Issue #216: Chad Chronister's DEA bid and the right-wing obsession with "COVID Tyranny"

The Hillsborough Sheriff isn't going to DC after all

As Donald Trump continues to build up his administration, more Florida elected officials have been tapped for litany of offices. We have Marco Rubio poised to be Secretary of State, Pam Bondi set to be Attorney General, and Congressman Mike Waltz set to be National Security Advisor.

We got another name on November 30th when Trump announced Hillsborough Sheriff Chad Chronister would be his pick to head the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). That pick, however, instantly began to generate a conservative backlash from right-wingers unhappy with the pick. The main issue was that in 2020, Chronister had arrested a Mega Church pastor who was violating the county’s stay at home orders. The controversy would not abate and just a few days later Chronister withdrew his name from consideration.

With this sudden elevation and quick reversal, I feel its a good idea to delve into how this all happened.

Chad Chronister’s Tenure as Sheriff

Chad Chronister became Sheriff of Hillsborough County in the summer of 2017. That year, Republican Incumbent David Gee opted to retire early. Chronister, who’s been working in the Sheriff’s office since 1992, was Gee’s preferred successor. In September of that year, Governor Rick Scott officially appointed Chronister to the position.

Since Chronister was appointed to the position, he had to go before the voters in a 2018 special election; held the same day as the regular midterms. It was in this first election that Chronister’s strength as a Republican in a Democratic-leaning county was seen. The 2018 midterm, which saw Democrats gain control of the Hillsborough County Commission, saw Chronister defeat Democratic challenger Gary Pruitt by 10%. The same day, Andrew Gillum carried the county by 9%. Chronister was always seen as the frontrunner in the race. He’d raised over $1,000,000 for his election, while Pruitt only brought in $14,000.

Pruitt himself was not a strong candidate; a Tampa police officer with internal affairs investigations and issues with child support payments. The fact was, Hillsborough Democrats did not make finding a challenger to Chronister a high priority - instead focusing on the county commission races.

This was easy for Hillsborough Democrats because Chronister had friendly relationships with local Democrats. In 2019, Chronister described himself as “the most Democratic Republican” - and insisted the office was above partisan politics. This sentiment proved to not just be talk, as Chronister would take issue positions against GOP orthodoxy - including supporting red flag laws and some gun control measures.

However, the big break from orthodoxy came in the Spring of 2020.

The Arrest of Pastor Howard-Browne

On March 30th, 2020, the Hillsborough Sheriff’s office arrested Pastor Rodney Howard-Browne, leader of The River at Tampa Bay Church. The arrest came as Pastor Howard-Browne refused to follow the lockdown orders going on due to the emerging COVID-19 pandemic. The county was under Executive Order 20-05, which limited gatherings, including faith-based gatherings, to less than 10 people. This was still the era where DeSantis endorsed and pushed these stay at home measures, at least until he realized there was a political avenue in being hardcore anti-mitigation efforts.

It should be noted that Rodney Howard-Browne was not some humble pastor. His church was one of the area’s many “Mega Churches.” Like the heads of so many mega churches, Howard-Browne had no shortage of controversial viewpoints. You can find many of his controversies here, but a short list of the big ones is

• Called Mormonism a cult and claimed Mormons had death squads in the 1850s

• Claiming the Christchurch Mosque shooting was a false flag

• Supporting the Q-anon conspiracy of child sacrifice

• Claiming prayers could save people from hurricanes

Howard-Browne has been a subject of controversy for a great deal of time. Originally born in South Africa, he moved to America in the late 1980s After starting off with a small seminary, he expanded into the revivalist scene, focused on Pentecostal and Charismatic styles of preaching. He became synonymous with the “Holy Laughter” movement - which you can compare to speaking in tongues. You can see some video here.

Pastor Howard-Browne adopted the “we are at war with secular society” mantra that many revivalist pastors took up in the 1980s and 1990s. In 1997, Howard-Browne was critiqued by The Christian Research Journal in a piece delving deep into his ministry and others like it. Howard-Browne combined the supposed “spiritual healing” of his sermons with increased political attacks. The article linked goes into the danger of these revivalist movements, which include false promises of divine healing. Not only do these movements hurt people by keeping them away from proper doctors, it also causes problems with faith when things inevitably don’t work out.

Through his ministry and sales, Howard-Browne is estimated to be worth over $10,000,000. Christian critics labeled Howard-Burke and other politically-charged pastors as “The Counterfeit Revival.”

