The People's Voice
WFUZ-TV | The People’s Voice Podcast
The People’s Voice shines a spotlight on the individuals shaping Coastal Alabama, Northwest Florida, and communities across the Southeast. Each episode features candid conversations with local leaders, public officials, business owners, candidate for office, advocates, and everyday citizens who are working to create meaningful change.
From local politics and policy to grassroots initiatives and community success stories, we go beyond headlines to explore the real issues impacting our region. Our mission is simple: give the microphone to the people, encourage informed dialogue, and highlight solutions that strengthen our communities.
If you care about civic engagement, regional growth, and the voices driving positive change, The People’s Voice delivers authentic conversations that matter.
The People's Voice
Pre-Election Wrap-up!
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Blair Castro and Thomas Jenkins put a bow on "People's Voice Podcast": Season 2 with a pre-election wrapup after FORTY interviews with candidates in state and local races ahead of the May 19th primary, addressing false rumors and allegations made against them, candidate picks, and more!
Don't forget to vote Tuesday! ✔️✔️
Good morning, good afternoon, good evening, wherever you may be. I'm Thomas Jenkins. This is WFUZ TV's The People's Voice Podcast. I'm here with Blair Castro, Blair, WTF.
SPEAKER_01So welcome to three days before election day. It's Saturday night. So we got Sunday, we got Monday, when Tuesday is the day, May 19th. It is your primary election here in the state of Alabama. So a lot of things are happening. Number one, we had a redistricting. So the congressional districts in here in South Alabama have been redrawn back to what they were before. Some dude named Jerrymander did that. Yes. And that means, you know, good things for Republicans because they are eliminating minority districts. Now, however you may feel about that, Republicans wanted this. It was actually Senator Chris Elliott who put forth the bill and fought for it very, very hard in the state legislature to get that to happen again. And then the Supreme Court had to lift an injunction. All this stuff happened. The point is the candidates who are running for Congress who are going to be on your ballot on Tuesday. That vote doesn't even matter. It's moot. But it matters. You need to show up to show who's a viable candidate. We'll get to that later. But at this point, your vote does not count for that. There's going to be another primary in August for Congress only. Everything else counts.
SPEAKER_00August the what?
SPEAKER_01I think it's August 11th. I don't know for sure. It's August something.
SPEAKER_00August the something.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. But so now that congressional race, that is the race with Mr. McKee, who we have been following, with Austin Sidwell, with Rhett Marcus, with Mr. Jerry Carl, all those people were in this race together and it is split. So Rhett Marcus has moved to Congressional District 2, which was formerly a minority district. He's going to be in that race, and so has Josh McKee. He has decided that his home in Robertsdale is not where he wants to run from. He wants to run from the wire grass. So he has gone on to the wiregrass.
SPEAKER_00Toting along in his little RV, right? Something's got the house that moves. Something of that's moving castle.
SPEAKER_01He'll be doing what he does from the wiregrass. So do not think that that means, because you are not here in my congressional district or Baldwin County anymore, that we will not stop fighting for transparency, accountability, and truth. Wherever you may be, the truth shall set you free, and it will follow you wherever you go.
SPEAKER_00Are we addressing the lies in this video or is that another video?
SPEAKER_01There's a lot of lies going on right now, and we'll touch briefly on them. Number one, Mr. McKee has taken it upon himself to say a lot of lies about us. He says that there's just so many things. We won't even actually get into it all, but it's pretty much all lies. Anything you hear about me, ask me yourself. I will tell you the truth. I will back it up with public records, with documents, with court records, anything like it's literally lies that aren't based on truth at all. The some of the stuff he says is ridiculous. Like he even said that I don't have custody of my daughter who goes with us literally everywhere. She not only do I have full custody of her, like there's zero visitation or anything with her biological parent. Like that's the most extreme thing I've ever heard in my life that just came out of nowhere. And all his things about me being charged, I've never been charged with a crime ever. Ever.
SPEAKER_00I want to say my favorite though, while we're here. My favorite that he's telling about me is that I'm on a government watch list with the Department of Health and Human Services. And we looked that up. We were like, where did he even get this information? And Blair found there is a Thomas Jenkins in the state of Louisiana on a government watch list for health and human services. But unfortunately, my birthday is not in 1945. I'm not that well preserved.
