Ex-Sen. Ring, a Broward Democrat, running for state CFO
Political moderate from Parkland is former Yahoo exec.
After months of speculation that he would run, former Democratic state Sen. Jeremy Ring has become the fifirst candidate to formally emerge in the 2018 race for state chief fifinancial offifficer.
Ring, who represented parts of Broward Count y in the Senate from 2006 to 2016, opened a campaign account Tuesday for the Cabinet race, according to the state Division of Elections website.
The move came after Ring has made appearances in various parts of the state in recent months in preparation for a run.
All three Cabinet seats — chief fifinancial offifficer, attorney general and agriculture commissioner — and the governor’s offiffice will be on the ballot in 2018.
A m e a s u r e o f u n c e r - tainty, however, surrounds the race for chief fifinancial offifficer because Republican incumbent Jeffff Atwater plans to step down in the coming weeks to take a position at Florida Atlantic University. Gov. Rick Scott will appoint a replacement to fifinish Atwater’s term — and it remains unclear whether that replacement would seek a full term in 2018, potentially going into the race with the trappings of an incumbent.
Scott has not named a replacement for At water, who said last week that he will wait for fifinal action on the state budget before leaving offiffice. Lawmakers passed a budget May 8, and it was sent to Scott on Wednesday.
Ring, a former executive with the internet fifirm Yahoo, is a businessman who listed a net worth of $12.55 million on a fifinancial disclosure fifiled last year with the state. He easily won three Senate elections in Broward County, a Democratic stronghold.
During hi s t i me i n t he Legislature, Ring was often viewed as a relative moderate. As an example, he served as chairman of the Senate Governmental Oversight and Accountability Committee and was heavily involved in pension-related issues in the Republican-dominated Senate.
He also worked last year with then- Senate President Andy Gardiner, R-Orlando, on legislation aimed at boosting employment opportunities for people with disabilities.
Democrats have had little success in Cabinet races during the past two decades, with their most recent victory in 2006 when Alex Sink was elected chief fifinancial officer. Sink did not seek re-election in 2010, instead running unsuccessfully for governor.
But t he 2 01 8 e l e c t i ons could provide an opportunit y for Democrats, with Re p u b l i c a n i n c u mbent s Atwater, Attorney General Pam Bondi and Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam leaving their seats. Bondi and Putnam face term limits, and Putnam is running for governor.