With the state’s popular governor Ron DeSantis term-limited, the GOP candidates competing to replace him are U.S. Rep. Byron Donalds; Jay Collins, the former lieutenant governor; Paul Renner, a former speaker of the Florida House; and businessman and investor James Fishback.
DSA candidate 'shocking' in Florida congressional raceChad Groening, AFN A congressional primary in Florida has caught the attention of a Washington Times columnist. Robert Knight, among many others, is watching the Democrat primary in Florida’s new 25th District to see if Rep. Jared Moskowitz wins today’s primary. The congressman’s challenger is Oliver Larkin, an active member of the Democratic Socialists of America. That membership means Larkin’s radical platform includes “Medicare for All” government health care, abolishing ICE, and ending any military aid to Israel and its IDF. "It's shocking that a guy like Larkin would even have a chance in South Florida, which is heavily Jewish,” Knight pointed out. A major platform of DSA is open hostility toward Israel and Zionism. DSA’s members often compare Hamas terrorists to freedom fighters in their attacks against Israel, including the Oct. 7 attack in 2023. Larkin was criticized for his anti-Zionist stance in a Miami Herald editorial. The newspaper called that view a "dangerous extreme" because it calls for the destruction of Israel as a state. |
Among that list of candidates, Donalds is leading far ahead in the polls. So he is expected to appear on the November ballot with the Democrat nominee, former congressman David Jolly.
AFR host Jenna Ellis, who has been openly critical of Donalds, told American Family News she agrees with polling that predicts he will secure the GOP nomination today.
“His policies are very soft on crime. He's not taking a stand very strongly against legalizing marijuana,” she stated.
What is even worse for Florida, she continued, is Donalds is not a worthwhile Republican replacement for Gov. DeSantis. The departing governor has been described as the ideal Republican, red-state leader that other governors should emulate.
“It’s really going to be very disappointing for Floridians,” Ellis said, “who are used to now, with eight years of Governor DeSantis, having a really strong leader and being able to point to our state and say, ‘This is what conservatism and a red state should look like.’"
Current polling predicts Donalds will defeat Jolly in red-state Florida by three to four percentage points, but Ellis said DeSantis won his last re-election by a 20-point margin.
“It just shows that we always need to remain vigilant as voters," she warned, "because Florida should be the state where there's not even a possibility that a Democrat would be elected, and yet here we are."