I won’t try to hide my contempt for someone like Howard-Browne. As a devout believer myself, I don’t know if Howard-Browne is just a lunatic or if he’s an unbeliever and charlatan that sees the Mega Church world as a good gig for money. He certainly displays none of the charity or kindness that a true pastor is called to exhibit. The man has become rich of false promises and injects partisan politics into his faith.

It should be no shock that when the COVID-19 pandemic became a major problem in America, Howard-Brown was not interesting in taking steps to protect his parishioners. Despite the clear public health risk, Howard-Browne insisted he would not close his church or schools, saying the virus was overblown by the “communists” that run the news. He insisted the virus was planned by the Chinese, or Bill Gaetz, designed to destroy the US economy. In early March he said….

"It's all the deep state traitors that have surrounded our president on every side that are feeding him misinformation. We are probably looking at a globalist take down of America as we speak ... because America would not buy into the climate change, melting polar caps nonsense. The president pulled us out of the Paris climate accord. Through this pandemic, the World Health Organization is coming in basically as medical tyranny, and they're taking over and producing an international standard for law that governs countries."

At the March 15th church service, Howard-Browne encourages attendees to continue shaking hands, saying they were all "revivalists, not pansies".

On the Sunday after the stay at home orders went into affect, March 29th, two services took place at the church with hundreds in attendance. Pastor Howard-Browne was arrested the next day. Sheriff Chronister stated at the time….

“His reckless disregard for human life put hundreds of people in his congregation at risk and thousands of residents who may interact with them this week in danger,”

In the Press release, the Sheriff made it clear that the decision to make an example out of Pastor Howard-Browne was not taken lightly.

“I believe there is nothing more important than faith at a time like this, and as a Sheriff’s Office, we would never impede on someone’s ability to lean on their religious beliefs as a means of comfort, but practicing those beliefs has to be done safely.”

While Howard-Browne remained defiant at first, claiming the arrest was government tyranny, he eventually agreed to keep the church closed and move services to online.

Later in April, the charges would be formally dropped, with Sheriff Chronister meeting with Howard-Browne at the pastor’s home to put the incident behind them as the county prepared to re-open in the coming weeks. Chronister said he was happy for the charges to be dropped, insisting he simply want to the public safety rules followed. Chronister also had good reason to make nice with Pastor Howard-Browne, as he has a re-election to deal with at the same time.

Conservative Challenges in 2020

As the Howard-Browne controversy was going on, Chronister was running for the 2020 election; which would be for a full four-year term of office. Unlike 2020, however, Chronister had a Republican Primary. He was forced to face off with Charles Boswell, a former detective with the department who had been eventually fired for a range of disciplinary issues.

Boswell ran as an outsider insisting that Chronister and Gee before him were corrupt and conspired against him. He also attacked Chronister for being a fake conservative. Chronister had embraced several police reform measures, things that Boswell then attacked the Sheriff for. Boswell also brought up the Pastor arrest - citing it as a major reason he ran.

In total Boswell spent around $60,000 in his bid - which paled compared to the $300,000 or so that Chronister spent in the primary. In the end, Chronister won with 62%.

Chronister had a decent win, but this is fairly weak for an incumbent. It says something about how much conservative dislike their was for Chronister by this point. Bowell’s best showings were in the rural eastern Hillsborough communities - the exact type of area where MAGA was strongest.

The general election was the easiest part for Chronister. Pruitt was the Democratic nominee again, and he had little actual Democratic support. Through the primary, Pruitt and Boswell had maintained friendly relations - both attacking Chronister on the “corrupt Sheriff office conspires against folks like us” mantra. Pruitt had even less support from Democrats this time, with Chronister’s primary only boosting his moderate credentials. He beat Pruitt by 19% the same day Biden won the county by 7%.

Pruitt was not even able to get to 40% this time, losing support across white, Black, and Hispanic Democrats. Chronister outperformed across the county; with the exception of the rural eastern communities. There, NPA candidate Ron McMullen took strong shares of the vote; becoming a conservative protest against Chronister.

Chronister’s solid win is even more impressive considering he had an issue with his right flank. However, the support on the right he lost was made up for with support among many Democrats and independents in the county.

Chronister, who remains popular and powerful in the Tampa Bay region, would go on to have no challenger in the 2024 elections.

The Politics of COVID and Church

While Chronister may have gotten through 2020 electorally secure, the seeds of his failed DEA bid were already set. It may have been one thing if Church closures amid COVID stopped being a major topic of debate, but that did not happen. Through 2020 and 2021, debates over lockdowns and who they could be applied to waged on.

