Some More News - Some More News: How Democrats Take Back The Senate In The Midterms

Episode Date: October 14, 2026

Hi. On today's episode of Some More News, we're looking at the 2026 midterms, with a focus on all the major Senate races Democrats will have to win to take a (not necessarily Fetterman-proof)... majority.Hosted by Cody JohnstonExecutive Producer - Katy StollDirected by Will GordhWritten by Erik Barnes, David Christopher Bell, and Cody JohnstonEdited by John ConwayProduced by Jonathan HarrisPost-Production Supervisor - John ConwayResearcher - Marco Siler-GonzalesGraphics by Clint DeNiscoHead Writer - David Christopher BellPATREON: https://patreon.com/somemorenewsMERCH: https://shop.somemorenews.comYOUTUBE MEMBERSHIP: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvlj0IzjSnNoduQF0l3VGng/join#Midterms #Talerico #SenateEVERYONE who signs up wins a FREE toy or gift card! https://www.bboutique.co/vibe/somemorenews-podcastDownload the Quince app for app-exclusive offers, or go to https://quince.com to get free shipping on your order and 365-day returns. When Quince asks where you heardabout them, let them know it was Some More News.Head to https://zbiotics.com/morenews and use code MORENEWS for 15% off your first order. Try for yourself today, and if you are unsatisfied they will refund your entire order, no questions asked.3 Million Butts Love TUSHY. Get 10% off TUSHY with the code SMN at https://hellotushy.com/SMNSearch Whatnot in the App Store, download, and you can start selling right away.Pluto TV. Stream Now. Pay Never.Chapters:0:00 - Introduction/Midterms6:35 - Talerico vs Paxton: Texas Death Match27:11 - Cooper vs Whatley: (Feat. Donald Trump)33:07 - Brown vs Husted & Vivek Is There Too!43:03 - Future President (?) Ossof vs Collins57:27 - Peltola vs Sullivan vs Sullivan1:04:25 - Jackson vs Collins: The Maine Event (Not Platner)1:10:58 - Abdul El-Sayed Vs Mike Rogers: Because Everything Always Has To Be About Michigan For Some Reason1:17:16 - Angie Nixon: Better NixonSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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Starting point is 00:00:02 Hello, Nuzos. That's what you are now to me. To me, you are Nuzos. I say that with love as you like and subscribe Join the Patreon hit the bell, share you drugs with me. Let me into your heart and your house. But anyway, newsos We have like a title card to go to or Midterm election exam because we're not in school, but it feels like school Midterms that little annoyance that either serves as confirmation that an administration is on track or forces change before the big finals The finals being presidential elections, I guess. But it's weird because in spite of its name, midterms can arguably be as important, if not more so than who is in the Oval Office.
Starting point is 00:00:48 Or at least, that used to be the case. There was a time when a strong Congress could potentially make or break a president's reign, provided that they actually do something. In fact, we just released an entire episode about how the job of a congressperson is kind of fake. It's kind of mostly about making money and not doing their actual job. Check it out. Anyway, at this point, Republicans hold a 53 to 47 majority in the Senate, depending on whatever is going on with Senator Mitch McConnell,
Starting point is 00:01:20 who I'm sure will be thriving when this episode comes out, or RIP or not, or RIP. It's been a trying time for the GOP. Not only are they just dying of old age, but there's also this guy. For you to pay a tiny little bit more for your gasoline, just remember you're doing it so that a very evil country cannot have. A country really is the number one state sponsor of terror in the world. We don't want to have them have a nuclear weapon.
Starting point is 00:01:52 So remember that when you have to pay a little bit more, you're at $4, it's okay. I mean, it's, I'm not, I'll never apologize. I did the right thing. You know the guy? We love him. We love how we got a weird Nazi to fire everyone and make our agencies less functional,
Starting point is 00:02:08 which in turn killed a lot of people overseas. We love the needlessly aggressive tariff wars. He's started with all our allies. And of course the real war he started with Iran, also needlessly. We love how he randomly demolished an entire wing of the White House without asking anyone. Same way he tore up the Rose Garden
Starting point is 00:02:26 and stuck his name on the Kennedy Center and now might demolish that, and keeps trying to change the names of bodies of water. And of course, we love all the overt corruption, the crypto scams and the fact that Trump is just plundering openly without a care in the world. All the pardons for criminals, all the ways he specifically targets blue states because they didn't vote for him. We love it. We love how he's the most divisive president ever and is also proud of that fact. Oh my gosh, remember how we loved it when he ordered ICE to patrol neighborhoods
Starting point is 00:03:01 and kidnap people like something out of V for Vendetta and they killed multiple people, while doing that and then called those killed people assassins and terrorists. We love it all. Oh, wait. I've been using the wrong word this whole time. People fucking hate this. President Trump's overall approval rating reached record-breaking historic lows across the board of all topics and demographics.
Starting point is 00:03:30 It is farts all around. A round of farts for Trump, everyone. Turns out people don't like it when the president of the United States posts an AI video of him literally shitting on America. Which of course makes the GOP in general pretty unpopular. Which of course makes for a juicy midterm election in theory. Anything can happen. Is MAGA finally dead? Are progressives the hot new thing? This is exciting. We're excited about the midterms. That's what we're excited about the midterms. That's what? why I'm sweating so much.
Starting point is 00:04:08 And to show just how excited we are, we are gonna kick over to our special election expert. This is Winbo on this paper. What's a windbow? Also, this paper's covered in blood. Thank you, Mr. Cody. So, um, uh, mid comes from the word, middle, and Tom is like a gestation period.
Starting point is 00:04:36 Like how Wombo is actually an embryo and human existence is the womb. So the Dumbo-Krats think that they can overcome the narrow majority of the G-old P have over the House of Representatives. But to get control of the Senate, the mold-crats need to flip four seats while holding onto what the seats they currently have about them. It's kind of like at the movie theater where you have to save your seat while quietly warming into the skin of those around you. So you can have more seats too. And so this upcoming election, Democats, need to keep their flesh in New Hampshire, Michigan, and Georgia. But they have to warm ball into the flesh, you know, like wiggling, wiggling into the muscle and the bone and the brain of at least four of the following states. Alaska, Maine, Texas, Wampo, Ohio, Kansas, Florida, Iowa, South Carolina, and North Carolina, and South Carolina.
Starting point is 00:05:35 But not more than four, because if they get more than four, then Warmba's cousin, John Fetterman, will be sad because he won't have his power over the demon-crats, and no one will go to his house anymore. If the Democrats do that, then they get the majority in the Senate, and Wombo is here too. Back to you, Mr. Cody. Thanks.
Starting point is 00:05:58 Also, hi, Warmbo. That explains the rotting meat smell. For a second, I thought I invited RFK over. Anyway, that was surprisingly informative, and other things, obviously. Wormbo made the map himself with a quayn and a willy flat bone. We're good on Wormbo. We're good. Let's start breaking down some of the more heated midterm elections that are definitely exciting.
Starting point is 00:06:23 Starting with... Tala Rico versus Paxton, Texas Death Match. Okay, not literally. Unless my petition finally picks up steam, so. But flipping Texas into a blue would be huge. Texas likes everything big, right? Their T-bone stakes and their weather-related power grid failures and the trucks! They would still have one Republican senator, so maybe not a blue state, but some combination of blue and red, whatever that is, like a bled,
Starting point is 00:06:53 roo? The whole state has been bright Republican red since rancher, painter, nepo baby, and absolutely nothing else George W. Bush became governor in the 90s. and the GOP has kept the state in a vice-like, lube-free grip since the turn of the century. However, current voting trends and polling, partially due to more diversity in the state, are showing that Texas is now less hard-right, hot red cinnamon-flavored than they once were.
Starting point is 00:07:23 And are more center purple grape flavor. Purple's the word. But like, it doesn't actually taste like grape, you know? It's like a clown's memory of a grape. But despite this, the state's legislature has a reputation of making the hardest of right-wing legislation, such as offering $10,000 bounties to snitch on anyone who has an abortion after six weeks, and allowing Texans over 21 to just open carry a handgun without a license, much less training. Seems like stupid and bad things to do, but whatever, I can't judge.
Starting point is 00:08:01 My car is a mess. And speaking of messes that will never be cleaned, it should be noted that Texas is likely the way it is because of gerrymandering. In fact, the GOP is able to maintain their control with the help of only 3% of Texans. That 3% is the whitest, oldest, and most affluent conservatives of the entire state, who just so happened to be super active during the primaries, but not much else. Probably because they're napping or whatever old white people do. Playing pickleball.
