Its spring break, state lawmakers are not here.

But Republican candidat for governor, Ralph Rebandt is.

He'll talk about his campaign and we'll talk about the top news stories in our town this week.

So sit in with us as we get the inside out.

Off the Record.

Production of Off the Record is made possible in par by Bellwether Public Relations, a full servic strategic communications agency partnering with clients through public relations, digital marketing and issue advocacy.

Learn more at bellwetherpr.com.

And now this edition of Off the Record, with Tim Skubick.

Thank you very much on this rainy Studio C day on Off the Record.

Nice to have you back.

Well, last week we were not here around the table to analyze, which is what we get paid to do the Republican convention.

So let's do it now.

how did they do?

What was the lead?

I would say for the first time in a while, Republicans seemed hopeful.

there was a noticeable difference in the air when I was at the convention a few weeks back.

Now.

and which, you know, people seemed enthusiastic about the candidates there, even thoug there was a little bit of, of, you know, Partizan bickering here or there.

It's politics.

Of course there will be.

it was the first time in a while that I remember Republicans being able to rally immediately around a secretary of state candidate, immediately aroun an attorney general candidate, and now they're full steam ahead.

And that seemed to be the message was unity from here on out.

Yeah, I mean they came out of this convention with probably the two most electable candidates for the secretary of stat and attorney general positions.

Which wasnt the case four years ago.

Which was not the case four years ago.

Yeah.

So, I mean, in some ways is kind of a return to normalcy for the party, right?

They they chose experienced candidates who, didn't have a ton of baggage like some of the candidates four years ago.

so you've got Anthony Forlini secretary of state, Macomb County clerk, fairly well known former state lawmaker.

And you've got, for Attorney General Doug Lloyd, who, you know, has run in a purpl county, won in a purple county.

And I think, remarkably through that whole process, managed to kind of like stay out of the Super Partizan fray.

He was not forced to take positions that might hurt him in the general election.

And now he's got a bunc of months to run as a moderate.

And he's a and he's he's a lawyer without problems with the lawyer discipline committee.

Yes.

That's that's a positive.

Chuck.

I think you've got exactly right.

And I think it shows the difference between a Jim run, still running the party.

And remember, Christina Karamo, and those hairy days.

And instead of the fringe candidates, as you sit there going with this establishment candidates, which make sense, we live in a purple state in which is tends to flip back and forth.

If there's ever a time that Republicans are going to surge back into those key positions that they want in the state.

This is their best opportunit to do so when Democrats are term limited out and why put some fringe candidates that would be controversial.

Go for the establishment candidates that hopefully can carry the party, but also get some of those independents in there.

What struck me is the convention four years ago was obviously Trump, dominated, okay.

And they went for this inexperience.

But now some of thos same people show what happened.

Did they change the water?

Did they change the medicine?

What were the dynamics?

Well, I feel like the message was, you know, we're tired of losin when you put forward untested, unproven fringe candidates on a statewide level, the name of the political game, first and foremost, always is to win.

You want your candidates to win.

And why would you shoot yourself in the foot at the starting line when you know, for instance, on the Democratic side, who has their convention on the 19th?

Well, they'll be picking their own candidates for secretary of state and attorney general, at least with, you know, AG there's two proven individuals there who have backgrounds and proven track records in their field of law.

with Secretary of State, you do have, one individual, Barb Byrum, who is Ingham County clerk, and she's running there.

So you ra the potential of having somebody who had never served on any kind of anything before going up against, an actual lawyer, which is, I guess, a little unfair to Kevin because he is a lawyer, there, but, somewhat of a fringe candidate for attorney general.

And that's what change, I think, is that Republicans finally ask themselves, are you tired of losing?

And the answer was resoundingly yes.

The and they're goin to be running against Democrats who are going to constantly be using the name Donald Trump, Donald Trump, Donald Trump, who's been whether you like them or not, he's been controversial.

That's the one thing both sides can't argue about.

He's been extremely controversial.

They're going to try to use that as a wedge against Republicans.

And I think Republicans are very smart in these candidates because they can say, look, as you said, these are candidates that have done the job that they're seeking.

They're just trying to do it at a higher level.

They have proven experience.

Let's go in.

Trust them.

Forget about what's going on in Washington.

This is a whole different ballgame.

Yeah.

You're Chuck you're right.

Mr.

Runster was very happy with the outcome.

And to his credit, he spoke to the elephant in the room, which is basically this getting the Donald Trump endorsement or blessing or even hooking up with him i great for a Republican primary.

