Right-wing journalist Alex Newman of Ormond Beach drops challenge to Tom Leek

After qualifying to challenge incumbent state Rep. Tom Leek, R-Ormond Beach, in the newly drawn Florida House District 28 race, a freelance journalist has dropped out.

Alex Newman, the journalist whose work appears in right-wing outlets such as Mike Lindell's frankspeech.com, wrote a resignation letter to the Division of Elections asking for his name to be removed from the Aug. 23 ballot. On Thursday, just two days after telling The News-Journal he intended to stay in the race, Newman confirmed his exit.

"Because I have a family to support and commitments to clients, I’m simply unable at this time to dedicate the incredible amount of time, energy and resources required to beat a candidate with access to well over $1 million in his PAC and campaign for this race," Newman wrote in an email to The News-Journal.

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Although he faced an uphill battle against Leek, a powerful member of the Republican leadership caucus, in the GOP primary, Newman landed endorsements from Volusia County Chair Jeff Brower, state Rep. Anthony Sabatini of Lake County, former presidential candidate Ron Paul and the Republican Conservatives Ormond Beach Assembly, a club that split with the Volusia County Republican Executive Committee last year.

Florida Division of Elections questions Newman campaign

But Newman campaign ran into problems right from the start.

After receiving a complaint, the Florida Board of Elections identified several possible violations of state election law and sent the Newman campaign a letter on June 13 seeking explanations. According to his own campaign finance records, Newman got 24 donations for a total of $3,875 prior to officially becoming a candidate; the letter also states he got two cash contributions of greater than $50, exceeding the limit under state law.

Campaign finance records show Newman received his first campaign donations on March 18.

In an email to The News-Journal, Newman confessed to "innocent" mistakes, explaining he was a first-time candidate without political experience "doing our very best to navigate the incredibly complex Florida statutes governing elections."

Then last week, the Division of Elections identified a notary error on one of his qualification documents and informed Newman it would not be accepted and he would not qualify.

"The mistake was made by the notary, not anyone on our campaign," Newman wrote in Thursday's email. "As a result, we shut down the campaign, cancelled all meetings, requested refunds from vendors, sent out a notice to supporters, and everything ground to a halt. For reasons that have not been made clear, the Division qualified our campaign after hours on Friday anyway, shocking everyone.

"This all caused some profound soul searching from the campaign team," he wrote. "After much prayer and discussion, we decided not to revive the campaign."

Newman wrote that experts advised him he could win, but only by "spending every waking moment of the next two months publicly attacking my opponent and begging for money."

He said he won't do that.

"While I disagree with some of my former opponent’s key votes and remain concerned about the massive funding flowing into the political system from special interests, it is contrary to my nature to deliberately embarrass and tear down a person in front of his own community for political gain," Newman wrote. "This is one of the big problems in politics today."

He said some of his own campaign leaders told him they didn't think his heart was truly in the race.

"They also told me they could tell I did not feel God was leading me to do this. The realization by some of the people most invested in the campaign was sobering," Newman wrote. "All who know me know that my top priorities are God, family, freedom and country — in that order. At this time, I feel like I can best serve them all by remaining engaged in journalism, education, consulting, and public speaking — areas where I have a great deal of experience and that are just as critical to the battle for liberty as the political realm, if not more so."

Conversation between Newman, Leek

Newman said he spoke to Leek, who he said pledged the Legislature will pursue some of Newman's priorities, including constitutional carry, the right of a resident to carry a handgun — either openly or concealed — without a permit. "At my request, (Leek) also agreed to read a book that I consider critical at this time," Newman said.

Leek confirmed  the conversation on Thursday, including agreeing to accept a book Newman had written.

"(House Speaker-Designate) Paul Renner has been saying for months that he will pass a constitutional carry bill next year," Leek said. "I'll be standing alongside him when he does."

Newman said he told Leek he would rather work for "the Republican cause — and more importantly, for the American cause of liberty and self-government" than to attack a fellow party member.

"One of the sad realizations I made during this campaign is that there is corruption embedded in the political system and the political process — even at the local level. Another sad realization is that the political process appears to be designed specifically to exclude grassroots candidates and make it as difficult as possible for everyday people to run for office. It needs to change for the sake of our republic and future generations," Newman said.

Newman's exit leaves Leek to face Democrat John Navarra on the Nov. 8 ballot.

The new District 28 covers northeast Volusia County, including Ormond Beach and Daytona Beach

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This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Alex Newman drops Florida House District 28 challenge to Tom Leek