2014 United States House of Representatives elections in Florida

The 2014 United States House of Representatives elections in Florida were held on Tuesday, November 4, 2014 to elect the 27 U.S. representatives from the state of Florida, one from each of the state's 27 congressional districts. The elections coincided with the elections of other federal and state offices, including Governor of Florida. There was no net party change, as Democrat Gwen Graham defeated Republican incumbent Steve Southerland in the 2nd district, while Republican Carlos Curbelo defeated Democratic incumbent Joe Garcia in the 26th district.

Overview

Statewide

District
Results of the 2014 United States House of Representatives elections in Florida by district:

District 1

Incumbent Republican Jeff Miller, who had represented the district since 2001, ran for re-election.

Republican primary

Candidates

Nominee
Jeff Miller, incumbent U.S. Representative

Eliminated in primary
John Krause

Withdrawn
Travis Pierce Miller

Results

Democratic primary

Candidates

Nominee
Jim Bryan, retired Army officer and nominee for this seat in 2010

General election

Results

District 2

Incumbent Republican Steve Southerland, who had represented the district since 2011, ran for re-election.

Republican primary

Candidates

Nominee
Steve Southerland, incumbent U.S. Representative

Democratic primary

Candidates

Nominee
Gwen Graham, Leon County school administrator and the daughter of Bob Graham, former United States Senator and Governor of Florida

General election

Endorsements

Polling

Predictions

Results
Graham won the race by a narrow 1.2% margin, making Southerland one of only two sitting Republicans to be defeated by a Democrat in 2014 (the other being Lee Terry in Nebraska's 2nd).

District 3

Incumbent Republican Ted Yoho, who had represented the district since 2013, after defeating Republican incumbent Cliff Stearns in the primary, ran for re-election.

Republican primary

Campaign
Jake Rush, an attorney and former Alachua County Sheriff's deputy is challenged Yoho in the Republican primary. Following the launch of his campaign, he received national media attention related to his involvement with live action role-playing (particularly the supernaturally themed Mind's Eye Theatre) and costuming.

Candidates

Nominee
Ted Yoho, incumbent U.S. Representative

Eliminated in primary
Jake Rush, attorney and former Alachua County Sheriff's deputy

Results

Democratic primary

Candidates

Nominee
Marihelen Wheeler, Middle school art teacher

Withdrawn
Aquasia Johnson McDowell

General election

Endorsements

Results

District 4

Incumbent Republican Ander Crenshaw, who had represented the district since 2001, ran for re-election.

Republican primary

Candidates

Nominee
Ander Crenshaw, incumbent U.S. Representative

Eliminated in primary
Ryman Shoaf, US Navy veteran

Results

Democratic primary
The Democratic Party did not run a candidate in this race.

General election

Results

District 5

Incumbent Democrat Corrine Brown, who had represented the district since 2013, having previously represented the 3rd district from 1993 to 2013, ran for re-election.

Democratic primary

Candidates

Nominee
Corrine Brown, incumbent U.S. Representative

Republican primary

Candidates

Nominee
Glo Smith, businesswoman and former staff aide to Lt. Gov. Jennifer Carroll

Eliminated in primary
Thuy Lowe

Results

General election

Endorsements

Results

District 6

Incumbent Republican Ron DeSantis, who had represented the district since 2013, ran for re-election.

Republican primary

Candidates

Nominee
Ron DeSantis, incumbent U.S. Representative

Democratic primary

Candidates

Nominee
David Cox, director of resources at Bethune-Cookman University

Withdrawn
Andrew Scott

General election

Results

District 7

The 7th District, includes most of Seminole County, the main campus of the University of Central Florida in Orange County, and parts of Deltona in Volusia County. Incumbent Republican John Mica, who had represented the district since 1993, ran for re-election. In 2012, when Mica ran for re-election in the redrawn district, he won with 59% of the vote, his smallest margin of victory in twenty years.

Republican primary
Polling taken during the 2013 government shutdown showed that Mica was vulnerable to an opponent, with only 33% of the district's voters indicating that they approved of his performance, while 50% disapproved. The early predictions proved to be unfounded, and Mica's popularity rebounded considerably over the summer of 2014. Mica was a heavy favourite to win the GOP primary, and on August 26, trounced his GOP challengers with over 72% of the vote.

Candidates

Nominee
John Mica, incumbent U.S. Representative

Eliminated in primary
Don Oehlrich
Kelly Shirley, pharmacist
David Smith, business executive

Withdrawn
Alan Azcona
Zechariah Blanchard

Results

Democratic primary

Candidates

Nominee
Wes Neuman, former White House intern and LMI analyst

General election

Campaign
On September 25, 2014, after over a month of keeping a low profile, Democratic challenger Wes Neuman announced he "made a mistake" in challenging Mica and would no longer be actively campaigning.

