After 12 years at his current post, outgoing Duval County Sheriff John Rutherford will turn his eyes to federal politics as he plans to run in 2016 for the congressional seat currently held by U.S. Rep. Ron DeSantis, R-Fla., who is running for the U.S. Senate.
Rutherford, who had been featured in commercials for former Republican Party of Florida (RPOF) Chairman Lenny Currys successful bid to ouster Jacksonville Mayor Alvin Brown, appeared on WJCT on Tuesday and said he was looking at running for Congress, including gathering a team together. After fellow Republican Mike Williams was elected on Tuesday night to replace him, Rutherford confirmed his interest in running for Congress.
While the district contains much of the First Coast, Rutherford does not live in it. Rutherford has called Jacksonville home since moving there as a child in the middle of the 1950s and served four decades in the police.
Rutherford could face a crowded primary next year. While her political base has been outside the district, former U.S. Rep. Sandy Adams, R-Fla., who represented some of the Volusia County part of the current district during her term in Congress, is looking to return to Congress. Adams, like Rutherford, currently does not live in the district. Former New Smyrna Beach Mayor Adam Barringer is also running for the Republican nomination.
Other possible candidates include Florida Sen. Dorothy Hukill, R-Port Orange; former Florida Rep. Doc Renuart who lost in the Republican primary earlier this year in the special election for an open state Senate seat; and Florida Rep. David Santiago, R-Deltona.
Florida Rep. Fred Costello, R-Port Orange, who came in second to DeSantis in the 2012 primary, is not running again and has backed Adams. A spokeswoman for newly elected Florida Sen. Travis Hutson, R-Elkton, who represents much of the congressional district in the Senate and who beat Renuart in the primary earlier this year, told the Florida Times Union earlier this month that he will not run for Congress.
Containing all of St. Johns and Flagler counties and parts of Putnam and Volusia counties, the district is solidly Republican. In 2012, a good year for Democrats, DeSantis defeated Democrat Heather Beaven by 14 percent. Two years later, in a good year for Republicans, DeSantis did even better, crushing Democrat David Cox by 25 percent.
Reach Kevin Derby at kderby@sunshinestatenews.com or follow him on Twitter: @KevinDerbySSN
