New polling from Victory Insights shows now-former state Rep. Kevin Steele leading the pack in an eight-candidate GOP Primary for Florida’s 14th Congressional District, where Republicans hope to flip longtime U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor’s Tampa-area seat.
Steele has the backing of 32% of respondents. He’s followed by former state Rep. Mike Beltran at 22.5% and Bea Valenti, a former adviser to U.S. Sen. Ashley Moody, at 8%. All other candidates register less than 2% support.
Nearly a third of voters remain undecided.
Those findings tell a different story than the St. Pete Polls survey conducted in mid-July showing Beltran leading with 30% and Steele in second with 18%.
Steele, a businessman and CEO who lives in Dade City, has spent two terms representing House District 55, which covers central Pasco County. This week, he abruptly resigned from the Legislature after posting a photo of himself voting early in Hillsborough County.
Beltran represented House District 70, which includes parts of Hillsborough and Manatee counties, for three terms before deciding to step aside in 2024.
Both Beltran and Steele have loaned massive sums to their respective campaigns. Steele, a retired CEO with a personal net worth of $152 million, has invested $2.5 million of his own funds and spent more than $2.1 million through July 29.
Beltran, a lawyer from Riverview, loaned himself more than $2 million but had spent less than $177,000.
The GOP nominee will face Castor, a 10-term Democratic incumbent. Recent redistricting means the new district boundaries voted 55% for Donald Trump in 2024, but the same July St. Pete Polls found Castor leading both Beltran and Steele by healthy margins.
The survey of 1,200 likely Republican Primary voters was taken across six congressional districts between Aug. 4 and Aug. 6.
The Primary is Aug. 18.