With the next election still 17 months away, U.S. Rep. Darren Soto already faces two Republican challengers.
Sergio Ortiz of Kissimmee and Bill Olson of Davenport have both filed paperwork to run in the 2020 race for U.S. House District 9. Soto, a Democrat from Kissimmee, won decisively in the previous two elections.
Neither challenger has held elected office before. Ortiz, 54, is a mortgage banker, and Olson, 55, is retired from a career in the Army.
District 9 covers northeast Polk County, including Haines City and Winter Haven, as well as parts of Osceola and Orange counties. The population in the district is nearly 46% Hispanic, according to Ballotpedia. The Cook Partisan Voting Index lists the district as leaning Democrat by 5 percentage points.
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