Billionaire Ballot | Angela Rye SoloPod

at November in the general election in this country. There were a lot of folks who voted, certainly participated, and there were so many more who stayed home. When you look at a three way race from November, the entity that had the greatest victory was the couch. It was not Kamala Harris, it was not Donald Trump. It was actually the couch. And so when we talk about the ways in which we engage in the political process, there's a holistic view that we should talk about, but often

we talk about it through the lens of voting. There is something in our democracy, at least the way that it is right now. Don't know how much longer we'll have it this way, that when democracy comes to bear in this country, there are two entities that have the greatest amount of power around election cycles. It is the people, those of you who get out and go vote, And it is also the check the folks who write checks to candidates. We talked about it at nauseum on the

last Native landpod show. We talked about how much and actually it was two shows ago we talked about how much people's checkbooks, entities, corporations packs checkbooks impact the way that politicians vote on the Senate floor, the House floor, and all throughout government. And so we know that money plays an outsized role in politics. And one recent example of that is rooted in an election that will take place is taking place currently taking place in Wisconsin today.

It is a Supreme Court election seat where spending records are broken. They have outspent every other Supreme court race in that in that in the country, and it is the most expensive supreme court state Supreme court. Might I add, because you know, on the federal level they are appointed by the president, but on a state supreme court it is supposed to be a nonpartisan entity. But it is a very hotly contested race between two candidates, uh and

these folks. One is a pretty conservative Republican Brad Schimmel. He is a I don't even know how to pronounce this county Wellcousha County judge, Brad Schimmel. And then there's another candidate who's backed by Democrats. Her name is Susan Crawford, and it is a hotly contested race. Brad Schimmel's funding has outpaced Susan crawford spending. And I want to bring one central figure into this where you might be asking, now, what does he have to do with the Supreme Court seat.

Let's roll this clip.

would cost like ten times more. Or you know, it's it's to get the kind of coverage that we get.

be in the public discourse. There have also been conversations about this million dollar check. So he gave two one million dollar checks in Wisconsin, so he spent twenty million dollars from America pack It's twenty two million dollars if you count these checks. And I just have to say, it is alarming to me that the Wisconsin Supreme Court,

the very seat that this is about. Right there's a seat on the Wisconsin Supreme Court that sways can sway the balance of power around redistricting, around many other cases that are central to the public discourse right now, and he is offering a million dollars. He said it was as a gift of gratitude to thank people for their

engagement around this race. But really we know what this is, right, if black voters matter, if the NAACP IF collective pack, if any other entity offered a black voter or a black constituency money for ingratitude, for their support of this race, for paying attention to this race, and right before the election, do we really think there would be no conversation about this? Do we really think there would be no charges pressed? Like, let's be for real. And I think that that's what

we really have to discuss here. I talked a little bit about Elon Musk and his paying members of Congress through campaign contributions who have written articles of impeachment to oppose judges, to impeach judges who have ruled against the Trump administration. This is the same type of not just fraudulent activity, but it is. It looks like extortion, it looks like bribery, it looks like quid pro quo kind

of behavior. And I'm trying to understand where the great area for them is when we're talking about water going to voters and someone just giving blank checks, a million dollar checks at that to voters and people who are organizing voters. So that is what I am questioning right now. So Wisconsin is one thing, but now I want to turn our attention to another very important race. So Wisc

Consin is going on today. So you all know there are two congressional seats open in Florida right now, one vacated by Matt Gates, and I can't think of who the other one is vacated by. But these two races are not likely to be closed. I don't think that Democrats are going to prevail in these races today, but we'll see. I think that miracles happen every single day.

And if people get out and vote, even in districts that Trump, you know, won in twenty four by double digit margins, you know, maybe so that's sick of Matt Gates and don't want anything like it. I don't know, but I think that what we have to understand here is money play a role here as well. These are very expensive special elections, and people got to get out the vote and turn out and we'll see what happens.

