A Florida Democrat is suing to stop his aunt from running against him. Their names rhyme.

Florida House candidate Joe Saunders is suing his ex-aunt in an attempt to stop her from running against him under the name “Moe Saunders,” calling his candidacy “a deliberate attempt to deceive, mislead and to confuse voters.

Earlier this month, Maureen Saunders Scott ran as a no-party candidate against her nephew Joe, a Democrat and former state representative, for a seat in the Florida House that covers Miami Beach and other coastal cities. Scott later said she would run under the nickname Moe Saunders, raising alarms among Democrats who saw it as an attempt to confuse voters and thwart efforts to unseat the controversial Republican incumbent, Fabian Basabe.

Now, the former lawmaker is taking the matter to court. On Tuesday, Joe Saunders filed a lawsuit in Miami-Dade Circuit Court, arguing that Scott should be removed from the ballot and that she deliberately created the nickname to mislead the public.

The lawsuit notes that Scott previously went by the nickname “Mo,” but never “Moe.”

“Contrary to Defendant Scott’s sworn statements to the State Department, she is not generally known by the nickname ‘Moe Saunders,'” the complaint states. “(Scott) is known to friends and family as Mo, without the ‘e’, ​​a common shorthand for the name Maureen. In fact, she’s known as Mo Scott, not “Mo Saunders” – and certainly not “Moe Saunders.”

Joe Saunders is represented by attorney Kendall Coffey, former U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida. In a statement, Coffey called Scott’s candidacy a “blatant violation of Florida law.”

“To defend our democracy, this kind of behavior must not be allowed and ‘Moe Saunders’ must not appear on the November ballot,” Coffey said.

Reached by text message Tuesday morning, Scott told the Miami Herald that she has been “Moe for over 40 years” and has been using her maiden name, Saunders, “on social media for years now.”

Asked about spelling “Moe” rather than “Mo,” she replied: “The family and I have always used both spellings (sic). »

In email correspondence Scott previously shared with the Herald, a relative referred to him as “Mo.” The complaint filed Tuesday morning includes screenshots of tweets and emails in which Scott calls himself “Mo” or “Aunt Mo.”

Although the exact circumstances that led to Scott’s decision to run are unknown, Scott, 63, appears to be a disgruntled relative of Saunders, 41, and has made public statements on several occasions about his character. On a Twitter account apparently belonging to Scott, she suggested Saunders had failed to speak out and protect her from an abusive parent, although the Herald was unable to corroborate her claims.

Scott wrote on Twitter last week that she is running for office “because there is no representation for women or trauma survivors” and claimed that Saunders “refuses to stand with women and trauma survivors.

“I know my nephew and I know he is bad for Florida,” she wrote. “I have seen the record of the outgoing president and I think he is also a bad choice for Florida.”

Saunders has not commented on his aunt’s statements about him and their family members.

In a statement Tuesday, Saunders said he remains focused on “securing every vote so we can fight for the needs of our community in Tallahassee,” despite the “fraudulent and brazen tactics at play that violate both the letter and spirit of the law.

Rep. Fentrice Driskell, Democratic minority leader in the Florida House, said her party would help Saunders in his efforts.

“We will not tolerate this and we will make sure voters know who their true champions are,” Driskell said in a statement.

In a June 13 affidavit that Scott filed claiming she would run under a nickname, she swore she did not “create the nickname to mislead voters.” The affidavit became required under an election reform bill passed last year in response to a 2020 “shadow candidate” scheme in which a man was paid more than $40,000 by the former senator Republican Frank Artiles to run as a no-party candidate in 2020. a Florida Senate race.

A spokesperson for the Florida Division of Elections did not respond to the Herald’s questions about Scott’s candidacy, but state elections officials considered Scott a qualified candidate on June 13.

The lawsuit also names Florida Secretary of State Cord Byrd and Miami-Dade Elections Supervisor Christina White as defendants. The Department of State is responsible for determining whether candidates are qualified to run for office, while the local elections department prepares ballots and oversees the voting process.

Records show Scott lives far from the district she seeks to represent, House District 106. She is registered to vote in St. Johns County and lives in a townhouse she owns outside of Jacksonville.

Florida law says state legislative candidates are only required to live in the district in which they are seeking office once elected.

Saunders’ trial could hinge on whether Scott ever went by the name “Moe Saunders” in his personal or professional life.

In 2006, former state Rep. JC Planas, now running for Miami-Dade elections supervisor, managed to keep his cousin off the ballot after the latter attempted to siphon votes from Planas under the name of “JP Planas”. The Third District Court of Appeal said Planas’ cousin had not previously “conducted private and official transactions” under JP’s name and therefore could not remain listed on the ballot.

Saunders, who served as a Democratic state representative in the Orlando area from 2012 to 2014 and is now senior political director for the LGBTQ advocacy group Equality Florida, suggested that Basabe and the Republican Party were involved in a “coordinated effort and orchestrated to mislead voters.” » by having Scott on the ballot. However, Saunders provided no evidence for this claim.

Basabe, a former New York socialite and reality TV star elected in 2022, has denied any involvement.

“Maybe someone should just ask Moe why she’s running before she makes false accusations!” Basabe said earlier this month in a statement.

Asked Tuesday if anyone encouraged her to run or helped her with her candidacy, Scott said, “I have the support of many friends and fellow survivors. » Scott denied that Basabe played any role, saying: “No. I don’t even understand why people suggest this.

In February, Basabe interacted on Twitter with the account apparently belonging to Scott. After Scott posted that she was a “survivor of the Saunders family system,” Basabe responded that he was “so saddened and sorry for what you went through.”

Primary elections for Basabe’s seat will be held in August, followed by general elections in November. Basabe will face attorney Melinda Almonte in the Republican primary.

By Aaron Leibowitz