James McLynas

Beginning in 2009, McLynas and his estranged wife disputed over the custody of their daughter.[11] She allegedly became violent towards James, but James did not believe it was appropriate to hit his wife in self-defense, so he called 9-1-1.[12] When a male Pinellas deputy arrived to the home, according to James, his wife and the deputy went into their bedroom alone, and a few minutes later McLynas' wife had new scratch on her arm and accused James of domestic violence against her.[12][1][2] After James was arrested, his wife admitted to making up the false allegation, yet she was never charged.[12][1] McLynas claimed his wife later began "dating" the same Pinellas deputy who arrested him, along with two others from the Pinellas Sheriff's Office; two from the Clearwater Police Department and one from the Pasco County Sheriff's Office.[12][1][2] McLynas claimed these officers harassed him over the next five years; in 2016, McLynas said there were over 150 false police reports, 7 fraudulent Domestic Violence Injunctions (DVI's), and 22 false Child Protective Investigation reports filed against him and four false arrests from 2009 to 2015.[12][1][2]

In August 2013, McLynas privately informed Gualtieri that he would challenge him for sheriff in the 2016 election to "expose his corruption".[12][1][13][2] On October 28, McLynas' 60 pound, 10-year-old daughter was handcuffed and arrested in an incident he believed was politically motivated.[12][2] Then on October 30— the day before his custody hearing, McLynas was arrested on five felony charges in what he alleged was Gualtieri's attempt to keep him out of court and lose custody of his daughter, and thus drop his campaign for sheriff.[14][12][1][15][2] It was later revealed that Gualtieri used a Stingray phone tracker to track McLynas down.[14][12][1][15][16] At his final custody hearing, the judged ruled that McLynas' wife and the police colluded against James, and he was awarded 100% custody of his daughter while incarcerated— a first in Florida history.[12][1][2] All charges against McLynas were dropped and he publicly announced his candidacy for sheriff after being released from jail on November 1.[17][15]

McLynas persisted through his 2016 campaign; although he finished second to Gualtieri, following the results on the night of the election, he immediately pledged to run again in 2020.[18]

• Constitutional Sheriffs and Peace Officers Association[19]
• Pinellas County Green Party[20]

Although McLynas launched a YouTube channel in 2016 during his first campaign, it did not receive much attention until his second campaign in 2020; while McLynas only had a little over 30 subscribers in June 2019, his audience grew to over five thousand subscribers by June 2020.[21][22]

In January 2020, McLynas published a video of an encounter with Pinellas deputies that earned over 42,000 views within five days.[23][24] In another videotaped incident published in February 2020, McLynas encountered difficulties making a standard public records request; when the clerk refused service to him, she brought in six deputies to question him.[25] McLynas claimed his constitutional rights were violated, that he was harassed and physically assaulted twice, and that the deputies made up numerous false allegations against him in an attempt to arrest him; McLynas believed this was another attempt by Gualtieri to interfere in the election.[25]

McLynas' campaign website consists of ten pillars detailing his platform positions.[26]

1. Responsibly end the war on drugs[27]
2. Reduce costs and lower taxes[28]
3. Limit use of weapons violence and force[29]
4. End warrantless citizen spying[30]
5. Community outreach help and support[31]
6. Body cams & police accountability[32]
7. Training & retraining[33]
8. Ending all "policing for profits"[34]
9. A constitutional sheriff 24/7 365[35]
10. Justice reforms[36]

• Coalition for a Competitive Florida[3]