Ryan NicolRetired U.S. Marine John Snyder is moving on after a three-way Republican primary in House District 82 where all three candidates spent big bucks in search of the seat.
Snyder defeated former Rep. Carl Domino and lawyer Rick Kozell.
HD 82 spans parts of Palm Beach and Martin counties, including Jupiter, Indiantown and Hobe Sound.
With 100% of Martin precincts reporting and with a few votes left to be counted in Palm Beach County, Snyder is receiving 57% of the vote. Kozell is second with 30%, followed by Domino at 13%.
Republican Rep. MaryLynn Magar is facing term limits in 2020. Snyder currently serves as the vice chairman of the Martin County Republican Party.
Kozell previously ran for the seat in Florida’s 18th Congressional District after then-Democratic Rep. Patrick Murphy left the seat to mount a U.S. Senate bid. Kozell came up well short in that race.
This cycle, he was the best fundraiser among the HD 82 field. Kozell added more than $573,000 between his campaign and his political committee, Rick Kozell for Florida.
That’s more than Domino and Snyder collected combined.
Those two candidates weren’t slackers when it comes to the money game, however. Snyder raised nearly $190,000 and added another $3,100 in loans. Domino opted to self-fund his bid, pouring $181,000 of his own money into his campaign, though he spent less than half of that total.
Kozell spent $530,000 of his available funds. Snyder burned through more than $186,000.
Domino first won election to the House in 2002. He was term-limited out of House District 83 in 2010.
Domino also mounted a bid for the CD 18 seat in 2016 alongside Kozell. Both lost to Brian Mast, who would go on to win the seat in the General Election. Domino placed fourth in the field, while Kozell placed fifth.
Domino sought the seat in the prior cycle as well. He reached the General Election in 2014 but lost to Murphy.
Snyder will go on to face Democratic candidate Elise Edwards Ackerly. She was unchallenged on the Democratic side but has raised around only $4,900 so far. The district leans right, with Republicans holding a 19-point voter registration advantage over Democrats.
