Republicans have a razor-thin majority in the House of Representatives, and as the party in power in the White House, will have a historically tough time defending it in this year’s midterms.
In addition to defending that small majority, Republicans face significant hurdles in state legislatures this year as well.
Republican state Rep. Paula Stark will not appear on the ballot this election cycle after a Florida judge denied her effort to overturn her disqualification, leaving House District 47 without a Republican candidate in the general election.
Leon County Circuit Judge Joshua Hawkes ruled against Stark, from St. Cloud, after she challenged her disqualification from the ballot for failing to complete the candidate qualification process before the filing deadline.
With no Republican candidate remaining, the race for Florida House District 47, which includes portions of Orange and Osceola counties, will be decided in the Aug. 18 Democratic primary between Jorge Figueroa and Anthony Nieves.
Because no Republican qualified for the general election, the primary will be open to all registered voters regardless of party affiliation.
The dispute centered on Stark’s required Form 6 financial disclosure.
In her lawsuit, Stark argued that her campaign treasurer, Joel Davis, who is also her longtime partner, submitted the form before the June 12 qualification deadline but that a Division of Elections clerk mistakenly returned the document without officially filing it.
Davis said he delivered the paperwork approximately 25 minutes before the noon filing deadline.
But Hawkes rejected the explanation.
“What likely happened in this case, as counsel for Intervenors suggests, was that Mr. Davis thought the Form 6 was not needed because he had submitted it the day before to the Florida Commission on Ethics,” the judge wrote in his order.
“Mr. Davis attributed this line of thinking to the clerk in supposedly handing him back the Form 6, but it is much more likely that he thought this and did not actually turn in the Form 6,” the judge continued.
“In any case, the Court does not credit the story of DOE staff immediately returning the Form 6, the Form 6 was not turned in before the noon deadline, and Petitioner did not show that she qualified for HD 47,” he ruled.
State election officials also disputed Davis’ claims.
According to Hawkes, five Division of Elections employees testified that they never received Stark’s required Form 6 financial disclosure.
The employees also described a streamlined procedure used during the final 30 minutes before the filing deadline in which clerks accepted and time-stamped candidate paperwork without reviewing it for completeness.
“DOE had four clerks working the counter at the time. There was also a supervisor responsible for their work. All five testified,” the judge wrote.
“They all testified consistently that after 11:30, the clerks no longer performed any check of the papers,” he said.
“Instead, they just received, stamped, and later, if time allowed, handed copies of the stamped forms back as courtesy copies,” Hawkes added.
“The streamlined, no-review, process was to ensure those that wanted to qualify could before the noon deadline,” his ruling continued.
“By way of example, if somebody submitted paperwork to run for the Governor of Alabama, they would have received and stamped it. There is no stamped copy of Petitioner’s Form 6,” he said.
Davis also argued that confusion inside the Division of Elections office prevented the financial disclosure form from being time-stamped after he realized it had not been filed.
However, testimony presented during the court proceedings contradicted that account, with multiple elections employees stating that the disturbance occurred earlier in the morning rather than near the candidate qualification deadline.
“The Court finds that the incident happened early in the morning and would not have served as the distraction that Mr. Davis suggests it would have before closing,” Hawkes wrote.
“The Court also finds that the timing discrepancy of this incident severely undermines Mr. Davis’ credibility.”
