Grady Judd is not a Democrat. The Polk County sheriff is one of the most recognizable Republicans in Florida, a fixture on cable news, and an endorsement that GOP candidates across the state chase every cycle.

In 2022, he gave that endorsement to Cory Mills.

This week, six days before Mills's August 18 Republican primary, Judd went on camera for one of Mills's challengers and took it back — with a list of reasons.

"I did not endorse Cory Mills for this election. He's misleading you. In Polk County, we call that lying to you. That's right. He's under criminal investigation. He's had House ethics complaints. He's not a good guy. We don't want him representing us."

Judd is now backing Ryan Elijah, one of three Republicans challenging Mills. "I'm endorsing Ryan Elijah. He's honest. He'll go to Washington and do what's right," Judd said. "Cory, shame on you for suggesting I endorsed you when I didn't."

The part that's actually in dispute — and the part that isn't

Mills pushed back, and on the narrow question he has a case worth stating.

He says he never claimed a current endorsement. He did win Judd's support in 2022, when he was running for an open seat, and he provided Florida Politics with the text message to prove it — Judd wrote at the time, "Cory count me in you are clearly the best. Let me know how I can help." Judd does not dispute that.

The endorsement graphic is still on Mills's campaign website today. Mills says his campaign was locked out of that site years ago and can't update it, that the page is obviously dated because it still names his 2022 primary opponent Anthony Sabatini, and that the QR code on current flyers points there only because a print shop reused an old template. "Yes we need new website and trying to get access to old one to update," he said.

That's a real explanation for a stale webpage. Take it at face value.

It changes nothing about the sentence that matters. Judd didn't say Mills faked a text message. He said Mills is under criminal investigation, has racked up House ethics complaints, is not a good guy, and shouldn't represent anyone. And on that, Judd is describing the public record.

The record Judd is describing

Every item on the sheriff's list is documented.

• The criminal investigation. The Justice Department is criminally investigating Cory Mills, as NBC News reported in July 2026. The focus hasn't been made public; a source said at least one person was contacted about Mills's finances and allegations of misconduct. Mills called it "a desperate lie from my political opponents." He has not been charged.
• The ethics complaints. House investigators called their inquiry into Mills "serious and complex," issuing more than 20 subpoenas over whether his companies illegally held nearly $1 million in federal contracts while he sat in Congress. He did not cooperate.
• The restraining order. In October 2025 a judge issued a restraining order against Mills at the request of Lindsey Langston, Miss United States 2024, who alleged he threatened to release sexually explicit videos of her. Mills denied it.
• The Bronze Star. Last week, five people who served with Mills in Iraq — including the two soldiers his award paperwork says he saved — told NOTUS he wasn't involved. One called the citation a fabrication.

Judd didn't have to dig for any of this. It's been in the papers for two years.

Why a sheriff from the wrong county matters

Polk County isn't even in Florida's 7th District. Judd has no vote in this primary and no constituent stake in it.

That's what makes the move notable. This isn't a local official protecting his turf. It's a sitting Republican sheriff going out of his way, in the final week of a Republican primary, to tell Republican voters in another part of the state that the Republican incumbent is unfit.

Mills is a congressman whose own party has been quietly trying to get out from under him for months. Republicans are now spending time and money defending seats like his — districts Trump carried comfortably in 2024 — not over any policy dispute, but because of the conduct of the men holding them. Their complaint has generally been about the polling, not the behavior.

Judd skipped that part. He said the behavior.

What his own voters already said

None of this is news to the people Mills represents. When he held a town hall in Oviedo in January 2026, hundreds of constituents greeted him with booing and pressed him on the ethics investigations and the restraining order. Attendees told reporters his "lack of character, lack of ethics, and the numerous scandals" disqualified him.

A year and a half later, a Republican sheriff who once vouched for him is saying the same thing in shorter words.

"He's not a good guy. We don't want him representing us."

Florida's 7th District votes August 18.

Source

Jacob Ogles, "'We call that lying': Grady Judd backs Ryan Elijah, slams Cory Mills for touting past endorsement", Florida Politics, August 12, 2026.