Mitch Perry
The Florida House of Representatives voted 83-32 Wednesday to replace a statue of Confederate Army Gen. Edmund Kirby Smith in the U.S. Capitol’s National Statuary Hall.
The move began last summer after South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley took down the Confederate flag from its State House grounds. Haley’s move occurred after a white gunman killed nine black churchgoers in Charleston. Shooter Dylann Roof had photographed himself holding the flag.
Brandon Republican Ross Spano opposed the House measure.
Rena Frazier, one of two Democrats competing to face Spano in House District 59 seat, tghen blasted him as casting a “shameful” vote.
“Today’s vote by Ross Spano is an embrace of the Donald Trump wing of the Republican Party,” Frazier said Wednesday night in a statement. “It is shameful that with our legacy of great Floridians, Ross Spano has opted to back a Confederate General over countless other inspirational Florida leaders of the past.”
Frazier said, “Florida’s contribution to the National Statuary Hall should represent the vibrant and diverse state that we are today.”
Frazier opposes Naze Sahebzamani in the HD 59 Democratic primary in August.