But what about that pivot to the fall?

And he conceded, you know, he didn't use the word pivot, but you have to modify your message.

You should not change your beliefs, but modify your message to a broader audience, because if not, we lose.

I've got him on tape saying that, and that's the point.

Are you surprised by that?

Yeah.

No.

I mean, I think Forlini.

He's right of course.

I think Forlini managed to walk that tightrope fairly effectively.

Right.

He went he dabbled in, yo know, election conspiracy stuff.

Yeah.

Just for a little bit.

Dip his toes in it.

Enough to appeal to some of the folks who still have a lot of questions over the 2020 election.

but he didn't go so fa as to, you know, leave himself with huge liabilities in a general election.

Certainly, Democrats will, you know, raise issues with his, attempts, you know, somewhat discredited by the state or mostly just created by th state to find noncitizens on the on the voting rolls in Macomb County.

But, you know, he didn't he didn't, I think he benefited also that he wasn't the clerk in 2020.

Right?

I think Republicans have a hard time electing an experienced clerk who also worked the 2020 election, because of the baggage involved with that particular case.

I asked him, do you want to change the absentee voting?

He says it's in the Constitution.

Well, I have no choice, okay?

We're not going to change the Constitution.

he said I can reform the department.

And, you know, look at mistakes that were made.

But he did not go into the pit, taking on all elections or rigged or stuff like he would not go there.

Well, and that was somethin that he even said to reporters in not so many words when talking to us after receiving the nomination is that, hey, the Secretary of State does a lot of things, and at the end of the day, that's mostly what citizens are looking towards the Secretary of State for.

I don't want to spend all day inside a secretary of state office.

I want to make sure that when I go to vote, it's done seamlessly and my ballot is counted.

I want to make sure that at the end of the day, I can feel happy knowing that I don't have to worry about whether or not my tab renewal is going to come in the mail, so long as you hit on that, that's really all voters are asking for is someone competent who can do a job.

So meanwhile, Governor Whitmer has said she's going to watch the secretary of state an attorney general races from afar and is not going to dabble with an endorsement.

Surprise, surprise?

Not surprised.

I'm sure that some of th candidates running are saying, darn we didn't get her endorsement, especially probably her lieutenant governor.

Garlin Gilchrist.

Hes 0-2 now.

You know hed say, I was loyal, I was loyal, and what did they get me?

But I think they will also understan that she has ties to everybody in this race in one form or another.

She gets absolutely nothing out of it, trying to get into the middle of this squabble.

And she can tell them, look, you guys got to do it.

Guys and gals have to do what I had to do eight years ago.

I had to go in ther and I had to win it on my own.

I'm going to stay out of it.

You all duke it out, and then whoever wins that primary, I'm going to be 100% behind you.

If you want the endorsement, which I'm sure they will.

Is it getting nasty ugly in the Democratic side?

I mean, there's certainly, some very interesting races.

I don't know how nasty it's getting, but, Give it time.

You know, you sort of got this, Give it time.

the union establishment.

Anyways, rallying behind, Karen McDonald for attorney general and Garlin Gilchrist for secretary of state, but their opponents are not going away quietly.

They're not simply, ceding that ground.

And there's going to be a legit convention, election.

Well, Barb Byrum basically is sitting, you know, labor ain't what it used to be.

Okay?

Walter Ruther used to tell the conventions what to do, and everybody said, we're in.

Okay, those days are over, are they not?

And you're absolutely right.

I was just listening to, Tim Harford Jr not too long ago, speaking before an audience, and he was talking about how the Teamsters have grown, but because they have diversified their membership so much from the old days when they were just seen as a trucking firm and how the UAW membership has not grown.

And because they have these kind of true to the auto industry and not as diversified as much, so it's not the power that it used to be in most of the unions.

And people don't oftentimes follow what the leadership says even though they may be a member of that union.

People say, fine that's what you want me to do.

But now when I go in the booth, I'm going to do what I want to do.

You do see that in elections.

But I would argue that the unions still have a pretty outsized rol in convention politics, right?

Because they get their people there.

They, and that's that's the question like, you know, Eli Savard or some Regent candidates, made a concerted effort to try and sign people up to the Democratic Party.

Let me just ask.

And you certainly got to get them.

Was Dana Nessel the favorite of the UAW?

No, she was not.

No.

She.

And who got the nomination?

Mr.. Oosting.

Sure.

Okay.

Yes, I agree with you.

