As Washington grappled with the revelation that one of President Donald Trump’s top aides had mistakenly added a journalist to a group chat discussing military plans, many Republicans casting their votes to fill that aide’s former U.S. House seat appeared unfazed by the controversy.
Early voting is already underway in Florida to elect a replacement for Mike Waltz, who now serves as Trump’s national security adviser.
“I think it was a faux pas, and it was a mistake that somebody made,” said Gary Caples, a Republican voter from DeLand, Florida. “Nobody’s perfect.”
State Senator Randy Fine, who has Trump’s endorsement to take over Waltz’s seat, told the Associated Press he had not read The Atlantic’s report about the incident, citing a busy schedule.
“It’s hard enough to run for office and be in the Senate. So that’s my focus right now,” Fine said.
The subdued response from Republicans in Florida and on Capitol Hill highlights a shifting political landscape where incidents that might have once prompted bipartisan concern are now largely dismissed.
Trump, maintaining his stance, directed criticism at The Atlantic and its editor-in-chief, Jeffrey Goldberg—who was mistakenly included in the group chat—while rejecting the notion that his aides should issue any apologies.
Waltz inadvertently included Goldberg in a conversation involving 18 senior administration officials about a planned strike in Yemen.
“Michael Waltz has learned a lesson, and he’s a good man,” Trump said on Tuesday, suggesting that the mishap was due to an aide’s error rather than Waltz himself. “It was one of Michael’s people on the phone. A staffer had his number on there.”
Waltz himself expressed uncertainty about how Goldberg ended up in the chat. “This one in particular, I’ve never met, don’t know, never communicated with,” Waltz stated.
President Donald TrumpTrump’s decision to elevate Waltz to a high-level White House position has prompted a special election on April 1 to fill his congressional seat, with early voting already in progress.
Fine is considered the front-runner against Democrat Josh Weil in a district where registered Republican voters far outnumber Democrats, despite some national GOP figures voicing concerns about Fine’s fundraising and campaign performance.
Local party officials in this strongly Republican area along Florida’s Atlantic Coast, north of Orlando, say the Signal messaging mishap has barely registered among early voters. Many dismissed the idea that Waltz had done anything wrong.
While assisting Fine’s campaign, Zelma Cohen, vice president of West Volusia’s Republican Party, noted that none of the early voters she encountered had brought up the incident. She downplayed the controversy, attributing it to political drama in Washington.
“We all know Mike and have a lot of faith in him. Mike is a very competent person,” Cohen said.
Even critics of the blunder who are working to support Democrats in the race see the issue as secondary.
“The real issues are what are they doing to our benefits, what are they doing to Medicare, what are they doing to Social Security, what are they doing to the Veterans Administration,” said Sally Garcia, a volunteer spreading awareness about Weil’s campaign outside a strip mall in DeLand, where the elections supervisor’s office is located.
Weil, in a statement, linked national security concerns with other policy issues, criticizing the Trump administration and Waltz for the security lapse while simultaneously tightening Social Security Administration rules. The new policy requires beneficiaries to visit field offices in person to verify their identity instead of using phone services.
“Shutting down phone lines used to file nearly 40% of claims makes no sense if our national security advisor can’t adhere to the protocols that keep our country secure,” Weil said.
In Palm Beach County, where Trump resides, some voters expressed disappointment over the mishap, arguing that Trump should acknowledge the mistake.
“Our national defense is one of the most important elements of keeping our nation secure,” said Kate Polak, a resident of Pompano Beach. “I think people need to step up and not only apologize, but potentially step aside as well, because after all, that is literally their job and they’re making the big bucks for it.”