Democrats, Republicans Look To Put Ugly Florida Primaries Featuring Accused Carpetbaggers, Crooks, and Racists Behind Them

On Tuesday, Democrats and Republicans will finally end what has been an especially ugly and divisive primary season in the state of Florida. From the gubernatorial election down to critical House races, the primaries have featured a host of accused carpetbaggers, criminals, and racists. Florida has one of the latest primary dates of the off-year elections, with only Rhode Island, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Delaware holding their primaries after the August 18 date this year. The problem for both Democrats and Republicans now will be trying to put the vicious primary campaigns behind them. The most prominent of the nasty races in the state this year has undeniably been the Republican primary for governor. The field includes a Trump-endorsed congressman, the sitting lieutenant governor, a former state house speaker, and a former investor who has gained traction among the youth thanks, in part, to his virtue signaling for the followers of Nick Fuentes, the Holocaust-denying racist. The investor in question, James Fishback, has been floating somewhere around second or third place in the primary, taking between ten and 15 percent of the vote, according to polling aggregators. President Trump’s chosen candidate, Congressman Byron Donalds, is the heavy favorite to win with a 30-point-plus lead over his opponents. Mr. Fishback has made Mr. Donalds, who is black, the face of the Florida establishment by using explicitly derogatory terms — calling him a “slave” to corporate interests and pro-Israel groups. Mr. Fishback also caused a great deal of controversy earlier this year when he told a black man that he should be “lynched” after he questioned Mr. Fishback about allegations that he had had a relationship with a minor. Democrats have already locked up their gubernatorial ticket, with a former Republican congressman, David Jolly, who has since become a Democrat, leading his new party into November. Mr. Jolly chose another former member of Congress, Gwen Graham, as his running mate. Ms. Graham is the daughter of a legendary former governor, Bob Graham, who also served in the U.S. Senate and ran for president. Down ballot, there are a number of House races that have caused consternation within both parties. On the Democratic side, two seats in particular have featured some ugly primaries due to Republicans’ decision to redraw the state’s congressional map this year. Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz, a Jewish woman who has represented South Florida for more than two decades, saw her deep-blue district redrawn to make it much harder for a Democrat to win. Instead of competing in a red seat, Ms. Wasserman Schultz decided to run in a neighboring majority-black district, much of which she has never before represented in the House. “Debbie Wasserman Schultz is carpetbagging to FL-20, a black opportunity district instead of running in her own,” Ms. Wasserman Schultz’s chief primary opponent, Elijah Manley, who is black, wrote on X. “DWS is everything that’s wrong with the Democratic establishment. From insider trading to payday lenders.”“I look forward to retiring her from public office permanently,” Mr. Manley wrote. After the Supreme Court declared earlier this year that drawing maps based on race was unconstitutional, a number of southern states — which for years had been required to protect a number of majority-minority districts — chose to do away with those maps in order to increase Republicans’ chances of holding the House. Florida was one of the Republican-led states to do just that. Ms. Wasserman Schultz’s decision to run for one of the few southern majority-black districts left has caused some deep resentment toward her in the party. The minority leader, Congressman Hakeem Jefffies, has declined to endorse Ms. Wasserman Schultz in her primary, even though he always endorses his incumbent colleagues for re-election. The Congressional Black Caucus similarly has stayed out of the race, a rare rebuke for a sitting House Democrat. To the north, Congressman Cory Mills is at real risk of losing his primary on Tuesday. Accused of domestic violence and violations of the House’s rules around doing government contract work while a sitting lawmaker, Mr. Mills is trailing his GOP primary opponent in the polls. Mr. Mills is currently under investigation by the House Ethics Committee. In a district neighboring Mr. Mills’s, Congressman Randy Fine, a Jewish lawmaker who has made supporting Israel one of his chief goals in the House, is facing a primary challenger from an openly antisemitic social media influencer. The influencer in question, Dan Bilzerian, on Monday posted an AI-generated video referring to Mr. Fine as “Satan’s creepy little minion” and a “fat Jew.”The ad also asked if America should revisit the “Austrian painter’s opinions,” a reference to Adolf Hitler. The ad features a generated video of Hitler holding a paintbrush. The strangest GOP primary of them all may be the race to succeed Mr. Donalds in the House. That campaign features two ex-members of Congress, one of whom previously pled guilty to charges of insider trading, two former congressional candidate from Illinois, and one man pardoned by President Trump for crimes committed at the January 6, 2021 riot at the U.S. Capitol. Congressman Madison Cawthorn and Chris Collins, the two former lawmakers, are both running to return to the House. Mr. Cawthorn lost his primary in 2022 after less than two years as a congressman after a number of scandals in his personal life. Mr. Collins resigned from Congress during Mr. Trump’s first term after pleading guilty to the charges of insider trading. Mr. Collins was pardoned by Mr. Trump in 2020. The two Illinoisans, Catalina Lauf and Jim Oberweis, both previously ran for Congress in their home state, but both failed to win their elections. The January 6 riot participant, John Strand, has leaned heavily into his participation in the protest as a reason that voters should trust him. He describes himself as a January 6 “hostage,” even though he was convicted of attacking police officers by a jury of his peers. According to polling, Republicans are heavily favored to win the U.S. Senate race and most House races in this year’s midterm elections. The gubernatorial race has proven to be closer, though, with Mr. Donalds leading Mr. Jolly by only single digits in a deep-red state. “Voters are screaming for change,” Mr. Jolly wrote on X on Sunday. “After 30 years of one-party control in Tallahassee, housing, healthcare, and education have become too expensive for too many Floridians.”Correction: Madison Cawthorn lost his primary for re-election in 2022. An earlier version misspelled his surname.

Democrats, Republicans Look To Put Ugly Florida Primaries Featuring Accused Carpetbaggers, Crooks, and Racists Behind Them

Democrats, Republicans Look To Put Ugly Florida Primaries Featuring Accused Carpetbaggers, Crooks, and Racists Behind Them

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