Fake text says Byron Donalds dropped out of CD 19 race (he most certainly did not)

BYRON DONALDS
He's still running, and blaming Casey Askar for the dirty trick.

A text blasted out to phones in Florida’s 19th Congressional District say Byron Donalds dropped out of the GOP primary. But Donalds is still running, and he’s pointing fingers at one opponent he believes to be behind the dirty trick.

“A text message just went out from a rival campaign, and I know whose campaign it is,” Donald said in a Facebook Live video. “This is the Casey Askar campaign.”

Donalds and Askar are among nine people vying today for the Republican nomination for an open Congressional seat.

The mass text this morning falsely stated Donalds was quitting on Election Day. “While it may seem disappointing, I promise that my fight to expand the party and defend President Trump is now over,” it said.

It then shows a screenshot of Donalds with his wife and one of their children with a Fox 4 headline “Byron Donalds drops out of…” It also includes a hyperlink to a supposed statement, which is excerpted and mentions Donalds endorsements by Club for Growth and Americans for Prosperity. But the link is dead and doesn’t go to any site.

Donalds said he feels certain the false texts originate from Askar’s campaign consultant, Jeff Roe.

That’s because the tactic closely resembles a similar rumor being spread in the Iowa caucuses in 2016 that Ben Carson had dropped out of the Presidential race. But Carson had not, and pinned blame for the rumor on rival Ted Cruz’s campaign.

Donalds notes Rowe managed both Cruz’s Presidential campaign and Askar’s run for Congress.

“They have been lying and they have been despicable this entire process but it ends today,” Donalds said. “You see it’s Election Day. You the voters have a choice to make. Do not follow the lies from this despicable text that came from Casey Askar. This is ridiculous. It’s time to send a proven conservative to Washington and not get into these petty political fights that only confuse voters.”

Of course, both Donalds and Carson are Black conservatives. If Donalds wins the election, he may be the only Black Republican serving in the House.

Askar’s team denies any involvement.

“Byron Donalds is 100% wrong,” reads a statement from the campaign. “The Askar campaign has sent 0 text messages today. We haven’t even seen the text to which he is referring. This is either Byron Donalds’ weak attempt at a last-minute political smear on Casey Askar, or it is the work of the political hacks on Dane Eagle’s team.

“Either way, they’re showing their true colors — they must be terrified of Casey to drop this in the final hours of the campaign.”

Eagle, a Cape Coral state lawmaker also is running. But for what it’s worth, that camp denies any involvement as well.

“I would never do anything like that,” said Terry Miller, Eagle’s campaign manager.  “That to me is below the line of ethics. It’s wrong.”

He said if Askar’s team was pointing fingers at Donalds and Eagle, that seemed “self-explanatory.”

Meanwhile, outside experts said whoever was responsible was not just violating scruples but potentially breaking the law.

“Unfortunately, some desperate campaigns and consultants turn to dirty tactics on the eve of an election or in this case on the day of the election. Such tactics may not be without consequence though,” said Benjamin Gibson, an attorney with Shutts & Bowen, whose practice includes election law.

“Florida law provides for criminal penalties for individuals that knowingly use false information to keep individuals from voting or interfere with their right to vote for the candidate of their choice. There are also civil penalties under Florida law for candidates that knowingly and maliciously make false statements about an opposing candidate. More should be done to prevent these last-minute dirty tactics designed to deceive voters.”

 

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].


6 comments

  • john b. dicke

    August 18, 2020 at 11:04 am

    I am sure it was the Figlesthaler campaign that did it, as he is really the only true scumbag in the field.

  • Brittany

    August 18, 2020 at 11:11 am

    This is irresponsible reporting. You make the whole article look like Casey Askar’s campaign did it and only at the bottom do you post a quote from Askar’s campaign denying any involvement. Your entire article makes Byron look good and accurate at blaming Casey. This is not fair or honest reporting (I was a news reporter, I know the responsibility and the corruption) and you cannot call yourself a journalist with this biased tactic. Truly shameful! I know you are better than this and capable of more. I hope you step more fully into the goodness you’re capable of spreading and no longer participate in fear mongering and spreading lies through “reporting”. Blessings.

    • Just sayin'

      August 19, 2020 at 8:25 am

      I did not read the article that way at all. Thought the article was pretty fair.

  • Frances

    August 18, 2020 at 12:01 pm

    My guess is its Askar’s PAC. Its not run by Jeff Roe. Look at Matt Pusateri and Trey Radel. They are running the negative PAC.

  • Dennis Dayman

    August 18, 2020 at 3:34 pm

    Whoever it was used Twilio/Inteliquent platforms to do it. The seem to be powering most of the spam political texts these days. Wonder if you need to call on them Jacob and ask them if they can look into the person(s) who used their platfoms

Comments are closed.


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