(ConservativeSense.com) – The chairman of Florida’s Republican Party, Christian Ziegler, has denied shocking allegations that he assaulted a woman at her home in Sarasota and insisted he will not resign. According to a police affidavit, the unnamed complainant said she had a consensual intimate relationship with Mr. Ziegler and his wife, but he assaulted her when she refused an encounter without Mrs. Ziegler’s involvement.
Bridget Ziegler acknowledged the “three-way” relationship with police, and according to the accuser, the trio had arranged to meet at her apartment on October 2. When Mrs. Ziegler subsequently could not attend, the complainant canceled the meeting but said Mr. Ziegler attended alone and assaulted her.
In subsequent police interviews, Mr. Ziegler said he did have an encounter with his accuser, but this was consensual.
The couple, known for espousing traditional family values, has won the support of high-profile figures, including evangelical leader and president of Florida Family Action John Stemberger, who endorsed Mr. Ziegler in 2022. “He is a pro-life, pro-family, and strong social conservative,” Stemberger said. The embattled chairman and his wife also won the endorsement of Senator Rick Scott, who called him a “life-long principled conservative.”
Mrs. Ziegler, a member of the Sarasota School Board and co-founder of the conservative Moms for Liberty, is also a key figure in Florida’s Republican movement. She helped draft the Parental Rights in Education Act in the Sunshine State, which prohibited the discussion of adult content in schools and was condemned by left-leaning media and celebrities as the “Don’t Say Gay” law.
The news that Mrs. Ziegler admits to having an intimate relationship with a woman has prompted a fierce backlash online. MSNBC legal analyst Joyce Vance tweeted that Mrs. Ziegler is a hypocrite, adding, “If you wrote this into the plot of your book, you’d be accused of being too predictable.”
Florida’s Governor Ron DeSantis has called on Ziegler to resign, but he said he would not “sit on the bench” when there is a “country to save.”
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