Florida GOP chair loses House primary for Dunn seat
The Hill · C · trust 54/100
Comments: by Max Rego - 08/18/26 8:14 PM ET Comments: Link copied by Max Rego - 08/18/26 8:14 PM ET Comments: Link copied NOW PLAYING Evan Power, Florida’s GOP chair, is projected to lose the Republican primary in the state’s 2nd Congressional District, according to Decision Desk HQ.
Power is projected to finish in fourth place in the eight-man field , as Austin Rogers secured the nomination in the race to succeed retiring Rep. Neal Dunn (R-Fla.).
Power has served as chair of the Republican Party of Florida since 2024, after roughly a year as the state party’s vice chair. He began with the Florida GOP in 2017 as assistant treasurer.
He got his start in politics as a legislative analyst for the Florida House, a tenure during which he worked for then-state Rep. Marco Rubio (R) — now the secretary of State — according to Power’s biography on the Florida GOP’s website.
During Power’s time as state party chair, the GOP’s voter registration edge over Democrats in Florida has grown from roughly 1.1 million in 2024 to about 1.5 million as of the end of July, according to the Florida Division of Elections .
But the number of registered Republicans in Florida has actually declined by roughly 28,000 since 2024, as the total number of registered voters in the Sunshine State has decreased by 750,000-plus during that timeframe.
The increase in the Florida GOP’s advantage is mostly driven by the number of registered Democrats in the state dipping by more than 400,000.
Since entering the 2nd District primary in January, Power loaned his campaign $150,000, according to the Federal Election Commission (FEC). Keith Gross, who also came up short in the primary, had criticized his opponent for fundraising while in his role as state GOP chair.
Despite his full-time job, Power was at a financial disadvantage relative to Rogers and Gross , reporting to the FEC he had less than $263,000 on hand as of the end of July.
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