[inaudible conversations] okay. Well, welcome everyone. Thanks for o coming out tonight. My name is brett barker and a privilege to be the chairman in story countyco and were excited about tonight event for the dinner. Seph story a tradition our county has started over ten years ago, weve had an awesome list of governors, senators have come in for this event come something really proud of and excited tonight to have senator cotton with us to speak to you and add to the long list of distinguished guests. The reason we do what we do is really to make sure we elect republicans from the top of the ticket all the way to the bottom. And youre going here from some excellent county candidates tonight we are excited about. An we want all you do get to know because our awesome county recorder is all by herself at the county Administration Building and we need to send her some friends. So thats where all of you come in. We need your time, your talents, funding. If you want to volunteer some time to walk in the parade come if you have skills that we can use come if you have some funds we need those. So with that you do have envelopes on the table so before i forgetyo and get in trouble we would love if you throw some donations into. All the moneyey we raise as a county party is used to help the bottom of the ticket to make sure that staff can go out and make sure theres advertising that is done, materials that are done so thats really what our funds are used are believed to focus on this county level races. And those folks that need those resources so we would love your support there. Also want to thank our group that helped tonight so jeff are cochairmen, kathy our treasurer and e mary, our event chairmen were phenomenal. They let me go to florida on vacation with four kids and they handle all the details of this event and did a phenomenal job. We have a fantastic team that does that saw want to give a round of applause to those folks. Ap [applause] and then iis would be remissf i didnt point out the save the date on your table. We do have a date and keynote speaker identified for the fall. Our chili supper which is our Second Annual event that weise have been s doing that for about ten years as well, so if florida congresswoman coming, if you havent heard from her she phenomenal, and excellent speaker, incredible life story andry background and one of the issues she cursed with a strong about our prolife issues are right nowan obviously thats timely with the Supreme Court decision so were looking for to hearing l from her. We would love if you could mark your calendar for that. T. We will put out more information withinor your logistic ticket sales all that the email so if youre not getting her emails from us go to story county gop. Com you can sign up for those. Thats ever get information out to everybody the most. With that we havent in see this evening news a lot more entertaining and humorous that i am some good head over the microphone to state representative rob taken. [applause] robert bacon. You didnt do anything like i wrote the introduction for you. [laughing] its good to see all of you here tonight. Look at each other on the table right now. Look at seriously, look at each other, notice how your all smiling. Its because where republicans and we are a happy people. Now ly god loves you and i do too. God loves you and i do too. Shave that weird. Before we get started, were going to have an indication and then followed by the invocation, the pledge of allegiance led by nico. Where is the flag . Behind me. The committee did a great job tonight, everything is where it is supposed to be. We even have the senator at the head table. If you would bow your heads do you have a question . You are welcome. From here on out, there are no questions. Our father in heaven, tonight we come to you and we are thankful we can live in a country where we are still free to come and worship you. We are free to defend ourselves and say what is on our mind. We thank you for our constitution built upon the scriptures. We thank you for each person here tonight, for the love of freedom they each have, and as we hear our candidates tonight, here what is going on in washington but ask you be with us and be with the people who prepared the food, bless it to our bodies and us to their service, for it is in your name we pray, amen. Good evening. If you could stand for the pledge of allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of america and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under god, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. [indiscernible conversations] [indiscernible conversations] [indiscernible conversations] [indiscernible conversations] [indiscernible conversations] a combination of oversight and spending power you also see the benefit of having a new Supreme Court majority. I know the Abortion Case made a lot of news but the epa was really big. To stop the epa from trying to regulate and shutdown fossil fuel production, but also a warning shot to all of the bureaucracies in washington that they have the power to regulate sweeping sections of our economy. I think you will see the courts continue to put guardrails [indiscernible conversations] [indiscernible conversations] [indiscernible conversations] [indiscernible conversations] [indiscernible conversations] when we were at the border last year as the border classes crisis was getting really bad, a bunch of senators and uniformed order patrol agents, i just wandered off and spoke to another group of migrants and i asked how did you come here and why did you come here . Not a single one said anything about persecution. Not in fear of their lives. Every one of them said a better job, a better life and joe biden would help them get in. And they know they will get free stuff. Yeah. [indiscernible