Starting point is 00:08:32 Wizard magic? raw dogging each other? I mean, they must be, right? Not just the whites, but all of those holds. Your grandma, your great aunt, the one that makes you those pit cells every holiday. You're having unprotected sex. But take that is what they say to each other. Anyway, perhaps this 3% is exactly why a guy like Ken Paxton has been able to stay in the state government in some capacity since 2002. For this 2026 election, he started as an unlikely contender beating out an older incumbent in a primary runoff. But in retrospect, Ken's main quality is staying relevant by pandering to the most superficial aspects of his party.
Starting point is 00:09:17 For example, back in 2012, he got a state Senate seat by playing toward the Tea Party anti-Obama sentiment at the time. And when I say playing toward, I mean his then-wife literally played songs at fundraisers. like this. I'm a pistol packing mama, yes I am. I'm a pistol pack in mama, yes I am. I'm a pistol packing mama and my husband Suez Obama. I'm a pistol pack and mama, yes I am.
Starting point is 00:09:57 Really looking forward to the LP of that music. Although I did notably say then-wife, because she has since filed for divorce, citing adultery as the reason. But she's being a real champ about that and still out there pushing for, well, not Ken Paxton specifically, but Republicans generally, which we can only assume includes her terrible ex-husband Ken Paxton. I'm Texas Senator Angela Paxton. People have asked my thoughts about this election and turns out I have some. Let's talk about the elephant in the room. In a general election, it's not as much about the individual players on the team. It's about getting the whole team across the finish line.
Starting point is 00:10:40 Either we hold every Republican seat or we hand the future of Texas to the other team. That's why I'm voting for the Republican ticket on November 3rd. Let's hold the line together. What a good sport by not saying Ken Paxton by name. See, here's the thing about Ken Paxton. He's one of those really obvious scummy crime guys you might have heard about. Have you ever heard about these guys? So sometimes politicians are also really corrupt. It's weird, I know, but for example, Paxton was indicted for fraud.
Starting point is 00:11:16 Even though Paxton tried to paint the indictment as a politically motivated smear campaign, eight of Paxton's closest aides in the Attorney General's office snitched on him to the FBI, accusing Paxton of using his position to help with the legal problems of one of his donors. And that's actually separate from the other fraud that I mentioned. I'm sorry. I keep getting his frauds mixed up. The note must have fallen off my
Starting point is 00:11:40 mittens. Anyway, he was then impeached, I'm sure, as some kind of partisan attack by his fellow Texas Republicans. He's a crime guy, a guy who does crimes and sometimes helps others who do horrible crimes. Like when he in his office offered a plea deal for an admitted child molester to spend just one day in jail. Also, he just generally sucks. When Roe v. Wade was overturned, Paxton was giddy to enforce some of the most restrictive abortion bans in the nation. And of course, as a crime guy who sucks, he's also a Trump guy. After Trump lost the 2020 election, Paxton sued Georgia, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania to challenge the results. He spoke to a rally on January 6th, 2020.
Starting point is 00:12:31 before it turned into a riot and was the only state AG to not officially condemn the insurrection. Naturally, he was endorsed by Trump during the primary and one-handily, though judging from the way Trump talks about him now, saying he looks and speaks like shit, maybe there are some regrets there. The point is that the Texas GOP has, whether they wanted to or not, bet it all on MAGA with this Ken fellow, which is why Texas Democrats might have a chance. Because if you took partisan politics out of this, which you shouldn't, but if you did and just looked at the two people running in Texas, it's like cartoonishly obvious who should be the guy. Because Ken Paxton, the corrupt MAGA guy that his own party seems to
Starting point is 00:13:24 dislike, is running against James Tala Rico. Talarico is a Texas state representative that was a former middle school teacher and is a devout Christian who went to seminary school. I hear he also saves puppies that are made of kittens somehow from fires, but just on the weekends. Weekday puppies made of kittens can die. Also the puppies can't be trans, I guess. About biological men competing in women's sports, that's a big deal here in Texas. That's right. And I oppose trans athletes playing in girls sports if it endangers safety or fairness. Every sport has to be safe and fair. As a former public school teacher, I care a lot about our student athletes. I care a lot about our students. And so I will oppose trans
Starting point is 00:14:09 athletes playing in girls sports if it risks safety or fairness. Ah, it's a bit of a bummer, man. You were so close. After all, Talarico caught the eye of the media by using his faith as justification for the progressive causes he's championing, such as affordability, health care, you know, stuff that matters to people. He also, Get this. Doesn't have a decade-plus history of corruption while in power. He is, as Texas Monthly puts it, a choir boy who can land a punch. A real Mark Wahlberg type.
Starting point is 00:14:43 And let's be honest, red-blooded Texans love a Jesus guy more than actual Jesus. After all, you can't throw a right cross if you're nailed to one, ha-z-ing! Or I'm sorry if I offended you. Or ha-z-ing if you liked it. Whatever, you get it. It's almost like that Futurama episode where that almost annoyingly squeaky clean and wholesome candidate runs against Richard Nixon. Almost. But he kind of fucked it up there, right? A little bit. I mean, it probably
Starting point is 00:15:09 won't matter, but he certainly didn't have to placate the phony trans panic, but he did. Even though he tried to couch it in language that made clear he doesn't think it's an actual issue, he still did it. And now he's put our trans friends and enemies in Texas in a real shitty situation, where I'm sure they're being told to suck it up and vote for the guy who threw them under the bus, as if that's not what they have been told their whole lives. It does suck. Same with some of the other more woke things that he feels like he has to walk back now that it's the general election. But as far as Democrats are concerned, he is Maga's worst nightmare. Tala Rico is an open progressive for the most part with a candy-coated conservative outer layer.
Starting point is 00:15:52 He's not some blue-haired lib freak, although if you do have blue hair, you're fine and normal. And thanks to Tala Rico's opponent's history, all of his attack ads have to do is just say things that are true about Ken Paxton. Remind us all, what is Attorney General Paxton accused of doing? The list is really long. Bribery, dereliction of duty, obstruction of justice, and conspiracy. A majority of Texas House Republicans voted to impeach one of their own 60 Republicans voting in favor. Allegations he abused his office to benefit himself and a major donor. Right.
Starting point is 00:16:30 He's a crime guy. The list goes on. We cut that off early. And perhaps the country is really sick of obvious crime guys in charge. But counterpoint, have you considered that James Talariko is woke? This is Texas.
Starting point is 00:16:47 This is not. They're gonna call me a radical leftist. This is Texas. This is not. Something that you love, that's not family. or friends. I love, and just say this because it's on my mind, the trans children. This is Texas.
Starting point is 00:17:07 This is not. Our southern border should be like our front porch. There should be a giant welcome mat out front. This is Texas. This is not. It is now existential that we try to reduce our meat consumption. I am proud to say that our campaign has officially become a non-meat. campaign. This is Texas. That's it. That's all they have. Very tired culture war
Starting point is 00:17:33 attacks on Tala Rico that don't go away just because you try to throw trans people under the bus. Maybe there's a lesson in there. I don't know. Regardless, it's just extremely embarrassing to watch. On one side, you have this dude with a known history of corruption being called out on it and all that guy can do is accuse his opponent of being gay and vegan. I really really really hope that Texas and the rest of the country finally, finally learned that perhaps it's not good to elect people based on culture war grievances and manliness, but rather like, how a person plans to govern. Are they a corrupt liar? Do they want to do their job well? Do they
Starting point is 00:18:17 have ideas on how to do that? But that's the thing apparently. All Paxton has is calling Tala riko weak-ass nicknames like Tofu Talarico or low T'Alarico, which feels a lot like what the other guy everyone hates loves to do. And while Texas is very red and we shouldn't hinge all our hopes on it, Paxton's tactics are turning off some Republicans in the state. Because they should, right? Paxton and his whole deal should turn off everybody. This Texas race is such a model example of everything that's gone wrong with the Republican Party. It seems so obsessed with wokeness and the culture war that they forget that people need basic things.
Starting point is 00:19:06 It's Pete Heggseth obsessing over the military's tea count instead of remembering to feed people. Ken Paxton has nothing to offer Texas and is trying really, really hard to make them not realize that. And the tricks he's using are like over five years old. And he's just a crime guy on top of it. Like he apparently stole a really expensive pen from a lost and found. That's like a Seinfeld episode, right? And yes, Tala Rico is using that for his campaign ads.
