The race between Republican State Senator Corey Simon and Democrat civil rights attorney Daryl Parks is one of the few State Senate races that remains a tossup this election cycle. The contention has led to a slew of attack ads coming from both sides.
But the latest ad from the Simon camp has Parks accusing the Republican incumbent of lying. The ad claims Parks has profited off of antisemitism and other strong accusations.
Simon’s latest ad features an animated character meant to represent Parks. The man is standing in a museum holding up bags of money.
“Welcome to our Darryl Parks exhibit. Parks is from a divisive species of politician called the Politicus Divideus. Like all such politicians, Parks doesn't solve problems. He profits from them,” the ad begins.
The ad was paid for by Simon and two other Republican Senators--Ben Albritton and Tom Leek. It goes on to levy strong accusations against Parks for his work as an attorney, and other issues that follow the lines of attacks frequently used this cycle by Republicans against Democrats.
“Here we see parks make millions by driving up insurance rates, and here we see him cashing in on racial division, police hatred, even antisemitism,” the ads narrator says.
Parks is blasting the ad.
“It's a total falsehood, lie. And Corey Simon and the folks that are working with him know it's a lie. The folks who appear at the bottom of the ad, who's who signed off on it, are putting straight out lies out on me and the public needs to know that they're willing to do anything to try and beat me in this election. But it's not working,” he said.
Simon’s ad cites three articles to back up its claims. But of those articles, one is a conservative opinion piece, and the others didn’t even mention Parks.
The claim that Parks made millions in his legal practice by stoking racial division and police hatred stems from a 10-year-old opinion piece on the conservative blog Peoples Pundit Daily.
And Parks defends his work as an attorney.
“I've represented some people in situations where they needed someone like me to step up, to bring their case, to speak up for them, and I'm very proud of doing that,” he said.
When the ad claims that Parks profited off of antisemitism, an image of Parks is shown with added text mentioning Louis Farrakhan. He is the leader of the Nation of Islam and a famous antisemite.
But the article cited, a Fox News piece from 2018, never mentions Parks or Farrakhan. When asked to clarify, Simon’s camp sent a video of Parks on Fox News in 2014. But that clip has nothing to do with antisemitism.
In it, host Sean Hannity asks Parks, who was representing the family of Michael Brown, to respond to Farrakhan’s call for violence after Brown’s 2014 killing by police.
“What's your reaction to that?” Hannity asked.
“Without question, we have continued and maintained that there should be no violence as relates to the honor of Michael Brown, his life and what it stood for. So, without question, we don't want that to be the legacy of Michael Brown,” Parks responded.
Parks has been defended from the attack by Jewish Democrats. U.S. Representative Debbie Wasserman Schultz wrote in a statement that Simon’s ad was disturbing and false, adding that Parks is “a leader who never hesitates to confront racist and antisemitic individuals and groups.”
The claim Parks has profited off rising property insurance rates comes from a 2022 MyNews13 story. It says frivolous lawsuits in Florida contribute to high property insurance costs. Parks wasn’t mentioned in the story and says he doesn’t practice that type of law.
“I mean, the work that I did at my firm was all about helping people who were in very serious life-threatening situations. Nothing frivolous about that,” he said.
Simon spokesperson Erin Isaac issued a statement defending the ad. In it, she wrote that Parks built his law practice by “exploiting people’s pain for money.”
“Does he really expect us to believe that his money-grubbing business model has changed just because he’s running for office?” she wrote.
Parks has also lobbed attacks against Simon. For example, Parks accuses Simon of restricting abortion access in Florida. But Simon voted against the state’s 6-week abortion ban in 2023, and he wasn’t a lawmaker when the state’s 15-week abortion ban passed.