conversations] the Border Patrol is overwhelmed and they need more people, and this is key, not to stop the migrants but sending the guard and the military to stop them from coming. [indiscernible conversations] theres not enough housing on the order itself to keep 2 million migrants for an 18 month span so theyre doing everything they can to move them as quickly as possible. Everywhere. [indiscernible conversations] you could tell who they were, they were tearing a manila folder like this and written on it were the words please help me, i dont speak english, my number is 1234, my destination is in many cases, they are following on previous waves of migration and they have brothers or sisters or aunts and uncles. [indiscernible conversations] sen. Cotton we are not going to let nancy pelosi she has violated almost every precedent there is. [inaudible conversations]. The point is here only come out because of hurricane or something not because of gas prices. [inaudible conversations] thank you so much. Absolutely. I dont want you interrupt you as youre eating, i recognize you from the church. [inaudible conversations] this is the way it is. How are you . Im doing well. How is it going up there in d. C. . I havent been there in a couple of weeks. Drive you crazy . Anytime the democrats, the last 18 months well get back on monday. [inaudible conversations] you have a good attitude. Stopping bad democratic deals is almost as important as passing good deals. And thats what said its stopping bad deals, as good deals. And americans at the local levels and state levels and the federal government dont just do something. Yeah, i think were headed to a very big election and turning things around and good to be back. Federal government should stay out of the state governments building and [inaudible conversations] way too much and we take back power is trying to stop the federal governments overreach and try to change and you see the benefit of having a constitutional majority in the trump era, the epa case last week was a very, very big case. Not good for the epa and energy production, but all of these bureaucrats and 50, 60 years old. And regulate vast swaths of society. No kidding. Can you explain to me how people can say that the constitution is a fluid, living document and not black and white, a piece of paper that says this is what the role of the federal government . When they say theres a living constitution they mean that the constitution is dead because the point of the constitution is not to change with time, its to keep the time in the constitution. And justices thomas opinion in the gun case, 14 years, legal, he said every court in america is getting it wrong by applying fluid to the Second Amendment and treating the Second Amendment as if its a second class right. I mean, the constitution says what it says, and the founders meant what they meant, and thats that. And i mean, the democrats, because of their living constitution, they intent rights that are in the constitution, like the right to abortion and they want to ignore the rights in the constitution that they doesnt like, the Second Amendment. Right to speak freely or worship god freely. I dont understand how so many people. Republicans have been sitting on the coaches couches and getting out and doing something. We are going to change that. Better. And 2024 actually do something. Thank you all for being here. Thank you for what you do for the party. Appreciate it. Good luck. [inaudible conversations] thank you all. Senator cotton, would you sign something in the house of representatives, solid conservative, hes out with hip surgery. Oh, no. He wanted to come so bad tonight. What do you want me to sign . This card here . Any one of them. Theres three of them, i didnt know how many bionic woman. [inaudible conversations] you can use this one if you want to write a small note. There you go, how is that . Thank you. Thank you so much. Appreciate it. That will make him wall. Did he have a fall . No, just a replacement. You know, shes a goer and she thought she was going to be back up in no time and she ended up with a pinched nerve, i think so she couldnt come tonight and shes disappointed. Tell her i missed her and ill see her on my next trip. So youll be back. Conservative prolife, shes great. Good. And down there thats [inaudible conversations] theres a good friend of mine worked on my 2014 campaign and managed John Boozmans campaign when he was first elected and my counterpart and kind a published figure and to her time we had a good lt. Governor and attorney general, but they had their eye on the Gubernatorial Race for a long time and then they started running early last year, but they entered the race and ended up [inaudible conversations] he was elected lt. Governor in a special election, and which meant our governor and lt. Governor and how democratic it was, mike ran for senate 38 or 39 and lost, 6238. Really. And a Democratic State for the longest time and summer of 1993 he won the special election, only running republican, five democrats thought it was the they beat each other up and mike was on the side and in a, you know, this time of year working out not a high turnout, and mike won by a few Percentage Points and then a landslide, but three quarters democratic majority in the state house and senate and they just lets say they did not take well to losing the Governors Office for the first time in 14 years. Yeah. Now, you know, like a lot of people, like iowa we had a tough time in 2006 and 2008, elections of 2014, and Democratic State and republican state thank you. Thank you. I think that Hershel Walker will win. I think that Raphael Warnock has 200 Million Dollars of the Democratic Party and i think that georgia has got ten a little tougher each cycle, but republican i think that the governor is going to