Starting point is 00:19:39 This is Ken Paxton. And this is Ken Paxton stealing someone's $1,000 pen. Here's what happened. The incident happened at the Collin County Courthouse, the same courthouse where Paxton would later be indicted for investment fraud. Paxon walked up to the trays next to the metal detectors, rummaged through them, and came across someone else's expensive Montblanc pen. He decided to take it for himself. Pure uncut Costanza. Very funny and embarrassing scam guy who perhaps shouldn't be in charge of
Starting point is 00:20:09 anything. Is that enough to flip Texas blue though? Maybe it would be neat. I mean, I don't live there, do what you want Texas. Again, Trump is incredibly unpopular throughout all demographics and doing Trump tactics with a Trump endorsement isn't as strong of a draw as it once was. Polls put the race at a coin flip at this point, but not a Trump coin, which means that we'll give Tala Rico's rating... I don't know, we have a rating system. We should have a rating system like stars or something. Yes, thank you, Mr. Cody. Wombo gives Talo Rico's waiting exactly 11 out of 22 nipples. 11 of Wombo's nipples!
Starting point is 00:20:49 Oh my God! God, that is somehow more and fewer nipples than I assumed you had. Many of them are in Warmbo's mouth. Didn't I say we had enough Warmbo for the episode? Did nobody hear me saying enough Warmbo? Do I need to tattoo enough Warmbal on my fucking forehead? You know what? We're going to do in Lad Break, and we're going to rework this.
Starting point is 00:21:13 Maybe I'll get tattooed or something. And when we come back, we'll probably just be doing the same thing. Honestly. Okay, so enjoy these hopefully Warmbolus ads. Oh, remember when you were a kid and your mom was listening to the George Michael album Faith on cassette and things were smooth sailing during the title track and even father figure. But then the nine minutes song, I Want Your Sex, Parts One and two came on next and you want it to shrink into your quick silver crue knick sweatshirt. Well, those awkward moments are gone for. forever, now that you're a full-blown adult, and it won't be weird at all to hear how Belessa is giving away free spicy toys or gift cards for toys.
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Starting point is 00:22:50 up. Yes, you heard that right. Every single one of you wins something. Just click the link in the episode description or head to bbibes.com slash sm. That's bbvibes.com slash sm. I felt totally comfortable just now saying all those sexy words that were absolutely not written by a 44 year old man on a Sunday morning while his son watches PJ masks not 15 feet away. Bbibes.com slash SMN. Thank you for the copy, Jonathan. Fun? I fun.
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Starting point is 00:25:09 You know, the older I get, the less interested I am in suffering unnecessarily. Why deprive myself of a Stanley Cup full of whipped cream when the gosh darn things are just sitting right there? And here's another thing I'm no longer depriving myself of but comfort. That's right. Since I upgraded my toilet with a tushy bidet, I have been gliding on air around the house. It was a cinch to install and all the bits and bops down there feel, even squeakier or clean, then the bald head of the advertising mascot with that very surname. And if you're looking for something with a little more pressure, you know, you've got like a
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Starting point is 00:27:02 But think about your bunth. Think about your butt. Think about your butt for once. For once, people. Think about your butt. Just think about it. So, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so. So William H. Macy, he tells him that the Board of Education has to cut funding for the arts and focus on reading.
Starting point is 00:27:23 Uh-huh. And he makes his speech in favor of the arts, but they fire him anyway. I've seen the movie. But, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but on his last day, they bring him into the auditorium, and all the students he taught are all there, in the auditorium, including the governor who, who, who, who, who, you know how before there was the girl who played the clarinet? Do you remember when I said that before? My God, I can't believe I'm gonna say this, but can we please just talk about the midterms? Okay, dokey!
Starting point is 00:27:50 Hi everyone, welcome back to some Wombo's sum of the news. I'm Wombo. Welcome back to the Wombie we're talking about Texas before on the news, and now, uh, welcome back to us talking about, so, so, so if Texas is absorbed by the Democrats in the midterms, then, uh, subtract one from four, which leaves, uh, okay. If states were nipples, right? Okay, great. Thanks. So we're talking about North Carolina next.
Starting point is 00:28:22 North Carolina, Jesus Christ. Cooper versus Whatley, featuring Donald Trump. As we hinted at the beginning, this year is going to be a big test for both the progressive and the MAGA movements. Or rather, that's what the media is going to treat it as. Every MAGA candidate who loses will be a blow to Trump, and every progressive loss will be seen as a sign of weakness on the left, and so on. And some of the time, that might be hooey, and other times it maybe won't be hooey. And even then, the conversation itself is often used to falsely equate progressivism with MAGA in order to toxify it in the public mind.
Starting point is 00:28:59 Now, in the case of this North Carolina race, everything from the GOP side is pretty much manufactured by Trump. For starters, Michael Watley is running because Republican Senator Tom Tillis announced his retirement earlier this year. Not because he's 65 and of retirement age, but likely because he became a target of Trump's bullying after he voted no on Trump's big, beautiful bill. Seems potentially foolish for the GOP, I mean, because that lack of an incumbent advantage creates an opportunity for the godless Dems. Specifically, for former North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper, who has stepped in as the Democratic nominee against the aforementioned Michael Watley. And just like Ken Paxton, Watley is tied at the dick to Trump. He got that tangy Trump endorsement. Except, as we keep saying, the MAGA brand sure ain't what it used to be.
Starting point is 00:29:55 Not to mention that Michael Watley is a bit of a nobody. Dude has been politic and since Bush, and yet his Wikipedia is barely there. He doesn't even have a controversy section. Weak wiki bro, Wikipedia. Although it does note that he spent some time, as a lobbyist for BP who helped get that Keystone pipeline approved. Neat. I bring it up because both Carolinas have been resisting Trump's push to increase offshore drilling. And now there's this former oil guy who will owe Trump a favor if he wins.
Starting point is 00:30:27 Speaking of potential favors to Trump if he wins, Wattley was also on George Bush's team in 2000, George W Bush's team, pushing for the Florida recount. So maybe he's up for trying to steal an election? Who knows? But as it stands, he probably won't win. Maybe probably? I mean the GOP just yanked all their money from Watley's Senate race, so they're just letting him dangle, Watley! Because again, he's a scentless fart of a man with the potential to cause harm. So I guess he's carbon monoxide. Meanwhile, Roy Cooper, who was the governor and also opposed offshore drilling, is just a bigger name. It's a real boner for Trump. He kind of pushed Tom Tillis. out, which was pretty stupid because that guy was an established conservative with a history of beating off
Starting point is 00:31:18 Democratic challengers in the past. But he got kicked to the curb and somehow replaced with this Watley guy, a nobody who is most known for being in charge of North Carolina's cleanup after Hurricane Helene, which may set off alarm bells, uh, for those of you who have pattern recognition when you hear words like Republican and Hurricane and cleanup. Indeed, it did not go well. More than 20 people from around Black Mountain and Swananoa came together. Michael Watley was put in charge of Haleen recovery efforts for the federal government. The president said Michael Watley was going to make sure that all of us get the relief that we need. If Watley spent more time attending to this disaster relief effort in person,
Starting point is 00:32:00 he might realize that our needs are urgent. Watley, who had no experience in emergency relief and recovery, royally pissed off the state of North Carolina during that hurricane. He even got caught lying about how. much money the state got from FEMA for that recovery. So the state was specifically pissed off not just at him, but Trump, who has been constantly strewing with FEMA. And what's incredible is that Watley is at least partially running on his role in this,
Starting point is 00:32:27 because it's one of the only things he's done. And it sucked. It really speaks to how unaware Trump and Maga seem to be about their own unpopularity. That in this state, Trump pushed out the establishment Republican and is now endorsing a guy running on something he did that everyone hated him for. Trump's disapproval rating in the state is currently at around 54% and the Republicans there have very little to offer besides a few policy measures on the ballot designed to limit taxes on income and property. Cool, good for those
Starting point is 00:32:59 rich people, they needed a win. Oh, H-h-Hugh-Vosestead and Vivek is there too, so that's that's Vavage. Speaking of unwelcome Muppets, Remember Vivek, his name rhymes with cake. He has a whole embarrassing rap about it, which we will not play. More on him in a second. We're not gonna play it then either. But let's talk about Sherrod Brown.
