Who Is Melissa Howard? Florida GOP Candidate Accused of Faking Her College Degree

Florida Republican candidate Melissa Howard has been accused of faking a college marketing diploma by the university she claims to have graduated from.

In her campaign website bio, the 46-year-old Florida business owner—who is running for the GOP primary in the Florida House of Representatives' 73rd District—said she was born in "Middle America" and was the "first in her family to attend college." The page was last viewed by Newsweek on Sunday but has since been removed.

Last week, FLA News Online first accused Howard of lying to her supporters about graduating from Ohio's Miami University in a report that was later edited, after she claimed to have flown back to Ohio to pick up the degree and posted an image of herself smiling next to the diploma with her mother.

Howard's campaign accused FLA News of corroborating with her GOP primary opponent Tommy Gregory to "hurt Melissa or her reputation within the community" and again asserted that she graduated from Ohio's Miami University with a Bachelor of Science degree in Marketing in 1996.

"I will ask one more time to stop the negative campaign he is waging, and call on the people bankrolling his campaign to stop the mud slinging," she wrote alongside the photo.

"Tommy Gregory is a liar. The proof speaks for itself. First his campaign tried to push a story out to Floridapolitics.com claiming I wasn't a Republican. The Ohio registrar confirmed the Gregory campaign lied," Howard told Florida Politics.

Following the incident, Miami University's general counsel, Robin Parker, said the college held no record of Howard graduating from their institution. In a statement, Parker confirmed that Howard did attend the college between 1990 and 1994 but failed to secure a degree. He also revealed that Miami University never offered the specific diploma she claims to have graduated with.

If Howard did graduate with her retailing major, she would have earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Family and Consumer Sciences, Parker said.

"The picture of the diploma shows that Melissa Marie Fox received a Bachelor of Science in Marketing degree from Miami University on December 20, 1996," the statement read.

"The picture of the diploma that was posted on the HowardforHouse73 Facebook page does not appear to be an accurate Miami University diploma. Miami University's degree for Marketing majors then, as it is now, was a Bachelor of Science in Business."

After the university's statement was made public over the weekend, Howard's campaign consultant Anthony Pedicini said that the candidate's husband had suffered a "cardiac event" on Friday and she "won't be responding to allegations and fake news until he fully recovers. [She is] focused on him right now… that's all I got for you right now," he said.

Howard's campaign website and the photo posted to Facebook showing her posing with her mother and the alleged degree have both been removed. Howard's Twitter account has also been made private.

Gregory condemned Howard for forging her degree on Sunday, telling reporters that "voters deserve nothing less than truth and integrity from their elected officials. Unfortunately, it seems that Melissa Howard has failed that test," he said.

Howard did not immediately respond to request for comment.