Danny Burgess endorses Taylor Yarkosky for HD 32

Another sitting lawmaker has endorsed Montverde Republican Taylor Yarkosky as his pick in the race to succeed Rep. Anthony Sabatini in House District 32.

The latest nod comes from Sen. Danny Burgess, who called Yarkosky “an honest, humble, and thoughtful leader” in a Monday news release.

“He is a principled conservative who will work tirelessly every day to improve the lives of his constituents and people across our state. I am proud to endorse him and give him my full support and I look forward to serving with him as a colleague in the state legislature,” Burgess said.

First elected to the Senate in 2020, Burgess serves as Chairman of the Judiciary Committee. He previously served as Executive Director of the Florida Department of Veterans’ Affairs under Gov. Ron DeSantis after serving two terms in the state House.

He joins former Ambassador Carlos Trujillo, Sen. Jason Brodeur, Reps. Chip LaMarca and Keith Truenow, Lake County Sheriff Peyton Grinnell, as well as Lake County Commissioners Sean Parks, Doug Shields and Kirby Smith in backing Yarkosky.

Yarkosky is one of two Republicans running to succeed Sabatini, a Howey-in-the-Hills Republican who is resigning the seat after two terms to run for Congress. The other GOP candidate is Matt Silbernagel of Winter Garden.

At the end of July, Yarkosky led in campaign fundraising with $90,175 raised for his official campaign account and another $46,000 through his political committee, Lake County Conservatives. Yarkosky had about $114,000 on hand as of July 31, while Silbernagel had raised $21,265 and had $21,664 banked through the same date.

Clermont Democrat Stephanie Dukes is also running for the seat though she has raised less than $300 for her campaign since entering the race in November.

Currently, HD 32 covers southern Lake County and stretches from Leesburg past Clermont and south to the Polk County line. The district also includes Howey-in-the-Hills, Astatula, Mascotte, Groveland, Minneola, Montverde.

It is a solidly Republican seat. As of the book closing before November’s elections, the district had 58,989 registered Republicans and 47,001 Democrats. The boundaries could shift, however, during the upcoming reapportionment Session.