GOP Rep. Ted Yoho said as recently as October that he would keep his pledge to serve just four terms in Florida’s reliably red 3rd District, but we’re well into the cycle and still have no idea if the Freedom Caucus bomb thrower will seek a fifth term or not. The Gainesville Sun wrote Thursday that Yoho’s campaign manager didn’t respond to their questions about the congressman’s 2020 plans, and as we noted all the way back in November, the issue’s page on Yoho’s site no longer so much as mentions the phrase "term limits." Yoho’s fundraising doesn’t answer any questions, either. The congressman took in just $10,000 during the first quarter of 2019, but that’s not much less than the $15,000 he took in at that point in 2017.
Yoho, a large animal veterinarian by trade, won a previous version of this seat in 2012 by beating incumbent Cliff Stearns in a primary shocker. During that campaign, Yoho ran an ad declaring that “career politicians” like Stearns and his other two opponents were “like pigs feeding at the trough. Career politicians got us in this mess, but they just throw mud at each other.” Yoho used that spot to pledge that “after eight years in Washington, I’ll come home,” and the candidate called for “run[ning] the pigs out of the trough.” Those were some strong words, but Yoho would hardly be the first true believer elected to Congress to decide that the trough is just fine as long as he’s the one feeding from it.
This seat, which includes Gainesville and the surrounding rural areas, backed Trump 56-40, and Team Red should have little trouble holding it no matter what Yoho does. The congressman may have trouble in a primary if he does seek that fifth term, though especially if he doesn’t improve his fundraising.
Back in April, businesswoman Amy Pope Wells announced that she would seek the GOP nod, and she may have some connections: Trump appointed her to a panel that supported a U.S.-Canada business council in 2017, and she served as a co-chair of the Women’s Coalition backing Ron DeSantis’ successful 2018 campaign for governor.
However, Pope Wells drew some bad headlines this week when Politico’s Arek Sarkissian reported that she’d lost her nursing license in North Carolina in 2006 after she was reported for falsely presenting herself as a registered nurse when she really held a lower-ranking title.
The North Carolina Board of Nursing accused her at the time of forging her credentials, writing, “On the certificate where it now reads registered nurse, that certificate was issued to you reading licensed practical nurse.” Sarkissianalso writes that Pope Wells’ licensed practical nurse credentials had expired back in 1998.
Pope Wells tried to get her license back that year, but she never finished the required ethics course and it remains suspended. Pope Wells’ team denied she’d committed any wrongdoing and claimed a former employer had filed a complaint against her over a contract dispute.
Other Republicans might be interested, especially if Yoho actually keeps his pledge and retires. Florida Politics mentions Clay County Commissioner Gavin Rollins as a possible contender, though there’s no word from him about his plans.
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