Extra: Trace Gallagher on Midterm Showdowns, Democratic Divides, and A Life In News

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1:00This is the Fox News rundown, Extra. I'm Dave Anthony. You're about to hear from someone people have been watching on Fox for decades. Trace Gallagher. He's been here almost 30 years. He's our chief breaking news correspondent. And also the anchor of Fox News at night. Weeknights on the Fox News Channel at 11 p.m., which I rarely get to see because I'm a very early riser. I do the morning newscasts and anchor on Fox News radio so I don't get to see you, Trace, or talk to him until the other day. When Trace came to New York and I had a chance to sit down with him, we talked about a lot of different things including his book. Turns out they were right all along. I learned five lessons I learned eventually. It just came out the other day. And we got into some of the stories. A lot of stories in the book, a lot of funny stories. Trace, I didn't know this was professional water skier.

2:01His family, professional water skiers. His days as a football player. His days as a basketball player. His time as an anchor is all their life stories. Including how his first date with his wife. She was a blind date. And she didn't like how he looked. And we talked about his job interview with Roger Ailes. Who didn't like how he looked here at Fox? But in the end, it all worked out for Trace. And he has the new book. We also talked about as we get closer to the midterm elections in November. California politics. We brought it out, talk about some of the Senate races like in Texas. And also Los Angeles where Trace is. And what it's like there after the wildfires and all that. So there's so much to talk about. We couldn't fit it all into the rundown podcast. We posted the other day. But here on a weekend on an extra. We have all the time we need. And so we get to give you the entire conversation. And we're glad you're here. And we thank you for being with us. And you know what?

3:01You can come every day. We hope you do. There's always something on the rundown. And if you want to subscribe, we'd love you to do that. And if you have already done it, we thank you so much. And now Trace Gallagher. On the Fox News rundown extra. Joining us on the Fox News rundown is Trace Gallagher, who you can see Monday through Friday. Host of Fox News at night. It's 11 o'clock. He's out in the West Coast. So for him, it's 8 o'clock. It's across in the east. It's 11 p.m. until midnight. Monday through Friday. He's also the Chief Breaking News correspondent here at Fox. And he has a brand new book. We're going to get into it in a few minutes. It's called Turns Out. They were right all along. And it is out on Tuesday. First congratulations on the book. Thank you. Thank you. I appreciate that day. Thanks for having me on. Well, we're great. Great to have you here. I mean, obviously you're out in LA. I never get to see you. You're on at night. I'm early morning. I never get to see you. So it's good to have you here. And congrats on the book.

4:01But I wanted to talk first about where we are. You cover this stuff. Yeah. On a daily basis. We're seven weeks out now. Till the midterm elections. Which is kind of crazy. Yeah, it is crazy. Republicans just had their first ever midterm convention. This every year, every cycle we hear, this is the most important election. Or one of the most important elections of our lifetime. Where do you see America now as we get ready to vote? You know, it's interesting because I was of the mind when I was listening to some friends of mine who were actually going down. Some people that we have on the show were going down to this midterm convention the first ever. So I was listening to them. And they were excited about it because they thought, oh, I mean, this is going to be a novel concept, right? To see if it works. They weren't really sure how it was going to turn out. They weren't really sure how the enthusiasm was going to be. And then they got there and they realized, man, this thing's a hit. It really was. It went off well. It was, you know, they had a full arena. Despite what a lot of news organization said, we had people there saying, no, this thing was,

5:02there was a couple of empty seats during places. But you had no idea if those people went to the bathroom or what the deal was for news organization to say at three o'clock in the afternoon that it was half empty. Well, I mean, that's not the real event. The regular conventions look like that at three o'clock in the afternoon. I think as we have been kind of following the maps that the map was always really beneficial in the Senate for Republicans and not so beneficial for Republicans in the house. And now it looks like, you know, the house is probably going to go to the Democrats because it looks like it's kind of going in that direction. And the Senate's kind of a toss up, right? I mean, it depends on turnout. It depends on what's happening, which is odd because basically, you know, the Democrats have got this civil war going on. I mean, between the Democratic Socialist and you have the Democratic leadership and they've been battling back and forth. And, you know, there's been a lot of, you know,

6:02let's get rid of Hakim Jeffries from the Democratic Socialist and then Hakim Jeffries, you know, get this out of the party. They don't belong in the party, John Federman, who is, of course, is kind of moving toward becoming a moderate or independent. But they keep saying, oh, long. Yeah, big tent. Big tent. Well, anybody under this tent? Right. They will. And then they come out and they say, well, that's where we don't want that. That's kind of, that kind of of language is not allowed. We don't want that. It's hateful. It's so on and so forth. So you can see there's battles going on in there. And the Democrats have no money. I mean, there's no money in the, in the coffers, right? So in the Democratic National Committee. Right. But they do have money coming in because also these house races, the Democratic National Committee has more sway in the presidential. Right. But the Democratic Congressional Committee's they have a lot of sway in what they spend their money on. And so it's going to be interesting from their perspective on the House. Because it's a slim majority for Republicans right now. Right. Very slim. And that's the whole thing.

