September 22, 2025 • 12 mins
JARVIS CALDWELL IS THE NEW MINORITY LEADER IN THE HOUSE And he joins me at 2:30 to talk about what he sees for the caucus going forward. He's the youngest one chosen ever, read more here.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
The House Minority leader.
Speaker 2 (00:01):
He represents District twenty, which covers parts of the Springs
in other areas, and now he joins me to talk
about his plans as the House Minority leader. First of all, Jarvis, congratulations,
Thank you.
Speaker 3 (00:15):
So much man. It's an honor to be on your show.
I really appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (00:18):
Well, I wasn't congratulating you for that.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
I was congratulating you for me the next House Minority leader.
Speaker 1 (00:24):
Now you've not been.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
You're a young guy, I should say, mid thirties, not
that that should be a disqualify or anything.
Speaker 1 (00:30):
Do you think that that helped you in running for
the leadership position.
Speaker 3 (00:36):
I don't know if it helped me run for the
leadership position. I think what it's going to help is
the Republican case in the wake of the tragic death
of Charlie Kirk, because I've just had so many church leaders,
I've had so many young people, college students reaching out saying, listen,
this was the straw that broke the camel's back. I'm
tired of just voting the right way. I'm ready to
(00:57):
actually do something. And I'm just a few years older
than what Charlie was when he passed away, and so
I think I can really tap into that momentum there
that's just sitting there that everybody feels and we need
to take that, we need to carry it into the
next election cycle.
Speaker 2 (01:13):
Well, I don't need to tell you that Republicans are
so outnumbered in both the House and the Senate. Some
progress was made in the last election cycle when it
came to the House. We've had Rose Puglici on the
show many many times, and it was something she talked
about pretty endlessly, was how do we restore balance to
the Colorado legislature and give the people who are Republican
(01:36):
in this state, who are significant there are significant numbers
of Conservatives.
Speaker 1 (01:40):
How do we give them that voice? Again?
Speaker 2 (01:42):
What is your plan or your strategy going forward in
this next election cycle to hopefully pick up a few
more House seats.
Speaker 3 (01:50):
Yeah? Absolutely, And first I want to say just I
have all the thanks to Rose because she was the
first minority leader I believe in like fourteen years to
flip seats like that. And so the number one goal
is to hold the seats that we won this last
election cycle, and then to add more seats and flip
more seats. And so you know, we already have a
great team in place thanks to Rose and ty Winter
(02:11):
and our other leaders. We have that team in place
already that was there with us last election cycle, and
that's not going to change. I mean, I'm changing, but
they're not changing. And so we're absolutely going to work together.
And the strategy that we used last time one of seats,
and we're going to keep going forward with that. But
I think we're going to have a lot more people
helping us now after everything that's going on.
Speaker 1 (02:32):
Well, I hope you're right.
Speaker 2 (02:34):
I do think that you know the phrase the silent majority.
You're way too young to remember the silent majority back
in the Reagan years, but it was true that there
was a lot of people out there who just kind
of went through life and you know, wanted to raise
their families and do their jobs and start their businesses
without a lot of without a lot of to do right,
(02:55):
just kind of under the radar. And I do feel
like a lot of those people have been awakened.
Speaker 1 (03:01):
And what does that look like for you?
Speaker 2 (03:03):
In terms of what you're going to ask from Republicans
rank and fire republicans across the state, what would you
like to see happen in a party that in recent
years has been a little fractured by some i'll call
it sectarian violence for lack of a better way to
put it. How do you bridge those gaps? Because they're significant.
Speaker 3 (03:23):
Yeah, yeah, that's a great question. So what I'm going
to ask of everybody, and this is people not just
in the Republican Caucus or Republicans in general, if you
want to help, I'm asking for one percent of your time.
So if you do the map on that, that's three
and a half days. We're going to round it up before.
