The St. Johns County Commission has voted to formally ask Gov. Ron DeSantis to remove Commissioners Sarah Arnold and Christian Whitehurst, who face criminal charges stemming from a scandal in which fake endorsement guides were mailed out to GOP primary voters in 2024. The 3-2 vote, which Arnold and Whitehurst opposed, came at the Commission’s July 21 meeting, the first since the charges were filed. Neither Arnold nor Whitehurst attended the meeting in person, with both instead opting to participate by phone. That decision was roundly criticized by numerous speakers during public comment.
“You need to have the courage to show up,” said resident Jerry Price. “I didn’t serve in the military to come back home to the banana republic.”
Another speaker played videos of a past county commission meeting in which Arnold and Whitehurst stated that elected officials must face consequences for their actions. Arnold and Whitehurst made those comments in December 2023, shortly before the board voted to censure Commissioner Krista Joseph for calling on residents to vote out incumbent commissioners.
Also taking the podium to criticize the commissioners was Ann-Marie Evans, who was a victim of the fraudulent mailers and lost to Whitehurst by 800 votes in 2024. Evans has continued to encourage her social media followers to contact the governor’s office to urge him to remove Whitehurst and Arnold and appoint her.
Florida’s Constitution gives the governor the power to suspend local elected officials and appoint a replacement.
Republican state Rep. Kim Kendall has already said she supports appointing Evans in the event that the governor removes Whitehurst, arguing that it is “reasonable to conclude” the fake mailers might have changed the outcome of the election.
Asked if the governor was considering removal of the two charged commissioners, DeSantis’ office did not respond. Neither Arnold nor Whitehurst returned requests for comment, though Arnold told Action News Jax on Tuesday that “the focus of today’s meeting needed to be on the important work we are doing for St. Johns County citizens.”
