Conservative blogger Javier Manjarres made it official Tuesday morning, declaring his candidacy for Florida's 22nd Congressional District, a seat held by five-term incumbent Democrat Ted Deutch.
Manjarres, 45, was named top national conservative blogger by the Conservative Political Action Committee in 2011, for his blog site "The Shark Tank."
Manjarres had set up an exploratory committee last June and with the help of conservative freshman Congressman Matt Gaetz from the Panhandle, was raising money in Washington, D.C. in October.
Sunshine State News recently asked Manjarres on what is motivating him to challenge Deutch. He didn't hold back, sharply criticizing Deutch’s response to the Parkland shooting as well as the Democrat’s resistance to tax reform. Manjarres continued those barbs in a campaign statement today announcing his run.
“The recent school shooting in Parkland, Florida is a reminder that shameful extremists like Deutch will go as far as to lie in their ongoing efforts of exploiting victims of the shooting for political expediency and gain," he said. "(Deutch) has offered Americans nothing more than failed leadership and ideological policies.”
Manjarres faces a hugely uphill battle. He first must best at least two Republican challengers -- Paul Douglas Spain, who has run for Congress twice before, and Nicolas T. Kimaz -- before he can square off against Deutch. The Republican primary is Aug. 28.
CD 22 represents most of Broward and southeast Palm Beach County. It is 42 percent Democratic, 29 percent Republican and 29 percent no-party-affiliation. In 2016, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump won Florida by 1.2 percentage points, but Democrat Hillary Clinton won CD 22 by 16 points.
To separate himself from the field, Manjarres has positioned himself as a political outsider.
“We can either choose the path of greater government accountability, economic prosperity and freedom, or we can continue along the path of failure, caused by the corrupt political establishment in Washington D.C.,” he says.
It’s not clear whether Manjarres’ opponents will make his personal past an issue; Manjarres was arrested in 2016 after an alleged incident with his sister’s boyfriend. But prosecutors never pursued charges.
Manjarres may have the backing of the America First Agenda PAC, for which he’s helped fundraise in the past. FEC filings as of Dec. 31, 2017 show the PAC has raised more than $300,000.
“I enter this race with the intention of stamping out the un-American foreign and domestic policies my opponent, ‘Terrified Ted’ Deutch, continues to support,” added Manjarres. “I am going to eat his lunch and feed him his votes.”
Ryan Nicol, a freelance writer who lives in Sunrise, wrote this story exclusively for Sunshine State News.
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