Honestly.
(16:24):
I mean, I've born and raisedhere, my mom was born and raised
here, my great grandpa, right,we're all here for a long time
and I've coached a couplethousand kids in this community.
Most people didn't know I wasrunning, so it was an odd
strategy.
I know that.
And then I went to work afterthe primary with the intentions
of getting, you know, 50 pluspoints in the first round, and
so I would say that probablyaffected the girls as well.
(16:46):
You know that probably we wereall using the same political
consultant and I was gone.
I don't want to say I was beinglazy, I was being strategic and
helping kids, so it probablyaffected all of us a little bit.
The bottom line is, those girlsoutworked their opponents and
as did I, and we didn't barelyoutwork our opponents, we
significantly outworked them.
(17:07):
Right, it wasn't even close.
I made a lot of errors in my.
If I had to do this over again,I could have done way better.
I learned as I went in 2020,like I said, I little assembly
race, um, I ran at the lastminute.
I didn't do anything rightCause I had no consultants to
help me in 2023.
Last year, when I was runningfor your election on assembly, I
(17:29):
didn't have an opponent, sothis is my first campaign, this
is the first time.
It is Jubilee's, first time towhere it's a real campaign and
it was Elexie's and so we allmade a lot of mistakes.
We're all way better now thanwe were.
Um, but it basically came downto hard work.
It came down to hard work andso I knocked uh, between my wife
(17:50):
and I and volunteers, I wouldsay we hit close to, if not 10
000 doors, and my wife I need toput this out there right now my
wife is the MVP of this my wifehit 5,000 doors.
Wow, she personally hit 2,000doors and every door she hit in
District 28, she talked about meand she talked about Alexi.
And every door my wife hit in27, she talked about me and she
(18:11):
talked about Jubilee.
And I have nothing againsteither of their opponents any
one of them.
I like Steve Menard.
I think he's a great guy.
I think, he's a great guy.
I like David Eastman.
I have nothing against David.
He ran years ago on a platformof term limits and he's been
there for eight years and he'sgot a lot of great ideas, but he
(18:33):
hadn't passed no legislation.
So when you have a school boardpresident standing there at
your door because she hit thedoors Jubilee hit the doors you
have the school board presidentwho says I took boys out of
girls sports.
I took boys out of women'slocker rooms, which was
happening in our local highschool, one of them, right.
We had an 18 year old boy usingthe girls bathroom, right.
So she fixed these problems ina matter of a couple of years.
(18:57):
And um, and she's runningagainst someone that's been in
Juneau for eight years and hadnever passed a piece of
legislation.
He's a great guy.
I'm not being negative, I'm justbeing honest.
People want results.
They don't want people to sitthere and spin their wheels.
So when you got JubileeUnderwood standing at your door
showing you results I mean itwas I can't believe she didn't
(19:17):
win by 20 points.
I think she didn't because shedidn't start doing anything
until after the primary.
None of us did.
We didn't do anything untilafter the prime.
Niki Tshibaka (19:24):
So what I'm hearing?
There's a lot of uh, a lot ofhard work yet to out outwork
your opponents significantly,but you also all had each
other's backs.
You were, you were promotingeach other, basically, uh,
making it so that each of youwas knocking doors, even when
you weren't knocking doorsyourself physically, because you
had one of the other candidatesalso sort of plugging your name
(19:46):
as well, and I think I lovethat kind of teamwork in a camp,
in sort of the campaign season.
It'll be great to see that kindof teamwork continue into and
bleed into the next legislativesession in Juneau, which is what
I get.
Rob Yundt (20:01):
You'll get a kick out of this, because I know you two
are.
I mean, look at you're bestfriends, you're running a
podcast together.
It's so cool, right?
I worked District 28 mainly andmy wife worked District 27
mainly, right, it was just forwhatever reason, it's what
worked best for our family.
It worked best for me coachingbecause we live over here in
District 28.
And so it was easier for me tostill hit practices, and it was
(20:23):
nothing against District 27.
I love 27.
In fact, that's where I grew up, right, but I currently live in
28.
I coach over here, so it wasbest for our family.
But my wife hit 27 and workedthat one the most, and I hit 28.
And we did bigger numbers in 27.
And worked that one the most,and I hit 28 and we did bigger
numbers in 27.
So my wife likes to remind methat she did a much better job
(20:45):
than me.
