Florida voters reject election denial candidates in 2024 primary

TAMPA, Fla. — As she watched election results roll in on Tuesday night, Pinellas County Supervisor of Elections Julie Marcus felt the pride flowing through her.

Her campaign for a second term was especially emotional. Her only challenger, fellow Republican Chris Gleason, ran on a platform accusing Marcus of deleting ballots, committing voter fraud and scheming to sway elections, claims she called “preposterous.”

So when all precincts were counted, and unofficial results showed Marcus won reelection with 84% of the vote, she took a moment to let the significance of that mandate sink in.

“To have that kind of response from voters giving affirmation that they believe in what you’re doing, I cannot but be emotional because it’s a tremendous responsibility that I take very seriously,” Marcus said. “I’m honored.”

Gleason was part of a slate of Republican candidates who were largely rejected by voters on Tuesday after running to control supervisor of elections offices across Florida on platforms alleging fraud or integrity issues.

Six candidates backed by election denial groups crashed at the polls and failed to topple Republican incumbents. The race in St. Lucie County is headed to a recount as two votes separated the candidates seeking to face the Democratic incumbent in the general election.

Amy Pennock, a Seminole County Republican who was backed by election denial groups, won her primary election. But unlike other candidates on the slate, Pennock says that the 2020 election was not stolen and that she couldn’t control who supported her.

Four other races with candidates backed by election denial groups did not have primaries and will be decided in the general election.

Gleason said he was not surprised by his losing margin “because of the level of malfeasance and fraud that we knew was going on in that office.” He said he and others have requested grand jury investigations.

But elections professionals and Republican officials in Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration have pushed back on the idea of widespread fraud in the state.

“Well, they were able to present their case to the voters, and the voters made a decision, and I trust the voters of Florida on who they choose to elect,” Secretary of State Cord Byrd said at a news conference Tuesday evening when asked about the outcome.

Since 2020, Florida has been rife with conspiracies of election fraud after former president Donald Trump’s refusal to accept his loss in the presidential race. They’ve persisted despite the fact that Trump won Florida by three percentage points that year and DeSantis deemed the state’s elections as the “gold standard.”

Ciara Torres-Spelliscy, a professor who specializes in election law at Stetson University, said the rejection of supervisor of elections candidates promoting fraud allegations signal that running on such platforms is not viable for the future.

“It seems almost mad to elect an election denier because someone who doesn’t believe in the integrity of elections is a very strange person to empower to run an election,” she said.

Down to when the polls closed on Tuesday, Gleason attempted to document instances of mail ballot fraud in Pinellas County.

Ron Griswold and his wife Amy Gabriel said they were confronted by Gleason when they pulled into a parking lot at the Coliseum in downtown St. Petersburg to drop off a mail ballot.

When they stepped out of their car, Gleason asked Gabriel if she had a real ballot and asked for the date she requested it, she said.

Griswold said his wife felt “intimidated” but said the results of Tuesday’s election gave him comfort.

“It feels good to know that voters can see people like Gleason shouldn’t be in a position of authority, it kind of restores your faith in the voting population,” Griswold said.

Gleason denied that he was being disruptive to Gabriel: “Why would I intentionally and knowingly intimidate a voter?”

He watched the results roll in on Tuesday from a television screen at the Pinellas Supervisor of Elections office.

”Let’s see where we’re at now,” Gleason said. “Where’s the big cheat at?”

When it was clear he lost badly, he said, “we’re done.” Some of his supporters left with him to get dinner. Their claims about rigged elections didn’t carry them to victory.

Still, Gleason is continuing to fight Marcus’ office.

On Tuesday at 2:34 p.m., less than five hours before the polls closed, Gleason filed a lawsuit against Marcus claiming that her office sent out hundreds of thousands of mail ballots “without obtaining the consent of voters.”

He asked a judge to prohibit the counting of the mail ballots and issue an order that Marcus violated the law. A hearing was not set before the polls closed and ballots were counted on Tuesday, but Sixth Judicial Circuit spokesperson Stephen Thompson said one would be set soon.

Marcus declined to comment on the lawsuit citing the pending litigation. She said that her office conducts elections that are legal and accurate and added that Tuesday’s results appear to show that voters agree.

“It takes more than a noun and a verb and preposterous claims of voter fraud to win an election in Pinellas County,” Marcus said. “Pinellas County’s got very sophisticated voters.”

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(Staff writers Lawrence Mower and Romy Ellenbogen contributed to this report.)

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