Jim Oberweis becomes first Republican to file for Byron Donalds’ seat in Congress

Jim Oberweis with wife Julie. Image via Oberweis campaign.

A former Illinois state Senator just became the first Republican to file to succeed U.S. Rep. Byron Donalds.

Jim Oberweis, former Chair of Oberweis Dairy, filed on March 5 to run in Florida’s 19th Congressional District.

The Bonita Beach Republican is no stranger to federal campaigns. Shortly after his 2012 election to the Illinois Senate, the businessman became the Republican nominee against U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, an Illinois Democrat, in 2014, according to Ballotpedia. He also ran for an open U.S. House seat in Illinois in 2020 but lost to Democrat Lauren Underwood, who still holds that seat today.

But now, Oberweis hopes to stake out ground early in a heavily Republican district in Southwest Florida. Donalds has already announced he will run for Governor in 2026, opening the federal office.

“The priority of our Federal government needs to be families, students and businesses creating new jobs — not woke special interests,” Oberweis said in a statement on his campaign website. “We must work together to create economic opportunity, to create an impenetrable southern border, and create new monetary oriented foreign policy priorities needed to grow the Florida economy while shrinking the size of our bloated Federal government.”

Oberweis is curiously one of multiple candidates with roots in Illinois who now hope to represent Southwest Florida in Congress.

Jack Lombardi, a onetime congressional candidate in Illinois, already told Florida Politics before Donalds announced that he may run for the seat if it opens up. Catalina Lauf, another former Illinois congressional candidate who worked in the Commerce Department under Trump, has also moved to Florida and been suggested as a possible candidate.

A number of other candidates are reportedly considering runs, including former U.S. Rep. Madison Cawthorn of North Carolina, former U.S. Rep. Chris Collins of New York, former state Rep. Spencer Roach, Lee County Commissioner Cecil Pendergrass, state Rep. Jenna Persons-Mulicka and Sun Broadcasting President Jim Schwartzel.

Democrat Howard Sapp, an air traffic controller who previously ran for the Florida House, has also filed for the seat.

But CD 19 remains a Republican stronghold, where Donalds won more than 66% of the vote in November.