December 15, 2025 • 8 mins
With the midterm elections approaching, Republicans are expected to campaign aggressively to make their case for reelection. The GOP faces criticism for failing so far to stop the rise in healthcare premiums, which could affect their chances in 2026. Ed also shares insights on what aspiring Presidential candidates should be doing now to prepare for 2028.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Wow, you're listening to the Mark Simone show on the
seven wo R. Well, let's third of the Dean himself,
the greatest political consultant the Hall, Ed Rollins. He's run
more campaigns successful campaigns than anybody. Ed Rollins, How you doing?
Speaker 2 (00:17):
Good morning? Mark?
Speaker 1 (00:18):
Are you I'm good?
Speaker 2 (00:19):
Hey?
Speaker 1 (00:19):
You probably get this all the time. People say what's
going to happen in the midterm? So who's going to
win the midterm? Predicting that is like predicting the twenty
twenty eighth Super Bowl. I mean, the landscape is going
to change between now and then, isn't it.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
It's going to change dramatically. I mean, I think here's
what does happen though. I can sort of go to
a fifty years street members go home and holidays and
their family gets all together, and they basically they do
I really want to do this for another two years
or four years to any of them ambitious or either
(00:51):
senators do I want to do? You want to run
for another re election? So oftentimes in January there's a
number that's say, thank you very much, I've had enough
of this, so I'm going to run for something else.
As of right now, they're fifty three members who announced
that they're not going to run for re election, forty
three zeros or House members to the other tenor US senators.
(01:12):
And I think to a certain extent that the recruitment
is going to go on now is because Democrats do
think they're going to win this House so easily and
there's a possibility and they're going to win the Senate.
They're out there recruiting anxiously. What we're trying to do
is that the president's team has to do is to
sort of make sure that the vulnerable incomes are getting
ready to run for reelection. It's the year long process.
(01:35):
Seems like year is a long time, but it's not
in politics. So they leave Christmas, you'll probably see in
January and other ten or fifteen members thank you very much.
I've had a nice career, and they start looking our
retirement and then you fill on the blanks and begin
in February to start running and running hard. The president's
agenda ahead of him is an aggressive one and it's
(01:55):
a tough one getting the budgets through and what have you,
and are so small that he has both the House
and the Senate, but his task and stuff.
Speaker 1 (02:04):
Yeah, so when you say, some people may leave Congress.
I don't need this anymore. Let me leave. What did
they do that They can make a lot of money, right,
lobbying or something like that.
Speaker 2 (02:12):
So some can some very very few members go back home.
They all promise they're going to go back home. Some
you know, people say, well, you know when they when
you decide to quit, come work for me. Uh, and
some just you know, decide this is not what it's
not what I want to spend my time. This sort
of been a very frustrating year. If you were bubbled
(02:33):
them to be in the Congress and you get the
big bill best which obviously normally you have lots of
builds that you passed, but they combined it all on
one thing, so there's not a lot of activity, and
and uh, you know, they want to They went home
for a period of time. They getting beat up for
that a certain extent. So so I would say when
I was the chairman of the Congression Committee co chairman,
(02:54):
people said say why don't you run for Congress? I say,
thank you very much. I might be behind the scenes.
I don't want I don't want to spend my day
arguing with four unor thirty five other people every day,
and I think to a certain extent, that's where a
lot of members may be. Once that numbers changed and
altered in the sense we know how many running, then
the race is going to begin.
Speaker 1 (03:13):
Hey, ed Rellands, if the healthcare if they don't fix
this healthcare situation, put a patch on it or something,
healthcare costs are going to go nuts. It's the fault
of Obama and Obamacare. But isn't Aren't there Republicans going
to get blamed for it?
Speaker 2 (03:28):
Oh? Yes, absolutely, there's no question Republicans is going to
We've not had a consistent healthcare plan in twenty years.
We used to have some real experts on it when
Bob Dole was the leader because of his only personal
healthcare problems over the years, he knew a lot about healthcare.
