Meet the Candidates: Winners of Florida's Congressional Primaries
Each of the 24 Florida congressional incumbents won their parties' nominations in last Tuesday's primary election; in the 25th district there is one open seat due to the retirement of Rep. Dave Weldon (R). According to The Hill, the only one that came close to losing was Rep. Ric Keller (R), who barely beat talk show host Todd Long in the 8th district. The other close primaries were the 3-way battles to challenge incumbents: lawyer Tom Rooney won the Republican nomination to challenge Democratic Rep. Tim Mahoney in the 16th district and lawyer and former Federal Trade Commission official Bill Mitchell won the Democratic nomination to challenge Republican Rep. Gus Bilirakis in the 9th district.
Now that the primaries are over, CQ Politics says the incumbents in danger in November are Democrats Tim Mahoney and Ron Klein and Republicans Tom Feeney, Vern Buchanan, Lincoln Diaz-Balart, Mario Diaz-Balart and Ric Keller.
As part of Congresspedia's Wiki the Vote project, citizen journalists from around the country (and even some candidates!) have been logging information about the candidates' positions, biographies and records. A full list of the candidates and their professions are below, but you can also find them at their respective state portals via the Wiki the Vote project homepage. We need your help to find out more about these candidates, so if you know something about them please add it to their profile. (You can always contact one of the staff editors for help.)
- 1st district: Incumbent Republican Rep. Jeff Miller is being challenged by Democrat James Bryan, who worked as a developmental economist for several decades.
- 2nd district: Incumbent Democratic Rep. Allen Boyd is being challenged by Republican Mark Mulligan, who recently completed his PhD in mass communications.
- 3rd district: Incumbent Democratic Rep. Corrine Brown is running unchallenged.
- 4th district: Incumbent Republican Rep. Ander Crenshaw is being challenged by Democratic Jay McGovern, a former naval aviator, and currently works as an engineer.
- 5th district: Incumbent Republican Rep. Ginny Brown-Waite is being challenged by Democratic John Russell, who currently works in the critical care field.
- 6th district: Incumbent Republican Rep. Cliff Stearns is being challenged by Democratic Timothy Cunha , who works in the biological research field.
- 7th district: Incumbent Republican Rep. John Mica is being challenged by Democratic Faye Armitage, a former professor of economics.
- 8th district: Incumbent Republican Rep. Ric Keller is being challenged by Democratic Alan Grayson, lawyer and founder and President of IDT Corp.
- 9th district: Incumbent Republican Rep. Gus Bilirakis is being challenged by Democratic Bill Mitchell, founder of Mitchell Law Group.
- 10th district: Incumbent Republican Rep. C.W. "Bill" Young is being challenged by Democratic Bob Hackworth, who is a partner in his family’s educational publishing firm and Mayor of the City of Dunedin.
- 11th district: Incumbent Democratic Rep. Kathy Castor is being challenged by Republican Eddie Adams , who works with The Rosier Alliance Inc. Tampa office and started his own business Adams & Associates Residential Design.
- 12th district: Incumbent Republican Rep. Adam Putnam is being challenged by Democratic Doug Tudor, who is retired from the U.S. Navy.
- 13th district: Incumbent Republican Rep. Vern Buchanan is being challenged by Democratic Christine Jennings , who the founder of a bank.
- 14th district: Incumbent Republican Rep. Cornelius McGillicuddy is being challenged by Democratic Robert Neeld, founder of an accounting practice.
- 15th district: Open race between Democratic Steven Blythe, who is a family practice doctor, and Republican Bill Posey, who is the founder and President of Posey & Co. Realtors.
- 16th district: Incumbent Democratic Rep. Tim Mahoney is being challenged by Republican Tom Rooney, who practices law.
- 17th district: Incumbent Democratic Rep. Kendrick Meek is running unchallenged.
- 18th district: Incumbent Republican Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen is being challenged by Democratic Annette Taddeo, a business owner.
- 19th district: Incumbent Democratic Rep. Robert Wexler is being challenged by Republican Edward Lynch, a business owner.
- 20th district: Incumbent Democratic Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz is running unchallenged.
- 21st district: Incumbent Republican Rep. Lincoln Diaz-Balart is being challenged by Democratic Raul Martinez, former mayor of Hialeah, Florida.
- 22nd district: Incumbent Democratic Rep. Ron Klein is being challenged by Republican Allen West, who is retired from the Army.
- 23rd district: Incumbent Democratic Rep. Alcee Hastings is being challenged by Republican Marion Thorpe, who is Chief Medical Officer for the Agency for Health Care Administration.
- 24th district: Incumbent Republican Rep. Tom Feeney is being challenged by Democratic Suzanne Kosmas, a former State Representative and a small business owner.
- 25th district: Incumbent Republican Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart is being challenged by Democratic Joe Garcia, a Democratic strategist and former director of the Cuban American National Foundation.
Comments
15th district
Frank Zilaitis is running in district 15 with no party affiliation (I guess these candidates don't count). He's a family lawyer. With his focus on the Fair Tax and balancing the budget, Frank is the guy we need.