TALLAHASSEE --- Ronnie Murchinson-Rivera drove from Sorrento in Lake County to be among the first in line Monday as the qualifying sprint kicked off for U.S. House and state legislative offices.
A Democrat running for the Congressional District 6 held by Republican U.S. Rep. Randy Fine, Murchinson-Rivera wanted to ensure his paperwork was correct so he wouldn’t have to make a second drive to the state’s Division of Elections Office in the R.A. Gray Building one block from the Capitol.
“I drove almost four hours to get here. I didn't want to have to come back. I didn’t want to have to drive again. I like being the first to do everything,” said Murchinson-Rivera.
That sentiment was echoed by Nick Zateslo, a Democrat from Tallahassee who is among a throng of candidates who have jumped into the Congressional District 2 seat, which includes all or part of 16 counties in the Panhandle, upon the retirement of U.S. Rep. Neil Dunn, R-Panama City.
“I felt like we need to get this in and make sure the paperwork doesn't get messed up first,” Zateslo said. “You always want to have that done early. But the other side is we've got a lot of events going on all over the district.”
Formal qualifying opened at noon Monday for those running in Florida for governor, the three Cabinet offices, all 120 state House seats and 21 state Senate seats.
There is an extra Senate seat open this year because Appropriations Committee Chairman Ed Hooper, R-Clearwater, is stepping down this year with two years remaining on his current term.
All paperwork and filing fees are due by noon, Friday.
Rematches from special elections in March were already in place with Republican Jon Maples qualified to take on Jupiter Democratic Rep. Emily Gregory and former Rep. Josie Tomkow qualified to run against Sen. Brian Nathan, D-Tampa. Gregory and Nathan also qualified on Monday.
Because of the mid-decade redrawing of the state’s congressional map, U.S. House candidates had to wait until this second qualifying period to submit paperwork for the 28 races.
Shortly after noon, the division stated that among the incumbents qualified were Republicans Jimmy Patronis, Aaron Bean, John Rutherford, Randy Fine, Mike Haridopolos, Mike Bilirakis, Laurel Lee, Brian Mast, Anna Paulina Luna, Carlos Gimenez and Maria Salazar, and Democrats Darren Soto and Kathy Castor.
Rutherford, Fine and Salazar already face primary opponents.
Because of the focus on redistricting, several Republican challengers were already qualified to take on Soto and Castor.
Candidates for U.S. Senate qualified in April.
The filing cost for legislative seats is $1,781.82, which can be avoided by collecting valid signatures from registered voters in the district. Depending on the seat, between 2,800 and 4,000 signatures are needed to qualify for a Senate contest and around 1,000 signatures for House seats.
The governor’s race qualifying fee is $8,484 for party members, while those running with a party designation for Cabinet seats must pay $8,399. With the seats being statewide, the signature counts jump to 139,492 for governor and 139,492 for the attorney general, chief financial officer and agriculture commissioner races.
As of Monday afternoon, former state legislator Jose Javier Rodriguez, paying the qualifying fee, was the biggest Democratic name to have qualified for the attorney general contest.
Chief Financial Officer Blaise Ingoglia, Attorney General James Uthmeier and Agriculture Commissioner Wilton Simspon, all Republicans have filed to keep their seats for the 2026 election cycle.
Former state Sen. Annette Taddeo, a Miami Democrat, officially got into the CFO race on Monday.
