Florida Senate candidate withdraws from race. COVID-19 is sending her family out of state
Amanda Linton, a Democratic candidate for Manatee County’s seat in the Florida Senate, has withdrawn from the race.
Linton, who filed 13 months ago to run in Florida Senate District 21, said she and her family are ultimately victims of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and she must put family before politics. They will be moving to Mississippi where her husband has been working.
“My head and heart have been consumed by this race since early 2019, well before I officially filed that July,” Linton said in a prepared statement. “I knew this campaign would be an uphill climb and while I was ready for that challenge, my family was not ready for the effects a global pandemic would have on us.”
Linton, a teacher who resides in Hillsborough County, was the only Democrat in the race to succeed Senate President Bill Galvano, R-Bradenton, in the Florida Legislature. In November, she would have faced the winner of the Aug. 18 GOP primary contest between former state representative Jim Boyd of Bradenton, and John Houman, a convicted felon who lives in Thonotosassa.
Florida Senate District 21 is comprised of Manatee and part of Hillsborough County.
Linton said her husband was forced to close his commercial maintenance business in March following mass closures across the state.
Linton said her family spent most of the summer apart.
North Mississippi is where the couple went to high school, met and ultimately started their family before moving to Florida.
“Once the decision to relocate was made, I knew I could not in good conscience continue to run for this seat at this time.”
Linton said the decision to withdraw was “challenging ... but I made a commitment to my family first ... While things haven’t worked out the way we planned, the growing movement happening across District 21 will not be silenced.”
Neither Boyd nor the Manatee County Democratic Party could be reached for comment.
This story was originally published August 12, 2020 at 10:34 AM.