Florida’s southernmost congressional race got another dose of statewide attention Friday as Sunburn, the influential morning newsletter from Florida Politics, highlighted Jesse Scheckner’s reporting on Democrat Phil Ehr’s challenge to Republican U.S. Rep. Carlos Giménez.
The coverage followed Ehr’s five-day veterans’ bicycle tour through the congressional district Giménez represents, beginning in Homestead and working its way down the Florida Keys before finishing Thursday in Key West. The 197-mile ride was timed to coincide with the beginning of voting and brought Ehr and supporting veterans through communities from the mainland to the Southernmost Point.
The Key West stop also brought Ehr back to where his Navy career began. His first assignment at age 19 took him into the Florida Straits during the Mariel Boatlift, helping ferry Cuban arrivals ashore in Key West. Mayor Sam Kaufman greeted Ehr and the riders at City Hall before joining them for the final stretch to the Southernmost Point.
Here’s Scheckner’s Florida Politics report, featured in Friday morning’s Sunburn.
