By admin 
Two scandal-scarred former congressmen from other states. A pair of candidates who once competed against each other in Illinois. An adviser to an Indiana lawmaker and an ex-underwear model imprisoned for his role in the January 6 attack on the US Capitol.
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They are among the Republicans who have descended on Southwest Florida in recent years and are now in pursuit of an open House seat there, transforming a deeply red district into a staging ground for comeback stories.
The free-for-all is unfolding in President Donald Trump’s adopted home state at a moment when he continues to play kingmaker in Republican primaries across the country. But in this corner of his backyard, Trump has yet to weigh in, leaving a sprawling field of carpetbaggers, characters and conservatives fighting over who can claim the MAGA mantle.
“Everyone who comes here is in search of a new life, including apparently people who want to serve in Congress,” said Evan Power, the chairman of the Republican Party of Florida. “We’re watching the race with as much curiosity as everyone else.”
A handful of candidates insist they have been in contact with Trump’s team and remain optimistic he may yet endorse them. A senior adviser to the president said he hasn’t ruled it out, but the sprawling field has produced muddled polling for him as he considers the options. Early voting is already underway ahead of the Aug. 18 primary.
Remarkably, six candidates running for Florida’s 19th House District have previously served in or ran for Congress in other states. They are:
- Madison Cawthorn, the former North Carolina congressman whose brief and chaotic tenure in Congress ended in a 2022 primary defeat.
- Chris Collins, a New York congressman who was sentenced to 26 months in prison for his role in an insider trading scheme. He was ultimately pardoned by Trump in December 2020 after spending two months behind bars.
- Jim Oberweis and Catalina Lauf, who moved to Florida from Illinois, faced each other in a 2020 race for a suburban Chicago congressional seat. Oberweis, a former Illinois state senator previously nominated by the GOP for governor and US Senate there, won the primary but lost in the general. Lauf tried again in a different Illinois district two years later but came up short in the general election.
- Ola Hawatmeh, who previously ran unsuccessfully in New York and then became an adviser to Indiana Rep. Victoria Spartz.
- Linda Sawyer, who lost primary bids to represent Michigan in the US House in 2020 and again two years ago.
Republicans in Florida and Washington have watched the race unfold with an amusement that has at times veered toward exasperation.
“It’s a who’s who of the clown show,” one House GOP operative told CNN.
A magnet for transplants
The sugar-white beaches and endless summers of Southwest Florida have long attracted outsiders in search of a second act. The city of Naples, the region’s jewel, was itself co-founded in 1886 by a Kentucky senator who arrived on Florida’s Gulf Coast shortly after losing his bid for reelection.
Many of the district’s voters are themselves relatively recent arrivals. They have regularly elected transplants, including the last four people to represent the area in Washington.
Its current congressman, Rep. Byron Donalds, was born in New York and settled in Naples after attending college in Florida. He is now running for governor and hasn’t endorsed a potential successor.
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But even against that history, the parade of newcomers seeking to replace Donalds has made a spectacle of a safe Republican seat. And it has created an opening for local broadcasting mogul Jim Schwartzel, a lifelong resident, to distinguish himself simply by emphasizing his deep roots in the region.
One of his advertisements derides his rivals as “failed politicians from Chicago and New York (who) couldn’t get elected in their own state.”
“To represent a community, you need to be able to have lived there for a certain period of time to understand what people go through,” he said. “The only thing they have done for this community is run for a political office.”
His opponents, meanwhile, have sought to demonstrate their devotion to their newfound homes.
Hawatmeh, who has run several philanthropic ventures, told CNN she has “done more on local issues in a year in the district than the ones living there.” Oberweis, a wealthy investor, said he has owned property and businesses in the Florida district nearly half a century.
“Longer than any of my opponents,” said Oberweis, who recently turned 80. “And because of my life experiences, I have a much better grasp of the issues and at a greater depth than my opponents.”
Lauf, the co-founder of a health startup who was appointed by Trump in 2018 as an adviser to the US Department of Commerce, counts herself among the many Republican refugees from blue states who relocated there after the pandemic. After watching Collins and Cawthorn launch comeback bids, Lauf said she felt compelled to jump in to ensure the Republican stronghold is represented by “a strong conservative and Trump ally.”
“You have individuals in this race who are clearly doing this for their own personal ego,” Lauf said. She added: “These guys represent the past of the party. I represent the future.”
