PANAMA CITY BEACH — Republican Jay Trumbull vowed to take a pro-business approach to his new job as legislator for House District 6 after handily winning the seat Tuesday.
Trumbull, 25, received 36,743 votes, compared to 14,932 for Democrat Jamie Shepard and 1,600 for Green Party candidate Henry Lawrence, in complete, unofficial results.
Term limits prohibited Jimmy Patronis, R-Panama City, from running for the seat again.
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“I want to take a pro-business approach to everything I do,” said Trumbull, a co-owner of several Culligan Water franchises. “As far as specifics, we’ll dive into it after I’m elected and sworn in.”
He did say he’d like to reduce taxes and fees on small businesses, such as a tax on commercial leases, pointing out Florida is one of the few states to have it.
Pastor Bob Hayes, who baptized Trumbull, introduced him as the next House District 6 legislator before hundreds of supporters, who gave Trumbull a standing ovation. He said he and Trumbull several years ago were stuck in an airport for 24 hours in Nairobi, Kenya, when they were on a mission trip.
“He is an honest, hard-working young man,” Hayes said of Trumbull. “He is a man who has a very good work ethic, and he is a man who is going to take responsibility in a district that has already been represented well.”
In his victory speech, Trumbull praised the volunteers in his campaign.
“It is a true blessing to be able to grow up in this place,” he said.
He said his great-grandfather moved to Bay County with nothing, borrowing $3,000 to open a Culligan Water business in 1947.
“I’m proud to be a part of a company that is so deeply vested in Bay County,” he said. He added he is proud to be part of a family that understands strong work. Trumbullhas worked for the family’s water business since he was 14.
He said he wants to impress upon his constituents that he will “work as hard as I possibly can that not only Bay County go forward as the most business-friendly place in the country, but to make sure we are getting rid of excess taxes and fees and too much regulation that the government puts on small businesses.”
The House District 6 seat consists of southern Bay County.
Shepard held her Election Night party at the Democratic Women’s Club in downtown Panama City, where about 50 supporters and poll workers showed up.
Shepard said it was an uphill battle trying to win the seat with so many Republican voters in the district, but she said quite a few cast their votes for her.
“You have a very strong Republican regime, and they did a good job,” she said. “The campaign was relatively clean, and I maintained a positive stance, and we hope that Jay doesn’t forget that he represents all of us.”
She said she’s hopeful Trumbull focuses on more than just helping small businesses when he’s in office.
“I want to see him really work on education and economic development together so that we can grow our own workforce and train people for the jobs of tomorrow today and to focus on a stable funding stream for education,” she said.
Lawrencespent Tuesday evening in his home. He recently broke his neck in a car accident and has been wearing a neck brace to campaign events. He said the injury hurt his ability to campaign.
“I would have liked to have had at least 10 percent, but I wish I could have been more involved. Being injured made it really hard for me to campaign like I should have been able to,” he said. “So I’m just happy to still be here and have been a part of the democratic process and proud to be able to participate and get a chance to reach out to the community to let people know there is a third party.”
As in the Republican primary, Trumbull had outraised his opponents in campaign contributions, receiving more than $263,000 compared to $34,700 for Shepard, which included more than $12,000 she loaned her campaign.Henry Lawrence of the Green Party raised $2,770.
Trumbullheld a joint Election Night party with Steve Southerland at the Edgewater Beach & Golf Resort’s Conference Center’s Grand Palm Ballroom. It was a festive atmosphere. Children played tag in the outside halls.
Inside, Gary Van Brocklin strummed his guitar and sang songsnext to a large-screen television that had a Fox News report on the national elections. On the other side of the room, another large screen television broadcast America’s Got Talent.
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People lined up for plates of food and a bar beckoned from another corner.
District 5
In the House District 5 race, Brad Drake, of DeFuniak Springs, defeated Libertarian candidate Karen Schoen. Drake received 37,653 votes compared to 11,577 for Schoen.
Drake was previously a legislator. When Florida was redistricted in 2011, Drake was thrown into the same district as Marti Coley, who was later named speaker pro tem. Instead of engaging in a contentious campaign in 2012, Drake opted to bow out and wait until Coley reached her term limit. Drake could not be reached for comment Tuesday night.