The Republican primaries for several of Florida's Congressional Districts have been fierce. While the District 7 race between Rep. Anthony Sabatini and Cory Mills is the major focus as of late, District 13 is proving just as contentious.
Sunday, Trump-backed Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL-13) tweeted a video attacking her opponent Kevin Hayslett. The video contains a clip of Hayslett's August 11th appearance on Fox 13, where he seemingly does not remember an anti-Trump Facebook post he wrote during the 2016 election, dated October 17th.
The host from a local TV news outlet pulled up the post during an interview with Hayslett, where Hayslett states he does not believe "either of our presidential candidates are anywhere close to being appropriate role models for our youth." Additionally, he says that while the "press" (quote is his, indicating sarcasm) has exposed Trump's faults, the election is obviously a matter of who is the lesser of two evils.
"We have not been as exposed by the mainstream media to HRC's (Hillary Clinton) shortcomings," he said. "Hayslett's post concludes that much of Clinton's shortcomings "provide some clarity into what a HRC Presidency would look like. Pick your poison."
Hayslett says he has not seen the post. "I think it goes back to what we talked about, which is, "what're we trying to look at?" And I think the issue is, "what are the policies?""
Patrick continues pressing Hayslett to confirm the post's accuracy, but Hayslett insists he has not seen it. The full interview can be found at Fox 13 here.
— Anna Paulina Luna (@VoteAPL) August 21, 2022
As seen in the post, Luna edited in an upper caption reading "Never Trumper Kevin Hayslett gets roasted on Fox 13."
The lower caption says, "Kevin Hayslett caught in a lie once again!" before changing to "Anna Paulina Luna is the only Trump endorsed candidate for Florida's 13th Congressional District!" Finally, the bottom caption reminds viewers the viewer "early voting starts August 13th!" Throughout the video, the theme song for Larry David's sitcom Curb Your Enthusiasm plays.
The Trump-backed Luna won her District 13 seat by a narrow 7-point margin against Amanda Makki, who has attacked Luna in the past for her previous support of Barack Obama, being a Democrat, and not voting for Gov. DeSantis in 2018.