Just give me four days a year. That's you know,
one day every few months to doorknock or sign away
(03:44):
or do something like. Just give me one percent over
the next fourteen months, and that's going to make a
huge difference. But you know, the first thing that I did,
The first thing that I did was just within an
hour or two after the minority leader election Saturday morning,
I was at a CSSA, the Colorado Station Association event,
and I was there with BERTA. Horne, our state party chair.
(04:04):
I was there with josh Son and bert the Colorado
Young Republican Chair. And then later that night at the
CSSA event, I was over there and hanging out with
some Libertarians and I said, hey, guys, listen, you know,
I know we're opposition parties, but the reality is is
we need to work together and not against each other
if we really want to take things back. And you know,
(04:25):
they always say that the party in power has a
bad off year election, and so people would say, well,
the Republicans are in power in Congress, and so it's
going to be a bad year for Republicans. But my
goal and my job and duty is to reach out
to the people of Colorado and say, no, there's only
one party in power right now in Colorado, and that's
the Democrat Party. Look, we have ideas, we have better alternatives,
(04:48):
and so give us a chance, and you're going to
see a difference here.
Speaker 2 (04:52):
I mean, I'm with you in that I do think
that there are Republican ideas that are outstanding ideas. One
of the things that I personally asked Rose off off
the air was a big issue that I think we
have to address and we have to address it quickly,
and that is with some of the criminal justice reform
that was passed recently, we are now in a position
where we are releasing dangerous violent people who are arrested
(05:17):
for violent crimes back into the community because they are
not they're not they're found not capable of standing trial.
I mean, please tell me the Republicans are working on
a real legislative fix for that issue.
Speaker 3 (05:32):
Yeah, And so I don't want to I don't want
to get too far ahead of myself. This is a
conversation that I've been having and so I feel like
in the very near future I have a very good
update for you. But I just want to put it
on your radar. This is something and you know, the
numbers are the numbers the Democrats. If we're going to
pass it, they have to come to the table, right
And so those conversations are being had about the competency
(05:55):
issue like that I believe that you're referring to. And
so that is something that is in talks. And again,
you have to have both sides if you're going to
get passed, at least if you're a Republican running it.
And so I just want to let your listeners know
that is a conversation happening. And to add to your concerns,
I actually ran a bill this year to prevent repeat
(06:17):
violent of finners from getting out on pr bonds, right
cash list bail, and I had bipartisan support on it,
I had a Democrat on it, but because of the
House Judiciary Committee, the makeup of it is so horrible.
Remember this is the same committee that was trying to
lower the penalties for attempted homicide, the old the bad
Shot bill that I believe I came on your show
and we talked about, right, you shoot into a crowd,
(06:39):
you miss somebody, well, and then they want to lower
the penalties for that. And so the Judiciary Committee is
a problem here at the Capitol. And there's a lot
of actual bipartisan bills that would be law right now
if there wasn't this roadblock in this wall and the
Judiciary Committee. So I'm going to keep working to expose
that that's not going to change. I won't be on
the committee now that I'm a minority leader, but it
(07:00):
is my number one call to expose that, at least
in the House.
Speaker 2 (07:03):
Let me ask you a personal question, and it really
has to do with the last you know, obviously we
have been dealing with some really serious stuff since Charlie
Kirk's assassination, and just a bigger conversation about rhetoric and dialogue.
What kind of Republican leader do you think you are
(07:24):
in terms of what do you bring to the table.
Are you going to are you going to be the
one to say something that may be inflammatory or are
you going to lean towards a more even keeled kind
of language. What can we expect from Representative Jarvis Caldwell
as the House Minority leader.
