Former presidential candidate qualifies for CD 6 race to replace Mike Waltz

The Special Election in Florida’s 6th Congressional District is attracting a presidential candidate from the 2024 cycle.

Randall Terry has qualified to run to fill the seat that U.S. Rep. Mike Waltz is relinquishing for a role in the Donald Trump White House.

Terry is running as a no-party candidate, meaning he will advance to the April 1 General Election in the east-central Florida district.

Terry, known for his anti-abortion activism, got 5,831 votes statewide in the Presidential Election, finishing behind Trump, Kamala Harris, Jill Stein, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Chase Oliver, Claudia de la Cruz and Peter Sonski. And Terry got 12% of the vote when he challenged Democrat Alcee Hastings in Florida’s 20th Congressional District in 2012.

Overall, Terry raised a little more than $380,000 for his presidential run, but credits his television ads with helping to defeat Harris.

Terry joins a number of candidates who have qualified, including Trump-endorsed Republican state Sen. Randy Fine of Brevard County, Libertarian Andrew Parrott and Democrat George “Ges” Selmont of Elkton.

The voter composition of the district favors Fine.

Waltz won CD 6 with 66% of the vote this year and did even better in 2022, winning with more than 75% of the vote. Nearly 46% of the electorate is registered to the Republican Party. Meanwhile, less than 27% of voters are Democrats, according to the most recent L2 voter data.

Other candidates have yet to formally qualify at this writing Friday afternoon.

Former Marion County School Board member Don Browning has filed to face Fine in the Republican Primary, along with Joshua Vasquez of Ocala and Ehsan Joarder of Brooksville. Purvi Bangdiwala of Daytona Beach is active but not qualified as a Democrat.