MS NOW’s co-host Luke Russert questioned the names on California voter lists during Tuesday’s The Weeknight, and did all but offer a land acknowledgment in emphasizing the state’s Hispanic roots and past as past of Mexico.
In anticipation of California Democratic Senator Alex Padilla’s comments on Trump’s preparation for the upcoming midterm elections, Russert used the DOJ’s compilation of names connected to potential voter fraud in the state to assume racially motivated attacks.
Co-host Michael Steele claimed California would resist the DOJ’s attempts to turn over voter records. This led to Russert’s question: “...What names are on that list?”
Russert attempted to make the age-old, emotional stronghold that the administration’s attempts of uncovering voter deception was to target Americans with Latino heritage. Before referencing Latino surnames that Trump could use to link potential noncitizen voters, Russert answered his own question by linking his own familial ties to California:
And I think in a state like California, I mean, my wife's family is from there. She had family members who are in California who was part of Mexico. What are the names of the cities in California? Los Angeles, San Diego, San Francisco, right?
So, if we have a list of names and you have Gonzalez on there, you have Gallegos on there. What are we getting at? There's Latino names in California, and we are going to match them up against other places?
The irony? Liberal, elitist outlets often revisit the “stolen land” narrative during public events or ceremonies in discussion of indigenous identity. Yet, that historical context was absent. Instead, Russert flipped the conversation to make the argument that an individual’s Mexican ancestry automatically gives them the right to vote in elections, no matter their voter status:
And so, I look at that and I just go, this is an administration that's going to hone in on specific names? Who was there first? I mean, that's a serious question, right? Who’s more Californian?
Apparently, California’s history is only worth remembering when it fits the liberal media’s narrative.
The transcript is below. Click "expand" to read:
MS NOW’s The Weeknight
October 27, 2026
7:04:10 p.m. Eastern(...)MICHAEL STEEL: What they're trying to do here, Luke, is just manufacture a list of names, and to justify that and to really sort of confirm their suspicions, they want the list from California. Now, California is very strict about its list. It does not, I can tell you, as a former state official, states protect those lists.
Even though, yeah, your campaign, Symone, may call and say, hey, we want to spend some money to get a list, that data is selected. It's not everything about the voters that you want to get your hands on. So, it matters. Those voter rolls matter because they contain a lot of information.
LUKE RUSSERT: And who, what names are on that list?
STEEL: Right!
RUSSERT: Right? And I think in a state like California, I mean, my wife's family is from there. She had family members who are in California who was part of Mexico. What are the names of the cities in California? Los Angeles, San Diego, San Francisco, right?
So, if we have a list of names and you have Gonzalez on there, you have Gallegos on there. What are we getting at? There's Latino names in California, and we are going to match them up against other places?
And so, I look at that and I just go, this is an administration that's going to hone in on specific names? Who was there first? I mean, that's a serious question, right? Who’s more Californian?
(...)