SPEAKER_01So, yes, some of the things are just very outlandish and strange, but in the end, we're not running for anything. We're just podcasters, we're just people, so why do you care? And everybody knows about my false arrest that was dismissed. And he's sitting there saying he's got like he and I uh say everything he says is true about his own arrest. We would be in the same position. We would have had a dismissal if that was the case of everything he was saying was true. But from what I've understood it's not, but it's not my place to talk about all of that.
SPEAKER_00Um not to mention that he had allegations that we made threats to him. Not only have we disproved that, but we've done it thoroughly. We have recordings. We'll probably come out with those recordings of every phone call, just about every phone call that we've had with authoritative figures to say there are no threats here. This is just a piss match.
SPEAKER_01Oh, so for those that missed it, Mr. McKee for a while was going around with a bodyguard because he said that he felt threatened.
SPEAKER_00Are we throwing that picture up? Sure, let's do it. All right, let's throw that picture up.
SPEAKER_01So this was a thing that he was doing because he felt that was necessary and wanted to, I don't know, I don't even understand the gist of it. I've worked for very high-profile people. None of them have ever had or needed a bodyguard in that capacity. It's kind of insane to me. But, you know, I think that shows when someone is caught in a lie and when someone is ashamed of their behavior, sometimes they like to pivot and play the victim. A lot of narcissists do this. If you listen to Jordan Peterson and you, you know, are into examining, you know, sociology and psychology and like human behavior, this is kind of um, this is what they do. It's very strange. And this is really the second person I've encountered who encountered in my lifetime who fits this profile to a T. And I'm watching it play out, it's been sort of unreal. But regardless, that's not why we're making the video today. We're here to really talk about the election. He's moving out of this district. Good luck to Rhett Marcus.
SPEAKER_00I just want to point out that that bodyguard's boss, it got back to us that he was calling somebody's end. They paint every picture every morning, make them take it down. Start up again. First amendment. God bless America.
SPEAKER_01I have no hard feelings to anybody doing their job. You're doing your job, that's what it is. But like examine your clients carefully. I do. I work for clients and I don't necessarily agree with anything they do. And I work in a capacity that I distance myself from them and I see them for what they are, and I take my job for what it is a lot of the time. That is the nature of work. So just remember that if you are a person doing your job, no hate, get that money, do what you gotta do, but look at things through the lens of reality. Don't be duped by your clients or employers. It's uh it's a common thing. But, anyways, moving on, let's talk about potential people who are going to jump into this congressional race. So we have it on pretty high authority that our good old friend, Senator Chris Elliott, spelled with one T, not two T's. He gets very mad if you spell his name wrong. Um, we'll call him Chip Ellison. Senator Chip Ellison is going to jump into this race. And that, you know, he's been running um like half a million more than that, like dollar campaign with mailers multiple times a day, with commercials everywhere, like putting his face all over the place. And I started to kind of wonder why. Like, why is that really necessary? Well, this is why. He wants to win that Senate seat, keep it as a you know, as a job, and then run for Congress. And if he loses, he still goes back to a Senate seat. And if he wins, then he has to vacate. And then there'll be a special election for that Senate seat. That's what we were told. That's what it looks like is shaping up to happen. There's been a lot of other names floated around. I won't put all those names out there. I guess it will all hinge on Tuesday, and then Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, I believe, is the qualifying period for Congress. So by Friday, we'll know who's jumping in this Congress race and who our potential next Congressman is going to be. It's going to be very telling also how these primaries shape out all over the country because I feel like there is a strong movement in the Republican Party to get back to conservative values, to get back to what the party was really about. Look at Kentucky, look at Thomas Massey, look at what is happening. There's a resurgence, especially of the youth and younger people who are not obsessed with Trump, who are not liking the way that the Republican Party has divided, and some of the things that we are doing are not really America first. And when you look at true conservatism, I think, you know, this is me, this is my personal opinion. This is not WFEZ as a whole. But like I am excited to see what happens with the Thomas Massey race. I think it's going to be very telling. I think it's going to tell the future of the Republican Party and where do we really stand? Are we really putting our country first? Are we putting foreign interests first? Are we putting all these other things first? Are we putting forth one individual, Trump, and worshiping him like a golden calf? Like, what is going on with that? I think our party is done with it. And I think the elections next week we'll we'll see.
