Florida GOP Chairman accused of sexual battery. His attorney says he’ll be exonerated
Investigators are looking into an allegation that Florida Republican Party Chairman Christian Ziegler sexually battered a woman, according to a heavily redacted incident report released on Thursday by Sarasota police.
An attorney representing Ziegler said he’s confident the Florida GOP chairman will be “completely exonerated.”
The complaint was released shortly after the Florida Trident, a watchdog news outlet, reported that Ziegler — who’s married to Moms for Liberty co-founder and Sarasota County School Board member Bridget Ziegler — had been accused of sexual battery by a woman who alleged that she had been in a long-time three-way sexual relationship with the Republican power couple.
According to the Florida Trident’s report, the alleged incident occurred when Christian Ziegler and the woman, who has not been publicly identified, were alone. The Florida Trident also reported that a search warrant had been executed on Ziegler’s cell phone as part of the investigation.
The police report released on Thursday shed little light on the allegations. It was heavily redacted, with virtually all details of the case blacked out, although some references to alleged sexual violence were left visible. In the initial synopsis of the complaint, only three words were left unredacted: “stated that” and “raped.” A subsequent section of the report indicated that the complainant had reported being “sexually battered.”
The police report indicates that the alleged incident occurred on Oct. 2 and was reported on Oct. 4.
The name of the subject of the investigation was redacted, but the Sarasota Police Department released the complaint to the Miami Herald in direct response to a request for a report regarding sexual battery allegations against Ziegler.
In a statement, Ziegler’s lawyer Derek Byrd said that Ziegler “has been fully cooperative with every request made by the Sarasota Police Department” and is “confident that once the police investigation is concluded that no charges will be filed and Mr. Ziegler will be completely exonerated.”
“Unfortunately, public figures are often accused of acts that they did not commit whether it be for political purposes or financial gain. I would caution anyone to rush to judgment until the investigation is concluded,” Byrd said. “Out of respect for the investigation, this is all Mr. Ziegler or myself can say at this time.”
There have been no charges filed in the case.
The Republican Party of Florida confirmed in a statement that it is aware of the allegations against the party chairman, but otherwise declined to comment, citing the open investigation.
The Zieglers
The investigation is likely to cast a shadow over one of Florida’s most influential Republican couples.
Elected chair of the state GOP in February, Christian Ziegler is a former Florida Republican Party vice chairman and Sarasota County commissioner who has cast himself as a social conservative in the same vein as Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.
He boasts ties to former President Donald Trump. His victory in the race for Florida GOP chair this year was largely seen as a victory for the former president’s allies, many of whom sought to boost Ziegler over his then-opponent, Florida GOP Vice Chairman Evan Power, a close ally of DeSantis.
Bridget Ziegler is a prominent school-choice activist in Florida, who has carved out a national reputation for combating “gender ideology” and “critical race theory” in Florida schools. Those efforts have drawn praise from DeSantis, who appointed her in February to the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District, the board that oversees much of Walt Disney World. She also serves as a vice president of the conservative Leadership Institute.
Bridget Ziegler did not immediately respond to the Herald’s request for comment.
The investigation also threatens to be a distraction to Florida Republicans at a critical moment for the party.
The Florida GOP presidential primary is less than four months away and two Floridians — Trump and DeSantis — are expected to appear on the ballot. The sexual scandal also threatens to complicate the Zieglers’ role in pushing conservative social policies and cultural values, including the ones that have become emblematic of Moms for Liberty’s core political mission.
Moms for Liberty, which began as a small group of suburban mothers in Florida, has become a powerhouse in social conservative politics by promoting policies that restrict classroom discussion on issues such as sexuality and gender. Above all, the group says it is fighting to safeguard the innocence of children and portrays its push as a moral battle against the left.
“The moral high ground just had a devastating earthquake,” said Michael Barfield, the director of Public Access at the Florida Center for Government Accountability. Barfield is listed as a contributor in the Florida Trident report.
In a since-deleted post on the social media site X, Moms for Liberty called Bridget Ziegler’s inclusion in the news reports an attempt “to ruin the reputation of a strong woman fighting for America” and said that it would stand with her amid the allegations.
In a subsequent statement to the Herald, Moms for Liberty co-founders Tiffany Justice and Tina Descovich noted that Bridget Ziegler had stepped back from the group’s board in 2020, but cautioned against taking the reports about her at face value.
“We have learned long ago to not believe everything we read online, and we are confident she will get to tell her side of things to those who are interested in more than click bait,” Justice and Descovich said.
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In a statement issued Thursday, the Sarasota County Republican Party said that it was “shocked and disappointed to hear of the reports” about the Zieglers, adding that it “takes all such allegations of potential criminal conduct very seriously and will fully cooperate with investigators.”
Ziegler’s critics, meanwhile, jumped at the opportunity to go after him on Thursday, with Florida Democratic Party Chairwoman Nikki Fried issuing a prompt statement calling for her Republican counterpart to step down from his post immediately.
“Christian Ziegler can’t possibly continue to lead the Florida GOP under these conditions,” Fried said in a statement. “Given the severity of the criminal allegations, I’m calling for his immediate resignation.”
Miami Herald staff writer Sommer Brugal contributed to this report.
This story was originally published November 30, 2023 at 2:43 PM.
CORRECTION: This article has been updated to correct information about staffing at the Republican Party of Florida. Executive Director Helen Aguirre Ferré remains with the organization.