Peter Schorsch
Florida’s new elections police force doesn’t have a pre-crime unit à la Minority Report, but they should probably keep their eyes on Senate District 5.
The Jacksonville-area seat has all the ingredients for a ghost candidate-esque scheme, the key one being a little-known candidate whose campaign shows no signs of life. In this case, Republican Binod Kumar, whose only activity has been writing a $100 check to himself.
For those unfamiliar, a ghost candidate scheme works like this: If a race is expected to be tight, candidates — usually through a complex web of intermediaries — prop up a weaker candidate to secure an edge over their chief rival. It’s especially popular in Florida Senate races, such as SD 8 in 2018 and SD 9 and SD 37 in 2020.
One of the ghost candidate scheme’s closest cousins is the closed Primary. In Florida elections where all candidates belong to the same party, the Primary race serves as a de facto General Election, because all voters can cast a ballot regardless of their own party affiliation.
But if Kumar makes the 2022 ballot, only Democrats will be able to vote in the Primary race between Rep. Tracie Davis and Jacksonville City Council Member Reggie Gaffney.
Generally, a closed Primary benefits the candidate furthest to the left in Democratic Primaries and furthest to the right in Republican Primaries. In SD 5, Davis would be the most likely to get a boost.
Based on his endorsements and campaign finance reports, Gaffney is the candidate with bipartisan support and would likely hold an edge over Davis if the two were in a head-to-head where all SD 5 voters could cast a ballot.
The suspicious nature of Kumar’s candidacy is compounded by SD 5’s partisan lean. The new district is roughly equivalent to the current SD 6, represented by Sen. Audrey Gibson.
It is a minority access district where President Joe Biden and Andrew Gillum, both Democrats, earned more than 60% of the vote in 2020 and 2018, respectively. In a General Election, a Republican candidate would have little chance of victory, even if they actively campaigned and had a sizable war chest.
It’s possible Kumar is a legitimate candidate, but it’s improbable he would pay the $1,781.82 fee to make the ballot on his own, and it’s impossible he would be competitive in November.
One comment
Dan
June 9, 2022 at 4:58 pm
You should understand this is not Kumar’s first attempt at political office. He has run for Soil and Water Board in the past. And there’s no pressure for him to raise money now since he has no Republican challenger. You may wish to consider these facts before implying he’s a ghost candidate.
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