Scotland Calhoun
was the lone Republican in the race against state Rep. Amy Mercado, but she dropped out of the race — after getting a contribution of $50,000 from the state party.
The Republican opponent to state Rep. Amy Mercado has dropped out of the race, according to the state Division of Elections — but not before becoming one of the few unopposed Republicans running for the state House to receive a contribution of $50,000 from the state party.
Scotland Calhoun, 20, was the lone Republican in the race against Mercado, D-Orlando, whose District 48 includes parts of east and south Orange County.
Calhoun, daughter of Gina Perez-Calhoun, a Republican running for Orange County Commission in District 4, would have been too young to be sworn in if elected in November.
She turns 21 in April, weeks into the 2019 legislative session in Tallahassee.
Calhoun also had deleted her Twitter account and campaign Facebook page as of Monday.
The Orange County Republican Executive Committee will need to name a replacement for Calhoun for the Nov. 6 general election.
Despite running in heavily Democratic districts against incumbents, Calhoun and fellow Republican Ben Griffin, 21, running against Democratic state Rep. Carlos Guillermo Smith in District 49, were the only Republican state House candidates unopposed in their primaries to receive $50,000 contributions from the state Republican Party.
Both $50,000 contributions were given on July 3, according to campaign filings. State party contributions to other state House candidates amounted to in-kind donations of a few thousand dollars.
The state party contribution made up more than 90 percent of Calhoun’s contributions for the race.
A spokeswoman for the Republican Party of Florida did not return requests for comment.