Sen. Jon Ossoff, the Georgia Democrat running for reelection, has spent nearly three thousand dollars of campaign funds on hair and makeup services, according to a report from the Washington Times. The figure puts him ahead of every other Senate candidate in the country, including the women in the race.
The Washington Times reported the spending in a post on X, noting that Ossoff, who is locked in a tight reelection fight, has outspent all of his colleagues on personal grooming. The report did not specify the time period covered by the expenditures or the vendors involved, but the total is notable for a candidate who has positioned himself as a populist voice for working Georgians.
The spending comes as Ossoff faces a competitive race. An InsiderAdvantage poll released this week shows him leading Republican Mike Collins fifty percent to forty-two percent, but other surveys suggest the contest is tightening. A Newsweek report on Republican Rick Jackson's chances noted that Jackson's lead in some polls comes despite the same surveys showing support for Ossoff's reelection bid. Meanwhile, CNN reported that Republicans are growing worried that two key Senate races once considered critical to holding their majority are slipping from their grasp, and the Washington Post reported that a Democratic Senate is becoming more likely, with four GOP seats now in play.
Against that backdrop, the Washington Times report on Ossoff's campaign spending has circulated widely among conservative commentators, who say it undercuts the senator's everyman image. The report was carried by the Washington Times account, @WashTimes, and picked up by other accounts across the platform.
On the same day, another Democratic Senate candidate drew scrutiny for a different reason. Abdul El-Sayed, the Michigan Democrat running for Senate, was the subject of a post from @WallStreetApes that criticized his healthcare proposals. According to the post, El-Sayed wants to raise healthcare premiums, deductibles, and copays to pay for expanded access for others.
The @WallStreetApes post quoted El-Sayed as saying, 'We're actually just going to give other people access to what you have.' The post did not provide a date or venue for the remark, and the full context of the statement was not included. The post argued that healthcare costs are already astronomically high in America and that El-Sayed's plan would raise prices further for working families.
El-Sayed, a former Detroit health director, has made healthcare a centerpiece of his campaign. He has previously advocated for a single-payer system, which he argues would lower costs by eliminating private insurance overhead. Critics, including the @WallStreetApes account, say his approach would instead shift costs to taxpayers and reduce choice for patients.
The two posts together reflect a broader line of attack from conservative accounts: that Democratic candidates are out of touch with the financial pressures facing ordinary Americans. While Ossoff spends campaign funds on personal grooming, the argument goes, El-Sayed is proposing policies that would increase the cost of care for families already struggling with high medical bills.
Also on Thursday, the account @RealAmVoice posted a video of Secretary of War Pete Hegseth speaking at Texas A&M University. In the video, Hegseth said military recruiting is surging under President Trump. He said that for the first time in fifteen years, Special Forces recruiting goals were met, and that the Army Reserves, which had not met its numbers for ten years, is now exceeding its targets.
'Under President Trump, we are,' Hegseth said. 'Same with the Army Reserves. For ten years, they hadn't made their number. So now it's Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Space Force, Air Force, Special Forces, Reserves, you name it, not only are we meeting the standard of recruiting, but we're exceeding it.'
Hegseth attributed the success to the spirit in the country and in the force, and said the administration's 'Send Me' tour is meant to highlight those recruiting wins. He also discussed the 'Arsenal of Freedom' tour, which he said is highlighting American manufacturing and the defense industrial base.
'We've been moving faster than the Pentagon ever has, that's the speed that President Trump demands, and industry is responding,' Hegseth said. 'The types of things that we're building and how quickly we're building them, this country hasn't seen before.'
The @RealAmVoice post included the video and a caption saying that recruiting goals are now being met or exceeded across the services, including Special Forces and the Army Reserve, after years of falling short.
Meanwhile, other accounts on X continued to circulate criticism of the administration. The account @emptywheel posted a comment about Hegseth, referring to him as 'Whiskey @PeteHegseth' and saying it would be awkward for him to manage a bombing campaign in an illegal war while defending himself against impeachment for running an illegal war in the Senate. The post did not provide evidence for the claim that the war is illegal or that impeachment proceedings are underway. The account also referenced Hegseth doing stadium laps with military cadets.
The account @zeteo_news posted a link to a story arguing that President Trump is running what it called a corrupt 'love me' ad campaign. The post said that in private, the president keeps whining about Republicans trying to ditch him, and that his team made him a taxpayer-funded propaganda campaign. The post did not provide evidence for the claim about the president's private remarks, and the story it linked to was not independently verified.
And in North Carolina, the account @CBSNews reported that grocery shelves were running low in parts of the Outer Banks after an early-season nor'easter battered the East Coast with heavy rain, strong winds, and rough surf. Video from a supermarket in Avon showed shelves cleared of essentials including bread, milk, and meat. The post did not provide further details on the extent of the shortages or when they were expected to be resolved.
Next News Network could not independently verify the claims made in the posts about Ossoff's spending, El-Sayed's remarks, Hegseth's comments, or the other accounts' assertions. The posts are presented here as they were made, and readers should consider them in that light.
Our Take
While Democrats lecture Americans about sacrifice and fairness, their candidates are busy spending campaign cash on hair and makeup and pushing healthcare plans that would raise costs for the very families they claim to champion. Jon Ossoff's nearly three-thousand-dollar grooming bill is a window into how the Beltway class operates: image first, accountability last. And Abdul El-Sayed's plan to expand access by raising premiums and copays is exactly the kind of top-down policy that has made American healthcare so expensive in the first place. Meanwhile, Pete Hegseth is delivering results: recruiting is up, Special Forces are meeting their goals for the first time in fifteen years, and American manufacturing is roaring back. The contrast could not be clearer. Republicans are focused on rebuilding the military and the economy, while Democrats are focused on themselves.
