I learned recently that one of the people on the ballot - a sham candidate who has never lived in what is now Congressional District 1 - has filed a sham lawsuit to take me off the ballot.

She hired a former GOP state represenatative as her attorney and is invoking DeSantis' unconstitutional voter supression bill - SB90 - to steal the right of the people in our district to vote for the candidate they want. 

Why?

Because she knew she would not win and only ever worked to get Matt Gaetz re-elected from the start.

She filed to run against me in the Democratic primary after the new state maps were released, fully knowing she would be moved to District 2 once the maps were finalized. Having only lived in Florida all of two years, she decided not to run in her district, but instead to stay in mine.

Since then, she has been caught lying and defaming me (making her the subject of a massive, 280-page ethics complaint against her which is currently with the state board of elections), working openly with Ron DeSantis' key staff members, including Christina Pushaw and Jeremy Redfern, and has been kicked out of club meetings for her unhinged attacks on me and the democratic party behind me.

She has received no endorsements except one friend of hers and a guy who stalked and harassed me on Twitter for years. 

Seriously. 

Her campaign is so fake, they raised less than $5,000 all of last quarter, yet continue to spend tens of thousands more than that without disclosing who the money is coming from. 

I mostly ignored her because we all recognized the campaign for what it was - a sad joke meant to distract voters.

Now, they've gone too far.

Now, they don't want the voters to have a voice at all. 

This ridiculous lawsuit invokes one of DeSantis' most insane and unconstitutional new voter suppression laws - SB90 - which is currently the subject of a massive lawsuit led in party by Democratic Party allies.

She claims that I shouldn't qualify for the ballot because I was briefly registered in another state (ya know, when I fled from tyranny with my family), and thus do not meet the requirement to be registered with the Florida Democratic Party for 365-days before June 10, 2022.

It won't work. But that's not the point.

Like her GOP collaborators, it's a tactic to get attention and distract the voters from the issues. The lawsuit would not be settled by next month and thus would have no impact on the upcoming primary that she knows she is going to lose. If she were somehow successful, Matt Gaetz would be running unopposed in November. 

And because the Gaetz empire here has always had a stranglehold on the media, they're giving her the attention.

The reaction from the community was swift and clear. Endorsements from Dr. Cindy Banyai, Anthony Yantz, and Ryan Morales came in immediately. State officials circulated an email condemning the actions with DEC chairs across the state demanding the party take action. 

Rep. Katie Porter is working to get people across the state on our side. Nikki Fried's team was livid, mortified that a supposed Democrat would invoke SB90 to target the presumptive nominee in one of the most historic races in our state.

She knows she will lose so she is trying to steal your vote and give it to Matt Gaetz. 

All of this happened right after her chief campaign orchestrator, a woman who also lives in District 2 named Samantha Herring, was caught on video during a racist tirade in which she went full BBQ-Becky on one of our party's most passionate and effective advocates. 

She wants the attention.

Let's answer this attempt of election stealing by raising $50,000 before my birthday this Sunday and send a message to "Peggy," the GOP-obstructionists, and would-be election thieves that these tactics will not work in Florida - not today, tomorrow, or ever.