7:02As you look at, you look at the House seats, you look at the House map. And, you know, it's tough. Redistricting the Republicans, you know, might have saved a couple of seats there. But overall, it looks like now, and you, you know, you read some of these, some of these guys who do this for a living or like, you know what? It looks like the, the, the Democrats could take the House by eight, nine seats. Yeah. Maybe the Senate. There are around six races considered up for grabs. Republicans need to win a couple of those, but it's not going to be easy. Right. There are several states that play that Democrats had not really thought of in the past would be there like Texas is most recent Texas Alaska, which is a lot of times goes red too. Yeah. But I think, you know, I think you're going to see in Texas. I mean, you know, they've been doing this for a long time. And even though Texas is, you know, it's getting a little more purple in some areas. So, as people leave in California, go leave in California. Bring in their politics. That's exactly what it is. And then you have, you know, you have some of these people saying, oh, no, no,

8:04Hey, in Talluriko's, I think that Texas is going to come and back Kenpacson. I think that that is going to be a race that we're not going to have to worry about. I could be wrong, but I just, I mean, Kenpacson's going to have some backing. You know, Trump is now backing him. The fact that he doesn't, the fact that he doesn't look or sound good. Notwithstanding, Kenpacson, I think, is going to take that seat. But there's still a lot of animosity because people were very fond of John Cornyn. You know, they were, they were fans of John Cornyn. So those people, you got to get them, bring them on board. And I think that's going to happen when push comes to shove. So I think the Democrat, the Republicans hold the Senate and they lose the House. Band-Dool is now available everywhere in the U.S. So you can get in on the sports action no matter where you are, including these places. May this year, most rewarding season ever with Band-Dool.

9:04Age and location restrictions apply. Product availability varies by market. You know, we bring up California. You're out there. You cover the races from California every night. So you talk about socialism there. Yeah. Gavin Newsom is the governor. He's been going after President Trump since he's been back in office, the president. Right. And a lot of people talk about Gavin Newsom in 2028. Where you're districting work in the Democrats favor in California. How does the left look going into that election? I know Steve Hilton is trying to become a Republican governor. That doesn't happen very often. No. So how is the race and the politics out west right now? Well, I can tell you this that the pendulum in California is starting to swing back. Is it going to be swinging back enough to get Steve Hilton in office? We don't know. It's very difficult in California for a Republican to take a major office like the governor. Because it's controlled by Democrats.

10:04I mean, 70% of the legislature is Democrat. And they pass the craziest bills. They pass bills that give them more power. I mean, you know, when you talk about the Democrat, I can... It just builds that de facto legalized prostitution in California. The Democrats passed that kind of stuff because, you know, police officers, if you go up to somebody and that person is transgender, that person can then sue you. So what they do is back door, they legalized prostitution in California. Because now police departments across the state no longer enforce these areas of prostitution. So that's what happens. And then you just realize the state is so blue. So when Steve Hilton is going against Javier Bacera, Bacera for all intents and purposes is running the same campaign that Joe Biden ran, right? He's in the basement. He's somewhere. But we haven't seen him. He's not doing interviews. I mean, there's going to be a debate. But he's just not making himself available and present because he knows that the only thing he can do is screw up his chances. I mean, the more he speaks, the more he says, the more people are like, what?

11:07What is he talking about? So basically what they're doing is they're just... they're hiding him. They're hiding him and they're trying to put him out there as little as possible because they know in California, if there's a D by your name, boom. That's the check mark. President Trump doesn't have great approval rating. Obviously, none of the polls seem to show that he's doing all that well when people are on the Iran conflict or on the economy. Certainly with gas prices as high as the Ardizel at a record high, affordability seems to be in the Democrats' favor. That's the hardest part. It seems for Republicans because they're the ones in power right now and people don't want to keep paying these prices. They have to somehow fend off the Democrats' challenge on that issue. Yeah, I mean, that's the big issue. It's the affordability thing. It's hurting the Republicans because Trump has been saying the prices are going to come down and they may. And certainly we are taking money in and wages are going up.

