Democrats call on Ron DeSantis to fire Brett Kavanaugh defender
Lourdes de la Peña sits down with CNN about Brett Kavanaugh accusations.

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Florida Democrats called on Republican gubernatorial candidate Ron DeSantis to fire a woman from his campaign after she questioned if Brett Kavanaugh’s accuser was merely bitter because he liked another girl.

Lourdes de la Peña participated in a CNN interview of female Kavanaugh supporters that went viral this weekend. In the course of the interview, de la Peña said she had “no sympathy” for Christine Blasey Ford, a Palo Alto University professor who says Kavanaugh assaulted her at a party when both were in high school.

De la Peña suggested teenage jealousy played a role in Ford’s accusations.

“Perhaps maybe at that moment she liked him. And maybe he didn’t pay attention to her afterwards and he went out with another girl. She got bitter,” she said. “Whatever the situation is, they’re kids.”

The Florida Democratic Party afterward noted de la Peña serves on DeSantis’ Finance Leadership Team and as of March served as Miami-Dade Campaign Coordinator for his primary campaign.

Terrie Rizzo, Florida Democratic Party chairwoman, says DeSantis now must cut her loose.

“Lourdes Castillo de la Peña’s attacks on Dr. Christine Blasey Ford were horrifying and have rightfully drawn national condemnation,” Rizzo said. “DeSantis should immediately fire de la Peña from his campaign and denounce the shaming of victims of sexual assault. Ron DeSantis needs to make clear that women must be believed.”

In the course of the interview, which also included comments by former Congressional candidate Gina Sosa, de la Peña said Ford’s credibility comes into question because of how long it took her to make the accusation.

“How can we believe the word of a woman on something that happened 36 years ago and this guy [Kavanaugh] has an impeccable reputation,” de la Peña said. “Because one woman made an allegation? I’m sorry, I don’t buy it.”

When CNN correspondent Randi Kaye asked if this should be investigated by the FBI the same as accusations of now-Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, de la Peña dismissed that as a false comparison.

“This is not the same,” she said. “This is a high school kid. This is not Anita Hill. Sorry.”

De la Peña said she believed Kavanaugh that nothing happened, but also said you can’t “judge the character of a man based on what he did at 17.”

When asked if the allegation were true if she’d still support Kavanaugh’s confirmation, de la Peña gave a conditional affirmation.

“As long as that’s an isolated incident,” she said, “then yes.”

Jacob Ogles

Jacob Ogles has covered politics in Florida since 2000 for regional outlets including SRQ Magazine in Sarasota, The News-Press in Fort Myers and The Daily Commercial in Leesburg. His work has appeared nationally in The Advocate, Wired and other publications. Events like SRQ’s Where The Votes Are workshops made Ogles one of Southwest Florida’s most respected political analysts, and outlets like WWSB ABC 7 and WSRQ Sarasota have featured his insights. He can be reached at [email protected].


4 comments

  • Scrambles

    September 23, 2018 at 9:12 pm

    Maybe it’s because Democrats are desperate, delusional, and just plain dumb. Good luck in November losers.

  • Tony

    September 23, 2018 at 9:51 pm

    Funny how DemonRats want every woman to be believed unless it is a Conservative woman or doesn’t go along with their BS.

  • Shag

    September 24, 2018 at 9:43 am

    In this world 80% of decisions are considered emotional in nature. In this specific case the implication is that the accuser may also have been motivated by emotional factors. Also they where 17 and at a party. I’m sure it was all pin the tale on the donkey and lemonade too. One isolated incident even if true and inappropriate, does not define character. No offense in her statement. One could easily have said, Kids do stupid things while learning about alcohol, sex, and drugs. With experience they learn and grow to be better adults.

    Obama wrote about hot boxing with his buds while a teen. I’m sure he did not bring the same strategy to creative decision process in the white house….or did he? I see clearly now…..Nancy R with her psychic and B with his psychedelics. No wonder politics is such a mess.

  • Nancy

    September 24, 2018 at 1:27 pm

    Fo the Dems rven look into the fact that Mrs. Castillo de la Pena is a supporter of Ron DeSantis’, aka a volunteer.

    So tell us how you “fire” a volunteer.

    Kavanaugh will be an excellent justice.

    Sorry but the timing of this the night before it’s sent to a full vote and a 36 year delay in coming forward is political, and no at this point I don’t believe it happened either.

    I didn’t believe Anita Hill and her vile, wreck-less attacks on Clarence Thomas’ character either.

Comments are closed.


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