And so, yeah, she was out thereworking very hard, and my wife
doesn't have anything againstwho Jubilee was running against,
she just wants results.
It's important to her that weprotect our daughters and we
need a legislature that getsalong.
We need a legislature that canwork together and do that, and
my wife is very grateful foreverything Jubilee did as our
school board president.
And so my wife went to bat.
(21:07):
I stayed in district 28.
Trenitie went to district 27.
And I mean, she's a workhorseman, she's not like, she's an
animal.
Niki Tshibaka (21:15):
Thank God for for spouses who are such great
supporters and work with us toachieve our dreams.
Yeah, so, but, but.
But moving forward from thecampaign season, we've only got
a few minutes left in thesegment, but I want to ask you
and you've sort of touched onthis a little bit, you know, you
, you already have clearly agood sense of what you want to
(21:36):
do when you move into thatlegislative session in Juneau.
I'd like to ask you about whatsome of your goals and
priorities are.
You've touched on education andthe whole bathroom issue, which
is a big issue, and, you know,making sure that sports are
divided along gender lines.
Maybe talk a little bit moreabout some other things that you
(21:58):
want to do, and I'd like to askyou about that in the context
of.
You know, here in Anchorage youmay have been following, you
know, our assembly doesn't seemto have recognized what's
happened on a national level andeven on a state level here
about people wanting to see morecommon sense policies, and what
we've just learned is they'vepassed legislation to apply a
(22:21):
tariff to a lot of goods nowcoming into, uh, into alaska,
and of course, that cost isgoing to be passed on to the
consumer and it won't just bepeople in anchorage, it'll be
people across the state who arewho are taking on these goods,
and so we've got that combinedwith a ballot measure, one that
just got passed, that'sincreasing the minimum wage and
(22:42):
requiring paid sick leave andthose kinds of things, and so
with all of that combined wecould see major inflation
happening or cost of livingincreases here in Alaska, even
as it's going down with thisincoming administration
(23:17):
no-transcript.
Rob Yundt (23:20):
I think they're going to be great for the budget in
the Mat-Su borough, becausewe're already getting calls for
people that want to dock overhere Right Tariff away, because
when stocks start shipping orcoming over here when we're
buying a massive crane right now, like the crane's already been
ordered, it's on the way we willbe prepared.
And so when we start doing muchmore revenue at the at the port
(23:44):
which we did do during myfour-year assembly, I helped
grow that immensely Well, that'smore money in our general fund,
and then we can lower ourproperty taxes even more, which
we've done a lot since I waselected locally, right.
So, yeah, I don't think thathurts the Matuburo in the short
run.
It might hurt us a tiny bittomorrow, but in the long run I
will tell you that's going tohelp us immensely.
So I hope they just keep doingwhat they're doing in there.
(24:06):
It's great for us.
Um, not so good for us, though,rob.
Yeah, well, you know it, uh, ituh.
There's still.
There's still great places leftto build out here.
So it uh, we, you know otherthings that I I want to do.
I could go on about educationall day and duplicating the
success that we've had out here.
I'm very passionate about that.
I want to help childrenstatewide with good
(24:28):
opportunities to get their handsdirty in high school, because
you got to talk about the threeE's of education and I talk
about this all the time.
But if you're not enlisted andyou're not enrolled, then you
need to be employable, right?
So if a young man or young ladyis not going into college or
she's not going into themilitary, then what's that leave
?
The bulk of the children don'tgo to one of those two areas.
(24:49):
A majority of them go into thereal world and they need to be
employable.
So, career and technicaleducation has we more than
doubled that in my four yearsout here?
And I want to do that statewideand help these kids find
something that they really enjoyin high school, that they're
passionate about.
I don't care if that meansbeing a hairstylist or doing
(25:09):
makeup or nails, or if thatmeans being a cook.
It could be anything.
You don't have to be anelectrician, right.
It could be anything.
But let's let these, let's helpthese children touch those
things in high school, sothey're ready for the real world
, right?
Niki Tshibaka (25:21):
So so education, it sounds like, is going to be a
really big thing for you, whichI think is fantastic.
Hey, I want to pick up with youon this.
On the other side of the break,because we just ran into a hard
, hard break, you're watching,stand with Kelly and Niki
Tshibaka, looking forward tomore of our conversation with
(25:44):
Rob Yundt.
