Staffer For Florida Gubernatorial Candidate Andrew Gillum Fired After Tweet Calling For Trump's Execution

Manny Orozco-Ballestas had a history of questionable posts, such as a photo of himself wearing a shirt referring to Trump-voting states as “Dumbf***istan.”
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Manny Orozco-Ballestas, recently hired to oversee youth outreach for Florida Democratic gubernatorial nominee Andrew Gillum’s campaign, was fired late last week due to a trove of incendiary and offensive social media posts, including ones critical of President Donald Trump.

In now-deleted tweets from 2012 and 2013, the staffer made a variety of sexist and fat-shaming comments. In another tweet, Orozco-Ballestas tweeted at Trump: “You need to be executed.”

A right-wing blogger and contributor to the conspiracy theory site Infowars re-circulated the tweets last week, saying that he obtained them anonymously.

“The type of language this young man used on social media before his employment with our campaign is unacceptable and he will no longer be working with the campaign,” Gillum’s campaign spokesman Joshua Karp said in a statement.

The news of Orozco-Ballestas’ dismissal was first reported by The Miami Herald and The Tampa Bay Times on Saturday.

The Gillum campaign declined to comment further on his firing, including about the timing or exact reason.

Orozco-Ballestas also apologized in a statement Saturday.

“I am embarrassed, angry, and disappointed in myself,” he said. “I’m so sorry to all those I let down, especially Mayor Gillum and my team. What I tweeted as an immature student many years ago is not a reflection of the man I am today.”

Orozco-Ballestas has had a history of questionable social media posts. Last week, the Florida Republican Party called on Gillum to fire Orozco-Ballestas for posting an Instagram photo of himself last summer, wearing a shirt that referred to states that Trump carried in the 2016 election as “Dumbf***istan.”

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