SPEAKER_00I mean, it's been what? He started running in 2014. Was that the first? Or when did he start running for president? When did Democrats first start having a shit fit over it? It's been over a decade. It's it's worn out.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, definitely 16 was the big race, but you know, it uh I think a lot of us, even Thomas Massey, like you look at these people, we believed and liked a lot of the priorities, and then we feel like reality hasn't come to fruition in that.
SPEAKER_00Where's that $1.50 gas?
SPEAKER_01Where's the STIMI?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, where's my STIM? Where's my dog stimmy? Where's the the other one that was supposed to come out? I can't even remember what that STIMI was supposed to be.
SPEAKER_01But aside from that, um the party is shifting. The days of old. Like, look at the list. There's a list somewhere that said next congressional session, like this is who we're not having congress, like Mitch McConnell wasn't running for re-election, you know, Nancy Pelosi's not running for re-election. There's a lot of older representatives who are finally hanging it up. We're getting new people. We have to really vet those people carefully. So this congressional race in Alabama means a lot. We are actually a state that matters a lot. We're in an area in the most, you know, booming area of the state.
SPEAKER_00I just want to remind y'all that Tupperville voted no on releasing the upsteam files. Speaking of which.
SPEAKER_01Well, I don't think we can do anything about it.
SPEAKER_00No, because football, rogue tied, go tight, whatever the hell. Football. Yeah, thanks, y'all.
SPEAKER_01It's going to be an interesting election. So that all being said, I personally want to encourage you to vote for two people. You can vote for whoever you want, but there's two people in particular that I really, really, really want to shill for. I'm not going to lie. Like, I want these two people to win badly. I think the fate of our state depends on a lot of stuff that people don't see behind the scenes. And I think that we really, really need some good fighter type, like real people in there who are accessible, who have integrity and who are going to do the right thing. And these are no, none of these are clients of mine or people I've paid for. I'm not talking about any of that. I'm just talking about my opinion of everyone who has come on the show and that I've reached out to. We've interviewed over 40 people this season alone. Um, we're almost at 75 episodes since we started the show last year, which includes city and county and state. So of that, I'm very impressed with Christina Warner McInnes for Commissioner of Agriculture. I would encourage you to vote for her. I would. And Pamela Casey for Attorney General. Those two women are incredible and they deserve your vote, and they are going to make our state a better place.
SPEAKER_00Okay. So talk about uh who was invited and didn't come on the show, and then their constituents had a little shit fit acting like we were, you know, being biased or some whatever.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, let's talk a little bit about Jared Hudson. So I invited every single person running for Senate on this show and to our forum that we had in Gulf Shores. I hit the county commission. And everybody running for county commission, everybody running for lieutenant governor. I invited everybody for every sort of state race. Um and if I didn't, there might be a few little like PFC people I didn't have their contact info for, but generally I hit the major names, I hit um all that, and of the Senate candidates, we had Barry Moore, we had Rodney Walker, we had Dale Dees, um, and Seth Burton was going to come on the show, but we had scheduling problems and we had some Zoom issues. Uh okay, so we're not doing Zoom interviews, just so you know, that's just not happening. Where we did it once for Barry Moore, and that was a very kind of difficult task.
SPEAKER_00Rare exception.
SPEAKER_01Yes, it was a rare exception, but our format is in person, and that's how we're going to stick to it. Um, but you know, like I was appreciative of Mr. Burton for explaining that and for trying his best. So, of those people, obviously Steve Marshall's not gonna come because he's Steve Marshall, and then um Hudson left me on red. People were like, Why didn't you invite Jared Hudson? Like, not only did I do that, I got his number from Patrick Jump and there those people, and I called his campaign people. I've tried. I tried, I was really excited about Jared Hudson. Actually, when I first saw him, I wanted to like be about it, but it the no response from anything was kind of like, okay, what do I do with that? Like, I'm not like anti-Jared Hudson. I just literally don't know the guy. I don't know much about him. I've never gotten a chance to ask him questions. So I'm sorry, I'm not voting for somebody that won't speak to me.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, we're WFUZ TV, damn it.
