Hernando Democratic Chair Arrested After Striking Man at Spring Hill Protest

Brian Stewart, 63, the chair of the Hernando County Democratic Party and a Florida Democratic state committee member, was arrested Saturday on a misdemeanor battery charge after allegedly striking a man in the head with a bullhorn during a "No Kings" demonstration near Mariner Boulevard and Cortez Boulevard in Spring Hill.

Deputies from the Hernando County Sheriff's Office responded to the scene at about 10:31 a.m. after a man reported being struck against his will. According to the arrest affidavit, Stewart hit Thomas Michta in the head with a PYLE U.S.A. bullhorn during a heated exchange and pushed him in the chest. Michta, described by Republican officials and the Hernando County Conservatives as a permanently disabled military veteran who attended as a counter-protester, had a visible lump on his head and reported pain. County Democrats disputed that characterization, though multiple news outlets noted the designation appears in police reports.

A 12-second clip of the alleged incident was recorded and posted on Facebook by Louis Johns, chair of the Hernando County Conservatives, and submitted as witness evidence. The footage shows Stewart extending his arm holding a megaphone toward another man who is initially off-camera; Johns identified that moment as the strike. The affidavit cited the video in establishing probable cause.

Stewart was booked into the Hernando County Jail at 12:46 p.m. Saturday and released approximately two hours later after posting a $1,000 bond. He is scheduled to appear in county court on April 27 for arraignment on the simple battery charge.

The Hernando County Democratic Party issued a statement saying the organization "strongly condemns violence" but insisted Stewart was responding to a provocation, claiming an agitator had poured liquid into his megaphone and hurled obscenities at those present. The Florida Democratic Party issued a separate statement also condemning violence.

The Republican response was swift. Johns publicly called for Stewart's removal before Florida GOP Chairman Evan Power formally escalated the demand on Sunday, March 29, directing Florida Democratic Party Chairperson Nikki Fried to "immediately remove Brian Stewart from his position of leadership in the Florida Democrat Party." Power added: "Violence and political intimidation have no place in our state, and Floridians deserve better than mere silence from Democrat leadership." The Hernando County Conservatives followed with a written statement calling the incident evidence of "growing intolerance and dangerous radicalism within certain elements of the Democrat Party in Hernando County and across the nation."

The confrontation unfolded on what organizers are calling the largest single-day protest in American history. The March 28 No Kings demonstrations spanned more than 3,300 organized events across all 50 states, drawing an estimated 8 to 9 million participants nationally. In the Tampa Bay region alone, more than 20 separate protests took place, with demonstrations in St. Petersburg, Brandon, Clearwater, New Port Richey, Palm Harbor, and Lakeland.

Stewart's April 27 arraignment will advance the legal case, but the political reckoning is already underway: Nikki Fried is now on record as the Democrat that Florida's top Republican is demanding take action, all within 24 hours of a local party chair's arrest in Spring Hill.