Dave Wasserman, the top analyst over U.S. House races for the nonpartisan Cook Political Report, didn’t need long to announce a winner in the race for northwest Florida’s congressional seat.
“I’ve seen enough,” Wasserman tweeted about an hour after polls closed. “@CookPolitical November rating: Solid R.”
Wasserman was referring to Florida’s 1st Congressional District, where incumbent Rep. Matt Gaetz easily drubbed challenger Mark Lombardo in the Republican primary.
Gaetz captured 69 percent of the vote. Lombardo, a former executive with FedEx who was aided and backed by allies of the anti-Trump Lincoln Project, received 25 percent.
Wasserman’s take indicated Gaetz will have no problem with Rebekah Jones, the disgraced former Florida Department of Health employee who won the Democratic primary, even though a judge had ruled she ran afoul of Florida law by entering the race.
An appeals court allowed Jones to stay on the ballot.
Jones claim to fame is that she was a “whistleblower” who claimed Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis was cooking the books on COVID-19 deaths to make the state’s response look better than it was.
As it turned out, Jones never had access to the data she claim to have changed, a DOH inspector general’s report concluded her story was without merit and unsubstantiated, and she’s being investigated for having pilfered DOH data that she was not allowed to have.
Jones received 62 percent of the vote in that contest.
Yet the Republican vote just for Gaetz more than doubled the combined Democratic turnout for the primary between Jones and Peggy Schiller.
On Twitter, Gaetz simply stated, “Thank you Northwest Florida!”
Gaetz entered Tuesday’s election riding a couple of personal highs.
On Saturday, former President Donald Trump torpedoed one of Lombardo’s lines of attack by giving a full-throated endorsement of the incumbent.
“Rep. Matt Gaetz is a relentless Fighter for the incredible people of Florida’s 1st Congressional District!” Trump on his social media platform, Truth Social.
“Matt is a Champion of our MAGA Agenda, who tirelessly works to Drain the Swamp, Secure the Border, Support our Brave Veterans and Law Enforcement, Defend the Second Amendment, Stand Up to the Woke Mob, and Fight the Never-Ending Witch Hunts from the Radical Left that are destroying our Country!”
On Monday, a judge sentenced Stephen Alford to more than five years in prison.
Alford, a Fort Walton Beach businessman, attempted to extort $25 million from the Gaetz family in 2021, claiming he could get Matt Gaetz a pardon from President Joe Biden for an ongoing investigation that the congressman was involved in sex trafficking an underage girl.
Alford admitted to the scheme last November. Gaetz has denied any wrongdoing.
The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of The Free Press.
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