Bigotry Appears to Rear Head in Contentious Florida Republican Primary Race

The closer we get to the August 23 primary, election the deeper the hole Rep. Anthony Sabatini could be digging himself in his Republican congressional primary race.

A campaign text possibly sent out by Sabatini or an affiliate group supporting his campaign, or an individual supporting his efforts, is attacking the wife of one of his congressional primary opponents.

The text attacks Sabatini's opponent businessman Cory Mills and his wife Rana al Saadi, calling her "radical" and "anti-Christian."

"RINO Cory Mills & his radical anti-Christian wife are lying about DeSantis-ally Anthony Sabatini," reads the text in question.

While it is true that the Iraqi-American al Saadi was born of the Muslim faith, she has taken Jesuit studies courses in college and does not consider herself Muslim.

This hardly makes her "anti-Christian."

Al Saadi, who worked for the Trump administration in Iraq gathering intelligence, is a “believer in God” and attends mass with her Mills, who is a devout Catholic.

Mills himself has a rosary tattooed on his left arm and recently spoke with conservative Catholic news site Church Militant in March about his run for Congress.

Additionally, Mills is a combat veteran and has been wounded, while Sabatini has never deployed overseas.

Al Saadi’s brother and father were both assassinated because their father requested Islam to be removed from schools in Iraq and both her and other family members supported the US.

As The Floridian has covered, this is not the first time Sabatini or his campaign have been caught lying. Last week, American Liberty Action PAC released a series of attack ads targeting Sabatini for his Democrat past and votes against Gov. Ron DeSantis’s “Freedom First” budget.

A defensive Sabatini told followers on social media to "follow the money," claiming American Liberty Action was an anti-Trump PAC with ties to Mitt Romney (R-UT).

Not only did we find that American Liberty Action PAC  has ties to President Trump's 2016 and 2020 campaigns and supporting Super PACS, but it is possible that Trump himself sanctioned the PAC's directives against Sabatini.

In the past, Sabatini has been accused of being racist or a bigot for dressing up in “Blackface” as as Pancho Villa. Sabatini is endorsed by Senator Rand Paul, Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene, Matt Gaetz, Thomas Massie, Paul Gosar, Louis Gohmer, Andy Biggs, and Dan Bishop, in addition to General Michael Flynn.