Drew Wilson
Pensacola Republican Rep. Clay Ingram has drawn a Democratic challenger for his District 1 seat in the Florida House.
Gloria Robertson-Wiggins put in her paperwork to run in HD1 last week and is the only major party competition for Ingram, who is running for his fourth term in the House.
Robertson-Wiggins also ran for the seat 2 years ago, where HD1’s strong Republican lean and Ingram’s insurmountable fundraising advantage led to him winning reelection with 69 percent of the vote on Election Day.
Through March, Ingram had raised $91,746 and had $53,533 of that money on hand heading into April. No party candidate William Fetke, the only other candidate filed for HD1, had an even $1,000 in his campaign account at the end of last month.
Robertson-Wiggins’ first report, covering April, is due in mid-May, though she hasn’t shown much success fundraising in the past. When she ran for the seat two years ago, the Panhandle Democrat raised just $749 during her campaign.
HD 1 covers part of Escambia County and has about 10,000 more registered Republicans than Democrats. Ingram won the seat in 2010 with nearly 100 percent of the vote against write-in candidate Jeremy Bagnell, and won reelection unopposed in 2012.
