Republican Marshall Rawson will represent Florida House District 10 after defeating Democrat Merrillee Malwitz-Jipson by more than 36 percentage points.
Rawson received nearly 43,000 votes, compared to fewer than 20,000 for Malwitz-Jipson. His district covers Baker, Bradford, Columbia, and Union counties, as well as the northern portion of Alachua County.
The result is receiving renewed attention following a Reddit post shared with Florida residents. Rawson’s victory was already discussed extensively after Election Day, with many commenters focusing on reporting concerning his political history.
Rawson attended the 2017 Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia. Video obtained by Talking Points Memo reportedly showed him carrying a flag associated with the League of the South, an organization identified by civil-rights monitors as a white nationalist hate group.
Rawson has maintained that he attended the event to protest the removal of a Confederate monument and did not expect it to become violent. He has also said his formal involvement with the League of the South ended in 2016.
The rally became deadly when James Alex Fields Jr. drove into a crowd of counterprotesters, killing Heather Heyer and injuring dozens of others. A photograph reportedly showed Rawson near Fields earlier that day, although there is no allegation that Rawson participated in or knew about the attack.
Florida Reddit users reacted to Rawson’s election with disappointment. One commenter wrote, “Way to mess everything up again, people.” Another said, “Because of course he did.”
Some participants pushed back against treating the election as representative of every Florida voter. One resident emphasized that progressive voters participated but were heavily outnumbered in the deeply conservative district. Others criticized Democratic organizations for failing to invest enough money and attention in competitive Florida races.
Rawson’s commanding victory suggests the controversy over his past did not substantially weaken his support among District 10 voters. His election now places him in the Florida Legislature, while questions about his associations and previous statements remain part of the public conversation.