But I think that it would be truly a miracle if Florida were to pick up some seats for Democrats in this special election today. Now that said, there are miracles that happen sometimes, and I think one of the latest examples of a miracle happening is in Louisiana this weekend where there was a special election on four amendments

to the state constitution. So there's someone who decided to weigh in all four of these constitutional amendments were defeated, by the way, But there's someone who a lot of us will recognize, who does a lot of stuff in terms of putting black people on on air, on TV, on movies, and film on TV shows, who has business now in Louisiana, and he was encouraging the black community and others in Louisiana to vote against their interests.

fifty cent. Now, there were four constitutional amendments on the ballot this past weekend in Louisiana, and what I think is important here is that they were championed by their current governor, who is a Republican governor, Jeff Landry. They were associated with crime, with the courts, and with finances. As you all can see from the clip before. They packaged things in very unique ways, and I think we have to be mindful of how things are communicated to

us when they are on ballots. You know, we are told like I remember in Washington State when they were challenging affirmative action work. Connorly was a black Republican who was going around throughout the country with Pete Wilson in California when they did Proposition two on nine, and we followed behind them and before Michigan on something called Initiative two hundred. Well, they called Initiative two hundred on the

Washington State ballot the Civil Rights Amendment. If you're not reading the fine print right, you are going to assume that the thing called the Civil Rights Amendment is not about to take away your opportunity and access to higher education, to contracts. And that's not what you're thinking is going to happen. But that is exactly what happened in Washington State. And I would say that in Louisiana it's no different. But what happened here is nothing short of a miracle

because voters came out in droves. There was a thirty seven percent increase in black voter turnout, which was significant and very well could have made the difference. I'm gonna check really quick, do we have that fifty cent video or do I need to keep going? Okay, we don't have it. So these are the four amendments that I that I want to call to your attention. Making it easier to charge minors as adults. That was one of them. The other amendment was liquidating education trust funds to support

permanent teacher pay raises. This would have liquidated trust funds to pay off two billion dollars in public school system debt, and then they would use the savings on interest payments to boost teacher salaries by two thousand dollars a year. It's not necessarily permanent and not necessarily the type of rays you want to see as a teacher, especially when it ends up impacting your retirement and other things that

reduce savings for teachers. It said it received some bipartisan support, but that the real issue is that there was significant amounts of transparency lacking when you're talking about taking savings and different education funds. There was also this idea to restructure the court system. The Louisiana legislature was seeking to broaden power of specialty courts handling cases like veterans affairs, drug abuse, and only ensuring that those cases went to

specific judicial districts. And so there were a number. I'm trying to see, Oh there was something else, I miss one. I miss one. There was a tax reform measure, and that is the one that fifty Cent has been so vocal about so I want to make sure now that we go to this fifty cent video so you can see that sometimes when it comes to what is in our best interest, our skin folk don't always move like kim folk. Let's roll that fifty cent video.

Don't let anyone confuse you about the amendment too. It gives teachers permanent pay raise, It doubles senior citizens tax deduction is all good stuff. Voting and fatal Amendment two makes common sense and this is a bipartisan effort. Every Louisiana State Senate Democrat voting to get the Amendment too on the ballot. This one is about the people coming together.

And I think that I think that what we what we have to understand is it is always work to be civically engaged, you have to understand what is all at stake. And I think that while this is the first opportunity for Louisiana's to demonstrate to the governor, look, bro, were not on your side like that, and they've done that not by voting down amendments that he suggests supported

to the Constitution. The other thing that I think is important and worth noting is he was recently in a press conference with Speaker Mike Johnson, who is who represents Louisiana, but he's also the Speaker of the House of the United States Congress. He was in this press conference with him, and he's essentially saying that there's not broad support, but that they are banking on low voter turnout. Y'all be very concerned and wary of people who are banking on

people not showing up. That's not what democracy is supposed to be about. When we talk about people power. The power of the people is not in the smallness of numbers. The power of the people is when a majority of us feel like we're seen enough in the process to continue to participate. So what I think is important here again is that two thirds of Louisiana's voted down these amendments. The amendment to which was also voted down, this is

the one that fifty cent was talking about supporting. Says it would have lowered the maximum income tax rate the state could enact, and restricted annual state budget increases, and would have made it more difficult to enact new tax breaks. Allegedly, but it would have moved hundreds of millions of dollars in tax revenue from state savings into Louisiana's general fund, and that is where Governor Landry and state legislators legislators could spend that money more easily. That does not mean

that's in the best interest of taxpayers. So with that, I want to pause here and get any questions or comments to react to. I think the thing that is most pressing to me is Louisiana is a place where we can look at it as a recent victory. I think the victory is and the fact that the people spoke up for themselves, they participated. Of course, we want to see voter participation rates going up. Wisconsin, Mississippi, and

