The 16 Republicans seeking to represent two Southwest Florida districts in the U.S. Congress will be the most-watched local races of the August 18 primary.
Nine Republicans are running for the District 19 seat to replace Byron Donalds who is running for governor. Seven Republicans are running in the newly created District 22 seat that spans from the east coast into a large portion of Collier County.
The open seat and the heavy Republican-leaning districts are attracting the crowded field, said Sean Ewing, assistant professor of political science at FGCU.
Three Democrats are running in District 19 and two in District 22 are seeking the chance to run against the GOP candidate in the November 3 general election. The Republican District 19 winner is almost assured of winning in November. A Democrat has never won a congressional election in District 19.
The District 22 race will be more challenging, according to the non-partisan Cook Political Report. The District leans Republican, Cook reported.
Several District 19 candidates are newcomers to the area, though they have run for Congress in other states. Several District 17 candidates jumped into the race before the qualifying deadline after Governor Ron DeSantis signed the redistricting bill.
Four Republicans, including incumbent Ashley Moody, and two Democrats are running in the U.S. Senate primaries. All state cabinet positions are up for grabs, as well as governor. Eleven Republicans and six Democrats are seeking the open seat. DeSantis can’t run again because of term limits.
District 79 State Rep. Mike Giallombardo was one of the Southwest Florida candidate who automatically retained his seat when nobody qualified to run against him. District 79 covers most of Cape Coral and Matlacha. Jeff Donaldson and Kelly Mason ran unopposed and won Collier County School Board seats.
All three Lee County commission incumbents will face opponents. Two Lee County commissioners, Brian Hamman and Cecil Pendergrass, will face a Democrat and non-party affiliated candidate, who were last-minute qualifiers. One of the few Republican primaries will be between commission incumbent Trish Petrosky and Amanda Cochran. Petrosky was appointed to fill the seat of Mike Greenwell, who died in 2024. The election is countywide, but the district includes Buckingham and Alva, where rapid development has been a controversial issue.
Collier will have a winner-take-all county commission race in August because no Democrat decided to run. Republicans Daniel Kowal and Daniel Zegarac will vie for the District 4 seat. Charlotte also will decide a commission seat when Republicans Christopher George and John M. Fleming face off.
CANDIDATES
DISTRICT 19
REPUBLICAN
Greg “Tex” Bukowski
Madison Cawthorn
Chris Collins
Catalina Lauf
Jim Oberweis
Mike Pedersen
Linda J. Sawyer
Jim Schwartzel
John Strand
DEMOCRATS
Victor Arias
Robert Neeld
Howard Sapp
DISTRICT 22
REPUBLICANS
Casey Askar
David Burck
Michael Carbonara
Richard Evans
Terri Hasdorff
Belinda Keiser
Michael Thompson
DEMOCRATS
Pia Dandiya
Kaysia Earley
IMPORTANT DATES
To register to vote, to see if you are registered or if you want to vote by mail go to your county supervisor of elections website. You will have to sign up again to vote by mail even if you have voted by mail in the past.
Collier County Supervisor of Elections - www.colliervotes.gov
Key Election Dates/Primary
July 20: Voter registration deadline
August 6: Last day to request mail-in ballot
August 8-15: Early voting
August 18 – Primary
Key Election Dates/General Election
October 5 – Voter registration deadline
October 22- Last day to request mail-in ballot
October 19-31 – Early voting
November 3 – General election
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