Al Krulick appeared on the ballot with no party affiliation.

Endorsements

Polling

Results

District 8

Incumbent Republican Bill Posey, who had represented the district since 2013, having represented the 15th district from 2009 to 2013, prior to the decennial redistricting, ran for re-election.

Republican primary

Candidates

Nominee
Bill Posey, incumbent U.S. Representative

Democratic primary

Candidates

Nominee
Gabriel Rothblatt, technoprogressive political activist

Withdrawn
Corry Westbrook, former legislative director for the National Wildlife Federation

General election

Campaign
Rothblatt's belief in transhumanism and his family ties were both regularly covered by the media. Jessica Roy, from Time, commented that his status as a member of Terasem may be just as difficult for his campaign as being a Democrat in the Republican majority district.

During a campaign event, gubernatorial candidate Charlie Crist introduced him by saying "Gabriel is the messenger that God sent."

Others were critical of Rothblatt's campaign. Katie Prill, from the National Republican Congressional Committee, wrote that "his radical ideas are too extreme for Florida families."  Posey's spokesman, George Cecala, stated that, "It all comes down to the real issue, and that is Bill Posey is a conservative and Gabriel Rothblatt is a liberal.

Endorsements

Results

District 9

Incumbent Democrat Alan Grayson, who had represented the district since 2013, ran for re-election. He previously represented the 8th district from 2009 to 2011, prior to the decennial redistricting.

Democratic primary
Grayson was challenged in the primary by Democrat Nick Ruiz, a professor from the University of Florida. In 2012, Ruiz ran for the Democratic nomination in the 7th District. Ruiz made a somewhat surprising move to FL-09 for 2014.

Candidates

Nominee
Alan Grayson, incumbent U.S. Representative

Eliminated in primary
Nick Ruiz, professor from the University of Florida and candidate for the 7th District in 2012

Results

Republican primary

Candidates

Nominee
Carol Platt, Osceola County Realtors Association

Eliminated in primary
Jorge Bonilla, navy veteran
Peter Vivaldi, businessman

Endorsements
Platt received endorsements from both Jeb Bush and Marco Rubio.

Results

General election

Endorsements

Polling

Results

District 10

Incumbent Republican Daniel Webster, who had represented the district since 2013, ran for re-election. He previously represented the 8th district from 2011 to 2013, prior to the decennial redistricting.

Republican primary

Candidates

Nominee
Daniel Webster, incumbent U.S. Representative

Withdrawn
David Allen Seeley

Democratic primary
Val Demings, who was the Democratic nominee in 2012, considered a second run against Webster, but chose to run for Mayor of Orange County, Florida, instead. Ultimately, she pulled out of that race as well.

Candidates

Nominee
Mike McKenna, former Navy Chief Petty Officer and Walt Disney World security officer

Eliminated in primary
William Ferree, former Eustis City Commissioner 
Shayan Modarres, civil rights lawyer and Trayvon Martin family attorney

Declined
Val Demings, former Chief of the Orlando Police Department and nominee for this seat in 2012

Results
Despite only spending $5,000 on his primary campaign, a fraction of his two opponents, McKenna won the primary and faced Webster in the general election.

General election

Campaign
Webster was a decided favourite for the general election and he ran only a few television ads. With very little money in his campaign funds, McKenna ran no ads, instead counting on a grass-roots, "door-to-door" campaign.

Results
Webster easily cruised to re-election by a margin of 62% to 38%.

District 11

Incumbent Republican Rich Nugent, who had represented the district since 2013, ran for re-election. He previously represented the 5th district from 2011 to 2013, prior to the decennial redistricting.

Republican primary

Candidates

Nominee
Rich Nugent, incumbent U.S. Representative

Withdrawn
Michael Uminski

Democratic primary

Candidates

Nominee
Dave Koller, small businessowner

Libertarian primary

Candidates

Withdrawn
Matthew Schnackenberg

General election

Results

District 12

Incumbent Republican Gus Bilirakis, who had represented the district since 2013, ran for re-election.. He previously represented the 9th district from 2007 to 2013, prior to the decennial redistricting.

Republican primary

Candidates

Nominee
Gus Bilirakis, incumbent U.S. Representative

Withdrawn
James Denton Jr.

Democratic primary
No democrat filed to run

General election
No candidates filed to challenge Bilirakis for his seat, so he returned to office without standing for election.

Results

District 13

Incumbent Republican David Jolly, who had represented the district since a 2014 special election, ran for re-election.

Republican primary
On October 9, 2013, Republican Bill Young, who had held this Tampa Bay-area district since 1971, announced that he would not run for re-election to a twenty-second term in 2014. He died 9 days later and a special election was held, which Republican David Jolly won. Jolly ran for a full term.

