Exclusive — Mara Macie Blasts Incumbent John Rutherford: ‘We Need to Be Involved’ in Primaries

It is crucial for Americans to be involved in their local primary races, Mara Macie, who is challenging Rep. John Rutherford (R-FL) for Florida’s Fifth Congressional District, said during an appearance on Breitbart News Saturday ahead of her campaign event.

Macie, who became even more involved in politics after fighting the military vaccine mandate alongside her husband, who is in the Navy, explained why it is so important for citizens to be involved in local politics.

It is “important to recognize that the political system — particularly, I can speak to that in Florida — is a network of people who are selecting who we get to vote for,” she said.

“So John Rutherford was the sheriff in Jacksonville for quite some time before they elevated him to the position of congressman. What we are doing is we’re being complacent, and we’re not actually taking — we’re not being involved in who we’re choosing to send to Congress,” Macie said, explaining that voters are essentially allowing “political consultants and the political elite choose who they want to tell us we are going to send to Congress.”

“People don’t vote in primary elections. Primary elections are where elections are won. By the time it gets to November, you’re voting for a letter. You’re voting for a letter, so a lot of the time, people don’t know who I am because local media will not cover me,” she said, concluding that many in the media are in the “pockets of the establishment.”

“I’ll ask them, I’ll say, ‘Well, how do you find out about who is on your ballot?’ And they’ll say, ‘Oh, well, I watched Fox News.’ And I’m like, ‘Does Fox News cover John Rutherford?’ And they’ll say, ‘No.'” Macie agreed he is not being covered, which begged her follow-up question: “Do you think they’re going to cover his opponent?’ And it kind of clicks at that moment,” Macie explained.
“But I think it’s important for people to understand that school boards — those candidates count. You need to know who your candidates are well before the primary. You need to understand who you should be supporting to get elected because we need to be involved,” she said, warning against complacency.

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“We cannot be complacent. That’s what we’ve been doing for decades, and that is exactly what got us where we are today. If we don’t change things, we are not supposed to be expecting a different outcome because that’s just crazy,” Macie said ahead of her campaign event taking place at Jekyll Brewing in Jacksonville Beach, FL.

“We’re going to talk about these exact things we’re talking about here. We’re gonna socialize to the point where people let us know what they want to hear more about,” she said, noting there will be other speakers there as well, including Breitbart News Saturday host and Washington Bureau Chief Matthew Boyle, as well as Ann Vandersteel and Mark Kaye.

“We’re going to figure out how we can replace John Rutherford and we’re going to all do it together because that’s the only way that you can take a RINO like John out of Congress and replace them with an American first patriot,” she added.

Breitbart News Saturday airs on SiriusXM Patriot 125 from 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. Eastern.