Until this week, it appeared as if Congressman Michael Waltz might not face a challenge in the 2024 election.
That did not come to pass, as Republican John Grow of Palm Coast, and Democrat James David Stockton III of Ocala qualified for the 6th District this week under state rules. Candidates seeking election to federal offices and some state races − including state attorney and public defender − faced a noon deadline Friday to qualify.
The 6th District covers northern Volusia, all of Flagler, and part of St. Johns, Putnam, Marion and Lake counties.
In the 7th District, which includes the southern portion of Volusia and all of Seminole County, incumbent Cory Mills faces one Republican primary challenger, Mike Johnson (not the Mike Johnson who’s Speaker of the House), while three Democrats will run: business owner Tatiana Fernandez and information security professional Allek Pastrana, who also ran in 2022 but were unsuccessful, and Jennifer Adams, who describes herself as a mother, small business owner and survivor of domestic abuse.
The race for U.S. senator has incumbent Republican Rick Scott facing two primary challengers, John Columbus and Keith Gross, who qualified this week. Meanwhile, five Democrats are in the race: former Congresswoman Debbie Mucarsel-Powell, onetime state lawmaker Brian Rush, tech entrepreneur Stanley Campbell, combat veteran Rod Joseph of DeBary and former Congressman Alan Grayson of Orlando.
With the qualifying deadline passed, 7th Circuit State Attorney R. J. Larizza and Public Defender Matthew Metz remained the only qualified candidates listed on the Department of State website. Each will retain his seat for another four years.
Larizza was first elected in 2008. He will start his fifth term in January. Metz is completing his first term in office.
Who are late entrants?
Grayson, who served three terms in the House, had been listed as a senatorial candidate for several months, but had not been openly campaigning in a traditional way. He qualified on Wednesday.
On Thursday, he told The News-Journal he has been studying the race and thinks he has a path to victory: Through voter registration. Grayson said his concept is a Stacey Abrams-style approach. Abrams, a former Georgia state representative, led efforts in Georgia to register more Democrats. While she lost a bid for governor in 2022, larger numbers of Democratic voters helped Joe Biden win that state in 2020.
While Florida Republicans have opened up an almost 900,000 voter lead over Democrats in terms of registration − after Democrats had the advantage as recently as 2020 − Grayson insists Florida is not redder. He believes millions of Democrats are simply not registered. Also, he noted the growing number of no-party affiliation voters.
“What NPAs think is Democrats are lazy, Republicans are crazy and that leaves them with two poor choices,” he said. “It’s my job to get past that.”
Meanwhile, Columbus calls himself a 40-year-old “modern millennial Florida Man” whose top three issues are paying down the national debt, “passing meaningful immigration and border legislation,” and encouraging more Americans to read. He listed a Windemere post office box as his address.
Gross, a Melbourne businessman, says he is an unapologetic supporter of Donald Trump who seeks freedom from “an unrelenting stream of illegal aliens,” and indoctrination in schools and government institutions, as well as freedom of speech, particularly on social media and college campuses.
Congressional District 6 challengers
Because of the challenges, Waltz’s name will be on the ballot in the Aug. 23 primary and the Nov. 5 general election.
Who are Grow and Stockton, other than extreme longshots?
Grow, a 63-year-old software engineer who relocated his family to Palm Coast from Cupertino, California, in 1994, said he’s simply dissatisfied with America’s direction and leadership in the federal government.
“I’d like to see the water table raised for everybody,” he said Friday morning. “Inflation, all the uncertainty … there’s a lot of fear out there and despite all that, I’m very optimistic overall about the future. But I’d like to see us get there.”
By taking on Waltz in a primary, he is challenging a well-positioned incumbent, but Grow said he is not running against Waltz so much as he is following a calling.
Grow draws a distinction in saying he wouldn’t fund Taiwan, while Waltz supported the $8.1 billion Indo-Pacific Security Supplemental Appropriations Act in an April 20 vote.
Stockton didn’t return calls on Thursday night and Friday morning. He is senior pastor at Greater New Hope Church in Ocala and has been president of the Marion County Chapter of the NAACP.
This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Congressmen Waltz, Mills face challenges; U.S. Senate picture emerging