SPEAKER_00 0:10

And welcome, welcome everyone. I talk 1067 FM, the voice of the mountain. So glad you're rolling with us this afternoon. Super thrilled to have Congressman Andy Biggs on the telephone. How are you, Congressman Biggs?

SPEAKER_01 0:22

I'm fabulous on this beautiful morning. I hope you are too.

SPEAKER_00 0:26

Yes, very good, very good. Hey, I have to start off with your numbers are looking amazing.

SPEAKER_01 0:33

Yeah, we're we're very pleased with that. I mean it's it's we got a lot of support and it's multiple pollsters have have been tracking it and they uh all have reported that we have just a substantial lead, and it's actually a bigger lead than we we had in regular polls. So we're happy about that. But as you know, Janine, you gotta run run through the tape, you gotta finish the race and and uh we're we're not giving up. I'm I'm out all over the state again today.

SPEAKER_00 1:00

Yeah, and don't take anything for granted. So guys, vote, vote, vote. Uh July twenty-first is the last day, so there you go. That's voting day, and there's early, you know, early places around. Um and that recent poll shows you at sixty percent. So that's pretty cool. Fifty points ahead of your opponent. So yeah, so let's keep voting, everybody, because there are more races in there. And we like we have five people running for our district seven you know, representative spots. You know, so there's a lot of people running. We need to keep pressing forward and everyone show up. Uh we had a report from our county recorder, Dave Marshall, he says it's been a little quiet, so we need to get moving, guys, okay? Right, Andy?

SPEAKER_01 1:44

Yeah. That's uh you're a hundred percent right. I couldn't have said it better. We just ever don't be apathetic, don't don't think it doesn't matter, don't think it doesn't count. We need we need you to get out and vote. That's yes, that's important.

SPEAKER_00 1:57

Yes, because we need a new AG, new Secretary of State, all the way down the line. Okay, there was a recent story too, um A Z family, an AZ family featuring the criticism of Katie Hobbs for, of course, refusing to debate. I just I can't imagine. I mean, we all laugh about it because I can just imagine her in a debate against you. Sorry to do that. Sorry, sorry. What do you think she's afraid of, Congressman Biggs?

SPEAKER_01 2:25

Well, I know I assume is that she doesn't want us to talk about her record and then my vision for uh an optimistic vision for restoring the state to what I call glory, our our glorious our glorious state. But but uh I think she is incompetent uh and uh dangerously so. I think the people around her control her. And uh every time she goes out, I think it it's really hard for her.

SPEAKER_00 2:51

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 2:51

And uh she doesn't want to have that exposed.

SPEAKER_00 2:54

Yeah, she when she speaks, it reminds me of uh Kamala Harris in certain ways. You know, there's some things where her synapse and different things are just just and you know we tease around about her being the veto queen, but she really is. She's i she's broken records, right? For vetoes.

SPEAKER_01 3:12

Oh, absol uh absolutely. You know, and and the one that always pops into mind, there's a bunch of them that just pop into my my mind, but one of the ones that pops into my mind is is she vetoed the bill on transparency of donations from government contractors or private individuals to the governor, right? So so think about this. She's under criminal investigation for a pay-for-play scheme because she received a mess of money from one company for her inaugural celebration, and then that oddly enough, that corporation got uh like a three three million dollar increase in their contract shortly after that. So uh she's under investigation for that, but she vetoed that bill that would have said no you can't do that.

SPEAKER_00 3:58

Yeah. How in the heck? You know, I mean, they don't even mind the a lot of the dams and all their you know, it's it it's just like they're right out in front. They say the stuff out loud and you're kind of like, wow, you know?

SPEAKER_01 4:12

Yeah. A hundred percent. And it's it just dri it drives me crazy. Um and the media they don't if it was if a Republican had done something like that, that would be uh top of the fold, as you know, as we used to say, that'd be top of the fold, that'd be the main story, it would be viral. Um but for her it's just kind of you know, business as usual and no big deal.

SPEAKER_00 4:36

Yeah, see, that's just it's nuts. And I uh you know, this is such an important time and moving into the November election, and we were saying how we need all of those offices, you know, flipped. We have to take Arizona back. There are so many things that are so you know, that are just dangerously happening. And you know, we look at some of the moves. I I look at what Texas did outline, you know, whether it's Sharia Law or these different kinds of things. I mean, people need to realize that we're right on the edge of, you know, some pretty scary change if we don't show up and vote, right?

