Florida Qualifying Concludes

Gov. Ron DeSantis has no Republican challengers listed as having qualified on Friday. U.S. Rep. Charlie Crist and Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried are the biggest names among the four Democrats who were listed as qualified out of a dozen who had originally filed.

Agriculture Commissioner

An Afghanistan war veteran from Winter Park who said he was running against outgoing Senate President Wilton Simpson for agriculture commissioner vanished after Simpson got a ringing endorsement from Gov. Ron DeSantis several weeks back.

Chuck Nadd wasn’t listed as having qualified to run by Friday’s deadline. Some considered him a stalking horse to intimidate Simpson into compromising on several issues he and the governor disagreed on.

Instead, Simpson, a multimillionaire egg farmer who also owns an environmental cleanup company, is facing off in the GOP primary against James Shaw, an “organic farmer” from Vero Beach whose crop includes worms. Shaw doesn’t have much money or name recognition.

Nor do the three Democrats who qualified for their party’s primary seem to have much name recognition for a statewide campaign that requires lots of both.

On the Democratic side, J.R. Gaillot of Gainesville, Ryan Morales of Clermont and Naomi Esther Blemer of North Miami have all qualified to run.

Attorney General

As expected, Ashley Moody drew no Republican opposition for her re-election bid as attorney general. But she may wind up facing the Grim Reaper in the general election.

Daniel Uhlfelder, who’s donned the ghoulish garb to criticize DeSantis’ pandemic policies, qualified to run against Moody along with two other Democrats.

Moody’s campaign raised $1.84 million through the end of May, the last reporting period available. She spent $105,000, the same amount Uhlfelder has raised.

Also qualified to run is Aramis Ayala, the former state attorney for Orlando who caused a stir when she said would not seek the death penalty in any case. Gov. Rick Scott made sure that no death penalty cases were steered her way.

Fort Lauderdale criminal defense lawyer Jim Lewis, who grew up in Orlando and served as an assistant state attorney, also is running for the Democratic nomination.

Chief Financial Officer

Jimmy Patronis hasn’t drawn any serious challengers in his reelection bid for Chief Financial Officer of Florida. The only other person to qualify was Adam Hattersley, a Tampa resident who spent a term in the state House.

U.S. Senate

U.S. Rep. Val Demings, D-Orlando, is going to have some company in her bid for the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate. Just how serious they are is another matter.

William Sanchez, an immigration lawyer from Miami, is the only other candidate besides Demings who has a campaign account set up, according to the Federal Elections Commission’s website. He had raised $202,000, including $147,000 in personal loans from himself.

Dana Harshman, an Ocala Democrat, hasn’t even raised $2,000. Demings has raised $30.5 million.

Republican U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio had no GOP challengers listed as having qualified.

U.S. House

In the races for Congress, the controversial redistricting map pushed by DeSantis created major changes in Central Florida.

District 7, currently held by outgoing Democratic U.S. Rep. Stephanie Murphy, went from an evenly split district to one that leans GOP.

As a result, the Republican primary there is crowded with candidates, including state Rep. Anthony Sabatini, Army veteran Cory Mills, retired Navy SEAL Brady Duke, former congressional chief of staff Rusty Roberts, businessman Scott Sturgill, and former DeBary Vice Mayor Erika Benfield.

Jeremy Liggett, a reported member of the right-wing Three Percenters militia who spoke at a pre-Jan. 6 rally in Washington, was not listed as qualifying.

The Democrats only had a few candidates file for District 7, including state party vice chair Karen Green of Apopka. Businesswoman Tatiana Fernandez is the only late addition to that Democratic race, qualifying this week.

District 10 in Orange County was one of the most controversial map changes in the state. It stays a strongly Democratic-leaning seat but had its Black vote diluted.

Most of the Democrats running to succeed Demings are African American, including gun rights activist and Black Lives Matter protester Maxwell Frost, state Sen. Randolph Bracy, civil rights attorney Natalie Jackson and pastor Terence Gray.

But two former Orlando-area Congress members with long histories suddenly jumped into the race into the last week.

First, former U.S. Rep. Alan Grayson, who is white, announced a run for the seat on Tuesday. Grayson represented Central Florida in Congress twice and faced an ethics investigation in 2016 as he left office.

Then, on Thursday, former U.S. Rep. Corrine Brown, an African American and Jacksonville resident who represented part of Orlando, filed to run for the seat as well.

Brown pleaded guilty to tax fraud just last month. She had spent two years in prison on felony charges including mail and wire fraud, conspiracy and filing false tax returns before an appeals court threw out her original conviction.

The only Central Florida Democrat to seek reelection, U.S. Rep. Darren Soto, has no Democratic opponent in District 9 in Osceola and southern Orange counties, which was drawn to become even more Democratic-leaning. Four Republicans qualified for the chance to face him in November.

On the GOP side of the aisle, U.S. Rep. Dan Webster is facing a primary challenge from Laura Loomer, an anti-vax conspiracy theorist who has been banned from most social media platforms for anti-Islamic views.

State Senate

In Central Florida races for state Senate, state Sen. Jason Brodeur, R-Sanford, drew a surprise GOP challenger this week in Longwood nurse Denali Charres. Brodeur drew attention to Charres’ past registration as a Democrat in 2015, writing in a text to Florida Politics, “we look forward to the mainstream media’s thorough vetting of this DEM’s newfound home in the GOP.”

Brodeur’s close 2020 Senate win has been caught up in the “ghost candidate” scandal, in which mysterious independent candidate Jestine Ianotti, touted as a progressive in mailers, drew thousands of votes.

The scandal has led to the arrests of Seminole GOP chair Ben Paris, political operative Eric Foglesong, and Ianotti herself. Paris was Brodeur’s employee at the Seminole Chamber of Commerce.

State House

In the state House, districts were drawn mostly to the Democrats’ favor in Central Florida as Republicans shored up districts elsewhere.

Democratic state Rep. Travaris McCurdy faces a primary challenge in his western Orlando district from former state Rep. Bruce Antone, a last-minute qualifier.

One of the biggest races in Central Florida could be the potential matchup between Democratic state Rep. Carlos Guillermo Smith and Republican Susan Plasencia, the sister of former state Rep. Rene Plasencia. Plasencia has a GOP opponent in Kris Stark, an Oviedo real estate agent.

Source: Orlando Sentinel