SDYR Podcast with Host Chairwoman Cynthia Kaui #3 & Hayley Marting (Ep 574)

Host Chairwoman Cynthia Kaui & Hayley Marting interview Guests: Matt Gunderson, CA-49 and Mayor of El Cajon, Bill Wells, CA-51 

Episode Transcript

(00:05):
This is the San Diego Young RepublicansPodcast. Hi everyone, welcome to the
third episode of the San Diego YoungRepublicans Podcast. My name is Cynthia Cowie.
I'm the president chairwoman and your host. I'm also very excited to have
a co host with me today forthe first time. Hi everyone, I'm

(00:27):
Hailey Martin. I'm the pro secretaryfor the San Diego Young Republicans and we're
very excited because we have a veryheated election cycle this year, and this
year we rolled out our first roundof endorsements, including at the top of
the ticket, which is the USHouse representative. So we're very excited to
have two of our endorsed congressional candidateshere today. Very appreciative them giving us

(00:48):
the gift of time. We haveMATC. Gunderson who's running for the forty
ninth congressional district. We have alcoholMayr Bill Wells here that is running for
Congressional District fifty one and think welcomeboth. Hey, how are you both
being great? Thanks for having usabsolutely so. I'm actually going to have
my beautiful press secretary kick it offwith the first question. Well, thanks

(01:10):
so much for being here. Wereally appreciate it. So our membership has
grown five hundred percent in the lastyear. So it's showing that, you
know, people around here, especiallyyounger folks, are really getting politically active
this election cycle. But that's notnormally the case. Normally people our age
are not super politically active. Whatwould be your advice for someone, let's

(01:34):
say twenty five years old getting intopolitics. What's your advice for them?
Who do you want to start?Either one? Go ahead, okay,
well, you know, if you'retalking about running for office, I think
the first thing I would say isa lot of young people come to me
and say they want to run foroffice, and it seems like the way

(01:57):
of doing it in the last fifteenyears or so has been to get a
political science degree, get on staffsomewhere and maybe intern somewhere, and then
start running for office. And whilethat's an acceptable way to do it,
I really think that you have alot more to offer if you go out
and do something first. If youwait tables, become a police officer,

(02:20):
join the military, start a business, anything, it really doesn't matter.
Just go out there and have someexperience working with the public. And I
think Bill's right, you know,I'm a little bit of the outlier.
I didn't I'm a political outsider.I'm a businessman. I didn't come up
through the channels of local government.And you know, I think it's very
limited perspective for people to say,hey, what's your political experience. I

(02:45):
think you can get experience, solidexperience at a lot of different avenues.
You need to be politically aware,and you need to be political pedolitically observant,
but I think you can be equallyas involved in your community and understand
the nuances through charities and through youknow, advocacy groups in your community,
and really build a network. Youknow, realistically, talking about if you're

(03:08):
going to be a candidate for publicoffice, I think there's a couple of
things you need to focus on,and that is building your network, because
you're going to be calling on awhole lot of people to help you out.
And then you're also going to justhave to understand that there's going to
be some people that you think willbe there to help you and they're not
going to be there. And thenthere's going to be some really big surprises

(03:30):
out there where people step up andsay, hey, you know, I
want to help you and they justgo above and beyond. So get some
thick skin, put on a perspectiveof reality of what life is about,
and you know, just get involvedin your world. And it doesn't have
to be just with the political partyon the local level. It can just
be in your community. Well saidperfect. I appreciate both of your answers

(03:55):
because, like Haley mentioned, ourmembership has grown, but our membership is
also incredibly diverse. We actually havepeople like ourselves that are staffers, that
are campaigners that really you know,politics are bread and butter, and then
we have membership that we're hoping tobe able to encourage them to volunteer for
campaigns like yourself and or other endorsedcandidates. So I appreciate both of your

(04:18):
perspectives and how invaluable it is.Speaking of young membership, I'm sure both
of you you've all been very busyon the campaign trail, so I know
you speak with a very diverse youknow, residents and constituency. I'm sure
you've also spoken to young voters inthat in the teenager and also maybe the
twenties and thirties year range. Inyour observation, what you think are the

(04:43):
most pressing issues that you think youngervoters care about, and what are things
that your campaign is focusing on tobe able to help the young voters.
Well, I'll jump in here becauseI'm the father of four daughters between the
ages of eighteen and twenty three,so I think I can understand the perspective
a little, really intimately in termsof what young Americans are facing today.

