Florida's Wide-Open Election Season Off And Running
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MIAMI (CBSMiami/AP) - Florida's wide open election season officially roared into high gear Friday as qualifying for the 2018 ballot wrapped up, with dozens of candidates vying for everything from governor to state legislative seats.
Millions have already been spent on television ads in some high-profile races, but the end of the qualifying period marks the start of an intense campaign season that runs up to the party primaries on Aug. 28 and the general election in November. Candidates seeking federal offices qualified in May.
The departure of Gov. Rick Scott due to term limits and the opening of two Cabinet offices triggered a long line of candidates to jump in. There are 20 candidates on the ballot running for governor, seven people running for agriculture commissioner and five vying to succeed Attorney General Pam Bondi.
The battle for chief financial officer drew two candidates: Current CFO Jimmy Patronis and former state senator and Democrat Jeremy Ring. Patronis is running for a full term after he was appointed to the job last year by Gov. Scott.
Twenty-two state Senate seats and all 120 House seats were also up for grabs this year, but more than 20 incumbents will cruise to re-election because no one signed up to run against them. With minutes to go before the noon deadline, incumbent Rep. Al Jacquet rushed into the state elections office, filed his paperwork and won a new two-year term because no one challenged him.
"At the end of the day it's not who qualifies or who was last-minute but the folks we come to represent are taken care of," said Jacquet, a Democrat from Lantana. "I would not turn my back on them to come up on Monday when there are issues to do. Today was the day I could make it up here."
Republicans have controlled state government for two decades, but Democrats touted their ability to recruit candidates for this year's elections. They noted they have gotten candidates to run in every open state senate seat and in more than 100 House districts. Democrats also said they had a record 82 women running in legislative contests.
"We are preparing for a blue wave, we are approaching every election as if no seat is safe," said Florida Democratic Party executive director Juan Penalosa.
Blaise Ingoglia, a state legislator and chairman of the Republican Party of Florida, predicted that Democrats would come out on the losing end yet again.
"Yes, the Democrats are throwing any person they can find into all of these races and many of them, because of the district, have no shot at winning," Ingoglia said. "It is truly unfortunate because we would rather give our campaign money to local nonprofits and charities that help our communities, rather than spend it on political mailers. I predict that "little blue wave" will meet a "big red wall in November.'"
(© Copyright 2018 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
