Jesse Scheckner
The Florida Chamber of Commerce has released its third round of endorsements ahead of this year’s election. Broward County’s Barbara Sharief and Palm Beach County’s Anne Gerwig and Meg Weinberger made the cut.
Sharief dominated a three-way Democratic Primary in Senate District 35, where she is the odds-on favorite to succeed Senate Democratic Leader Lauren Book.
Gerwig, the immediate past Mayor of Wellington, is the lone Republican running to unseat freshman Democratic Rep. Katherine Waldron in House District 93.
Weinberger, who chairs a county chapter of Moms for Liberty and runs an animal sanctuary in Palm Beach Gardens, handily won a four-way Republican Primary last month in House District 94 to clinch her spot on the General Election ballot.
“Florida created 1 in every 11 new jobs nationally over the last year and 1 in 6 new jobs nationally in the month of July alone,” Florida Chamber President and CEO Mark Wilson said in a statement.
“This job growth is not accidental — we must continue electing pro-jobs candidates to make sure the right things keep happening in Florida as we grow from the 16th to the 10th largest global economy by 2030, and we are confident these candidates will help us keep that momentum.”
The Chamber’s nod to Gerwig is the first time this cycle weighed in on the HD 93 race. In HD 94, however, the group previously endorsed Weinberger’s opponent, Anthony Aguirre, whom Gov. Ron DeSantis also backed.
Associated Industries of Florida did the same thing and has also since thrown its support to Weinberger, who is running to succeed term-limited Republican Rep. Rick Roth.
Those and other endorsements earned her the nickname “MAGA Meg.”
Other South Florida politicians the Florida Chamber announced support of this year include Sen. Bryan Ávila, House Speaker Daniel Perez and Reps. Fabián Basabe, Demi Busatta Cabrera, David Borrero, Mike Caruso, Tom Fabricio, Peggy Gossett-Seidman, Christine Hunschofsky, Chip LaMarca, Vicki Lopez, Jim Mooney, Juan Porras and Alex Rizo.
The group also endorsed candidates Mitch Rosenwald in House District 98 and Alian Collazo in House District 115.
Collazo is no longer running after losing a Republican Primary by a landslide to firefighter Omar Blanco.
Rosenwald, the Mayor of Oakland Park, beat three Primary foes for the right to succeed Rep. Patricia Hawkins-Williams, a fellow Democrat. No Republican filed to run in HD 115.
The General Election is on Nov. 5.
