A.G. Gancarski
State Rep. Lake Ray has officially qualified for the Congressional District 4 ballot by petition, claimed his campaign on Wednesday.
“Our campaign collected over 3,300 petitions in just 16 days, the response from the community has been overflowing, from Nassau County, to the streets of Jacksonville, to the beaches of St. Johns County,” Ray said. “This race is about choosing the proven leader, who will be the strongest advocate for our region in Washington. I’m blessed and encouraged by everyone who signed a petition or volunteered his or her time to reach our goal. Through hard work, we will restore America, lead Northeast Florida toward a bolder and brighter future, and show that this district cannot be bought by the establishment and their handpicked candidates.”
Unsurprisingly, 1,999 of Ray’s 2,529 verified petitions are from Duval County. Clay, St. Johns, and Nassau County petitions number 152, 135, and 131 respectively, with the balance of Ray’s petitions from throughout the state.
The CD 4 race, in which the conventional wisdom had John Rutherford as the Duval-centric frontrunner, is seeing some movement.
Hans Tanzler trumpeted a $300,000 fundraising haul in the first two weeks of his campaign, and now Ray is making a play to be the grassroots candidate against the “establishment” figure cut by the former Jacksonville sheriff.
Beyond those three, the field is jammed with a number of other candidates, including Atlantic Beach’s Julia Fletcher (new to the race), St. Johns County Commissioner Bill McClure, David Foxx, and Deborah Pueschel.