Starting point is 00:33:27 His name rhymes with down, as in his career went down after previously losing his Senate seat to Republican Bernie Moreno in 2024. It is less catchy, but he's no loser. I mean, he might be. Also, he lost. But right now, it's looking pretty okay for O'Brown this time, considering that his opponent, John Houston, really likes data centers and took money from one of Jeffrey Epstein's buds before voting against releasing those files. The Epstein files. Now, those are two things that most people, if you aren't aware, kind of really hate a whole lot. It doesn't help
Starting point is 00:34:03 that Houston, despite being the incumbent, isn't considered very well-known amongst voters. He is so not well-known as the incumbent, in fact, that a lot of people seem to think that Sherrod Brown is actually the incumbent, which is somehow insulting to Houston, Brown, and generally the people of Ohio. The point is, though, that Houston isn't really hitting with people. He's like egg in arrest the development. That's probably because, speaking of plant, he was the guy who was appointed to replace that J.D. Ann guy when he died. Remember that? Remember when Vance Hogg died? I think. Sad stuff, if true. On Young way, it's not like Sherrod Brown has Obama levels of charisma or anything.
Starting point is 00:34:48 So it's all pretty close, which kind of speaks to how much Houston has wasted his incumbent advantage. He's a boring dude who does all the GOP stuff people generally don't like. He voted against extending COVID subsidies that made it easier for people to access Affordable Care Act plans, presumably to make it harder for people to get affordable care? Although, no, actually, okay, so, see, because it makes sense. All right, don't worry. See, he conditions his support of these subsidies on the idea that we have to first cut out all the thievery done by non-Americans. It's that thing the GOP loves to do where they get to not support giving people health care by claiming that illegals ruined it or took it or something.
Starting point is 00:35:33 See, because, okay, so see, okay, so see, okay, so see, okay, so health care and welfare generally are disgusting socialism, right? Right, right, but also, see, okay, so they're being used by filthy, deceitful immigrants who were mad at because they're taking our welfare, which we do want, because it's socialism, which we hate, because it's bad. China! Of course, it should be noted that Houston has taken $75,000 from a Medicaid provider that Ohio sued for embezzling tens of millions of dollars in Medicaid funding, resulting in an $88 million settlement.
Starting point is 00:36:14 So who is John Houston? Why, he's just another GOP weiner who says he hates the ACA, yet uses its loopholes to help himself and scammy Medicaid providers that are actually abusing the ACA. Houston's ACA shenanigans ultimately are causing price hikes for a whole lot of Ohioans' health care plans. And on top of all that, I started my life in a foster home. I tell young people, where you start in life doesn't limit your future. Work hard. Believe in yourself and never lose help.
Starting point is 00:36:44 Yeah, thanks, John. Way to use those bootstraps. Except fact check, that is technically accurate. He did start his life in a foster home. And after many hardships and learning the facts of life and making those bootstraps out of his own blood, sweat, and skin, he was adopted at the heartbreaking age of two months old, which is still relevant.
Starting point is 00:37:08 I, you know, I obviously, I agree with him that where you're born, born doesn't make who you are, and you can accomplish anything, and follow your dreams, and all that crap. But a politician saying, I started my life in a foster home, in the context of a political ad, implies that you had to, like, figure it all out on your own and whatnot, had a rough time, shipped around from family to family.
Starting point is 00:37:28 Maybe he has a lot of thoughts about our broken foster care system. But no, you were a little baby. You were an adopted little baby, which great. You know, we obviously support that, and what a wonderful story you have. But it does seem a little intentionally misleading and how you phrased that. That's all I'm saying.
Starting point is 00:37:48 Anyway, again, Sherrod Brown isn't exactly a fuck line or anything. Obama was the fuck line. But you can see why people aren't exactly getting Houston fever here either. Not to mention that Brown has repeatedly voted to protect the ACA and has been a left-wing populist before it was cool. And then there's of course the data center stuff.
Starting point is 00:38:10 It's something that, as I'm stressed, but perhaps not enough, Americans fucking hate. Or rather, most Americans. Because Houston seems to like them enough to give them tax breaks, which an independent report found lost Ohio $1.6 billion in 2024 and 2025. When word got out, Republican Governor Mike DeWine put an indefinite pause on the tax breaks
Starting point is 00:38:33 as Democrats in the state legislature are trying to scale back AI data center incentives. Meanwhile, Houston probably sensing how pissed off, everyone is, is floating some flaccid legislation asking pretty please for data centers to maybe provide their own electricity so that taxpayers don't have to foot the bill if it's not too much trouble. Which sounds like something they should have done before committing to all these useless tech warehouses to begin with. Now I mentioned the legislation's flaccidity, not just so I could say flaccidity, but because it is just a suggestion. The text of the bill literally reads,
Starting point is 00:39:08 The bill requires state utility regulators and non-regulated utilities to consider implementing a standard to hold certain large load customers responsible for the costs associated with any generation transmission or distribution upgrade of electric service necessary to serve such customers. Large loads. Anyway, barely a bill. We did an entire episode on why data centers suck and everyone in the political spectrum hates them, including Ohio. with the exception of a few potatoes in suits. One of them, of course, being Vivek Ramoswamy, the Republican candidate for Ohio governor who absolutely isn't reading the room when it comes to this issue.
Starting point is 00:39:50 We've got AI data centers moving to our state. That's a good thing. It's a good thing. I want the sectors of the future to come here. But that will make a level of demand on our electric grid of a kind that we have not seen in the history of our state coming at exactly the time. And you hear in Jefferson County,
Starting point is 00:40:08 understand this, right at a time when we've also cut off and reduced the supply of base load power generation. Shutting down coal plants that on my watch would have remained open. I'll promise you that. And the few that still remain open aren't going to shut it on my watch. Oh good! Power the Water Gobbling Monoliths with some good old coal! Make America Mordor again!
Starting point is 00:40:26 Vivek is just so incredibly not the guy for this moment? Or any moment. And is almost cartoonishly uninterested in Ohio's future as opposed to his own financial gain. has investments in every damn part of the data center supply chain, chip manufacturing, real estate, and even the tech companies that will operate the facilities. He's pretty much just a wolf trying to sell straw houses to pigs. It is so important for Ohio that he isn't elected. Because if he does get the gig, Vivek would be in charge of all of the jobs and regulation
Starting point is 00:41:00 of those data centers that happened to directly benefit him and the millionaire crypto freaks who donated to his campaign. Since Ramoswamy himself is invested in a finance management company that is also a Bitcoin reserve, it wouldn't be surprising for him to use his powers as governor to divert public funds like state pensions into crypto to boost his private company's shareholder value. He seems pretty motivated to win the election for governor, and maybe that's because his company is facing a half of a billion dollars in unrealized losses if the crypto bubble bursts. Fingers crossed. Anyway, luckily, he sucks, and nobody seems to like it. I mean, it's still too close, but the guy just sucks. He was too unpleasant for Elon Musk.
Starting point is 00:41:44 Pretty sure his own family has to disassociate whenever he tries out a freestyle on them. Meanwhile, his opponent, Amy Acton, is a physician and former director of Ohio's Department of Health. So like, a serious person who cares about people. I don't know. Ohio has shifted more and more red since 2016, my fault for leaving, I guess, which is why this is close. But both Vivek and Egg's opponents are taking advantage
Starting point is 00:42:10 of the opposition's unpopular connection to data centers. So this one is close, but shouldn't be that close, but is close. So that means some rating system, right? We did a rating system. Why don't I ask it out loud actually? Thanks, Mr. Cody, my lover. Wombo gives Brown and Houston and Vavake and Wormoswami
Starting point is 00:42:30 five nipples each. Yes, five Wombo nipples, swollen with the oily nutrients of Wombo's Warm body milk! Eat up, gentlemen. Hmm. Oh, God, that, I want to cry. I really want to cry right now. You know that feeling you have when you're like about to cry?
Starting point is 00:42:51 I feel that all the time around you, Warmbo. Warmbo milk does produce the same chemical irritant as onions, yes. Just go to the next thing, please. Future President Ossoff versus Collins. John Ossoff, folks. He's the incumbent Democrat in Georgia, or Cummy D, as we call them.
Starting point is 00:43:14 He's young and bouncy, formidable it seems. And boy, he's really managed to anger the president. More on that in the moment. The Republican governor, Brian Kemp, despite being seen as the most popular choice for the GOP, doesn't want to take on this CUMMI D. Instead, that honor goes to Mike Collins, who won the Republican primary runoff against Derek Dooley,
Starting point is 00:43:36 which is a real name and not a fake one, like Tommy Tubber. This was in spite of the fact that Dooley was endorsed by many high-profile Georgia Republicans who felt like they needed an outsider to beat Osoff rather than another Trump henchman. But instead, Trump henchman. Also, Mike Collins is under federal investigation for misuse of tax dollars. Specifically, he allegedly paid an intern around $10,000 for no specific reason. And that intern happened to be in a relationship with.