beat Stacey Abrams badly. Again. Again. The governor is going to send Stacey Abrams packing out of the governors mansion. I think were going to win the state again. I hope so. Well, the biggest gun issue is not what passed in the senate the house a few weeks ago, the Supreme Court decision, Clarence Thomas was great on that. He is great. Hes my icon. And he was on tv the other day and my sevenyearold and fiveyearold understands that daddies works, something about voting and they see the capitol, thats daddys office. My fiveyearold, i dont know why, fiveyearold started complaining about joe bidens bad taxes. And joe bidens bad taxes and sevenyearold right. My sevenyearold saw Clarence Thomas on tv, protests at his home or the been decision, daddy, who is Clarence Thomas . Well, we talked about three parts of the government, president , the congress where daddy works and the Supreme Court justices and Clarence Thomas is one of the justices. And then my fiveyearold said, if hes the best on the Supreme Court, did he beat joe biden and stop all of bidens bad taxes. I said he probably could, but we dont and if you want hell stop them, but we dont want to lose him on the court. Oh, i love it. From the mouths of babes, yeah. Theyre listening to everything going their minds are absorbing everything. Such a wonderful story. That is. At my swearing in, my second swearing in, the first swearing in, a lot of hoopla and party, and the second one my reelection in 2020 lets just say was not quite as contentious race so we didnt have anyone except my wife and kids and on the internet voe went viral and my then fouryearold was with my wife and then sixyearold and standing there and i noticed my sixyearold untucked his shirt and my wife and the fouryearold were in the field of vision of camera and theyre on national tv and she turned around to me and i tucked my fouryearolds shirt in and she says daniel, say hello to the vicepresident and he said, hello, mr. Vicepresident. Great and doing a happy dance excited to be there and then after were done and walking off and get back to the office, i dont know what i was thinking, but 49 out of 50 times if i told him to say hello to mr. Somebody, he would have said hello mr. Pants. The one time got it, so hch well thanks to you all for being here. Thank you so much for coming. Thank you. Now i have to introduce one of my great friends and i wanted to get this right, all right, so, im going to read this because its so important. I want you to listen to this great gentleman. Ive gotten to know him over the last years and hes the most authentic person i know and i really mean that, its tom cotton is a principal conservative, an army veteran and an accomplished Harvard Law School graduate who has served the people of arkansas since 2013 in both the u. S. House and senate. Tom grew up with his family on a cattle farm, thank you, in arkansas and shares Christian Conservative values that he holds dear to iowa. This is the most important line, following the terror attack on september 11th, think about this, following september 11th 2001 terror attacks, tom left his private law practice and joined the u. S. Army as an infantry officer for five years, bravely fighting for our country in the fight against terrorism. And i want to say thank you. I look forward to working with him as we advance our strong conservative agenda for our country as we take back the house and senate. Please, lets give a warm welcome to senator tom cotton. [applause] thank you. Thank you, thank you all so much. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you so much. Randy, thanks for that great introduction. I may have to take you on the road next time in iowa so you can do all of my introduction for me. Thank you all for coming out and thank you for supporting the county g. O. P. , for your leadership in the county and i especially want to thank the dinner committee. I got here a little early today and the room was pretty empty and they worked hard to pull off an excellent dinner and give them a round of applause as well. Thank you. [applause] and i want to thank all of the great legislators you have here, rob, and dave, and jessie, and thanks to all the local and county officials and the candidates as well, cara, nico, its hard to put your name on the ballot sometimes and we need good republicans and im sure youre going to win this fall and inspire more republicans to run in the next election as well. [applause] and you know, most important, i just want to thank all of you who have been loyal, hardworking republicans for many years, many of you in iowa like in arkansas, not too lodge ago, seemingly toiling in the vineyards without producing a lot of fruit, but you sigh see the fruits of your labor by the great representatives you have. The State Capitol and the congress. Youre the backbone of the Republican Party and perform the most Important Mission we have, electing republicans from the city council to the white house because the American People count on us to protect our nation and to protect our way of life. Thats what americans depend on the Republican Party to do and the Republican Party in iowa has done a great job of that. Youve sent two of the very best United States senators to washington. Chuck grassley and joni ernst and i know youre going to send Chuck Grassley back later this year. [applause] and i can tell you, between randy and ashley, and marionette, you all have a great group of freshmen congressmen who have taken the capitol by storm and once and thats sent packing youll have an entirely republican delegation and thats what we need because the path to majority in washington, in the house and the senate runs straight through iowa. We cannot have a majority in the United States house or the United StatesSenate Without all three of your representatives re