4 Republican candidates compete for chance to hold HD 94 seat

Four Republicans aim to succeed term-limited Republican state Rep. Rick Roth in Florida House District 94.

Republicans Christian Acosta, Anthony Aguirre, Gabrielle Fox and Meg Weinberger are all battling for the GOP nomination.

Weinberger entered the race in June 2023. She runs a Palm Beach Gardens animal sanctuary called Rescue Life, and has served on numerous boards as an animal advocate. Though she is a first-time candidate for office, she has been able to earn major endorsements.

Weinberger earned the nickname “MAGA Meg” after getting support former President Donald Trump and other MAGA affiliates, such as U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz. Weinberger also got support from other prominent Florida Republicans, including Delray Beach state Rep. Mike Caruso and Palm Bay state Rep. Randy Fine.

Weinberger’s campaign has raised $267,689 in outside cash and spent $284,857 as of Aug. 15. She also poured in a $50,000 candidate loan. Her political committee, Friends of Megan Weinberger, raised another $230,000 and spent $224,989.

Aguirre, a health-care focused businessman at Medtronic, entered the race in April 2023. This is his first time running for office. But he recently received a key endorsement from Gov. Ron DeSantis, after Aguirre ran sharing similar talking points with DeSantis about combatting “woke” culture.

That pits DeSantis and Trump at odds in this Primary, with each backing a different Republican candidate.

DeSantis made clear that he opposed Weinberger. He accused her and her husband of donating to prominent Democrats like Joe Biden, Hillary Clinton, Charlie Crist and Andrew Gillum.

Aguirre’s campaign has raised a bit less than Weinberger’s. His campaign account brought in $191,215 and he poured in $80,000 of his own money, though it appears he spent none of that. Expenditures from his campaign account total $179,159. His political committee, the Palm Beach Conservative Leadership Fund, raised $111,000 and spent $4,234.

Acosta is an engineering professor at Palm Beach State College. He entered the race for HD 94 around the same time as Weinberger, in June 2023. Acosta most notably ran for Florida’s 21st Congressional District in 2020, losing in the Primary to Laura Loomer.

Fox is a Palm Beach Gardens psychologist and entrepreneur who runs two firms. Like Aguirre and Weinberger, she is running for public office for the first time.

Fox and Acosta have raised a good bit less in the race, with Acosta raising $48,383 and spending $45,242. Fox’s campaign has raised $12,078 and spent $10,617. She does have a committee, PBC Conservative Patriots, but it only raised $397 and that much was spent as well.

The winner of the Republican Primary will go against unopposed Democratic candidate Rachelle Litt in November.

HD 94 covers the West Palm Beach to Belle Glade’s agricultural areas. In 2022, the district favored DeSantis over Crist by 15 percentage points, according to MCI Maps. In 2020, President Joe Biden edged out Trump for the area, indicating that this could be a toss-up district if Democrats can mount a strong campaign this cycle.

The Primary will take place on Aug. 20.