Cyndi Stevenson wants ‘thoughtful conservative’ Nick Primrose to succeed her in HD 18

With Republican Rep. Cyndi Stevenson facing term limits in House District 18, the outgoing lawmaker says Nick Primrose is the best candidate to take her place.

Stevenson is endorsing Primrose, one of three candidates competing to succeed her.

“Nick Primrose is a thoughtful conservative — very bright, confident enough to ask questions and strong enough to stand on conservative principles,” Stevenson said. “We need people like Nick in Tallahassee, and I am pleased to endorse him for the state House.”

Primrose has worked in state government as a lawyer for years. He was Deputy General Counsel under former Gov. Rick Scott. When Gov. Ron DeSantis took over, Primrose worked as an attorney for the Governor.

With the qualifying period now complete, Primrose is competing against Kim Kendall for the Republican nomination in HD 18.

Primrose has been the better fundraiser of the two. Through the end of May, he has raised nearly $240,000 for his campaign account and another $91,000 via his political committee, Friends of Nick Primrose. That’s about $331,000 in total. He has almost $244,000 of that still available as of May 31.

Kendall, meanwhile, has raised just under $62,000, plus another $50,000 via her PC, Friends of Kim Kendall. She also tacked on a $50,000 candidate loan, though that can return to her if unspent. Even including that cash, she has raised around just over $162,000 in total — less than half of Primrose’s haul — and has just over $100,000 remaining.

Democratic candidate Keith Matthews has also qualified in the race as part of Democrats’ efforts to contest every state legislative race this year.

But Matthews won’t have much of a chance of winning this contest. More than 72% of HD 18 voters backed DeSantis in 2022, and more than 64% voted for Republican Donald Trump in 2020.

That means the Aug. 20 GOP Primary will all but decide this contest, and now the outgoing Republican Representative is endorsing Primrose for the job.

Primrose has also secured endorsements from his former boss, now-U.S. Sen. Scott, as well as U.S. Rep. Kat Cammack and the Florida Police Benevolent Association, among others.

The district covers parts of St. Johns County.