Talk Business & Politics Daily: The parties are united, welcome home Chris May edition

Editor’s note: You can watch the full video of today’s Talk Business & Politics Daily at the end of this report, or download an audio version through the iTunes store under “Talk Business & Politics.”
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Wednesday’s Talk Business & Politics Daily digital newscast features a sit-down interview with newly returned KATV anchorman Chris May, as well as a spirited discussion about political party unity from Reps. Michelle Gray and Eddie Armstrong.

In addition to our top stories of the day, we’ll also explore three numbers that matter in Arkansas politics.

PARTY UNITY
Rep. Michelle Gray, R-Melbourne, and Rep. Eddie Armstrong, D-North Little Rock, attended their respective parties’ conventions. Gray was in Cleveland for the Republican National Convention, while Armstrong attending the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia.

Are their respective political parties united?

Rep. Eddie Armstrong: Let’s be truthful, what you got to see from the Bernie Sanders supporters really spoke – tried and true – to what we have to do to work towards in the next 90-plus days of getting Hillary [Clinton] elected.

In all hindsight, I think we are more united than ever before because we don’t have some of the issues that our colleagues on the right side of the aisle have to worry about. They are really in a disenfranchised place, unfortunately, because of their leader at the top of the ticket, but I think with Hillary’s message of being able to create more jobs, being able to make certain we focus on energy, adopting Bernie Sanders agenda and putting it into her agenda said a lot about bringing us closer together.

Now the real work must be done in the next 90-plus days to get us fully on board, all as one, all together to go to the polls and vote. So I would say right now, we are operating at an A-minus, but on Election Day we hopefully can get to an A-plus.

Rep. Michelle Gray: Well, I beg to differ on that. After [Ted] Cruz spoke – which we didn’t know ahead of time that, Roby, I am not sure that anyone did, except Mr. Trump, because apparently he had seen the speech and approved and said, ‘You know, I am going to let you speak anyhow even if you don’t endorse me.’

So we weren’t aware of that up front. He kind of got booed out of the arena and I wondered at that point in time what was going to happen…

Roby Brock: Were you one of them booing?

Gray: I was! I will be honest, I’m not going to lie. My thing was whether you like Senator Cruz or you don’t, or Trump – whichever side of the aisle you are on – he signed a pledge and he agreed. His word was his word and he agreed to support the nominee and what the people wanted, so that is what I was upset about was that he wouldn’t come out and keep his word.

You know, if you can’t trust him now, would I be able to trust him in a presidential election four years from now or eight years from now? So that was my issue.

As it went on and as we got to learn and meet and they introduced Governor Pence, I think a lot of the Cruz supporters were comfortable because Mr. Trump chose someone who is much more conservative than he was and kind of brought him back towards where Senator Cruz had been. A lot of the Cruz supporters have said we are on board with the nominee, we are ready to go. So we had a hiccup, but I feel fairly unified right now and that is one of our big things that I see this shift a little bit in the Republican party. Disagreement gets us where we are. If it was a dictatorship, none of us would want to live here, so we need those disagreements so that we can ultimately find the best for our country.

You can catch the first half of their exchange in the video at the bottom of this post.

CHRIS MAY RETURNS TO ANCHOR CHAIR
KATV Ch. 7’s Chris May returns to the anchor chair after 18 years in other markets. KATV is a content partner of Talk Business & Politics.

May spent nearly nine years in Boston after leaving Little Rock in 1998. He also spent nine years in Philadelphia as a main anchor.

He’s a Little Rock native and returns to the station to anchor the 5,6 and 10 news. He’s interviewed presidents and other national figures and will be a strong addition to political reporting for Talk Business & Politics on behalf of KATV.

Watch his full interview below in today’s Talk Business & Politics Daily.