Man arrested after interrupting Vance at Florida rally

A man who interrupted Vice President JD Vance during a campaign rally in Lakeland, Florida, was arrested and charged with trespassing and resisting arrest without violence, according to a police arrest report. The charges are first-degree misdemeanors; the available accounts do not establish their outcome. The man, identified as Ben Braver, 24, was escorted from the venue during the October 1 rally, where Vance was campaigning for Republican gubernatorial candidate Byron Donalds and praising Florida Sen. Ashley Moody. Braver is a Democratic candidate for the Florida House, according to one account. Vance called the protester a “clown” and a “Democrat plant,” and alleged that he wanted to raise taxes and release undocumented immigrants. Those were Vance’s claims about the man, not independently established facts. Vance told the crowd that the protester had been removed, then resumed his remarks. The arrest report describes an encounter between Braver and officer Macson McGuirk, who was assigned to event security. McGuirk’s account says he repeatedly told Braver to leave and escorted him from the property.