He had a chief of staff, Sheila Burke, who was
a nurse, to do a lot about healthcare. We don't
(03:51):
have a lot of experts now. And you know our
premise of you know, let's have savings accounts and what
have you. If I gave you a two thousand dollars
savings account, which is with a new Ginger plan, is uh,
you'll go from that real quick. First time you get
to a doctor, h and if there's anything that happens
to you, you know, the cost or astronomical. So not
(04:13):
only will twenty two million people be affected by this,
the reality is their costs will go up dramatically. Those
who can afford a lot of America's going to say
I can't afford it. I'm just not gonna and that
creates a real chaos. The best cursed Republicans can do
is stand this thing for year, Uh, subsidies. Democrats aren't
(04:33):
going to do that because obviously they want they want
to get to the next election with the rise and
prices and what have you. So I think, to a
certain extent, we've got we've got a couple of months
here real chaos with those those here solutions, I would
say this point in time, we're not We're not gonna
the healthcare is not gonna get fisted a short period
of time.
Speaker 1 (04:51):
Well I'm not an expert, but uh, just common sense,
I would think if you let the government take over healthcare,
the cost is going to go way up. It wouldn't
that be true?
Speaker 2 (05:01):
Absolutely well, to a certain extent, the government does pay
them the past. If you are to health care today,
and it's you know, I don't think that Kennedy is
ready to do that. Start care of pills to the
unis versus President. I don't think it's hider to do that.
I think the President's got a lot of misplay, I
think to a certain extent. But most Americans are going
(05:21):
to suffer measurably about this because even if you have
health insurance today been a private company, because of the
burden of im twenty two million people from the Obamacare program,
he's going to find their or creature going to walk.
Healthcare rates are not going down. They haven't gone down
a long long time. And it's an expensive entity and
(05:41):
there's a a lot of people that are experts on
it who are not very happy with what we have.
Speaker 1 (05:47):
Yeah, Ed Robins, if you want to run in twenty
twenty eight, Gavin Newsom or whoever, if you want to
run in twenty twenty eight, what should you be doing now?
Is there anything you can really do now for that?
Speaker 2 (05:57):
Sure, you can raise money, the line up your support
reason lane of your team. I mean there's four or
five of them that are running right now. And what
you try and do is you tap into easy advantage
of the interm elections to go out and made friends
around the country in key states. Uh. You know, I
think Cavenuwson is going to do is just continue to
beat up on Trump and fight with Trump, and that
(06:18):
seems to be working for him. He is a mess
of the state in California. No one's talking about the
mess in California. Nobody's talking about what a great job
he's doing. Beat that by the President. They say the
same thing in Illinois. So my sense is those who
are gonna run, it's gonna be four or five at
least some new governors that may will have some political
ambition beyond where they are. It's gonna be a full field.
Speaker 1 (06:41):
Yeah. Yeah. In the old days that Reagan came from
California and one but nowadays it's been a one party
state for so long. Guys like Gavin Newsom, Kamala Harris,
they've never been tested in two party states. So aren't
isn't anybody from California gonna have a problem trying to
run nationally?
Speaker 2 (06:57):
Well, you move out, you move out of like California.
Why you haven't had any competitions in California is they
basically created a system instead of a Republican or a
Democrat winning the nominations and running against each other, the
top two get nominated, so it could be two Democrats
running against each other and two Republicans. It's ever happened
(07:18):
that way. But the reality is as kinds the one
party system. So the reality is, I mean, he doesn't
want to talk about California. He wants to talk about
nationally what what Trump has not done as opposed to
what he has done. And he's you know, he's I
don't get it, but he's a charismatic figure. He's got
a fifty four to fifty five percent approwal rating in California,
which is pretty mess and which California has not been
(07:41):
in play since, you know, since Bush and the eighty eight.
You know, it's a it's a hard state for us
to win, and I think to a herd extent, it
needs to be an easy state.
Speaker 1 (07:49):
Force well, and Rollin's brilliant as always, Keep up the
great work and we'll talk again soon.
Speaker 2 (07:56):
Had a wonderful holiday and a happy honka to all yours.
Speaker 1 (08:00):
All right, Thanks, take care, Hey, don't forget coming up
at noon. Buck and Clay, what a great show every day.
