News Service of Florida — After fielding candidates in all 120 House races, Florida Democrats have narrowed their focus in an effort to cut into Republicans’ supermajority in the chamber.
Democrats’ targets include more than a dozen incumbent Republicans as well as a handful of open House seats on the Nov. 5 ballot.
“It’s going to be competitive this cycle because of the high turnout of Democrats because independents are breaking for us in significant margins. That puts those seats pretty much in play for this election cycle,” Florida Democratic Party Chairwoman Nikki Fried told The News Service of Florida last week.
Republicans, meanwhile, are taking aim at several incumbent Democrats while fiercely defending GOP-held posts— including districts along the I-4 corridor recently flipped by Democrats.
With an 85-35 lead in the state House, the GOP can maintain its supermajority even if Republicans lose four seats in November. The supermajority essentially allows Republicans to fully control procedural rules and limit efforts to block more hardline partisan politics.
Locally, Democrats are fiercely defending incumbent Rep. Tom Keen in a rematch against former Osceola County School Board member Erika Booth, who was defeated by Keen in a special election earlier this year. Keen, a former U.S. Navy flight officer, won the special election by about 600 votes. The seat, which includes parts of Orange and Osceola counties, was previously held by Rep. Fred Hawkins, a St. Cloud Republican who stepped down after being tapped as president of South Florida State College.
Republican Rep. Carolina Amesty, R-Windermere, is trying to hold onto her District 45 seat, which includes Celebration and ChampionsGate in Osceola County. while also facing felony charges. Former Disney executive Leonard Spencer is challenging Amesty, who was indicted by a grand jury on forgery and other charges. Amnesty is accused of forging a signature on a document she notarized as an administrator of her family-run school Central Christian University in Orange County.
In District 47, Incumbent Paula Stark, R-St. Cloud, is facing Democrat Maria Revelles, an affordable housing advocate and union leader from Kissimmee, for the Central Florida seat. In 2022, Stark narrowly won the district, which includes parts of Osceola and Orange counties. Democrats have a slight voter registration edge in the district.
