The clock is ticking down until Saturday when more than 250 members of the Republican Party of Florida will cast their ballots to determine who will take over as the chairman of the Republican Party of Florida and lead the party to the 2016 elections.
By this morning, the clear favorite is the current party chair, Leslie Dougher, but the inner-party race is hardly sewn up for any of the four candidates.
Dougher, of Clay County, stepped into the position as chairwoman in mid-2014 when Lenny Curry resigned to run for office in Duval County. Despite the short tenure, Dougher played no small part in leading the party to victory during last years election cycle -- and on top of boasting a victorious election year, she is also riding on the endorsement of Gov. Rick Scott.
In addition, Dougher has the backing of five past party chairs, all of whom have said she should remain at the helm of the RPOF.
I have looked up to these leaders throughout my career, wrote Dougher earlier this week. I have leaned on each of these distinguished members of our party for support and am honored to have their vote of confidence.
But just because Dougher has received the thumbs up from Scott and specters of the partys past doesnt mean she is a shoo-in for the position.
If anything, Saturdays election is vastly unpredictable.
Running against her are two state committeemen: Kurt Kelly from Marion County and Eric Miller from Martin County. Miller has run for the partys top position several times in the past, but has yet to win.
Kelly received a significant boost this week when a longtime Republican favorite, Republican National Committeeman Peter Feaman, endorsed him for party chair.
Ive thought a lot about it over the last few months, said Feaman in a video endorsing Kelly. I find one candidate that stands head and shoulders above the rest.
Feaman pointed to grassroots support and fundraising as some of the reasons he would be advocating for Kelly as chair.
Another familiar face in the party also will challenge Dougher: vice chair and newly-elected state Rep. Blaise Ingoglia. Ingoglia, who has served as vice chairman since 2011, has already said he would be seeking re-election for his House seat in 2016.
At the end of the day, the fate of the next party chair comes down to a numbers game -- in order to avoid a runoff vote, a candidate needs to have 129 of the 256 votes.
So far, Dougher has a decent amount of votes to carry her to victory -- Gov. Scott has 10 votes and so do Senate President Andy Gardiner and House Speaker Steve Crisafulli, each of whom appoint 10 members to the voting committee.
Dougher has already reeled in around 50 public endorsements, so she is expected to have nearly 90 votes going in. The party also uses state committeewomen and if Dougher keeps women her way, she will be tough to beat.
The meeting will be Friday and Saturday in Orlando, but the voting isn't until Saturday.
