Crowded CD 19 GOP Primary heats up with Catalina Lauf attack ads, other media digs

The GOP Primary in Florida’s 19th Congressional District is getting feisty, with a new attack ad going after Catalina Lauf, one of several Republicans in the race to replace outgoing U.S. Rep. Byron Donalds.

The ad, paid for by the Southwest Florida First PAC, accuses Lauf of pretending to be a conservative in Illinois to win a GOP Primary, then erasing public images and other digital information tying her to conservative causes.

The ad begins with footage of Lauf recording a podcast in which she says her “original inspiration was always AOC,” a reference to U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who took office in 2019 at just 29 years old. Ocasio-Cortez made history as the youngest woman ever elected to Congress.

Lauf is 33 now, but was 29 when she ran for Congress in Illinois in 2022, and just 27 when she ran in 2020. Lauf won the GOP Primary in 2022, but lost in the General Election. She lost the Primary in 2020 to Republican Jim Oberweis, who, incidentally, is also running in this year’s Florida GOP Primary for CD 19 against Lauf.

The anti-Lauf ad goes on with a female narrator saying Lauf “scrubbed her website of conservative positions, even deleted videos, all to please Illinois liberals.”

As the narrator is speaking, video of Lauf shooting a gun appears on screen, indicating that she deleted content seen as pro-Second Amendment. On-screen text also notes removal of pro-life messaging.

“And you know she’ll do the exact same in Washington,” the ad continues. It ends with the narrator declaring, “Catalina might as well be AOC”

It’s not the first time the Southwest Florida First PAC has attacked a candidate in the race. In February, the Venice-based PAC launched an ad attacking former U.S. Rep. Chris Collins, who is also running in CD 19 as a Republican. That ad attacked Collins as a “New York Liberal” and slammed him, “along with a bunch of other carpetbaggers,” of “trying to buy our seat in Congress.”

Like the Lauf ad, it accuses Collins of being a fake conservative.

The Southwest Florida First PAC is not affiliated with a candidate. The group also launched a new radio ad that also uses the audio of Lauf saying her original inspiration was AOC. It accuses her of jumping from race to race in Illinois, noting that she moved from Illinois’ 16th Congressional District to the Illinois’ 14th Congressional District. It also includes language questioning Lauf’s conservative views.

“She claimed to be conservative,” the narrator declares before explaining that “she campaigned pro-life, pro-Second Amendment, America First.”

“But when Catalina Lauf won her Primary, she scrubbed her website,” the ad’s narrator continues.

It then reinforces messaging in the video ad.

“She’ll say anything, run anywhere, just to get elected,” the ad continues. “Catalina Lauf sold out conservatives in Illinois. She’ll do the exact same in Washington.”

The race for CD 19 is crowded, with 10 Republicans filed for the contest. Lauf may be getting some negative attention after securing support from some prominent conservatives, including U.S. Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, who represents Florida’s 13th Congressional District to the north of Southwest Florida-based CD 19.

Lauf this year has picked up endorsements from multiple sitting members of Congress. U.S. Rep. Burgess Owens, a Utah Republican, endorsed her earlier this month. In January, U.S. Sen. Jim Banks, an Indiana Republican, also endorsed her.

While the latest ads in the contentious race are bad enough for Lauf, the hits don’t stop there.

An article on The Conservative Record published last week similarly “raises questions for Southwest Florida conservatives.”

The article cites a conservative Illinois-based website, Illinois Family Action, outlining how Lauf removed conservative talking points from campaign messaging after she won her 2022 Primary.

Screenshots anonymously shared with Florida Politics also suggest Lauf may have an OnlyFans account, though the images have not been independently verified. While Florida Politics is not sharing the unverified images, the screenshots suggest further attacks may be ahead for Lauf.

Lauf entered the race in October after months of speculation that she would. Now based in Bonita Springs, Lauf previously served as a special adviser to the U.S. Department of Commerce from December 2018 to July 2019. That’s around when she founded the Defense of Freedom PAC, where she still serves as Executive Director.

The Republican Primary in August will likely determine who will replace Donalds, who is leaving office to run for Florida Governor. In November, nearly 64% of voters in the district supported Trump over Democrat Kamala Harris for President, according to MCI Maps.