Even as legislators get ready to return to Tallahassee for a special session to handle redistricting of the Florida Senate, an interesting Democratic primary is starting to shape up in South Florida for the seat currently held by state Sen. Jeremy Ring, D-Margate, who faces term limits next year.
On Tuesday, attorney Gary Farmer, the former president of the Florida Justice Association, announced his bid for the Senate seat. A prominent trial attorney who helped Vice President Al Gore’s legal efforts in Florida during the 2000 presidential election, Farmer filed his paperwork to run for the seat last week.
In his announcement on Tuesday, Farmer tore into Gov. Rick Scott and the Republicans in charge in Tallahassee.
“The next state senator of this district needs to be a loud, vocal advocate for consumers and those simply trying to make it day to day,” Farmer said. “The Scott administration and the Republican-led Florida Senate are simply failing the public on every level, letting large corporations run the show and making it harder for most people to make ends meet. My entire career has been spent fighting for our rights - and now I’m going to take that fight to the halls of the Florida Senate.”
Farmer does not have an open shot at the Democratic nomination. Former state Rep. Jim Waldman filed to run for the seat back in 2012 and has been assembling a solid war chest. By the end of September, Waldman raised more than $115,850, loaned his campaign $202,500 and spent around $26,600 of that.
Like Farmer, Waldman is a prominent attorney and has served as general counsel of Keiser University. Waldman rose up the political ladder, starting in Coconut Creek where he served as a city commissioner, vice mayor and, eventually, mayor. In 2006, Waldman was elected to the Florida House where he served until facing term limits in 2014.
Ring, the chairman of the Senate Governmental Oversight and Accountability Committee and the vice chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, represents much of the western part of Broward County. But, with the Legislature meeting next week in a special session, the district might change in the latest round of redistricting. Ring’s district is solidly Democratic and no Republicans have entered the race so far.
Reach Kevin Derby at kderby@sunshinestatenews.com or follow him on Twitter: @KevinDerbySSN
