Sometimes politicians can win from losing. Just ask Paul Renner.
Last year, Renner lost by the narrowest of margins to Jay Fant in an ugly Republican primary for an open Florida House seat on Jacksonvilles Westside. Now, a few months later, Renner is the heavy favorite to win the House seat vacated by Travis Hutsons decision to run for an open Florida Senate seat.
Renner was always an attractive candidate. A Navy vet and attorney, Renner had been one of the Duval County GOPs leaders even before he ran against Fant. Despite losing by only a handful of votes, Renner was smart enough to be a loyal troop, backing Fant and encouraging his supporters to accept the results with as much grace as possible.
That paid off for Renner surprisingly only a few months later. Renner is now off and running for Hutsons old seat which represents all of Flagler and parts of St. Johns and Volusia counties. Its a far different district than the one Renner ran for last year but he is easily the man to beat.
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So far Renner has raised serious dough, amounting to almost $139,000 from Nov. 10 until the end of December and spending more than $111,000 of it.
Renners primary opponents simply are getting steam-rolled. Conservative Danielle Anderson has longstanding roots in Flagler County and has been active with the county GOP for years, even holding leadership positions. But by the end of December, she had raised only $500. Ron Sanchez is pretty well-known from his time on the St. Johns County Commission but he is coming off a defeat, having lost his seat this year. But Sanchez isnt well-known outside of his home base. By the end of December, he had raised less than $2,000 and had to rely on $6,300 he loaned his campaign. Neither Anderson nor Sanchez appears to have much of a chance in the Jan. 27 special primary, even though strange things often take place in low-turnout contests like this one.
Whoever wins the primary should be headed to Tallahassee. Democrat Adam Morley simply isnt much of a factor in this very Republican district and he raised less than $600 by the end of last month. Its tough imagining him being much of a factor come the special election in April.
The writing was on the wall pretty early in this one. There were certainly plenty of Republicans looking at running for the seat. Dave Sullivan from the Flagler County GOP was pretty vocal with his discontent about Renner moving into the district. Donald OBrien from the Flagler County Chamber of Commerce jumped in for 2016 but then got out. Having just run and lost as an independent for Flagler County Commission, Howard Holley tried to take Renner on in the Republican primary but he didnt qualify. Conservative Sheamus McNeely had deep ties to the area but withdrew from the field.
But, despite moving into the district, Renner looks primed for big wins in the days to come -- and his civil behavior after losing a heartbreaker to Fant helped ensure major Republican backers would continue to support him.
Tallahassee political writer Jeff Henderson wrote this analysis exclusively for Sunshine State News.
