Florida Republican Congressional candidate Mara Massie Breitbart News Saturday Mainstream Republicans are upset that she has gained key local support over their own candidate, Rep. John Rutherford (R-Fla.), and are “stepping up the pressure,” he said.
Massie participated in the program with the overwhelming support of the St. Johns County Republican Executive Committee, a significant endorsement given that St. Johns is one of the two largest counties in Florida’s 5th Congressional District and the endorsement comes after former President Donald Trump endorsed Rutherford in the primary.
“The powers that be are definitely stepping up the pressure. They’re not happy with these endorsements,” said Massie, whose support also includes St. Johns County Commissioner Krista Keating Joseph.
“We have patriots in St. Johns County. They win with constituency strategies and it shows. When I stood up to speak, whether I wanted my party’s backing in my election or not, I stood there and I said it like it was,” she added.
“I told people, ‘This is your chance to endorse somebody. The others are either being advised by bad political consultants to keep the swamp monster out, or politicians are just picking people to work with. Or they’re endorsed by lobbyists or special interests.’ So this is actually the voice of the people, and not just the general public, but the voice of the Republican people of St. John’s,” she recalled.
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Massie then compared St. Johns County to Duval County, saying that because of the influence of the establishment there, support will never be expressed in the same way.
“But Duvall is owned by the establishment and would never make that kind of endorsement. They said that at an event I was at … earlier this week. … But they were pushed back,” Massie told Breitbart News’ Washington bureau chief Matt Boyle. “The chairman and vice-chair of the Duvall Republican Party said, ‘Oh, we would never do that.'”
“The thing is, the people don’t have the power to say no. The people have the power to put forward a motion that they support, and they have to get that through like any other motion,” she added. “And if they get the numbers they need, they’ll support it. Or, if they don’t like the people of that party, they can vote not to support it. But the people have to remember that the power is theirs. The people of St. John’s know that, and they want their voice to be heard, and they’ve made it happen.”
Boyle said there were signs that Rutherford, who helped Democrats block Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) from becoming speaker and cast the deciding vote to reject an amendment that would have blocked warrantless surveillance of Americans, was “very worried right now” and that his political allies were “feeling the pressure.” He also said, “I believe he’s missed events he was scheduled to attend in his district without telling anyone.”
Massie said since being told he wasn’t engaging enough with the community, he has attended more events but has received his fair share of criticism.
“We’ve been bashing him for ages. You’ve been bashing him for ages. So what do you think he’s doing now? He’s starting to show up, but he’s getting a lot of backlash at these events, even events where he thinks they’re safe,” she said, urging listeners in Duval County to attend upcoming events he’ll be attending.
It’s set to take place on Tuesday at the Greater Intercoastal Republican Club in Queens Harbour, Massie said.
“Rumor has it that he [Republican Executive Comittee] “They speak in Duval, but again, it’s a safe space. They control the narrative there. Not everyone agrees with it, but it’s the people in charge, the establishment,” she said.
“So he listens to us, he listens to his campaign, he listens to the public, and every time we point out that he’s wrong, he has an excuse. It doesn’t matter if it’s the stock market or FISA,” she continued. “If he hears anybody talking about his scorecard, the conservative scorecard, he comes back and goes after the people who create the scorecard, whether it’s the New American Scorecard or the Heritage Foundation, it doesn’t matter. If he gets a bad score, he’s going to say the foundation is the reason it’s bad.”
The primary election is scheduled for August 20th.
Breitbart News Saturday airs from 10am-1pm ET on SiriusXM Patriot 125.
