Drew Wilson
A fourth Republican has filed to run for the House District 54 seat held by term-limited Vero Beach Republican Rep. Debbie Mayfield.
Gregory Mackay filed Tuesday, joining fellow Republicans Lange Sykes, Erin Grall and Dale Glading in the race for the Indian River County seat.
The Vero Beach Republican is a gastroenterologist and long-distance swimmer who in 2011 was named a “Health Care Hero” by Treasure Coast Newspapers after more than a decade volunteer medical work in Haiti.
Mackay will have some catching up to do, and since he’s running against three other Republicans, he’ll only have five months to do it.
Sykes now leads the pack with more than $160,000 on hand, though Grall is not far behind with about $137,000 on hand heading into March. Glading is in a distant third with about $18,000 on hand after a year in the race.
Mackay’s first campaign finance report, which will cover the final two weeks of March, is due in mid-April.
So far, no Democrat or third-party candidate has jumped into the race, and HD 54’s GOP edge will likely keep it that way. Mayfield only faced one challenger since the seat was redrawn and easily bested him with more than two-thirds of the vote on Election Day.