If you get the bodies there, but the bodies still have to raise your hand and vote the right way.

That's if they raise the wrong hand.

But sort of like the Donald Trump endorsement.

Oftentimes helps you more in the primary than it does necessarily in the general.

Yeah.

if you want the best example of union leadership not doing well, George Wallace came into this state running for president in the presidential primary.

Remember that?

And Doug Frazier I remember the look on his face.

He said, don't vote for George Wallace.

And what do they do?

George Wallace won in this state where there was union.

And they were embarrassed by that.

Weren't the absolutely embarrassed by that?

And that's during the days when the UAW was considered stronger than it is today.

Elissa Slotkin wants to be.

No, no, she doesn't want to be president.

She's open to president, am I reading that correctly?

I mean what politician isn't open to the idea of trying to be president?

I mean, we'll see what happens when it happens.

It's still so far away.

I'm not.

If I were a betting woman, I would not be betting on anything as of just yet.

But she goes into Des Moines, Iowa to make this statement.

Okay.

Yeah.

I mean, she's obviously, you know, you look back at some of the steps she's taken since being elected, she's on the path to run for president.

Should she decide to formally jump in.

She's making the rounds, she's going to other states.

And it's not just Iowa, but Iowa is where she was finally asked directly and said, you know, I'm not going to say no forever.

Well, I haven't ever heard her say no to be honest.

Whateve politician says no to anything.

If it's an opportunity down the road.

You know, she, is, she's a pretty dynamic speaker, which could appeal in a presidential race.

She has won very close elections, both her Senate race two years ago, but also, you know, her congressional seats were very difficult.

And she has made it a point to say I want to help shape the party moving forward.

I want to be the voice of a new generation of Democratic Party leaders.

you know, certainly setting herself up for a run.

Is it fair to say that her bipartisan chops are pretty good?

I think so, I think so.

Thats how shes certainly trying to position herself.

And then when there was the big sort of crash and burn of Democrats in the recent election, she was kind of one of the emerging voices that was saying, like, you know, Jonathan just mentioned that we need to figure out a path forward, because just sitting here wallowing, isn' isn't going to be good forever.

So again, and I want to bring this back to the, the endorsement convention for Democrats this weekend.

I think that that's another question, similar to how Republicans have to ask themselves, you know, do you want to win?

I think that that's a serious question that they're gonna have to reckon with, specifically with Secretary of State.

You do have some unproven candidates in that race.

You also have candidates that come with some baggage.

that's going to be the one that I'm watching.

And obviously you go bac to some kind of bipartisanship.

Yes, thanks to the bipartisan chops.

And I'll just add to that, she has carefully used her background from the CIA to, I think her advantage to say I am a middle of the road Democrat.

I am not out there on the fringe.

I'm about protecting this country, and I'm about law and order.

But I also am liberal on social type of issues.

You remember the pictures with George Bush and Barack Obama?

For sure.

End of story.

And Republicans will point to her voting record and say, well, you know, if you actually look at the votes, not necessarily super moderate, but she talks the talk for sure And she's a good communicator.

She's a frank speaker.

And we know from Donald Trump, no matter how person you are if you speak frankly to people, they tend to listen and like it.

Well, speaking of people who want to win, let's call in our guest, a gentleman who's running for governor.

Pastor, welcome back to Off the Record News.

Good to see you again.

Likewise.

You are running again for governor.

Yes.

Last time out didn't go well.

Explain to our audienc what your path is for victory.

We have five lanes.

I can't share them all with you because I'd have to kill you.

but we have, we have five lanes that some are wider than others, but, it is looking really good.

You mentioned the convention at the last, segment, and, I'm looking at the convention and I'm looking at the reception that we had there, and that just confirms what we've been seeing for the last several years.

Well, give me two of the lanes then.

I won't give you the biggest ones, law enforcement.

I've been endorsed b the Michigan Chiefs of Police.

Southeastern Michigan is the largest and probably the only endorsing agency.

And they have endorsed me for governor.

Another area is young people.

We have young people that are coming in droves because they're looking for a candidate that's going to tell them the truth.

so many candidates have lied, and we talked about professional candidates here.

And as I was listening in the first segment, I'm just thinking, that's not what we need is more professional politicians.

Pastor you mentioned, the GOP convention, on stage there, you said something to the effect of the establishment doesn't want a conservative pastor to be the nominee.

Why is that?

You know, I don't really know other than they want to stay in control.

