Florida Republican Party Chairman Christian Ziegler has been formally removed from his post.
Ziegler has been accused of rape, with many of his duties having already been removed after the allegations came to light.
Talking Points…
- Allegations made against Ziegler
- Ziegler relieved
- Analysis
In December, conservatives were taken by surprise when rape allegations were made against Ziegler by a woman who was allegedly involved in an affair with Ziegler and his wife, Moms for Liberty co-founder Bridget Ziegler.
When the allegations were first made, the Florida GOP suspended Ziegler, handing off his duties to the vice chair, Evan Power. Lee County GOP Chairman Michael Thomason announced on X:
“Christian Ziegler has engaged in conduct that renders him unfit for the office.”
In addition to the suspension, Florida party members, including Governor Ron DeSantis, demanded Ziegler resign his post. Ziegler refused to resign, professing his innocence and insisting that the relationship was consensual, but that did little to pacify his detractors.
As noted above, Power had taken over the duties of the chair, and on Monday, Ziegler was formally removed, with Evan Power being elevated to the Chair position. The Florida GOP announced:
“Congratulations to our new Chairman, @EvanPower. Under his strong leadership, we will Keep Florida RED, deliver Florida’s 30 electoral votes to the GOP presidential candidate, and elect Republicans up and down the ballot. Let’s get to work!”
According to an NBC News report, there was little, if any, support for Ziegler in the room when this decision was being made. The source told NBC News:
“I believe it was almost unanimous vote to remove Christian Ziegler, which I believe is the absolute right thing to do.
“And I want to reiterate that we are spending a lot of time and energy on this, on this meeting instead of focusing on the things we need to focus on, and that’s simply because Christian Ziegler did not do the right thing and resign.”
The removal of Ziegler puts this scandal on the back burner for now, but it will surely get kicked back up as the election cycle gets rolling, especially because Ziegler was an ally of both Donald Trump and Governor Ron DeSantis.
Even if Ziegler is not found guilty of rape, his political career is over as far as the GOP is concerned simply due to the salacious nature of the allegations, including the relationship that Ziegler and his wife allegedly had with the alleged victim.
I would also suspect that the career of Bridget Ziegler, who had not been accused of any wrongdoing in this matter, is now on life support. In fact, she is already under pressure from the Sarasota School Board to step down from her position.
