Gallop Franklin took home almost 72% of the vote for a North Florida House seat, securing the spot on election night.
Democrat Gallop Franklin beat his Republican opponent Curt Bender by more than 22,000 votes, according to unofficial election results. He will take the place of Rep. Ramon Alexander, D-Tallahassee, who did not run for reelection.
Franklin said he's excited to get to work.
“It’s great, very excited with the results coming in the way they came in. I’m just humbled to have the support to the community to serve in this capacity. You know, the primary race was competitive, a lot of people were in it, the general election was competitive, Curt Bender is a great candidate, and it just feels good to know that we are moving forward with the majority of the community to serve. That’s why we ran was the serve. And it’s great to get past this campaigning season because it’s time to get to the serving season," Franklin said.
Franklin wants to focus on economic development to help serve the people in his district.
“Economic development is really necessary and needed. To be honest, there’s so many people that are looking at just trying to make sure that they can make ends meet just to send their kid to trade school or maybe college, to ensure that they can save a little bit of money for hard times," Franklin said. "As you know, my district has very high poverty rates and so because of that, that’s why our crime is higher too. So if we can really solve this poverty issue and get people economic opportunity, I truly believe that we’ll see this entire region flourish."
Franklin’s district encompasses all of Gadsden County and parts of Tallahassee.
