Writing on her Facebook post, Harden Hall said she “dislike[d] having to make [the statement] … but that she believed primaries “should be free from attempts to influence our elections for personal reasons.”

Cyn Doyle, leader of Lake County Indivisibles, which organized the No Kings rally, denied shutting Harden Hall out of the event, telling VoxPopuli that she didn’t think Harden Hall was planning to be there.

“I thought Barbie was going to be at the Villages’ No Kings, which was at the same time as ours. She showed no interest in speaking at our No Kings until she saw my email,” Doyle said in a text message, adding that Williams and Webster had requested speaking slots while Harden Hall had not. “She just make a huge deal of this.”

In a screenshot of a text exchange between the two, Harden Hall asked Doyle why her petitions were not being included along with Williams’ and Webster’s and notes that she was not invited to speak. Doyle responded that the men had “reached out to me to offer to speak … you did not reach out so I thought you were engaged elsewhere.” The petition-gathering seems almost like a bonus for speaking. “Because they are speaking, I felt it would be appropriate to promote them,” Doyle explained.

‍

‍

In another exchange on the Facebook thread, Harden Hall told Doyle that she “didn’t even know speaking was an option before yesterday. The speeches were never promoted or offered. … I also wasn’t aware you were sending an email promoting petitions of the other candidates until I received it.”

Harden Hall spoke at the Oct. 18 No Kings rally as did Williams, who used the event to launch his campaign.  

“This is run by the Indivisibles and not the Democrats, and so we don't really have control over how they do it. But it would be nice if they would include all three [candidates],” Treva Roberts, chair of the Lake County Democratic Party, told VoxPopuli in a phone interview Friday. A Lake County Democratic Party volunteer told VoxPopuli that petitions for all three candidates were available at the South Lake Democrats booth during the Clermont No Kings rally. Harden Hall was also at the Clermont rally collecting signatures.

Williams confirmed to VoxPopuli that he had asked Doyle to speak at the rally about a month before the event. He said he has asked other rally organizers to speak at their events but has received no responses.

“I do not plan on speaking out against those groups because I just think that’s petty,” he said in a text message.

Webster told VoxPopuli that he had asked Doyle at the Oct. 18 No Kings rally if he could speak at the next rally, which ended up being the March event. By the time he'd filed his paperwork to run, the October line-up had been set by, which is why he wasn't included in that event, according to Doyle.

He did not want to comment on the petitions other than to say that he saw Harden Hall’s Facebook post and was familiar with her accusations, but that he was “just trying to get petitions signed and speak to as many people as possible. That’s it.”

Harden Hall announced Monday that she had collected the required number to qualify by petition for the ballot. She’s the first candidate in the Democratic race for District 11 to do so.

All three candidates will participate in a community town hall to answer constituent questions on April 14, 7-9 p.m. at Clermont City Center (620 W. Montrose Street, Clermont).

‍