Twelve noon. Then you got the most listened to radio
show in America. Sean Hannity at three, got Jesse Kelly
at six, And people are raving about our new show
with Jimmy Fayla every night at nine o'clock. It's interesting,
it's funny, very entertaining. Jimmy Fayla every night nine to midnight,
(08:24):
seven ten WR
Wow, you're listening to the Mark Simone show on the
seven wo R. Well, let's third of the Dean himself,
the greatest political consultant the Hall, Ed Rollins. He's run
more campaigns successful campaigns than anybody. Ed Rollins, How you doing?
Speaker 2 (00:17):
Good morning? Mark?
Speaker 1 (00:18):
Are you I'm good?
Speaker 2 (00:19):
Hey?
Speaker 1 (00:19):
You probably get this all the time. People say what's
going to happen in the midterm? So who's going to
win the midterm? Predicting that is like predicting the twenty
twenty eighth Super Bowl. I mean, the landscape is going
to change between now and then, isn't it.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
It's going to change dramatically. I mean, I think here's
what does happen though. I can sort of go to
a fifty years street members go home and holidays and
their family gets all together, and they basically they do
I really want to do this for another two years
or four years to any of them ambitious or either
(00:51):
senators do I want to do? You want to run
for another re election? So oftentimes in January there's a
number that's say, thank you very much, I've had enough
of this, so I'm going to run for something else.
As of right now, they're fifty three members who announced
that they're not going to run for re election, forty
three zeros or House members to the other tenor US senators.
(01:12):
And I think to a certain extent that the recruitment
is going to go on now is because Democrats do
think they're going to win this House so easily and
there's a possibility and they're going to win the Senate.
They're out there recruiting anxiously. What we're trying to do
is that the president's team has to do is to
sort of make sure that the vulnerable incomes are getting
ready to run for reelection. It's the year long process.
(01:35):
Seems like year is a long time, but it's not
in politics. So they leave Christmas, you'll probably see in
January and other ten or fifteen members thank you very much.
I've had a nice career, and they start looking our
retirement and then you fill on the blanks and begin
in February to start running and running hard. The president's
agenda ahead of him is an aggressive one and it's
(01:55):
a tough one getting the budgets through and what have you,
and are so small that he has both the House
and the Senate, but his task and stuff.
Speaker 1 (02:04):
Yeah, so when you say, some people may leave Congress.
I don't need this anymore. Let me leave. What did
they do that They can make a lot of money, right,
lobbying or something like that.
Speaker 2 (02:12):
So some can some very very few members go back home.
They all promise they're going to go back home. Some
you know, people say, well, you know when they when
you decide to quit, come work for me. Uh, and
some just you know, decide this is not what it's
not what I want to spend my time. This sort
of been a very frustrating year. If you were bubbled
(02:33):
them to be in the Congress and you get the
big bill best which obviously normally you have lots of
builds that you passed, but they combined it all on
one thing, so there's not a lot of activity, and
and uh, you know, they want to They went home
for a period of time. They getting beat up for
that a certain extent. So so I would say when
I was the chairman of the Congression Committee co chairman,
(02:54):
people said say why don't you run for Congress? I say,
thank you very much. I might be behind the scenes.
I don't want I don't want to spend my day
arguing with four unor thirty five other people every day,
and I think to a certain extent, that's where a
lot of members may be. Once that numbers changed and
altered in the sense we know how many running, then
the race is going to begin.
Speaker 1 (03:13):
Hey, ed Rellands, if the healthcare if they don't fix
this healthcare situation, put a patch on it or something,
healthcare costs are going to go nuts. It's the fault
of Obama and Obamacare. But isn't Aren't there Republicans going
to get blamed for it?
Speaker 2 (03:28):
Oh? Yes, absolutely, there's no question Republicans is going to
We've not had a consistent healthcare plan in twenty years.
We used to have some real experts on it when
Bob Dole was the leader because of his only personal
healthcare problems over the years, he knew a lot about healthcare.