Don't go away, stand by.
Welcome back to Stand withKelly and Niki Tshibaka.
We are talking with Rob Yundt,a newly minted state senator
here in Alaska.
Rob, you were just talkingabout what your priorities are
going to be when you move intothe legislative session in
Juneau.
Coming up, you talked abouteducation and the three E's of
(26:07):
education enlistment what do yousay?
Employability and what was thethird Enrollment?
Rob Yundt (26:13):
Enrollment.
You're not going to be enrolledin college or enlisted in the
military.
They need to be employable.
Niki Tshibaka (26:18):
I like that, the three E's.
So what else are some of?
Rob Yundt (26:23):
the priorities.
You're thinking about Our gamegame management in Alaska.
So I've probably done morehunting in my life than most in
the legislature other than MikeCronk.
Mike's definitely got me rightnow, but I'm going to catch him,
trust me.
So I spend a lot of time in thewoods.
Mike's definitely got me rightnow, but I'm going to catch him,
trust me.
So I spent a lot of time in thewoods.
It's been really sad and hardfor me to watch our sheep
populations deteriorate duringmy lifetime.
(26:45):
So we need to step up.
The legislature needs to solvethis problem.
It's a bipartisan issue.
I think we'll work very welltogether.
I got some great ideas on thatand some good real world
experience that I helped bringto the table.
On that Lands.
The state controls 60% of theMat-Su borough.
The feds control 60% of thestate, and so all of the
(27:07):
boroughs are having an issuewith affordable housing.
And you got to remember thestate of Alaska does not pay
property taxes to localmunicipalities to help with
education or road.
So I will absolutely run a billasking the state of Alaska to
give back 5% of the acreage inevery borough municipality,
things like that.
Give it to the local government, give it to the Mat-Su borough,
(27:30):
the municipality of Anchorage,kenai, peninsula Borough,
Fairbanks, whatever, and thenthey can turn around and auction
it off to the citizens, whichwill bring down the cost of land
and help house make housingmore affordable.
Timber Bill Clinton shut us downon timber 1999.
We've done 15 times more timberharvesting in the Mat-Su
borough since I was elected outhere than we had before.
The state is ready for a match.
(27:51):
I mean we're.
There are so many areas.
We've seen the big fire down onthe peninsula a couple of years
ago.
That was.
There was a gentleman downthere, a timber harvest guy.
They had been begging the stateto harvest that for years and
then boom, it all burned up.
So sad right Now that we canself-grade lumber in Alaska,
which most people don't knowabout, we can actually start
creating our own products hereand have them be legally
(28:12):
allowable to go into homes so wecan bring down the cost of
housing.
With that Plus we can createjobs.
Timber used to create 4,000jobs a year in Alaska prior to
Bill Clinton doing what he didin 1999.
We're down to about 60 to 100jobs.
So there's an and we didn'teven use to be able to
self-grade.
So I think we can go past the4,000 jobs we used to have, so
there's a real opportunity thereto help our budget and our
(28:34):
economy and fight inflation.
So I got a lot of stuff thatwe're going to be working on.
I'm very, very, very, veryorganized and I have a lot of
bills that I'm already workingon that are bipartisan, common
sense, going to help everysingle one of us.
You're never going to see meattacking anybody.
You're never going to see metrying to run radical agendas.
(28:55):
I am going to be running commonsense stuff that will help
everyday Alaskans.
Niki Tshibaka (28:59):
Yeah, I mean, that's everything I'm hearing
right now is all reallycommonsensical stuff and it
should be by part, it should getbipartisan support.
You know you would think whatyou believe and sticking by it,
but also just that, thatapproach of I want to put
(29:22):
forward things that should be,uh, acceptable and agreeable to
both sides because they're goodfor all all alaskans.
The only arguably controversialthing that I've heard you talk
about that really, let's behonest, shouldn't be that
controversial is uh, boys, boys,sports, girls and girls sports,
boys and boys bathrooms girlsand girls bathrooms.
Rob Yundt (29:45):
It's going to get way better because they're starting
to eat their own.
Look, I have friends from everywalk of life.
One of my closest friends is agay man.
Right, I don't care, it's noneof my business what somebody
does in their wedding chapel.
What somebody does in theirbedroom, I don't care, none of
my business does in theirwedding chapel.
What somebody does in theirbedroom, I don't care, none of
my business.
