Grassroots conservatives at Venice meeting express frustrations with ‘RINOs’.
By Alice Herman/Suncoast Searchlight
Original Air Date: August 6, 2025
Host: “Republicans in name only.” That is what a right-wing activist labeled many GOP members at a recent rally and strategy meeting in Venice hosted by Defend Florida. Alice Herman of Suncoast Searchlight reports.
Alice Herman: On a muggy afternoon in late July, roughly 200 right-wing activists gathered at a Venice country club to plot a course of action.
Despite Donald Trump winning the presidency for a second time, an entrenched and corrupt elite had—in their telling—managed to hold onto power in the Sunshine State.
Groups from across the state gathered in Venice for a right-wing event in July. Photo by Alice Herman via Suncoast Searchlight
Over plates of catered barbeque chicken and sauteed vegetables, the activists—some hailing from far-right Republican clubs, some from anti-vaccine organizations and others seeking to draw Christian clergy into conservative politics—focused their ire on their own party.
Cathi Chamberlin: How is it possible that we can have the most popular Republican president in our lifetime yet have so many RINOs in our party?
Right-wing activists gathered in Venice to strategize a GOP takeover. Photo by Alice Herman via Suncoast Searchlight
AH: That’s Cathi Chamberlin, a leader of Pinellas Watchdogs, a group that, even years after Trump’s 2020 election loss, remains focused on the idea that American elections are plagued with fraud. When she says RINO, she’s using an acronym for Republicans in Name Only, a popular accusation used to denounce Republicans seen as insufficiently supportive of President Trump.
CC: We don’t just have RINOs in Washington, D.C. We have them in our own backyard, right here in Florida.
Roughly 200 people from across Florida attended the event in Venice, including representatives of groups that promote disproven claims of election fraud, such as Pinellas Watchdogs. Photo by Alice Herman via Suncoast Searchlight
AH: This meeting was organized by a group called Defend Florida. It was billed as both a rally and strategy session—a place where grassroots conservatives could learn how to coordinate campaigns to oust establishment Republicans from local government and party leadership roles. It also spotlighted a growing rift within the Florida GOP between far-right rank-and-file activists and some party leadership.
With Trump back in the White House, that MAGA faction has doubled down on efforts to remake the party in their image—not by challenging Democrats but by targeting their own. Through meetings like this one, they’re mapping out how to purge establishment Republicans from local power and install ideologically aligned candidates in their place.
Defend Florida has worked with figures like Michael Flynn, the retired U.S. Army lieutenant general turned election denial figurehead, and Roger Stone, a longtime political operative known for his cutthroat style.
The group also helped lay the groundwork for Gov. Ron DeSantis’s controversial Office of Election Crimes and Security.
At a July event, Florida state Representative Berny Jacques urged right-wing activists to get involved in local and state politics. Photo by Alice Herman via Suncoast Searchlight
Its influence has drawn backlash from GOP leadership. In an email to local party leaders ahead of the event, Bill Helmich, executive director of the Republican Party of Florida, warned that Defend Florida posed “a matter of growing concern that directly impacts the unity and integrity of our organization.” He urged members to distance themselves from the group.
But that warning didn’t seem to carry much weight in Venice, where attendees jeered at any mention of the party’s official leadership and cheered calls to remove them.
CC: In the state, we have the RPOF, or the Republican Party of Florida.
[audience jeers]
AH: In contrast with the event’s grassroots theme, a host of influential and well-funded right-wing charities also had a presence in the room, peppering rank-and-file activists with slick pamphlets and promotional literature urging them to get onboard.
Attendees at the Defend Florida political training session learned about “Biblical Citizenship.” Photo by Alice Herman via Suncoast Searchlight
Citizens Defending Freedom, a national group based in Mulberry, Florida, which advocates for “the body of Christ to influence culture and governance” handed out QR codes to enlist participants in “Biblical Citizenship” classes promoting the idea that America ought to be a Christian nation.
Citizens for Renewing America, the advocacy arm of a group founded by Project 2025 architect and current Office of Management and Budget director Russell Vought, handed out dense guides to getting involved in local politics, urging readers to seek out “your local America First, MAGA group, conservative club or Tea Party organization” and identify key sources of local political influence.
For Suncoast Searchlight, this is Alice Herman.
To read the full report, visit suncoastsearchlight.org/defend-florida-rightwing-activists-target-gop.
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