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When Consultant Matt Gaetz received the Republican main for Florida’s 1st district, an overwhelmingly conservative district, he all however assured that he’ll win re-election in November.
However he is not going to run unopposed. That very same night time, Rebekah Jones received the Democratic nomination within the 1st district. Ms Jones has change into one thing of a trigger célèbre in Florida politics.
For some, she is a thought of a courageous whistleblower for risking her profession and imprisonment by talking out towards Governor Ron DeSantis throughout the Covid-19 pandemic. However to others, she’s a fabulist who has made herself right into a martyr.
Mr DeSantis fired Ms Jones throughout the coronavirus pandemic, for what she stated was her refusal to control knowledge about Covid-19. Ms Jones launched her personal sprint board and stated at one level that “I’ve independently verified they’ve deleted a minimum of 1,200 instances within the final week.”
On condition that Mr DeSantis refused to take aggressive measures to fight the pandemic and largely stored the state open, it grew to become a believable narrative. For his or her half, Florida’s authorities stated that she was fired for manipulating authorities knowledge on her personal, as WFSU reported.
In late 2020, state police raided Ms Jones’s dwelling and seized her pc gear. Ms Jones characterised it as “sending the Gestapo” out for her. The decide who authorised the raid was a DeSantis appointee, although Mr DeSantis stated he didn’t have any information of the raid.
Ms Jones later turned herself in to Leon County Detention Facility, tweeting that she did in order a method to “shield my household from continued police violence, and to indicate that I’m able to struggle no matter they throw at me.”
Ultimately, Ms Jones’s Twitter was suspended in June of final 12 months, although it’s unclear why. Final 12 months, she introduced that she would run to problem Mr Gaetz. At first, Leon County Circuit Decide John Cooper dominated that she couldn’t be on the poll as a result of she had not been a registered Democrat for the previous twelve months however an appeals decide allowed her to run.
However the district has little likelihood of flipping. In 2020, virtually 66 per cent of the district voted for Donald Trump, and that quantity is prone to develop in a midterm election at a time when President Joe Biden is extremely unpopular.
Equally, within the time since she grew to become a vaunted hero to some, sure elements of her narrative have cracked. A report from the The Division of Well being Inspector Common discovered that she had made “unsubstantiated” and “unfounded” claims that the division terminated her for refusing to control knowledge, NBC Information reported earlier this 12 months.
It additionally discovered “inadequate proof” or no proof in any respect that she was requested to do manipulate Covid-19 knowledge.
The Unbiased has reached out to Ms Jones for remark.
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