Phil Ehr drops out of FL Democratic U.S. Senate race – will now run for Congress in South Florida

Oct 18, 2023 | 3:18 pm ET

By Mitch Perry

Phil Ehr drops out of Florida Democratic Senate race – will now run for congress in South Florida

Florida Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Phil Ehr on July 24, 2023 (photo credit: Mitch Perry screenshot from Zoom interview.

Former Navy commander Phil Ehr announced Wednesday that he is dropping out of the Democratic race for U.S. Senate and will now run for Congress. Speaking in Miami on Wednesday, Ehr says that he will now pivot to challenging Republican incumbent Carlos Gimenez in Florida’s 28^th Congressional District in South Florida.

“I am running to represent the people of South Miami-Dade and the Florida Keys with integrity,” Ehr said in a prepared statement sent out in advance of a scheduled press conference. “The incumbent joined MAGA extremists in creating dysfunction and chaos in Congress. Floridians want their individual freedoms protected and a democracy and economy that work for them. I will fight for this every day in Congress.”

Ehr announced his candidacy for U.S. Senate back in July. This will be his third bid for Congress, but his first time running in South Florida. A former Panhandle resident, Ehr lost to U.S. GOP Rep. Matt Gaetz in Florida’s 1st Congressional District in 2020. He also lost in a Democratic primary for congress in that same congressional district in 2018.

But any momentum for his candidacy appeared to fade in August, when former South Florida Congresswoman Debbie Mucarsel-Powell announced her candidacy for the Democratic nomination to challenge U.S. Sen. Rick Scott next year. Since her announcement, she’s received endorsements from organizations like EMILY’S List, League of Conservation Voters and several Democratic members of Congress from Florida.

Mucarsel-Powell has raised $1.7 million since entering the race, according to Federal Election Commission records, and currently has more than $1 million cash on hand as of Sept. 30. Scott raised $1.6 million over the last quarter, and currently has $3.1 million on hand.

Mucarsel-Powell was elected to Congress in 2018 but was defeated in her bid for reelection by Gimenez in November 2020 in what was then Florida’s 26^th Congressional District by 3.4 percentage points.