As midterm races gear up for the November elections, the “Ruthless Podcast” discussed the latest financial allegations against prominent Democratic candidates in two marquee contests that the hosts said the mainstream media have neglected to cover.
“It’s just a couple of stories about states that you might not live or vote in, but you need to understand the kind of people Democrats are putting forward to represent their party,” podcast co-host John Ashbrook said of two stories.
Ashbrook’s comments followed reporting from the Washington Free Beacon that Troy Jackson, the Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate in Maine, co-sponsored a 2024 bill that called for $13.4 million in additional funding for Maine Maritime Academy while his son, Chace Jackson, served as the school’s legislative designee. Jackson had also backed a 2023 state budget that provided the academy with an additional $2 million per year.
“[These stories] are indicative of this larger thing that we’ve talked about, which is Democrats get into government so they can steer funds to their preferred parties,” podcast co-host Josh Holmes said. “Sometimes they benefit directly, as they do here, and sometimes they have preferential constituencies that they then pay to vote for them to stay in office, like Minnesota.”
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Jackson will face Republican Sen. Susan Collins in a high-profile U.S. Senate race. The former president of the Maine Senate replaced Graham Platner as the party’s nominee in July after Platner withdrew following a sexual assault allegation, which he denied.
Across the country, the Free Beacon previously reported that while state assemblymember, Rep. Adam Gray, D-Calif., helped advance gas tax legislation that directed funds to his cousin’s newly established construction company.
“This vote made the state of California have the highest gas tax in the nation,” Ashbrook said of the importance of this particular legislative measure. “So everybody’s paying for it. That is unbelievable.”
Gray, who is running for re-election in a battleground seat in the Golden State, is also a part-owner of Marvulli Inc., according to his financial disclosures.
“So they owned the land on both sides of the road that he approved,” podcast co-host Josh Holmes said of the arrangement Marvulli Inc. secured to build the company’s first hotel and gas station projects as part of this government contract. “I mean, there were multiple [instances] early in the 2000s [that ended] historic congressional careers and [ushered] in the ban on congressional earmarks for precisely this issue.”
Fellow co-host Comfortably Smug also highlighted how these actions were far worse than any congressional earmark of the previous era.
“That’s the thing is, for so long, the whole thing was like, oh, you’re trying to pass this kind of like pork barrel legislation to benefit like a donor in your district who then you’re hoping cuts you a $5,000 check,” Smug said. “This guy’s like, no, no. Just give me $500,000.”
Gray faces former Stockton Mayor Kevin Lincoln II in the general election.
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“Ruthless,” which typically publishes new episodes Tuesday, Thursday and Friday mornings, added an extra Wednesday recording during election season.
The podcast has covered the midterms in depth over the past year. The hosts have interviewed candidates in 19 states as part of the Ruthless Midterm Interview Series, with more scheduled ahead of the November midterms.
