Citrus REC sidesteps Trump primary endorsement

By John Labriola - The Citrus County Republican Party won't be taking sides in the 2024 Republican presidential nomination contest. 

At its monthly meeting on Monday in Lecanto, the county's Republican Executive Committee (REC) rejected a move to endorse Donald Trump for the Republican Party nomination for president, deciding to leave the choice of nominee up to Republican primary voters. The vote was 45 to 45, well short of the supermajority required by state party rules for a county REC to endorse one Republican candidate over another in a contested primary. 

Supporters of the move, led by Citrus County Trump Club President Billy Cayce, said it was time to unify the party behind Trump and "give him a Christmas present" as a reward for his past presidential leadership. But opponents argued it would needlessly short-circuit the upcoming Florida primary election and be a "slap in the face" to presidential contender Gov. Ron DeSantis, who served as keynote speaker at the county GOP's 2022 Lincoln Day Dinner fundraiser at the College of Central Florida Citrus Campus. Citrus REC Treasurer Mark Garlock, one of several members who spoke out against the proposed endorsement, said it would also carry a financial cost. According to state party rules, RECs that make endorsements in Republican primaries forfeit their share of the filing fees candidates pay the state GOP to get on the Republican primary ballot. For the Citrus REC, Garlock said the loss would amount to "four to seven thousand dollars." (According to witnesses, some members in the back of the room repeated the amount incorrectly as "forty-seven thousand dollars.")

County RECs usually stay out of primary contests, but under Rule 8 of the Republican Party of Florida's Rules of Procedure, an REC can endorse one Republican primary candidate over another if the move is supported by either a two-thirds majority of members present or 60 percent of those in attendance if that number represents a majority of the total membership. The Lake County REC gave Trump its endorsement for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination at its October meeting.

Florida's presidential primary will take place on March 19. Most polls show Trump leading DeSantis and the rest of the Republican field by at least 40 points in Florida as well as nationally. 

Monday's vote was the second time this year that the Citrus REC has rejected a move backed by the party's MAGA faction. In July, the REC narrowly voted down a resolution calling on DeSantis to shut down the U.S. Capitol Police Office in Tampa, which the Biden administration established in July 2021 to hunt down participants in the Jan. 6, 2021 "Stop the Steal" rally at the U.S. Capitol. Opponents said DeSantis lacked the authority to order federal officials to leave.

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