Who's they and what evidence do you hav that they don't want a Christian conservative pastor?

Okay.

that's fair.

I would say if we have time, I could, open up emails and things that have indicated, lies, as you mentioned, they will lie to you, lie to your face.

Who are they?

Are these human beings talking to you?

They are human beings.

I'm not sure I'm ready to throw them under the bus right now.

If it continues, I will.

I'd be happy to sit back here and just put the papers on the table and tell you who's done.

What are they?

Names that we would recognize for sure.

Absolutely.

And then way.

Sorry if this may come across as a little bit rude, but you know, yo just talk about your five lanes.

You say you won't share some.

You talk about people coming after you so you won't share them.

Why come on the show then?

If you're going to maybe be coy about.

I gues I'm just trying to understand.

I am not here necessaril at this point to cut down those who have, closed the lane.

but I am here to talk about policies that I have and things that I am convinced will be valuabl for every citizen in Michigan.

Such as?

Such as, cutting the budget, making housing more affordable, doing everything that we can.

I'll give you an example.

you know, we heard a lot about the property tax thing.

I'm 100% behind removing property tax.

I, I've looke at both property and income tax.

Income tax only promotes the wealthy and helps people who have money, property tax cuts, rent for people in low income zip codes.

It helps homeowners they don't rent from the government anymore.

That that's a big one for me.

But in terms of, the, you know, the waste, fraud and abuse.

And I hate to use that wor because it's been so overused.

in Michigan, we have that there.

And one of the reason why I'm jumping back in the race is the professional politicians that we have that I'm, I, I'll say opponents, their friends, but their opponents in this race and you have to win and one of the things that they've done is they voted for every higher budget that's come along, they've increased taxes.

Yet they'll sit in a debate and say, we're against taxes.

Democrats want to raise taxes, and they've raised taxes.

And I just I'm tired of people lying to the public.

And I want people to know the truth.

Transparenc and honesty is what I'm about.

Reverend, we live in a very, partizan society right now running for governor.

If you got elected by the people, you would have to represent this entire state, not just one political party.

What is it that you would d versus what your opponents say they might want to do that would bring people together in this state?

First of all, Chuck, I would listen.

Right now, Winnie Brinks in Matt Hall, have only talked once, as fa as I know, in this year, 2026.

And here we are in April.

They only talked once.

They don't know how to talk they don't know how to listen.

And one of the things that, gentleman on my team said, Ralph, he said, Ralph, you are a lot like Gordon guy or you have the skill set to bring people together to talk without getting, emotions raised.

And so I he said, that's why I'm supporting you.

And he also brought up, Tom Kasper from the U.P.

said, you have the same personality that will make things happen.

But that's that's one thing I would do, Chuck.

The other thing I would do is, as I look at other candidates in their platforms, you know, I hate to say I'm the only candidate with, but I am.

I have a plan for, low income zip codes.

I have a plan for people who may live in northern Michigan that, don't have the opportunities that everybody else has.

And the plan is simply this, I've talked with businesses from large businesses to, welding companies, and I asked them some questions.

I said, would you be interested in mentoring young people who want to become their own business men and women, because you're goin to go out of business someday?

I hand it on to someone else.

Would you be willing to do that?

And they've said, absolutely, yes.

We will.

And my whole goal is to reach into the neighborhoods, in low income zip codes, Chuck, because I have pastor friends out there that are in Detroit.

One gentleman I met with three weeks ago, he doesn't like Donald Trump.

But he at the end of our 2.5 hour breakfast lunch, he saw his hand on my shoulder and he said, Ralph you are our guy.

I'm going to pray for you right now.

And he did.

And that that he when people see my heart for other people, you know, I want to bring everybody up.

And even at the, the Sagina debate, that question came up.

How are you going to bring people together?

And one of the candidates just simply said, I won't.

Elections have consequences.

And I'm sitting here thinking, this is really an odd answer for that.

You know, I know that's true.

But the problem is Republicans and Democrats have both said, sit down.

We won the election.

We're going to run it for four years.

And you can't bring the state together like that.

I've been bringing people together my whole career.

Have you ever voted for a Democrat?

No, but I would have voted for John Kennedy Well he was a Democrat.

I know thats one.

I was a little young at the time, but yeah.

Were you misguided?

I vote more for people and principles.

And right now, you know, I as I share this with you, Karen Whitsett just left the Michigan legislature, as you know because she said their policies were inconsistent with their Christian faith.

And I applaud her for that.

Well, do you know, you don' think Democrats have principles?

