GOP primary for state House District 24 set for March 7. Meet the candidates

There are five Republicans competing in the March 7 GOP primary in the special election for the Florida House District 24 seat.

The seat is open after Republican Joe Harding resigned in December after being indicted on charges of wire fraud, money laundering and making false statements relating to COVID-19 funding.

The winner of the GOP primary will face a write-in candidate, Robert “Foxy” Fox, in the May general election. The winner there will serve out the remainder of Harding’s two-year term.

Harding was just re-elected, without opposition, in 2022.

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Typically, if all candidates in a race are in the same party, then the election is open to all registered voters who live within the district. But in this race, since there is a write-in candidate in the general election, the GOP primary will be open only to registered Republicans who live in the district.

The top vote recipient in the GOP primary will move to the general election.

Justin Albright: ‘I have a history of giving back’

Justin Albright is not a career politician. He works in real estate.

But “I have a history of giving back,” Albright said. That includes service on local governmental boards as an adult and reaches back to his youth when he was involved in scouting and attained Eagle Scout status.

“I’m a common-sense conservative,” Albright said, promising to work for the people of Marion County, not the leadership of the House or for special interests.

Albright said that a vote for him is a vote for “a fresh perspective from a regular guy going up to Tallahassee and making decisions that make sense.”

Most of the good ideas in government, he added, come from newcomers who bring fresh energy and perspective.

“I would like to serve Marion County for eight years and then come back and jump in real estate,” he said.

A special area of concern for him is mental health and helping addicts return to society as sober and productive citizens. Albright fought an addiction issue in his younger years. He has been in recovery for 20 years and said he has reached the point where he has been able to help others who are on similar journeys.

He knows how mental health issues and addiction can affect a family.

“We’ve got to do a better job of connecting people with the services that are available,” he said.

From a political perspective, Albright said, helping those in need should be attractive to conservatives: Treatment is cheaper than prosecution and incarceration.

Albright praised Gov. Ron DeSantis by saying, “I think that he’s doing a fabulous job as governor of our state.”

Though he looks forward to work with DeSantis in Florida, Albright said he will support Donald Trump for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination.

Albright trails in fundraising, having raised just over $7,000 as of Jan. 20, the last date for which information was available on the state Division of Elections website. He said he might not have as much money to spend as some other candidates, but he is dedicated to winning and making sure Marion gets its fair share of state dollars to address issues like traffic and growth.

Ryan Chamberlin: 'We need strong conservative leadership'

Ryan Chamberlin seeks to push back against what he calls the "woke movement" and concentrate especially on election integrity. He said Marion County needs some attention and resources from the state level, particularly with helping manage growth.

As someone who has lived here for 38 years and raised a family here, Chamberlin feels he is well positioned to represent District 24.

“We need strong conservative leadership,” said Chamberlin, calling himself the most conservative candidate in the field.

Chamberlin said he is “in complete alignment” with DeSantis. His mailers feature a photo of the Republican governor and tout Chamberlin’s pro-gun rights, pro-business and antiabortion bona fides.

More than a decade ago, Chamberlin said, he built businesses in the direct selling industry. In the past 15 years, he has helped independent entrepreneurs with consulting and leadership training and communications. He also has written five books.

Today, other than some teaching and coaching, he spends his time guiding the True Patriot Network and its associated newsletter, Ture Patriot News. He is CEO and has a good team in place, thus allowing him time to campaign.

In 2020 Chamberlin lost in the District 3 GOP primary for U.S. House of Representatives to current U.S. Rep. Kat Cammack.

In terms of fundraising, Chamberlin had brought in just over $57,000 and loaned his campaign $75,000 as of Jan. 20, according to the state records.

Jose Juarez: ‘I want to be a fresh perspective’

If elected, Jose Juarez said he will apply the lessons he has learned as a business owner and immigrant.

“I want to be a fresh perspective,” he said, promising to meet with people and then find ways to meet their needs instead of telling them what his plans are. “They’re hiring a true representative by hiring me.”

Juarez moved from Cuba to the United States when he was 5. He worked even as a young child to help his family. They started in a small apartment in Oregon and eventually moved into a home in south Florida.

Though he said many people take freedom for granted, his family does not. He has never forgotten the stories he heard about liberties being gradually, and then dramatically, taken away by the government in his native land. He won’t let that happen here.

“No one will fight harder for your freedoms than the one candidate who knows what it’s like to lose them all,” he wrote in one campaign mailer.

Juarez built a successful intelligence/marketing firm that assists motorcycle dealerships nationwide. When the pandemic hit, the business lost 85% of its clients virtually overnight.

Juarez fought back. He helped his clients devise creative solutions and workarounds during lockdowns. He did not charge any fee until the dealerships were back on their feet. And he kept paying his staff.

“I line up 100% with DeSantis and everything he’s done,” Juarez said.

Around here, Juarez might be better known as the “BarbaCuban,” who in 2015 won a nationwide contest and was named America’s New Grill Star.

He eventually succeeded in getting his signature barbecue sauce stocked in Publix − proof, he says, that underdogs can come out on top.

For fundraising, he had raised $31,850 as of Jan. 20.

Dr. Stephen Pyles: ‘We have to go up there and represent.’

Stephen Pyles is an anesthesiologist and a specialist in interventional pain medicine, which includes the implantation of surgical devices to relieve pain.

When asked why he decided to run, he noted that he had passed on two previous opportunities to be considered for government roles: one in the Florida Senate and one in the diplomatic corps, as possible U.S. ambassador to the Dutch West Indies.

Now he’s toward the end of his medical career, he has time to give back and serve, and this state House opportunity came open.

