Jim Schwartzel was projected to win the Republican primary for Florida’s 19th Congressional District, prevailing in a crowded race for Rep. Byron Donalds’ open seat, which he opted to vacate in order to mount a run for governor.
The Associated Press called the race Tuesday for Schwartzel, a conservative local media mogul, who bested nearly a dozen candidates — including President Donald Trump’s pick, Catalina Lauf, and two former members of Congress with controversial tenures.
Schwartzel spent nearly $1.9 million through July 29, according to Federal Elections Commission totals. He had raised concerns about his opponents’ lack of local ties to southwest Florida, leaning heavily on his status as one of the few candidates who is a lifelong resident of the state.
Lauf, a former Commerce Department adviser during Trump’s first term, earned the second-highest vote share after spending just $1.6 million on her campaign. She received a last-minute endorsement from Trump on Aug. 13, and earned the support of Florida Rep. Anna Paulina Luna.
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Lauf faced criticism for recently moving to Florida from her home state of Illinois, where she ran for Congress in 2022. Her lack of ties to the district became a scandal of sorts in the waning days of the primary campaign after an audio clip showed Lauf struggling to answer questions about local officials in her newly adopted city of Bonita Springs.
Many of the frontrunners’ foes previously held elected positions in other states, before recently moving to Florida.
Former Illinois state Sen. Jim Oberweis had the largest war chest in the race with $5.3 million, nearly all of which came from a personal loan to the campaign.
Former New York Rep. Chris Collins, whom Trump pardoned in 2020 after he served two months of his 26-month sentence for insider trading and lying to the FBI, was also in the running. He spent more than $2.4 million of his entirely self-funded campaign of $3.4 million.
Former Rep. Madison Cawthorn, who served one term in Congress for North Carolina before losing his reelection bid in 2023, also moved to the district to run for the seat. The House Ethics Committee had admonished Cawthorn over accusations that he improperly promoted cryptocurrency just before he lost reelection to Congress. He had also faced sexual misconduct allegations from his past and legal troubles for bringing a loaded gun to an airport, as well as ticketed for excessive speeding and charged with driving on a revoked license.
Cawthorn loaned $800,000 to his campaign, which spent more than $720,000 on the race.
Other candidates included former congressional staffer Ola Hawatmeh, pardoned Jan. 6 rioter John Strand, businessman Greg “Tex” Burkowski, Marine Corps veteran Mike Pedersen and nurse Linda Sawyer.
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