Jane MusgraveReady for Congress, Baxter declares as she enters crowded field for District 22.
Palm Beach County Mayor Sara Baxter on Monday abandoned plans to run for a second term on the County Commission, opting instead to seek a congressional seat.
In papers filed with the Federal Election Commission on the first day of qualifying, the Republican said she is running in District 22, a newly drawn district that includes western regions of Palm Beach and Broward counties, continues west through rural Hendry and Collier counties, and ends in Marco Island on the state’s Gulf Coast.
In a news release, Baxter said she learned how to “shake up bureaucracy” as a county commissioner and is now ready to take her skills to the nation’s capital.
“Washington needs more fighters who are focused on delivering for their district,” Baxter said in the release. “The creation of the new congressional district blesses me with the opportunity to work with President Trump to stop illegal migrant crime, protect our elections, cut taxes, slash red tape and bloated bureaucracy, protect hard working farmers, our food supply chain, support our great military and veterans, and defend our Second Amendment rights.”
The Acreage resident secured Trump’s endorsement in January for her County Commission bid and proclaimed it in an advertising mailer that went out last week.
Elizabeth Accomando, who was to face off against Baxter in the District 6 County Commission primary on Aug. 18, said she wasn’t concerned about her now-former opponent’s political ambitions.
“I’m not running against the sitting commissioner, I’m running FOR my community,” said Accomando, president of the Indian Trail Improvement District.
Political observers predicted Baxter faces a tough campaign for the congressional seat.
“It will be a costly and crowded primary,” said political consultant Rick Asnani, who doesn’t represent federal candidates.
The district is Republican leaning, with 55% of voters supporting Trump in 2024. The district is Republican leaning, with 55% of voters supporting Trump in 2024. Already, 12 GOP candidates, two Democrats and one independent have announced plans to run. Candidates have until noon Friday to qualify.
Republican candidate Michael Carbonara, a self-described entrepreneur who lives in Broward County, has raised $2.5 million, federal records show. Another candidate, Lev Parnas, has strong name recognition, having gone to prison on charges related to illegal donations to Trump’s 2024 campaign and then seeking redemption by doing television interviews and writing a book blasting Trump. The Soviet-born Parnas is running as an independent.
The district is widely viewed as Broward County-centric. Of the 769,000 people in the district, only 209,501 live in Palm Beach County while 345,595 live in Broward, according to state records.
Baxter is expected to lean heavily into Trump’s endorsement.
“Sara Baxter has my Complete and Total Endorsement for Re-Election — SHE WILL NEVER LET YOU DOWN!” the flyer quotes Trump as saying.
It is unknown whether Trump will endorse her in the congressional race.
Baxter could get competition from another recent entrant into the race. When Belinda Keiser entered the race last week, she described herself as a strong supporter of the president. She married into the family that founded Keiser University. She voted for Trump as a 2024 member of Florida’s delegation to the U.S. Electoral College and was on the board of the Women for Trump Advisory Board in 2020.
In Baxter’s campaign announcement, she noted that no one knew her when she first sought a County Commission seat. She ran as an outsider and won, she said.
She won in 2022 in District 6, previously held by a Democrat, on the coattails of Gov. Ron DeSantis’ resounding reelection victory. Her decision to abandon her campaign, for which she had raised nearly $146,000, indicates a belief that she would not win.
She lost support from many in her west-central district over the controversial proposal for a hyperscale AI data center called Project Tango. Her pledge to vote against the project brought a warning from the county attorney that she would have to recuse herself from the zoning vote.
She also faced pushback from her constituents over the failure of a plan to reduce a massive proposed GL Homes development and to replace a closed auto racing track.
Her departure leaves Accomando and four Democrats in the District 6 race: Mohammad Junaid Akther, Mario Guzman, Rudolph Tinker and Katherine Waldron.
Editor’s note: This story was updated with more information after publication.
