petition-qualified 2026 – Florida 2026 candidates have secured ballot access by petition, including races for Congress, the state House and local elections.
A campaign that makes it onto the ballot by petition is often making a statement before the first debate—proving it can organize, recruit, and mobilize supporters well enough to survive Florida’s signature rules.
Florida offers candidates two main routes to ballot access: paying a qualifying fee or collecting signatures through the petition process.. The fee route is generally described as simpler. while petitions are a more labor-intensive path that can reveal how ready a campaign’s ground operation is before voters ever cast a ballot.
The standard petition bar varies by office.. Congressional hopefuls must submit 2,564 verified petitions from registered voters within their district.. State legislative candidates face fewer requirements, and local candidates typically need even fewer signatures.. But regardless of the office. Florida treats petitioning as a high-friction process: every signature must be collected by hand. submitted to a Supervisor of Elections. and matched against voter registration records.
That matching step is where campaigns often bleed support.. The rules mean signatures can be disqualified if they do not align with the voter rolls. and campaigns can lose 20% or more of gathered signatures in the verification process.. Petitioning therefore tends to take months and usually requires volunteers. paid circulators. or a mix of both—an operational test that can shape what a campaign can afford and how quickly it can reach potential voters.
Florida Politics has been tracking the 2026 candidates who have qualified for the ballot by petition, and the list so far includes contests ranging from a newly competitive congressional district to multiple local races.
In Florida’s 9th Congressional District, Justin Story, a retired Marine Corps officer and St.. Cloud-based commercial pilot, has had 2,577 of his petitions verified—enough to clear the 2,564 threshold.. Story is running in a crowded Republican primary that includes at least seven candidates. among them former Vero Beach Mayor Robert Brackett. all seeking the chance to challenge Democratic incumbent Darren Soto in November.
Story’s campaign argues that the seat has become a major target for Republicans after redistricting. citing new district lines that favor the GOP by nearly 18 points based on recent presidential performance.. Story has also framed his candidacy around issues such as border security, lower costs, and accountability in Washington.
Also advancing through the petition route is Frank Lago. a Miami real estate consultant and chair of the Miami-Dade Planning Advisory Board. who qualified for the Florida House ballot in District 113.. Lago is seeking to succeed former Rep.. Vicki Lopez, who was appointed to the Miami-Dade County Commission in November and has endorsed Lago as her preferred successor.
Lago will face a Republican primary that includes former Miami-Dade Commissioner Bruno Barreiro and small business owner Tony Diaz. while Democrats Gloria Romero Roses and Justin Mendoza Routt are also in the field.. The report also notes Lago has been the leading fundraiser so far, with more than $138,000 in his opening reporting period.. Lago’s background includes work as an urban planner at Florida International University’s Metropolitan Center. according to the campaign profile discussed in the filing coverage.
In Orange County. Vic Torres—an Orlando Democrat who was term-limited out of the Florida Legislature in 2024—qualified for the November ballot for the Orange County Commission District 8 seat by collecting 1. 046 petition signatures.. His campaign says the petition approach saved $4,948.81 in filing fees.
Torres is one of five candidates running for a commission seat created through last year’s Orange County redistricting.. The report says he has already earned endorsements from Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings and Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer. with campaign materials emphasizing petition qualification as part of a stewardship message: money saved on fees. his team argues. can be redirected to voter contact.
The petition-qualified field also includes Maria Scruggs, who has secured ballot access for the St.. Petersburg mayoral race.. A former St.. Petersburg NAACP president and administrative supervisor for Orange County Corrections. Scruggs submitted 1. 429 signatures. with 1. 013 verified above the city’s 1. 000-signature threshold. according to the reported figures.. She used the petition process to save $2,801.52 in qualifying fees.
Scruggs’ campaign says the signature effort depended heavily on volunteers—more than 40 were mobilized to gather signatures while. in the campaign’s account. she commuted roughly 1. 500 miles weekly for her day job in Orange County.. The report notes fundraising totals that place Scruggs at under $18. 000 raised. with an additional $7. 500 in an affiliated political committee called The Shelynn PAC.
Scruggs is entering a crowded nonpartisan mayoral contest scheduled for Aug.. 18.. The field described in the coverage includes incumbent Mayor Ken Welch, former Gov.. Charlie Crist. City Council member Brandi Gabbard. former Fire Chief Jim Large. neighborhood leader Kevin Batdorf. and perennial candidate Paul Congemi.
Ballot access by petition is also underway in Pinellas County’s local elections.. Jared Leone. a longtime Clearwater resident and veteran journalist. has qualified by petition for Clearwater City Council Seat 4. clearing the city’s 250-signature threshold.. The report places him against Bianca Latvala, a digital marketer and GOP strategist married to Pinellas County Commissioner Chris Latvala.
Latvala’s campaign. as described in the filing coverage. has already secured early endorsements from Mayor Bruce Rector and Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri.. Leone’s pitch leans toward community organizing and governance experience. including leadership roles with the Clearwater Neighborhoods Coalition—which represents more than 20. 000 homeowners—alongside roles tied to neighborhood associations and the city’s Environmental Advisory Board.. The nonpartisan election is also scheduled for Aug.. 18.
Across these races—federal, state and municipal—petition qualification serves as more than a procedural step.. It forces candidates to demonstrate they can find enough supporters to meet verification hurdles. absorb losses during signature review. and keep volunteers or paid workers operating over the months leading up to submission.. In Florida’s system. clearing the threshold can function as an early proof of organizational strength. particularly in contests where crowded primaries or crowded nonpartisan fields make name recognition only part of the equation.
Florida petition ballot access 2026 candidates congressional primary state House District 113 local elections signature verification