Martin Hyde appears to end congressional campaign after traffic flap
Shorter shopping season means a more intense scramble
He apologized to Sarasota Police Officer Julia Beskin as he signaled his campaign’s collapse.
Update: Martin Hyde has since told Fox News he is still running.
Sarasota congressional candidate Martin Hyde appears to have ended his campaign against U.S. Rep. Vern Buchanan. The move comes after Hyde received national media attention — and scorn — over a police body cam video of his actions at a traffic stop.
In a letter published by the Sarasota Herald-Tribune, Hyde apologized for his behavior. But he also made clear he will not be pursuing a seat in the U.S. House at this point.
“I am sorry because in a democracy without congressional term limits, I have taken away the opportunity for people to make changes in a stagnant system that rewards incumbency over innovation and true local representation,” he wrote.
“I was prepared to use my limited resources to mount a congressional campaign based on equity as opposed to elitism — which is the irony of the manner of my demise.”
Further confirming that Hyde would be dropping out of the race is a quote Hyde’s consultant, the notorious Roger Stone, gave to the Herald-Tribune.
“I got a message indirectly from him last night that he had decided to withdraw his candidacy,” said Stone.
Hyde was stopped on Feb. 14 for speeding by Sarasota Police Officer Julia Beskin, and news spread quickly based on her ticket mentioning his behavior.
Florida Politics and other outlets later obtained official body cam footage, and the story drew attention. Since then, Hyde has been flooded with emails, messages, and voicemails berating him.
A two-time Sarasota City Commission candidate, Hyde had previously picked up endorsements from the local Police Benevolent Association. But the image of him berating an officer incited heavy criticism from supporters of police.
The story picked up coverage in national outlets including HuffPost and Newsweek.
Hyde would not comment to Florida Politics following the release of footage. His long-standing Facebook page “Martin Hyde Sarasota Citizen” was taken out of public view on Thursday. Asked at the time if that signaled news about his campaign, he emailed, “You’ll just have to wait and see.”
News broke Friday morning, not in a news article but in a letter published by the Herald-Tribune.
The signature line at the bottom of the piece read: “Martin Hyde is a Sarasota businessman and a former Republican Party candidate for Florida’s 16th Congressional District.”
Hyde later emailed stating: “I remain the only official spokesperson for Martin Hyde or my campaign. If I feel there is something worthy of making a statement about I will do so. For now nothing is official.”
Hyde had largely self-funded his campaign for Congress against Buchanan, an eight-term incumbent Republican. The candidate had loaned his campaign $164,000, and spent much of it on consulting with former Donald Trump associate Stone.
Trump ultimately endorsed Buchanan.
For the moment, Hyde’s federal campaign accounts remain open and his official campaign website remains live.
Of note, he has backtracked from reactions to controversy before.
During his last run for City Commission, Hyde suggested he would drop out of the race after a video went viral showing him berating Puerto Rican teens at the Bath & Racquet Club in Sarasota. He ultimately decided to continue his campaign, which he lost in 2019 to incumbent Commissioner Liz Alpert.
Dricus Du Plessis reacts to Sean Strickland’s emotional interview with Theo Von: ‘He’s a hypocrite’
Farah Hannoun
USA TODAY Sports
Jan. 8, 2024, 9:40 a.m. ET
Dricus Du Plessis was rather callous when reacting to Sean Strickland’s emotional breakdown with Theo Von.
UFC middleweight champion Strickland (28-5 MMA, 15-5 UFC) shed some tears when reliving his traumatic childhood experiences in a recent interview with Von. Strickland makes his first title defense against Du Plessis in the UFC 297 headliner Jan. 20.
With Strickland enduring such a rough upbringing, Du Plessis (20-2 MMA, 6-0 UFC) says he shouldn’t be attacking fellow fighters in a personal matter if he can’t handle the retaliation.
“Watching a grown man cry in an interview, it’s not really my watch material that I go and watch,” Du Plessis said in an interview with MMA On Point. “But it is what it is. I’m glad he cried and he got it out. I hope that’s the end of that. I think we give him a lot more credit than he deserves in terms of mindset. I don’t think he thinks about anything. I think he goes out there and he fights – he fights the way Sean Strickland fights.
“He always has, and he’s an incredible fighter. I have a lot of respect for him as a fighter. I think he’s incredible. Do I think he’s a hypocrite? One hundred percent … 100 percent. Obviously, childhood trauma is something you can’t help, but if you know what it feels like to be the one on the receiving end of such trauma, don’t inflict it on others, because that’s exactly what he does. So yes, I feel bad for him and I don’t think any kid deserves that, ever.”
Strickland mocked Khalil Rountree in the past for crying during a post-fight news conference following his knockout win over Karl Roberson in March 2022. He also went after Ian Machado Garry’s wife and her relationship with the Irish rising star.
Du Plessis struck a nerve when he referenced Strickland being abused as a child during the 2024 Seasonal Press Conference, and UFC bantamweight champion Sean O’Malley chimed in. Strickland thinks they crossed the line, but Du Plessis says what goes around, comes back around.
“If you go after other people, eventually they’re going to come after you,” Du Plessis said. “I think he’s used to being the bully and he’s not used to being bullied, but I don’t have to hammer on that. I already won that fight. I won that press conference. I don’t want to keep on hammering on the same thing. Yes, he cried on Theo Von’s podcast. I guess it was terrible, and like I said, no kid deserves that. No kid deserves to go through that. But if you want to dish it out, you better take it.
“I have mad respect for him as a fighter, even as a person. He’s always been a straight-up guy. Even the fact that he tried to fight me in the crowd (at UFC 296), that was him being a man. What I’m saying is, if you want to dish it out, be able to take it, man – or you’re just a hypocrite. You didn’t deserve that as a kid, but as a grown man, you dish it out, you’re going to get it. That is the way the world works, unfortunately. And like I said, with this mindset going to this fight, I think he’s going to come out and fight the way Sean Strickland fights. My mindset: I don’t care about him. I care about me, what I do, what I go out there to do – and that is become the world champion.”
