It was a Tampa Bay area political furor that flared quickly — and then fizzled.
What happened? No one who knows is saying, but somehow the differences between Florida District 15 US Rep. Laurel Lee and former President Donald Trump were smoothed over, and no Trump-backed primary challenger materialized against her.
The fuss flared up when Trump, in a social media post late on a Sunday night in March, asked if “any great MAGA Republicans” were willing to run against the freshman Republican from Brandon, whose district covers parts of Hillsborough, Pasco and Polk counties . Wielding the caps lock key, he implored, “IF SO, PLEASE STEP FORWARD!”
Trump acolytes said his advisers were looking at potential candidates and expected him to pick one to anoint. Even a comparative unknown could have posed a serious threat to Lee with backing from Trump, they said.
State Rep. Kevin Steele of Dade City, a Trump loyalist and wealthy tech firm retiree who could easily self-fund a campaign despite the late start, said he was ready if called, as did former state Rep. Jackie Toledo of Tampa. Maureen Bannon, daughter of Steve Bannon, considered it.
Then the qualifying period began and local politicians fervently checked the candidate filings hour by hour.
When it ended, two MAGA loyalists, James Judge and Jennifer Barbosa, had qualified to run. But neither has Trump’s imprimatur, and both look like long shots against Lee’s prominent political name and financial advantage.
Did Lee make an overture to Trump to make amends?
Asked whether Lee went to Mar-a-Lago to meet with Trump, Lee campaign spokeswoman Sarah Bascom responded via text message, “I cannot confirm that on her behalf.”
Bascom said Lee “does not discuss private meetings she may or may not have attended.”
The rift resulted because Lee was the only Florida member of congress who endorsed Gov. Ron DeSantis against Trump in the presidential primary.
But she had good reason to. She owed DeSantis a major political debt for appointing her secretary of state, which boosted her political career. Plus, when DeSantis dropped out, she immediately switched to Trump.
Ironically, Trump has called DeSantis “disloyal” for what Trump said was failure to repay a similar debt. Trump blasted DeSantis for running against him despite the Trump endorsement that got DeSantis’s 2018 campaign for governor off the ground.
Opening their campaigns, Judge and Barbosa both blasted Lee as not adequately MAGA-aligned.
In social media postings, Barbosa, deploying Trump-style nicknames, calls her “phony Laurel Lee” and “disloyal Laurel Lee.”
Even though Lee voted against the Ukraine aid bill opposed by right-wing Republicans, Judge criticized her for voting for the House rule that allowed it to come to a vote, and for other votes.
