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Regardless of who wins the highly anticipated race for Florida’s 1st Congressional District, the Northeast Florida seat will be represented by a lawmaker facing legal challenges.
The Lebanese US Rep. Matt Gaetz is looking for a fourth term in Congress and hopes to pass an ongoing criminal investigation into sex trafficking allegations. This time, there is a Democratic challenger Rebecca Jones faces an uphill battle to oust him from the Republican primary as he prepares to stand trial over alleged hacking of the Florida Department of State’s communications system.
Gaetz, a liberal star for his vocal support of the former President Donald Trump, has dug his heels into the fringes of his party since being accused of breaking sex-trafficking laws by paying for a sexual relationship with a 17-year-old girl. He denies the allegations – and reports say prosecutors do will not pay him – but he’s already out of favor with the Republican establishment, giving Democrats a chance to oust him.
Gaetz has associated himself with figures such as Georgia US Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greenewho promoted false accusations that Trump won the 2020 election.
But Jones, it’s already done fight in court to appear on the Democratic Primary ballot after a brief residency in Maryland and registering as an independent, more illegal than Gaetz.
Jones rose to prominence when he was fired from the DOH for dissent, allegedly for refusing to manipulate COVID-19 data. Since then, prosecutors have accused Jones of hacking into an emergency messaging system, and law enforcement conducted a raid on his home. Jones a request was denied action earlier this year, put him on the road to the January 23 trial.
Last month, it was two sit down for a 30-minute debate on local television, detailing their differences on abortion and chronic health care.
Jones promises to secure funding for a new Veterans Affairs hospital in Northwest Florida. Meanwhile, Gaetz has advocated for the abolition of the US Department of Veterans Affairs after years of controversy at the agency. His plan would provide veterans with government-funded health care through private doctors.
Political observers are watching the CD 1 race more for the characters and intrigue than the competitive nature of the race — or lack thereof. The only public poll in the race shows Jones leading by 6 percent, or Gaetz ahead by 2 points. But the second study comes from Political Matrix/The Listener Group, which says it uses “real data” but many outside polls favor Democrats.
FiveThirtyEight gives Gaetz more than a 99% chance of winning the race and predicts the final margin is 65%-35%.
CD 1 The county’s western Florida area covers Escambia, Santa Rosa and Okaloosa counties and the western half of Walton County.
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