Looking to extend his lengthy career on the political stage, U.S. Rep. Ander Crenshaw, R-Fla., is a heavy favorite to win the Republican nomination and the general election, despite facing a transformed district.
The son-in-law of the late Gov. Claude Kirk, Crenshaw is a veteran of Florida politics who was first elected to the Florida House in 1972 and ran unsuccessfully as the Republican nominee for secretary of state back in 1978.
He also unsuccessfully looked to move up to the U.S. Senate in 1980, losing in the GOP primary to Paula Hawkins. Bouncing back from those defeats, Crenshaw won a seat in the state Senate, rising to become the first Republican in more than a century to serve as the president of that chamber. Crenshaw ran for the Republican gubernatorial nomination in 1994 but, along with the rest of the field, was trounced by Jeb Bush.
When U.S. Rep. Tillie Fowler announced that she was retiring in 2000, Crenshaw successfully ran to represent parts of North Florida and the First Coast in Congress. From his perches on the Appropriations Committee and the Subcommittee on Defense, Crenshaw has been active in trying to prepare Mayport Naval Station to house a nuclear-powered aircraft in the near future. Crenshaw chairs the Subcommittee on the Legislative Branch and has been included in the Republican leadership, serving as a deputy whip.
As he runs for a seventh term, Crenshaw faces the changes resulting from the Legislature tackling redistricting earlier in the year. For the last decade, Crenshaw has represented all of Baker, Columbia, Hamilton, Madison, Nassau and Union counties and parts of Duval, Jefferson, and Leon counties. The new district is based on and around the First Coast including parts of Duval County and all of Baker and Nassau counties -- areas where Crenshaw has done well before.
With almost $587,000 in the bank at the end of June and no Democratic opponent, Crenshaw is a heavy favorite as he seeks re-election. Still, he does face challengers in the Republican primary come Aug. 14 in Bob Black and Deborah Pueschel, both of whom are trying to run to Crenshaws right. Black, a businessman and engineer, has relied on $2,000 of his own money and less than $500 from others as he looks to defeat Crenshaw. As of the end of June, he had $250 on hand. Pueschel, a retired federal employee who has run against Crenshaw several times in the past without much success, had slightly over $900 on hand at the end of June.
Whoever emerges with the Republican nomination will face businessman Jim Klauder, who is running with no party affiliation, come November. Klauder is a fiscal conservative who served in the Navy during the Vietnam War and spent eight years as a county commissioner in San Juan County in Washington state.
Klauder has done better than Crenshaws other opponents in the money chase though he has not done anywhere near as well as the incumbent. He has raised almost $18,000 from individuals and kicked in almost $7,000 of his own money. By the end of June, he had more than $10,000 in the bank.
Crenshaw has seen challengers like this before. In 2010, Troy Stanley -- like Klauder, a conservative businessman who served in the Navy -- pulled out of the Republican primary to challenge Crenshaw in the general election. While Stanley offered Crenshaw a spirited challenge, he took 23 percent while the incumbent garnered 77 percent in the general election. While Klauder has done better than Stanley did in terms of fundraising, Crenshaw appears a strong favorite to keep his seat in November.
Reach Kevin Derby at kderby@sunshinestatenews.com or at (850) 727-0859.
