Former Florida Senate President Mike Haridopolos won the Republican primary for Congressional District 8 with 72 percent of the vote and will face Democrat Sandy Kennedy in the November election.

Former Florida Senate President Mike Haridopolos easily defeated two party challengers in Tuesday night’s Congressional District 8 Republican primary election.

Receiving 72 percent of the vote, Haridopolos topped John Hearton (22 percent of the vote) and Joe Babits (6 percent of the vote), to face Democrat candidate Sandy Kennedy in November.

“Thank you for your overwhelming support! We are honored to be the Republican nominee in FL-8,” Haridopolos said following the victory.

Haridopolos received a bevy of endorsements from heavy-hitter Republican figures including former President Donald Trump, House Speaker Mike Johnson, Gov. Ron DeSantis, Florida’s entire cabinet, Majority Leader Steve Scalise, Majority Whip Tom Emmer, and Republican Conference Chairman Elise Stefanik.

Haridopolos announced his candidacy in April, aiming to succeed the retiring Rep. Bill Posey. The announcement came hours after Posey, a Republican who has represented the district since 2008, declared he would not seek reelection at the end of his term. Posey subsequently endorsed Haridopolos.

Congressional District 8, covering Brevard, Indian River, and part of Orange Counties, is a Republican stronghold, with Posey having secured the seat comfortably in past elections.

In an interview with The Capitolist earlier this year, Haridopolos discussed how his past legislative experiences inform his approaches to fiscal responsibility, immigration reform, environmental protection, and the space industry.

Haridopolos, who served as Senate President from 2010 to 2012 under the Rick Scott administration, noted his experience managing a $4 billion state budget shortfall without raising taxes as a key qualification for addressing the federal deficit. During his tenure, he stated that he implemented reforms in pension and Medicaid programs to achieve fiscal balance and seeks to apply similar principles to federal spending, advocating for the elimination of residual COVID-19 era expenses and promoting economic growth to generate surpluses.

“That experience of having to take on both spending problems and entitlement issues should give me a lot of experience in tackling what’s going on in Washington.” Haridopolos said. “There’s still a lot of extra expenses there, and we need to go back to pre COVID levels … the biggest thing you can do to try to reduce the deficit is actually to grow the economy.”

Haridopolos also supports stringent border security and immigration reform, aligning with former President Donald Trump’s policies. Through the conversation, he advocated for measures to secure the southern border and offered support for a merit-based immigration system.