Starting point is 00:44:09 his chief of staff at the time. Also, she wasn't actually an intern and had no official duties, so is that better than if it was an intern? I think that's somehow better that it wasn't like an abusive, I don't know, it's bad. They're all crime guys, is my point. A real coincidence, actually. Oh, also, Collins's son-in-law is a white nationalist. Yeah, there is reporting that Mike Collins son-in-law who reportedly lives on Collins property, participated in white supremacy groups and spread anti-Semitic messages online. Collins sidestepped those questions today and made his own accusations against his Democratic opponent, John Ossoff. You know, we've fully addressed that, but John Ossoff refuses to disavow these Democrat socialist movements in our country.
Starting point is 00:45:00 And when pressed, Collins ended the news conference. Listen, thank you. I appreciate y'all's time. I appreciate your coming out this one. You don't want to talk about you, this son, thank you very much. Oops! So it's a Trump endorsed crime guy with a white nationalist in the fam, versus this plucky little Democrat with an incumbent advantage, which gives Ossoff a lot of ammo and firmly puts the polls in his favor.
Starting point is 00:45:21 It also probably helps that Osoff has been pushing that whole affordability thing, which a lot of Georgians are concerned about. Despite the president claiming it's a hoax. As it stands, gas prices and grocery bills, which is, you might not know this, but it's a lot of, an old-fashioned term, but a beautiful term. It sort of says a bag with different things in it. Anyway, those prices have risen significantly in Georgia,
Starting point is 00:45:45 since, you know, Trump. Meanwhile, Collins is kind of addressing it, except almost all of his solutions, seem to revolve around deregulating construction projects. A real abundance Republican, I guess. He has claimed the solution to grocery prices is unleashing American energy, which I'm not even sure how that fully relates.
Starting point is 00:46:05 Just seems like he's not the guy. Mind you, Ossoff is like, he's fine, he's a moderate, he's one of the 12 Democratic senators to vote for the Lake and Riley Act, boo, but also one of the 17 Dem senators that voted for a resolution to block the sale of some arms to Israel. Cool, somewhat. The Lake and Riley vote is frustrating because it sucks and is bad, but Riley was killed in Ossoff's state, which complicated things for him.
Starting point is 00:46:34 But here he is when recently asked, about that vote. With great respect, I've got to hop into an Intelligence Committee meeting. Quickly, do you regret the vote on Lake and Riley? I appreciate that Lake and Riley was my constituent. Right. And what happened to her should happen to no American, to no person in this world. Agreed.
Starting point is 00:46:54 I think that immigration enforcement should be focused on those who are convicted or charged with serious crimes. Okay, but that's not actually what the Lake and Riley Act does. In fact, kind of opposite. it. As that reporter mentions, while Assoff walks away, the bill actually suspends traditional due process for immigrants accused of crimes, and their mandatory detention doesn't require a criminal conviction or even being charged with something. So kind of a bad answer about that? Just felt like I had to mention it. Might need a better answer in the future. But for now! A lot is at
Starting point is 00:47:28 stake for this one, like all the states we're talking about. Though it does seem like Ossoff has this in the bag. Not to mention, that it's one of those states that comes up every presidential election, it seems. Trump famously tried to bully them into giving him votes that one time, which is all to say that it would be good not to have one of his crime buddies in power there. And of course, it sure seems like Asov wants to be the next Democratic president. And the GOP sure seems scared of him becoming an Obama sequel. Back in 2022, he was the youngest senator elected in over 40 years.
Starting point is 00:48:04 In the country. Before that, he worked on documentaries that did woke stuff like investigating corruption and human rights abuses. And he has used that past to run on the wild idea of holding Trump and the other criminals accountable for their crimes. For example, he helped push the term Epstein class when referring to Trump's little circle of rich guys. And of course, more recently, there was this. The president sleeps through his meetings. He golfs and trades stocks. See, he doesn't want to do the job.
Starting point is 00:48:41 He wants to build his ballroom and travel with Natalie on their apparently defenseless flying palace gifted by the Emir of Qatar. Without context, you might not realize that the part that really pissed off the GOP was the mention of the name, Natalie. He's referring to Natalie Harp, Trump's aide, and currently the most sycophantic apostle in the running to be buried alive in his tomb. It's a weird and sad story with a lot of intrigue that, frankly, Assoff isn't even really touching upon in that quote. He didn't say anything obscene or untrue there. He's referring to when Trump did that whole decoy plane thing where he stuck everyone on a potentially doomed flight while taking a second secret plane, which harp was included on. I guess he knows that's a sore spot for Trump. But wow, the way the GOP and even the press acted like Osaf somehow crossed a line.
Starting point is 00:49:36 It's weird, man. It's almost as if Republicans are really, really scared of Osaf running for president. They often go after people on the other side who they think might try to run for president, bring them down a peg. But in this case, those personal comments really cause them to go after Osaf in a way that I haven't quite seen before. Let me just give you a little taste. They called him a loser, a miserable person who hates the country, and a cringe-worthy,
Starting point is 00:50:05 feminine theater kid, cosplay as Barack Obama. I'm sorry, in a way you haven't quite seen before, really. Google the president. In fact, Google the president before the current and the previous president. Anyway, very stupid and silly. As you can see, they're trying to do the whole soy boy routine
Starting point is 00:50:27 they are also doing with James Talariko. It's as if, perhaps, the GOP and MAGA have nothing to actually hold over these guys or offer voters and are looking extremely sweaty and stale. All Assoff had to do was say a single name and it set them off into this red-faced name calling like some kind of wrestling heel, which in turn made everyone realize there might actually be something to the Natalie Harp story considering how they reacted to it. So yeah, I don't know. Seems like Osaf is going to be around for a while considering how much the GOP has successfully propped him up and how how
Starting point is 00:51:05 he's ostensibly just seemingly normal and vaguely handsome. How badly he was able to trigger Trump. And I guess it's good that the young guy who has infuriated the GOP and perhaps isn't afraid to lock him up is also being talked about for 2028. Obviously there are problems with the guy. He's one of those politicians everyone's going on about. But I guess technically we could do worse. John Ossoff, we could do worse.
Starting point is 00:51:33 Comey D for P. Maybe not that. But I mean, who else? Gavin? You want to be forced to vote for Gavin folks? AOC, obviously, if she decides to run. I don't know. A lot of this feels like doing triage where we'd just be happy not to have a guy dressed as a clown throwing razor blades at kids.
Starting point is 00:51:50 Someone who could at least pretend to want accountability is neat, right? But maybe, considering it's two years out and we haven't even finished this election, it's still too far off to really think about who is going to be the Democratic presidential frontrunner. Wompo. I didn't hear that. No one respond to that. Wombo! Not Wormpo.
Starting point is 00:52:13 We're not doing that. We're not doing that. Listen, let's go to our second ad break and then talk more about midterms, which are exciting, as I've already pointed out. What? You've made your bed. Now lying it. But in a good way, not in the bad way that the maximum flies. Anyway, quince.
Starting point is 00:52:37 Once the nights start getting a little cooler, eventually. I mean, eventually it's bound to happen, right? Well, once that happens, there's nothing better than having a comfortable new set of sheets to just slide right into. And Quince makes hotel quality bedding using the best possible natural materials designed for lasting comfort. They're 100% European linen. Um, yeah, it's woven from premium flax. And they've got the most breathable cotton bedding I've ever slept in. I am not exaggerating when I say I am obsessed with my bedding.
Starting point is 00:53:16 I love it. Quince can help you build a bed of your dreams, from sheets to duvet inserts to quints. You know what they say? What's good for the goose is good for the gander. An idiom that applies here, if you replace some of the words in there with other words. And Quince works directly with ethical factors. No middlemen. So their prices are 50 to 80% less than similar brands.
Starting point is 00:53:45 It's like the old adage. Oh, yes. A penny saved is a penny earned. That one works perfectly. Make your bed your favorite place to be this season with Quince. Download the Quince app for app exclusive offers or go to quince. dot com. Get free shipping on your order and 365 day returns, now available in Canada and the UK too. And when Quince asks you, where you heard about them, let them know with some more news,
Starting point is 00:54:20 please. It's the best way to support the show. Put your money where your mouth is. Kind of. That one kind of works. You know, I'm so glad we hired Amelie to write these. She's really got away with words. Thanks, Amelie. Hey, how are you? Howdy? SUP. We think it's time to mix it up. We're done with all those other bits, and so just time to play the hits. Like Wayne's World, X-Files, School of Rock, great content that they have in stock.