Speaker 3 (07:42):
Yeah, that's a great question. So I kind of made
a little bit of a name for myself this past
session because I really took on House Built thirteen twelve,
you know, the transgender rights bill, and so you know,
and I just everybody has their own style. My style
is to be passionate about the things that I can
care about, which printal rights is like my number one issue,
(08:03):
and so you know, I made a lot of headlines
and got a lot of attention on this bill, but
I didn't do it in a way where I had
to go down to the floor and call names or
anything like that. You know. I made the arguments and
then I used kind of the abilities I have outside
the building to message this, and it caught national news
and you'd see it on libs of TikTok and things
like that, and so I'm a foreign communications director for
(08:23):
the House Republicans for the very place where I'm now
the minority leader, and so I'm going to continue using
those abilities. And you know this is exclusive and breaking
news on your show, but it's it's certainly not public yet,
but you'll see it very soon. I did just sign
a letter to the Democrat majority calling out some of
(08:44):
their members who were what I would consider dancing on
the graves of Charlie Kirk. And so you're going to
see that if you follow the Colorado House Republican Twitter
page excuse me x page, you'll you'll see that very soon.
But I did sign a letter to them, and we
had our House Republicans sign on to it as well.
But you know, we just passed the resolution in the
(09:04):
special session saying, you know, everybody's going to be better
and all this stuff. Well, you know, we're we're trying
to stick to that resolution, and some of your members,
i mean, within a month, are violating that.
Speaker 2 (09:16):
That That is something that I think is super interesting.
But I got to tell you, my text line is
lit up from people who want to know if any
attention will be given to Representative Lorraina Garcia and her
very profitable nonprofit that has flourished with taxpayer dollars since
she got elected in a way that is so dramatic
(09:39):
that there's no way that it can.
Speaker 1 (09:41):
You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 2 (09:42):
It just looks really, really, really bad. Is that something
that you guys are going to work to call attention to.
Speaker 3 (09:50):
Yeah, so you know, every member gets five bills, and
this is something I certainly looked at, and you are
going to see something about it from my understanding from
one of our members. But yeah, if you're listeners who
are maybe listening who aren't aware of it, it's my
understanding that I think her nonprofits brought in like two
million dollars since she got elected, and her wife is
(10:11):
a paid employee, and even her parents are a paid employee.
And you know, as a taxpayer myself, I'm going, how
in the world is this even legal? That my tax
money is going to a non profit of an elected
representative who runs the nonprofit and then pays all their
family members. So I certainly, as a taxpayer, have issues
(10:33):
with it, and I know a lot of people have
issues with it, and I'm pretty certain I can't speak
on behalf of my members because technically our bills are secret,
but I have it down pretty good authority. You're going
to see something coming about that, and we're going to
make a very big deal about that.
Speaker 2 (10:45):
I hope so, because that has been stuck in my
crow for some time, Representative Jarvis Caldwell, I hope that
you will visit the show as often as possible because
it is my intention to continue, probably more aggressively than before,
because one of my big frustrations of the talk show
host is I have a lot of people who say things.
Speaker 1 (11:05):
Like, well, why didn't Republicans stop this? Why didn't Republicans
stop that?
Speaker 2 (11:09):
And I spend so much time saying they're so hopelessly
outnumbered that they can't stop anything.
Speaker 1 (11:15):
So let's you and I decide to.
Speaker 2 (11:17):
Keep everybody up to speed with what you're trying to do,
even if you're not successful, just because of the imbalance
of power that exists there right now.
Speaker 3 (11:25):
Absolutely, and you know, you have to define your wins
when you're in a minority like us. You know there's
twenty two of us, there's forty three of them. You know,
the map is the map. We just don't have the
numbers right like the way we fought thirteen twelve. The
bill is still horrible. Polists still signed it, but the
reality is is it got way watered down from where
it started at. And that attempted homicide bill to lower penalties,
(11:47):
we actually got that bill killed in committee because there
were such backlash that we actually got a Democrat or
to who are I would consider more moderate, to basically
not support it, and then so the bill sponsors killed it.
But it's my understanding it's coming back. So you know,
this fight is just starting, and I'm really happy to
lead the Republicans in this.
Speaker 2 (12:06):
Amen to that Jervis callswell, thanks so much, in best
of luck. You've got a tough road to hoe, as
they say, tough road to hoe, and I hope you
can handle it. We'll talk again soon.