12:08But for some reason, people associate the cost of things with the presidency. They associate that with the top dog, right? And because the prices haven't come down, it's going to hurt Republicans. It's interesting in California because you have Gavin Newsom blaming Trump for high gas prices when Newsom knows that it's California to blame for high gas prices. They have to import almost all of their oil and gas now. But the taxes are $1.60, $1.67, a gallon in California. So, California's gas is always two to two dollars and 50 cents more a gallon than anywhere in the country. And of course, as soon as the Iran war starts, you've got Gavin Newsom saying, see, see gas prices, which by the way were the same as they were under Joe Biden. But when he says it, people believe it because they see gas prices around the country that are rising. And California is rising more and they blame Trump. And he gets away with it, but you look at housing costs, you look at everything in California. And the unemployment rate is the highest.

13:09And California right now is kind of a mess. It is literally a state that is in debt. And Gavin Newsom all he says is, oh, we got the fourth largest economy in the world. What about the debt? What about the problems, the homelessness and so on and so forth? Steve Hilton has made inroads, but it's going to be really difficult. Unless the turnout, the Republican turnout in California is astounding. It's going to be very difficult to surmount that. You've been in Los Angeles working. I mean, I know you grew up in California, but you were all over the place in your career. Right. What's it like in California now? Is it changed since you've been working there doing Fox News? There LA has LA has really gone down. I mean, it's a city in decline. And that's why you talk about Karen Bass, the mayor. You know, she is running against the wildfires there. The wildfires were terrible. Her management has been terrible. And yet Spencer Pratt seemed to be, this goes back to our original Therese. Spencer Pratt, who didn't even run really as a Republican.

14:10He was a Republican, but kind of tried to skate because you don't have to declare in the mayor's race in Los Angeles. And so he's trying to play both sides of this thing, but Spencer Pratt just could not get the votes. And LA County, because things are so, they're just so skewed. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, that's it. Just my daughter. It was Spencer Pratt. Just my daughter. Spencer Pratt, you know, literally, because the votes took a month to count. So we knew it was a big, a big story out there. Spencer Pratt could not get the votes over people that are, that are, that everybody in LA knows are horrible leaders. And it's going to be one of those two horrible leaders back in office. And you think this is, this is crazy when LA is in such decline. And LA is in bad shape right now. I mean, the homeless situation there and, and the roads and the crime. And I mean, it's just one of those things where you're like, how do people not see this? And how can you look at the palisades fire and the response to that? And there's still no water in the reservoir. And you're going to vote for the woman whose, whose response was about as abysmal as any politician I've ever seen.

15:16The end tool is now available everywhere in the US. So you can get it on the sports action no matter where you are, including these places. Spend Georgia using Cleveland Minnesota Buffalo Lincoln. Chalk down Arizona. May this year, most rewarding season ever with Fandoo. Age and location restrictions apply. Product availability varies by market. CFandoo.com for eligibility. Gambling problem called 1-800-Gemmar. Let's get to the new book. Out Tuesday. Trace Gallagher turns out they were right all along. Life lessons I learned eventually. Congratulations on the book. What was it that said, I got, I want to get this out. What is it that you're trying to tell that you want people to think about? You know what I do a lot, David? I mentor young people. So young correspondents that we have. And I, you know, it's one of those things where I think that, you know, good guidance and good wisdom goes a long way toward impacting young people.

16:18I mean, they're just your mind and your, but it just helps everything. And throughout my life, I have been given great wisdom. And as the subtitle says, life lessons I learned dot, dot, dot eventually. It kind of, you know, it lets you know that sometimes I take the advice and sometimes you're stubborn and you don't take it. You think, ah, I can do it. I don't need that. I'm kind of right. Yeah. That's the way you kind of go through it. And then you realize that second time around, you're like, this is good wisdom. This is good stuff to use. Whether it's a football coach or a mentor or, you know, somebody who is teaching you something, that is, that is, that is priceless. I mean, they talk about, you know, hard work and teamwork is important. Talent is important, but so is luck and a great mentor and a great teacher and a great coach can help you bring more luck to the table. And so this is 32 stories. Every one of them has a takeaway from some wisdom that I received from the great basketball coach, John Wooden, when I was a kid. You know, I, I talk about this story where I went to the Wooden basketball camp and, you know, it was 500 bucks.