Starting point is 00:54:53 Pluto TV is who I mean. A website on which I'm kind of keen. For streaming movies, TV2. Thousands of titles just for you. Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, for example. The laughs and cries, I promise, are ample. Movies so funny, you'll soil your undies, like Anchorman, the legend of Ron Burgundy.
Starting point is 00:55:14 The options are endless, I think you will find, and now the only thing left assigned is to say the tagline with a simple rhyme, but not that one, shoot, running out of time. Oh, I know, shucks, aren't I clever? Pluto TV, stream now, pay never. Okay, just a few. Bonnie Buntcake.
Starting point is 00:55:35 Tiramisu and Sarandon, Crembril Leonardo DiCaprio. All right, get out of here. Buying? I like buying. Who doesn't? I like stuff, things, knickknacks, whatcha mccallets, and such and such? What about selling? Yeah, I like selling. I don't even need the Glengarry leads. I'm always closing. mainly, like in the movie. What I'm referring to, folks, is whatnot, the largest dedicated live shopping platform where you can buy and sell in a number of hot categories
Starting point is 00:56:16 like electronics, beauty, even cookies. Especially cookies. I got a genuinely great deal on a hand-crafted figurine of obscure Batman villain, Dr. Noface. Look it up. Minutes after selling some truly, Holy scrumptious batches of Admiral Katie's homemade sun-kissed snickerdoodles patent pending. The point is, anyone can sell, whether your business is big, small, or some other size, not covered by those two terms.
Starting point is 00:56:48 Sellers on whatnot have the ability to go live, show off products, and engage with potential buyers in real time. It's just like the open street marketplace of yore, with fewer Aladdin and or Raiders of Lost Ark scenarios. unfolding. So, what you should do is search what not. W.H. A.T. N-O-T. In the App Store, download, and you can start selling right away. Go ahead, go ahead and do it. There's no code. By which I mean, you can probably buy Pearl Jam's underappreciated fourth album. No code on there. Probably. Fine, you're the president. President Warmbo. I think my brain is actually vibrating. I'm dizzy. Yes, that's a common side of. effect of the milk as well.
Starting point is 00:57:42 Wait. Have I drank your milk? Have I drank your fucking milk, Wormbo? Let's go back to the map. That's why my coffee tastes it like salt and fish, isn't it? Oh, oh, God, why did I drink it? Oh, I drank all of it. Oh, I want to throw up so bad.
Starting point is 00:58:00 Oh, I want to throw up so bad. Peltola versus Sullivan versus Sullivan. I can feel it worming in my blood. Worms in blood. We gotta, we gotta get through this so I can... Go to the hospital. So Alaska, you know it, out there next to Hawaii. We don't really think about it much, you know,
Starting point is 00:58:30 except when we fantasize about running away there. Getting a cabin, traveling by dog sled. Never to be seen again. Wombo was first discovered in Alaska. Anyway, this feels like a long shot, assuming you're rooting for the Dems, and assuming you watched this in the past, because as we were updating this,
Starting point is 00:58:54 it's looking more like a regular shot, actually. We got former U.S. Representative Mary Peltola trying to scoge out incumbent Republican Dan Sullivan for his Senate seat. And since there hasn't been a Democratic senator in Alaska since 2015, it sounds like a big ask with a capital A and K. And let's capitalize the S too. It looks weird otherwise.
Starting point is 00:59:15 Okay, as I said, Peltola does have a shot. Thanks in part to our very disliked president, whose approval rating has gone way down in the state. And so Democrats are banking on Peltola's familiarity with the voter base combined with the incumbent's unpopular allegiance to our scumbag president. Specifically, Dan Sullivan, ties to Trump's unpopular Medicaid cuts have done a lot of campaign work in favor of
Starting point is 00:59:42 Peltola, as Trump's big, beautiful bill, bigly bundle-fucked Alaska. Because not only did their health care subsidies expire, but expenses have gone up overall on top of Alaska having a higher cost of living than most other states. See, Alaska, it's just, it's a bit different, you know, it's quirky. It's not like other states. If you recall, they even carved out some exemptions for, for the state in that aforementioned big beautiful bill. It's called a petro state, which is what it sounds like.
Starting point is 01:00:14 Their entire economy runs on oil, which, as you can imagine, has made Alaskans very protective of the industry, as much as they were even six years ago during the peak of COVID. So Alaskans are cold, have higher bills, cold, are getting less money, and cold. Also cold. True, I forgot to mention cold. Peltola, who, if elected, would be the first Alaska
Starting point is 01:00:37 Native and Native American woman in the Senate is focusing her campaign almost entirely on affordability as a result Some of her affordability ideas or AI as I like to call them. No one else uses that term include eliminating federal income taxes for Alaskans earning less than $92,000 per year subsidized air cargo service for smaller communities and renewing tax credits for renters Child care facilities and children in general. Unlike other Democrats in the other races, is Peltola is primarily staying away from Trump talk because she's kind of a conservative, or rather, Alaska is kind of conservative. And Peltola has managed to get a lot of Republican votes in the past.
Starting point is 01:01:17 For one, there's the slurs. Unclear if that hurt or helped at this point, but everyone quickly moved on from it, I guess. And again, it's a state that relies on oil. So naturally, she is more friendly to big oil and big gas, albeit while fighting back against Republicans removing entire environmental protections. She's also the last Democrat to get an NRA endorsement, which again, makes sense it's Alaska. Have you seen the bears up there?
Starting point is 01:01:46 It's kind of hard not to have a gun in parts of that state. The point is that Alaska can be a hard place in which to be a typical progressive. Still, Peltola is doing better than her opponent, Dan Sullivan. Not that guy though? It's this guy? There were, no joke, Two Republicans both named Dan Sullivan running at one point.
Starting point is 01:02:10 And I'm not sure what to do with that information. Are there a lot of Dan Sullivan's up there? Alaskans, sound off in the comments about if there are lots of Dan Sullivan's in the state. If that's like a popular stereotype there. Sadly, Alaska's division of elections kicked the non-current senator out of the race. Republicans blamed the situation on Democrat meddling to confuse voters, which would be a genuinely funny strategy. Except also breaking news from weeks ago!
Starting point is 01:02:42 The courts ended up overturning the division of elections decision, and now Dan Sullivan is back in the race. Turns out, you can't just stop a person from running because of their name, even if they might be trolling, but probably not because I'm now getting word from the comments that there's like millions of Dan Sullivan's up there, even though there are only like 737,000 people up there. Also, Alaska uses ranked,
Starting point is 01:03:05 choice voting. So there's a chance this would actually be bad for Democrats if people just put both Dan Sullivan's in the top slots because they don't know which Dan Sullivan they support more than the other Dan Sullivan. If you're living in the state and trying to figure out which Dan Sullivan to vote for, keep in mind that Dan Sullivan was recently endorsed by former Anchorage Mayor Dan Sullivan over Dan Sullivan. So check to see if you want to vote for the Dan Sullivan that Dan Sullivan supports or the Dan Sullivan that Dan Sullivan did not support. Unless another Dan Sullivan endorses the Dan Sullivan that Dan Sullivan didn't endorse, in which case you need to check which Dan Sullivan endorsed which Dan Sullivan in order to figure
Starting point is 01:03:46 out which Dan Sullivan you want to vote for. This is all to say that A Dan Sullivan will likely win this one. Is what we wrote originally. But like I said, polls are now leaning towards Peltola, and it would be neat if they flip the state, even if that wouldn't be an enormous, ideologous. change for the state itself. But again, I don't know, seems complicated up there, but with all the Dan Sullivan's and such,
Starting point is 01:04:13 maybe I'll be more plugged in once I escape there and change my name and try to find and then destroy wherever Warmbo came from. I wonder what name to pick. Electric Brian. Platiner versus Collins, the main event. He dropped out, like a long time ago, like a really long time ago, this point? Why? Ugh. Good. Jackson versus Collins, the main event. A new guy.
Starting point is 01:04:46 Who's Jackson? He's probably fine. Also, fuck Grant Platner, obviously. But we should still talk about what happened because this was a bit of a mini test for progressives, and also Maine is a bit of a microcosm of everything going wrong with the Democratic Party. The state has had a pretty large push toward the GOP even in liberal areas on account of Democrats being seen as out of touch with the working class Meanwhile Republican incumbent Susan Collins has been a staple in main politics since the early 1990s She's very establishment very embedded and knows how to raise money Boy does she and so naturally she's running for a sixth term She also seems really beatable you know especially with that
Starting point is 01:05:32 recent scandal where she took money from a defense contractor in exchange for favors. Real scum politician shit that we're all sick of, right? She's kind of everything people are exhausted about. She's a conservative moderate who takes bribes and who has repeatedly embarrassed herself with her devotion to the status quo and denial of the extremism looming over the country. If you recall, she was the one who insisted that Brett Kavanaugh wasn't going to help the GOP get rid of Roe v. Wade, which, um, How did that go, Susan?