He had a chief of staff, Sheila Burke, who was
a nurse, to do a lot about healthcare. We don't
(03:51):
have a lot of experts now. And you know our
premise of you know, let's have savings accounts and what
have you. If I gave you a two thousand dollars
savings account, which is with a new Ginger plan, is uh,
you'll go from that real quick. First time you get
to a doctor, h and if there's anything that happens
to you, you know, the cost or astronomical. So not
(04:13):
only will twenty two million people be affected by this,
the reality is their costs will go up dramatically. Those
who can afford a lot of America's going to say
I can't afford it. I'm just not gonna and that
creates a real chaos. The best cursed Republicans can do
is stand this thing for year, Uh, subsidies. Democrats aren't
(04:33):
going to do that because obviously they want they want
to get to the next election with the rise and
prices and what have you. So I think, to a
certain extent, we've got we've got a couple of months
here real chaos with those those here solutions, I would
say this point in time, we're not We're not gonna
the healthcare is not gonna get fisted a short period
of time.
Speaker 1 (04:51):
Well I'm not an expert, but uh, just common sense,
I would think if you let the government take over healthcare,
the cost is going to go way up. It wouldn't
that be true?
Speaker 2 (05:01):
Absolutely well, to a certain extent, the government does pay
them the past. If you are to health care today,
and it's you know, I don't think that Kennedy is
ready to do that. Start care of pills to the
unis versus President. I don't think it's hider to do that.
I think the President's got a lot of misplay, I
think to a certain extent. But most Americans are going
(05:21):
to suffer measurably about this because even if you have
health insurance today been a private company, because of the
burden of im twenty two million people from the Obamacare program,
he's going to find their or creature going to walk.
Healthcare rates are not going down. They haven't gone down
a long long time. And it's an expensive entity and
(05:41):
there's a a lot of people that are experts on
it who are not very happy with what we have.
Speaker 1 (05:47):
Yeah, Ed Robins, if you want to run in twenty
twenty eight, Gavin Newsom or whoever, if you want to
run in twenty twenty eight, what should you be doing now?
Is there anything you can really do now for that?
Speaker 2 (05:57):
Sure, you can raise money, the line up your support
reason lane of your team. I mean there's four or
five of them that are running right now. And what
you try and do is you tap into easy advantage
of the interm elections to go out and made friends
around the country in key states. Uh. You know, I
think Cavenuwson is going to do is just continue to
beat up on Trump and fight with Trump, and that
(06:18):
seems to be working for him. He is a mess
of the state in California. No one's talking about the
mess in California. Nobody's talking about what a great job
he's doing. Beat that by the President. They say the
same thing in Illinois. So my sense is those who
are gonna run, it's gonna be four or five at
least some new governors that may will have some political
ambition beyond where they are. It's gonna be a full field.
Speaker 1 (06:41):
Yeah. Yeah. In the old days that Reagan came from
California and one but nowadays it's been a one party
state for so long. Guys like Gavin Newsom, Kamala Harris,
they've never been tested in two party states. So aren't
isn't anybody from California gonna have a problem trying to
run nationally?
Speaker 2 (06:57):
Well, you move out, you move out of like California.
Why you haven't had any competitions in California is they
basically created a system instead of a Republican or a
Democrat winning the nominations and running against each other, the
top two get nominated, so it could be two Democrats
running against each other and two Republicans. It's ever happened
(07:18):
that way. But the reality is as kinds the one
party system. So the reality is, I mean, he doesn't
want to talk about California. He wants to talk about
nationally what what Trump has not done as opposed to
what he has done. And he's you know, he's I
don't get it, but he's a charismatic figure. He's got
a fifty four to fifty five percent approwal rating in California,
which is pretty mess and which California has not been
(07:41):
in play since, you know, since Bush and the eighty eight.
You know, it's a it's a hard state for us
to win, and I think to a herd extent, it
needs to be an easy state.
Speaker 1 (07:49):
Force well, and Rollin's brilliant as always, Keep up the
great work and we'll talk again soon.
Speaker 2 (07:56):
Had a wonderful holiday and a happy honka to all yours.
Speaker 1 (08:00):
All right, Thanks, take care, Hey, don't forget coming up
at noon. Buck and Clay, what a great show every day.
Twelve noon. Then you got the most listened to radio
show in America. Sean Hannity at three, got Jesse Kelly
at six, And people are raving about our new show
with Jimmy Fayla every night at nine o'clock. It's interesting,
it's funny, very entertaining. Jimmy Fayla every night nine to midnight,
(08:24):
seven ten WR
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