HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY, Fla. – In a twist to Florida’s Congressional District 14 race, Republican candidate Rocky Rochford found himself at the center of a firestorm after his X account reposted a controversial image.
The repost in question featured alt-right personality Stew Peters holding a copy of Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf, with the caption “Visionary Leadership.”
One of the first to publicly condemn Rochford was his Libertarian opponent’s campaign, Snyder for Florida. Their X post, which included a screen grab of the original image, read, “Why do you suppose @rocky4congress thinks Mein Kampf is visionary leadership enough to repost it?”
The Snyder campaign also called out prominent Florida Republicans, including Senator Rick Scott, demanding answers as to how they could reconcile their support for Israel and opposition to socialism while remaining silent on this controversial repost.
Tensions mounted further when the Tampa Bay Young Republicans (TBYR) weighed in, announcing in a brief but decisive post that they would no longer support any candidate who had reposted such content.
“We will not be supporting any candidates who’ve reposted Mein Kampf. We’ll be discussing endorsing the Libertarian candidate for CD-14,” the organization stated.
Rochford discussed the incident with Tampa Free Press, indicating he deleted the tweet and terminated the contracted social media company that reposted Peters’ “Visionary Leadership” tweet. He said he did not authorize its re-posting, nor does it represent his beliefs or values.
“I am totally against communism or fascism. I have posted my complete support for Israel since the beginning of my campaign. My message of unity is clearly front and center of my campaign. And it’s not even relevant. My website makes clear my positions. This was done in error. I unapologetically stand with the people of Israel!” said Rochford. “I have always stood with the people of Israel and still do today! To say otherwise is just not true. I hired a company to help me with Social Media and they re-posted on X a picture of Stew Peters holding a copy of Mein Kampf. I do not, or have ever, supported anyone or any organization that endorses hate. I have written numerous articles pledging my complete support to Israel.”
Rochford continued, “I have called out my opponent, Kathy Castor, for not voting to support a funding bill for Israel. I have called out Castor for not signing a letter from Congress denouncing Hamas. This is clearly an attack on my character. With more than 33 years of honorable service to this country and fighting alongside not only the IDF, and military members from countless countries, my principles and conscience is clear. When this came to my attention, I immediately fired the company “TweetFulI” and the individuals associated with my account. This is not who I am and not what I stand for. There is too much good that needs to be accomplished here in Tampa Bay and we need a leader that can fight for our community.”
Tampa Free Press has reached out to Tweetfull for comment and will update this story when we hear back.
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