Starting point is 01:06:04 Oh, you say you were misled by Kavanaugh. Like he lied to you? Oh, not a lie. Just misled you? What about all the people screaming at you for being a dupe? Maybe you shouldn't have this job anymore. This should be easy. She appears to be losing her popularity as I speak.
Starting point is 01:06:21 And then came Graham Platner. And he was so rugged, you guys. A real working-class hero. A real, uh, fetterman type. No red flags there. not his seeming bloodthirsty love of violence and war, certainly. And he was hated by the right people, specifically the establishment dems that Maine had moved away from.
Starting point is 01:06:43 Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer even recruited former Maine attorney general and current governor of Maine and establishment blah blah blah blah blah Democrat Janet Mills to primary against Platner. Which did not work out. Plattenor, it seemed, was saying all the right things. He supported packing the Supreme Court and ending the third. filibuster and banning stock trading for Congress and Medicare for all.
Starting point is 01:07:05 He referred to the US's current relationship with Israel as shameful in response to attacks on Gaza. Platner became the bearded poster boy for progressive politics and held a lead in the polls over Collins. Did he also have a Nazi tattoo? Well, okay, maybe, you know, maybe, but he covered the tattoo up after the public found out about it. Not a great look for him, literally and figure. But Medicare for all guys! Maybe we can just hold our noses just a little bit and push forward with this maybe weird Nazi guy?
Starting point is 01:07:41 I don't know. It feels not right to say. And then it got worse. And the allegations come from a 41-year-old woman who now says, on the record, she dated Platner five years ago, telling Politico that Platner forced her to have sex with him despite repeated objections. All right. Well, bye. Maybe go to jail for that rape.
Starting point is 01:07:59 Anyway, Troy Jackson, the guy actually now running is a logger and former state senator who has a similar platform to Platiners regarding lifting up the working class and promoting progressive ideas like Medicare for all, abolishing and dismantling ice and ending the genocide in Gaza. A slight cousin fucker? Second cousin fucker though. Not like he's the second cousin fucker in the race, although who knows? I mean it's his second cousin. That he's fucking. I don't know better than the Nazi tattooed rapist who like doesn't have experience with government or policy or anything like that.
Starting point is 01:08:33 And Jackson is still tying or even leading in recent polls over Collins. Even as a substitute, cousin fucker. Bit of a mess in Maine, starting to see why Stephen King sets everything there. But the Platner stuff felt very related to the larger conversation about what direction the Democratic Party needs to be going in. People weren't supporting Platner because of his facial hair or his tattoo or abhorrent behavior. The people of Maine supported him in spite of that because of the things he was saying. As I said, at the start of this, the big narrative around the midterms, no matter what,
Starting point is 01:09:09 is going to be how viable progressive ideas are versus MAGA ones. The two extreme sides that are totally equally extreme and equally bad, of course. And so far, the story has been that while MAGA is puttering to a halt, the dreaded far left is having their time to shine. In theory, we'll see. see. And with Platner, this conversation was folded into a second debate about whether or not the left need their own Trump, a populist that we perhaps forgive the crime shit about, as if it was inevitable that a progressive Trump would have to suck the same way Trump sucks. And that Dems and
Starting point is 01:09:48 progressives would have to compromise with their morals, do that triage I mentioned. And for a second, everyone got a bit nervous, that was coming true. People were trying to sort of bargain around the really big red flags this progressive candidate was putting up. But they thankfully just booted him. Because no, people don't have to compromise to believe in progressive ideals, like giving everyone health care and not doing genocides and getting to nail your hot cousin.
Starting point is 01:10:16 Second cousin! Point is, it's a good thing he dropped out. And maybe the fact that voters were willing to overlook those Look those red flags for so long illustrates that his message was effective. Maybe look into that. I don't know, something to think about. Perhaps, hear me out. But perhaps the whole not doing much of anything isn't really working out for the Democrats lately.
Starting point is 01:10:42 And perhaps they need to take some big swings and not try to constantly play it safe in a country where everyone is desperate for something to change. Which brings us to the final two races we need to talk about. Starting with Abdul El-Syed versus Mike Rogers, because everything always has to be about Michigan for some reason. Fuck in Michigan, stop making it all about you, Mish. Anyway, the big thing that's rattled the Democrats
Starting point is 01:11:10 is the primary victory of Abdul-El-Sayed. He's a progressive-leaning, terrifying son of an immigrant who terrifyingly grew up around Detroit and spine-tinglingly studied medicine. Needless to say, the Democrats did not expect him to win the primary against Haley Stevens, who had the full-throated donkey support, including over $60 million in outside advertising spending, over half of which came from a super PAC, courtesy of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee.
Starting point is 01:11:39 Yeah! It's like the Democrats have to be dragged, kicking, and screaming toward popularity now, because El-Sayed did that whole, uh, go around and just talk to people thing, where he just, He just went around talking to people. A lot of volunteers actually reaching out to people and just talking. Sounds woke, honestly. Anyway, it wasn't a hard sell. Stevens was painted as being in the pocket of corporations and outside interests
Starting point is 01:12:05 because that's kind of what she was. Here she is literally saying that Israel comes to her in her dreams. I will continue to fight for the people of Israel. I will continue to fight for Israel's existence. Israel comes to me in my dreams. I see Israel's future and I know that Israel will continue to exist for the Jewish people. Happens to me too if I take too much NyQuil. And look, politicians say weird stuff and not everything is about Israel and A-PAC and all that.
Starting point is 01:12:38 And Stevens has supported El-Sayed after he won. But that was a weird thing to say. Like, like a really weird thing to say. Also, it kind of was a hard sell. to be F and B, because in the end, El-Said won the primary by only about 10 to 15,000 votes. But he did win. And maybe that's because he had focused on all that progressive stuff like Medicare for all and ending military aid to Israel and so on and so forth,
Starting point is 01:13:05 and campaign finance reform and what have you. The stuff that seems to be resonating with people lately. He's now going against Mike Rogers, who, unlike El-Said, has been around for a while in the House and often identified as a moderate Republican. but seems more like a regular Republican in that he's a coward who just goes along with whatever's popular. He's gotten pretty Trumpy over the years and more recently tried to do the whole rigged election thing
Starting point is 01:13:32 for his 2024 Senate loss. And so with his fellow Republicans and maybe even centrist Democrats, oh my, he's gonna do that whole racist thing too. You know, by calling El-Said a terrorist because it's just racism. He's from Detroit. His dad is from Egypt, but I guess since he's Muslim, they are now literally calling him a terrorist.
Starting point is 01:13:56 It's embarrassing to even talk about. It's embarrassing that for more than a month, everyone made El-Sayed's campaign about a fucking streamer, demanding this doctor from Detroit condemn everything that streamer has ever said, lest he be revealed to be secretly a terrorist? Because that's what you think. Otherwise, you wouldn't be demanding that he condemned those statements. Unless you thought maybe he agreed with them. Anyway, it was a clear project to tie the scary Muslim socialist who isn't even a DSA member to scary Muslims and socialists and function as a proxy for the larger progressive moderate battle.
Starting point is 01:14:35 Mind you, the racism would have happened no matter what because right after El-Sayed's primary win, Nancy Mace exed out quote, every single Muslim holding public office in America is a Trojan horse and a threat to both national security and our republic. We're tie it to the Odyssey, Macy, our right, Nanceau. And of course, they're just, they're just calling him anti-Semitic. Mike Rogers and the fucking president has said, without any evidence that he hates Jewish people.
Starting point is 01:15:06 And the polls were wrong again last night when they thought it would be a landslide victory for a hater of Jews and a hater of Israel. This guy hates Jews. Somebody said, oh, that's a little strong. No, he hates Jews. and he hates Israel. Abdul El-Sayed.
Starting point is 01:15:24 Can you believe this? I'm just really sick of that man. 10 years of that man, 10, you took a decade, dawn. How are Republicans still dealing with this? Are we not all sick of it? Do they really still enjoy this man? I don't know. Seems like El-Sayyad is gonna have to deal
Starting point is 01:15:41 with this bullshit for a while. That said, there hasn't been a Republican senator for Michigan since 2001, so he'll probably be fine. Hopefully he'll be fine. I don't know, I'm not psychic. Back off. But you know, people have to be sick of this, right? It's not working.