Speaker 1 (12:15):
Thank you, all right, thank you,
The House Minority leader.
Speaker 2 (00:01):
He represents District twenty, which covers parts of the Springs
in other areas, and now he joins me to talk
about his plans as the House Minority leader. First of all, Jarvis, congratulations,
Thank you.
Speaker 3 (00:15):
So much man. It's an honor to be on your show.
I really appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (00:18):
Well, I wasn't congratulating you for that.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
I was congratulating you for me the next House Minority leader.
Speaker 1 (00:24):
Now you've not been.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
You're a young guy, I should say, mid thirties, not
that that should be a disqualify or anything.
Speaker 1 (00:30):
Do you think that that helped you in running for
the leadership position.
Speaker 3 (00:36):
I don't know if it helped me run for the
leadership position. I think what it's going to help is
the Republican case in the wake of the tragic death
of Charlie Kirk, because I've just had so many church leaders,
I've had so many young people, college students reaching out saying, listen,
this was the straw that broke the camel's back. I'm
tired of just voting the right way. I'm ready to
(00:57):
actually do something. And I'm just a few years older
than what Charlie was when he passed away, and so
I think I can really tap into that momentum there
that's just sitting there that everybody feels and we need
to take that, we need to carry it into the
next election cycle.
Speaker 2 (01:13):
Well, I don't need to tell you that Republicans are
so outnumbered in both the House and the Senate. Some
progress was made in the last election cycle when it
came to the House. We've had Rose Puglici on the
show many many times, and it was something she talked
about pretty endlessly, was how do we restore balance to
the Colorado legislature and give the people who are Republican
(01:36):
in this state, who are significant there are significant numbers
of Conservatives.
Speaker 1 (01:40):
How do we give them that voice? Again?
Speaker 2 (01:42):
What is your plan or your strategy going forward in
this next election cycle to hopefully pick up a few
more House seats.
Speaker 3 (01:50):
Yeah? Absolutely, And first I want to say just I
have all the thanks to Rose because she was the
first minority leader I believe in like fourteen years to
flip seats like that. And so the number one goal
is to hold the seats that we won this last
election cycle, and then to add more seats and flip
more seats. And so you know, we already have a
great team in place thanks to Rose and ty Winter
(02:11):
and our other leaders. We have that team in place
already that was there with us last election cycle, and
that's not going to change. I mean, I'm changing, but
they're not changing. And so we're absolutely going to work together.
And the strategy that we used last time one of seats,
and we're going to keep going forward with that. But
I think we're going to have a lot more people
helping us now after everything that's going on.
Speaker 1 (02:32):
Well, I hope you're right.
Speaker 2 (02:34):
I do think that you know the phrase the silent majority.
You're way too young to remember the silent majority back
in the Reagan years, but it was true that there
was a lot of people out there who just kind
of went through life and you know, wanted to raise
their families and do their jobs and start their businesses
without a lot of without a lot of to do right,
(02:55):
just kind of under the radar. And I do feel
like a lot of those people have been awakened.
Speaker 1 (03:01):
And what does that look like for you?
Speaker 2 (03:03):
In terms of what you're going to ask from Republicans
rank and fire republicans across the state, what would you
like to see happen in a party that in recent
years has been a little fractured by some i'll call
it sectarian violence for lack of a better way to
put it. How do you bridge those gaps? Because they're significant.
Speaker 3 (03:23):
Yeah, yeah, that's a great question. So what I'm going
to ask of everybody, and this is people not just
in the Republican Caucus or Republicans in general, if you
want to help, I'm asking for one percent of your time.
So if you do the map on that, that's three
and a half days. We're going to round it up before.
Just give me four days a year. That's you know,
one day every few months to doorknock or sign away
(03:44):
or do something like. Just give me one percent over
the next fourteen months, and that's going to make a
huge difference. But you know, the first thing that I did,
The first thing that I did was just within an
hour or two after the minority leader election Saturday morning,
I was at a CSSA, the Colorado Station Association event,
and I was there with BERTA. Horne, our state party chair.