(05:05):
And candidly, I could not geta single one of them to apply to
college in California. And it isn'tbecause they don't love California, but it
is because they see what's happening toCalifornia. And also they understand and they
flat out told me, Dad,we can't afford to live in California after
we graduate from college, so weneed to start exploring what other options are

(05:27):
out there. And I think soright then and there, the cost of
living and inflation and just the burdenof inflation at hitting young people's shoulders is
obviously a major major issue. Andthen you certainly can't avoid the border because
because the border obviously drives public safetyissues, public health issues. I mean,

(05:50):
you know the fentonyl crisis, what'sthe illicit drugs coming across the border,
et cetera. And so I thinkthose two things, really, you
know, are hitting our young peopleover the head, and you know,
I think it's allowing them to opentheir eyes in a way that is a
little bit surprising for them that theylook and see, Okay, young people

(06:11):
are supposed to be liberal and they'resupposed to be Democrats, et cetera.
But they're realizing, like, hey, the policies that these democrats are imposing
upon us are not creating an opportunityfor the same standard of living for us
that as young people that our parentsand our grandparents were able to build off
of. That American dream. Well, I agree with Matt. I think

(06:35):
there's a sense of bitterness out thereto some degree because people felt like the
American dream that was available to Mattand I and other people our age and
even our parents and maybe people justafter us, was there that if you
worked really hard, you could buya house and you could have all the

(06:56):
things that everybody else had. Ithink there's a sense of despair out there
now that the house is unobtainable,that the lifestyle is unobtainable, and I
think that is causing people to beless engaged at least in the past couple
generations that caused them to be lessengaged. I see it kind of backfiring
right now. I saw a recentsurvey that said eighty percent of eighteen year

(07:19):
olds consider themselves conservative, at leastthe men. Eighteen year old men consider
themselves conservative, and I think thatis a direct reflection of them just feeling
like, well, we've had enough. You know, these lofty ideas,
these kind of esoteric ideas about socialjustice sound great on the college campus,

(07:41):
and it's fun to sit around pizzaand talk about that. But in reality,
what I really want is my fairshake at the American dream. And
you know that is not just housingprices, but it's the cost of energy.
It's the fact that people are tellingyou you can't. You're not a
good person anymore if you want todrive your gasoline power car, and so

(08:03):
you can't. You can't buy thattwo thousand dollars junker anymore. You need
to invest sixty five seventy thousand dollarsinto an electric car. You know,
Santayo gas and electric might cost sixhundred dollars a month. Your mortgage might
cost five to seven thousand dollars amonth. That's just astronomical. You know.
Certainly, when I was just comingout of San Diego State, I

(08:24):
didn't have to deal with those kindof obstacles. I could make a living
waiting tables at Reecolendars, which iswhat I did, was on Santio State,
and I paid for my own apartmentand had a car and maintained a
life based upon that amount of money. And I think people realize you can't
do that anymore. So that's themajor frustration. But I also think they're
frustrated by all the other issues,like the border, like the abortion debate.

(08:48):
There's a lot of things that peoplethought were way too conservative for young
people to care about they're starting tocare about now. Yep. And Bill's
right. The reality right now isthat if you have to earn forty five
thousand dollars a year more than youdid when Biden became president to be able
to afford a house in California,and so that, I mean, that's

(09:09):
not likelihood. In three and ahalf years, you're not going to get
forty five thousand dollars more in incomeper year. And you know, that
burden of not allowing our young peopleto have that American dream and that wealth
builder apparatus of owning real estate andowning a home and building equity is a

