Election Integrity Pledge Amid GOP Drama and PSC Warnings

This pod­cast episode, aired on Octo­ber 13, 2025—the same day ear­ly vot­ing begins in Georgia—centers on the host’s live reac­tion to for­mer state Rep. Ver­non Jones’ sur­prise cam­paign announce­ment for Geor­gia Sec­re­tary of State. The episode opens with Jones’ announce­ment video, where the long­time Trump ally and par­ty-switch­er (from Demo­c­rat to Repub­li­can in 2021) vows to “pro­tect your vote” by secur­ing paper bal­lots, enforc­ing strong vot­er ID laws, lim­it­ing mail-in vot­ing, and restor­ing trust in elec­tions shak­en by past con­tro­ver­sies. He frames Geor­gia as “the heart­beat of Amer­i­ca” need­ing “lead­er­ship that will defend and restore trust,” while also promis­ing to “cut red tape for small busi­ness­es” and “bring account­abil­i­ty back to gov­ern­ment” for “integri­ty at every lev­el.” Jones posi­tions him­self as a faith-dri­ven, “Amer­i­ca First” can­di­date ready to make Geor­gia a nation­al mod­el for elec­tion secu­ri­ty, pri­or­i­tiz­ing “the peo­ple, not the politi­cians.”

The host, who inter­viewed Jones six weeks pri­or and fol­lowed up week­ly via text, express­es excite­ment but ques­tions the late tim­ing. He argues it’s not too late for a rec­og­niz­able fig­ure like Jones (or even Rep. Mar­jorie Tay­lor Greene in a hypo­thet­i­cal race), giv­en their built-in name recog­ni­tion. This move, he sug­gests, reflects broad­er Repub­li­can unease with the cur­rent Sec­re­tary of State field: Gabriel Ster­ling (a con­tro­ver­sial elec­tion offi­cial), Tim Flem­ing (endorsed by Rep. John Burns and 70 state House mem­bers), and Kelvin King (not­ed as the pri­ma­ry con­tender). The host empha­sizes the “must-win” nature of con­sti­tu­tion­al offices—Governor, Lt. Gov­er­nor, Sec­re­tary of State, and Attor­ney General—for installing “strong con­ser­v­a­tive, Amer­i­ca First” lead­ers, lament­ing the lack of com­pe­ti­tion in the AG race (where incum­bent Bri­an Strick­land faces min­i­mal oppo­si­tion).

Shift­ing gears, the host dives into the Pub­lic Ser­vice Com­mis­sion (PSC) races—Georgia’s pow­er­ful util­i­ty regulator—profiling key Dis­trict 2 and 3 can­di­dates ahead of ear­ly vot­ing. In Dis­trict 2, incum­bent Repub­li­can Tim Ekkes (elect­ed 2010, reelect­ed 2016) is praised as a nuclear ener­gy, solar pow­er, and elec­tric vehi­cle advo­cate deeply involved in nation­al data cen­ter issues, though the host warns that boom­ing AI/data demands could pri­or­i­tize cor­po­rate inter­ests over con­sumer bills (not­ing the “lock” on util­i­ty monop­o­lies). His oppo­nent, Demo­c­rat Fitz John­son (Geor­gia man­ag­ing prin­ci­pal at Health Man­age­ment Asso­ciates), focus­es on “equi­ty, effi­cien­cy, and sus­tain­able devel­op­ment” in nation­al projects. In Dis­trict 3, incum­bent Repub­li­can Fitz John­son faces crit­i­cism for votes approv­ing Geor­gia Pow­er rate hikes since 2023 and shift­ing $10 bil­lion in over­runs from the Vog­tle nuclear plant to ratepay­ers. The host high­lights the PSC’s his­tor­i­cal sig­nif­i­cance: It was the first statewide race Repub­li­cans won decades ago, kick­start­ing Geor­gia’s “red turn” and even­tu­al sweep of all con­sti­tu­tion­al offices (cul­mi­nat­ing with Sam Olens as AG).

The episode’s tone turns fiery in a lengthy, unfil­tered rant against Geor­gia GOP Rur­al Coun­ty Chair­man Den­nis Futch, por­trayed as a “con­de­scend­ing ass­hole” with a “check­book” to buy influ­ence. The host accus­es Futch of hypocrisy—pushing res­o­lu­tions to expel par­ty mem­bers (includ­ing the host) over alleged fraud, while ignor­ing $60,000+ in ques­tion­able GOP spend­ing (e.g., Josh McK­oon’s con­sul­tant fees and cred­it card mis­use at steak­hous­es). He mocks Futch’s invent­ed “chair­man of the Geor­gia Rur­al Vot­er Task Force” role (despite earn­ing only 38 votes in his failed GOP chair bid and blow­ing $30,000 on an emp­ty pre-con­ven­tion par­ty), claim­ing it was a self-award­ed posi­tion via dona­tions, not mer­it. Ties to a $140 mil­lion Ponzi scheme involv­ing GOP insid­ers (e.g., the Frost fam­i­ly and First Lib­er­ty Bank) are alleged, with Futch silent on those but aggres­sive on purges. The host shares anec­dotes of Futch’s rude­ness (e.g., dis­miss­ing rur­al coun­ty chairs like in Pick­ens and Oconee) and failed out­reach, call­ing for GOP uni­ty to avoid Demo­c­ra­t­ic gains in PSC races that could “communist”-like reverse Repub­li­can dom­i­nance. He ends on a per­son­al note, thank­ing his co-host for stu­dio sup­port and teas­ing a return at 8 a.m. the next day.