Northwest Florida will once again have an all-Republican legislative delegation, including re-election of the current House incumbents and the return of a former state senator.
In the race for State Senate District 1, Republican Don Gaetz is back. Gaetz won nearly 65% of the vote to defeat Democrat Lisa Newell.
It’s the second time around in the senate for Gaetz. He served 10 years in the chamber from 2006 to 2016, including a term as Senate President from 2012-2014.
In the Florida House races, District 2 Republican incumbent Alex Andrade faced the closest contest. Andrade received nearly 58% of the vote to defeat Democrat Haley Morrissette, who garnered 35% of the vote, and NPA candidate Kim Kline, who got nearly 7% of the votes cast. It was a slightly wider margin of victory than the last presidential election year, when he won with 55% of the vote.
“I was surprised by that because I had two opponents this time instead of one,” Andrade said. “But it's really humbling, and I appreciate the vote of confidence voters have put in me to go represent them, and I hope to make them proud in my last two years in office.”
Andrade, whose district covers downtown Pensacola and Gulf Breeze, will be serving his fourth and final term in the Florida House. He believes the voters reelected him because of the work that he’s done over the last six years.
That includes having control of aspects of the state’s $22 billion state budget dealing with transportation, emergency management and the Department of State.
“And I've really worked well with Senator Doug Broxson and bringing that funding back home,” stated Andrade. “And, you know, I've had a lot of circumstances since being elected first in 2018, like a terrorist attack at NAS Pensacola and COVID and Hurricane Sally and the bridge being down where constituents really needed my help, and I've always been there for them.”
Looking ahead, Andrade says he expects the legislature to do a lot on the healthcare front over the next two years. He’s personally interested in fixing the state’s reinsurance system for property insurers. He also wants to focus on land use planning and other issues related to growth in the state.
“I don’t think there’s any secret that we do have this influx of people moving here to the state and that’s impacting our flooding infrastructure. That’s affecting the impact on our roads,” Andrade explained. “Figuring out how to responsibly grow and accommodate the people who want to live here in the state of Florida.”
He says there are some policies that he has a personal interest in, “like fixing our reinsurance system for property insurers, working through certain aspects of our state affairs, like our local government, how it operates, and how it interacts with our state government.”
Elsewhere across Northwest Florida, Republican Michelle Salzman handily won reelection to her District 1 House seat, which covers most of Escambia County. Salzman earned 66% of the vote to defeat Democrat Francine Mathis for a third time.
District 3 incumbent Joel Rudman received nearly 79% of the vote to win his seat over Democrat Keith Ellis Gillum.
And, in Okaloosa County, District 4 incumbent Patt Maney returns for his third term in office by defeating Democrat Samuel Chang with nearly 74% of the vote.
