Jason Mariner, a Trump-loving candidate for Congress in Florida’s 20th Congressional District, has hit a bit of a snag. Apparently, being convicted of felonies presents a problem if you want to run for federal office. That is, unless you’ve had your civil rights restored — which Mariner has not.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, after dealing with major pushback on his effort to prevent the restoration of voting rights for felons by requiring that they have paid all of their fines and associated fees first, recently signed a law that speeds up the process of that restoration. But Mariner hasn’t undergone that clemency process yet.

Mariner has been convicted of, among other things, theft, burglary, resisting arrest, and possession of c0caine. He was open about his prior criminal activity during his campaign, but never completed the steps required to be eligible for public office.

The problem is, he won the Republican primary for the district. Now GOP voters are saddled with a candidate who, unless he can somehow retroactively have his rights restored, cannot actually hold the office they plan to elect him for.

After being asked by Florida Politics whether he believed his convictions could keep him from office, he told them he didn’t think it would be “an issue”:

As I am not an attorney or official in state government, it is not really my place to answer your legal or procedural questions about Florida law, applicable scenarios, etc., or advise you legally.

That’s probably a good idea, Jason. I don’t think I’d like to take legal advice from a guy who tried to swallow the crack he just bought after being pulled over by the cops. And I’m super not into guys who suffer from road rage and wreck other people’s cars after assaulting them.

But hey, America First, right?

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