Jacob Ogles
A state House candidate won a battle in court to keep fighting ahead of a Tuesday Republican Primary. Ken Davenport, a Republican candidate in state House District 35, remains in the running.
Attorneys for parties in a lawsuit challenging Davenport’s candidacy could appear in court again as soon as Friday. And it’s likely a case will be resolved before voters cast ballots before 7 p.m. Tuesday when polls close.
A lawsuit filed in Osceola County alleges Davenport should not have qualified as a candidate in a Republican Primary because he has not consistently been registered as a Republican for the past year.
Plaintiff Stephen Michael, represented by former state Rep. Anthony Sabatini as his attorney, alleged in a complaint Davenport had not been registered as a Republican for a full year before qualifying to run as a Republican in a Special Election.
Davenport told Florida Politics he has been a Republican his whole life and considered the complaint frivolous.
“They gave me no time. It cost me a lot of money to hire an attorney to protect myself,” he said. “It was scary. You can’t find an attorney to handle any type of litigation. I prayed a lot to God this weekend, and I left it in his hands.”
But a voter file with the Orange County Supervisor of Elections shows the Orlando Republican briefly changed his voter registration on Sept. 9, 2022, to no party affiliation. That was weeks after Davenport lost a Republican Primary in House District 35 to incumbent state Rep. Fred Hawkins on Aug. 23. He changed his registration back to Republican on Dec. 19, the voter file shows.
Months after that, Davenport filed to run in a Special Election for the same seat. The HD 35 seat opened up again after Hawkins resigned to take a job as President of South Florida State College.
Circuit Judge Chad Alvaro, however, hasn’t ruled on the merits of the case or Davenport’s defense. While he was expected to decide on an injunction Tuesday that could have invalidated votes for Davenport, he said all partied had not been properly served. Sabatini said a process server has attempted to serve Davenport now three times but Davenport has never been home and appears to be avoiding service.
The Osceola County Supervisor of Elections also was not served.
Nicholas Shannin, an attorney for the Orange elections office, expects another hearing before Alvaro on Friday at 10 a.m. But that’s nearing Election Day, with most early voting ballots and vote-by-mail ballots already cast.
It’s still possible the judge could rule Davenport ineligible, in which case elections officials would inform voters on the day of the election all for the candidate would be void. But that would nix many votes cast before the legal challenge was even filed.
Questions also remain whether the case was filed in the right venue. While Sabatini filed the lawsuit in a Central Florida judicial circuit, where the election takes place, candidates for state legislative seats qualify through the Secretary of State’s Office in Leon County.
A state law requiring candidates be registered with the same party for 365 days before qualifying has been the source of several lawsuits in the short time it has been in effect. It was first enacted in 2022 and reshaped several races that cycle.
Courts briefly kicked Democrat Rebekah Jones off the ballot in Florida’s 1st Congressional District on grounds she had not been registered in the state as a Democrat for a long enough time, though she appealed and preserved her spot on the ballot. She ultimately won the Democratic nomination but lost in the General Election to incumbent U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz, a Republican.
Republican state House candidate Austin Brownfield was booted from the ballot for similar reasons in a Pinellas County state House race, and did not further challenge the decision. Republican Ashley Guy dropped out of a Leon County state House race over similar concerns, as did Democrat Curtis Calabrese from a South Florida open congressional race.
Of note, Davenport appears to be an underdog in the current HD 35 race, but he suggested the effort to kick him from the ballot shows otherwise. He raised under $3,000 for the race, as of Sept. 30. By comparison, Osceola School Board member Erika Booth raised nearly $190,000 and former congressional candidate Scotty Moore raised more than $102,000 in the same time.
The three compete in a Tuesday Primary, with the winner advancing to a Jan. 16 Special Election.
“I believe I’m in first place. Why else would they be attacking me?” Davenport said. “I am the guy who raised the least money, but knocked on the most doors and talked to the most people.”
