Local Congressional Race Attracting Lots Of Attention

The contest as to who will replace Adam Putnam as the 12th District’s representative in Congress has gotten crowded.

With Putnam and his significant campaign bank account stepping aside for a run to become Florida’s next Commissioner of Agriculture and Consumer Services, six candidates have filed as of today.  The latest to join the fray is Valrico resident Randolph “Randy” Edwards, who is retiring after a 22 year career in the United States Marine Corps.  The Florida Division of Elections’ Web Site notes that Edwards filed qualifying papers last Monday.

The two other Democrats have been busy raising funds and meeting potential supporters for some time now:  Polk County Supervisor of Elections Lori Edwards of Winter Haven, a former state legislator before being term limited, filed at the end of June.  Another retired military man, former Naval Master Chief Yeoman Douglas David “Doug”  Tudor of Riverview, challenged Putnam unsuccessfully in 2008, but earned 42.5  percent of the vote across the district which entails much of Polk County as well as portions of Hillsborough and Osceola counties.

Meanwhile, three other candidates hope to keep the seat in GOP hands.  Lakeland attorney and former State Representative Dennis Ross filed to run in March, shortly after being term-limited from his legislative post.  Bradley D. Kallhoff of Lakeland and John W. Lindsey, Jr. of Winter Haven have not established campaign Web sites, but Lindsey does have a Twitter presence.

Something tells me that this political season will be veeeeeeeeery interesting.