Matt Gaetz, Roger Stone endorse Laura Loomer for Congress

Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz and longtime GOP operative Roger Stone are endorsing Laura Loomer as she competes for the Republican nomination in Florida’s 21st Congressional District.

“You need her in Washington fighting for you,” Stone said recently at a Palm Beach County event at Trump International Golf Club.

“We need her in Washington to join the band of rebels because she is courageous. She is knowledgeable. She is fearless.”

Added Gaetz, “When we find folks who they try to disappear or silence because they chose to speak out, we need to have their back! And that’s why I’m proud to endorse Laura Loomer for Congress.”

Gaetz is referring to Loomer’s purge from Twitter after she used the platform to call Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota “anti-Jewish.”

Loomer is competing for the GOP nomination against Christian Acosta, Elizabeth Felton, Aaron Scanlan, Reba Sherrill and Michael Vilardi.

“I am honored to receive endorsements of my candidacy from Republican political icon Roger Stone and Florida Congressman Matt Gaetz, who is arguably one of the best fighters we have In Congress in the Republican Party,” Loomer said, according to a statement received by the Washington Examiner.

“I look forward to being a freedom fighter in Congress with him next year after I flip Florida’s 21st District Red in November. Together, we are going to be a great team for Florida, the American people, and President [Donald] Trump. I’m also very excited that Roger Stone will be joining me on the campaign trail now that he has been granted clemency by President Trump.”

Stone faced jail time after lying to Congress regarding his efforts to contact WikiLeaks and secure damaging information on then-Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton in 2016. Trump commuted Stone’s sentence just days before Stone was set to report to jail.

While the two new endorsements may help Loomer come out on top in the Aug. 18 primary, she’s still facing huge hurdles come November.

Democrats have a 17.5 percentage point advantage over Republicans when it comes to voter registration. Incumbent Democratic Rep. Lois Frankel won reelection in 2016 by more than 25 percentage points and ran unopposed in 2018.

While Loomer has taken in the most money among the GOP field, she’s also spent a lot of that cash in fundraising expenses to attract donations in the first place. With that cash quickly leaving her campaign, Loomer still massively trails Frankel in cash on hand. Frankel is sitting on more than $1.25 million as of July 29, while Loomer retains nearly $220,000.