In the traditionally Democratic Broward County — which remained blue through the latest midterm election regardless of a considerable enhance in Republican turnout — Jenna Hague is main a bunch of candidates below the slogan “Broward First” to overhaul the previous guard of the Broward Republican Executive Committee (BREC).
Hague is trying to take over as chair of the Broward Republican get together, a place that retired narcotics agent and former Coral Springs commissioner Tom Powers has held since his 2020 election.
“Let’s face it, now we have all seen the issues with our present management,” reads a website for the candidates created by Hague.
The Broward GOP contest, which is an inside election amongst Republican committee members, is scheduled for December 5.
Hague, a South Florida monetary supervisor for building tasks, not too long ago misplaced her bid towards Democrat Dan Daley for Florida House of Representatives District 96. During her run, she advised CoralSpringsDiscuss that she helps college selection, backs elevated funding for regulation enforcement, and favors pressing measures to stabilize the property insurance coverage market.
Hague gained a following through the top of the COVID-19 pandemic as an anti-mask-mandate activist, skewering the Broward School Board and the county’s in-school masks necessities for youngsters.
Photos shared on Twitter by the native activist group Miami Against Fascism seem to indicate Hague on the U.S. Capitol when riots broke out on January 6, 2021. The photographs depict her outdoors the U.S. Capitol constructing holding up a shirt with the phrases “WE WON!” alongside former President Donald Trump’s face. (Hague has not been charged with any crime by means of attending the rally.)
In the pictures, Hague’s husband, who’s described as a U.S. Marine and authorities contractor on her web site, is carrying clothes emblazoned with the slogan “Enrique Tarrio did nothing flawed,” a reference to the then-leader of the far-right Proud Boys group.
Tarrio had been charged two days earlier with destruction of property for burning a Black Lives Matter banner that had been stolen from a Washington D.C. church. He pleaded responsible within the case and apologized in court docket. Members of the Proud Boys together with Tarrio had been later charged with seditious conspiracy for allegedly organizing the assault on the Capitol in an try and disrupt the certification of the Electoral College vote.
While Hague declined to remark about points associated to the January 6 Capitol Hill attendance, she rejects claims that she has ties to extremism.
The aspiring chief of the Broward Republican get together describes herself as a “hardworking, Jewish-American, strong-willed mom” and “devoted spouse that grew to become fed up with sitting on the proverbial sidelines, yelling at my tv.”
In an interview with the Self-Evident Ministries podcast, Hague mentioned she was desperate to get into politics to forestall what she perceives as far-leftist ideology from spreading in Florida.
“I feel this woke liberal tradition — I do not even wish to say Democrat as a result of I do not suppose that is what it’s — it turns into like a most cancers and it spreads. So what’s occurring in Central Florida, or in Tampa, or in Broward County, if it goes unchecked, finally it’ll begin to crawl into locations the place they suppose they’re protected,” Hague mentioned on the podcast.
Recent on-line hypothesis tried to hyperlink the brand new Broward GOP committee candidates’ logos to Nazi symbols, prompting Hague to push again. She tells New Times that the “Broward First” slogan and eagle imagery utilized by the candidates aren’t meant to evoke any extremist ideology.
“I do not know what different teams you are trying to tie me to, as I take photos with plenty of conservative activists and Republican leaders. I’m Jewish, by the best way, and there’s not a racist bone in my physique,” Hague says in a press release, noting that the “America First” motto was beforehand utilized by Trump to focus on his overseas coverage.
“Any alleged resemblance of the logos now we have used to some Nazi emblems from many many years in the past is merely within the creativeness of these in search of to smear our workforce of candidates,” Hague says. “Of course we made no intention to imitate any racist symbols of the previous. The eagle, by the best way, is among the commonest animals utilized in design all through historical past… particularly within the United States.”
She provides: “This similar ridiculous assault was made towards the Trump marketing campaign in 2020 when it used the ‘America First’ slogan with some eagle imagery, and we echo the marketing campaign’s response: that this inquiry is moronic and a instrument of the left used to smear conservatives.”
Running alongside Hague for seats on the Broward Republican Executive Committee are Weston businessman Valenty (Lenny) Heda, former Department of Homeland Security particular agent Grace Morales, and yacht business government Rick Buell.
Hague notes that though candidates run independently for these positions, it’s typically the case that they marketing campaign collectively.
Heda, the vice chair candidate, describes himself as a “lifelong Republican” and know-how business veteran. According to his bio, he has expertise campaigning for native candidates akin to Broward School Board member Brenda Fam and City of Weston Mayor Peggy Brown.
Morales, who’s vying to be the committee secretary, is the daughter of Cuban immigrants and a founding member of the Young Patriots Conservative Group, in response to her bio. She beforehand labored with the Trump Victory workforce in South Florida and is a supervisor of a tech firm.
Buell, the candidate for treasurer, is a marine business vet who has labored a yacht captain, engineer, superintendent and director for the previous 25 years.
The candidates hosted a meet and greet on November 21 on the Quarterdeck Bar and Grill in Fort Lauderdale.
Flyers for the occasion, which had been shared in a Floridians FIRST group chat, promised drinks, hors d’oeuvres, and dialogue on “how, collectively, we are able to make BREC practical once more!”