Candidates

Nominee
 David Jolly, incumbent U.S. Representative

Democratic primary

Candidates
No Democratic candidate filed to run for Congress before the end of the qualifying period.

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee announced that it would support Independent candidate Ed Jany. Jany dropped out of the race on May 13, 2014.

Withdrawn
 Manuel Sykes, president of the St. Petersburg NAACP

Declined
 Charlie Crist, former Republican Governor of Florida and Independent candidate for the U.S. Senate in 2010 (running for Governor)
 Jessica Ehrlich, attorney and nominee for this seat in 2012
 Charlie Justice, Pinellas County Commissioner and nominee for in 10th district in 2010
 Rick Kriseman, former state representative and Mayor of St. Petersburg
 Eric Lynn, senior White House Middle East policy adviser and former aide to Congressman Peter Deutsch
 Darryl Rouson, state representative
 Alex Sink, former chief financial officer of Florida, nominee for governor in 2010 and nominee for this seat 2014 (special)
 Ken Welch, Pinellas County Commissioner
 Peter Rudy Wallace, former Speaker of the Florida House of Representatives

Polling

Libertarian primary

Candidates

Nominee
 Lucas Overby, activist, commercial diver, and nominee for this seat in the 2014 (special)

Independents

Withdrawn 
 Ed Jany, retired Army Colonel

General election

Endorsements

Polling

Results

District 14

Incumbent Democrat Kathy Castor, who had represented the district since 2013, ran for re-election. She previously represented the 11th district from 2007 to 2013, prior to the decennial redistricting.

Democratic primary

Candidates

Nominee
Kathy Castor, incumbent U.S. Representative

Republican primary
No Republicans filed to run.

Withdrawn 
John Coney

General election
No candidates filed to challenge Castor for her seat, so she returned to office without standing for election.

Endorsements

Results

District 15

Incumbent Republican Dennis Ross, who had represented the district since 2013, ran for re-election. He previously represented the 12th district from 2011 to 2013, prior to the decennial redistricting.

Republican primary

Candidates

Nominee
Dennis Ross, incumbent U.S. Representative

Democratic primary

Candidates

Nominee
Alan Cohn, former investigative reporter

General election

Endorsements

Polling

Results

District 16

Incumbent Republican Vern Buchanan, who had represented the district since 2013, ran for re-election. He previously represented the 16th district from 2009 to 2013, prior to the decennial redistricting.

Republican primary

Candidates

Nominee
Vern Buchanan, incumbent U.S. Representative

Democratic primary

Candidates

Nominee
Henry Lawrence, former NFL offensive lineman

Withdrawn
Mitch Mallett, former vice chair of the Manatee county Democratic party

General election
101-year-old Joe Newman ran as a write-in candidate.

Results

District 17

Incumbent Republican Tom Rooney, who had represented the district since 2013, ran for re-election. He previously represented the 13th district from 2007 to 2013, prior to the decennial redistricting.

Republican primary

Candidates

Nominee
Tom Rooney, incumbent U.S. Representative

Withdrawn
Erin Magee
John Sawyer

Democratic primary

Candidates

Nominee
Will Bronson

General election

Results

District 18

Incumbent Democrat Patrick Murphy, who had represented Florida's 18th congressional district since 2013 after defeating Republican Allen West, ran for re-election.

Democratic primary

Candidates

Nominee
Patrick Murphy, incumbent U.S. Representative

Republican primary
Juno Beach Councilwoman Ellen Andel, who had declared her candidacy in May 2013, withdrew from the race in February 2014. Despite West's endorsement, she posted poor fundraising numbers and began 2014 with only $5,537 cash-on-hand, to Murphy's $1.8 million.

Candidates

Nominee
Carl J. Domino, former state representative

Eliminated in primary
Beverly Hires, nurse
Brian Lara, computer software developer 
Calvin Turnquest, former Tequesta Council member 
Alan Schlesinger, former mayor of Derby, Connecticut, former Connecticut State Representative and nominee for the U.S. Senate from Connecticut in 2006 
Nick Wukoson, small business owner

Withdrawn
Ellen Andel, Juno Beach Council member 
Frank Lynch

Declined
Adam Hasner, former Majority Leader of the Florida House of Representatives and nominee for the 22nd district in 2012 
Gayle Harrell, state representative and candidate for 16th district in 2008
Ilya Katz, author
Allen West, former U.S. Representative

Results

General election

Endorsements

Polling

 * Internal poll for the Patrick Murphy campaign

Predictions

Results

District 19

Incumbent Republican Curt Clawson, who had represented the district since an 2014 special election, ran for re-election.

