Seat In Florida Senate Open
The capitol bureau for the Pensacola News Journal reports on local races: Senate race wide open
TALLAHASSEE — The Panhandle will join the campaign frenzy of an unprecedented 2010 political season with wide-open state legislative races.
A state Senate seat and three House spots representing Northwest Florida are open next year because of term limits. There already are plenty of contenders — at least for Republicans — in the heavily GOP districts. Those races will be part of an election cycle with four open statewide Cabinet campaigns and a high-profile U.S. Senate contest.
State Sen. Durell Peaden, a Republican from Crestview, will end a 16-year legislative career — with a decade spent in the Senate — when he is term-limited out next year. The race to succeed him now includes two House members hoping for promotion to the upper chamber and a political neophyte seeking to upset the race for the Republican nomination.
Current House member Greg Evers from Baker [North Okaloosa county] calls himself a farmer. House member Dave Murzin of Pensacola admits to being involved in real estate and property management. Also from Pensacola, Mike Hill is an insurance agent. I would give Evers the edge in the district based on his address. The district is predominately rural, and it’s hard to get more rural than Baker.
