{"id":1350892,"date":"2022-02-28T22:52:53","date_gmt":"2022-03-01T03:52:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1350892"},"modified":"2022-02-28T22:53:03","modified_gmt":"2022-03-01T03:53:03","slug":"exclusive-florida-democrats-weaponize-stop-the-steal-slogan-photo-of-trump-to-influence-local-election","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/exclusive-florida-democrats-weaponize-stop-the-steal-slogan-photo-of-trump-to-influence-local-election\/","title":{"rendered":"Exclusive \u2014 Florida Democrats Weaponize \u2018Stop the Steal\u2019 Slogan, Photo of Trump to Influence Local Election"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">32<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fexclusive-florida-democrats-weaponize-stop-the-steal-slogan-photo-of-trump-to-influence-local-election%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1350892&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p class=\"subheading\">A far-left Sarasota County nonprofit in Florida sent out a mailer targeting Republican voters in an attempt to sway an upcoming county commission election, Breitbart News has learned exclusively.<\/p>\n<p>Breitbart News obtained a copy of the mailer sent by the Sarasota Alliance for Fair Elections, and found the self-proclaimed \u201cnon-partisan\u201d group used a photograph of former President Donald Trump and the slogan \u201cStop the Steal\u201d \u2014\u00a0a phrase in reference to the 2020 U.S. presidential election \u2014 to persuade Republican residents to vote \u201cno\u201d on a charter amendment which would reinstate county-wide voting in Sarasota County.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"D-ROS-B1\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B1\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"gmxrevmore\" class=\"H\"><\/figure>\n<div id=\"attachment_20050826\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/media.breitbart.com\/media\/2022\/02\/Photo-1.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-20050826 size-large\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/Photo-1-1024x559-1.png\" alt=\"Sarasota Alliance for Fair Elections\" width=\"1024\" height=\"559\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text\"><em>Sarasota Alliance for Fair Elections<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>The front of the mailer reads\u00a0<span>\u201cREPUBLICAN VOTER ALERT\u201d and has a photo of Trump next to the \u201cStop the Steal\u201d slogan. The use of the slogan is extremely notable, given that Democrats as a whole have shunned any possibility of election fraud in the 2020 presidential election and have called anyone who questioned the outcome of the election a \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.breitbart.com\/politics\/2021\/06\/03\/left-wing-academics-warn-gop-state-led-election-integrity-bills-a-threat-to-democracy\/\">threat to democracy<\/a>.\u201d The bottom of the mailer reads, \u201cOn March 8, vote no on county-wide voting.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p>On the back of the mailer is a photo of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and President Joe Biden, followed by the message, \u201cDon\u2019t let them steal our votes again. Vote no.\u201d The back also has a bulleted list which claims that returning to full-county voting would \u201csteal our votes right here in Sarasota County.\u201d<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_20050938\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/media.breitbart.com\/media\/2022\/02\/Photo-2.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-20050938 size-large\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/Photo-2-1024x465-1.png\" alt=\"Sarasota Alliance for Fair Elections\" width=\"1024\" height=\"465\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text\"><em>Sarasota Alliance for Fair Elections<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>The mailer also claims that returning to full-county voting \u201cwould allow establishment politicians to rig the system like they did in 2020\u201d and \u201cmake it easier for them to cheat and steal more races.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B2\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<p>In tiny print at the bottom of the mailer is a statement that says,\u00a0<span>\u201cPd. Pol. Adv. paid for by the Sarasota Alliance for Fair Elections,\u201d followed by a P.O. box address out of Florida. It should be noted that members of the \u201cnon-partisan\u201d group\u2019s board have donated to Democrat Florida Commissioner of Agriculture Nikki Fried, former governor and party-flipper Charlie Crist, and disgraced former governor candidate Andrew Gillum, among other Democrats. The group often works with local liberals to target Republicans on local issues.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><strong>Why the Mailer Matters\u00a0<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>In 2018, Sarasota Democrats successfully pushed an effort to move Sarasota County from county-wide voting for all five commissioner seats to single-member districts, meaning voters can only vote for the commissioner representing their district instead of all five. Sarasota Republicans argue the measure passed because voters were confused, while Democrats tout a nearly 60 percent approval of the referendum.