In May of 2020, the Supreme Court ruled 5-4 to uphold California’s restrictions on mass gatherings; including for churches. Justice Roberts sided with the four liberals. In his ruling, Roberts found the orders did not treat churches any worse than secular businesses, and therefore did not violate the 1st amendment protection of free association. The opinion went into the high standard that is needed for the government to interfere with any religious matter. However, the current seriousness of the pandemic necessitated some efforts to mitigate. The opinion cited a 1947 decision when it stated

“In the words of Justice Robert Jackson, if a ‘court does not temper its doctrinaire logic with a little practical wisdom, it will convert the constitutional Bill of Rights into a suicide pact.’”

While some Churches had taken the government to court, many others had simply adopted to online or spaced out events. My church was online for a good chunk of the spring of 2020. When churches began to re-open, as it became clear COVID would be around for a long time, many went through efforts to create safe spaces - either via vents, walls, and outdoor gatherings. Many churches mandated masks once the airborne spread of the disease became clear.

But while many churches quietly managed the pandemic, the handful that kicked up a storm got most of the media and politician attention. The issue of church closures became a big talking point for conservative politicians. In February of 2021, the Supreme Court, now with Justice Amy Coney Barrett on the bench, struck down some of California’s restrictions on church worship in a 5-4 ruling. The ruling, however, did not strike all restrictions down; leaving 25% capacity rules and bans on signing.

The continuation of some restrictions gave conservative politicians and activists plenty to continue fear-mongering about. To hear some of them talk, COVID was the Satanic master plan to finally close the churches. Texas led the cause over the issue, putting a measure on their November 2021 ballot to affirm that religious services were free from restriction. In a low turnout election, with just 9% of voters showing up, the measure easily passed with 62% of the vote.

Travis County, home to Austin, was the biggest NO county; with a turnout of 20%. Presidio County, a Hispanic-majority blue-leaning county, was the lone other NO vote - and its turnout was just 9%. Otherwise you can see the smaller shades of blue with the traditional Democratic counties - but part of this vote really just depended on who was showing up.

In October of 2023, the same day Lousiana was holding its Governor election, 79% of voters approved Amendment 2, which also aimed to stop restricting of worship services.

Every Parish voted YES - with Orleans being the only close vote. The precinct data shows that the key source of opposition was from the more liberal white voters; as the Black population was largely onboard with the measure.

Black voters being on board is not a surprise considering the cultural importance of the Black churches. This was also a measure with little attention, and to most was just an uncontroversial amendment. If you’d never heard of the COVID debates before, this just might seem like one of those “feel good” amendments that affirms a right we already have.

And that is the key thing, these freedom to worship is already a right we have. Temporary restrictions due a pandemic were an unfortunate situation, but a perfectly understandable effort to mitigate the spread of a deadly pandemic. While Christians are called to worship, the Gospel lays out times when such worship may be postponed due to the necessity of the situation. I feel this FAQ from the Gospel Coalition of Canada does a good job laying out the passages of note.

Efforts to restrict services were not only about protecting ourselves, but protecting our neighbors. Then, and now, I maintain than doing everything you could to stop others from getting sick was the Christian thing to do. Keeping a church open to become a mass-spreader event is NOT honoring God.

Chronister’s Failed DEA Bid

Considering Chronister’s bipartisan credentials, its amazing he was really ever considered by Trump at all. Even without the church controversy, Chronister’s positions on red flag laws may have caused problems between himself and gun-rights lunatics. The word is Pam Bondi really wanted to have Chronister in DC, and she may have been who floated his name.

Once announced, Chronister instantly had conservative activists angry with his pick. References to “COVID tyranny” and “COVID lies” were nonstop across social media. Plenty of conservative politicians, like Congressman Thomas Massie, also attacked Chronister, saying his arrest of the pastor was “disqualifying”.

With conservative opposition only growing, Chronister announced on December 6th that he was stepping back. In his statement, Chronister said the decision was his and that there was work in Hillsborough he wanted to see too.

However, on Truth Social, Donald Trump had a very different take. He insisted it was his decision for Chronister to step back from the role.

“I pulled him out, because I did not like what he said to my pastors and other supporters,”

Trump likely did not even know about the 2020 church drama. After all, Trump doesn’t know what is going on hardly ever. Clearly he felt he had to throw Chronister under the bus to save face. I will also use this moment to again point out I firmly believe Donald Trump is an atheist who just uses religion to get support. You can read far more of my religious thoughts on Donald Trump and his entire MAGA movement here.

Chronister’s withdraw shows that relitigating COVID remains a major issue in conservative circles. On the one hand, its unfair for Chronister, who was trying to keep the community safe against an insane, and possible fraudulent, Pastor. On the other hand, its probably best for Hillsborough, as they will continue to have a fairly bipartisan and even-handed Sheriff.