Gregory, Fairey face off in District 73 Florida House of Representatives race

Republican incumbent Tommy Gregory, 48, and Democrat challenger David Reeves Fairey, 38, square off during the Nov. 3 general election for the District 73 Florida House of Representatives seat.

Gregory is finishing his freshman term in the House. Fairey is a first-time political candidate. Neither had opposition during the primary season.

District 73, which begins north of State Road 62 in Parrish and extends south to Clark Road in Sarasota, includes Lakewood Ranch and Myakka City as well as the eastern fringes of Palmetto and Bradenton.

Although the district is heavily Republican, Gregory, an attorney and retired Air Force lieutenant colonel, says he is not taking re-election for granted.

“We run to represent everybody,” Gregory said.

In 2018. he defeated Democrat Liv Coleman with 62 percent of the vote. Previously, the District 73 seat was held by Republican Joe Gruters, now a Florida state senator.

In his first term in the House, Gregory filed the Honor and Remember flag bill that honors the families of service members who lost their lives in battle. Gregory also supported legislation to allow nurse practitioners to use the full scope of their training to treat patients. In addition, he worked to increase hunting and fishing opportunities for Floridians while cracking down on the spread of invasive species.

In a second term, Gregory said he would like to focus on helping find solutions to traffic congestion and dangerous intersections, to close loopholes in the law regarding sexual offenders, and help balance the state budget, which seems certain to be a bigger-than- normal challenge because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Gregory and Fairey clashed in a debate May 29 organized by Tiger Bay Club. Both say the pandemic has prevented them from meeting with large gatherings, and that they have had to find new ways to reach voters.

Fairey, a chief financial officer for a tech company, who is also a certified public accountant, said, if elected, he would focus on addressing the affects of the pandemic, work for structural reform of the economy and health care, work to end the scourge of gun violence, and fight for a green new deal for Florida.

“It’s going amazingly well,” Fairey said of his campaign. “We have a young, really energized campaign. We depend on grassroots fundraising to get our message out.”

To date, Gregory has raised $120,969.20 in monetary contributions and $500 of in-kind contributions. Fairey has raised $23,100.75 in monetary contributions, plus $4,500 in loans and $2,633.20 of in-kind donations, according to the Manatee County Supervisor of Elections web site.

This story was originally published September 9, 2020 at 5:00 AM.