Uloma Ekpete Kama, a former U.S. Senate write-in candidate, files for Matt Gaetz’s seat

Uloma Ekpete Kama. Image via campaign site.

Dr. Uloma Ekpete Kama has filed for former U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz’s seat months after losing a congressional race in Georgia.

Florida Division of Elections records show Ekpete Kama filed on Nov. 19, and was one of the first candidates to transfer her candidacy to a Special Election called Friday. She is the first candidate to both open a Federal Election Commission account for the Special Election and file for the race with the state.

In the past, Ekpete Kama has sought federal office both as a Republican and a Democrat. Most recently, she challenged Democratic U.S. Rep. David Scott of Georgia’s 13th Congressional District in a Democratic Primary in May. According to Ballotpedia, she came in last among seven candidates in the running in the Primary. Scott went on to win re-election in the General Election with 77% of the vote.

In 2022, Ekpete Kama ran for U.S. Senate in Florida as a write-in candidate against incumbent U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, though an archive of her Senate campaign site shows she was largely focused on contrasting her message with Democratic Senate nominee Val Demings at the time.

The campaign site described her as a conservative running to be the first Nigerian American in the U.S. Senate. The epidemiologist, a first-generation American herself, earned a master’s degree from Loma Linda University in Public Health. She focused her campaign largely on immigration issues.

“I believe we need to bring resolution to some issues concerning illegal immigration that defied government initiatives while addressing both national and border security,” she wrote on her archived site. “The United States is a nation formed on the rule of law.”

She has filed as a Republican in the upcoming Special Election.

A Special Election in Florida’s 1st Congressional District was called on Friday. The qualifying period will be compressed from Dec. 5-6. The Primary will occur on Jan. 28. The Special General Election Day will take place on April 1.

The CD 1 seat opened up after Gaetz resigned following Trump’s nomination of the Congressman for Attorney General. While Gaetz ultimately withdrew his name from consideration amid a difficult confirmation process, he said he does not intend to return to Congress when a new term starts in January.

Ekpete Kama is competing in a crowded Republican Primary field. Other candidates include former Green Beret John Frankman, former U.S. Senate candidate Keith Gross, Gaetz’s former Director of Military Affairs, Nathan Nelson, Bikers for Trump leader Bernadette Pittman, state Reps. Joel Rudman and Michelle Salzman, former Escambia County Commissioner Gene Valentino and F-35 trainer and pilot Jeff Witt.

Democrats Stanley Gray and Gay Valimont have also filed, as has no-party candidate Tevin Minus.

Located in the Panhandle and anchored by Pensacola, the district is one of the state’s most conservative. Gaetz was elected to the seat in 2016, winning more than 69% of the vote. This year, he secured re-election with 66% of the vote. In CD 1, more than 53% of the electorate registered as a Republican, according to the most recent L2 voter data. Only 22% of the district’s voters are registered as Democrats.