Triumphant trio: No contest for Northeast Florida incumbents

No competition for this triumphant trio: Sen. Bradley, Reps. Duggan, Stevenson

The campaign season’s tight schedule cleared up Friday for a trio of Northeast Florida lawmakers who were re-elected without opposition.

Sen. Jennifer Bradley drew no challenger for her district that includes Clay County and other areas throughout Northeast Florida. Reps. Wyman Duggan of Duval County and Cyndi Stevenson of St. Johns County likewise escaped without Primary or General Election opponents.

A Democratic opponent had filed to face Bradley in the new Senate District 6. Brooklyn Owen announced a campaign and then seemingly disappeared just as quickly.

Owen recorded no campaign finance activity since launching a campaign in early 2021, leading to dozens of “fail to file” letters and other similar correspondence being sent to the candidate’s last known address by the Division of Elections, to seemingly no avail.

Bradley wouldn’t likely have been vulnerable in the heavily Republican district, but the removal of any opposition frees up the $106,000 on hand in her campaign account and the $330,000 in her Women Building the Future political committee for other purposes.

Rep. Duggan’s new House District 12 spans the St. Johns River in Duval County. But no challengers manifested from either the Southside or the Westside to take on the well-liked local land use lawyer and lobbyist, a Westsider well known in Jacksonville City Hall.

Duggan faced a tough Primary in 2018 when he replaced former Rep. Jay Fant in what was then the Westside-only House District 15, and then a very competitive General Election. In 2020, Duggan faced easier General Election competition. And it appears 2022 will offer some time off.

Yet another political veteran in the House escaped a summer on the campaign trail, meanwhile, when no one surfaced to challenge the durable Rep. Stevenson. She was on the St. Johns County Commission before running for the House in a 2015 Special Election. Her toughest battle was that contested Primary, and she breezed through General Elections ever since.

This time around, she received no challenge at all.