Florida GOP runs the table with Cabinet races
TALLAHASSEE — Three powerful, well-financed Republicans, including Florida’s incumbent attorney general and chief financial officer, kept control of Florida’s elected Cabinet against relatively unknown Democrats.
Their victories, along with a partisan switch for commissioner of agriculture and consumer services, give DeSantis a solidly Republican Cabinet and marks the first time since Reconstruction that no Democrat has held a statewide office.
“Floridians showed up today for freedom. They showed up for economic freedom, the freedom to make decisions for their children, to run their businesses and raise their families without fear of government overreach,” newly elected agriculture commissioner Wilton Simpson said in a prepared statement.
Agriculture Commissioner
Backed by the Republican Party, Big Sugar and electric companies, Simpson, a millionaire egg farmer and developer, easily won the race for Commissioner of Agriculture and Consumer Services. He replaces Nikki Fried, the only elected Democrat in statewide office who ran for governor instead of seeking a second term.
He beat Naomi Blemur, a North Miami Democratic Party official who lost the endorsement of top party officials after several tweets came to light where she stated anti-abortion and homophobic views.
With 75 percent of the vote counted, the result was 58.3% for Simpson to 41.7% for Blemur.
Simpson, 56, a state senator for 10 years who spent the last two years as Senate president, runs a huge egg production plant on land adjacent to his home, and until last year also owned an environmental recovery company.
He parlayed his tenure into a huge support network for his campaign, including the endorsement of county sheriffs, who have spent millions on TV ads for him.
His campaign alone raised over $2.9 million through November, while his four political committees raised an additional $42.6 million ― largely with help from the sugar industry, developers, casinos, and the state’s largest utilities.
Attorney general
Former Orange-Osceola State Attorney Aramis Ayala was soundly defeated by incumbent Attorney General Ashley Moody, who had 58.9% of the vote to Ayala’s 41.1%.
Moody raised $3.5 million for her campaign through Nov. 3, while her political committee raised nearly $12.7 million. She also received $275,000 in state matching funds. Ayala raised $219,000.
Moody, 47, was a federal prosecutor and circuit court judge before beating Democrat Sean Shaw for attorney general in 2018.
Moody, a top surrogate of Trump’s in Florida during the 2020 election, embraced several Big Lie actions, joining other conservative state attorney generals in suing to have election results in several key states. She also urged the federal government to drop its case against Trump associate Michael Flynn, who had pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI.
Ayala, 47, ran on a platform supporting the rights of women and minorities and was an advocate for felons getting their voting rights restored.
Chief financial officer
Incumbent Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis easily fended off former Democratic State Rep. Adam Hattersley of Hillsborough County to win a second full term. Patronis had 58.4% of the vote to Hattersley’s 41.6%.
Patronis had a platform of fighting rising insurance rates and consumer fraud. He’s also made supporting first responders a priority, worked to expand insurance benefits for firefighters diagnosed with cancer and pushed to increase funding for the state’s urban search and rescue teams.
Patronis, 50, is from Panama City and is a partner in his family’s seafood restaurant, Capt. Anderson’s. He’s a former member of the Florida Elections Commission and served in the Florida House from 2006 until 2014.
Hattersley, 44, was a nuclear submarine officer in the U.S. Navy for eight years. He moved to Riverview in 2009, where he managed data and financial analytics for a General Electric subsidiary.
