Austin Rogers won the Republican nomination for Florida's 2nd Congressional District Tuesday evening.
Rogers won the nomination after receiving 30.47% of the vote, with Keith Gross (16.39%), Evan Power (15.78%) and Luke Murphy (15.36%) rounding out the top candidates.
He celebrated his win with his family in downtown Panama City.
"You battle it out during a primary and you battle it out with some fierce opponents," Rogers says. "And to be able to stand at the end of it and say, we're unified, we are on the same sheet of music and we are trying to accomplish the same mission means a lot."
Rogers will face off against Amanda Marie Green, the Democratic nominee, in November. While CD 2 is a Republican-favored district, Rogers says the party will still need to keep their foot on the gas if they plan to win in the general election.
"This district is the largest district in the state of Florida, it encompasses Tallahassee and Tallahassee is a blue stronghold," Rogers says. "So, it is not taken for granted that despite the Republican sentiments of the rural counties of Bay County that a Republican is automatically going to win the seat. You've seen this seat flip over and over again in other races, so we have to do everything we can and not take anything for granted to make sure that this seat is represented by a Republican."
Rogers says a big focus for him, if elected, will be to push for the Safe Kids Act, a bill that addresses Chinese surrogacy, and is a national continuation of the same bill he drafted while working alongside Rick Scott.
"There's no reason that in California or in New York you should be able to sell American children to our number one adversary," Rogers says. "That is a bill I'd love to get across the finish line. It's a bill that Doctor [Neal] Dunn co-sponsored and it is going to be priority number one on day number one."
In his victory speech, Rogers mentioned his faith as a leading example in his campaign, even citing Psalm 127 as a focus for the building of his campaign. He says it's what drives him, his family and his campaign.
"As I talked about whenever I was addressing my faith, if I could leave you with one thing, it would be that, you know, that's how I serve my family," Rogers says. "That's how I want to serve this district."
Green and Rogers will hash it out during the general election on November 3rd.
