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Democrats Michelle Rayner and Fentrice Driskell are running in an open primary in state Senate District 16. <\/p>\nDemocrats Michelle Rayner and Fentrice Driskell are running in an open primary in state Senate District 16. <\/p>\n
Credit: Photos via Florida House<\/p>\n
One of the most interesting state legislative primaries taking place on Aug. 18 is the race for the state Senate District 16 seat in the Tampa Bay area between Democratic state Reps. Fentrice Driskell and Michele Rayner.<\/p>\n
The district encompasses the downtowns of two of Florida\u2019 biggest cities \u2014 Tampa and St. Petersburg \u2014 with the majority of the seat located on the Hillsborough County side of Tampa Bay.<\/p>\n
Driskell is term limited after eight years in the Florida House, the last four as Democratic leader. Rayner was eligible to run for one more term after being elected in 2020 but seized the opportunity to serve in the Legislature\u2019s upper chamber with Sen. Darryl Rouson being term-limited out of office.<\/p>\n
The district leans strongly Democratic, and because no Republican has entered the race it is an open primary, meaning that Democrats, Republicans, and independents are all eligible to vote. The primary will determine the winner.<\/p>\n
For many Democratic voters, it\u2019s not an easy call.<\/p>\n
\u201cI would ask voters to vote for me over my opponent because I believe that this district deserves a fighter who will show up and get the job done,\u201d Driskell said in an interview on\u00a0WMNF-88.5 FM radio<\/a>\u00a0in Tampa. \u201cYou know, former state Sen. Janet Cruz used to say she\u2019s a workhorse, not a show horse, and I feel a bit similar.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cBetween our records, I feel like there\u2019s no comparison in terms of the impact and the amount of bills that I\u2019ve gotten passed, the appropriations that I\u2019ve brought home to the district,\u201d Driskell added. \u201cThe leadership experience that I have leading this caucus and being someone who has led the fight against the extremism wrought by Ron DeSantis and the Trump administration. I\u2019m ready to serve Day One.\u201d<\/p>\n A civil rights attorney, Rayner makes her case by noting her work representing the family of Markeis McGlockton, an unarmed 28-year-old Black man shot and killed in a Clearwater parking lot after a physical dispute over parking in a handicapped space in 2018. The man who killed McGlockton initially went un-arrested by the Pinellas County Sheriff\u2019s Department after the shooter invoked Florida\u2019s \u201cstand your ground\u201d law. He ultimately was convicted of manslaughter and received a 20-year prison sentence.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve stood up for our community,\u201d she said Friday during her own interview on\u00a0WMNF<\/a>. \u201cOne of the very few lawyers along with Benjamin Crump who took on the stand your ground law and won, and so the body of work has been very, very clear from day one. So, I don\u2019t shy away from hard fights.\u201d<\/p>\n She added: \u201cPeople are tired of Democrats that are just the same. People are tired of folks who don\u2019t represent their values. For the last six years, I\u2019ve worked incredibly hard to make sure that I\u2019ve represented the values of people not just in the district, but also the people of the state of Florida as well.\u201d<\/p>\n About those endorsements<\/p>\n Both candidates have received plenty of top-name endorsements, but Rayner released a press released last month attesting that 22 Democratic House members had endorsed her, about two-thirds of the caucus. That\u2019s despite the fact that Driskell has been the caucus\u2019 leader for four years.<\/p>\n Driskell attributes some of that lopsided support for her opponent to the fact that Rayner entered the race seven months before she did, \u201cso a lot of those endorsements are very old.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cOnce I filed, some of those members co-endorsed me and I happened to know that some of those members actually maybe did not endorse my opponent,\u201d Driskell said. \u201cMaybe she might be overstating some of those.\u201d<\/p>\n Rayner fired back, saying, \u201cThere\u2019s a reason that there\u2019s not one Black woman in the House or in the Senate Caucus\u201d backs Driskell. \u201cIt\u2019s the lack of being able to work with folks. It\u2019s the lack of being able to be principled.\u201d<\/p>\n Driskell insists that as leader of the caucus, she \u201cchose to put the work of our team first, and did not pressure people into choosing a side when I knew we had to spend months working together for the good of Floridians.