Dan Webster set for contest with Democrat Dana Cottrell in CD 11

Republican U.S. Rep. Dan Webster will be facing Democrat Dana Cottrell in the November election, with no primary opponents for either of them in Florida’s 11th Congressional District.

Webster, an Orange County businessman now living in Lake County, is seeking his fifth term, though the first three terms were representing adjacent Florida’s 10th Congressional District.

Cottrell, of Spring Hill, is a teacher who took this year off for the campaign.

Both Webster and Cottrell qualified for the ballot by submitting petitions, with Webster turning in more than 5,800 verified signatures, and Cottrell, more than 5,600.

Four other Democrats had filed paperwork to run in the district, but none of them qualified for the ballot. The district covers west-central Florida from Lake County to the Gulf of Mexico.

Cottrell, 49, who first filed to run in February, had not raised any money through the first quarter of 2018, but vowed she intended to win. She and her husband Michael Cottrell have a 12-year-old son. She taught in Hernando County for twelve years, and overseas for the Department of Defense Dependent Schools for thirteen years.

“I”ve always wanted to serve and run and be involved in politics, especially at the national level,” she said. “I had two teachers who instilled in me this passion for our country, our history, our government, and for service. The way we were taught, and the way I believe, we are servants of the people.”