![\"Candidates](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/1785597669_285_.jpeg\"\/)
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Candidates for the United States Representative District 19 seat, from left, clockwise, Victor Arias (D), Greg Bukowski (R), Madison Cawthorn (R), Chris Collins (R), Seth Haskin (NPA), Ola Hawatmeh (R), Catalina Lauf (R), Robert Neeld (D), Jim Oberweis (R), Mike Pederson (R), Howard Sapp (D), Linda Sawyer (R), Jim Schwartzel (D), John Strand (R), (Not pictured), Alexandra Zakhvatayev (Write-in).<\/p>\n
Republican candidates in the District 19 Congressional race are spending millions of dollars for television ads, mailers and online promotion, and most of that money is coming from their own pockets.<\/p>\n
The 10 candidates have loaned themselves more than $9.5 million, with Jim Oberweis leading the way with $4.9 million in loans as of June 30, the last reporting date.<\/p>\n
The winner of the August 18 primary is all but assured of winning the November 3 general election against the Democratic candidate, either Victor Arias, Robert Neeld or Howard Sapp. No Democrat ever has been elected to the House seat in Republican-dominated Southwest Florida, which takes most of the Lee and Collier County coasts.<\/p>\n
Candidates lending themselves money isn\u2019t unusual, said Bethany Conrad, an assistant professor of political science at Florida Gulf Coast University. The loans are important because no big donors have jumped into the race to back any candidates.<\/p>\n
The candidates raised about $2.9 million in individual donations, with Catalina Lauf, who loaned herself no money, raising the most, $1.4 million, through June 30.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a little bit interesting because we are less than a month out from the primary, so we would expect that people start picking their candidate by this point,\u201d Conrad said.<\/p>\n
There have been few public polls. The independent Victory Insights poll, surveyed between June 21-23, showed that Jim Schwartzel led Jim Oberweis 13 percent to 12 percent. No other candidate received double digit support. Fifty-four percent of those questioned were undecided.<\/p>\n
An internal poll done by Action Solutions for candidate Ola Hawatmeh showed her leading with 13 percent of those polled. Schwartzel finished second at 10 percent.<\/p>\n
If the predictions market Kalshi is any indication, 40 percent of the bets are on Schwartzel winning.<\/p>\n
Conrad suggested that part of the reason people haven\u2019t solidified their pick this late in the campaign is because of the Donald Trump effect<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople are waiting on either Trump\u2019s endorsement or someone like Byron Donalds\u2019 endorsement to kind of figure out where they are going to throw their support,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
President Trump has given no indication that he will endorse a candidate. The website Politico reported that a member of the president\u2019s political operation who was not authorized to speak publicly, said Trump could make some endorsements but gave no timetable. He\u2019s only endorsed one Florida congressional candidate, Sydney Gruters, in District 16.<\/p>\n
Donalds\u2019 media representative didn\u2019t return an email asking if he would endorse.<\/p>\n
Candidates might not get a Trump endorsement, but they are making sure voters know they endorse the president. All the serious candidates splash pictures of themselves with Trump in their campaign ads and on their mailers.<\/p>\n
Former U.S. Rep. Chris Collins, who the president pardoned after he pleaded guilty to insider trading, touts that he was the first in Congress to back Trump in 2015. Lauf touts her experience working in the Trump administration. Schwartzel, whose initial TV ads emphasized being born and raised in Southwest Florida, made sure voters know he stands with the President 100 percent.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not really surprising that Republican candidates in all these different districts are trying to attach themselves to that Trump effect because he is very popular, and in a lot of ways, even if he hasn\u2019t inserted himself in these races by endorsing a candidate. \u2026 He inserts himself in a way by kind of setting the ideological standard for the candidates,\u201d Conrad said.<\/p>\n
Voters look at those standards and look for the candidate who will meet those standards, she said.<\/p>\n
Most of the top-tier candidates are like so many of Southwest Florida\u2019s population, they are newcomers. Oberweis has owned a home in Bonita Springs for 16 years, but he became a full-time Florida resident around 2020. He\u2019s run for office twice before, in Illinois. He almost won a Senate seat, and he lost a House race. Ironically, one of his opponents in the House primary was Lauf, who now lives in Bonita Springs. She registered to vote in Florida in 2024.<\/p>\n
Hawatmeh ran for Congress in New York in 2020. She moved to North Fort Myers in December 2025, according to property records, just before announcing her District 19 candidacy. Collins became a Florida resident in 2019 after resigning from Congress and pleading guilty to insider trading. Madison Cawthorn was 25 when he first was elected to Congress in 2020 in North Carolina. He lost his seat in the 2022 election. He now lives in Cape Coral.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s not much that differentiates the candidates on the issues. They speak out against illegal immigration, inflation, improving the economy and protecting Southwest Florida\u2019s environment.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe biggest thing that probably distinguishes some of them is that some of them have either served in Congress or have run for Congress before and others haven\u2019t,\u201d Conrad said. \u201cAnd some of them are businessmen and some of them are not. Those are really the only big differences. So, at the end of the day it kind of comes down to which candidate can sell themselves the best to the voters.\u201d<\/p>\n
That\u2019s where money helps. Money buys name recognition.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you have the money to do a little bit of everything, if you could do the TV ads, and you can do the online ads and the mailers, it\u2019s just getting your name and your face in front of the voters more,\u201d Conrad said. \u201cAnd that\u2019s something that\u2019s really important in a primary like this one, specifically because there\u2019s not a ton of difference between the candidates.\u201d<\/p>\n
Oberweis has the money, and he hasn\u2019t been afraid to spend it. He spent $142,8000 on television ads and $138,000 in online advertising in a single day, according to Federal Election Commission filings. He spent almost $200,000 for TV ads through June 30, according to the filings, and $30,000 in radio ads. The ads helped him score the highest name recognition in the Victory Insight poll released in June.<\/p>\n
Schwartzel, who has spent heavily on radio spots, was second with 48 percent, Lauf, who has spent mostly on digital advertising had 38 percent recognition, and Cawthorn, who also spent heavily on digital advertising, was at 34 percent.<\/p>\n
Name recognition and money are great, and maybe hint at who will be the winner, but ultimately voter turnout is what wins elections, Conrad said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it definitely gives hints as to maybe which candidate people are a bit more confident or a little bit more excited about, but at the end of the day really, it depends on whether people show up and vote for that candidate,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
IMPORTANT DATESAugust 6: Last day to request mail-in ballot
August 8-15: Early voting
August 18 \u2013 Primary
Key Election Dates\/General Election
October 5 \u2013 Voter registration deadline
October 22- Last day to request mail-in ballot
October 19-31 \u2013 Early voting
November 3 \u2013 General election<\/p>\n