Some Florida GOP websites still list Trump as president
At least 10 local Republican Party websites across Florida continue to show Donald Trump as the president of the United States, more than four months after he lost the election to Joe Biden.
GOP sites in counties as large as Miami-Dade and Hillsborough tout Trump as the president, based on a review of the sites in all 67 Florida counties. Most websites list no elected officials at all, but nearly half of those that do continue to include Trump.
Some local party officials claim that continuing to show Trump as president is an oversight, despite some of the sites having updated their list with newly elected down-ballot officials. Others, like Jay Kramer, chair of the Indian River County Republican Party, are unabashed in defending the action as very intentional.
“Trump hasn’t conceded, and it’s our opinion the election was stolen,” Kramer, the former mayor of Vero Beach, told the USA TODAY NetworkFlorida. “It’s important to make a statement and to make sure the statement stays relevant for the next 31⁄2 years.”
Indian River County’s GOP website boldly displays Trump serving a second term, 2020-2024. Former Vice President Mike Pence is not shown serving a second term, an oversight, Kramer said.
Kramer was among at least 100 people from the area who traveled to Washington on Jan. 6 for the rally to support Trump, which turned into an attack on the Capitol.
Republican Party officials in MiamiDade County did not return requests for comment on their website, which also continues to display Trump as president.
The same site shows former Miami Mayor Carlos Gimenez as a member of Congress from District 26, which he won in November.
The Hillsborough County GOP website lists Trump as the president, but also updated it to show Traci Koster its new state representative in District 64. The website is “under redesign” and is to be updated over “the new few weeks,” Chair Jim Waurishuk said in an email.
Nassau County GOP’s site is outdated, said former Chair Justin Taylor. After speaking with the USA TODAY Network, Taylor, who designed the site, said the party plans to update it.
The Manatee County GOP home page congratulates all of the winners of the 2020 election, including Trump. However, the elected-officials section of the website is accurate and does not show Trump, Chair Kathleen King said. The homepage, she said, is intended to show winners in Manatee County.
In St. Lucie County, the elected-officials section of the website shows newly elected state representatives such as Dana Trabulsy and Kaylee Tuck, and it also shows Trump as the president. Chair Kenny Nail said that was unintentional, and more a website issue in showing what they wanted to communicate.
“We want to show that (Trump) won in St. Lucie County,” Nail said.
After being contacted by the USA TODAY Network, Nail said party officials would address the error.
Some websites show Trump as president, but appear to have not been updated since the November election.
The state Republican Party website does not list elected officials.