Jim Banks 2022 Election Interview [1:50-6:57]

Yeah. Well, for the last six years, I've built up a record in Washington and some seniority as well. So, to go back for another term in the majority, Republicans are going to win the majority in the House. So, to be a leader in the majority party and the House of Representatives will give me a front row seat to do good and important things for Northeast Indiana. And that's what I'm looking forward to doing. Yeah, I think that the fentanyl crisis in America and in Northeast Indiana everywhere around this country is something that we have to address. Right now, 300 Americans are dying a day to a fentanyl poisoning, and I've traveled to every community in this district in the last year and it's worse than ever before. Because, again, because the border is wide open, the flow of drugs that are coming over the border, fentanyl is produced and manufactured in China and is sent to the southern border where the Mexican drug cartels are pushing it over the border. When I go visit the Border Patrol Agency at the border, they tell me that when Donald Trump was president, the border was secure, they were able to stop more of it today because of the Biden policies, the border's wide open, and the cartels are pushing more drugs and ever before. So, we have to declare war on the Mexican drug cartels. We have to stop the flow of drugs that are coming into communities like communities in Northeast Indiana, and then on the front end of it, we have to support the addiction recovery programs that we have across this region too, who are filled. They can't take on more people because their facilities are filled with people who are suffering and trying to overcome the addiction issues that come with the flow of drugs into our communities. So, that's a big issue that these days were focused on, and when Republicans get the majority back, that has to be one of our top priorities. Well, I objected to the 2020 election to two states because I felt deeply that the 2020 election deserved a great deal of more scrutiny and how elections were conducted in states who unconstitutionally changed their election laws before Election Day to help Joe Biden beat Donald Trump. And I'm never going to apologize for objecting and raising those concerns I had about how the election was conducted. But obviously, Joe Biden is the president and it's been a disaster for America. In two years alone, Joe Biden has turned America upside down and his administration has enacted policies that have made it very hard for working Americans to get by. And that's why the red wave election is coming in less than two weeks is going to give Republicans the majority in the House. And I think the Senate, too, to counter that agenda is so important. So I'll leave it at that. The American people are looking at what party is going to go to Washington and address inflation, energy cost, the border, and crime. And they realize that the Republicans are the only ones talking about those issues and what to do about it. The Democrats are focused on a whole lot of other issues, but not those. OK. So I think we might have missed a little part. Was it as free and fair as 2016, this past election? Well, obviously, I objected to how the election was conducted in 2020 because I have great concerns about how it was, how the election was pulled off, how some states used the pandemic as an excuse to go to all mail-in ballots, how some states counted ballots on election night, then they paused and stopped counting, how they took ballots and counted them for days or even weeks after they were legally eligible to be counted, ballots that came in late. There are a lot of concerns that, too, this day, I share with so many others about how the 2020 election was conducted. And that's why I believe that we have to do more at the state level to pass voter ID laws. And I think at the federal level, we have to look at ways that we can work with the states to secure the integrity of our elections. I think that's very important. Half of Americans today have concerns about whether their vote will count if it will matter because of some of the shenanigans that happened in the 2020 election. So election integrity is fundamental, it's very important, and it's something that is a priority that I've had in Washington, DC, too. Well, I don't know, one of them I haven't met, and the other one, I don't know them very well. I mean, I applaud anyone who steps up to the plate to put their name on the ballot, takes a lot of courage to do that. And it's important to the preservation of our system, our democracy, our country, when people step up and put their name on the ballot and campaign for the office. So I'll leave it at that, I applaud them for doing that. Every two years, we go to the ballot box and cast our vote, and it would be an unhealthy