Who Are the Candidates For Waltz's Seat and Will They Qualify?

The qualifying period for the five candidates vying for the newly vacant Congressional District 6 seat, vacated by Rep. Mike Waltz ahead of his confirmation as the next national security adviser, will end Saturday at noon.

So who are they, and will they qualify for the Apr. 1 special election?

First, the four Republicans:

Randy Fine: A former state Representative turned state Senator, Fine will resign his newly won Senate seat on Mar. 31 to try to become Florida's next Congressman. And as of Thursday afternoon, he's well on his way to winning after qualifying to run.

Fine, who was urged—then endorsed—to run by Donald Trump, has a massive advantage over his opponents. He's the first Republican in the race to qualify, he's been endorsed by most of Florida's Republican congressional delegation, and he's the only candidate to have held legislative office.

According to the Department of State website, he filed with the state on Dec. 3 and paid his qualifying fee Thursday. He opened a federal campaign committee on Nov. 26.

Donald Browning: Browning is a former Marion County School Board member who filed to run with the state on Nov. 15, the same date he filed his federal candidate notice. Browning, 82, ran an unsuccessful primary against then-incumbent Rep. Cliff Stearns in CD-6 in 2010.

Now he wants to try again. While he had an old, now terminated political action committee from 2010 that had raised just over $48K at its peak, Browning has yet to open a new federal campaign committee.

Ehsan Joarder: Joarder, 35, most recently tried to become the Republican nominee to face Democrat Rep. Kathy Castor in congressional district 14, though he came in third to Robert Rochford (who lost to Castor by 15 points in the general election). Now, Joarder has thrown his hat in the ring to be the next CD-6 representative.

Though he has yet to qualify, Joarder has a political action committee that he used in his bid to unseat Castor. It currently has just over $27K in ending cash on hand, though he owes $28K to various committees.

Joshua Vasquez: Vazquez is an Ocala Republican who intends to qualify by gathering petition signatures instead of paying a qualifying fee. However, as of Wednesday, he had collected less than 3% of the necessary signatures. He submitted his federal candidate notice on Nov. 19 and opened a federal campaign committee the same day.

The only other candidate, a Libertarian, in the deep-red district:

Andrew Parrott: As of Thursday at 1 p.m., Parrott was the only candidate besides Fine to have qualified to run. The Ocala Libertarian filed to run with the state on Dec. 2 and paid his qualifying fee Dec. 5 He has yet to open a federal campaign committee.