(04:04):
I was there with josh Son and bert the Colorado
Young Republican Chair. And then later that night at the
CSSA event, I was over there and hanging out with
some Libertarians and I said, hey, guys, listen, you know,
I know we're opposition parties, but the reality is is
we need to work together and not against each other
if we really want to take things back. And you know,
(04:25):
they always say that the party in power has a
bad off year election, and so people would say, well,
the Republicans are in power in Congress, and so it's
going to be a bad year for Republicans. But my
goal and my job and duty is to reach out
to the people of Colorado and say, no, there's only
one party in power right now in Colorado, and that's
the Democrat Party. Look, we have ideas, we have better alternatives,
(04:48):
and so give us a chance, and you're going to
see a difference here.
Speaker 2 (04:52):
I mean, I'm with you in that I do think
that there are Republican ideas that are outstanding ideas. One
of the things that I personally asked Rose off off
the air was a big issue that I think we
have to address and we have to address it quickly,
and that is with some of the criminal justice reform
that was passed recently, we are now in a position
where we are releasing dangerous violent people who are arrested
(05:17):
for violent crimes back into the community because they are
not they're not they're found not capable of standing trial.
I mean, please tell me the Republicans are working on
a real legislative fix for that issue.
Speaker 3 (05:32):
Yeah, And so I don't want to I don't want
to get too far ahead of myself. This is a
conversation that I've been having and so I feel like
in the very near future I have a very good
update for you. But I just want to put it
on your radar. This is something and you know, the
numbers are the numbers the Democrats. If we're going to
pass it, they have to come to the table, right
And so those conversations are being had about the competency
(05:55):
issue like that I believe that you're referring to. And
so that is something that is in talks. And again,
you have to have both sides if you're going to
get passed, at least if you're a Republican running it.
And so I just want to let your listeners know
that is a conversation happening. And to add to your concerns,
I actually ran a bill this year to prevent repeat
(06:17):
violent of finners from getting out on pr bonds, right
cash list bail, and I had bipartisan support on it,
I had a Democrat on it, but because of the
House Judiciary Committee, the makeup of it is so horrible.
Remember this is the same committee that was trying to
lower the penalties for attempted homicide, the old the bad
Shot bill that I believe I came on your show
and we talked about, right, you shoot into a crowd,
(06:39):
you miss somebody, well, and then they want to lower
the penalties for that. And so the Judiciary Committee is
a problem here at the Capitol. And there's a lot
of actual bipartisan bills that would be law right now
if there wasn't this roadblock in this wall and the
Judiciary Committee. So I'm going to keep working to expose
that that's not going to change. I won't be on
the committee now that I'm a minority leader, but it
(07:00):
is my number one call to expose that, at least
in the House.
Speaker 2 (07:03):
Let me ask you a personal question, and it really
has to do with the last you know, obviously we
have been dealing with some really serious stuff since Charlie
Kirk's assassination, and just a bigger conversation about rhetoric and dialogue.
What kind of Republican leader do you think you are
(07:24):
in terms of what do you bring to the table.
Are you going to are you going to be the
one to say something that may be inflammatory or are
you going to lean towards a more even keeled kind
of language. What can we expect from Representative Jarvis Caldwell
as the House Minority leader.
Speaker 3 (07:42):
Yeah, that's a great question. So I kind of made
a little bit of a name for myself this past
session because I really took on House Built thirteen twelve,
you know, the transgender rights bill, and so you know,
and I just everybody has their own style. My style
is to be passionate about the things that I can
care about, which printal rights is like my number one issue,
(08:03):
and so you know, I made a lot of headlines
and got a lot of attention on this bill, but
I didn't do it in a way where I had
to go down to the floor and call names or
anything like that. You know. I made the arguments and
then I used kind of the abilities I have outside
the building to message this, and it caught national news
and you'd see it on libs of TikTok and things
like that, and so I'm a foreign communications director for
(08:23):
the House Republicans for the very place where I'm now
the minority leader, and so I'm going to continue using
those abilities. And you know this is exclusive and breaking
news on your show, but it's it's certainly not public yet,
but you'll see it very soon. I did just sign
a letter to the Democrat majority calling out some of
(08:44):
their members who were what I would consider dancing on
the graves of Charlie Kirk. And so you're going to
see that if you follow the Colorado House Republican Twitter
page excuse me x page, you'll you'll see that very soon.
