Trump sparked 'increasingly bitter' Florida GOP primary with surprise endorsement: report
Former President Donald Trump has injected himself into a Florida state senate primary that Politico reports has grown "increasingly bitter."
Politico wrote on Tuesday about Trump picking his own MAGA candidates to go up against incumbents backed by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.
The report specifically cited District 7, where Republicans have been forced to spend the most money in a local state campaign this year. It even costs more than congressional contests.
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"Rep. Tom Leek, an attorney who rose to the powerful spot of House budget chair," is running against "a former St. Johns County sheriff" named David Shoar, who began the race only recently, the report said. Leek is the DeSantis candidate, and the sheriff is the MAGA candidate, endorsed by the man himself. Now that the latter has the Trump seal of approval, Shoar is asking that Leek drop out.
It's just one of several examples of local Florida elections where Trump has inserted himself without coordinating with the state Republicans.
Such primary races drain a lot of resources from candidates. Finances are certainly a problem, where Florida Republican donors are forced to give more so their pick gets through to the general election.
It isn't the first time Trump has hurt Florida Republicans, however. The Florida GOP spent years getting its voters to cast a ballot early and by mail. However, in 2020, Trump went on a crusade against vote-by-mail. Trump was then forced to flip-flop in local elections in 2021.
New Republic writer Timothy Noah wrote that in the 2020 election, Trump won just two demographics, essentially both groups over 50 years old.
"By disparaging mail-in balloting, Trump dumped all over the voting method used in 2020 by nearly 54 percent of voters aged 65 and older, according to census data. Over-65s were the only age group to cast the majority of its votes by mail," wrote Noah.
As Politico explained, District 7 has become one of several districts where Florida Republicans have been forced to spend more money, time and efforts to maintain power, thanks to Trump.
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