Starting point is 01:15:57 Trump isn't working. And the GOP has so little to offer right now besides racism and culture war gibberish, calling their opponent soy boy or whatever. Here's Ted's stupid Cruz just calling El Cyan short. Are you like particularly tall, Ted? No? Okay. And it seems like if the establishment Democrats
Starting point is 01:16:18 aren't going to try, these progressive candidates are swooping in no matter what. As I said, there's this overall internal struggle of like doing triage versus actually making change. The Dems seem like they want to go for what they think are the easy wins. Play it safe, cast the widest net, etc. Which, yes, winning is important. But in a lot of these cases, I'd argue that what they see as easy wins are actually the long shots because they are so horribly unbold. Plenty bold, you might say. If anything, in this extremely anti-Trump environment, it's the perfect time to be bold. Ride the blue wave to greater heights. Don't just hang out in the tide pool. When people are so fucking tired of this meek
Starting point is 01:17:06 establishment death march, perhaps the safe bet is to actually give a shit and believe in something, right? Case in point, Florida of all places. I'm not across. Angie Nixon, better Nixon. Kind of weird to feel good about the words Nixon and Florida, but that's what happens when you're living in the bizarro timeline. If you aren't aware, Angie Nixon is a member of the Florida House who won the Democratic Florida Senate primary, despite being a socialist. A socialist!
Starting point is 01:17:36 Hoh ha ha ha ha ha ha! Diabolical indeed! Although when asked about it, she says she's not literally a socialist, but rather join the Democratic Socialists of America because she agrees with, and admires their fight for housing and healthcare and a bunch of other things that are good to fight for. But that didn't stop the stupid vice president from stupidly and evilly saying she doesn't belong in this country. Well, ladies and gentlemen, when Angie Nixon calls herself a socialist, I think the right response is to say, then get the hell out of here. You don't belong in America if those are your views.
Starting point is 01:18:11 Fuck you, you dumb piece of shit. It's interesting because unlike El-Sayed, Nixon won by a whole whole lot. The polysyte term is a butt ton, I believe. Specifically, she got 56% of the vote. And what's even more is that she wasn't running against some nobody, but rather Colonel Alex Vindman. You know, he was the key witness to that whole Trump quid pro quo scandal. Not that one, or all the other ones. The first one with Ukraine. Apparently, Vindman went on to use those headlines to do some politicking, very clearly establishing himself as the safe and mainstream Democratic candidate considering what he represents.
Starting point is 01:18:48 And despite all that, Nixon swatted his ass away in the primaries, all thanks to a secret little technique called believing in stuff. See, Vindman and other Democrats were extremely confident he would win, to the point that his team actually ignored the primaries and was already focusing their spending on the general election. And of course, that spending was way more than Nixon
Starting point is 01:19:11 who barely raised a million dollars compared to the 16.3 million that Vindman had raised. Knowing she was outspent clearly motivated her to actually Talk to people and crap Nixon focused a lot of her campaign on that thing that people care about the theme of our episode also known as Affordability she talked a lot about rent free free child care raising the minimum wage commie shit evil socialist schemes like Medicare for all which wouldn't you know it actually resonated with the voters in Florida Now having won the primary, Nixon is running against... Who cares? Her name is Ashley Moody and she's been weirdly low profile compared to Nixon, whose biggest strength is that she just acts like a regular person.
Starting point is 01:19:58 And you can really see this when you just put them back to back. Angie Nixon, who will be my opponent in November and her comrades want to destroy this country and everything that it is built on. Some strong words there, how do you respond? You know, when people's voice start getting squeaky and really high pitch, usually they're lying. And Ashley Moody knows that I'm not a socialist. I joined the DSA because I believe in them in regards to fighting for adequate public housing as well as fighting for quality health care, as well as making sure that we are getting our veterans off the street, taking big money out of politics, right? See what I mean?
Starting point is 01:20:44 Ludi is using the very exhausting GOP tactic of saying that everyone hates America, which I guess is working, sadly, because out of all the races we've covered, this is the longest shot. Which is why it's important to care about and maybe have a silly little glimmer of hope about. Why did we spend so much time on the sure things? Nixon is currently trailing by an average of seven points, despite not being a fucking alien, which is a big task for Democrats lately. She's not flinching or trying to water down what she believes in. There are many clips of her out there that we can't show all of, but she's awesome.
Starting point is 01:21:21 She off-the-cuff defends teaching the history of controversial civil rights figures. She talks about the Black Panthers Free Breakfast Program without equivocating or hedging. She's vulnerable about her own personal struggles as a single mom. She's a real person who knows what she believes and isn't afraid to stand by those beliefs. Even about boring politics stuff, she's been She's been a very vocal activist against stuff like gerrymandering. And by vocal, I mean she literally used a bright pink megaphone in the middle of the state capital while they voted on a new congressional map.
Starting point is 01:21:53 Representative Persons Mullica has wave closed. The question now recurs on final passage of HB1D. The cloak will unlock the machine and the members will proceed to vote. Have all members voted? Have all members voted? She really likes the color pink. A real pinko! And is now branding her campaigner
Starting point is 01:22:12 around it. I don't know. Like everyone in this video, I'm sure she has her faults and I'm not like endorsing her or whatever. We're fair and balanced and nonpartisan here and we consider both sides and we do not endorse. But if I had to endorse anyone mentioned so far, it would be Angie Nixon and Florida. We're taking Florida folks. We're taking it all this year. Nixon is a clear indicator of what voters are looking for from Democrats, specifically, people who actually give shit about things and are clear about those things and in fact are proud of those things who wear their beliefs as brightly as a pink megaphone and who just talk like a human being about the actual problems. Of course people respond to that. It's weird to have to point
Starting point is 01:23:02 that out. El-Sayed and Nixon are both betting on younger and newer voters to get the win, which seems like maybe a good bet. After all, MAGA isn't the high. new thing anymore. No one's talking about the dapper young alt-right or the cool kids philosopher. Remember how frustrating that was? That feeling like the media would just glom on to whatever's new seeming even if that thing was toxic and not at all new. But at least right now, that new cool thing is squarely on the progressives and America being the contrarian that it is will likely hopefully maybe gobble it up. It's okay to have that hope, even if it's cynical,
Starting point is 01:23:45 because wilder things have happened, as we all know. As we all know. So I guess, uh, remember to vote, obviously, remember to vote. Even if we didn't talk about your state, obviously, the most important election is the one near you. Also, sorry, there are just, there are too many elections. There are too many states, but if you live in Iowa, Kansas, South Carolina, you got this. We're winning all the states this year. That's my promise. Don't hold me to that.
Starting point is 01:24:18 But counterpoint, even if the midterms don't go completely perfectly and we don't win every state, even though we totally will, but don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, it. It really just seems like people are gravitating towards the right direction, even if that general direction is just away from that awful guy everyone hates. All of these states have wildly different priorities. Remember Alaska after all. So it's hard to judge everything on this national level.
Starting point is 01:24:46 But ultimately, I think most voters just want candidates who have like good ideas and and and and maybe maybe give a shit. Like even nominally presenting as being genuine. So it's good. This is good. We're good. We're happy. The midterms will probably go okay.
Starting point is 01:25:10 Okay, in fact, we're winning all the states, but maybe not. Okay, maybe, maybe we'll all but one. That's, that's the ticket. Unless he cancels the elections, right? Unless he cancels them. I forgot he could just cancel the, or he can't just do that, but he might try to. So, but we're, we're happy. We're happy people.
Starting point is 01:25:44 Are we done? Should... Should Wombo just... Go? I mean, yeah, I guess. Are we still on for Saturday? What? Oh, right.
Starting point is 01:25:57 Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay. Well, I'll lock up on the way out. We've seen that movie Verity on Saturday. Should be fun. And sexy. We're having a lot of fun. And sexy.
Starting point is 01:26:14 All this. States, but especially Florida. I promise. You know what? I pinky promise. I super duper, motherfucking promise. Taking Florida. Thanks for watching everybody.
Starting point is 01:26:48 Make sure to like and subscribe and vote. Do that please. Leave a comment that says you're gonna vote. You don't have to say who for, but if you live in Florida, My promise. We got a podcast called Even More News. You can check it out on this channel twice a week or at the podcast place. You can also listen to this as a podcast if you prefer.
Starting point is 01:27:14 We've got a patreon.com slash some more news. We've got some merch with so many things on it. The guy who is also here, the disgusting, the disgusting monster that we've decided, like, lives inside me or whatever. Well, he's on merch. So go get it before it gets you

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