In June, The DC Patriot published a story around a bizarre mayoral candidate in Florida seeking to be elected. The original story generated much interest in the community, and with candidate Peter Johnson himself.

In fact, Johnson has taken to the local media in attempt to clear his name. Peter Johnson seems to have changed his story from the original response to the allegation of a racially charged statetement.

Johnson allegedly made this racially charged statement to someone who reached out to him in support of a local nonprofit organization. Upon publication of our original story, Johnson reached out bizarrely to me even going as far as to threaten legal action if the story was not removed. Johnson provided no proof that the allegations were false.

Johnson claimed that he somehow knew the source of my tip that led me to cover the story initially.

In the bizzare conversation Johnson changed his story from his initial statement that his account had been hacked to say that the graphic had been photoshopped, while he acknowledged that the police report was indeed authentic.

Johnson then referenced the “original website” and a sex chat line. I am not completely sure what website Johnson was referencing. It is worth noting that the Facebook message in question was checked for authenticity using AI and was found to be authentic, so allegations of photoshop do not appear to be valid.

Johnson then stated that he would be taking action if the story were not removed and proceeded to insult my work in a personal manner.

I am unsure what Peter meant when he instructed me to “govern myself accordingly”.

Later that week I reached back out to Peter to clarify what he believed to be the origin of the message. I asked him if the message was the result of a hack or photoshop. Although the message shows that it was seen by Peter’s account, I have not received a response as of the publication of this article.

Whatever the origin of the screen shot may be, Johnson’s behavior has certainly given Florida voters more questions than answers. Per local media, Johnson claims to be a Republican, however he also mentions John McCain as someone who stands out to him in regard to leadership.

Johnson claims to be influenced by McCain’s policies, but that statement only makes me wonder if the policy Johnson is admiring was McCain’s mass amnesty to every illegal currently living in the United States.

It remains to be seen how Johnson will fair in Florida’s August primary. He has certainly left voters in Flagler County with more questions than answers. Johnson’s campaign has yet to make a public statement about the serious allegations that he faces in either a campaign event or via social media.