An ousted Florida data scientist who said she was fired for refusing to manipulate COVID-19 numbers and emerged as a critic of Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis over his handling of the pandemic won her U.S. House primary race and will challenge Rep.
Rebekah Jones won Tuesday's Democratic primary in northwestern Florida's first congressional district, setting her up to challenge incumbent Gaetz.
After she was fired from her job at the Florida Department of Public Health, Jones was catapulted into the public eye.
State officials said she was fired for insubordination, but the Democratic nominee said she was fired for speaking out.
Her debut into electoral politics was a success.
The primary conclusion is that the New York Democrats wage internal fights.
State-by-state results for the US House of Representatives.
Jones was a data scientist who helped build the state's COVID-19 dashboard during the early days of the Pandemic. She was fired from her position in May of that year due to her refusal to manipulate data to support the reopening of the state.
There was a recap of the primary.
In December 2020, law enforcement officials raided her home to execute a search warrant, after she was fired from her job. She had her computer hardware taken away.
Jones posted the search to social media and it went crazy. She was seen as a dissident by those who viewed the raid as persecution.
She was charged with a felony for illegally accessing state computer systems and sending a mass text message using the state emergency alert system. The charges are not finished.
Jones denied doing anything wrong.
There was no evidence that officials tried to manipulate coronaviruses data. She and her legal team did not agree with the findings of the investigation.
Jones is accused of cyberstalking from a lesser incident prior to her work on COVID-19, which has been used by her critics to attack her credibility.
Just a few weeks ago, her congressional bid looked like it would be over. She wasn't allowed to run because she didn't meet party requirements.
Jones was accused of being an "unaffiliated" for a two-month period while she lived in Maryland.
Jones was allowed to return to the race after appealing. She got more than half of the votes.
Jones was forced to run under her registered party because of a new Florida law.
Jones said in February that he was not running on a party platform. I am not running on either of those people. I have taken a lot of heat from my own party for being critical of Joe Biden, especially on the Afghanistan debacle.
"I'm the only one who can win this against a Republican, Gaetz or anything else, and I'm certainly the only one who's taken on the GOP in the state and beat them," Jones said at the time.
Gaetz can be found in a red district. A Republican congressman won a primary Tuesday. He has legal troubles of his own. Gaetz has been accused of sleeping with a minor.
Biden will give up to $20,000 in student loan debt.
Jim Little, staff of the News-Journal, is one of the contributors.
Rebekah Jones will face Matt Gaetz in the U.S. House.
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