A candidate who enjoyed the endorsement of President Donald Trump and a school teacher won their respective primaries on Tuesday and will advance to the special election on April 1 to fill a local seat in Congress.
Randy Fine, a state senator from Melbourne Beach, and Josh Weil of Orlando, won their primaries in the race for the Congressional District 6 seat which had been held by Mike Waltz, who has been tapped as Trump’s national security advisor, creating the vacancy. The district includes parts of Lake and Marion counties.
Fine, who spent heavily on mailers which flooded the local market, easily outdistanced Republican rivals Ehsan Joarder of Brooksville and Aaron Baker of Sorrento. Fine’s mailers and other advertisements prominently featured photos of him with Trump.
Weil, a single father and public school educator, won the Democratic primary, defeating George “Ges” Selmont, of Elkton.
Local turnout in the special election was anemic with only 14 percent of eligible voters casting ballots in Lake County and only 10.95 percent of eligible voters taking part in Marion County. Fine and Weil won big in both of those counties.
