With the Aug. 20 primary election three weeks away, the race for supervisor of elections in Monroe County has been getting an unlikely amount of attention.
Two Republicans — Margaret Romero and Sherri Hodies — will face off in the Aug. 20 primary. The winner of that will face Democrat Ron Saunders in November. All three candidates have been collecting endorsements from groups and individuals, some of which highlight a growing divide within the Monroe County Republican Party.
Monroe County Sheriff Rick Ramsay, a Republican, issued one of the earliest endorsements in the race, supporting Saunders shortly after he announced his candidacy.
In May, the county’s Republican Executive Committee (REC) endorsed Hodies, who is the treasurer of that group, despite opposition from several members, who said Hodies did not receive the required number of votes for the endorsement, which came with a $20,000 check. Other members of the REC opposed the endorsement on the basis that it should not have occurred in a primary that included another Republican.
“You don’t endorse a same-party candidate in a primary when you have two Republicans running,” former Key West city commissioner Mark Rossi, a longtime member of the Southernmost Republican Club in Key West, told the Keys Weekly in May.
In response to the Keys Weekly’s questions about the REC endorsement, Hodies said on July 30, “This is the facts: There is an application process. Any Republican (you do not need to be a member of the Republican Executive Committee) can ask for the application, money and/or an endorsement. There are rules for this application process. I followed the rules. My opponents and their supporters want to paint me as if I don’t follow the rules when in fact, I do. Several other Republicans asked, followed the rules and received funds as well.”
More recently, Monroe County State Attorney Dennis Ward, also a Republican and a member of the REC, endorsed Romero, in opposition to the REC’s support of Hodies. School board member John Dick, who is also a member of the REC, endorsed Romero.
The competing endorsements highlight an ongoing divide in the local Republican party.
“Over the past months, I have witnessed rudeness and disrespect in local and countywide REC meetings by certain leadership and become aware of various internet postings,” Romero told the Keys Weekly. “My opinion is that a few people will do and say anything to achieve their personal agendas. Such behaviors seem to have created a divisiveness in the party that is neither becoming, nor beneficial to our entire Keys community – especially as voters are seeking people who will impartially serve in responsible positions with high ethics, respect for all and follow the rules.”
Romero also received the endorsement of the Key West firefighters, while Hodies was endorsed by the South Florida Police Benevolent Association (PBA), which includes about 400 members of Keys law enforcement and more than 1,000 members in Miami-Dade County.
Hodies’ PBA endorsement, like the REC one, also came with some pushback, as no PBA members in the Florida Keys were consulted before the group endorsed Hodies.
Steadman Stahl, president of the South Florida PBA, told the Keys Weekly last month that he was approached at a PBA gala in the spring by Rhonda Rebman-Lopez, chair of the Republican Executive Committee, and Hodies, “and others,” who asked him for the PBA’s endorsement.
“But I would have done things differently with the endorsement,” Stahl told the Keys Weekly, adding that he was unaware that any other candidates were in the race for supervisor of elections and acknowledging that no PBA members from the Keys were consulted. “We don’t even usually endorse anyone in that race, so I was surprised to learn how much attention it was getting.”
In response to questions about the vetting process for the PBA endorsement, Hodies told the Keys Weekly, “I have the utmost respect for the PBA, their membership and their endorsement process. If you want to question their process, you will have to contact them. But I will say that my family, my husband and I have always supported the blue, as well as all first responders. We respect and love them; and have taught our children and grandchildren to do the same.”
The endorsement war also includes a national one for Hodies, who was mentioned last month in an article by the right-wing news site Gateway Pundit with the headline, “There are MAGA candidates up for election in Florida challenging the RINOs.”
The article lists 11 candidates for supervisors of elections in Florida counties, and says that all are part of a “slate of candidates endorsed by Mike Lindell,” the founder of MyPillow, a passionate supporter of Donald Trump and an outspoken election denier.
Hodies posted the Gateway Pundit article on her campaign Facebook account on July 11.
