Texas Sen. Ted Cruz on Wednesday indirectly drew attention to some less-than-stellar stats for podcasts by other Republicans.
Cruz shared findings from Podscribe, as covered by researcher Kyle Tharp, which show his Verdict far-and-away in the top spot based on monthly downloads. While two other politicians’ podcasts also boast a sizable audience, there are a cluster of podcasts with downloads of around a thousand and fewer.
Rep. Tim Burchett’s Tennessee Talks saw an estimated 1,092 downloads in July, while in-state Sen. Marsha Blackburn had just 114 for Unmuted. Burchett’s podcast launched in January 2022, and Blackburn’s last March.
Neither lawmaker immediately responded to request for comment from the Daily Beast.
The third politician on the list with a sizable podcast audience is GOP Rep. Dan Crenshaw of Texas, whose Hold These Truths garnered about 366,000 downloads. All others mentioned are Democrats.
The focus of Cruz’s post, however, was to attack California Gov. Gavin Newsom.
This Is Gavin Newsom, which launched in early March, had just over 440,000 downloads last month. Verdict, which premiered in January 2020, had about 3.4 times that.
“Thanks for playing,” Cruz wrote snarkily on X to Newsom, who hasn’t publicly responded.
The governor has recently been going at it with Cruz and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott over a not-so-trivial topic: redistricting.
In light of Abbott’s effort to get state legislators to redraw congressional maps in the GOP’s favor before next year’s midterms, Newsom said Wednesday he would “fight fire with fire.”
“Next week, the legislature’s going to move this forward. We’re going to get it in a special election on November 4,” he said. “We’re going to neutralize whatever Abbott does.”
Over the weekend, Newsom and Cruz made pointed jabs at the other regarding Abbott’s demand that state Democratic lawmakers who fled the state to prevent a redistricting vote be arrested, including any who may be in California.
“You should definitely use ALL resources looking for them here, Ken,” Newsom wrote on X sarcastically. “You will TOTALLY find them here.”
Cruz jumped in with a reference to what some viewed as a COVID-era public relations misfire by Newsom, who was seen attending a swanky dinner party: “I assume they’re having dinner with you at the French Laundry.”
That Napa Valley event, which was held outdoors, “followed public health guidelines and the restaurant’s health protocols—all in line with the state’s rules for restaurant operation," Newsom’s communications director said at the time. Still, the governor took heat for it and later said he shouldn’t have attended.
Newsom then fired back at Cruz, quipping that he “knows a lot about fleeing.”
Cruz, of course, flew to Cancun, Mexico during a deadly cold-weather stretch in Texas in February 2021.
He, too, later said he shouldn’t have gone.
