Ryan Nicol
Democratic candidate Adam Gentle will end his campaign for Florida’s 25th Congressional District and run for a seat in the Florida House.
Gentle, an anti-corruption lawyer, will compete in the contest for the House District 120 seat. Gentle made the announcement on Tuesday, one day after Daniel Horton-Diaz, the 2016 Democratic nominee for the seat, announced he was entering the race.
“As I have been tweeting for months, for a true-blue wave we need to win up and down the ballot!” Gentle wrote in a Tuesday announcement on Twitter. “Today I suspend my campaign to oust Mario Díaz-Balart. In 2022, my name will be down ballot, I’m running to win House Seat 120 and turn out the vote for all South Florida candidates!”
Gentle also made home rule a focal point of his public comments following his decision to swap races.
“Rather than represent our interests in Tallahassee, lawmakers are rubbing elbows with special interests and are silencing our vote on local issues,” Gentle said. “Let’s not forget, our municipalities are our laboratories of democracy.”
Gentle was facing an uphill battle in his challenge against incumbent Republican Díaz-Balart, who is a strong fundraiser with high name recognition.
Gentle is a member of the LGBTQ community and had been looking to be the first openly LGBTQ member of Congress from Florida. As an HD 120 candidate, Gentle will battle Horton-Diaz for the right to face first-term Republican Rep. Jim Mooney. Mooney is also facing a challenge on the Republican side from Robert Allen.
The exact makeup of the district is yet to be determined as lawmakers work through the decennial redistricting process.
The House’s two proposed redistricting plans set up very different voter breakdowns, according to Matthew Isbell of MCI Maps.
One plan gives Republicans a 5-point advantage, based on how the proposed district voted in the 2020 presidential contest. The second map, however, leans toward the Democrats by just over 3 points.
Lawmakers aren’t bound to use either of those drafts in their final redistricting proposal, however, meaning things could change further ahead of Election Day.
