Tomkow defeats Cause for District 39
-
Fred Hawkins Jr.
Despite ongoing controversy, former Osceola County Commissioner Fred Hawkins Jr. won a narrow victory in the race for State House District 42 Tuesday night after defeating his Democrat challenger, Barbara Cady, by just 1,164 votes.
Cady led all night in Osceola County — which makes up a bulk of District 42. She won 30,908 votes in Osceola compared to Hawkins' 29,812 votes.
But a sliver of the district resides in Polk County, including Cady’s residence of Lake Wales. The red-leaning county ultimately swayed the close race, giving Hawkins 46.83 percent total, Cady 45.66 percent and no party affiliation candidate, Leroy Sanchez, 7.51 percent.
Hawkins, who will take over for term-limited fellow Republican Mike La Rosa, won 46,548 votes, Cady captured 45,384 votes and Sanchez finished third with 7,460 votes.
The victory concluded a tumultuous campaign for Hawkins, who was arrested on felony charges for impersonating a law enforcement officer earlier this year.
That arrest prompted Gov. Ron DeSantis to suspend Hawkins via executive order on July 31. The order barred Hawkins from serving the rest of his term on the Osceola Board of County Commissioners, a position he held since 2008.
Hawkins later agreed to a one-year pre-trial diversion program to have the charge dropped.
“I want to thank my family for their unwavering support and my incredible campaign team and volunteers who worked tirelessly on this race,” Hawkins said in a statement. “Thank you to the voters of House District 42 who saw through all the negative attacks and cast their ballot for someone who is a proven leader and will always have their back. I look forward to representing the people of Osceola and Polk counties and fighting to protect Florida’s water and natural resources, and for public safety and education.”
First reported by the Osceola News-Gazette, the story and later coverage sparked complaints from residents, who had no opportunity to comment on the contract prior to approval. Hawkins abstained from the vote but never wavered in his support of the deal.
While District 42 — which includes St. Cloud, rural eastern Osceola County and a small part of Polk County — is technically home to more Democrat voters, the area has a history of electing conservative and Republican candidates.
In the August primaries, Hawkins won 39.4 percent of the vote, defeating his three Republican challengers.
He also amassed $334,620 in contributions for his State House run — $122,850 of which came after his removal from office by the governor.
In contrast, Cady raised $116,974 total.
Cady ran on a platform of environmental responsibility, affordable housing, Medicaid expansion and other blue-collar issues.
She ran as a moderate and often broke ranks with other members of the Democrat party — especially on the local level.
The Osceola Democrat Executive Committee refused to endorse Cady after she posted negative Facebook comments in late August about two current Democrat Osceola County commissioners who voted in favor of extending a toll road project through Split Oak Forest.
When asked why the local party failed to support the only Democrat candidate in a highly competitive statehouse race, Osceola Democrat Executive Committee President Deborah Gale said, “The only thing I can tell you is...Ms. Cady chose not to work with the DEC and so we cannot endorse her in accordance with our candidate endorsement policy.”
Hawkins is the former chair of the Central Florida Expressway Authority and the current president of the Osceola County Education Foundation.
Tomkow wins re-election in State House 39
Republican Josie Tomkow won re-election to State House District 39 Tuesday night with 58.82 percent of the vote, defeating her Democrat challenger, Chris Cause.
Tomkow, 25, is the second youngest person ever to serve in the Florida House. She was elected in 2018 shortly after graduating from the University of Florida.
Tomkow is a seventh generation Floridian and third generation cattle rancher.
In May 2018, she won in a special election to replace Rep. Neil Combee, who left for a job with the U.S. Department of Agriculture and endorsed Tomkow. She later went on to win in the 2018 November general election.
This year, she faced off against Cause, a 47-year-old Davenport resident who teaches at the Polk County Sheriff’s Office Regional Detention Center. He was previously an actor and performer.
District 39 leans Republican. The district encompasses northern Polk County, including Auburndale and Polk City, then stretches east into Osceola County, covering Celebration.
About 16.8 percent of all the district’s registered voters live in Osceola. The rest reside in Polk County.
White Cause led all night in Osceola — ultimately capturing 10,326 votes to Tomkow’s 8,460 votes — he couldn’t overcome her advantage in Polk.
Tomkow raised $163,816 in campaign contributions, nearly 12 times as much as her Democrat opponent.
In line with her platform as a voice for Central Florida’s agriculture community, major donors included farming and ranching companies and industry interest groups.
But she also received big donations from communication conglomerates like Comcast, NBC Universal and Charter Communications, as well as major energy companies including Teco Gas, Duke Energy and Florida Power and Light Company.
She also picked up maximum contributions from medical and health care organizations, including HCA, and massive corporations like Walmart, Target, Disney, McDonalds and Anheuser Busch.
Tomkow is pro-life and supports the Second Amendment. She’s voted in favor of school choice while in office and positions herself as an advocate for Florida farmers and ranchers.
