When POLITICO reported this past weekend that Democratic Rep. Stephanie Murphy may not be running for re-election to the U.S. House of Representatives, alarms rang out across Florida.
During the recent annual Leadership Blue event in Orlando last Saturday, Rep. Murphy, who once flirted with running for the U.S. Senate in 2022, hedged on whether she would definitely run for her seat.
“You know what” I’ve run tough races where the odds have been against me and I’ve won,” said Rep. Murphy. “I’m confident that if I run I will win. We are still taking a look. I think there’s still a lot of time between now and the elections and right now I’m focused on doing my job.”
Murphy is right, she has faced tough races, but she has never had to run on a voting record that mirrors the voting record of Speaker Nancy Pelosi and that of the Democratic Socialist “Squad” in the House of Representatives.
Also, Murphy has never had to face a veteran, let alone a combat veteran in any of her past three reelections.
In the 2022 midterm elections, there are three present and former U.S. military servicemen vying for the Republican nomination, and a chance to defeat Murphy in Florida’s 7th Congressional District.
State Rep. Anthony Sabatini, who is considered the firebrand of the group and a reservist in the Florida National Guard, announced that his campaign “has scared” the “leftist Democrat” Murphy “out of the race.”
Former combat veteran, Navy SEAL Brady Duke has been quiet on Murphy’s recent reelection remark, as has Erika Benfield, the vice mayor of Debary and congressional candidate.
Another combat veteran, Army Medic Cory Mills, who recently stated that "Florida is America," told The Floridian that he wasn’t surprised if Murphy simply cut and ran from her seat, saying that he would hold her accountable for her “disastrous” and “America Last” voting record.
"I have been calling her out over her support for the disastrous Democratic Socialist agenda that is crippling our economy and dead set on converting American into a Socialist state,” said Mills. While Murphy appears to be running for cover, I would like to remind her that Americans don’t run from a fight. I am all laced up and ready for the fight she is running from.”
POLL
But of the Republicans looking to face off with Murphy, if she decides to run in 2022, none of them are very well-known quantities in that respective congressional district.
A recent poll released by Zak Moyer of SoCo Strategies shows that all of the Republican candidates in the race are virtually unknown.
Moyer told The Floridian that he believed the contest was up for grabs because “undecided numbers were so high” in the Republican primary race in FL CD 7.
According to Moyer, his poll sampled 334 registered Republicans and had a margin of error of +/ 4.95%, of which 58% of those called were reached on their cellphones.
The poll also shows that while Sabatini has an 8 percentage point advantage over Mills and Benfield, with those 76% polled still being undecided.
With 76% of Republicans polled being on the fence, there is no frontrunner in the race, yet.
The biggest takeaway here is the Trump effect.
Of those polled, the overwhelming majority appear to be waiting on who President Donald Trump will support in the race before they decide who to support.
Trump is the kingmaker and Republicans will win in 2022 if the former president injects himself into the election.
Newsflash. President Trump is hands-on in many of these congressional races and has met with two of the candidates looking to unseat Murphy.
