David Arreola launches campaign for HD 22

Former Gainesville City Commissioner David Arreola has entered the race to replace term-limited state Rep. Chuck Clemons.

Arreola, a Democrat, was elected to the City Commission in a landslide in 2017 and served two terms before running for Mayor in the 2022 cycle. He finished third in the open Primary with 15% of the vote.

“The people of Alachua, Gilchrist, and Levy Counties have been failed for years by far-right politicians who are more interested in stoking divisive culture wars than serving Floridians. MAGA Republicans are dismantling common-sense gun safety laws, attacking women’s reproductive rights, and rigging our economy for the powerful,” he said in a news release.

“I was born and raised right here in Florida House District 22. During my campaign to represent our community, I’ll be championing meaningful solutions to our state’s most pressing problems. To end the gun violence epidemic, it’s time we require comprehensive background checks, mandate safe weapon storage, and strengthen licensing requirements. With women across Florida being denied critical healthcare, we must restore reproductive rights. To uplift struggling families, we should strengthen the rights of working people, invest in our local small businesses, and expand access to our public colleges and universities.

He added, “As the next state representative for Florida House District 22, I’ll fight every day to restore reproductive freedom, guarantee economic fairness, and advance gun safety. I look forward to defeating whomever survives the MAGA Republican primary and serving our community in Tallahassee come next November.”

The 32-year-old politician is the second Democrat to open a campaign account in House District 22, which encompasses all of Gilchrist and Levy alongside a slice of Alachua County that includes tranches of reliably Republican voters in the Gainesville suburbs.

To date, most of the action in HD 22 has been on the Republican side. A Primary fight started with Raemi Eagle-Glenn, who briefly served on the Commission alongside Arreola, up against Robert Woody, a career law enforcement officer and longtime State Committeeman for the Alachua County Republican Party.

A third Republican, professional auctioneer Chad Johnson, threw his hat in the ring in early September.

At the end of last month, Eagle-Glenn led the money race with more than $70,000 raised and nearly $54,000 in the bank. Woody has collected nearly $45,000 from donors and started October with about $39,000 on hand while Johnson raised $14,000 during the three weeks he was a candidate last quarter.

Arreola’s Primary competitor, Gainesville Democrat Amy Trask, filed for the seat two weeks ago. She and Arreola will not post their first campaign finance reports, covering Oct. 1 through Dec. 31, until early January.

Donald Trump narrowly carried HD 22 in the 2020 election and Clemons’ fundraising prowess and incumbency advantage afforded him a double-digit win two years later. Still, the district is competitive on paper. About 39% of the district electorate are registered Republicans, followed by Democrats at 36%. Third- and no-party voters account for the remainder.

The Primary Election will be held on Aug. 20, 2024. The nominees will square off on the Nov. 5 General Election ballot.