Ryan Ray
State Rep. Travis Cummings looks to have a more or less clear shot at re-election to his third term in the state House, though Libertarian Ken Willey announced Friday he’ll take another shot at overtaking the sophomore Republican.
Willey — not to be confused with fellow minor-party crusader Adrian Wyllie who mounted a 2014 Libertarian run for governor — matched up against Cummings in November in a heads-up race with no Democrat on the ballot. He took 19 percent of the final tally while Cummings cruised to re-election with 81 percent.
It will be Willey’s third run for public office in as many election cycles.
He stood against Tea Party Republican U.S. Rep Ted Yoho in Florida’s 3rd Congressional District, which takes in Gainesville and the outlying conservative rural counties that surround it. The former U.S. Navy Hospital corpsman failed to qualify.
Cummings, on the other hand, is looking to catapult into the second half of his prospective eight years in the House with greater clout and seniority.
Health Care Appropriations Subcommittee vice chair has raised $82,050 with no viable opponent so far and has an extensive résumé of service at the local level, including as councilman and mayor of his hometown of Orange Park, a four-year stint on the Clay County Commission, and as chairman of the Clay County Charter Review Commission.
Cummings faced no opposition in either the GOP primary or general elections in 2012, arriving as a candidate fresh off his incumbency on the local county commission.
Wiley has reported no campaign finance finance activity yet, but raised less than $2,500 to finance his long-shot bid back in 2014.
New contribution reports are due from campaigns by May 31.
