Before I say more, I urge you to find out if your Congressional district has changed as a result of redistricting. Mine has, along with about 38,000 other Collier County voters.
A letter to the editor in Saturday’s Naples Daily News by Jennifer Edwards, Supervisor of Elections, explains the changes really well. It says, in part:
Voters who were previously in Congressional District 14 (currently represented by Connie Mack IV) will now find themselves either in the new District 19, a coastal district, or the new District 25, which covers most of eastern Collier County. The dividing line between the coastal district and the eastern district has also moved west, to Interstate 75 in the north and Livingston Road in the south. The former line largely followed Collier Boulevard.
While Collier has long been split by two districts, the changes have shifted a substantial number of voters from the coastal district to the eastern district. Approximately 38,000 Collier County voters are affected by this shift.
Voters in the new District 25 will not find a congressional race on their 2012 primary election ballot [because incumbent Mario Diaz-Balart has no challengers for that seat]. The congressional contest for this district will be on the November general election ballot.
Voters living in the new District 19 have six candidates to choose from on August 14:
- Gary Aubuchon
- Joe Davidow
- Byron Donalds
- Chauncey Porter Goss
- Paige Kreegel
- Trey Radel
All registered Collier Republicans have four candidates to choose from on August 14 in the US Senate primary:
- Connie Mack
- Mike McCalister
- Marielena Stuart
- Dave Weldon
If you haven’t already, now’s the time to be thinking about who you will vote for. To begin, Leap2Liberty.com has photos of the candidates and links to their campaign websites. They are also hosting and live-streaming a Candidate Forum beginning at 7PM tonight in Fort Myers. According to the Naples Daily News, Forum co-hosts include The Naples Tea Party, GOooh FL, Lee 912, Christian Constitution Coalition, SWFL Fair Tax, One Nation Under God, Oath Keepers and Florida World Changers. Americans for Prosperity, America Majority, McGregor Baptist Church and the Southwest Florida Hispanic Chamber of Commerce also are active supporters. That Forum, as well as Leap2Liberty’s April 24 Forum, can be viewed from their video archive.
As I won’t be voting in this Congressional primary, I won’t be offering my recommendation, but I’d be happy to share with my readers any thoughts you may have.
I’ll have thoughts on the Senate primary in my next post.