ST. JOHNS COUNTY, Fla. – Florida Rep. Tom Leek defeated two challengers in the Republican primary for Senate District 7, which represents St. Johns, Putnam, Flagler and part of Volusia counties.
Leek and former St. Johns County Sheriff David Shoar faced off with Leek garnering over 35,000 votes (47%). Shoar trailed with nearly 21,000 votes (28%). Challenger Gerry James had more than 19,000 votes (25%).
The airwaves were buzzing with political ads involving Leek, who was endorsed by Gov. Ron DeSantis, and Shoar, who was backed by former President Donald Trump.
But it wasn’t just Trump’s and DeSantis’ endorsements that played a role in this race. Leek also had the endorsements of all the local sheriffs, while Shoar had the support of trial lawyers.
One trial lawyer to publicly criticize Leek was John Morgan, who recently posted a video on the social media platform X. It was reported that the lawyers opposed Leek because he supported tort reform.
“Listen, I didn’t ask for this. None of my races have ever been like this. No one has ever accused me of not being conservative. I knew one day they’d come looking for their pound of flesh. And now it’s my time to fight back and I’m going to keep fighting,” Leek said in a previous interview addressing the matter.
Shoar even sent a statement to News4JAX during the campaign calling for Leek to drop out of the race and cease all negative attack ads against him.
Leek will now face Democrat George “T” Hill in the general election in November.