SPEAKER_01 5:14

A hundred percent. You got it look, people need to vote, they need to be engaged, they need to get informed, and of course they can get informed by listening to you, Janine. But uh they they need to get informed and um and go and cast their vote. I mean it's the it's the it's the most basic right you have, yes, but it's also the most basic duty you have.

SPEAKER_00 5:35

Yes, exactly. And we've had some good news up here too. I wanted to mention about APS and going natural gas, and that that's some huge news for the White Mountains, right?

SPEAKER_01 5:47

Yes, absolutely. I'm very excited. They called me up and said they were gonna do that. You know, my my old deal was was uh, hey, I'm okay with using clean coal still. I mean, but that but if you're gonna go natural gas, great, just do it. Put pedal to the metal, let's make the transition, let's get it going, let's get the people back to work working, and let's get the uh uh the electricity flowing.

SPEAKER_00 6:10

Right. And if they bring nuclear into it later, which is super clean, if they end up doing that, uh I mean, there's tons and tons of jobs that can come with a nuclear nuclear power plant. That's incredible.

SPEAKER_01 6:25

Yes, that's right. And and um I know that EPA um and and all of the other federal alphabet soups that regulate that, they're trying to um facilitate that, accelerate those types of plans, and uh yeah, it's it's it's really important. But if we do that, guess what? Not only do you get the jobs, but and the power is clean, but the but the electricity that it can generate is critical uh for the economic growth and success and what I I like to call the long-range plan of making sure Arizona's prepared. And Arizona has to be prepared because the federal government can't keep uh doing what it's doing. It's it's way too big, doesn't have the resources to keep doing what it's doing.

SPEAKER_00 7:12

Right, exactly. And what I love is you've been really fighting hard on water, and I've heard that so many people are worried about AI plants and stuff like that. But I I know that the cool thing is that with AI, these nuclear power plants, so many of them, the you know, an AI center, they can generate their own electricity and have recycled water they use, right?

SPEAKER_01 7:35

Yeah, so so the the the plan is to as you get to these SMRs, these small modular reactors, um, they can actually um put be able to go on site and probably produce more power than that that the facility needs. And then you can close loop the water so that the water comes in and then you're close looping it, and they they essentially do kind of a qu a a small DSAL type of of treatment so it just keeps going in that closed loop and sustains itself and doesn't chew up our water supply.

SPEAKER_00 8:09

Nice.

SPEAKER_01 8:10

So this is this this is really important. And and by the way, Janine, Arizona's water situation, this is one mostly of mismanagement as opposed to this perpetual drought that we we're in. And if you grew up in Arizona like you and I did, we know that we've been in long, long, long droughts. And uh it is if you manage it, which we have been the best in the world to do that, we will have the water. It just has to be managed, cleaned up, distributed, and uh recharged. You gotta allow the recharge, which this governor has prohibited from time to time.

SPEAKER_00 8:47

There you go. And and you know, there's yeah, there are so many things, and I love that you're fighting for our water. Are there any other things you want Arizonans to be watching out for right now in northern Arizona?

SPEAKER_01 9:00

Well, be careful. Uh it's fire season, and uh again the resources haven't been managed too well. We've gotta we've gotta fend the forests uh because that's a twofer, right? I mean it helps mitigate the fires, but it also um helps restore the aquifers. And so that's that's something else we need to be uh really keen on and uh uh make sure that we're we've got that in mind, make sure we've got that plan in mind, make sure we've got the resources to do what we need to there.

SPEAKER_00 9:30

Yeah, a lot of that thinning needs to be done. We were talking about biomass. Uh they were talking about trying to expand that. That's always a good thing. You know, it's a little bit of electricity, but it's also some jobs, and it's clearing and cla and then we have a lot of dead up here in the White Mountains right now, and we, you know, we need more biomass for sure to be helping to, you know, help against those fires and all those things. And then we see some help and some positive news and everything, and I know you've been helping out with the ranchers and everything else, like Casey Murph, so that's been incredible.

