Antisemitic TikTok posts by a worker on Collier County School Board candidate Timothy Moshier’s campaign and homophobic and anti-abortion Facebook posts by Florida Commissioner of Agriculture candidate Naomi Blemur are recent developments of which August primary voters should be aware.
Re: The Moshier Campaign
A campaign volunteer who claimed to be campaign manager for Collier School Board candidate Timothy Moshier made antisemitic posts and comments on Aug. 2 and 3 on TikTok. This popular app allows users to upload and share short-form videos.
Moshier is one of five candidates in the nonpartisan primary for the School Board District 5 seat. All Collier voters may vote in School Board elections, regardless of their party affiliation or where they live. See Collier County School Board Elections: District 5 Candidates, Sparker’s Soapbox, 7/11/22 updated 7/21/22.
When asked about one of the videos by a Naples Daily News reporter at an event on Aug. 6, Moshier said he did not see a problem with it. When asked if he would condemn antisemitism in general, he said he had no comment.
Moshier did not respond to follow-up text messages sent by the reporter on Aug. 6 and 7. But he is now “attempting to distance himself” from the volunteer, according to the Naples Daily News. “I disavow the anti-Semitic references in those posts in the strongest terms,” he wrote.
When asked about the incident, local religious and community leaders and three of Moshier’s opponents told the reporter that antisemitism is not welcome in Collier County.
For more, see ‘Warning sign for all people’: Collier School Board candidate faces backlash over campaign’s antisemitic worker, by Watchdog Reporter Rachel Heimann Mercader, Naples Daily News, 8/11/22.
Re: The Blemur Campaign
Leading Florida Democrats are walking back their endorsement of Commissioner of Agriculture candidate Naomi Blemur after past Facebook posts showed her calling abortion a sin and promoting or defending anti-gay comments.
Blemur is one of three candidates running in the closed Democratic Primary for Commissioner of Agriculture. See Commissioner of Agriculture Election, Sparker’s Soapbox, 7/27/22, updated 8/9/22 and 8/10/22.
Blemur had solidified support from a number of South Florida Democrats in the three-way Primary for Agriculture Commissioner. But when screenshots of the posts were shared on Twitter, several prominent officials rescinded their endorsements.
For more, see Democrats rescind Naomi Blemur endorsements after ‘anti-choice,’ ‘homophobic’ posts emerge, Florida Politics, 8/7/22
Things happen. These developments are examples of why I encourage voters not to be in a rush to vote, despite the fact that mail ballots are sent out more than a month before Election Day.