Chuck Brannan draws ‘conservative Democrat’ challenger in HD 10

TALLAHASSEE, FLA. 1/5/23-Rep. Chuck Brannan III, R-Macclenny, during the House Criminal Justice Subcommittee, Thursday at the Capitol in Tallahassee. COLIN HACKLEY PHOTO

A North Florida Republican legislator looks likely to face an opponent in November.

This month, Live Oak’s Robert “Bobby” J. Brady Jr. filed to oppose Rep. Chuck Brannan in House District 10, which includes the counties of Baker, Bradford, Columbia, Union and some of Alachua.

While the district is 55% Republican, suggesting it’s an unlikely one to be flipped, Brady is betting that despite having moved to the area in the last year from Tampa, he can make some headway in a “predominately Republican” district against Brannan.

Brady describes himself as a “conservative Democrat” and is depicting Brannan as a puppet of Gov. Ron DeSantis.

“I know this guy has a 40-point lead over me and he has money and he has everything in the world and he is a rubber stamp for whatever the Governor wants him to do, you know. No real backbone. Never, never any, ‘Well, gee, let me put the people first’ or at least that I’ve seen,” said Brady, a native of Connecticut who moved to the district last Summer.

“He could be a good man. I do not know him. I look forward to meeting him and seeing what he actually does stand. You know, so far his voting record is whatever they tell him to vote for,” Brady added.

Brady, a shiitake mushroom farmer by trade who voted for Ronald Reagan for President and was a National Rifle Association member, differentiates himself from other members of his party, and is betting that voters will recognize that.

“If you’re branded a Democrat that means that, ‘Oh no, you’re into transvestites and crazy things.’ But that’s just not the case,” Brady said.

He frames himself as “fiscally conservative” and a skeptic toward so-called “billionaire giveaways.” But there are some key Democratic issues on which he is in the mainstream of the party, including abortion, which he believes, like Bill Clinton, should be “safe, legal, and rare.”

To that end, he believes recent legislation from Tallahassee needs correction.

“Six weeks, which is really about five weeks and a couple of days because you have to find out. You probably take a test. You have to go to the doctor and then you leave and I think, then you have to wait 48 more hours before you can go back. And that gives you about eight to 10 days. You know, not a lot of women know they’re pregnant in eight to 10 days.”

He then suggested that Brannan could facilitate an abortion for a family member despite the law.

“It doesn’t affect someone like the man I’m running against. His family has money. His wife or his daughter could hop on a plane, take two weeks off and fly across the country,” Brady said. “Not everybody has that option.”

Brady has one issue to reconcile between now and November, and that’s securing a homestead in the district.

“I will be looking for another piece of land currently to, you know, to plant and stuff. So I’m sure I will be there before the election,” he said.

He’s not certain if he will change his homestead exemption to reflect that move, however.