Continued attacks against elderly voters, refunding donors from 2022, and weak fundraising hauls
Welcome to another week of Transplant Turmoil—the weekly series spotlighting the ways Republican carpetbaggers continue to prove themselves as out-of-touch with the state they’re running in.
What the GOP’s out-of-touch candidates have been up to:
#WISen: California Bank Owner Eric Hovde Doubles Down on Attacks on Nursing Home Voting Rights
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After being slammed for questioning whether or not people in nursing homes should be allowed to vote, Hovde doubled down on his stance. On a far-right talk show, the California bank owner baselessly claimed, “A large percentage of those people [in nursing homes] are not in the mental capacity to do that.” These comments follow his previous attacks on students, young voters, single mothers, and Black women. Even former Milwaukee Bucks MVP Kareem Abdul-Jabbar slammed Hovde’s statements, “Other than the basic lack of humanity, Hovde shows a basic lack of critical thinking skills.”
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Hovde then released a strange, rambling video where he tried to backpedal and cover up his previous statements. But he’s definitely not mad that his extremism has been exposed, so please don’t put in the newspapers that he got mad.
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A new report revealed that a real estate company run by Hovde exposed three employees to a hazardous chemical. OSHA fined Hovde after finding his company “failed to provide appropriate personal protective equipment for employees, failed to track and distribute safety data for contractors, and failed to educate on-site employees about potential hazardous chemicals that might pose a threat.”
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This week, the California bank owner announced he raised $9.1 million in the first quarter of the year, which sounds impressive…until you realize $8 million came from his own checkbook. And while he can inflate his own fundraising numbers with the stroke of a pen, Senator Baldwin raised over $5 million in the first quarter, with donations from all 72 counties in Wisconsin.
#MTSen: Wannabe Cowboy Millionaire Tim Sheehy Wants to Sell Public Land
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In a state with over 6 million acres of public land, it would seem obvious that protecting it would be of utmost importance. But that’s not the case for Sheehy—the wannabe cowboy called for transferring public lands to states and counties, which would make it easier to sell the lands to out-of-state millionaires…exactly like him. If he has any questions on how Montanans feel about it—he can just look at Matt Rosendale’s failed 2018 Senate campaign, when he ran on the same platform.
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After the bombshell revelation that Sheehy was lying about getting shot in the arm during combat, there were still unanswered questions. But this week, new documents reveal that a park visitor did, in fact, call in an accidental gun discharge in Logan Pass—an accidental gun discharge that Sheehy claims to never have happened. Sheehy refuses to release his medical records—which could easily clear him, if he was telling the truth (for once). If he spends this much time trying to cover up a lie, how can Montanans trust him in office?
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And that’s not the only thing Sheehy has lied about. Throughout his campaign, he’s touted growing up in “rural Minnesota” but it turns out he actually grew up in the suburbs of Twin Cities. His family lived in a multi-million dollar lake house while he attended one of the Twin Cities’ elite private high schools—a far cry from the upbringing he’s repeatedly alluded to.
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The difference between Sheehy and Senator Jon Tester couldn’t be more clear in their fundraising. Senator Tester raised more than $8 million in the first quarter, with 96% of the donations under $100. Sheehy, on the other hand, raised just over $3 million, with about 16% of the funds coming from his own pockets.
#PASen: Connecticut Hedge Fund Millionaire David McCormick Using 2024 Donations to Repay 2022 Donors
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With new FEC filings, it’s been revealed that McCormick’s fundraising is not just going towards his 2024 campaign, but for his failed 2022 run as well. The new reporting shows that he is beginning to repay 2022 donors with current funds. Considering his millionaire status, it’s baffling that McCormick managed to overspend his donors’ money and is just now working on repaying them—but still has over $300,000 in debt with a Republican consulting firm. He’s clearly happy to be fast and loose with other’s money—so long as it doesn’t hurt his own pocketbook.
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This week, Trump endorsed McCormick—despite attacking his campaign last cycle and contributing to his loss in the primary. In 2022, Trump declared him as “not MAGA” and took shots at McCormick’s hedge fund. Trump went on to say that McCormick “managed money for communist China” and called him “the candidate of special interests and globalists and the Washington establishment.”
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Despite receiving the endorsement, McCormick did not actually attend the rally. He was—to no one’s surprise—in his actual home state of Connecticut.
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Next week, McCormick will be joining Pennsylvania’s lead fake elector, BiIl Bachenberg, for an exclusive fundraising roundtable. Following the 2020 presidential election, Bachenberg was in direct contact with Trump and his team and funded a $1 million line of credit to investigate the absurd conspiracy theory that the election was stolen by breaching voting machines.
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Senator Bob Casey continues to dominate over McCormick in fundraising—even after the millionaire doled out a personal loan of over $900,000 to his campaign. After raising $5.7 million in the first quarter, Senator Casey has $11.9 million in the bank—almost double the amount McCormick is sitting on.
#NVSen: Scam Brown Worried about Tax Cuts for the Rich, Not Nevadans
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While working families are seeing smaller refunds—if any at all—Scam Brown is more concerned with protecting his corporate special interest donors and the wealthy elite. Two days after Tax Day, Brown stressed the importance of getting control of the House and Senate to ensure the Trump tax cuts—which give kickbacks to corporations and the rich—don’t expire. It’s clear where his priorities lie.
#MISen: Florida-Man Mike Rogers Retracts Endorsement from Big Lie Conspiracy Theorist
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This week, Rogers touted an endorsement from Kash Patel, a former member of the Trump administration, who threatened Americans and vowed to target those he called “conspirators” among journalists and government. Rogers—former chair of the United States House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence—quickly realized that he probably shouldn’t be advertising the endorsement and deleted the tweet. But not before screenshots of him calling Patel a “true patriot” were taken and uploaded to the site.
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It’s clear that Michiganers are ready to send Rogers packing back to Florida. Compared to Congresswoman Elissa Slotkin, who raised an impressive $4.4 million haul in the first quarter, Rogers pales in comparison by raising just over $1 million. His super PAC isn’t doing much better either—99% of their total intake for the first quarter came from one donation from a hedge fund billionaire.
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