And I don't think thegovernment should care.
But the agenda has gotten sofar left from just this crazy
(30:08):
minute small group of people.
And now you're starting to seethem reject that because they're
realizing this is radical whenpeople are rejecting it.
Girls have been voting inAmerica for over 110 years.
They've had Title IX for 52years to give them their own
sports.
We can't take all of the way.
That's what Iran did.
Iranian women were free in theseventies.
Now they're not.
That happened in 1979, right,like that was not very long ago.
(30:31):
We cannot let that happen here.
We have to protect our wives andour daughters and so I don't
think it's controversial, and I,because I have friends from
every walk of life and familymembers from every walk of life
I don't think I'll be seen asbeing, you know, partisan on
that.
It's not at all.
I have four daughters and twosons and I've coached a couple
(30:53):
thousand kids and I know thedifference and that's all.
It is right.
I love every man, woman andchild on this planet.
I don't care what color yourskin is, how much money you've
got, I don't care about any ofthat.
You know what your lovepreferences are.
It means nothing to me.
And so, yeah, I'm going to dothings that protect all of us
and help all of us economically.
That's that's where I'm goingto be focused.
Niki Tshibaka (31:15):
Yeah, and you know you're talking about
respecting the dignity of, ofeverybody, and and, and the way
that all of that has been framedis you can't respect somebody's
dignity unless you accept, youknow, that radical version of
how, how gender, uh, and orshould gender should collapse in
on itself, and um, again I'vecome, it comes back to.
(31:35):
Your common sense approach islike we know what biology says
and so we're going to stick withthat, but we can still respect
the dignity and the sanctity ofthe lives of the people who
suffer with gender dysphoria.
It doesn't have to be a zerosum game, so I love it.
Kelly Tshibaka (31:52):
Yeah, rob, I'm really happy that you ran and
that you're going to be in theSenate.
You're going to be doing reallygood things.
I wanted to ask you what advicewould you give for other
Alaskans who are thinking I'dreally like to make a difference
in the state too.
They might be thinking or beinspired to potentially run for
maybe a lower level office, likesomething in their community
(32:12):
council, or maybe school boardor maybe they just want to get
involved and do something tomake a difference.
What advice would you give them?
Rob Yundt (32:18):
Yeah, call me.
Call you like, reach out, we'llhelp you.
I don't I mean that like myphone's on 24 seven.
Uh, reach out to your localRepublican party.
We are the party of commonsense, we are the future.
Um, we are not divisive.
Uh, we love everybody, we'retrying to help everybody, and so
, um, I want to get back to atime too.
(32:39):
By the way, I I'm notanti-Democrat at all.
I can't wait until theDemocratic Party goes back to
the old school JFK desk, becausewe have a lot of great what I
call JFK Democrats in thiscountry old school, our parents
and grandparents generation andsome of the youngers.
And I can't wait till somedaythe Democrat Party can say
they're the party of the workingclass American again.
(32:59):
Because they're not.
They haven't been in a longtime.
If they stop going so far left,they come back to the middle.
It helps all of us, right.
But right now I would say, ifyou're interested in that, reach
out to your local Republicanparty or call me 232-8340.
Find all the answers.
Shoot me a text, I will helpyou.
I'm very passionate about thisIn politics.
(33:20):
The closer to home it is, themore it affects your life.
Our school boards mean morethan anything.
In my opinion, they're.
They're the ones helping ourbabies.
Right.
To me, the school board is moreimportant than anything we're
doing right.
Local city councils it meansthe world.
Local assemblies it's a bigdeal right.
And so, yeah, call me if youneed help.
(33:40):
Shoot me a text message, reachout to your local Republican
party.
I'll do anything I can to helpyou.
Kelly Tshibaka (33:47):
I think that's good.
Another question I have for you.
This was on the ballot here inAlaska, across the United States
, in every jurisdiction wherethey tried to pass rank choice
voting and these jungleprimaries where anybody can run
without being vetted.
It failed, except for inWashington DC and here in Alaska
we tried to overthrow rankchoice voting.
(34:09):
All of the donations that camein were from Alaskans and they
put in $14 million to keep rankchoice voting in these crazy
primaries.
We had a violent felon from NewYork on our final ballot,
running for Congress.
