Conservative “boat rocker,” and CHQ endorsee, Trey Radel won a decisive victory in Florida’s crowed Congressional District 19 Republican primary yesterday taking approximately 32% of the vote. Radel’s next closest competitor, Chauncey Goss, son of former Congressman Porter Goss, was a distant second with approximately 21% of the vote. Two local state legislators trailed well behind Goss, with two other candidates far behind them.
Radel, a long-time conservative radio commentator, known as the “conservative voice of Southwest Florida,” was backed by local right-to-life activists, Tea Partiers, and conservatives.
Trey Radel began his campaign for the House saying, “In 2012, it’s time to put more fiscal conservatives, non-career politicians into Congress…” and apparently the Republican voters of Florida Congressional District 19 agreed.
Florida’s newly drawn District 19, encompassing all of Lee County and coastal portions of Collier County, including Naples and Marco Island, includes some of the region’s wealthiest and poorest voters; Radel reached them all for years and established a relationship of trust via his conservative radio show.
As CHQ noted in its endorsement of Radel, unlike the other candidates who were attempting to move-up the elective office ladder, Radel has never held public office and has no ties to the Washington, DC, Tallahassee and court house “good old boys networks” that tried to influence the election and often dominate Florida politics.
“We won because people believe in our message and what we are doing,” Radel said in a victory speech reported by the Ft. Myers News-Press. “People want someone who will stand up for conservative values. I believe that conservative values are not just Republican values, they are American values.”