17:23You see a lot of coaches going to make you a great player. He won 10 championships in 12 years, right? Yeah. And I thought John Wooden is going to, because I was terrible in basketball. I was playing, had to play three sports in high school. So I thought I'm going to go get John Wooden's advice. It's going to be great coach. I'm going to be, every day he's going to be here with me. So I get the 500 bucks and there I am. I'm down in Southern California and son of a gun. Five seconds were in the gym and out walks the Wizard of Westwood. And I'm every kid just, yeah. I was dropped. And he taps the microphone three times and he says, boys, I want you to sit down. He says, I want you to take off your shoes and socks. You should have two pairs of socks. I want you to take the first pair of socks and I want you to put them on inside out. And then take the second pair of, put them on the right way. And then tie your shoes up nice and tight. If you do that, you will not get blisters. You cannot play basketball with blisters. And they turned and walked off and we never saw them again. And I thought, I thought 500 bucks for that. That's not even basketball. No, are you kidding me? I mean, now to this day, I still wear two pairs of socks when I play racquetball or tennis.

18:24But, but you lose. Does it really help? It really does help. I mean, it really does. And back in those days, you know, when the shoes weren't as good as they are now, you know, everybody wore high top converse. That's what you were playing basketball. And, and then you look deeper into John Wooden's history and you think, oh, there's the pyramid of success and there's all the things that he has written about and talked about. And you think, listen, this was great advice because what John Wooden is telling you is that you have to follow the fundamentals in life. And if you follow the fundamentals, you are going to succeed. And that's kind of what the book is all about. It's lessons that are, that are basic knowledge stuff that, you know, you can accept or you cannot accept. But either way, they're all told in very compelling stories. And they're funny and they're sad and they're, and they're interesting. And I think that it's a book that you, you take something away from and maybe you don't. But, you know, it, we will definitely change your perspective. If it doesn't change your life, it'll change your perspective. You know, I think there's several things in there that are very funny like you talk about,

19:25including your, your date with your wife, your first date, blind date. She has no interest in going. No, no, she, she was a blind date. She, she, she, she, like, how you looked on TV. Right. So, a big buddy of mine, whose name is Colin Coward, who's a very famous sports guy. Now, so he sets us up on this blind date because the girl he's dating his friends with my, soon to be wife. Right. So, she flips on the television the night before the date and does like the way I look. So, she's like, OK, I'm trying to cancel the date. There's no cell phones, there's, you know, there's, she's, she can't get a hold of her friend. So, she has to go on the date. She calls her mom. She's like, I don't want to go. And this guy's, I don't, I don't like him. I just don't. And her mom's like, what, what do you don't know anybody there? We're in Las Vegas. You don't know anybody in Ville. Been there for two months. Go out. You might have fun. You're not going to marry the guy. So, she goes out. It's the worst date ever. She comes out. She says, hi, and doesn't say almost anything the rest of the day. She's younger than the I am eight years. She's beautiful.

20:25And I walked out. I was like, wow, she's, she's a son or she got in the car. We had this horrible, we went to the basketball game because Colin had to go to a basketball game because, you know, that was the Tarcanian days where, you know, he just had to show because he was a sports guy. Yeah, yeah. Back in the day, right? And then you had, we went to dinner at Benihana and they comped the dinner because Colin was there. I mean, it was that, and my, my girlfriend didn't, or my date, didn't say a word the whole time. And then when we're in the movie theater, we go to the movies. I have no idea why. She's kind of looking over at me and then I, so I touch her arm. And she literally jumped three feet out of her seat. And I thought, well, this is about the most disastrous date I've ever been on my life. So we finally go to the hard rock cafe. It's too loud. We can't talk. We drop her off. And I told Colin, I said, that is, say, take a good look at her. You'll never see her at least with me again. And her friend calls the next and says, my God, she had the most fun. And then I was really, really skeptical. Like, oh, my God, she had fun. Yeah, she'd like to go out again. I'm thinking, okay, I, I don't get it.

21:27But we literally, yeah, we moved across, kind of, we, we, we fell in love. We moved in together and moved across country together all in a couple of months. You've been in Orlando and Vegas. You've been in, and, uh, Boise, Idaho. Boise. Yeah, you're right. Right. Boise, right? Everyone always say it with a Z, right? That's right. It's Boise, Idaho. The locals know it's Boise, Idaho. And, uh, yeah, I mean, we were, David and I were talking before the thing. There's a, there's a story in the book about Boise, Idaho. You almost didn't, that would have been the end of my career. Yeah, you took a stand. I was again, and it's a life lesson. Yeah, it's a life lesson. I took, I was, you know, the weekend anchor and they kept flying people in because I was filling in for the guy who left. And I was the weekend anchor and the ratings were doing well. And, uh, they kept flying people in, um, to take my job to hire them as the weekend anchor. And one of them was my friend who I worked with in Yuma. And he came in and he told me the job pays. He said, I'm not, I'm not about to move to Boise, Idaho for 20 years. I had a hoe for $24,000 a year. And I thought 24,000.

