More fallout from the Florida redistricting wars: Daniel Webster was in Florida-10, but Florida-10 has been turned into a heavily Democratic district. Florida-11 is going to be vacant, as incumbent Rich Nugent is retiring. So Rep. Webster is going to switch over and fight in a contested primary for the seat. The winner of the primary is widely expected to win, so there’s that.

All of this is perfectly normal for Florida, mind you. Daniel Webster started out in Florida-08, which was of course Alan Grayson’s seat. Grayson got tossed in 2010 and ran for office in Florida-09. Florida-08 since became Florida-10, which (as noted before) is still Florida-10, only different. And, of course, Florida-09 (the seat that Grayson grabbed) used to be Florida-12, and Florida-12 used to be Florida-15. Which I think ended up being the new Florida-08.  Which is to say, not the Florida-08 that Daniel Webster started out with, obviously.

I mention all of this in the hopes that people will understand just why it is that people in Florida always kind of hedge their bets and stammer a little when somebody says, Well, what’s the voting history of the district?  It’s… complicated. You need spreadsheets, and stuff like that.

Moving onto the race itself… well, not much to say, really.  It’s going to be an interesting primary, given that the entire thing got roiled by recent involuntary revisions of the Florida redistricting maps (a fun, perennial activity, really). Nugent’s chief of staff Justin Grabelle was originally considered to be the front-runner in this one, more or less. Whether or not he still is will be… I guessed resolved pretty soon, really.

Moe Lane