The Republican nominee for Florida’s 14th Congressional District has called on his Democrat opponent to debate him since Sept. 12.
TAMPA, Fla. – Wednesday marked the 50th day that Democrat incumbent Kathy Castor has refused to debate James Judge, the Republican nominee for the U.S. House of Representatives in Florida’s 14th Congressional District, the Judge campaign announced in a news release Wednesday.
News of Castor’s continued refusal to debate follows reports on Tuesday that Castor violated Florida election laws by reportedly entering and campaigning at an early-voting polling location in South Tampa last week. It is against the law for candidates to attempt to interfere with elections in Florida by intimidating voters or campaigning within 150 feet of a polling station.
According to reports, Castor allegedly entered the polling station through the exit, which is also in itself against the law. She was subsequently removed by authorities and escorted outside of the 150-foot exclusion zone.
According to the Hillsborough County Supervisor of Elections, the polling center clerk reported the incident and violation of the law to authorities within the Hillsborough County Supervisor of Elections office. It is unclear whether Castor will face any consequences for her actions and the media has remained silent about the alleged incident.
According to sources inside Tampa Bay area media outlets, Castor and her communications director, Rikki Miller, have outright refused to respond to requests from the media for information about a potential debate.
Judge has challenged Castor to square off with him in a public debate and hoped to have a debate since before early voting began on Oct. 24. He has even offered to allow Castor to choose the venue, day and time.
One venue has already offered to host the debate. La Teresita, the popular Tampa Cuban restaurant, has offered to provide their venue free of charge.
On Aug. 23, Judge won his primary election by 24 points, despite being outspent 10-to-one by his closest competitor.
Judge squares off with Castor in the Nov. 8 general election.
Judge has also been endorsed by several additional prominent figures and organizations.
They include:
- Senator Rick Scott (R-FL)
- Congressman Brian Mast (R-FL)
- Congressman Paul Gosar (R-AZ)
- Congressman Ted Yoho (R-FL) (retired)
- Clearwater Mayor Frank Hibbard
- St. Petersburg Mayor Rick Baker (retired)
- Florida Police Benevolent Association
- Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri
- The Tampa Police Benevolent Association
- Pinellas County Sheriff Jim Coats (retired)
- Associated Builders and Contractors Florida Gulf Coast
- The Community Patriots Tampa
- Republican strategist Roger Stone
- Chris Chambers, former Congressional candidate and community leader
- Matt Becker, small business owner, former SBA White House Deputy Chief, and former Congressional Candidate
About James Judge:
Judge, a Tampa Bay area native, is the Republican nominee for Florida’s 14th Congressional District. Judge graduated from Eckerd College in St. Petersburg and was deployed to Iraq in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom while serving in the U.S. Coast Guard. Additionally, he served in Kabul, Afghanistan as a spokesman for the U.S. Department of Defense from 2010 until 2011 under General David Petraeus. He now owns Judge Public Relations, a Tampa-based PR firm and marketing agency with clients worldwide.
Judge is married to his wife Danielle, who is also a small business owner in Hillsborough County. The Judges are avid animal lovers and together, they have four dogs, three cats, two horses and 10 chickens. Judge is a proud member of the National Rifle Association, Veterans of Foreign Wars, the American Legion, the Tampa Propeller Club and the Coastal Conservation Association. The Judges are also long-time, active members of Idlewild Baptist Church in Tampa.
For media-related inquiries, please contact the campaign’s PR firm at 813.279.8335 or by emailing news@judgepr.com.
