DANIELLE KURTZLEBEN, HOST:
In Southwest Florida, Republican voters have a big decision to make on Tuesday. The congressional district left open by Congressman Byron Donalds' run for governor is a safe Republican seat. It's a crowded race, and the stakes are high. As NPR political reporter Maham Javaid reports, the race has attracted an interesting cast of candidates.
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MAHAM JAVAID, BYLINE: Despite a fierce thunderstorm in and around Naples, an impassioned crowd of young and old has gathered on a Wednesday night to meet and greet with Republican candidates.
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JAVAID: The venue is Seed to Table, a popular local grocery store whose owner endorses political candidates and hosts conservative events. Voters have come to learn more about the diverse set of characters, many of whom are not originally from here, running in this Southwest Florida Congressional District.
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UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: So we have to recognize...
JAVAID: But in this very tight and crowded race, where almost all 10 candidates are Trump loyalists, a tension has developed between those who have deep roots in Florida and those who recently moved here for work, warmer weather or to run in this race.
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UNIDENTIFIED NARRATOR: Many of the candidates running for Congress here aren't even from here. Failed politicians from Chicago and New York couldn't get...
JAVAID: That's an ad for Jim Schwartzel, a local media mogul and one of the ever-Florida candidates. He's leaning into being from Florida by attacking others who aren't.
AUBREY JEWETT: The carpetbagger label, you know, which is sort of traditionally what you call politicians who come to a state and haven't been there very long and then try to run for office.
JAVAID: That's Aubrey Jewett, who teaches politics at the University of Central Florida. The term carpetbagger evoked a lot of responses from the candidates. Some were defensive while others owned it.
JOHN STRAND: Carpetbagger? You know, whatever. I don't use that term. I think a lot of people very clearly moved here, it seems like, five minutes ago to run for Byron's seat, knowing it was going to go. So I moved here before anyone knew that seat was going to be open.
OLA HAWATMEH: I'd rather be named a carpetbagger that's making a difference than someone that was born and raised here and has millions that hasn't done anything for the district. Shame on you.
LINDA SAWYER: They call us snowbirds.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: Yeah.
SAWYER: So I've been snowbirding for eight years. So, like, eight months down here, four months on the Detroit River.
JAVAID: That was John Strand from California, Ola Hawatmeh, who previously ran for Congress in New York, and Linda Sawyer, who previously ran in Michigan. Listen to Jim Oberweis, who has run multiple times for different political offices in Illinois.
JIM OBERWEIS: I owned a home in Florida longer than any of my opponents. And we've been a - had a home in Bonita Springs for 16 years.
JAVAID: Another candidate, Catalina Lauf, has faced Oberweis before in their home state.
CATALINA LAUF: You know, I can't control where I was born, but I can control where I want to build a life. And this is where, you know, my husband and I wanted to raise our future family with, again, like-minded values and, you know, in the free state of Florida.
JAVAID: Chris Collins and Madison Cawthorn are running here, too. Both already served in Congress from New York and North Carolina. Both declined to speak for this story. Jim Schwartzel and Greg Bukowski, another recent Florida transplant from Texas, did not respond to interview requests. Lauf managed to pick up momentum in the final days of the race and won the president's coveted endorsement. In early August, while campaigning with veterans in Naples, standing under palm trees buzzing with cicadas, Lauf said she believes in...
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LAUF: Faith, family and freedom. And I will tell you, a lot of the people even in my primary don't embody those values.
JAVAID: Here is the catch. Voters say they don't really care about where someone's from. They care a lot more about whether their conservative values are represented. This is Therese Wilkinson (ph), a 26-year-old stay-at-home mom who lives in Fort Myers.
THERESE WILKINSON: I frankly don't care that they're from other states. If you look around Fort Myers, if you look around Naples, if you look around a lot of the 19th District, there's a lot of transplants down here.
JAVAID: In downtown Fort Myers, Jim Dean, an operations manager, says he also doesn't care about a candidate being from out of state.
JIM DEAN: No, I don't think it really matters. I think what really matters is the foundation.
JAVAID: Dean splits time between Florida and Pennsylvania. He and his wife just feel more accepted here.
DEAN: I'm packing. Everywhere I go, I'm packing.
JAVAID: After all, Florida's favorite adopted resident, President Trump himself, is originally from a blue state. Still, Mercedes Price-Harry, a local county Republican Party official, is quick to warn candidates against assuming that they can run away with a win.
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JAVAID: At a political event tucked away in a strip mall between a tattoo parlor and an Outback Steakhouse, Price-Harry says when prospective candidates from outside the district and the state called her, she tried to discourage them.
MERCEDES PRICE-HARRY: People see Southwest Florida, and they see we're ruby red. And they think it's this sleepy little community in the corner, way down in the middle of nowhere. I'm going to talk about my conservative bona fides even if I'm not from here, and I'm just going to have them eating out of my hand.
JAVAID: But Southwest Florida is no easy win.
PRICE-HARRY: What they don't realize is when they get here, we're savages. We are very, very right-wing, and we are very protective of our community.
JAVAID: With so many candidates in the race, it's bound to be another test of Trump's endorsement power. And even with his backing for Catalina Lauf, it's entirely possible that whoever wins the primary could do so with less than 20% of the vote and go on to win in November in this safe red seat.
Maham Javaid, NPR News, Fort Myers, Florida.
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