Republican Adam Putnam will be the next Florida agriculture and consumer services commissioner after defeating Democrat Scott Maddox in a landslide victory Tuesday.
With nearly 5 million votes counted, Putnam, who gave up his U.S. House seat to run for the Florida Cabinet seat, garnered 56 percent of the vote, compared to Maddoxs 38 percent. Tea Party candidate Ira Chester received 4 percent, and independent candidate Thad Hamilton received 2 percent.
Its a tremendous honor, Putnam said after the race was called in his favor.
Although Maddox, the former mayor of Tallahassee, pointed to polls late in the race showing he was closing on his opponent, Putnam led most of the way.
Maddox blamed his defeat on the Republican wave nationally and in Florida.
Obviously we were facing a Republican tsunami due to national issues, Maddox said.
Putnam, of course, had a different take on the GOP tide, but added a note of caution for his party.
What we saw was a wave election that rejected the status quo in Washington. And now we have an opportunity to produce results and if we dont . . . the same thing will happen to us in the next election, he said.
Whereas Maddox indicated throughout the race that he would focus more on the consumer services aspect of the cabinet seats duties if he won, Putnam, who grew up in rural Polk County, had the support of nearly every farming interest group in the state and will likely concentrate on the agricultural side of the Commissioners seat.
After the race, however, Putnam stressed that he would ably fulfill both parts of the Commissioners job.
People soundly rejected the false choice between the consumer services and the agriculture parts of the Commissioner, Putnam said.
For his part, Maddox held out hope that Putnam would focus more on the consumer services side of the job.
It is my great hope that our focus on consumer protection in this campaign will continue with the winner of todays contest, he said.
Putnam also outgunned Maddox with greater campaign funds and slightly better name recognition throughout the state for a somewhat obscure race for a Florida Cabinet seat.
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Reach Gray Rohrer at grohrer@sunshinestatenews.com or at (850) 727-0859.