Republican Trey Radel who had elected to represent the 19th district in 2012, resigned on January 27, 2014, requiring a special election to fill the remainder of his term.

Republican primary

Candidates

Nominee
Curt Clawson, incumbent U.S. Representative

Declined
 Lizbeth Benacquisto, state senator
 Chauncey Goss, political consultant and candidate for this seat in 2012
 Connie Mack IV, former U.S. Representative and nominee for U.S. Senate in 2012
 Paige Kreegel, former state representative and candidate for this seat in 2012

Democratic primary

Candidates

Nominee
April Freeman, film and television producer and co-founder of a political consulting firm

General election

Endorsements

Results

District 20

Incumbent Democrat Alcee Hastings, who had represented the district since 2013, ran for re-election. He previously represented the 13th district from 1993 to 2013, prior to the decennial redistricting.

Democratic primary

Candidates

Nominee
Alcee Hastings, incumbent U.S. Representative

Eliminated in primary
Jean Enright, Port of Palm Beach Commissioner
Jameel McCline, former professional boxer

Results

Republican primary

Candidates

Nominee
Jay Bonner, marketing consultant and land surveyor

General election

Endorsements

Results

District 21

Incumbent Democrat Ted Deutch, who had represented the district since 2013, ran for re-election. He previously represented the 19th district from 2010 to 2013, prior to the decennial redistricting.

Democratic primary

Candidates

Nominee
Ted Deutch, incumbent U.S. Representative

Eliminated in primary
Emmanuel Morel

Results

Republican primary
No Republicans filed

Candidates

Withdrawn
Henry Colon

General election

Endorsements

Results

District 22

Incumbent Democrat Lois Frankel, who had represented the district since 2013, ran for re-election.

Democratic primary

Candidates

Nominee
Lois Frankel, incumbent U.S. Representative

Republican primary

Candidates

Nominee
Paul Spain

Eliminated in primary
Andrea Leigh McGee
David Wagie

Withdrawn
Jeremy Rodgers

Results

General election

Endorsements

Results

District 23

Incumbent Democrat Debbie Wasserman Schultz, who had represented the district since 2013, ran for re-election. She previously represented the 20th district from 2005 to 2013, prior to the decennial redistricting.

Democratic primary

Candidates

Nominee
Debbie Wasserman Schultz, incumbent U.S. Representative

Republican primary

Candidates

Nominee
Joseph Kaufman, Founder of Americans Against Hate

Eliminated in primary
Juan Garcia

Declined
Ed Goldfarb, realtor

Results

General election

Endorsements

Results

District 24

Incumbent Democrat Frederica Wilson, who had represented the district since 2013, ran for re-election. She previously represented the 17th district from 2011 to 2013, prior to the decennial redistricting.

Democratic primary

Candidates

Nominee
Frederica Wilson, incumbent U.S. Representative

Eliminated in primary
Michael Etienne

Results

Republican primary

Candidates

Nominee
Dufirstson Julio Neree

General election

Endorsements

Results

District 25

Incumbent Republican Mario Diaz-Balart, who had represented the district since 2013, ran for re-election. He previously represented the 21st district from 2011 to 2013, as well as a different version of the 25th from 2003 to 2011, prior to the decennial redistricting.

Republican primary

Candidates

Nominee
Mario Diaz-Balart, incumbent U.S. Representative

General election
No candidates filed to challenge Diaz-Balart for his seat, so he returned to office without standing for election.

Endorsements

Results

District 26

Incumbent Democrat Joe García, who had represented the district since 2013, ran for re-election.

Democratic primary

Candidates

Nominee
Joe García, incumbent U.S. Representative

Republican primary

Candidates

Nominee
 Carlos Curbelo, member of the Miami-Dade County Public School Board

Eliminated in primary
 Ed MacDougall, Mayor of Cutler Bay
 Joe Martinez, former Miami-Dade County commissioner
 David Rivera, former U.S. Representative
Lorenzo Palomares Starbuck

Declined
Anitere Flores, state senator
Jose Felix Diaz, state representative

Results

General election

Endorsements

Polling

Predictions

Results

District 27

Incumbent Republican Ileana Ros-Lehtinen who had represented the district since 2012, ran for re-election. She previously represented the 18th district from 1989 to 2013, prior to the decennial redistricting.

Republican primary

Candidates

Nominee
Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, incumbent U.S. Representative

General election
No candidates filed to challenge Ros-Lehtinen for her seat, so she returned to office without standing for election.

Endorsements

Results

See also
 2014 United States House of Representatives elections
 2014 United States elections

References

External links
U.S. House elections in Florida, 2014 at Ballotpedia
Campaign contributions at OpenSecrets

Florida
2014
United States House of Representatives