Marla Massey told host Matt Boyle that the RINO camp in Florida’s 5th Congressional District fears their nominated candidate is losing support. Breitbart News Saturday Her campaign is in the final stages ahead of the Aug. 20 primary.
Massie and Boyle discussed Rep. John Rutherford’s (R-Fla.) record and reputation in Washington, particularly his relationship with disgraced former Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.).
Boyle called Rutherford “one of the total establishment losers in Washington, D.C.,” adding, “This guy has the worst voting record of any Republican right now. He’s a terrible human being. Totally corrupt.”
He reflected on Cheney’s fall from grace, saying she received less than 30 percent of the vote in the Republican primary and lost re-election in the Wyoming primary.
“Liz Cheney is well known to our audience,” Boyle said. “She’s a terrible person. She voted for impeaching Trump. She led the January 6th Committee along with Democrats, Nancy Pelosi, and Bennie Thompson of Mississippi, a full Democrat, who literally wants to take the Secret Service away from Donald Trump. And Liz Cheney had the worst voting record by any conservative ranking system.” But Boyle pointed out that despite representing a solidly conservative district, Rutherford “actually polls worse than Liz Cheney according to any ranking system.”
Massie cited several prominent conservative groups, including the Heritage Foundation, Freedom Index and CPAC, whose voting scorecards show Rutherford voting less conservatively than Cheney, and discussed how Rutherford’s voting record could rebound on him.
“He scores worse than Liz Cheney on anything,” Massie said.
Massie said many residents in the district who know John throughout his long political career and even have “personal relationships, personal friends” with him are unaware of his voting record.
“It’s the same thing that’s happening across the country: ‘I don’t think it’s our candidate,'” she said. “That’s the problem with Congress. Overall, Congress has a terrible reputation across the country. But when you ask them about their representative in the House or even the Senate, they say, ‘Oh no, no, my candidate is fine.’
When she tells others about John’s voting record, she says people are surprised. “A lot of people are surprised, and then by the end of the conversation they say, OK, let’s take a look. Even if they’re close friends with John, they say, let’s take a look. So I’m getting somewhere among people who really love John. I mean, after years of friendship, there are people who say they’re still friends with John but they’ll vote for me. But I still have to get people who don’t actually pay any attention to understand.”
Boyle and Massie discussed the influence she is having as she conducts her grassroots door-to-door campaign with her many supporters in the district, including the St. Johns County Republican Executive Committee and prominent local conservatives.
“I can point to these organizations and people and say, ‘Listen, there’s a reason they’re supporting me,'” Massie said. She continued, “We have a lot more support, and a lot more people who are open to the idea of at least switching their vote from John to me, but from what I’m hearing, [Rutherford’s campaign is] They are actually doing push poling, which is something they didn’t do back in 2022 because they felt safe and confident, but the fact that they’re doing push poling now shows that they’re feeling the pressure.”
“We all know he’s not doing his job. It’s time for John to retire,” Massie said of his campaign’s energy, before detailing the challenges of running against a well-funded establishment candidate, such as finding businesses that will allow signs on their premises.
“This is really a battle against an expensive system,” she said. “We’re trying to distribute mail… Mail costs a lot of money. I think a lot of people need to realize that too. It costs tens of thousands of dollars to send mail. [to] In districts like my own.”
But an emboldened Massie is undeterred. “My campaign has the support of ordinary grassroots people, the American people, so I have to choose to spend every penny extremely wisely, which is a good thing for anyone who makes it to Congress,” she said. “But that’s the difference between a big campaign and a small campaign. If you’re getting mail, it’s from someone backed by big money.”
Boyle, who lives in Massie’s district, recounted interactions with constituents who were eager to vote for her. “They know their congressman is a failure, and they know who you are,” he told Massie. “And that message is getting out, right?”
He continued, “I think this has taken on a life of its own. I think the establishment is shocked and surprised, in a good way, which is why they’re starting to do the things you’re talking about here, whether it’s push polls, ads, whatever. They’re freaking out because they’re realizing, ‘Oh, we underestimated this woman.'”
Massie discussed how important it is to vote at the national level, not just locally, during this election cycle.
“I can’t emphasize enough that this is an opportunity to get rid of the Republican Nobel candidate, because they know how weak he was in this election and how hijacked he was,” Massie declared. “And even if they win and they get John elected in this election, they’re not going to let him run again. They’re going to pick somebody else from their Republican Nobel candidates and put that person in office, and they’re going to say, ‘No, this guy’s a grassroots guy. We all love him. He’s done this and that and all the things that you love. This guy is so much better than the last guy, but really, this is a replacement for John and in a few years it’s going to end up being the same thing. You’re just going to have another one-party establishment Nobel candidate.”
She recalled a conversation she had with Roger Stone and Laura Loomer at a Republican event in Jacksonville on Friday night where they both had a chance to address voters.
One of John’s supporters came up to me and said, “Why are you running against John?” He thought I was running because I wanted to be a politician, which I definitely don’t. I never wanted to be a politician. I follow politics. I care about politics. We are a military family. I care about who is sending our husbands and our friends to war. So I told him, “Because John’s record is so bad.” And he said, “What’s wrong with him voting?” I listed all the things I said and he wanted to argue, but he just nodded and said, “Yeah, that’s bad too.”
So if you live in this district, it’s really important that you look out and talk to your friends, your family, your neighbors. Communicate with everyone that you know. Get out and vote on August 20th. And vote for me. This is your last chance to elect a Republican Northern New Orleans candidate from the 5th Congressional District and from Florida.
Boyle noted that Rutherford “hasn’t even really been campaigning” and asked if he’d agreed to debate Massie.
“To be honest with you, he hasn’t really had to campaign,” she replied. “He was elected to run for this seat, so someone else does it for him. And when I ran for sheriff, I don’t think he was canvassing door to door every day like I was, so he’s not always that easy to reach,” she continued.
He was accessible before, [he was] It’s the same with me showing up at the door, and that’s really the difference between him and me. I wasn’t the one chosen. So when I asked him if he would debate, he actually asked me last spring if he had an opponent this time, if he would debate that opponent, and he said absolutely he would. I think there’s a recording somewhere. But he didn’t do it. He doesn’t show up to events, he doesn’t come and meet me and try to debate. He doesn’t do it…
But he doesn’t, even though he said he would, because he knows he would lose.
Boyle said, Breitbart News Saturday Rutherford did not accept the invitation.
“I know people close to him are saying he wants to have a conversation, etc.,” Boyle said. “He doesn’t have the guts to go on a show and answer real questions about his stock trading before the Aug. 20 primary. He doesn’t have the guts to stand in front of the nation and debate. He won’t do that.”
Massie encouraged anyone interested in supporting her campaign to get in touch.
“If you have any major donors, small donors or even just any donors, we are accepting donations and those donations will go towards sending out mailings and reaching people that we can’t reach on social media or other platforms,” she concluded. “So please don’t hesitate to contact me, I’m very responsive and I respond promptly.”
It’s only natural for a civil servant.
Breitbart News Saturday airs from 10am-1pm ET on SiriusXM Patriot 125.
Bradley Jay is Capitol Hill correspondent for Breitbart News. Follow him on X/Twitter. translator.
