A Florida judge ruled that James Judge and Scotty Moore will be permanently restored to the ballot
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – After a final judgement made in a Tuesday court ruling, the Republican frontrunners in Florida’s 14th Congressional District and Florida’s 9th Congressional District have been permanently restored to the ballot.
Judge Angela C. Dempsey issued a ruling saying that James Judge is unequivocally qualified to be on the primary ballot for the election on August 23rd affirming her initial ruling from June. The initial ruling provided only temporary injunctive relief, restoring Judge’s name to the ballot until the court came to its final decision Tuesday.
Dempsey also ruled that Republican candidate Scotty Moore in Florida’s 9th Congressional District is also qualified to be on the primary ballot. Moore faced an identical issue with his qualification paperwork.
Originally, Judge was the first Republican candidate to qualify in Florida’s 14th Congressional district, when the state accepted and approved his paperwork before 11 a.m. on Wednesday, June 15, more than 48 hours before the filing deadline.
The state, in its attempt to disqualify Judge, claimed after the deadline for qualification that its own employees made a mistake by accepting his candidate oath form. According to their representatives, Judge should have filed the federal candidate oath form, and instead filed a state candidate oath form.
However, according to the state of Florida’s 2022 Candidate handbook, the state is required to review the paperwork and notify candidates if anything on the paperwork is not properly filled out before the filing deadline, and they made no such effort. Instead of recognizing the difference between the two forms, the state acknowledged that Judge had properly completed his paperwork and qualified him to be on the ballot for the August primary.
It’s important to note that the only difference between the two forms is that a candidate for state or local office swears to uphold the state of Florida’s Constitution, in addition to swearing to uphold the U.S. Constitution. Additionally, it’s also important to note that the 2022 Florida Candidate Handbook had broken web links to the federal candidate qualification forms, and they still remain broken as of the writing of this press release.
“I’m glad that the state realized the error of its ways, and that it came to the reasonable conclusion of settling this case without further legal battles that would have only served to waste taxpayer resources,” Judge said. “I’ve said from the beginning of this process that it should be left to the voters to decide who wins this primary race, without the state intervening.”
Moore also celebrated his victory.
“I’m happy that the process played out in our favor, and I’m looking forward to winning my primary race on August 23rd,” Moore said. “We have forged a great alliance with the Judge campaign throughout this ordeal, and I’d like to congratulate him on the victory as well.”
Judge is the frontrunner in the Republican primary race in Florida’s 14th Congressional District. Likewise, Moore leads his primary race.
“We never stopped working to earn the votes of the constituents of Florida’s 14th Congressional District, even as this legal process played out,” Judge said. “In fact, our campaign has only gained momentum during the weeks we have spent battling the state’s initial decision to remove us from the ballot. Now that we’re clear of this legal battle, we will only fight harder to win this race, and defeat Kathy Castor in November.”
During the time in legal limbo, Judge’s campaign picked up an endorsement from Congressman Paul Gosar (R-AZ), a close ally of former President Donald J. Trump, adding to the growing list of endorsements, which includes the Tampa Police Benevolent Association, Congressman Ted Yoho (retired 2021), Clearwater Mayor Frank Hibbard, and others. Judge’s campaign also launched a gun giveaway fundraiser to fight back against the far-left Democrats in Congress including Kathy Castor, who recently passed and implemented new gun control measures that make Americans less free.
“Kathy Castor has now attacked me personally, by name,” Judge said. “Her baseless attacks only show that she is worried about facing me in the general election. With that said, I’d like to invite Rep. Castor to schedule a debate as soon as possible, so I can address her false statements and she can answer for them in person. Anything less than an open an honest debate would be a disservice to the good people of Florida’s 14th Congressional District.”
About James Judge:
Judge, who publicly announced his run for Congress earlier this year, is the only Tampa Bay area native running in the race, having been born in Clearwater, Florida. Judge graduated from Eckerd College in St. Petersburg and served in the U.S. Coast Guard in Operation Iraqi Freedom. Additionally, he served in Kabul, Afghanistan as a spokesman for the U.S. Department of Defense from 2010 until 2011. 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 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 NRA, Veterans of Foreign Wars and the American Legion. The Judges are also active members at Idlewild Baptist Church in Tampa.