<\/p>\n<p>Sarasota County is dominated by Republicans, 151,123 versus 103,966 Democrats, and not a single Democrat has been elected to county commission in more than 50 years. Thus, the goal of single member district voting was to break the county up into pieces, which gives some advantage to Democrat and moderate-leaning areas in the north part of the county.<\/p>\n<p>Reinstating county-wide voting would make a Democrat county commission victory much more difficult, and a \u201cyes\u201d vote has been heartily endorsed by the Republican Party of Sarasota County, almost all prominent Republican elected officials in town, and others.<\/p>\n<p>According to a <a href=\"https:\/\/sports.yahoo.com\/early-voting-begins-know-march-120015767.html\">report<\/a> from the\u00a0<em>Sarasota Herald-Tribune<\/em>, county commissioners have \u201clong opposed single-member districts.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B3\" class=\"a8d adSo\"><\/figure>\n<p>The report reads:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p><span>Last April, board Chairman Alan Maio sent a letter to chair of the Sarasota County Charter Review Board, asking the panel to \u201creview the impacts\u201d of single-member districts, which had been place for over two years. But the Charter Review Board decided in an October meeting not to challenge the system.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>The next month, the County Commission selected a map for their revised district boundary lines. The commissioners did not choose a controversial map that would have made it easier for Commissioner Christian Ziegler to be re-elected \u2013 they selected another map instead.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>But earlier that day, the commissioners indicated that they wanted to hold another referendum on single-member districts. If the referendum is successful \u2013 and the single-member district system repealed \u2013 Ziegler, a Republican, would have a greater chance of being re-elected. The county as a whole has a higher percentage of Republicans than his district.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>The Republican Party of Sarasota County has reportedly been encouraging residents to vote \u201cyes\u201d on the referendum, sent voter guides via text messages, and has posted signs along county roads.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"D-ROS-B2\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<p>Acting chairman of the Republican Party of Sarasota County told the publication earlier this month the party wants to \u201cget rid of the voter suppression that we\u2019ve had\u201d within the last few years.<\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cWe feel very, very strongly that all voters should have the right to vote for all county commissioners,\u201d he said.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>As to the fallout from\u00a0Sarasota Alliance\u2019s mailer, a Sarasota County resident exclusively told Breitbart News he was deceived by the appearance of the card and ending up voting \u201cno\u201d on the measure, even though he supports county-wide voting.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B4\" class=\"a8d adSo\"><\/figure>\n<p>\u201cHis [Trump\u2019s] photograph was on it. There was no reason to suspicious,\u201d William McWade, 70, said over email.<\/p>\n<p>McWade said he realized a few days later that he had been bamboozled. He said he tried calling officials and asking for his vote to be eliminated, but to no avail.<\/p>\n<p>\u201c[I] believe that this community, which is populated with many [sic] senior citizen[s], was chosen by the Demo-Flops, to perpetrate fraud,\u201d McWade speculated<span>. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, more than 37 percent of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.census.gov\/quickfacts\/sarasotacountyflorida\">Sarasota\u2019s County\u2019s population<\/a> is over 65.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Early voting for the March 8 referendums runs from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. every day from Saturday, February 26 to Sunday, March 6, according to the\u00a0<em>Herald-Tribune.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Katherine Hamilton is a political reporter for Breitbart News. You can follow her on\u00a0<a class=\"x5l\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/katherineeeeee2\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener external\">Twitter<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A far-left Sarasota County nonprofit in Florida sent out a mailer targeting Republican voters in an attempt to sway an upcoming county commission election, Breitbart News has learned exclusively. Breitbart<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1350892","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1350892","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1350892"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1350892\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1350892"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1350892"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1350892"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}