TAMPA, Fla. – An appeals court Friday overturned a ruling that would have made a Tampa Bay-area congressional candidate ineligible to run in this year’s elections.
The decision by a three-judge panel of the 1st District Court of Appeal came four days before Republican Jerry Torres will square off in a primary in Congressional District 14 in Hillsborough and Pinellas counties.
In a case filed by the Florida Democratic Party and two other plaintiffs, including former state Rep. Sean Shaw, D-Tampa, Leon County Circuit Judge John Cooper ruled that Torres was ineligible to run because campaign paperwork was not properly notarized.
But the appeals-court panel said the paperwork had been accepted by the Florida Department of State’s Division of Elections and that the Democratic Party and the other plaintiffs “could not obtain a judicial remedy overriding the department’s decision to qualify Torres.”
The decision, written by Judge Timothy Osterhaus and joined by Judges Clay Roberts and Robert Long, said a law underpinning the plaintiffs’ case “provides no textual or contextual support for finding a private right of action. Rather than granting private enforcement rights and authority for courts to declare if candidate paperwork has been properly verified, the statute expressly delegates this work to the department.”
The appeals court last week approved a request by Torres for a stay of Cooper’s ruling while the court considered the issues. Friday’s decision directed Cooper to enter a judgment in favor of Torres, who is running against Republicans James Judge and Sam Nashagh in Tuesday’s primary as the GOP hopes to unseat U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor, D-Fla., in November.
In his Aug. 4 ruling that Torres was ineligible, Cooper wrote that Torres submitted three campaign oaths, including oaths notarized by Mississippi notaries. But Cooper wrote that Torres was not present when the documents were notarized, as required.
“Defendant Torres did not sign the oath form before a notary public or by using online notarization,” Cooper wrote. “He did not fill out the form. He was never placed under oath. He never even spoke to the notaries who purported to witness his signature. Although the second and third oath forms indicated defendant Torres signed them on June 16, 2022, before a notary in Mississippi, he admits he was in Sierra Leone at the time.”
Friday’s decision came as the appeals court also considers a dispute about the eligibility of Democratic candidate Rebekah Jones in Congressional District 1 in Escambia, Santa Rosa, Okaloosa and Walton counties.
Cooper ruled that Jones was ineligible because she had not met a legal requirement of being a registered Democrat for 365 days before qualifying. The appeals court last week put that ruling on hold while it considered the issue. A decision had not been posted on the appeals court’s website as of early Friday evening.
Peggy Schiller, another Democratic candidate in the race, challenged the eligibility of Jones, who drew widespread attention when she alleged Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration manipulated COVID-19 data. Democrats are trying to defeat U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., in the heavily Republican district.
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