For years, Republican politicians and conservative activists have warned Americans that children are under attack.
They have accused political opponents, LGBTQ+ Americans, teachers, librarians and others of “grooming” children. They have promoted claims about protecting children while presenting themselves as defenders of law enforcement, law and order and traditional values.
In Palm Beach County, Florida, Republicans just confronted a test of what those principles mean when the accused is one of their own.
Michael Caruso, the Republican candidate for Palm Beach County clerk of the circuit court and comptroller, was included in the local Republican Party's voter guide despite facing extraordinarily serious criminal charges involving the alleged sexual abuse of a small child.
Caruso has pleaded not guilty and maintains his innocence. He has not been convicted of these offenses.
But the allegations are horrific.
Allegations Involving Children as Young as Four
Caruso was arrested in August on charges including kidnapping, lewd or lascivious molestation and child abuse.
Investigators allege that Caruso sexually abused a male relative who was younger than five years old.
According to prosecutors and reporting on the case, the alleged incidents occurred on multiple occasions.
In one allegation, Caruso supposedly told the child's parents he was taking the boy to get ice cream during a cruise before sexually assaulting him.
Prosecutors have also disclosed that a second person, a female, alleges that Caruso molested her when she was four years old.
Again, these are allegations. Caruso denies them.
A judge who ordered Caruso released from jail in August also said there were weaknesses in the prosecution's case and questioned whether the state would ultimately be able to prove it.
But the existence of unresolved criminal charges involving alleged sexual abuse of extremely young children did not initially prevent the Palm Beach County Republican Party from putting Caruso in its voter guide.
Republicans Put Him in Their Voter Guide Anyway
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis suspended Caruso from office immediately after his arrest.
Caruso nevertheless remained the Republican nominee for the November election and said he intended to win.
The Palm Beach County Republican Party subsequently included him in its voter guide.
That decision generated immediate controversy.
By Monday night, the party had removed Caruso's name from the guide.
Local Republican officials said their guide originally listed every Republican nominee as required under their interpretation of Florida law and that they removed Caruso as soon as they were permitted to do so.
DeSantis publicly criticized the local party's decision to support Caruso.
Those facts matter.
This isn't a story in which every Republican defended Caruso. They didn't.
But it raises a larger question about American political rhetoric surrounding children.
Because Republicans have spent years accusing their political opponents of posing a danger to them.
Remember Pizzagate?
In 2016, an internet conspiracy theory claimed that Hillary Clinton and other prominent Democrats were operating a child sex-trafficking operation from Comet Ping Pong, a Washington, D.C., pizza restaurant.
There was no evidence that the supposed trafficking ring existed.
There wasn't even evidence that the restaurant was secretly housing children.
But the conspiracy spread across social media.
Eventually a North Carolina man named Edgar Maddison Welch decided he needed to investigate it himself.
He drove to Washington carrying firearms and entered Comet Ping Pong armed with an AR-15-style rifle.
Welch fired shots inside the restaurant while searching for children he believed Democrats were holding captive.
There were no captive children.
There was no Democratic sex-trafficking dungeon.
There was no Pizzagate conspiracy.
A completely fabricated story about Democrats sexually abusing children had become powerful enough to send an armed man into a real American business.
That episode should have demonstrated the danger of casually accusing political opponents of crimes against children.
Instead, accusations about “groomers” became an increasingly common part of American political rhetoric.
Meanwhile, There Have Been Very Real Cases
Political affiliation obviously does not determine whether someone will sexually abuse a child.
Child sexual abuse occurs across political parties, religions, professions and communities.
But that is precisely why rhetoric suggesting that child predation belongs uniquely to one's political enemies is so dishonest.
There are documented cases involving Republican politicians themselves.
Former Oklahoma Republican state Sen. Ralph Shortey pleaded guilty to child sex trafficking after admitting that he solicited a minor for a commercial sex act while he was serving in the Oklahoma Senate.
He was sentenced to 15 years in federal prison.
Then there is former North Dakota Republican state Sen. Ray Holmberg.
Holmberg spent approximately 45 years in the North Dakota Legislature.
Federal prosecutors said he repeatedly traveled to Prague and paid to engage in sexual activity with underage boys.
According to the Justice Department, Holmberg traveled there approximately 14 times between 2011 and 2021.
He pleaded guilty to traveling internationally for illicit sexual conduct and was sentenced in 2025 to 10 years in federal prison.
Prosecutors said Holmberg bragged about sexual activity with boys as young as 12 and 15.
Those aren't internet rumors.
They aren't conspiracy theories.
They are criminal cases that resulted in guilty pleas and prison sentences.
Protecting Children Shouldn't Be Partisan
There is something deeply corrosive about turning child sexual abuse into a political weapon.
When politicians suggest that their opponents are inherently predators while treating child protection as proof of their own political righteousness, they transform one of society's most serious crimes into campaign propaganda.
Children don't need partisan conspiracy theories.
They need adults willing to recognize abuse regardless of who commits it.
They need police officers who investigate allegations.
They need prosecutors who follow evidence.
They need courts that protect both victims and the rights of the accused.
And they need political organizations willing to apply the same standards to their own candidates that they demand from everyone else.
Michael Caruso is entitled to the presumption of innocence.
A jury — not a political website, political party or social-media mob — will determine whether prosecutors can prove the charges against him.
But political parties make their own decisions about whom they promote to voters.
The Palm Beach County Republican Party initially put Caruso in its voter guide while he faced pending charges alleging sexual abuse of a child younger than five.
Only after the decision generated controversy was his name removed.
Republicans frequently say they stand for law enforcement.
They frequently say they stand for law and order.
And they frequently say they are protecting America's children.
Those principles mean very little if they are applied only when the accused belongs to the other political party.
Children aren't Republican.
Children aren't Democratic.
And protecting them shouldn't require checking someone's voter registration first.