(09:30):
dramatic problem in terms of stunting theirproductivity and stunting their their lifestyle and their
standard of living. And you know, it's inflation, it's interest rates,
it's housing costs, you name it. And as Bill said, young people
are frustrated and you know, depressedabout it, and they're seeing the need

(09:52):
to open their eyes and think alittle differently perfect. I appreciate those answers
in regards to like our next question. I'll be frank. Both of you
have incredible professional backgrounds. Matt.I know we spoke offline. You ran
an automobile company with more than twohundred people, and I know you have

(10:13):
a very I know it didn't workout in your favor, but now you're
running for Congress, but you dida really incredible run running for state Senate
against a really you know, formidableopponent. Mayor, say no more,
look at your background. You're verytalented musically. Along with that I know
you have. You know you're adoctor as well, Siva, and you
do have done an incredible job beingmayor of alklohoone and I know there's a

(10:33):
lot of advice and a lot ofpeople subscribe to different you know, recommendations
in regards to running for office,if you should start local, if you
should shoot for the stars. Whatwe're curious about is why Congress. I
know that this We always talk abouthow every year is, you know,
the most important election year. Whatinspired both of you to step up to

(10:54):
run for Congress this cycle? Well, I know everybody does say that every
elections, and usually it's hyperbole,but I don't think it is this time.
I agree. You know what Icame when I first started looking at
the idea, it's actually John Hoy, who's I put a consultant. The
town asked me to consider it.My first reaction was, no, I

(11:18):
don't want to do that. I'min a place in my life where I
want to travel and start having somefun, and it just didn't seem like
something I wanted to do. Andthen I started thinking about it and realizing
that we may be an election orcycle or two away from some kind of
softer palitarianism, and that frightens me, not so much for me, but
for my kids and my grandkids.And when I started looking at in that

(11:43):
way, it became clear to methat anybody who can take out one of
these leftists, especially the really hardcoreleftist like in my race Sarah Jacobs is
she runs with the squad and voteswith them. If I have the opportunity
to take her out, I havean obligation to myself, my kids,
my family, my community, andmy country to try to do it.

(12:05):
And once I start thinking about inthose terms, it was an easy decision.
Yeah, And you know, frommy perspective, you know, this
has never been about getting Matt Gundersonelected to something. You know, you
reference that state Senate race. Isold my businesses in twenty twenty one and
immediately got recruited into that state Senaterace. And when the incumbent turned out

(12:28):
state senator, and several people weretrying to get you to do that.
It was a plus one Republican districtwith an incumbent who was endorsing and recruiting
me, it seemed like a prettyeasy decision. Fast forward to redistricting,
it became a plus nine Democratic district. And when after redistricting happened, they

(12:48):
said, you're still going to dothis for us, Matt, and I
said, well, a couple thingsfirst of all, I committed to you.
Second of all, I believe it'simportant to have credible Republicans on the
ballot everywhere we can. And there'ssomething in my that police public service is
valuable. More of us should doit, and too few of us do.
So I'll fight this battle. Andeven though it's an uphill climb,
we ended up losing by four fiftytwo forty eight in a plus nine Democratic

(13:11):
district, despite the Unions coming downand spending six and a half million dollars
beat outa Sacramento beating me up withflat out lies. And you know,
my moral victory was there. IfI hadn't made that Jerry Mander Democratic district
competitive, they would have used thatsix and a half million dollars going after
Brian Jones or Lori Davies or someother Republican and another district. So that

(13:35):
was my moral victory. And thenwhen people started to come to me looking
about the forty nine congressional race,it really came down back to as Bill
said, you know, your obligation, because people who look at these numbers
much stronger or much closer than Ido, you know, came to me
and said late you were the strongestRepublican on the ballot. You ran six
points ahead of our congressional candidate,and you were in a much bluer district.

