On The Front Line In Florida: Who's Judson Sapp, Aside From Being The Only Congressional Candidate Endorsed By Roger Stone This Year?

"Kilroy" has known Sapp for years. He brought DWT his story at least in part because we are supporting Adam Christensen, the progressive Democrat opposing Sapp in the race to fill the north central Florida seat being abandoned by tea bagger Ted Yoho. He was also aware we were investigating a shady PAC, Citizens for Common Sense USA, that Sapp and his father have been financing to funnel large sums of money-- so far around $100,000-- to surreptitiously attack Judson's political opponents in both parties. [Learn more about Christensen here.]

-by Ronnie Kilroy

Judson Sapp is completely unqualified to be in Congress.  He has lived a life of privilege. Whatever he has wanted in life, his dad has bought for him.  Now he wants a seat in Congress and is trying to have his dad buy that too.

I went to Florida State University with Republican candidate for Congress Judson Sapp. I would not say I was friends with him but enough of my friends were his friends that I got to know him. I have been to his parents’ house and to his sister’s wedding (although there were close to 400 people at it).

When I saw that Judson was running for Congress, I thought to myself I guess his dad is going to buy him a seat. I knew that Judson's father had been a large Republican donor and was told that he hosted fundraisers at his waterfront house. Only after doing some research did I discover that he paid enough to host then Speaker of the House John Boehner at his house and had been previously accused of attempting to bribe a candidate to drop out of a race.

Otherwise, I didn’t pay too much attention because I don’t live in the district. When I saw that Judson decided to make white grievance and the banning by the University of Florida of a song a focal issue, I could no longer stay silent.

First of all, Judson could not care less about the University of Florida. Not only did Judson go to the rival school, but according to a Wall Street Journal article from 2002, his father has given over $10,000 to Florida State and drove a half-million dollar RV to Florida State football games.

Judson Sapp represents himself as this businessman who worked from the ground up in his dad’s railroad engineering business. Nothing could be further from the truth. At FSU, Judson was a philosophy major because it was one of the easiest majors in the school. I overheard Judson more than once brag about having a doctor’s note so that he did not have to take hard math classes. More importantly, the Judson Sapp that I met has had everything handed to him and doesn’t think the rules apply to him.

Judson had always wanted to be involved in films. His initial partner in film writing was Rob Pyers. After college, Judson did not go work for his family business. Rather in 2003, he, Rob Pyers and his future first wife, Juliet Banaszewski, moved from Jacksonville to the Los Angeles area. They settled in Santa Monica about 7 blocks from the ocean, which Judson admitted on his marriage license to Banaszewski. Judson wasn't working so his dad must have been paying most of the expenses.

When Judson and Banaszewski’s marriage ended up having issues, Judson filed a Declaration of Domicile with the county recorder’s office. On this form, he claimed that he no longer lived in Los Angeles and had moved back to his parents’ house. I do not know if Judson actually moved but by doing so he was able to file for divorce in Clay County most likely in front of a friendly judge.

After six years in L.A. and not having a single movie writing credits, Judson started to act in small short films. In 2009 (while claiming living at his parent’s house in Florida for divorce proceedings), two short films he had parts in were shown at film festivals. Neither of these movies had more than two showings. In 2012, he also had a part in a short film Beautiful that was never released. I reached out to the director of this film who confirmed that the movie was filmed in Los Angeles and he hired Judson most likely having gotten him through an L.A. casting agency. Judson also had a part in another unreleased film which was filmed in Los Angeles during 2014.

Failed film mogul Judson Sapp on Hollywood Blvd: note the time stamp

During this time, Judson Sapp was not working his way up through his dad’s business. Rather his Twitter activity shows that he spent his time playing video games and watching movies. (Judson tried unsuccessfully to lock all the tweets about him during this time, apparently to cover up that he is not the businessman he claims.) He started a movie review podcast with his second wife-- who was working in L.A. at MGM Studios-- and her brother who was working in Santa Monica. The podcast, like his film writing and acting career was a failure. Less than a year after starting, the podcast ended.

Judson’s second wife became pregnant with their child in 2014. In February 2015, she ended her employment with MGM, where she had worked for over 8 years. Judson was finally listed as an officer of his dad’s company in its 2016-- after spending close to 13 years trying but failing to make it in movies. At this point, his father claimed that he retired and that Judson, with no business or engineering background, was the CEO of the company. Most likely, the sole reason this was done was to puff up Judson’s resume for his failed run for Congress in 2018.

The most disturbing thing that I discovered was that at a time when he is draping himself in MAGA cloth and president Trump is pressuring states to restrict voting by mail, Judson Sapp appears to have fraudulently absentee voted in multiple elections. Despite admitting in public records that he was no longer a resident of Florida, Judson has kept an active voter’s registration in Clay County, Florida since August 1998 which Judson appears to have used to vote in multiple elections Florida through absentee ballot while living in California. To claim that Judson was living in Florida during these years would require the suspension of belief.

In 2012, Judson voted in Florida’s presidential primary election, Florida’s primary election, and Florida’s general election by absentee ballot. If he lived in Florida during this time, why would he be actively working with a Los Angeles talent agency? Moreover, if he was busy working his way up through his dad's railroad contracting business, how could he take time to fly to L.A. to film parts in short films that were never released?

In 2014, Judson voted in Florida’s general election by absentee ballot. Tweets from his podcast show that in 2014 he was spending his days going to the movies in L.A. and filming an unreleased movie. In order for any claim of living in Florida to be true, Judson would have had to leave his pregnant wife who was still working and living on the other side of the country.

Judson Sapp has had everything in life handed to him. Now he is running a campaign focused on dividing our country. I hope the people of his district can see through his lies.

What a fool!