PUNTA GORDA — State Rep. Spencer Roach, R-North Fort Myers, announced Friday he will not seek re-election to a fourth term in the Florida House.
“I have learned to listen to my gut when I experience restlessness or a sense (that it’s) time for a change,” Roach said in an online post.
He did not outline future plans.
“I have no aspirations to seek higher office, no golden parachute, no immediate plans for the future,” Roach wrote. “Right now I intend to return to private life and live under the laws that I helped pass, just as the Framers intended.”
Roach, who had opened a campaign account to run this year, represents House District 76, which is made up of DeSoto County and parts of Charlotte and Lee counties.
He chairs the House Constitutional Rights, Rule of Law & Government Operations Subcommittee.
A lawyer, Roach served in the U.S. Coast Guard from 1996 to 2016.
On Saturday morning, one candidate who is running for the seat reacted through a news release.
Democratic candidate Jim Blue said Roach's withdrawal "should focus attention on the main issue facing Florida’s voters."
Blue is a Punta Gorda resident and Emmy-winning television journalist who has raised nearly $20,000 for the race thus far.
“Florida women are now facing one of the most extreme abortion bans in the nation," Blue stated in the news release. "Starting next month, abortion will be banned for Florida women only six weeks after conception, before most even know they are pregnant.”
Vanessa Oliver is launching a look into running, according to Florida Politics.
Oliver, a Republican, is a member of the Charlotte County Airport Authority.
“As someone who has spent nearly their entire life growing up in this district, raising a family here, and managing a business, I know how important it is we have leaders who believe in the conservative principles that make Florida the envy of the nation,” Oliver stated in a news release late Friday.
Blue indicated abortion will be an issue in the election.
“Ms. Oliver, or any candidate for the legislature, should declare where they stand," he stated in the news release. "Do they support the extreme assault on women’s freedom? Or do they want restoration of the rights enjoyed by their mothers and grandmothers? So far, Oliver has not revealed her position.”
Oliver gave a statement touching on other issues Friday.
“I’m running for the State House because I know we must be vigilant in keeping Florida a beacon of freedom and opportunity for all, while addressing the challenges before us," she stated, according to Florida Politics. "We need courageous, conservative leaders who will stand up for our strong borders, (parents’) rights, and economic opportunity in the face of continued rising inflation, all while investing in our waterways and water quality to keep our environment pristine.”
According to her biography at voterfocus.com, Oliver grew up in Charlotte County and graduated from Charlotte High School.
She attended William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia, earning a bachelor’s degree in economics and a minor in government. She interned in Washington, D.C. for Congress and then in the office of Ken Feinberg as a legal assistant for the September 11th Victim’s Compensation Fund.
She later earned her law degree at the University of Florida College of Law, working initially as an attorney in Central Florida and then returned to Charlotte County in 2012, working as general counsel for Ambitrans Ambulance, her biography states.
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