(14:01):
You did not have some Republican strongholdsthat exist in this congressional district.
Would you look at it? Andat the end of the day, I
just didn't want to wake up byNovember six and have us lose control of
the House of Representatives by one ortwo seats and look back and say,
you know, maybe I should haveplayed ball. And you know that's what
brought me to this. And youknow I had many conversations that National Republican

(14:24):
Congressional Committee and said, look,if you find a better candidate, all
it takes is a phone call tome, because this is about flipping the
forty ninth and getting a Republican representativethere instead of the progressive Democrat Mike Levin.
So it's back to you know,Bill's comment about not just an obligation,
but a sense of duty, asense of calling, and a sense

(14:46):
of purposefulness. I love that.I think you know, oftentimes, especially
nowadays, we don't hear that it'syou know, talking about the person,
not the obligation and the commit intocountry. So that's really really great to
hear. Yeah, so Haley actuallyhas an impressive background. She worked on

(15:07):
the hill, so she definitely knowslike everything of what it takes not only
you know, to be successful torun for office, but also you know
how the reality is once you getelected. We're speaking in future terms because
we know that you both are goingto get elected. We're very excited to
support you and help you get acrossthe finish line. So that being said,

(15:30):
I view both of you think veryhighly view and think that you're very
pragmatic. It's beautiful to promise allthese amazing results, but the reality is
the Republicans have a very slim majorityand we're obviously praying and hoping that we
can increase that majority, you know, following twenty twenty four. So that
being said, there's a certain timeone to where you're able to accomplish certain

(15:50):
things when you get elected. Whatdo you think is your top priority in
regards to like working together with notonly the House Republicans but also even the
House to Democrats to accomplish everything thatyou both have described and what the top
parties are for the country. Iguess, as we both have the same
one. Why don't you start,well, I think you know, your
obligation as a freshman representative is torepresent your constituency in your district. And

(16:17):
you know, I look at thisdistrict and obviously, if you can be
an advocate for veterans with Camp Pendletonand the economic force that drives that area
through Ocean Side and Vista and bothsouth and north, that's certainly got to
be a priority. And then youknow, if you've got an opportunity to
address environmental issues along the coast forthis district, it's vitally important, you

(16:40):
know. I think you can geta seat on the you know, one
of the environmental subcommittees of Energy andCommerce. That's a positive because we should
be focused on environmental issues in thisdistrict, such as sand replenishment and coastal
bluff preservation, and we shouldn't beworried about banning gas stoves and you know,
getting you into an elect car ona bicycle like Mike Levin's priorities are

(17:03):
environmentally. I mean, we needto deal with the environmental issues that impact
us today and drive our economic forceup and down the coastline, you know,
and right there, I mean italways baffles me that we still continue
to have this ridiculous waste treatment sewagewaste treatment plant in Tijuana that is tainting
our beaches to the north and wedon't do something about it. I mean,

(17:26):
and you know that has to beresolved. Those are all practical you
know then, as the freshman Congresswas to be there to support, you
know, the hopefully support the agendaof our president and hopefully a Republican controlled
Senate and a Republican controlled House totransform our perspective on things like the border,

(17:47):
things on spending, you know,issues like like one of my hot
buttons is you know, the wholeidea that Mike Levin voted to against the
ban of biological boys playing and youthgirls sports is a problem for me.
I was a youth sports coach.I have four daughters who played you know,
youth sports and club soccer and lacrosse. And you know, that's just
said no brainer to me. So, you know, I think those are

(18:11):
kind of like more I don't know, like umbrella type issues for Republicans,
but you know, certainly I thinkour coastline, our environment, and our
veterans are significant priorities for the fortyninth. Well, for me, the
first thing that comes to mind isthe border. I think that's the thing
that most people are worried to writeabout right now. Certainly over ten million

(18:33):
people have come across since Joe Bidentook office, two hundred and sixty thousand
since October. In San Diego,we've lost up to four hundred thousand children,
which I'm sure are in the sextrade market. This is something that
is beyond the pale and America shouldout stand for. We've got to stop
that and protect the people that livehere and then start to deal with that

(18:56):
unwinding, that entire mess that thatthe Biden administration perpetrated upon us. From
personal point of view, I spentmy life working in mental health. I
think there's a mental health crisis inAmerica and I'd like to be part of
that solution. I think homeless isin with that, because if you've heard
me speak before from a doctor psychologyperspective, I know what homelesses is about,

