One open U.S. House district in Florida this year—the fewest since 2014


This year’s filing deadline for candidates running for Congress in Florida was April 26, 2024.

One hundred three candidates are running for Florida’s 28 U.S. House districts, including 42 Democrats and 61 Republicans. That’s 3.68 candidates per district, less than in the previous three election cycles. There were 5.43 candidates per district in 2022, 4.22 candidates per district in 2020, and 3.86 in 2018.

Here are some other highlights from this year’s filings:

  • The 8th Congressional District is the only open district, meaning no incumbents filed to run. That’s the fewest open seats in Florida since 2014 when no seats were open. Incumbent Rep. Bill Posey (R-8th) is not running for re-election because he is retiring from public office.
  • Seven candidates—incumbent Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-23rd) and six Republicans—are running for the 23rd Congressional District, the most candidates running for a seat this year.
  • Thirty primaries—nine Democratic and 21 Republican—are contested this year. Thirty-eight primaries were contested in 2022, 29 primaries were contested in 2020, and 31 primaries were contested in 2018.
  • Fifteen incumbents—two Democrats and 13 Republicans—are in contested primaries in Florida this year. That’s less than the 17 incumbents in contested primaries in 2022 but more than the 10 incumbents in contested primaries in 2020.
  • The 20th Congressional District is guaranteed to Democrats because no Republicans will appear on the ballot. Democrats filed to run in every congressional district, meaning none are guaranteed to Republicans.

Florida and two other states—Alaska and Wyoming—will hold primaries on August 20.

In Florida, the winner of a primary election is the candidate who receives the greatest number of votes, even if they do not win an outright majority of votes cast.