Both were far ahead the rest of the field including former Illinois state Sen. Jim Oberweis\u2019 16%, former North Carolina U.S. Rep. Madison Cawthorn\u2019s 8%, former New York U.S. Rep. Chris Collins\u2019 7%, Cape Coral veteran\u00a0Mike Pedersen\u2019s 6%, pardoned Jan. 6 protester\u00a0John Strand\u2019s 4%, longtime congressional staffer\u00a0Ola Hawatmeh\u2019s 3%,\u00a0business owner\u00a0Greg \u201cTex\u201d Bukowski\u2019s 3%\u00a0and nurse Linda Sawyer\u2019s\u00a02%.<\/p>\n
After emerging from a 10-candidate Primary field, the newly minted Republican nominee now advances to a General Election, where Democrat Victor Arias narrowly won his own Primary.\u00a0But the district leans heavily Republican, as 64% of voters there supported President Donald Trump in the 2024 Presidential Election.<\/p>\n
The 33-year-old Lauf, who in the final days heavily stressed the Trump endorsement, embraced the support. \u201cPresident Trump\u2019s fight is what first called me to public service. I joined his administration because I believed in President Trump\u2019s leadership in Making America Great Again,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Lauf had already seen significant outside support for her candidacy, including ads from the Protect Freedom PAC<\/a> closely associated with U.S. Sen. Rand Paul, a Kentucky Republican. Closer to home, U.S. Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, a Pinellas Republican, campaigned heavily for Lauf.<\/p>\n But when it came to spending by her own campaign, Lauf\u2019s campaign spent significantly less than opponents through the pre-Primary fundraising deadline.<\/p>\n Through July 29, Oberweis had spent nearly $3.1 million out of the $5.3 million in his coffers, an amount made up almost entirely from self-funding to the tune of $4.9 million.<\/p>\n Collins, who entirely self-funded his race with a $3.4 million loan, had spent almost $2.5 million through the financial reporting period. Schwartzel had spent almost $1.9 million after loaning his campaign more than $1 million and raising another $1 million in contributions.<\/p>\n By comparison, Lauf spent under $1.6 million, a seven-figure spend that would dwarf most Primary campaigns in the state outside of Southwest Florida. It\u2019s an amount that overshadows the $728,000 spent by Cawthorn, the $292,000 Hawatmeh burned through and the $132,000 exhausted by Strand. No other candidate cracked $100,000 in spending.<\/p>\n For his part, Schwartzel expressed disappointment Trump endorsed a different candidate but confidence his long history of working in the region would win the day.<\/p>\n \u201cLet\u2019s be precise about where that anger belongs. Not with President Trump \u2014 I\u2019ve supported him from the beginning, and I\u2019ll support him after Tuesday,\u201d Schwartzel posted. \u201cIt belongs with the operation that has worked against us for months.\u201d<\/p>\n The race was unusual in that most top-tier candidates had only lived in Southwest Florida for a few years. Schwartzel\u2019s campaign noted Lauf hadn\u2019t even lived in the district long enough to vote in a Republican Primary in Florida.<\/p>\n \u201cSouthwest Florida deserves better than failed career candidates who moved here just to run for Congress,\u201d Schwartzel said. \u201cI\u2019m a businessman with real-world experience. I was born and raised in Southwest Florida, I understand this community, and I\u2019m ready to make tough decisions and fight for President Trump\u2019s America First agenda.\u201d<\/p>\n Lauf said voters should look beyond how long someone lived in the region when deciding if they deserve their vote.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are the party of merit. SWFL isn\u2019t looking for the politician who\u2019s been here the longest, voters are looking for the fighter who best represents their values,\u201d Lauf said.<\/p>\n \u201cOne of my opponents who is \u2018from here\u2019 coerced his employees to get the vaccine and many people who worked for him in the news business left upset because it had a liberal bias. I chose to build my life, like many other Midwesterners, and put down roots here because I believe in what Florida stands for: freedom, opportunity, faith, family and limited government.\u201d<\/p>\n She said her platform and support for Trump for years should be what drives voters\u2019 decision.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve worked in the Trump Administration, built a business, and fought for the conservative principles that make SWFL special. That\u2019s why I\u2019ve been endorsed by the House Freedom Caucus and many members of the Florida Congressional delegation,\u201d she said. \u201cThis district deserves a representative who will take those values to Washington and fight like hell to protect them \u2014 and that\u2019s exactly what I\u2019ll do.\u201d<\/p>\n But Collins and Oberweis have also made their own cases with the public, to the tune of millions in expenditures and ads telling both their own stories and the problems with foes.<\/p>\n Oberweis was the first to enter the race after Donalds announced his run for Governor, and he notably has beaten Lauf before, in a Republican Primary when both ran for Congress in Illinois.<\/p>\n \u201cThe priority of our Federal government needs to be families, students and businesses creating new jobs \u2014 not woke special interests,\u201d Oberweis said on his website. \u201cWe must work together to create economic opportunity, to create an impenetrable southern border, and create new monetary oriented foreign policy priorities needed to grow the Florida economy while shrinking the size of our bloated Federal government.\u201d<\/p>\n Collins, who previously represented New York, has noted that he was the first member of Congress to endorse Trump in 2016.<\/p>\n His loyalty paid off once with a pardon from the President after Collins was sentenced to prison<\/a> for an insider trading scheme. Notably, former House Speaker John Boehner wrote a letter to courts defending<\/a> Collins\u2019 character before Collins served time in a Pensacola prison, ahead of his eventual pardon.<\/p>\n But Collins said he now wants to return to Congress to help enact Trump\u2019s policy agenda. \u201cUnlike politicians who just talk, I brought jobs back to America,\u201d he said in a TV ad ahead of the Primary. \u201cI\u2019ll deport every illegal immigrant. And I\u2019ll secure our elections.\u201d<\/p>\n The heavy concentration of candidates who previously ran for Congress outside Florida drew some national attention to this race. Cawthorn previously represented North Carolina for a term before losing a Republican Primary in his re-election bid and moving to Cape Coral.<\/p>\n \u201cI know what it means to be underestimated, and I know what it takes to fight back. That same spirit is what I\u2019ll carry to Washington,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Jake-Ad-July-2026-728-x-90-px72.jpg\")
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