Former Senate President Mike Haridopolos is running for Congress to replace the retiring Freedom Caucus Rep. Bill Posey in Florida’s 8th Congressional District, but Rep. Matt Gaetz has something to say about his support for the former Senate President.
Haridopolos, a proven conservative and friend to many elected officials both at the state and federal level, immediately received the endorsement of Rep. Posey and CFO Jimmy Patronis, but from no one else.
That’s fine, more conservatives will line up behind Haridopolos in the coming weeks, but it is important to set the record straight on errant reporting and those who may have jumped the gun of announcing or implying an endorsement for Haridopolos’s campaign by elected officials.
Rep. Matt Gaetz recently stated on “X” that friend, MAGA influencer Alex Bruesewitz “errantly included” him on a list of “Florida Republicans” he was “confident” would endorse Haridopolos. Rep. Gaetz added, “There is no basis for such confidence in reality.”
Gaetz made the statement in response to a story from a less credible “blog” that also stated that “Haridopolos received the endorsement of multiple conservative figures in Florida politics.”
“I’m confident the full weight of the MAGA movement will lineup behind Mike in this race. Mike has been a great friend of mine for many years and he has developed strong relationships with Florida leaders like Anna Paulina Luna and Cory Mills,” said Bruesewitz in a statement to the less credible blog.
Haridopolos would be a great addition to Florida’s congressional delegation, but will first have to get past a contested Republican primary election. Joe Babits and John Hearton have both paid the $10,440 qualifying fee to be on the August 10 primary election ballot.
The strategic move by Rep. Posey to announce his retirement and endorsement of Haridipolos on the last day of qualifying to be on the ballot was genius.
If Posey had announced his retirement earlier, stronger Republican congressional candidates would have certainly jumped into the race.
The Posey/Haridopolos play shut everyone else out and Haridopolos well-known fundraising prowess gives him an incredible advantage over Babits and Hearton.
According to he latest Federal Election Commission (FEC) filings, Babits has not reported that Hearton has raised $259k raised of which $140K is a loan(s) made by Mr. Hearton to his congressional campaign.
The Floridian first knew of Posey’s retirement months ago, but out of respect to“off the record” conversations, we kept it quiet.
