Tipsheet

From Sex Tapes Nobody Was Talking About, to Poorly Attended Events, Nikki Fried Has Had a Bizarre Week

Rebecca Downs
Rebecca Downs  |  April 16, 2022 3:30 PM

It appears that Nikki Fried, the Florida Commissioner of Agriculture, who is also running to challenge Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) in November, is rather hungry for attention. This bizarre week she's had would certainly suggest that. On Thursday, both DeSantis and Fried held events, and they could hardly be more different in attendance, as pictures show.

Ultimately, Fried canceled her other campaign events for the day, after they were not only so poorly attended, but protesters caused the other events to be canceled. At least that was the reason given according to a report from WEAR, a local ABC outlet. 

"Due to anticipated protests and demonstrators, the event at 2 p.m. has been canceled due to the concern for the candidate's safety," the Santa Rosa County Democratic Executive Committee said.

Many reacted over Twitter by questioning whether the protesters even existed, or suggesting they outweighed those attending the event. 

On Friday, Fried then tweeted that she had not appeared in a sex tape, not naming who had accused her of having one. 

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The rumor gets even more bizarre when it comes to some bringing conspiracy theorist Rebekah Jones into the conversation, whom Guy has written extensively about. 

In a Townhall column from February of last year, Brad Slagler summed Jones up:

...Since her rise to prominence, Jones has fallen out of favor as a valid voice. This past December her home was raided and evidence collected looking into whether she hacked a government messaging system to implore others to speak out about alleged corruption. In January she turned herself in to authorities, and now the announcement has been made that she is dropping the lawsuit she filed against the state for that December warrant being served.

In a column last May, Ann Coulter detailed the nuttery of Jones' list of claims and activities. Christina Pushaw, DeSantis' press secretary, also did so in writing for Human Events in February of last year.

As Charles C. Cooke wrote for National Review Online last July, Fried herself called Jones "valuable" and revealed she talked to her on "a pretty consistent basis."

Some have speculated that Jones hasn't taken too kindly to how Fried may have backed off from associating with Jones.

Jones is running against Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL), who represents Florida's 1st Congressional District. 

Florida's primary is August 23. Fried has been performing dismally in the polls. As Guy covered in early February, she had 40 percent to DeSantis' 51 percent. Later that month, polling showed Fried with just 32 percent support compared to DeSantis' 55 percent support. More recent polling that Guy highlighted at the end of last month is even worse still, with Fried having 27 percent support to DeSantis' 51 percent. 

Also this week, Fried also took to going after her fellow primary challenger, Rep. Charlie Crist, a Democrat who was also once an Independent and a Republican earlier in his career, for his previous and confusing stances on abortion. Gov. DeSantis, as Madeline highlighted, signed a 15-week abortion ban into law on Thursday.