BRADENTON – Manatee County Commissioner Misty Servia is facing a challenge from mortgage broker and Manatee Planning Commission veteran Mike Rahn in a Republican primary that will decide the seat this August. The race is already becoming one of the ugliest of this election cycle, with Rahn and surrogates using false claims that Servia called Florida Governor Ron DeSantis a racist during board conversations related to Vaccinegate.

Last week, Servia hit Rahn and his political ally, Commissioner Vanessa Baugh, with cease and desist letters over the matter, which originated during the press coverage of Baugh rigging the county's COVID-19 vaccine distribution during a pop-up clinic organized by DeSantis. Unbeknownst to the governor, Baugh directed Emergency Services Director Jacob Sauer to limit the selection pool to two zip codes in her district, while also directing him to add herself and several friends and political supporters directly to the list.

This occurred during a time when the vaccines were not widely available and in high demand. Needless to say, the public outcry was severe, and citizens routinely showed up at public hearings demanding that Baugh resign. Baugh is awaiting a court hearing in early August after the Florida Ethics Commission found probable cause that the commissioner may have violated state ethics laws.

Several national and even international publications reported on the story, which drew negative attention to DeSantis, despite the fact that he did not appear to have any knowledge of Baugh's actions. However, in a Fox News interview with the governor, host Laura Ingraham played a clip of Servia voicing concerns over Baugh's actions, pointing out that not only had Baugh skirted the lottery process for vaccinations that had been approved by the board but that the "optics" of her limiting the events to two of the whitest and wealthiest zip codes in the county were not favorable.

Ingraham used the clip out of context and misleadingly suggested that Servia was alleging that DeSantis' efforts were racist. Baugh and Rahn have repeatedly used a clip from the interview to suggest that their fellow Republican Servia had made the comments about DeSantis and not Baugh. Click here to view the segment.

Servia's cease and desist letters can be read here and here. The full portion of her comments directed at commissioner Baugh can be viewed here.

Rahn used the cease and desist letter as an opportunity to send out another campaign email that linked the Fox News clip and to further his strategy of painting Servia as a RINO (Republican in Name Only). In the email, which can be viewed here, Rahn calls the commissioner "Seriously Liberal Servia" and a "liberal career politician," despite having served only one term in an elected office. He also attempts to link her to unpopular Democratic President Joe Biden.

There is no Democratic candidate running for the seat. However, instead of an open primary in which all voters in the district would be allowed to participate, the write-in loophole was used to close the race off to all but Republican voters. Because primary voters tend to come disproportionately from the party's more conservative base, Rahn seems to have chosen a strategy of attempting to paint his opponent as a Biden-affiliated liberal in hopes of turning out the far-right vote.

Candidate Profile: Misty Servia

Candidate Profile: Mike Rahn