Pensacola, FL (Newsradio 92.3) -- We're starting to get a better picture of who may be in the running for former Congressman Matt Gaetz' first-district congressional seat. This week state representative Michele Salzman filed to run, and Florida CFO Jimmy Patronis expressed interest in running for seat.
"I would say it's a formidable opponent," Salzman told Newsradio during an exclusive interview on Wednesday morning. "Jimmy has been in state office for a long time...I believe he said he'd been serving the state of Florida for ten years."
Salzman says before launching her campaign she contacted Governor DeSantis' office and the Trump campaign -- but she says she was unable to reach Patronis for about a week. And now that she's launched the campaign she says she's in it for the long-haul.
"I'm in the race....I'm not withdrawing from the race because Jimmy gets in, I'm not withdrawing from the race because anybody gets in," Salzman said.
Fellow state representative Joel Rudman also declared himself a candidate, and told USA Today he believes he's the "natural successor to Matt Gaetz." Other names Newsradio has confirmed as running for the seat include Independent candidate Jonathan Green, and Republicans John Frankman, Jeff Witt, Gene Valentino, Greg Merk, and Charlie Keebaugh. There's also a long list of possible names that haven't ruled out running.
Comments