Jenna Buzzacco-Foerster
The list of legislative hopefuls just keeps getting longer.
State elections records show dozens of members of the state House and Senate have filed to run for re-election in 2018, and several more are looking ahead to 2020.
Sen. Dorothy Hukill is one of those thinking about her next election. State election records show she filed to run for re-election in Senate District 14 on Feb. 3.
Hukill, who was first elected to the Florida Senate in 2012 after serving eight years in the Florida House, has been absent from the Senate for several weeks as she undergoes treatment for cervical cancer. The Port Orange Republican disclosed her condition in November to a letter to Senate President Joe Negron.
“I am fortunate that it (is) in the early stages and my medical team advises that my prognosis for full recovery is good,” wrote Hukill, the chamber’s Education Committee chair and vice chair of its Regulated Industries panel.
Hukill is expected to return to the capital city in the next few weeks.
Rep. Ben Albritton filed his paperwork to run for higher office on Feb. 8. State records show he filed to run to replace Sen. Denise Grimsley in Senate District 26 in 2018. Grimsley has announced she’s running for Agriculture commission.
Albritton isn’t the only House member hoping to make the leap to the upper chamber. State records show House Speaker Pro Tempore Jeanette Nunez has filed to run for Senate District 39 in 2020.
Nunez was first elected to the Florida House in 2010, and will be forced to leave the Florida House in 2018 because of term limits. She’s eyeing the seat currently held by Senate President Pro Tempore Anitere Flores, who can’t run again in 2020 because of term limits.
She isn’t the only one thinking about 2020. Sen. Victor Torres filed to run for re-election in Senate District 15 and Sen. Perry Thurston filed to run for re-election in Senate District 33. Both Democrats filed the necessary paperwork on Feb. 6.
When it comes to the Florida House, a host of incumbents are gearing up for re-election in 2018.
Rep. Halsey Beshears filed to run for re-election in House District 7 on Feb. 9. The head of the House Careers & Competition Subcommittee, Beshears chaired a two-hour committee meeting last week that ultimately passed out a bill killing Enterprise Florida, Visit Florida and a slew of other incentive programs.
Democratic Reps. Clovis Watson Jr., Ben Diamond, and Matt Willhite have also filed to run for re-election in 2018.