Florida have an opportunity today. It is an election day in this country, and I think this is why we often talk about they're not every two years, they're not every four years. There are special elections all the time that impact your daily life in more ways than some of these major elections. And that doesn't mean to choose to pick or pick and choose between which one you're going to participate in. It actually means making sure that you participate in all of them, and that you know

what's coming up. I didn't say, and I want to make sure I get to that too. Today Mississippi has on its ballot It's a municipal primary where local leaders decide on policies like public safety, housing, and education. And that's what is at stake here. So we want to make sure that we're paying attention to what is happening on the ground in Mississippi today too. So with that, Lolo, you have any questions comments, Oh, maybe she's not on Okay, so I gotta read it. So what are the Dems

or others going to do about this? Okay, I don't know what this is, but I'm gonna tell you what I'm gonna do about this. I am going to make sure that every opportunity I have to tell y'all about what's going on, I do that. So we are in unique times. We are in a time where I think more more of us than not are concerned about what our future looks like and what is at stake, And so I want us to continue to engage even while we are thinking about if our votes actually matter, if

they are gaming the system. When you look at someone cutting a million dollar checks like Elon Musk and Wisconsin for a Supreme Court race in the state, you gotta wonder why is it so important that they would try to pay people to think their way right? That is what is really really important. We got to think through that in Mississippi. I want to go back to this really quick today is a primary, so it's the primary

for mayor. It is the primary. My friend Choqui Lamamba is the current mayor, aldermen, councilman and more for the next four years. This is the primary. Polls opened in Mississippi at seven am and they close at seven pm Central. Any voter that's in line by seven pm can still cast their ballots. So make sure that you all get out to vote in Mississippi today. We did talk about those Florida races already, but I'm gonna go back into the Florida polls for today and what we who's on

the ballot. These are people who are running to replace uh, Matt Gates and Michael Waltz. That's who it is. These are in two GOP you know, heavily leaning districts right now. Why this is so important is because Democrats hold two hundred and thirteen seats. There are two recent vacancies, of course, one being after the death of Sylvester Turner from Houston, Texas. And then Republicans have two hundred and eighteen seats, which

is the the minimum needed to keep the majority. And so these two seats today in Matt Gates Old District which is the first congressional district in Florida is there's two candidates running. One is Republican Jimmy Patronis and then Democrat Gave Vallomont. Valamont is a gun control activist. And then there's Congressional District six, which is Mike Waltz's old seat. There are there's a Republican state Senator Randy Fine, who is running for that seat, and then Democrat Josh Well

who's a public school educator. And so these are again there're Republican districts, but it's important for us to understand that again, things can change. I know that some folks were surprised to see the results in Louisiana. Somebody asked about the Corey Booker philibuster. I will tell y'all as a teaser. We're going to talk about this on the

podcast tomorrow. But I do want to know if you all think that Elon Musk is playing too heavy handed, like he got Doge and everything that Doge is doing, including making some massive mistakes in the federal government, he is benefiting significantly from Doje's overreach with the number of contracts that he has in the federal government. And he's taking that same outsized influence that he used to the tune of two hundred million plus dollars with the America

pack I believe is how much they spent. Maybe two ninety I think it was. I put it in my substack. Oh, I got to say about my substack. But just hold that, hold that thought. You hold that thought for me. We have him playing an outsize role in the federal government with the election in November, paying all that money into the process and making sure that he wrote his ticket to be able to run the Trump administration, which he is doing through an agency that is not congressionally approved.

DOJE is not congressionally approved, y'all. That's something they made up. Okay. Now, the other thing that I want you to understand is he's taking that same outsize influence into the Supreme Court contest in Wisconsin today. They have spent so much money on this race, y'all. We gotta pay attention to these things at some point if we don't stand up and say, you cannot continue to write your checks and think that

your checks are as meaningful as our votes. And the only way we can do that is as a collective. So tomorrow we will talk about Corey Booker's filibuster, why is it too little, too late? We will talk about if it's if all the senators need to be joining in. We will talk about what the House can do. I talk about in my new substack post. It's my first one. I hope y'all subscribe. Angela t Rye. Tea is for

Teresa Angela t Rye on substack. Please subscribe today. Know that I took a moment to really think about what we needed to do differently in this very important time. So I have five ways to meet the moment. It is in my substack. I hope you'll check it out. I hope you'll weigh in with way you think we should be meeting the moment. What I know is that we can't continue to require of our leaders what we are not willing to do ourselves, and so let us

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