15-year-old kicked out of GOP event for making Ron DeSantis look foolish

A 15-year-old political journalist named Quinn Martin was kicked out of an event organized by the New Hampshire Republican party because he once asked Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) a question whose answer made him look foolish.

Martin has received press credentials to cover last weekend’s First in the Nation Leadership Summit in New Hampshire, where all of the Republican presidential candidates gave speeches. However, a woman whom Martin called a “Republican official” removed him from the summit after accusing him of misrepresenting himself to gain access to the event.

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She allegedly accused Martin of being a “tracker,” a political operative who records rival candidates — something Martin is not — and told him, “You’ve been a disturbance and have been known to be one. We have had to physically remove you from two other events before, and we will do it again.”

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He was then walked out of the hotel by multiple police officers, The Boston Globe reported.

The alleged “disturbance” that the woman referenced occurred at a campaign event on June 27 when Martin asked DeSantis about former President Donald Trump’s repeated refusal to concede his loss in the 2020 presidential election. Trump’s followers started a violent riot at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021 in response to Trump’s baseless claims that the election had been “stolen” by an unprecedented national conspiracy of voter fraud that only occurred in the states where he lost the popular vote.

At the June 27 event, Martin asked DeSantis, “Do you believe that Trump violated the peaceful transfer of power — a key principle of American democracy that we must uphold?”

DeSantis dodged the yes-or-no question, replying. “So, I wasn’t anywhere near Washington that day I have nothing to do with what happened that day. Obviously, I didn’t enjoy seeing, you know, what happened, but we’ve got to go forward on this stuff. We cannot be looking backwards and be mired in the past.”

DeSantis’ response went viral, embarrassing him. When Martin later tried to talk with DeSantis at a July 4 parade, the staff of DeSantis’ super political action committee (PAC) Never Back Down physically pulled Quinn away and blocked his access to the governor. DeSantis’ security team then detained Martin for five minutes, and DeSantis’ wife Casey told Martin’s mother that Martin had exaggerated about his mistreatment.

A DeSantis campaign spokesperson told The New York Times that they “were not involved” in the decision to remove Martin from the recent New Hampshire event.

A New Hampshire Republican (NHGOP) party spokesperson told The Washington Post, “An overzealous volunteer mistakenly made the decision to have Quinn removed from the event, thinking he was a Democrat tracker,” adding, “Once the incident came to our staff’s attention, NHGOP let him back into the event, where he was free to enjoy the rest of the summit.”