22:28Well, they're paying me, they're paying me 18. So finally, they offered me the job as the weekend anchor and they say the job pays $21,000. And I said, the job pays $24,000. Because that's what you just offered my buddy. And they said, you're right. I'm giving you 24. And I said, okay, I'm out. I'm done. And I was. I mean, I literally I called. I would then it was, um, Southwest Airlines I called. Get me, get me a flight. I'm flying home and call my parents. They were picking me up. I was done. Yeah. And a woman who's on our show a lot now, her name is D. Sarton. She was the main anchor there. She walked into the news director's office and she said, your weekend anchor is about to leave. He's not getting, I mean, he's about to find his, and I wasn't. I was getting. And he finally walked back to General Manage. General Manage was like, he's good. He's done a great job. Give him the damn 24,000. So he walked back out and he said, okay. There's your, there's your 24,000 dollars. All the money in the world to me. Yeah. I mean, at that time when you're making 18, it's a huge raise. It means you can actually, because I was broke. I mean, I was literally, I was broke.

23:28And I, I, I had a truck repossessed, right? I had a truck repossessed. I was taking the bus to work. I mean, I was flat broke. And I, and I thought, listen, I gave this TV thing a try. Didn't work out. So you bet on yourself. You did. You bet. You got it. Sometimes you have to bet on yourself. And then listen, I, I, maybe you would have gotten another TV job. I would have worked and, and, but it might have been over at that point, because I thought this TV thing doesn't pay any money. I can't make a living here. I can't live on this kind of money. $24,000. And then my truck reposition, they were garnishing my wages. That ended. And it, like two months later, I was rich. I had $24,000. I was like, yes. You know, I was, I was loaded, then. And then I went to Vegas shortly thereafter. And that job paid like 31,000 on that. And then Orlando nine months after that, paid like 40,000 in the span of 13 months. I went from 18,000 to 40,000. I'm like, how about that again? Who's making more money than I am? All because you've been on yourself. That's right. And then, then you get to Fox News in the mid 90s.

24:28And Roger Eels doesn't like how you look. He doesn't like my hair. There's a great story. Roger Eels, who, uh, Roger Eels was the president of the company. And I interviewed in Chicago because I was the first Chicago correspondent. Came here to New York, sat in Roger Eels office. And he looked at me. He's like, ah, he goes, you know what I do? He goes, I, I, he goes, I watch television, but I watch it with the sound down. And then if I see something compelling, I go and I turn the sound up because the anchor is saying something. They're animated there. Something going on. And you know what really, what really bothers me is that curly hair crap. And I'm looking at him because I've got curly hair. I'm like, what, what is he saying to me? Is he going to fire me? Is he going to, or is he not going to hire me? And he's like, I mean, we like your tape. And I just buy the curly hair kind of bothers me. And I said, I don't know what you want me to do. Roger, about the curly hair, but did you get a haircut? I did get a haircut, but it's still, it was still kind of curly. And I just looked at him and he, he offered me the job. And he said, you know, yeah, whenever I see curly hair, I never turned the sound up. And I'm like, well,

25:29that's a, that's a big endorsement from Roger Eels. He apparently got to like me at least curly hair, not withstanding. Because I've been here since day one, 30 years, next month, 30 years. Congratulations on that. So yeah, thank you. It's been, it's been quite a, quite a journey, quite a team. And I've been in, you know, Chicago. And then I was in San Francisco and then Los Angeles. And then here in New York and then back in Los Angeles over the span of 30 years. A lot of different jobs. And I like this one the best. But your hair's not that curly anymore. No, see, it's not that curly anymore. So there you go. Well, the new book is turns out they were right all along. Life lessons, a license, life lessons I learned eventually with trace Gallagher. You can watch again, Fox News at night, 11 p.m. to midnight, eastern time, eight o'clock out on the west coast Monday through Friday, Chief Breaking News correspondent here at Fox as well. Trace, great to have you here. Thank you. Thank you. Thanks so much. You rats on the book. Thank you. I appreciate it very much.

26:30You've been listening to the Fox News rundown. And now stay up to date by subscribing to this podcast at FoxNewsPodcasts.com. Listen to Add Free on Fox News Podcasts plus on Apple Podcasts. And, prime members can listen to the show Add Free on Amazon Music. And for up to the minute news, go to FoxNews.com. The end tool is now available everywhere in the US. So you can get in on the sports action no matter where you are, including these places. Make this your most rewarding season ever with Fandoo. Agent location restrictions apply, product availability varies by market. CFandoo.com for eligibility, gambling problem called 1-800-Gemmar.