Ryan Ray
A battle between two Republicans is shaping up in Polk County-based House District 41, where Winter Haven Rep. John Wood won’t stand for re-election in 2016 because of term limits.
To date, the open seat has attracted Polk County Commissioner Ed Smith as well as Sam Killebrew, a retired contractor who joined the race — a la Dick Cheney — after recruiting and fundraising for other prospective candidates, according to Bill Rufty in The Lakeland Ledger.
“I couldn’t get it out of my mind” after he retired, Wood told Rufty in March of this year regarding his decision to go from booster to candidate.
The seat is considered to be safely in the Republican column, despite President Barack Obama carrying the county by a single percentage point — home to Democratic greats of Florida history Gov. Lawton Chiles and Sen. Spessard Holland.
Democrat Karen Cooper Wezel was recruited heavily by local activists and came close enough to victory in a presidential election year to perhaps merit another look on her part, gaining fully 49 percent of the vote in 2012.
Killebrew leads Smith in the money race, having raised $29,170 for his nascent 2016 bid. Smith, though, was not far behind, with $24,500 in his campaign account as of the end of April.
HD 41 is one of the few districts outside of North Florida where Blue Dog-style Democrats outnumber Republicans despite generally GOP-oriented voting trends, particularly since the second Bush administration.