We had a actress fromCalifornia who posed as a
pretend Alaskan running for USSenate in the last election and
(34:32):
it looks like that initiativebarely passed.
We have 700,000 peopleregistered to vote in Alaska,
something like that, and theinitiative passed by about 650
votes.
So they're going to keep rankchoice voting in Alaska, even
though it was 146 to one thatthe the ballot measure was
outspent right, 146, uh to one.
(34:54):
Outside money to keep rankchoice voting to the $1 Alaskans
could put in.
What's your take on all that?
Rob Yundt (35:00):
All right.
So before I like I'm I'm a veryopen and honest guy and I I
will speak positively aboutsomething if I like it.
So there is one small thing Ilike about rank choice and
there's a whole bunch that Idon't like.
So I want people to understandI don't.
I'm not looking at this as likewhat's a political position.
I'm looking at this as just mypersonal beliefs.
I like that the governor andLieutenant governor get to
(35:23):
choose each other.
So only thing about RankedChoice I like is I'm in the team
building business.
You know that it's the athleticside of me so they get to
choose one another and runtogether and they don't get
paired together later Maybe notlike each other.
Beyond that, the rest of it'sabsolutely terrible.
I worked with handicapped kidsfor three years in high school I
was an aid for Mr Ouellette'sprogram at Wasilla High School.
There are a lot of peopleamongst us that we don't know
(35:46):
and don't realize when you're inthe grocery store or driving
down the road.
But there are people in oursociety that have really severe
learning disabilities and youmay not even know it right.
It's not any different than anyof us.
They have a hard timeprocessing and stuff, and so
this really is a really hardsystem for them to understand.
The other thing is it's reallyhard on our elders.
(36:09):
I love my dad and my dad maywatch this and he'll get a
chuckle out of this.
If I have to text my father inhis mid-70s how to remember to
vote, that's not a good thing.
It's not fair, it's not rightand we'll be there soon.
So you're disenfranchising.
When you take those two groupsthat I just talked about, you're
disenfranchising 15% to 20% ofAlaskans every day.
(36:30):
For the rest of time, it'sterrible.
Beyond that, it disgusts methat $14 plus million from
out-of-state left-leaningorganizations was sent in here
by the helicopter loads to trickus right.
They should be ashamed ofthemselves.
The fact they didn't win by 20,30 points after spending $14
(36:54):
million goes to show you it's aterrible system.
The only reason they won bythis is because they actually
made it so confusing for somepeople.
They were telling people ifyou're a veteran, you're not
going to be allowed to vote inthe primary after this.
Are you kidding me?
Kelly Tshibaka (37:09):
Lies.
Rob Yundt (37:10):
Lies, right, Disgusting.
You'll never be able to get anabortion if this passes.
They brought abortion in.
This has nothing to do withabortion.
This has to do with.
There are people out here thatlive amongst all of us who are
darn good people, who are notthat young or maybe have
learning disabilities, and thisdisenfranchises them in an
always will rank.
Choice is not new.
It's been around for a hundredyears and tried in multiple
(37:32):
other States.
They all rejected it becauseit's terribly confusing for a
lot of us, right?
Not maybe not me or you, but itwill be for us.
Soon we're going to get sold.
You know it happens, right, butit just I'm disappointed.
You seen me run my race.
Did you ever see me attack myopponent?
Never once.
(37:53):
Did you ever see me make up alie?
Never once Did you ever see meeven mention their names?
I had other opponents besidesthe incumbent.
I would never do that.
Right, I'm not.
And just the amount of liesthat came out, but these are out
of state organizations.
They and just the amount oflies that came out, but these
are out-of-state organizations.
They don't care about makingyou.
They don't care about anyperson in the state.
They're looking at Alaska as acheap date to experiment and
tweak new systems, work out thebugs before they bring them back
(38:13):
to their state.
That's all we are is a cheapdate to the lower 48 radicals.
We're going to run anotherballot initiative and I'm
telling you we're going toreverse it.
Niki Tshibaka (38:27):
We, we're going to run another ballot initiative
and I'm telling you we're goingto reverse it.
We're going to win next time.
We got it because you know yousaid shame on the people doing
this and also shame on thepeople here in Alaska who were
being complicit with them.
To pull the veil over people'seyes with those kinds of lies,
just just wrong.
I mean, if you're going to doit, make sure you're doing it
honestly.
