Chase Tramont to represent Volusia in Florida House District 30; Webster Barnaby advances

Chase Tramont, a Port Orange city councilman who first came to prominence as a Volusia County high school basketball star in the late 1990s, won a seat in the Florida House of Representatives Tuesday.

Meanwhile, in House District 29, Democrat Rick Karl learned who he will face in November. Webster Barnaby narrowly defeated Elizabeth Fetterhoff in a rare battle of incumbent House members for the Republican nomination.

A few hours before the returns Tuesday, Tramont was winding down his campaign for House District 30 with some final precinct stops in New Smyrna Beach and Ponce Inlet before planning to vote with his wife in Port Orange before the polls closed.

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A onetime News-Journal basketball player of the year who starred at Spruce Creek and later won the 1998 state championship at Mainland, Tramont went on to become a minister, a high school history teacher and marketing manager. He has served on the Port Orange City Council since 2016.

"As an athlete, I never feel good until that buzzer sounds, but come 7 o'clock tonight, I will have no regrets about the efforts we have made. We have left everything on the floor," he said. "I'm proud in this political climate we're in today, we maintained a strictly positive message all throughout. Regardless of what the end results are, we have a victory."

Hattaway is an attorney and Port Canaveral Authority commissioner who lives in Merritt Island.

No one besides the two Republican candidates filed to run for House District 30, which covers southeast Volusia and northern Brevard counties. No one, that is, except for Vic Baker, the Volusia County Republican state committeeman, who at the last minute filed as a write-in candidate. By doing that and by a quirk of state election law, the race was closed to Republican voters only.

Tramont had the support of the Volusia County GOP, which endorsed him and put his name on thousands of voter guides sent to Republican voters.

Barnaby slips past Fetterhoff

Due to redistricting, Barnaby and Fetterhoff — who have represented two different Volusia County districts in the Florida House the past two years — were thrown into the same race.

Barnaby, a Deltona businessman and House member since 2020, overtook Fetterhoff when the 39th of 39 West Volusia precincts were counted.

He defeated Fetterhoff, a former legislative aide from DeLand, by 31 votes after trailing much of the night. Based on the tight margin of victory, just 0.2%, a recount is expected.

The campaign included an attack by Barnaby on Fetterhoff, claiming she takes campaign donations from lobbyists and liberals, "then pays herself thousands of dollars from her campaign through a company she owns." Fetterhoff and her husband, John Ward, started a campaign fundraising business, FWD Consulting, which she said was legal.

Barnaby will be challenged by Karl, an attorney who until last year had served as the Daytona Beach International Airport's longtime director of aviation and economic resources. He lives in DeLand.

State Senate races

Two other Legislature races were determined on Tuesday.

Incumbent Republican state Sen. Travis Hutson defeated Gerry James by a 56-44 margin in District 7, covering Flagler, St. Johns, Putnam counties and parts of northern Volusia.

In the Democratic primary for State Senate, District 8, Andrea Williams defeated perennial candidate Richard Dembinsky, winning 85% of the vote. She will challenge incumbent Sen. Tom Wright in November.

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This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Florida Legislature: Chase Tramont wins seat; Webster Barnaby survives