Ronna McDaniel previews Tuesday's special election in PA

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Ronna McDaniel previews Tuesday's special election in PA

RNC chairwoman talks Trump's final push for Republican Rick Saccone votes ahead of high-stakes special election in Pennsylvania's 18th district.

This is a rush transcript from "Your World," March 12, 2018. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

CHARLES PAYNE, GUEST HOST: GOP congressional candidate Rick Saccone on 'Cavuto Live' saying he is ready for tomorrow's Pennsylvania's showdown.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RICK SACCONE, R-PENNSYLVANIA CONGRESSIONAL CANDIDATE: I like being the underdog. I won my first state House race in a 76 percent Democrat district with $1,500 that my wife and I saved up to start the campaign. No one thought he would win.

I have won four elections since then. This is my fifth one. So, I always love defying all the so-called experts and their predictions.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PAYNE: By the way, we did reach out to Democrat Conor Lamb, but thus far have not heard back from him.

Meanwhile, a report by Axios quoting unnamed sources as the president has been privately slamming Saccone as a -- quote -- 'weak candidate.'

So, what does RNC Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel make of all of this? She's going to join us now.

Ronna, what do you make? These sort of unnamed sources or people who know people who know people who know people, but now the word is that President Trump privately trashing Saccone, even though he went there over the weekend to campaign for him.

RONNA MCDANIEL, CHAIR, REPUBLICAN NATIONAL COMMITTEE: I was with the president this weekend and Rick Saccone. The president is working as hard as he can to elect Rick Saccone.

He needs more Republicans in Congress. He knows that Conor Lamb is running as a Republican, but is certainly not going to be a vote with this president if he makes it to Congress.

All I see is the president getting 100 percent behind the candidate that is going to come help move forward his agenda.

PAYNE: There must be some, though, frustration with President Trump, saying that he won this Pennsylvania 18 by 20 points and that it's certainly at this point going to be a tossup.

What does he say about the fact that Saccone has not been able to leverage what we have seen in the economy and the president's own popularity?

MCDANIEL: Listen, we look at every special election as different. We have won five out of five this year.

This is unique, because, one, we had a Republican congressman who had to step down because of personal scandal. That's incorporated into this district.

And then you have a Democrat who didn't have a primary who is running like a Republican, pro-gun, pro-tariffs, saying he will vote against Nancy Pelosi. We know that is not going to be true. But those create challenges within that district.

Every special election is different. The president is coming in. He's going to campaign for every single candidate. He would win in that district today. He wants to help Rick Saccone win because he knows that he's going to need to keep that majority, so he can keep this economy humming, keep jobs coming back to this country and keep wages growing.

PAYNE: Obviously a lot after stake for the Republicans. A lot of Republican money has poured into this campaign from outside of the state. Donald Trump Jr. there as well today.

What does it mean for the party if Lamb comes out ahead tomorrow?

MCDANIEL: We're going to compete in every single race.

We know that the first term of a president, that you usually lose seats.
We're going to fight to keep this majority. Listen, America is on the right track. Wages are growing. Jobs are coming back. Our economy is humming. People are feeling better.

Democrats voted no on every single aspect of the tax cuts. Conor Lamb didn't support the tax cuts. If we turn it over to Pelosi, we will be turning back the clock and going back to the dark ages of Schumer and Pelosi.

And we need to keep those majorities, we can keep our economy strong. So, we're going to fight for every single seat and every single district. But one special election is not a bellwether for anything that is going to happen next November.

We all know how much changes month to month in politics. And I think next November, voters are going to go look at their paychecks which are bigger, and their jobs which are coming back and their families who are able to put more money in their pocket, and they're going to say, this is because of Republican leadership and President Trump and we cannot afford to put Pelosi back in charge.

PAYNE: Ronna, you mentioned that Lamb running as a Republican. That's the irony there.

What do you make the fact that he is distancing himself from Nancy Pelosi?
What does that say to Democrats on the national stage? This is their leader and you have got a key race where this guy is saying, hey, I'm not with her?

MCDANIEL: Yes, Conor Lamb is distancing himself from a very unpopular Nancy Pelosi, a millionaire from San Francisco, who has nothing to do with the values of Pennsylvania.

He's one of the few Democrats who are going to getting a free pass and not having a primary challenger. You're not going to see that in any other races around the country. It's going to be very hard for other Democrat candidates to distance themselves from Nancy Pelosi.

So this is a unique race. It's a unique special election on a different date. It is going to come down to turnout. The RNC has made over a million voter contacts. We're working as hard as we can to elect Rick Saccone. And we know that we're going to have to do battle all across this country to keep these majorities.

PAYNE: All right, thank you very much. And good luck. We will talk to you again very soon.

MCDANIEL: Thanks for having me.

PAYNE: All right.

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