American Muckrakers – Bias and Credibility

American Muckrakers is rated Left with Mixed factual reporting by Media Bias Fact Check.

History

American Muckrakers is a political advocacy and investigative media project founded in 2021 by David B. Wheeler and retired Air Force Col. Moe Davis. The organization first gained significant attention through opposition research targeting Republican Rep. Madison Cawthorn, including the release of embarrassing videos and the filing of ethics complaints during his unsuccessful 2022 reelection campaign. Contemporary reporting documented that the group openly sought to defeat Cawthorn and later turned its attention to other conservative Republican politicians.

According to its About page, Wheeler serves as president and principal writer. He has a long Democratic political background, including service with the Young Democrats, campaign work for Democratic politicians, and multiple Democratic candidacies in North Carolina. Ballotpedia records that Wheeler ran as a Democrat for the North Carolina Senate in 2018 and 2020 and for North Carolina Commissioner of Insurance in 2024.

American Muckrakers also publishes the MUCK YOU! podcast and related political commentary through Substack and Muckrakers.Today.

Read our profile on the United States media and government.

Funded by / Ownership

American Muckrakers is associated with Muckrakers LLC and political-action entities founded by Wheeler and Davis. The original American Muckrakers PAC was registered with the Federal Election Commission in 2021 as an independent-expenditure committee and is now administratively terminated.

Current American Muckrakers material carries disclaimers stating that it is paid for by American Muckrakers PAC II and is not authorized by any candidate or candidate committee.

Revenue comes from Substack subscriptions, reader donations, podcast support, merchandise, books, and political fundraising. Wheeler has publicly disclosed some internal fundraising figures; in an August 2026 article, he stated that American Muckrakers had raised $13,865 from 541 contributions that year, plus roughly $14,000 through Substack subscriptions.

Analysis / Bias

American Muckrakers have an explicitly left-leaning and Democratic-aligned political orientation. Its principal targets have overwhelmingly been conservative Republicans, including Madison Cawthorn, Lauren Boebert, Ken Paxton, Mark Robinson, and other Trump-aligned politicians. The organization openly participates in electoral politics rather than simply reporting on it.

For example, American Muckrakers announced in January 2026 that it would evaluate Democratic candidates challenging Lauren Boebert and eventually endorse and help raise money for one of them. Its March 2026 political-comedy initiative likewise stated that money raised would help American Muckrakers work toward defeating politicians, including Boebert, Mike Whatley, and Ken Paxton.

In Are We Democracy Lovers Headed Toward a Mid-Term Elections Disaster?, Wheeler explicitly refers to Democrats as “our party” and discusses how Democratic donors, candidates, and national organizations should allocate resources to defeat Republicans. He criticizes Democratic organizations for ineffective spending and weak political strategy but does so from within the Democratic coalition rather than from a nonpartisan position.

Wheeler’s own political record reinforces that orientation. His 2024 Democratic campaign advocated medical-debt relief, diversity initiatives, gun-liability insurance, stronger climate regulation, Medicare expansion, and other generally progressive policies.

American Muckrakers does, however, conduct genuine document-based investigative work. In Florida Elected CFO Sent Four Armed Agents to a 77-Year-Old Veteran Over a Postcard, Wheeler cites public records and a recorded interview and explicitly notes that the documents do not prove that the elected official personally ordered the investigation. This type of qualification demonstrates better evidentiary discipline than some of the organization’s earlier work.

Likewise, Boebert Crime Family Caught Again relies on publicly available Colorado court records concerning Tyler Boebert’s 2026 criminal charges and states that he is presumed innocent. Independent reporting subsequently confirmed the new felony case and the nature of the charges.

However, the sensational headline “Boebert Crime Family” demonstrates the outlet’s highly adversarial framing, and its journalism is inseparable from its political objective of defeating the politicians it investigates.

The most serious factual concern involves American Muckrakers’ 2022 campaign against Lauren Boebert. The organization publicly alleged that Boebert had worked as an unlicensed paid escort, had obtained two abortions, and had connections to wealthy political figures. Lead Stories investigated those claims and concluded that American Muckrakers had not produced independent verification or documentation supporting the allegations. One photograph the organization presented as Boebert was actually of another woman, and other evidence offered by the PAC did not establish its claims.

Other news organizations similarly described the accusations as unsupported or “wild claims” backed by little evidence. American Muckrakers nevertheless continued defending the underlying allegations.

Wheeler and American Muckrakers later sued Boebert for defamation after she publicly accused the group of fabricating its claims. The case was ultimately terminated in July 2024 after the parties agreed to dismiss the litigation.

Overall, current American Muckrakers reporting often uses public records, court filings, campaign-finance data, and primary documents, but its explicitly electoral mission, highly inflammatory language, and history of publishing poorly substantiated allegations substantially reduce reliability.

Failed Fact Checks

• In June 2022, American Muckrakers claimed that Rep. Lauren Boebert had worked as an unlicensed paid escort and had undergone two abortions. Lead Stories rated the allegations unsubstantiated, finding no independent verification, no documentary proof of the alleged escort work or abortions, and at least one photograph falsely identified as Boebert. Lead Stories also noted that American Muckrakers relied primarily on anonymous-source text messages and continued to stand by the allegations despite the absence of corroborating evidence. This represents a significant factual failure because the claims involved serious allegations about an identifiable political opponent and were published as part of an organization whose stated purpose included defeating that politician electorally.

Overall, we rate American Muckrakers left-biased based on its Democratic political orientation, progressive policy positions, explicit electoral efforts to defeat conservative Republicans, and overwhelmingly adversarial coverage of Trump-aligned politicians. We rate it Mixed for factual reporting because its current document-based investigations often use credible primary evidence, but that is offset by highly partisan framing and a documented history of publishing major unsubstantiated allegations, most notably its failed claims concerning Lauren Boebert. (D. Van Zandt 08/18/2026)

Source: https://www.americanmuckrakers.com/

Last Updated on August 18, 2026 by Media Bias Fact Check

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