Frank Torres
Randy Osborne is questioning the wisdom of the Republican Party of Florida, which is thinking of using an invite to exclude presidential candidates from the Florida primary.
Osborne, chair of the Marion County Republican Executive Committee, sent out an email Tuesday to membership slamming an idea from the ROPF to keep candidates who will not attend November’s Sunshine Summit off the Republican primary ballot.
“Are We Prepared to Lose Thousands of Republican Voters?” says the idea would wreck all current outreach efforts to register new voters and implement grassroots strategies.
“The attempt to mandate who gets on the ballot based on whether or not a candidate can show up to an event is a dangerous decision that will disenfranchise voters and destroy all of our efforts of growing the party,” the email says.
The Sunshine Summit is a check-down from the “Presidency” series that features a televised debate and straw poll usually hosted by the RPOF, putting the state in the national spotlight ahead of the Republican Presidential Primary.
Many candidates might have had previously scheduled events that conflicted with the late planning of the Sunshine Summit, Osbourne continued: “We are placing candidates in a position to break their word with other commitments.”
Right now, other than Floridians Jeb Bush and Marco Rubio, it is unknown how many more Presidential candidates have confirmed for the summit. Marion County joined the Republican Liberty Caucus in voicing about the concept.
RPOF will vote on the measure Friday.
