The leading Republican candidates for the U.S. House District 23 seat in Broward and Palm Beach counties have something in common, and it’s not good. They are election deniers.
In an interview with the Sun Sentinel Editorial Board, four candidates — Joe Budd, Steve Chess, Christy McLaughlin and Jim Pruden — questioned whether President Joe Biden fairly won in 2020. “No one knows,” said McLaughlin, of Boynton Beach.
Indulging — or, worse, believing that lie — may be mandatory for an appeal to GOP primary voters, but it’s an absolute disqualifier for service in Congress.
[ WATCH: Sun Sentinel candidate interview, Republican primary, U.S. House, District 23 ]
Florida already has too many representatives in Washington who are an embarrassment to the state and country by actively undermining democracy and perpetuating the myth of the stolen election.
Three other Republican candidates who didn’t participate in an interview or return questionnaires also are on the Aug. 23 primary ballot.
Reached by phone, Myles Perrone falsely claimed that Donald Trump won the election. On her website, Darlene Cerezo Swaffar backs the election lie. Ira Weinstein at least acknowledges that Biden won fairly. His website, though, includes the usual right-wing rants about the Democrats’ supposed “progressive woke socialist agenda.”
Pruden appears to be the most likely winner. He got 166,553 votes or 41.4% against Democratic U.S. Rep. Ted Deutch in 2020. In this race, Pruden was the only Republican to qualify by collecting petition signatures rather than pay a qualifying fee.
Budd, Palm Beach County’s Republican state committeeman, got 78,733 votes (31.3%) when he ran against Deutch in 2010.
Pruden talks of “ballot harvesting” in 2020 when none has been verified, especially in Florida.
None of these candidates is qualified. The Sun Sentinel makes no recommendation in the Republican primary for U.S. House District 23.
Carla Spalding of Plantation, who’s seeking the Republican nomination for U.S. House District 25, tweeted this on the Fourth of July: “When you think of patriotism, President Donald J. Trump always comes to mind.” Really? Spalding doesn’t speak for most voters in this district.
She celebrated the birth of our democracy by praising the man who sought to undermine it, encouraged a violent insurrection at the U.S. Capitol and actively worked to overturn the results of a free and fair election.
Her campaign website contains assorted half-truths and conspiratorial rhetoric such as this: America needs “currency-grade ballots that cannot be forged.”
Spalding’s GOP opponent is Rubin Young, who lists his residence as a post office box in Miami Beach, far outside the district. On his website, Young claims that the Democratic Party has embraced communism.
In emails to the Sun Sentinel, Young falsely accused U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Weston, the leading Democratic candidate in this district, of violating the “Eight is Enough” term limit amendment. Term limits do not apply to members of Congress.
Neither Spalding nor Young is qualified. The Sun Sentinel makes no recommendation in the Republican primary for U.S. House District 25.
Editorials are the opinion of the Sun Sentinel Editorial Board and written by one of its staff members. The Editorial Board consists of Editorial Page Editor Steve Bousquet, Deputy Editorial Page Editor Dan Sweeney and Editor-in-Chief Julie Anderson.
Read More: In GOP Congress primaries, avoid Big Lie believers – Sun Sentinel