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Palm Bay Councilman sues city over Council's censure
Palm Bay councilman Chandler Langevin says his comments made about immigrants fall under free speech. Following the decision in an Oct. 16 meeting to censure Langevin's vote, he's now suing under his first amendment rights. However, some say the lawsuit is a plan to pull money from the city.
What we know:
PALM BAY, Fla. - On Thursday night, in a 3-2 vote, the Palm Bay council voted to censure Langevin because of controversial comments he made on social media going after immigration and specifically targeting Indians in America. Councilman Hammer and Langevin were the only two who voted against the censure.
A censure means the council doesn’t agree with or approve of what someone says. It’s a strong public reprimand, but other than that – it doesn’t do much.
The censure this council passed does more. Moving forward, Langevin can only place an item on the agenda if he gets consensus from council beforehand.
He’s also not allowed to speak during the committee and council reports portion of the meeting except to request consensus to put an item on a future agenda.
Langevin has retained Anthony Sabatini as his attorney who is supposed to be filing a lawsuit against the city on Friday.
The backstory:
Councilman Lanegvin has been caught up in controversy for months because of social media posts. First, he went after Muslims in America. Then he targeted what he described as "left-wing" evil. The latest posts were directed at Indians in America.
The council talked about the issues at several meetings and concerns regarding his posts but never actually acted on anything until the last incident.
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They asked the governor to suspend Langevin but so far, there’s no word on that. This censure is the first step the city has taken against Langevin.
What they're saying:
Councilman Langevin says he’s suing because the city’s stripping him of his job as a member of council.
"You can censure me, but don’t break the constitution," said Councilman Langevin.
Taxpayers are frustrated to see things end up here when the city should be addressing road and flooding issues.
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"Now, there’s a lawsuit. This to me seems obviously planned to just pull money out of the city. It’s like a form of brigandry, highway robbery," said David Kearns, who’s a Palm Bay taxpayer.
What we don't know:
There’s no word yet on how long the lawsuit will take to settle in court, how much it will cost the city or who will end up winning.
The Source: FOX 35 crews attended the city council meeting on Oct. 16, 2025. FOX 35 Reporter Esther Bower spoke with the now censured member of council on Oct. 17, and spoke with his lawyer about when the lawsuit would be filed. She also interviewed taxpayers. She asked the city about a statement and was told via email they wouldn't comment right now.