Staff Reports
The race for House District 37 suddenly got competitive this month as Land O’ Lakes Republican Rep. Adrian Zika picked up a challenger.
Jason Roberts, a Democrat who is also from Land O’ Lakes, formally filed for the race March 9, according to the Florida Division of Elections. Roberts will face an uphill battle to unseat Zika, who won the seat handily in 2018.
Zika scored 61% of the vote, or 48,879 votes two years ago. That dominated Democratic challenger Tammy Garcia, who could only muster 31,955 votes, or 39.5% of the ballots cast.
While Roberts officially opened a campaign account with the state, he had no financial contributions listed in his coffers. His first finance report, covering March, is due next month. Zika has already raised $117,000 in campaign contributions. He won’t be able to continue adding to the pile until the 2020 Legislative Session ends.
The HD 37 seat serves a part of Pasco County, which is considered largely a northern suburban portion of the Tampa area. The county has a total of nearly 365,000 registered voters. About 144,000 of those are Republicans while about 111,000 voters are registered as Democrats in that county.
Meanwhile, House District 70 seat in Pinellas County also added a contender.
Michele Rayner, a Democrat, is the latest to announce candidacy for the seat. Rayner joins two other Democrats seeking the seat in the St. Petersburg area. She joins Mark Oliver and Keisha Bell who are running in that party’s primary.
The seat became an open post when incumbent Democratic Rep. Wengay Newton shifted focus and decided to go more local and run for the Pinellas County Commission.
Sharon Russ is the only Republican thus far to register as a candidate in the District 70 Florida House of Representatives seat race.
Oliver has the most campaign contributions in that race thus far with nearly $32,000. Bell is the only other candidate with contributions recorded with state elections officials so far, raising about $11,300.
