Republican Candidate Enters Senate Race on the First Coast

This week, a Republican candidate entered the race to replace term-limited Sen. Tony Hill, D-Jacksonville. While the seat currently represents parts of Duval, Flagler, Putnam, St. Johns and Volusia counties, that may change after redistricting in early 2012.

Robert Allen Jones, who currently works in maintenance at the Sawgrass County Club in Ponte Vedra, filed to run for the seat as a Republican, joining two veterans of the Florida House -- Terry Fields and Audrey Gibson -- who are battling for the Democratic nomination, and John Strifler, an advocate for open-carry laws who is running with no party affiliation.

Speaking to Sunshine State News on Tuesday, Jones said he intended to launch his campaign by taking a page from the Lawton Chiles playbook and walk across parts of the district gathering petitions for his candidacy.

The First Coast Republican said he had a desire to help people, pointing to his experience with the Red Cross and highlighting the issues he intended to focus on in his campaign.

Jones said that many politicians were willing to talk about the problems with the St. Johns River but were doing nothing about it. He also raised concerns about the charter fishing process.

The new candidate also raised concerns about education. Jones said that schools needed to focus on teaching students about personal finances, focusing on the importance of credit scores, the stock market, 401(k) plans and other resources.