Rob Yundt (38:40):
Yeah, the other thing I don't like about the system
is I don't want to averagepeople doing this.
I don't, and that's what that'swhat rank choice is really
created to bring forward.
Is the average of this and theaverage of that?
No, I want the best of the best, right, like it.
Uh, it's just, it's not a goodsystem, you know.
So I do hope it goes away.
I'm in it.
You know that.
(39:00):
I'm sure there'll be lawsuitsand who knows the whole deal,
right?
I mean, there's so few ballotsseparating that maybe some get
thrown out, maybe the no winsbigger, maybe it loses smaller.
Who knows?
It's so close.
It's 0.1%.
Is the margin, right?
The difference is two, but it's0.1 difference either way.
And so, who knows?
There's going to be lawsuitsand stuff.
(39:21):
But I'm disappointed that theylied.
Tell the truth.
You like rank choice because ithelps get the left in there.
Just tell the truth.
Don't start making up liesabout our veterans.
Don't start trying to deceivepeople.
And that's what they did.
That's what disappoints me.
Kelly Tshibaka (39:38):
Yeah, we appreciate that, rob.
Thank you so much for being onour show when can people find
out more about you as you?
move forward into the Senate.
What's your website?
Robforalaskacom.
No-transcript.
(40:09):
Welcome back to Stand.
You're with Kelly and NikiTshibaka.
Niki, I want, were so surprisedand a bit discouraged about how
(40:36):
the nation really expected a redwave and instead there was a
red trickle.
We had thought that between theBidenflation and the horror at
the border and we had gone fromenergy dominance to energy
reliance on foreign adversaries,the war in Ukraine the people
(40:58):
would go.
We really want to see ourdefense not decimated but
instead rebuilt.
We want to see a stronger andsecure border.
We want to see jobs filled andreturned.
We want to see an end to theemployment crisis across the
country.
We want to see a boomingeconomy again instead of this
(41:19):
radical inflation.
We want to see families doingwell.
We want to see a stop to theprogressive agenda madness.
We want to see healthy foreignpolicy.
We want to see things returnedback to normal again.
We want to see families caredfor, etc.
And instead we eked out a razorthin majority in Congress of
(41:42):
people who would advocate forthose kind of policies.
We saw the lowest voter turnoutever in the history of Alaska.
We lost key seats across thecountry that we thought we would
pick up in swing states and, ofcourse, we saw what happened in
the country playing out theselast couple years as a result of
the Senate having a majority inthe Biden administration going
(42:05):
virtually unchecked, and wethought, ok, what do we do,
especially on the heels of ourfamily, laying it all out on the
line and losing just by about19,000 votes that election when
we had 19,000 super voterRepublicans who didn't vote in
Alaska?
Niki Tshibaka (42:23):
I thought it was just 8,000 or 9,000.
Kelly Tshibaka (42:25):
When you do all the rank choice voting, if more
people had shown up.
Yeah, it was just a reallysurprising election turnout when
we'd heard across the statethat so many people wanted to
see change, that they said it'stime for change and that their
voices weren't being heard.
And then they just chose to optout of their voices being heard
, and so we said, well, what canwe do?
(42:46):
We really believe in not givingup.
It's one of our mottos asTshibakas never quit.
We also believe that Tshibakasnever lose, because losing is a
choice.
You might not always win, butyou can choose not to lose.
And so we decided, well, whatare we going to do?
And part of what we wanted todo was really inspire people,
not just in our state but acrossthe country, that you can make
(43:07):
a difference.
And I was really encouraged bywhat happened this election
cycle.
Not only that, trump won by, Ithink, flabbergasting margins.
You know, the entire countrywas surprised, even CNN, when
they flipped to that map inwhich counties did Kamala
overperform and the whole mapwas blank and they lingered on
(43:30):
it for like 30 seconds, beingsurprised that she didn't
perform over perform anywhere,that we were able to flip our
our house seat by a hugepercentage margin.
Some of the seats that we wereable to flip in Alaska were
really encouraging, but I wasencouraged by other seats that
were flipped in even swingstates across the country, like
(43:50):
the Pennsylvania Senate seat,the Ohio Senate seat, for
example toppling incumbents thatwere really powerful.
These are all reallyencouraging signs.