SPEAKER_01 10:04

Oh yeah. Yeah, I've been helping met with Casey last week and uh we're trying to get that thing resolved. Uh that's that's a that's the type of issue that just uh I I don't I don't get how that ev how that even became an issue and talking to Casey and his wife, they're telling me that it's actually been ongoing for a number of years. That's that's a that's the huge problem of a bureaucracy uh in the state uh getting a little bit out of control. That's the federal bureaucracy getting a little bit out of control, all of those working together against the citizens of our great state.

SPEAKER_00 10:40

Right, right. And it and that's you know, we think about our ranchers and all of this stuff, and I love that President Trump, some of those lands that the like um the environmentalists took away from grazing, now that those have come back in play. I know some ranchers that are applying for some of those grazing rights now again. So this can all help with our food security and help those ranchers as well.

SPEAKER_01 11:02

That that's right. And food security, I mean, so water security, food security, energy security, and then economic security, those are really the long-term um vision I have for the state to be prepared uh for for anything that that could come that's untoward or or dangerous in the future. We want Arizona to be prepared to withstand whatever comes our way. And so we have to rehabilitate a lot of what's gone on because we're not prepared in a lot of places. Get ourselves, lay that foundation, get ourselves prepared so we're ready to go uh uh long term in this state.

SPEAKER_00 11:37

Okay, now and uh and Arizona, we know this is a big run, and we're excited that you're running for governor and all of the good things are going on. Are there any things that are going on back in Washington still on your plate that are frustrating you or things right on the horizon we should be watching?

SPEAKER_01 11:54

Yeah, of course, uh lots of stuff. I've got a b I've got a bunch of bills that bipartisan bills actually that came out of the house that are just sitting there in the Senate waiting for them to act, and the Senate's not really acting. We've got the Save America bill, which I think is critical uh for election integrity in this country, and uh that's been sitting over in the Senate. We've passed it out of the House four times, so we're we keep trying to get that added on to other other things. There's the there's the the budgeting bills that are coming up uh next week. Uh there's also they're gonna try to uh basically I I don't know why, but they're gonna try to reinstitate reinstitute the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. Uh they don't need it, um, but it's what they use to spy in Americans. I've got my amendments that are trying to prevent that from happening. So all of those all of that work will continue. Uh and uh actually this week, as I've been out here, we've we've had to continue to work on on intersections between Fed the Feds and the State. So for instance, we've got some electrical co-op issues uh that that the that the Biden administration uh was hassling on, and we're trying to resolve those uh while I'm still in Congress. Uh we want those resolved as quickly as we can.

SPEAKER_00 13:14

Gosh, so many things, so many things. Well, we so appreciate the good work you're doing, and remind us for people who want to, you know, do their homework, do their remind us of your website and all the things for your run for governor.

SPEAKER_01 13:27

Yeah, thanks. It's BiggsforArizona.com. Bigsforazona.com. And uh if you're trying to figure out where you can go vote early today, we have an Action Center um link right there on the front page on the home page of the uh or the landing page of the BiggsforArizona.com site, and uh you'll put in your zip code and it'll tell you the nearest place to go vote in person or drop off your early ballot.

SPEAKER_00 13:55

Okay, vote, vote, vote some more. Well, you know, just vote once. Vote once.

SPEAKER_01 14:01

This is in Chicago, Janine. Come on out.

SPEAKER_00 14:03

I know, I just started, I know. No, there's that joke. People are like, vote early and vote often. No, no, no. Just vote once. Yeah. Get your vote and make your voice heard. Uh, Andy, we so appreciate talking to you. Anything else you want to share with our folks here in the White Mountains? What's your message with this last day of voting approaching fast?

SPEAKER_01 14:23

Um please, please don't forget to get out and vote. Um, I'm looking forward to being up in the mountains. Uh I think uh I think about 10 days from now we've got an event we're gonna be at. Hopefully you get a couple of events in while we're up there. Uh but let's let's not forget we live in the greatest country, in the greatest state, and we just have a governor who's not not giving us the greatest results. Let's go out and vote and change that.

SPEAKER_00 14:46

Yes, exactly. Let's turn this ship around for sure. Uh Congressman Andy Biggs, thank you so much for joining us. We always love hearing from you. If you ever have anything new or you have an update, give us a call here for iTalk 1067FM, the voice of the mountain, okay?

SPEAKER_01 15:01

Will do. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 15:03

Thank you so much. Have a great day. All righty, everybody. Keep it right here. ITalk 1067 FM, the voice of the mountain.