Reports indicate that Christian Ziegler was removed from his position as chairman of the Florida Republican Party in a closed-door meeting on Monday, amidst an ongoing investigation into allegations of rape against him.
Two individuals who were present at the meeting to remove Ziegler confirmed to Politico that he had indeed been ousted. According to a report from the Tampa Bay Times, hundreds of Republicans from various parts of the state convened in Tallahassee to participate in the vote that resulted in Ziegler’s removal.
Ziegler’s removal coincides with a criminal probe investigating accusations that he sexually assaulted a woman, with whom both he and his wife, Bridget Ziegler, were reported to have engaged in a consensual sexual encounter previously. Bridget Ziegler, co-founder of the conservative group Moms for Liberty and a member of the Sarasota County school board, informed the police in early November about the consensual encounter between herself, her husband, and the woman approximately a year prior to the reported assault.
As per a search warrant affidavit, the woman was a longtime friend of the Zieglers, and the trio had been planning another sexual encounter on the day of the alleged assault. The woman claimed that after Bridget Ziegler canceled their plans at the last moment, Christian Ziegler arrived at her Sarasota home and forced himself upon her, as detailed in the police affidavit.
Christian Ziegler, reportedly succeeded as the head of the state GOP by Tallahassee lobbyist Evan Power according to local reports, has maintained that his interaction with the woman was consensual. However, revelations regarding the sexual history between him and his wife immediately prompted calls for Ziegler’s resignation as Florida’s GOP chairman, including from Republican presidential hopeful and Governor of Florida, Ron DeSantis.
According to the Tampa Bay Times, citing Helen Ferre, the party’s executive director, Ziegler was removed in a 199-3 voice vote during the Monday meeting.