SPEAKER_01It's just the way it is. Like, I don't think I can vote for somebody that doesn't take the time to work for my vote and earn it, even just with a simple conversation. So that's how that is. It's nothing like we're not trying to keep Jared Hudson out, but his like fans or whatever, like his followers are very like insufferable. My God, they're very serious. They are like, they're interesting. So there's that. Um, County Commission, we've had, I'm gonna do a little recap of like everybody in a graphic form who came on our show this session. So you can see who took the time, who cares about Gulf Shores and drove out here and gave us the time of day. So County Commission candidates, every single person running for a commission came with the exception of Mr. Richard Cox. Take from that what you will. There's still an invitation open to Mr. Cox if he were to need it, but we're a few days away from the community.
SPEAKER_00He doesn't make it uh south of 65 or whatever you keep saying.
SPEAKER_01Um so there's that. And who else did we I mean, we've really done our homework. And done your research. Doing your research. Like we have done the research. We have tried our best. We have tried very hard to be fair. Of course we have favorites, of course we're biased. Every news station has some sort of lean of bias.
SPEAKER_00But uh that being said, you know, and as far as do our homework, we're we're also not we don't get paid at all, so we're not gonna sit there and do hours and hours and hours of research and stuff before a guest comes on. We're gonna let them come speak their piece and ask them questions. That's that's what we do. We're not, you know, here to like do some sort of gotcha on the show. We'll go out in the field for that if we feel the need to.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, the format of this show is that it's a narrative long-form interview where any candidate can come and tell us what they want to tell us and they won't be interrupted or cut off or have it edited and chopped up in some weird way. Trevor Burrus, Jr.
SPEAKER_00We're not Tucker Carlson.
SPEAKER_01No, we do Oh, I love Tucker Carlson.
SPEAKER_00That's no dig at Tucker. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Um Tucker's pay your nine bucks and go subscribe to Tucker Carlson Network. There's some really good content out there, and his it's just phenomenal the work he's doing right now, but that's aside the point. Um so the people that come on here, we don't attack them, we literally just let them talk and we don't go research and vet everything they say because that's on them. Like their views is not necessarily reflective of our views.
SPEAKER_00That's and if you have something on these candidates, put it in the comment section. They'll say, do your homework, show your receipts.
SPEAKER_01If you want to tell us something about it, then go ahead. Like you're welcome to get it out there and do whatever you need. I'm not saying everything a candidate says is true. It's not our job to vet all their statements. Our job is just to give everyone a platform. It's called the people's voice, not the people's investigative research and report, and here's our finalized narrative, and here you go. Let me submit it to the principal. I don't know. So just keep that in mind. I'm glad that we have different people on here, the people we come on. Like, I'm not gonna vote for all these people that are on here. I can't. They're running against each other half the time. But I appreciate everyone who takes the time to come out and try to earn our vote and give us the time and explain their platform and their background and their experience and their why. This goes back to Simon Sinek in my favorite book, Your Why. Tell me why the heck you want to do this. Why you, why now, what drives you? That's really what I want to know from my candidates.
SPEAKER_00Well, anything else you can think of?
SPEAKER_01Get out and vote on Tuesday, May 19th. Vote for Congress too. Even if that vote doesn't count, it matters to those candidates who are being told that they're not a viable candidate, like Austin Sidwell, which is ridiculous because he's a very viable candidate. And if we have a good showing on that, it'll show going forward that he will be a contender and donors will come and other things will happen. So that vote matters. The county commissioners really matter, lieutenant governor matters, attorney general matters, agriculture. There's so many, so many things out there that are important. So please go vote on Tuesday.
SPEAKER_00Thank you. Indeed. That being said, y'all have a great one and have a bluebell country day. We will see you next time.