(19:22):
and it's not about housing. It'sabout drug and alcohol addiction. And
what you're seeing on the streets ofall the major cities, especially in California,
is drug and alcohol addiction unchecked.And allowed to fester, and we
need to hold the states accountable andsay you're not going to get any DHS
money, You're not going to getany housing money, You're not going to

(19:44):
get a transportation money until you cleanup your streets to a point where it's
livable past third world country standards.And I think that's the role that the
federal government could play in trying tofix the clean that up. I think
we have to have a commitment tolaw and order and safety, just a
commitment to a livable to have livablelives, which includes working hard to reverse

(20:07):
the energy policies that have thrust usinto this horrible depression that we're in right
now, and all the other economicpolicies that need to be reversed. There's
a lot of work to do.I don't think we're going to have any
trouble finding things to dig ourselves into. It's just a matter of prioritizing and
getting all done it. Bill's right. The border is by far the number

(20:29):
one national issue right now, andit's a blight. I mean, it's
a blight on our entire country's reputationand what we're leading these illegal immigrants across
the border with these false dreams thatit's just this simple opportunity here, and
on top of that, then it'sdiminishing our ability to provide for our communities

(20:49):
and provide our legal citizens and opportunityto get their feet underneath them. So
the border absolutely is a national priority, number one. Yeah, And it's
so interesting. You guys are bothin San Diego County, and I know,
Matt, you have some of OrangeCounty as well, but just the
difference perspectives, and in North Countyversus South County, you guys are both

(21:12):
very in tune with what's going onin your district. And that's really great
to see and hear. This istotally the press secretary in me. But
how can people find you? Howcan people support you? Where can people
follow you? Can you give usthat plug? Please? God? Yeah?
You know, my website is easyto remember, Matt Gunderson dot com.

(21:33):
And you can follow us on Twitterand on Facebook as well, and
we have an Instagram account as well. And you know, we we've got
a great opportunity to flip the fortyninth Our post primary polling that the n
RCC did has this race as astatistical dead heat, and you know,
We've got a great opportunity, andyou know, please reach out to us.

(21:56):
I joke about it, but havingsold my businesses on the unemployed candidate,
so my full time job is toretire Mike Levin. So if you
you know, have anything you wantus to participate in, or a phonebody
want us to make, or azoom interview you want us to do.
Hey, we're ready and willing todo it. Well to reach me,

(22:17):
go to Wells for Congress twenty twentyfour dot com. That's f R Wells
fr Congress twenty twenty four dot com. Of course, you can follow me
on x or Instagram or any ofthe platforms. Miles Himmel does my social
media. It does an incredible job. And like Matt, I've I have
taken the two years off to donothing but run for Congress. So I'll

(22:38):
meet anywhere with anybody at any time. I want to be busy from morning
till night, so I when weget down November, I don't want to
have left anything on the table.Yeah, this is a marathon and a
sprint, both at the same time, and I think you know we're both
seasoned at that right now. It'sexhausting, but fast, perfect. Thank

(23:02):
you both so much. Really appreciateyou all turning in and then also giving
us the gift of time. AndI know Hayley and we really appreciate the
conversation, your in depth answers,very genuine, just very detailed, and
that is one of the main reasonsand why Sandegal Republicans endorse you, and
we're very excited to work together tomake sure you both get across the finish
line and we're able, you know, to be able to have a stronger

(23:26):
and higher Republicans stronghold in the USHouse representatives. So thank you both.
That concludes our third episode of theSan Diego Young Republicans podcast. Stay tuned
next month, we're also going tobe interviewing more of our endorsed candidates.
If you want to stay in touch, be able to get access to Matt
Anderson and Mayor Bill Wells's websites tobe able to support them. You can

(23:47):
also be able to view that bygoing to San Diego Youong Republicans dot org.
Their websites will be linked when yougo to the engaged page. Thank
you all and have a good night. Thanks, welcome you, Yeah,
thanks for having us