But I did sign a letter to them, and we
had our House Republicans sign on to it as well.
But you know, we just passed the resolution in the
(09:04):
special session saying, you know, everybody's going to be better
and all this stuff. Well, you know, we're we're trying
to stick to that resolution, and some of your members,
i mean, within a month, are violating that.
Speaker 2 (09:16):
That That is something that I think is super interesting.
But I got to tell you, my text line is
lit up from people who want to know if any
attention will be given to Representative Lorraina Garcia and her
very profitable nonprofit that has flourished with taxpayer dollars since
she got elected in a way that is so dramatic
(09:39):
that there's no way that it can.
Speaker 1 (09:41):
You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 2 (09:42):
It just looks really, really, really bad. Is that something
that you guys are going to work to call attention to.
Speaker 3 (09:50):
Yeah, so you know, every member gets five bills, and
this is something I certainly looked at, and you are
going to see something about it from my understanding from
one of our members. But yeah, if you're listeners who
are maybe listening who aren't aware of it, it's my
understanding that I think her nonprofits brought in like two
million dollars since she got elected, and her wife is
(10:11):
a paid employee, and even her parents are a paid employee.
And you know, as a taxpayer myself, I'm going, how
in the world is this even legal? That my tax
money is going to a non profit of an elected
representative who runs the nonprofit and then pays all their
family members. So I certainly, as a taxpayer, have issues
(10:33):
with it, and I know a lot of people have
issues with it, and I'm pretty certain I can't speak
on behalf of my members because technically our bills are secret,
but I have it down pretty good authority. You're going
to see something coming about that, and we're going to
make a very big deal about that.
Speaker 2 (10:45):
I hope so, because that has been stuck in my
crow for some time, Representative Jarvis Caldwell, I hope that
you will visit the show as often as possible because
it is my intention to continue, probably more aggressively than before,
because one of my big frustrations of the talk show
host is I have a lot of people who say things.
Speaker 1 (11:05):
Like, well, why didn't Republicans stop this? Why didn't Republicans
stop that?
Speaker 2 (11:09):
And I spend so much time saying they're so hopelessly
outnumbered that they can't stop anything.
Speaker 1 (11:15):
So let's you and I decide to.
Speaker 2 (11:17):
Keep everybody up to speed with what you're trying to do,
even if you're not successful, just because of the imbalance
of power that exists there right now.
Speaker 3 (11:25):
Absolutely, and you know, you have to define your wins
when you're in a minority like us. You know there's
twenty two of us, there's forty three of them. You know,
the map is the map. We just don't have the
numbers right like the way we fought thirteen twelve. The
bill is still horrible. Polists still signed it, but the
reality is is it got way watered down from where
it started at. And that attempted homicide bill to lower penalties,
(11:47):
we actually got that bill killed in committee because there
were such backlash that we actually got a Democrat or
to who are I would consider more moderate, to basically
not support it, and then so the bill sponsors killed it.
But it's my understanding it's coming back. So you know,
this fight is just starting, and I'm really happy to
lead the Republicans in this.
Speaker 2 (12:06):
Amen to that Jervis callswell, thanks so much, in best
of luck. You've got a tough road to hoe, as
they say, tough road to hoe, and I hope you
can handle it. We'll talk again soon.
Speaker 1 (12:15):
Thank you, all right, thank you,
The Mandy Connell Podcast News
Popular Podcasts
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
The Joe Rogan Experience
The official podcast of comedian Joe Rogan.