Cawthorn told a recent forum that he relocated to the region shortly after losing reelection in 2022 and became a staple at local party events.
He also quickly and repeatedly encountered law enforcement on roads throughout Southwest Florida. Since moving to the state, Cawthorn has received speeding tickets in three different counties — including two citations for driving 50 mph over the speed limit — and one citation for reckless driving, public records show.
In April 2024, he collided with a Florida Highway Patrol vehicle and was found guilty in May 2025 of failing to move for an emergency vehicle. A judge fined him, suspended his license and sentenced him to 12 hours of driving school.
He was later charged with driving with a suspended license. After he failed to appear in court, a warrant was issued for his arrest. He was released on a $2,000 bond.
Cawthorn, who was paralyzed from the waist down in 2014 as the passenger in a car crash while on vacation in Florida, has also received seven citations for parking in spaces reserved for handicap or disabled persons without displaying a permit. In June, he was cited for driving with expired registration tags in Lee County, Florida, his second such offense this year.
CNN attempted to reach Cawthorn at a phone number and email address he provided to the state when he filed to run, but he did not respond. An email sent to the press address listed on his campaign website bounced back.
One party official told CNN that members of Congress have repeatedly checked in on whether they should brace for a return from Cawthorn, a regular source of headaches for Republican leadership during his previous stint on the Hill. Party leaders don’t expect him to win, two operatives in Washington told CNN, though how the 10-candidate field will split votes remains a source of intrigue.
Dueling endorsements
House Republicans have been careful not to ask Trump to wade into primaries unless a substantial risk to the party’s electability chances presented itself.
So far, the drama unfolding in Florida’s 19th District hasn’t required that kind of intervention. Trump won the district in 2024 by 30 points, making the Republican nominee the overwhelming favorite in November.
Others, however, are putting their thumbs on the scale.
The conservative Club for Growth has vowed to spend at least $1.1 million in an effort to block Collins from returning to Washington. Collins endeared himself to Trump by becoming the first sitting member of Congress to endorse his 2016 presidential campaign, but the Club for Growth has attacked his voting record as insufficiently conservative.
Neither Collins nor his campaign responded to a request for comment.
Neither Collins nor his campaign responded to a request for comment.
Turning Point Action, the youth-focused political organization founded by the late conservative activist Charlie Kirk, has endorsed John Strand, a former model and COVID-era activist. Strand served time in prison for participating in the January 6 attack on the US Capitol before he was pardoned by Trump.
Strand, however, hasn’t raised the money needed to carry his message across the district’s television airwaves and has struggled to break through against better-funded opponents.
Oberweis has loaned his campaign nearly $5 million and has spent more on TV advertisements than any candidate. Collins has put $2.6 million of his own money into his bid and Schwartzel is in for $1 million. Protect Freedom, a pro-Lauf super PAC, has boosted her bid with more than $2.1 million in ad spending
Both Oberweis and Lauf have complained that Schwartzel enjoys a built-in advantage as the owner of local television and radio stations — an asset they say he used to promote his campaign and attack his opponents. They said they are often criticized on the conservative talk radio station operated by Schwartzel’s company.
On Monday, an X account for the station shared a report by a Chicago news station about the ex-locals running again in Florida. In the post, the account called Oberweis and Lauf “two failed Illinois congressional candidates” who were “back in the spotlight in their former — and only recently departed — political stomping grounds.”
“It’s ridiculous he’s using his position like this,” Lauf said. “Imagine how he’ll use a position in Congress for his own interests.”
Oberweis also bemoaned how much he has paid to advertise on stations owned by Schwartzel, effectively enriching one of his chief rivals.
Schwartzel told CNN he doesn’t tell hosts what to say, and “the microphone is available” to Oberweis and Lauf if they want to persuade his listeners.
“Two candidates who moved to Southwest Florida to run for this seat are now upset that Southwest Florida radio political talk hosts aren’t deferential enough to them,” Schwartzel said. “That’s not an FCC problem. That’s talk radio, and it’s the First Amendment.”
The sniping is illustrative of the increasingly testy campaign in the weeks before ballots are counted. But for all their disparate backgrounds, the candidates remain united on the race’s central requirement: their unwavering support for Trump.
At a recent campaign debate featuring Lauf, Cawthorn and Hawatmeh, the candidates were asked to identify an issue where they broke with the president.
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None could identify one.
CNN’s Sarah Ferris and David Wright contributed to this report.