Ryan Ray
The Northwest Florida chain reaction started by U.S. Rep. Jeff Miller‘s decision to retire from Congress continued apace on Tuesday.
Gulf Breeze Rep. Doug Broxson has announced a run for the state Senate, seeking to replace Sen. Greg Evers – who announced Monday he will run for Miller’s seat against Rep. Matt Gaetz – in staunchly conservative SD 1.
Broxson’s campaign touted the third-term Republican’s record on insurance issues and the 2011 BP oil spill settlement, as well as his conservative stances on immigration and gun rights.
“I want to thank Senator Greg Evers for his service in the Florida Legislature,” said Broxson in a statement.
“Escambia, Santa Rosa, and Okaloosa Counties have a great future, and the next few years will be a critical period. As a state representative, I have worked to create jobs by keeping taxes and spending low and by halting the overreach of the federal government. It is my desire to continue that fight in the State Senate,” said Broxson.
Currently, Broxson faces no opponent in the deep-red district, whose next senator will almost certainly be decided by the GOP primary contest in August.
Rep. Clay Ingram – a well known former Florida State University football player and chair of a key legislative budget panel – announced earlier this month he would not seek the seat, opting to focus on his duties in the House and as CEO of the Greater Pensacola Chamber of Commerce.
“Looking at the difference in a House re-election, something I’ve done before, versus a contested Senate primary and all that goes into that, we made the decision to focus on the House re-election,” Ingram told the Pensacola News-Journal.
The SD 1 seat was renumbered during a random drawing last year in January. A roughly equivalent seat held Evers was numbered SD 2 under maps thrown out by the Florida Supreme Court in 2014.
