Dueling accusations of doxing, death threats in Florida Senate District 38 election race
Two candidates competing in a Florida Senate race have launched dueling accusations of doxing, with police opening a criminal investigation after Democrat Janelle Perez reported that she received death threats to her personal cell phone.
Perez, 35, owns a Medicare HMO company with her family. She faces Republican challenger Alexis Calatayud, 28, who is the former policy and programs director for the Florida Department of Education. They are vying for the state Senate District 38 seat to represent much of South Miami-Dade County.
Perez held a press conference Monday alongside Sen. Lauren Book, a Democrat for District 35, where she accused Calatayud’s campaign of sending voters text messages with her personal cell phone number, and running campaign ads with a photo of Perez’s home.
“When Republicans and my opponent blasted out my cell phone number and included an attack in their attack ads with clear visuals of my home, they escalated these threats and have now put me and my family in harm’s way,” Perez said. “I have thick skin as a candidate, but when I receive phone calls and multiple texts saying ‘I will murder you and your family’ — as a mother and a wife, I will take that seriously.”
Perez, who has two young daughters, said the text message with her cell phone number was sent out on Oct. 8. Between that Saturday and the following Thursday, she said, she received death threats that said: “I’m going to kill you and your gay kids,” “I am going to murder you and your family” and “I am going to kill you.”
Perez’s campaign also shared a screenshot of a message sent to voters that said: “Seniors get SICK, their coverage is DENIED, and PEREZ gets RICH... Now Janelle Perez wants to be your next State Senator.”
The message then encouraged the recipients to “say NO” to Perez by calling her personal cell phone number, which was included in the message.
Perez filed a report with the Pinecrest Police Department on Oct. 10. The city manager confirmed that there is an ongoing criminal investigation into the matter.
Calatayud’s campaign said the Florida Republican Senatorial Campaign Committee (FRSCC), which has contributed over $60,000 to Calatayud since June, paid for the text messages and ads in question. In response to the Miami Herald’s request for comment, Calatayud’s campaign sent a statement from FRSCC.
“If they didn’t want their numbers used, they shouldn’t have filed them with the state as their official campaign numbers,” said FRSCC spokeswoman Erin Isaac. “They’ll both learn November 8th that voters are smarter than that.”
Counteraccusation and text messages
Calatayud’s campaign issued counteraccusations on Monday after Perez’s press conference.
In response to questions from the Herald, the campaign shared screenshots of two text messages — both of which they allege were approved by the Perez campaign — that went out earlier this month and included Calatayud’s personal cell phone number and encouraged voters to call her. One text message from Oct. 11 includes a black-and-white image of Calatayud with yellow caution tape behind her.
“Don’t believe Alexis Calatayud’s horrible lies,” the image says. “She’s part of the movement to attack our community — and attacking a cancer survivor while she’s at it. Call [cell phone number] to tell her enough is enough.”
Another message went out on Oct. 8.
“Don’t believe the lies from Alexis,” it reads. “Call Alexis Calatayud today at [cell phone number] and let her know you’ve had ENOUGH of her extremism, corruption and lies.”
The Perez campaign did not respond to the Herald’s questions about whether or not it paid for or signed off on those text messages.
Doxing, which is disseminating an individual’s personal information with the intent to cause harm, has become increasingly common in political campaigns in recent years.
“Last year I was terrorized by crimes committed when my personal information was shared on the dark web. My cell phone was hacked, I was threatened, extorted and had information trafficked online,” Book said at the press conference. “It’s these kinds of dangerous and disgusting tactics that prevent women from running for office in the first place.”
Perez and Calatayud are competing in a redrawn Senate District 38, which is comprised of many deep-blue coastal Dade County ZIP codes. The district starts at the Homestead Air Reserve Base in the south and extends north through Palmetto Bay, Cutler Bay, Pinecrest, South Miami, Key Biscayne and some of Coral Gables.
Both Perez and Calatayud ran unopposed in the August primary, advancing automatically to the November ballot. So far, Calatayud has outraised her opponent with $480,000 in campaign contributions, compared to Perez’s approximately $402,400, according to campaign finance reports.
Calatayud, a Florida International University graduate, has interned for U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio and worked as campaign manager and legislative aide for Florida Sen. Vance Aloupis. In her role with the state Department of Education, she spent two sessions working in “lockstep” with the Legislature to develop education laws signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis, according to her campaign website.
Perez, a graduate of FIU and Johns Hopkins University, has political experience working for former U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen. She works as a network development contract specialist at her family-owned Medicare HMO company. Perez has received endorsements from Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava, State Sen. Annette Taddeo, SEIU, AFSCME and the Florida State Fraternal Order of Police.
Miami Herald reporter Charles Rabin contributed to this report.
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