Kat Cammack sides with constituent who obtained restraining order against Cory Mills

U.S. Rep. Kat Cammack said she’s siding with a constituent in a nasty domestic dispute with a Republican colleague.

The Gainesville Republican voted in November against tabling a censure resolution against U.S. Rep. Cory Mills, a New Smyrna Beach Republican. The measure was ultimately sent to the House Ethics Committee, which is already investigating the troubled Congressman. Cammack was among the members ready to take up the matter on the floor.

“Staying silent doesn’t make a problem disappear — it enables it,” she told Florida Politics in a statement responding to an inquiry about Mills.

“Ignoring serious ethics violations doesn’t strengthen our party; it weakens our mission and erodes the trust voters place in us. Real leaders confront hard truths, not hide from them. I’ve never hesitated to call out misconduct, no matter who’s involved. I don’t play favorites, I don’t look the other way, and I wasn’t elected to protect political careers at the expense of the truth.”

But in this case, Cammack also noted one of Mills’ scandals involves his alleged mistreatment of a constituent of Florida’s 3rd Congressional District.

Lindsey Langston, Columbia County’s Republican State Committeewoman and a recent paramour of Mills, recently obtained a restraining order forbidding the Congressman from contacting her. That followed her reporting threats by Mills to distribute intimate photos and videos after she dumped him and moved out of his home.

“Domestic violence and revenge porn are painful realities for countless women in this country,” Cammack said. “My constituent is one of them — a victim of revenge porn and dating violence perpetrated by my colleague. I stood with her because that is my responsibility, and because it is the right thing to do.”

Cammack co-founded and co-chairs the Republican Women’s Caucus, which was only formed in March of this year. She said Republicans in Congress must stand up for women in the country.

“As a woman in Congress and as Florida’s representative, I will not ignore a victim who is also my constituent. Silence would only bury her voice and the voices of so many others harmed by abuse of power.”

She said her vote, in the face of leadership pressure and against a colleague in a battleground district, ultimately was meant to send a message: “Silence is not an option.”