Posted on 01/28/2025 9:52:19 AM PST by Jacquerie
It will be a few months before Florida fills two vacancies in its congressional delegation. But the most likely candidates to fill the seats will be the winners of Republican Primaries in Florida’s 1st and 6th Congressional districts today.
Republicans in the Florida Panhandle will choose between 10 candidates vying to replace former U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz, who vacated his seat last year. In the CD 6 contest to succeed U.S. Rep. Michael Waltz, now President Donald Trump’s National Security Adviser, there will be both Democratic and Republican Primaries.
In both contests the Republican who emerges tonight will head to an April 1 Special Election as a heavy favorite in districts that voted overwhelmingly for Trump last year.
CD 1
In the Panhandle contest, the top fundraiser has been Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis, who has flooded airwaves and mailboxes touting Trump’s endorsement. He also was going to local gun shops touting his record on gun rights as a Cabinet member and state lawmaker before that.
CD 6
State Sen. Randy Fine, a Palm Bay Republican and Trump’s pick in CD 6, holds the cash advantage in a race against Aaron Baker and Ehsan Joarder.
Fine notably has been in Special Session, where he has championed an end to in-state tuition for undocumented immigrants attending Florida’s colleges and universities. He said spending time in Tallahassee instead of the district was a personal price he had to pay for the Session being called but a duty he had to see through.
“I may have an election tomorrow, but I am not giving up a chance to fight illegal immigration,” he posted.
(Excerpt) Read more at floridapolitics.com ...
I think the only democratic way of dealing with these vacancies is to have the party name their replacements.
As of 15:00 EST, Putnam County (6th Congressional District)
Active Eligible Voters 37,793
Unofficial Voter Turnout 2,964
Percent Turnout 7.84%
328 mail; 1,264 early voting; 1,372 in person
548 D, 2,416 R
My precinct 12 D, 80 R and 0 other. At 11:03 when I cast my ballot, I was voter number 26. County Supervisor of Elections forecasts less than 15% turnout.
A shame as November 2024 turnout > 80%
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.