Paul Deering faces vote to remain Volusia Republican chairman, as federal discrimination suit proceeds

Paul Deering faces a vote Saturday on whether his seven-year run as Volusia County Republican Party chair will continue or end.

Volusia County Republican Party members will vote Saturday on whether to keep Paul Deering as their chairman or to elect someone else.

Mary Ann Pistilli, who chaired the Donald Trump Florida campaign, and John Casaburro, a former party vice chairman, are challenging Deering, while nominations can also be taken on the floor Saturday. Ormond Beach City Commissioner Travis Sargent announced his intent to run but has since decided against it.

Meanwhile, Deering has been hit with a federal lawsuit alleging he discriminated against a Black woman who was formerly a member of the Volusia County Republican Executive Committee.

Deering "referred to me as 'the 'token Black' and made negative comments about Hispanics, causing their Deltona club to break away from the VCREC," Rosa Campbell wrote in a complaint to the NAACP West Volusia Branch that was included in the lawsuit.

Earlier this week, Deering told The News-Journal he could not comment about the lawsuit, which also names the Volusia County Republican Executive Committee as defendants. He did not return a call Friday.

Deering attempts to call off vote

On Wednesday night, Deering attempted to put off the Saturday vote, according to Volusia Republican State Committeeman Vic Baker.

Baker contacted the Republican Party of Florida, which mandated the Saturday meeting continue as scheduled. Both Republican and Democrat executive committees in Florida hold officer elections in December of presidential election years.

"You can't just give a 10-day notice for an organization meeting and then cancel it," Baker said. "Yesterday everybody was confused when the RPOF at 3:01 in the afternoon sent out a notice the meeting was back on, after all."  

Deering had been vice chairman when Chair Tony Ledbetter died in 2017, then became chairman. He was reelected in 2020, after challenges from Maria Trent and Casaburro.

Lawsuit: Deering discriminated against GOP member

Campbell, the lawsuit's plaintiff, is demanding Deering resign, saying he's treated her differently since the "token Black" comment.

"Since that time, I tried to get along with Chairman Deering at the general meetings, but he would always ignore me when I raised my hand to engage in any political discussion (many times). The final straw came when Mr. Deering had me removed from a candidate endorsement meeting on June 25, 2024, because I was taking pictures of candidates speaking," she wrote, adding that they were candidates she supported in votes for a party endorsement, which included listing in the Republican voter guide that is sent to voters across the county.

"Mr. Deering had me escorted out of the meeting by a police officer, causing great embarrassment," she said. "Others were taking pictures (all white people)."

She added that the one candidate of color being considered in the endorsement process, Steve Miller in the Volusia County Council District 2 race, was not endorsed and therefore left off the Republican voters guide.

Campbell claims Deering has retaliated against her by not seeing that his secretary contact her to complete her candidate oath, which was due in June, causing her to miss the deadline and be off the committee in 2025.

"My free speech and civil rights are severely abused and many of people of color were denied the right to vote throughout Volusia County by way of exclusion of a (Black) candidate from voter guide," her suit states.

Flagler County Republicans retain Chair Perry Mitrano

Flagler County Republicans voted Thursday to retain Chair Perry Mitrano. He will serve with a new slate of officers, including Paul Bedner as vice chair, Nick DeSantis as secretary and Treasurer Bruce Aiellora, the former state committeeman.

They replace Ken Seybold as vice chairman, Darryl Boyer as secretary and Lance Alred as treasurer.

The party also reelected Sharon Demers as state committeewoman while electing Bill Gordon as state committeeman.

Democrats in Flagler keep party chair

In Flagler County, Democratic Party Chair Janet Sullivan will remain in that role and be joined by two other holdovers: Sandy Chambers as treasurer and Gail Danhoff as secretary. Deborah Mott was elected as vice chair for her first term in that role.

Sullivan said a nominating committee offered that slate and the membership voted in support on Dec. 5 with no other nominations.

The county has two new state committee members: Husband and wife Roger and Joann Soman. They replace Clyde Jones and Ellen Teller, who also left as vice chair.

Volusia Democrats earlier in the week elected new leadership, including Nick Sakhnovsky as chair.