That's not what I said.

I mean, that's why I'm clarifying.

Pastor on that note, four years ago, you said you wanted, a Judeo Christian state.

You said that you didn't see a distinction between religion and government as being important.

And you said you'd back a near-total abortion ban.

Do you stand by those positions?

And on the abortion issue, as governor, now that we have a constitutional amendment guaranteeing abortion rights, what would you do on that issue?

Well, and and let's go backward on the abortion issue, when you understand a principle and you follow the science, not the so-called experts, when you care about women and the things that affect them, and you see the harmful effects of abortion on a woman, and there's statistics out there, I could just email you all the statistics.

And, there are statistics that people who are in the abortio industry don't want you to see.

But to answer that question, even though abortion is in the Constitution, I will use my voice to to warn people about its danger and how it's harmful to women.

You shouldn't try and undo, the cuts to your protection or pass laws and custody.

You wouldn't try and undo that constitutional amendmen or pass laws to restrict access.

I would say that my, my vocal voice against that is what I would use because I, as an individual can't change that.

But if a bill came to my desk to end abortion, I would sign that.

But would you introduce legislation that could nibble around the edges?

Well, again I can't introduce legislation.

I can influence it, but I can't introduce it.

Would you urg one of your colleagues to do it?

I would do that, yes.

I, I'm that strongly in favor of life.

Yes.

So if we report here based on that statement and please correct me if I'm wrong, you would modify what the people of Michigan established in the Constitution.

If you could.

Yes.

Because if you look at the voting that came out, it was the typical voting numbers.

we've talked about Michigan being a purple state.

I have traveled the state for the last four years, presenting, America's Christian heritage and how it's th it was the biblical principles, not only by our founder, by the pilgrims, but by our founders when they wrote the Constitution.

Coming back to your question, obviously, the the I've been traveling the state for four years, and there are 1.6 million conservative voters, whether they're Christians, hunters, gun owners who don't vote.

And I it's like a poll.

People take polls and they they get the results from their polls.

I'm not convinced that everybody who holds my position in Michigan came out to vote in 2022.

Running for governor is also about moral leadership and people oftentimes look for that.

When you hear the president mock Allah, and when you hear him talk about wiping out civilization and gets criticized by the Pope As someone who follows the faith, your thoughts?

That tweet did raise my eyebrows and think I would not, definitel would not have said it that way.

I think you're right.

you know, everybody talks about Donald Trump's mean tweets, and I, you know, I, I realize that I will give an account for every word that I say one day when I stand before, Jesus Christ, my Lor and Savior, I understand that.

And that's why, you know, I would have been more I wouldn't have said those things.

Let's just put it that way.

I would not have said that.

You're not for wiping out civilization.

Absolutely not.

You ar for wiping out the income tax?

Yeah.

If we can get that far on it, we would.

But again, my point is property tax helps everyone.

Those who are pushing income tax are multimillion owners, maybe billionaires, because it's going to help them the most.

But is it disingenuous for some of your colleagues who are running who said I'll get rid of the income tax, they cannot get rid of the income tax?

Is that not correct?

That is correct.

So show you just an asteris or an addendum to that statement that says, if I can get the votes in the legislature.

Yeah.

I would also say to run around saying I'm going to refund everybody.

4747 what about people that are on Social Security?

They're not going to get a 47,000 or $4747, rebate that that's not going to happen.

So you have to be careful with what you say.

And that's why I'm very careful not to make promises that I can't fulfill.

But turning bac to property taxes very quickly.

What would be your plan to supplement the money that is raised for that, for state revenues?

Should you be successful in your bid for governor and axing it?

Thank you.

the first part is when you look a what's going on in governments, whether it's the state, local governments, they're al those budgets are way bloated.

And there's a crisis in the government right now that we are having with it simply means we have to get back to the basics.

What is government all about?

That's what we have to ask.

What it is that?

What is it?

Therefore, quickly police and fire, infrastructure, security, secure elections, educate.

And in my opinion decentralizing Lansing from over right overreach and override.

Pastor, I got to get out to do close credits.

You'll stay for a little bit o overtime?

For sure.

Absolutely.

All right, go to the wkar.org for more of our conversation with the pastor.

After you look at these ghos credits.

Thanks for tuning in.

Production of Off th Record is made possible in part by Bellwether Public Relations, a full service strategic communications agency partnering with clients through public relations, digital marketing and issue advocacy.

Learn more at bellwetherpr.com.

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