Jacksonville's most iconoclastic Democrat will face opposition on the August ballot this year from a man who says a divine communication called him to challenge her.
Lloyd Caulker opened a campaign account to oppose Rep. Kimberly Daniels in House District 14, a seat that includes portions of Northern and Western Duval County.
"Leadership runs in my blood," said Caulker a native of Sierra Leone and a descendant of tribal royalty who announced his election with a Facebook post that showed him doing a "running for election" dance and saying he was confident he would win.
Issues of importance to Caulker are ethanol and education, he told Florida Politics.
Daniels is in the middle of her third term in the House. She was originally elected to serve HD 14 in 2016, was re-elected in 2018, and lost in 2020's Democratic Primary to current Rep. Angie Nixon. After Nixon was moved to HD 13 during 2022's redistricting, Daniels won a four-way Primary to return to Tallahassee.
A former pastor and consultant, he is the owner of the "Salvation Navy," which is described on LinkedIn as "Strategist against the Commandery of Knights Templer, Consistory of Sublime Princes of the Royal Secret Etc..."
Asked about going up against Daniels, who herself is a pastor of global notoriety, Caulker said his campaign was a "divine calling" and that the "Lord Jesus Christ" urged him to run after he left ministry to travel around and "wash feet" like Mary Magdalene.
This energy exchange was mutually beneficial, he said.
"I would wash the feet and also take the water and well, rub it on my hair," Caulker related, noting that he washed roughly 300 people's feet and that it led to healing for them.
Caulker doesn't know much about Daniels, and is not running against her in a targeted bid to remove her from office.
However, he did have positive things to say about Gov. Ron DeSantis, who was a "great leader" with a "real presence" during COVID-19.
One other opponent already entered the race, only to drop out before the end of 2023.
Libertarian Ronald Robison opened a campaign account earlier this year, saying at the time that he saw this run as a way to continue the "momentum" he started when he ran for City Council in 2023 — an election where his 131 votes in that election were good for just 1% of the vote. But he closed his account soon thereafter.
The August Primary likely will decide the race, given that more than 55,000 of the district's nearly 105,000 registered voters are Democrats, and given that no one else is running at the moment. If only Democrats run, the Primary will be open to all voters in HD 14.
No comments:
Post a Comment