\u201d<\/p>\n She continued: \u201cWhile my opponent is free to express her concerns about my leadership style, which I wholeheartedly dispute, she voted for me to lead twice. And only one of us has spent the last four years working non-stop for the good of the caucus as a whole.\u201d<\/p>\n The Phoenix reached out to some of the House Democrats listed by Rayner as having endorsed her. One of them, Rep. Jervonte Edmonds from West Palm Beach, said he was backing Driskell, not Rayner.<\/p>\n \u201cI have respect for Rayner, but I wholeheartedly endorse my leader,\u201d Edmonds told the Phoenix in a text message.<\/p>\n Broward County Rep. Mike Gottlieb said he has co-endorsed both candidates.<\/p>\n \u201cI have respect and admiration for both,\u201d said Orlando Democratic Rep. Anna Eskamani. \u201cMichele Rayner filed first and had my early support in hopes of preventing a primary so the focus would stay on the general.\u201d<\/p>\n The campaign had mostly run civilly until a political committee called People for Honor Project sent out mailers to voters in the district accusing Rayner of having a \u201creal Republican record.\u201d<\/p>\n That\u2019s despite the fact that the left-leaning Rayner has been labeled Ron DeSantis\u2019\u00a0\u201cworst nightmare\u201d<\/a>\u00a0and has touted being the\u00a0first \u201copenly Queer Black woman\u201d<\/a>\u00a0to serve in the Florida Legislature.<\/p>\n Rayner suspects the motivation for the mailer is that she voted to oppose a bill last session to regulate data centers (SB 484<\/a>). The measure would require the Florida Public Service Commission to develop tariffs and service requirements for electric utilities \u201cto reasonably ensure that each large load customer bears its own full cost of service and that such cost is not shifted to the general body of ratepayers.\u201d<\/p>\n Critics (including DeSantis) contended the measure had been watered down, however, because the House ultimately removed a provision restricting local governments from entering nondisclosure agreements involved in potential development of data centers.<\/p>\n The People for Honor Project PAC received a $31,500 contribution from Fort Meade LLC, the company seeking to develop a data center in Lake Meade in Polk County. That\u2019s three times the amount ($10,000) Fort Meade LLC contributed to Byron Donalds PAC for governor.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s interesting that this particular data center gave more to this PAC than they gave to Byron Donalds,\u201d Rayner said. \u201cSo, you\u2019re more afraid of me coming into the Legislature than you love Byron Donalds.\u201d<\/p>\n Legislative records<\/p>\n When it comes to legislation passed, Driskell is particularly proud of her work on lost, unrecorded, and abandoned Black cemeteries, improving treatment for people with sickle cell disease, and a bill passed a year after the George Floyd uprisings that created minimum standards training for law enforcement.<\/p>\n Perhaps Rayner\u2019s signature piece of legislation was the\u00a02024 measure<\/a>\u00a0prohibiting children under 14 from becoming social media account holders and allows 14- and 15-year-olds to become account holders only with parental consent.<\/p>\n Rayner said she \u201ctook some heat\u201d from some Republicans and fellow Democrats for her co-sponsorship of the bill, but believes the fact that other states and now other countries have followed suit showed she was on the right track.<\/p>\n Going into the last week of the campaign, Driskell maintained a fundraising lead. In terms of cash on hand, Driskell had around $118,000 combined left in her main campaign account and her two political committees. Rayner had less than $7,000 in cash on hand in her main campaign account and political committee.<\/p>\n Associated Industries of Florida, which labels itself the \u201cThe Voice of Florida Business,\u201d has contributed a total of $40,000 to one of Driskell\u2019s PACs. She recently received $2,500 from Meta Platforms Inc., a California tech company that operates Facebook, Instagram, and Threads.<\/p>\n Among some of Rayner\u2019s most notable contributions to her PAC are $5,000 from Equality Florida Action PAC and $10,000 from Coalition for Better Care PC, chaired by Tallahassee lobbyist David Ramba.<\/p>\n Florida Phoenix<\/a> is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Florida Phoenix maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Michael Moline for questions: [email\u00a0protected]<\/a>.<\/p>\n