UPDATE | Rebekah Jones said she was just making a point by announcing her run against Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz.
“In suggesting a run Florida 1, I was pointing out the hypocrisy in DeSantis writing a law to prevent the silencing of government critics, while simultaneously celebrating my suspension for sharing a news article that exposed hte lies he made that cost so many Florida lives,” Jones wrote on Instagram.
ORIGINAL STORY | The scientist who said she was fired by Gov. Ron DeSantis for refusing to censor Florida’s Covid-19 numbers said Tuesday she’s hoping to unseat another high-profile Republican politician in the state — Rep. Matt Gaetz.
Rebekah Jones said the congressman, currently under investigation by the Justice Department for allegedly paying an underage girl for sex, is vulnerable.
“I hope I do better than a sex trafficker,” Jones told NBC News. “It’s absurd that he’s still in office. Someone like that should not go unchallenged.”
Jones, who currently lives in Maryland, made the announcement on a new Instagram account she set up after her Twitter account was suspended. She said she ran afoul of Twitter for repeatedly reposting a Miami Herald article highly critical of DeSantis.
“I had hoped that someone in the Republican Party would step up and primary him, and I’ve yet to see that happen,” Jones said in the video. “And so, if it takes me going home to Florida to run against Matt Gaetz, then I will do it. If it means getting one child sex trafficker out of office, you’re damn right I’ll do it.”