Kiyan Michael on track to face Democrat Rachel Grage in HD 16 General Election

Two years ago, Kiyan Michael was powered into the House on the strength of a Gov. Ron DeSantis endorsement that helped her win a competitive Primary.

This time around, the Beaches Republican is facing no Primary and is looking forward to November.

Thus far in the early going, Michael has the advantage over likely General Election opponent Rachel Grage, with nearly $19,000 cash on hand through May.

But Grage is putting up more of a fight than many other Democrats, raising more than $20,000 thus far this cycle, with more than $10,000 cash on hand.

The district has roughly 142,000 registered voters, and nearly half of them are Republicans, so it may be party composition that ultimately carries the day. But Grage isn’t going down without a fight, if her early fundraising tells a story.

Michael is tied in with leadership. The “angel mom” calls future Speaker Sam Garrison a “mentor” and has carried several out-of-district appropriations requests for current Speaker Paul Renner.

Grage, a New York state native, moved to Florida in 2019 after a lot of community involvement up north. Once in the Sunshine State, she got involved in local Democratic organizations, serving as a legislative liaison and learning how Tallahassee worked.

No Democrat ran for this seat in 2022, which Grage says created “an uncontested race — a situation she finds unacceptable and frankly, un-American,” and one that she saw in a number of races.

“The last couple election cycles I opened my ballot and there several seats uncontested,” she said, adding that to “ensure a robust democracy, I think we need to have a choice on Election Day for every office.”

To that end, Grage is going to make her case to be that choice with local stakeholders.

“The challenge is going to be getting in front of as many people as possible between now and November. But, you know, it’s kind of my full-time job now, just reaching out to as many clubs and past Mayors and present mayors and community associations as possible,” Grage said.

“I just plan to take advantage of every connection that I can make,” she added. “I’ve been reaching out to a lot of people that are in office now, and people who have held office before and just really utilizing the network that’s out there, and it’s a pretty strong network.”