There are “plenty of attorneys in the Legislature,” Pyles notes. If medical doctors want to see change, “we have to go up there and represent.”

What needs addressing, from a medical viewpoint? For one thing, based on his years of experience working with patients and their health insurance companies, he thinks Floridians need an unbiased source of information to help them choose insurance plans, Medicare supplemental plans, and related matters.

Other priorities include education policy. Pyles said the GOP candidates have largely similar views on the big issues. He thinks he can be effective in a short amount of time, even accounting for the Tallahassee learning curve.

“My gut feeling is I’m doing a lot better than people think I’m doing,” he said. His financial support has come from people he knows or professional associations that I belong to. No “mystery money” for him, and he said he would not take money from someone trying to win influence.

“This isn’t a job I need,” he said. He vows not to be a career politician.

Charlie Stone: ‘I can be effective from Day 1’

Charlie Stone served in the state House of Representatives from 2012 to 2020, when term limits precluded another run. That experience is the key to this race, he said.

The three GOP state representatives whose districts include parts of Marion all will term limit out in 2024, Stone notes. He said Marion needs an experienced Republican in Tallahassee if it’s going to have any hope of getting appropriations and landing good committee assignments.

With his seniority, experience and knowledge, Stone said, “I can be effective from Day 1.”

He notes that he has two years of service, 2019-20, when DeSantis was governor, and has a good working relationship with him. Stone also points out that DeSantis appointed him to serve on the College of Central Florida board of trustees. He would not have done so, Stone said, unless he trusted me and knew the quality of my work.

Stone said he also is on good working terms with current and future House and Senate leaders. The latter is especially important, he noted, because to get things done in Tallahassee, a House member needs a Senate companion.

When asked about the top issues he looks to work on, Stone said he will follow Senate President Kathleen Passidomo’s lead on affordable housing/workforce housing. He also is concerned about property insurance. “It’s almost become unaffordable” because so many providers have gone away, he said.

A Tallahassee-based political action committee called the Conservative Leadership Fund has circulated several mailers critical of Stone.

According to records on file with the Florida Division of Elections, a group called Florida First Forever is the Conservative Leadership Fund’s biggest recent donor, with $300,000 donated in 2022.

Florida First Forever’s biggest recent donor ($201,000 this year) is San Manna LLC, which is listed as a North Miami Beach-based real estate development company. Other donors include “friends” groups supporting GOP House members such as Carolina Amesty and Griff Griffits.

A second group, the Florida Conservative Action Fund, also has sent an anti-Stone mailer. Florida First Forever also is its primary funder.

Stone said the mail pieces are evidence that he is the front runner in the race, and going after him is the only way others could win.

“But I think voters in Marion County are smarter than that,” Stone said, noting that his campaign material is all positive, and his list of endorsements is long and wide-ranging.

For his own fundraising, Stone had brought in $64,587 as of Jan. 20, and also loaned his campaign $50,000.

CANDIDATES

Justin Albright

Age: 46

Residence: Ocala

Family: Wife, four children

Occupation: Real estate

Education: Lake Weir High School, some college

Community: Past member, Marion County Board of Adjustments, City of Ocala Planning and Zoning Commission, Marion County Soil and Water Conservation District. Eagle Scout

Ryan Chamberlin

Age: 48

Residence: Belleview

Family: Married, four grown children

Occupation: Author, speaker, consultant; co-founder/CEO, True Patriot Network (TPN), a conservative social media and news platform.

Education: Souls Harbor Christian Academy; associate’s degree, College of Central Florida

Community: Music ministry at Souls Harbor First Pentecostal Church

Jose Juarez

Age: 60

Residence: Ocala

Family: Wife, two grown children, four grandchildren

Occupation: Owner of Victory Solutions and Barbacuban LLC

Education: High school graduate, some college

Dr. Stephen Pyles

Age: 75

Residence: Ocala

Family: Three adult children

Occupation: Medical doctor

Education: Marshall University for associate’s, bachelor’s and medical degrees. University of Florida medical training residency.

Community: Ocala Elks, former Jaycee in Huntington, West Virginia; former Marion County Hospital Board trustee

Charlie Stone

Age: 75

Residence: Ocala

Family: Wife, two grown children, two grandchildren

Occupation: President/owner, Stone Petroleum Products.

Education: High school, some studies at Hillsborough Community College.

Community: College of Central Florida trustee; past president, Fort King Heritage Foundation; past president, Ocala/Silver Springs Rotary Club; lifetime member, National Rifle Association

FLORIDA HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

Florida House members represent districts and run in partisan elections. They serve two-year terms and are paid $29,697 per year. District 24 covers southwest Marion County. This special election was called after Joe Harding resigned. The winner of the GOP primary will face a write-in candidate, Robert “Foxy” Fox, in the May general election. The overall winner will serve out the remainder of Harding’s term.

ELECTION DETAILS

The Republican primary election will be held on March 7. Polls will be open 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. on that day. Check your voter information card to determine if you vote in District 24. If you have questions, visit votemarion.gov.

Early voting will be Feb. 25-March 4, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. at the following locations:

• Election Center: 981 NE 16th St., Ocala

• Belleview Public Library: 13145 SE County Road 484, Belleview

• Deputy Brian Litz Building: 9048 SW State Road 200, Ocala

• Freedom Public Library: 5870 SW 95th St., Ocala

If you are returning a mail ballot, it must be received at the elections office by 7 p.m. on March 7.

jross@gannett.com

This article originally appeared on Ocala Star-Banner: March 7 GOP primary set for vacant House District 24 seat