Let me offer a lesson in unforced errors.
Some campaign blunders are harmless. Others are educational. And then, every so often, a candidate comes along who blends audacity with incompetence so seamlessly you almost have to admire the craftsmanship.
Enter congressional hopeful Mark Davis, currently running to unseat U.S. Rep. Vern Buchanan in Florida’s 16th Congressional District.
He has zero chance. But honestly, that’s not the interesting part, because now it looks like he has less than zero chance, if that’s even a thing.
Davis has somehow managed to build his entire campaign on a lie — and he’s been so committed to the performance he even managed to fool ActBlue, the nation’s Democratic fundraising platform. That alone deserves some kind of participation trophy for creativity.
Here’s the setup: Davis is telling Southwest Florida voters that he is a registered Democrat, as he runs in a Democratic Primary that includes repeat candidate
Jan Schneider, among others. His
website even spells it out for the handful of people who click: “Paid for by Mark Davis, Democrat, for US House of Representatives Florida Congressional District 16.”
Now, if we were being charitable (we’re not), we could chalk this up to a “misprint” by the website guy. But Davis removes all doubt.
Less than two months ago, Davis posted a
lengthy screed on X explaining why he’s running “as a Democrat,” comparing himself to “the other Democrats in the race,” and lecturing voters that failing to choose him would mean ignoring “what the Democratic Party needs right now.”
Cute speech. Inspiring, even.
Except for one important detail. Mark Davis is not a Democrat.
Filings with both the Federal Elections Commission and Florida Supervisor of Elections show, in black and white, that Davis is registered as No Party Affiliation (NPA). In other words, he’s lying.
But Davis doesn’t stop at simple misrepresentation — he goes for the deluxe package. He’s actively
raising money on ActBlue, a platform that explicitly restricts access to Democrats. ActBlue’s rules aren’t complicated: If you’re independent or undeclared, and there’s a Democrat in the race, you’re not allowed. Davis is an independent. Democrats are in the race.
Let’s be honest: Davis’s campaign was over before it began. Every cycle we see the same parade of gadflies who file paperwork, launch a website, and pretend they’re running for Congress. Normally we just smile, nod, and move on.
But Davis isn’t just blurring lines, he’s redrawing them in crayon. And when a candidate has to invent his party affiliation just to stay relevant, the campaign stops being a campaign and starts being community theater.
