An effort to intervene in a Palm Beach County Commission GOP primary on behalf of a rival against a high-profile incumbent appears to have been torpedoed by the administration of President Donald Trump.
The executive committee of the Republican Party of Palm Beach rejected a move on Wednesday, May 13, to endorse Elizabeth Accomando, president of the Indian Trail Improvement District. She is trying to unseat Commissioner Sara Baxter, the current occupant of the District 6 seat and who this year also serves as the ceremonial county mayor.
It is rare for the Republican organization, or any partisan party leadership, to endorse in a primary let alone side with a candidate over an incumbent. The exception has been Trump, who has often targeted Republicans across the country he has deemed disloyal by encouraging, endorsing and offering financial support to their rivals.
Nonetheless, the bid for backing of Accomando at the county GOP’s executive committee meeting fell short.
“What happened last night was to remain neutral,” said Carl Cascio, the chairman of the county GOP. “We have two very qualified candidates. Let the Republican voters make the decision in August.”
The decision to remain neutral, apparently, involved urging from a voice said to have been representing Trump.
Cascio said he received a phone call from someone high up in the Trump administration who told him that the president would be disappointed if the county chapter’s Republican Executive Committee voted to support Accomando. The president has already endorsed Baxter’s re-election bid in a posting on his social media platform, Truth Social.
“It would have been suicidal to have endorsed Accomando when your president, who resides in Palm Beach County, has endorsed Baxter,” said Cascio. “It would have been a black eye on the county committee. We would have been in the national spotlight for undermining the leader of the MAGA movement. What was surprising to me was that most of these people supporting the measure were MAGA.”
According to Accomando, who was at the May 13 meeting, Cascio told the members of the executive committee that there would be retribution against the county GOP if it went against Trump’s wishes.
Accomando, who sought the county party’s backing, said she now wants the whole story.
“I would like to know who this person was in the administration who spoke with Cascio,” she said.
Accomando also accused Cascio of using the conversation with the unnamed individual to defeat the move to endorse her. She said Cascio gave a 10-minute speech on why executive committee members should not vote to take sides in the District 6 primary, which is scheduled for Aug. 23.
“He was anything but neutral,” she stated.
Baxter, who also was at the meeting, said she was pleased with the outcome. In a statement texted to The Palm Beach Post, she said: “Last night showed that the REC (Republican Executive Committee) members want to let the voters decide in the August primary election who the best candidate is.”
Baxter, as part of her three-minute allotted speaking time at the executive committee meeting, played a video from a recent county commission meeting in which she praised Trump. The comments were made during a public hearing to rename Palm Beach International Airport after the president.
Will the fractured party recover to support the GOP nominee in November?
The May 13 primary endorsement debate followed a previous attempt to distance the governing body of the county Republican Party from Baxter, however.
Two months ago, the county committee voted to withhold support from Baxter because of her endorsement of Democrat Ric Bradshaw’s successful re-election bid in 2024. Bradshaw, the longtime sheriff, was involved in a bitter election with Michael Gauger, his one-time top aide who was the Republican nominee. Baxter made a $1,000 contribution to Bradshaw.
But Cascio deemed the vote to have been procedurally defective and ruled it out of order. He voided the vote.
Baxter’s critics then returned on Wednesday with the motion to endorse Accomando.
Cascio took issue with the accusation that he was biased in favor of Baxter.
“I did not ask one person to vote one way or another,” Cascio said. “I informed them of the consequences of supporting the move to endorse. I had an obligation to do that.”
Asked whether the contentious primary will make it difficult for a Republican to retain the seat in the November election, Cascio said he is convinced the wounds will heal and that the party will rally behind the candidate.
“We need to retain this seat on the county commission,” he said. “It is important that fiscal conservatives serve on the commission.”
Mike Diamond is a journalist at The Palm Beach Post, part of the USA TODAY Florida Network. He covers Palm Beach County government. You can reach him at mdiamond@pbpost.com. Help support local journalism. Subscribe today.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Trump official leans on county GOP and it could affect election result
Reporting by Mike Diamond, Palm Beach Post / Palm Beach Post
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
