A.G. Gancarski
North Florida will see a competitive state Senate race this Fall after all, as Democrats look to take back a seat they lost two years ago.
Civil rights lawyer Daryl Parks is launching a campaign to unseat Sen. Corey Simon in Senate District 3, a seat that includes Apalachicola, Tallahassee and Live Oak.
Reportedly, the buzz around Parks’ candidacy in the swing seat has been building since February.
On Tuesday, he made it official, framing his campaign as a populist crusade against politics as usual.
“I am proud to announce my campaign to be your next State Senator,” Parks said.
“Republican leaders who control the Capitol have flat out turned their backs on hard-working people here in North Florida and across the state. They play political games with massive tax handouts to political insiders and passing unconstitutional book bans, while ignoring real problems families here at home are dealing with every day — like record insurance rate heights, skyrocketing costs for basic healthcare or keeping a roof over their family’s head.”
A child of a single mother and the first member of his family to go to college, where he worked his way through as a dishwasher, Parks — a well-known civil rights lawyer — vows to “keep politicians out of our private lives and work every day to protect our fundamental freedoms by restoring reproductive rights and ensuring access to IVF and fertility treatments.”
The battle to unseat Simon will be preceded, as of now, by a three-way Primary against two underfunded opponents.
Kimblin Eugene Nesmith of Quincy has self-funded $20,000 thus far this cycle, but had roughly $2,800 on hand as of the end of 2023.
Sheria Monique Griffin of Tallahassee raised a little more than $11,000 through the end of last year, and had roughly $7,000 of that on hand.
Simon, a Florida State football legend who is unopposed in the Primary, is a fundraising powerhouse.
The Friends of Corey Simon political committee closed 2023 with more than $577,000 on hand, with $208,150 raised in the final quarter of the year.
His campaign account had more than $266,000 in it at the end of the year, a total bolstered by more than $213,000 raised in the last six months of 2023.
In 2022, a year where Florida Republicans performed well virtually everywhere in the state amid momentum created by Gov. Ron DeSantis’ political machine at its zenith, he toppled Democrat Loranne Ausley 53% to 47%.
Assuming Parks can emerge from a crowded Democratic Primary, he is destined to face a formidable challenger, albeit in a seat favorable to Democrats.
As of the most recent book closing report from the Division of Elections, SD 3 had 127,962 Republicans and 153,158 Democrats.
7 comments
Here's hoping
April 2, 2024 at 5:01 pm
Assuming demo-craps get off their duffs and vote, Parks could be a breath of fresh air. All he has to do is keeping hammering the economic message and stay on point. Never underestimate people’s willingness to vote against their own self interest.
Earl Pitts "THE NEW MAYOR OF REALVILLE" American
April 4, 2024 at 6:46 am
Good Morn ‘Ting Here’s hoping,
You are 100% correct. This guy “Parks” was arm in arm totally on board with all the Andrew Gillum shenagians.
The white liberals in Tallahassee will love getting out the vote and he will dominate Leon County because of that. But SD 3 is a little bigger than what the white liberals of Leon can carry.
Lets all agree with ME, Earl Pitts American, to sit back and watch the comedy unfold as SD 3 considers if an Andrew Gillum re-incarnate will Draw enough votes to win outside Leon County.
Again those white liberals in Leon are already orgazing at the prospect of a Gillum re-incarnate.
Should be an entertaining show to watch!!!!
Thanks Here’s hoping and enjoy driving around Leon County in your Subaru SUV (THE PERFERRED LIBERAL VEHICLE EVERYWHERE!),
Earl Pitts “The Big Voice On The Right” American
MH/Duuuval
April 4, 2024 at 3:23 pm
Mr. Pibb,
Former Tallahassee Mayor Gillum was found not guilty in a federal trial last fall on one count. The other counts were thrown out by the judge because of a hung jury. A juror later told the media that one juror alone had refused to go along with the other jurors. This was the paltry result of a multi-year sting by the FBI which had tried to entrap Gillum but failed. When you and other white folks continue to invoke his name, it’s a clear sign to the rest of us that you harbor white supremacist notions.
Rick Whitaker
April 4, 2024 at 3:39 pm
EARL, mh explained away your lying bull shit so go on with it you fool. earl, very few if any, believe anything you say. your poor comic attempts have turned people off to the point that if you ever did have anything serious to say, no one would ever listen to you. ” mayor of maga fantasyland ” DUH, what a loser.
Julia
April 2, 2024 at 5:32 pm
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MH/Duuuval
April 2, 2024 at 7:56 pm
“It is with a heavy heart that I officially announce the decision to suspend my candidacy for Florida Senate District 3 due to unforeseen medical reasons.” This is from Sheria Griffith’s website; only date is reference to 2024.
Nesmith is not to be taken seriously as we quickly learned in Jax. (The fact he has his own limited money to spend says a lot.)
Daryl Parks can safely focus on Corey Simon. One issue that might be germane is the Manny Diaz-Richard Corcoran rip-off of Jefferson County schools.
MH/Duuuval
April 4, 2024 at 7:17 pm
Subarus are made at two manufacturing plants. One plant is located in Gunma, Japan, and the other is in Lafayette, Indiana. Those are more than 5ooo jobs held by Americans who stand behind their work.
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