Peter Schorsch
Incumbent Sens. Aaron Bean, Rob Bradley and Audrey Gibson are still running unopposed, and with less than six months to go until Election Day there’s still a possibility Northeast Florida voters won’t see the name of a state Senator on their ballot.
Most Jacksonville area House seats are shaking out the same. Republican Reps. Jay Fant and Cyndi Stevenson aren’t facing any challengers, and Travis Cummings and Paul Renner each hold commanding six-figure leads in their safe GOP seats.
Republican Rep. Elizabeth Porter is also likely safe in her HD 10 seat, where she is squaring off against Democrats Jerry Bullard and Rick Schutte, though she is having some trouble pulling away in the fundraising race.
Since the start of the 2016 Legislative Session, Porter has only been able to raise $2,000 and has spent $8,000, leaving her with $17,000 on hand compared to $10,200 for Schutte and $8,700 for Bullard.
Possibly the only Northeast Florida lawmaker to envy her situation is HD 13 Rep. Reggie Fullwood, who is facing federal charges of wire fraud and failure to file tax returns. The Jacksonville Democrat hasn’t raised (or spent) a dime since filing for re-election in January, and rumors are circulating that another Democrat will enter the race. Fullwood, who forgot to file paperwork for his re-election last cycle, is also facing a trio of Republican challengers, all of whom filed for the seat this month.
The rest of the excitement looks to be going down in primary season, where Republicans are fighting over open seats in HD 11, HD 12, HD 16 and HD 19 and Democrats are duking it out in HD 14. The only contest that looks like it may sway decisively in HD 19, where Republican Katherine Van Zant holds a $45,000 lead over her next-closest competitor, fellow Republican Robert Payne.
In HD 11, Duval County Property Appraiser employee Sherri Treadwell still holds the fundraising lead in the seven-way contest with $106,000 in the bank after raising $10,349 in April, followed by businessman Donnie Horner, who raised $9,150 last month and spent $12,915 to start May with $76,754 in his campaign account.
The pair far outpace the second tier of candidates, with Cord Byrd sitting at $25,649 on hand, Tom Taylor at $16,332 and Barry Holloway at $14,745, including $10,000 in loans. The other two candidates running, David Bunk and Jack Daniels, each have less than $50 in their campaign accounts.
In HD 12, former Jacksonville City Councilman Clay Yarborough — one of three former councilmen running for the seat — was the big winner this month with about $14,500 in contributions raising his on-hand total to about $62,000.
The total puts the Jacksonville Republican ahead of primary opponent and fellow former Councilman Richard Clark, who had held the fundraising lead for months despite long stretches without raising any money. His sole fundraising transaction in April was a $1,000 refund to Tire Outlet Direct which, coupled with $888 in expenditures, left him with $48,549 in the bank.
Political newcomer Mark MacLean saw his fundraising fall to $4,515 in new contributions after three straight $10,000-plus months, putting him in third place in the six-way primary with $31,539 in his campaign account. He is followed by Terrance Freeman, the Council executive assistant for Aaron Bowman, at $25,820 and former Councilman Don Redman at $15,161, with Mark Black rounding out the pack with $0 raised through three months.
Over in HD 16, former Republican Rep. Dick Kravitz has been trailing primary opponent Jason Fischer for months, but came through with strong numbers in April which, combined with his low burn rate, helped him make up a bit of ground. His $13,250 performance brought his on-hand total up to about $82,000, while Fischer raised $3,300 in April and started May with about $129,000 in the bank.
HD 14, a majority-minority seat in northern Duval County, remains the only exciting Democratic primary in the region. So far four Democrats have filed for exiting Democratic Rep. Mia Jones’ seat: attorney Leslie Jean-Bart, former Jacksonville City Council member Terry Fields, Kimberly Daniels and Gracie McCastler. Jean-Bart holds the lead with $42,332 in her campaign account, though Daniels threw in $20,000 of her own money to move into second place with $35,136 on hand.
The move could legitimately turn the primary into a three-way race between Jean-Bart, Daniels and Fields, who sits with $26,390 on hand after raising about $5,000 in April, followed by McCastler at $366 three months into her campaign.
