While the pandemic continues to take root in Florida, voters will choose nominees for Congress and the state legislature during Tuesday’s primaries.
A Republican member of Congress is facing a tough primary campaign in the 15th District as he comes under fire for alleged violations of legislative campaigns. And a full field jokes for the chance to replace two House Republicans who announced they would not seek re-election this year: Rep. Ted Yoho, representing the Third District, and Rep. Francis Rooney, representing the 19th District.
The pandemic could well tear up the rise. During the state’s Democratic presidency in March, turnout was the lowest since 2004, with less than a third of registered voters voting. That might be because there were no statewide races yet or a competitive GOP presidential primary on the ballot in March, but it could also be a sign of what’s to come on Tuesday afternoon and the general election this autumn.
President Donald Trump recently urged Florida voters to submit post-vote votes, including absentee ballots, as an alternative to personal votes. This is despite his repeated claims that the practice, which has existed since the Civil War but has become widespread amid the pandemic, will lead to rampant election fraud. (Numerous studies have found that mail-in voice fraud is actually quite rare.)
Early voting began on August 8 and polls will close at 6pm on August 18. In early March, about half of Florida voters went to the polls early to vote.
Here are the races to watch:
The 15th District
Democrats are trying to pick up a disgruntled Republican who is currently under criminal investigation for proven violations of campaign funding in the 15th Congressional District of Florida, which includes Tampa and has historically been red.
Rep. Ross Spano, a former state representative and practicing attorney for more than two decades, was accused of accepting $ 180,000 in undisclosed campaign loans from two friends in 2018 when he was first elected to Congress. He remains under investigation by the Department of Justice and the Florida Bar. He admitted that he had made mistakes regarding the loans, but defended that they were “completely unintentional and unintentional.”
Spano, a Trump loyalist, has been endorsed by many prominent Republicans, including fellow Floridian Sen. Marco Rubio, Leader of House Minority Kevin McCarthy, and Minority Whip Steve Scalise. Yet he faces a tough primary challenge from Scott Franklin, the Lakeland City Commissioner, endorsed by Rep. Matt Gaetz, another Republican in Florida.
And even if he claims victory on Tuesday morning, Spano could face a strong opponent in the Democratic state Rep. Adam Hattersley, who served in the Navy in Iraq.
The third district
Yoho, who was first elected to Congress in 2012, announced in December that he would not run for re-election in the solid Republican Third District, which includes north-central Florida, including Ocala.
“Our Nation is the best on the planet and as time goes on, new ideas need to be installed to preserve the Republic, with whom we have been told,” Yoho said in a Facebook post at the time.
Yoho was one of only four members of the House of Representatives to vote in February against an anti-aligned bill that was later blocked in the Senate, claiming it was a “federal government override” because hate crimes fall under the jurisdiction of states. He also stood for scrutiny in July following a heated exchange over crime and police issues with rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a New York Democrat in whom a reporter from The Hill heard him use a sexist slur. (He has publicly apologized for the tone of the conversation, but denies using the slur.)
As Yoho steps down, a full field of 10 GOP candidates is battling to take his place. His own former deputy chief of staff, Kat Cammack, a Trump loyalist, is currently leading the pack in notable incentives and individual fundraising contributions. Judson Sapp, a railroad CEO, and James St. George, a surgeon, has the richest campaigns in the race – though those that were more than half self-funded, according to July financial revelations.
Democrats have ousted business owners Adam Christensen and Tom Wells and health IT professional Phillip Dodd – but whoever wins the GOP primary on Tuesday is likely to move on to the next representative of the safe red neighborhood.
The 19th District
Rooney, a two-time member of Congress and U.S. ambassador to the Vatican under President George W. Bush, announced in October that he would not seek re-election. He told Fox News at the time that he hoped to serve as a model for term limits after completing what he did in Congress: get funding for projects in the Florida Everglades and pass legislation to ban offshore drilling.
His seat in the deep red 19th district will likely go to one of nine Republican candidates: Darren Dione Aquino, the CEO of an organization that advocates for the disabled; fast food mogul and US Marine Casey Askar; urologist William Figlesthaler; police officer Daniel Kowal; attorney Christy McLaughlin; native Floridian and former Minnesota representative Dan Severson; Florida House members Byron Donalds and Dane Eagle; and Fort Meyers Mayor Randy Henderson.
It has been a controversial primary that has attracted a significant amount of outside funding from groups including the Club for Growth, which has spent $ 2.5 million on TV and radio commercials supported by Donalds, and a related super PAC called Conservative Outsider PAC, which nearly spent $ 460,000 on media bashing Eagle. Askar has raised the most funds by far with a campaign war chest of nearly $ 3.7 million, but polling suggests that it will nonetheless be a tight race between him, Donalds, Figlesthaler, and Eagle.
The 26th, 27th and 16th districts will meet battlefields in November
Democrats are defending seats in the 26th and 27th districts in two high-spending races, and are also attempting a seven-term Republican commitment in the 16th District. If Democrats elect a seat in Florida, they will have a majority in the state congressional delegation for the first time since 1989.
The official Democrat of the 26th District, rep. Debbie Mucarsel-Powell is likely to meet with Miami-Dade County, Florida Mayor Carlos Gimenez, Florida, if he wins the GOP primary on Tuesday as expected. And in the 27th District, rep. Donna Shalala, a Democrat who was first elected to Congress in 2018 and served as Secretary of Health and Human Services in the Clinton administration, sits in the overwhelming Hispanic District 27, which includes Miami.
Republican rep. Vern Buchanan is down on the last Democratic attempt to discover him in the 16th District, but with a $ 1.6 million campaign suitcase, he remains in a strong position relative to his main challenger, Margaret Good, who shares is from the Democratic Congress The campaign committee’s “Red to Blue” program that supports Democratic candidates trying to flip GOP-held districts.
Will you become our 20,000th supporter? When the economy took a downturn in the spring and we started asking readers for financial contributions, we were not sure how it would go. Today, we are afraid to say that nearly 20,000 people have chipped. The reason is both lovely and surprising: Readers told us that they both contribute because they appreciate statement and because they appreciate it other people can also access it. We have always believed that explanatory journalism is essential for a functioning democracy. That has never been more important than today, during a public health crisis, racial justice protests, a recession, and a presidential election. But our distinctive explanatory journalism is expensive, and advertising alone does not allow us to continue to create the quality and volume that this moment demands. Your financial contribution will not constitute a donation, but it will help keep Vox free for all. Earn today from as little as $ 3.
