Meet the Candidates: Winners of Florida's Congressional Primaries [1]
Submitted by Conor Kenny [2] on
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 [3] (R). According to The Hill [4], the only one that came close to losing was Rep. Ric Keller [5] (R), who barely beat talk show host Todd Long [6] in the 8th district. The other close primaries were the 3-way battles to challenge incumbents: lawyer Tom Rooney [7] won the Republican nomination to challenge Democratic Rep. Tim Mahoney [8] in the 16th district and lawyer and former Federal Trade Commission official Bill Mitchell [9] won the Democratic nomination to challenge Republican Rep. Gus Bilirakis [10] in the 9th district.
Now that the primaries are over, CQ Politics [11] says the incumbents in danger in November are Democrats Tim Mahoney [8] and Ron Klein [12] and Republicans Tom Feeney [13], Vern Buchanan [14], Lincoln Diaz-Balart [15], Mario Diaz-Balart [16] and Ric Keller [5].
As part of Congresspedia's Wiki the Vote [17] 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 [17]. 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 [18] one of the staff editors for help.)
- 1st district: Incumbent Republican Rep. Jeff Miller [19] is being challenged by Democrat James Bryan [20], who worked as a developmental economist for several decades.
- 2nd district: Incumbent Democratic Rep. Allen Boyd [21] is being challenged by Republican Mark Mulligan [22], who recently completed his PhD in mass communications.
- 3rd district: Incumbent Democratic Rep. Corrine Brown [23] is running unchallenged.
- 4th district: Incumbent Republican Rep. Ander Crenshaw [24] is being challenged by Democratic Jay McGovern [25], a former naval aviator, and currently works as an engineer.
- 5th district: Incumbent Republican Rep. Ginny Brown-Waite [26] is being challenged by Democratic John Russell [27], who currently works in the critical care field.
- 6th district: Incumbent Republican Rep. Cliff Stearns [28] is being challenged by Democratic Timothy Cunha [29], who works in the biological research field.
- 7th district: Incumbent Republican Rep. John Mica [30] is being challenged by Democratic Faye Armitage [31], a former professor of economics.
- 8th district: Incumbent Republican Rep. Ric Keller [5] is being challenged by Democratic Alan Grayson [32], lawyer and founder and President of IDT Corp.
- 9th district: Incumbent Republican Rep. Gus Bilirakis [10] is being challenged by Democratic Bill Mitchell [9], founder of Mitchell Law Group.
- 10th district: Incumbent Republican Rep. C.W. "Bill" Young [33] is being challenged by Democratic Bob Hackworth [34], 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 [35] is being challenged by Republican Eddie Adams [36], 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 [37] is being challenged by Democratic Doug Tudor [38], who is retired from the U.S. Navy.
- 13th district: Incumbent Republican Rep. Vern Buchanan [14] is being challenged by Democratic Christine Jennings [39], who the founder of a bank.
- 14th district: Incumbent Republican Rep. Cornelius McGillicuddy [40] is being challenged by Democratic Robert Neeld [41], founder of an accounting practice.
- 15th district: Open race between Democratic Steven Blythe [42], who is a family practice doctor, and Republican Bill Posey [43], who is the founder and President of Posey & Co. Realtors.
- 16th district: Incumbent Democratic Rep. Tim Mahoney [8] is being challenged by Republican Tom Rooney [7], who practices law.
- 17th district: Incumbent Democratic Rep. Kendrick Meek [44] is running unchallenged.
- 18th district: Incumbent Republican Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen [45] is being challenged by Democratic Annette Taddeo [46], a business owner.
- 19th district: Incumbent Democratic Rep. Robert Wexler [47] is being challenged by Republican Edward Lynch [48], a business owner.
- 20th district: Incumbent Democratic Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz [49] is running unchallenged.
- 21st district: Incumbent Republican Rep. Lincoln Diaz-Balart [15] is being challenged by Democratic Raul Martinez [50], former mayor of Hialeah, Florida.
- 22nd district: Incumbent Democratic Rep. Ron Klein [12] is being challenged by Republican Allen West [51], who is retired from the Army.
- 23rd district: Incumbent Democratic Rep. Alcee Hastings [52] is being challenged by Republican Marion Thorpe [53], who is Chief Medical Officer for the Agency for Health Care Administration.
- 24th district: Incumbent Republican Rep. Tom Feeney [13] is being challenged by Democratic Suzanne Kosmas [54], a former State Representative and a small business owner.
- 25th district: Incumbent Republican Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart [16] is being challenged by Democratic Joe Garcia [55], a Democratic strategist and former director of the Cuban American National Foundation.