But the thing that was reallyencouraging for me and I wanted
to kick this over to you becauseI know that you have great
thoughts on this is that itwasn't just Republicans or
people who would identify asRepublicans or people who lean
(44:11):
to the right who came togetherin this election, and I think
that that's really key, becausewe've brought on people who
identify as Democrats or don'tidentify as Republicans on this
show, all saying the same thing,and those have been some of the
interviews that you and I haveenjoyed the most, some of the
most thought-provokinginterviews.
It's people from acrosspolitical spectrum, or people
who have different politicalideologies, all coming to the
(44:34):
same conclusion in thispolitical cycle to say this is
actually the best way forwardfor America.
That created what we would calla red wave, but it's not
because they're identifying witha political party.
It's because they'reidentifying with what's best for
America, and I wanted you totalk about that because I
thought that was what was reallyencouraging in this particular
(44:56):
cycle.
I think that's what's soimportant.
Niki Tshibaka (44:59):
Yeah, in fact, even the red wave imagery I
think we've talked about thisbefore.
I saw it very much as a red,white and blue wave.
It was, to your point, aboutthe country coming together.
We recognize as a country thatwe were losing what made us and
makes us exceptional.
Not exceptional in the sensethat other people are inferior,
(45:20):
other nations are inferior, butexceptional in the sense that we
are unique.
Unique in the principles thatundergird and that are
responsible for the flourishingthat we've experienced as a
country for almost 250 years now.
Unique in the makeup of ourpopulation that's so diverse and
(45:42):
that we're united around acommon set or at least have been
for 250 years, almost a commonset of core values and
principles that make you anAmerican.
You're not an American becauseyou're of a certain color or
ethnicity.
You're an American because youshare a conviction and an
allegiance to and a loyalty to acertain worldview about what it
(46:08):
means to be human and what thenature of government is and
should be and how it relates tous as human beings and what that
interaction should be.
So it was very gratifying andexciting and encouraging to see
our nation realize, you know,what we don't want to go down
the road that Kamala and Bidenhave been leading us and the
(46:32):
people on the far left end ofthe political spectrum, because
that is not America.
They actually want to destroyAmerica as we know it and to see
people across the politicalspectrum say no, I am an
American and I want to seeAmerica great again.
Us not poo-poo or denigrate ourgreatness but, embrace it as a
(46:55):
good thing that we can dowonderful, wonderful things with
going forward and into thefuture.
So I was very encouraged bythat.
I was encouraged to see alsothe president-elect recognize
that red, white and blue waveand start making cabinet picks
and appointments that wereconsistent with that, you know,
(47:16):
with.
You know Tulsi Gabbard as the,you know DNI nominee and RFK and
all of that.
And at the local level here inAlaska.
Unfortunately, as you weretalking about with Rob, we
didn't see that, you know thattrickle down in the same way,
but we saw it at the federallevel.
You know people electing, youknow the candidates at the
(47:36):
federal level as well, acrossthe political spectrum here at
our state.
So I'm really encouraged, I'mexcited about what the future
portends, because I think wehave the potential to see the
country move forward in a reallygood direction if we can stick
together and not let the forcesthat are trying to divide us,
(47:57):
you know, tear us asunder.
Kelly Tshibaka (47:58):
Yeah, I think that's really good.
I was just looking for a tweetthat I saw Naomi Wolf had
reposted from DC Drano and Ithought that he summarized it
really well.
He said you know, in the lastfour years they
unconstitutionally mandated thatpeople take the COVID shot and,
at the risk of at the threat oflosing their jobs you had to.
(48:20):
If you didn't take the COVIDshot, then you lose your jobs or
you lose your medical practice.
They, because you would loseyour license they opened up the
border and ushered in recordlevels of human trafficking and
opioid trafficking.
People have lost their relativesand loved ones to opioid abuse
and to murders and homicide.
They've flipped our schools andflipped our hospitals and
(48:42):
flipped our social services togive away free care to illegal
immigrants at the expense of thetaxpayers.
And he just chronicled all ofthe abuses that have happened at
the expense of you know theywithheld FEMA care in emergency
situations but sent all of ourtaxpayer dollars over to wars in
foreign countries.
(49:03):
They refused to help our alliesin other countries when it
would require peace for ourallies.
That, you know now is imminentthreat and dangers for us as we
let terrorists into the UnitedStates and what happened was so
significant on Election Daybecause he said we have got to
remember this because this isexactly what America is built on
(49:24):
.
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