President Donald Trump’s pick for Florida’s 19th Congressional District, Catalina Lauf, lost the Republican primary on Tuesday, falling to businessman Jim Schwartzel in the bid to succeed Rep. Byron Donalds, who is running for governor.
Schwartzel won with 29.2% of the vote when the Associated Press called the race at 8 p.m. Lauf, a former Trump adviser, trailed at 21.9%, followed by several other candidates, including former Reps. Madison Cawthorn and Chris Collins.
The district is rated solidly red, setting up Schwartzel on the path to join Congress in November.
According to his campaign website, Schwartzel started a conservative radio station in South Florida and brands himself as an “America First” candidate.
“I’ll take that same common-sense, no-nonsense approach to Washington,” his website said. With President Trump, we’ll cut wasteful spending, grow our economy, finish the wall, and deport illegal immigrants. I don’t just talk about conservative values – I live them.”
Notably, Schwartzel was one of the few candidates in the race who was actually born and raised in the state.
Parts of his platform include supporting Trump’s policies, setting term limits in Congress, protecting Florida water, securing the border and immigration enforcement, and “pushing back on woke ideology.”
Lauf was endorsed by Trump in the days leading up to the primary. She previously ran for Congress in Illinois’s 14th District in 2020 and was the Republican nominee in the 11th District in 2022, when she lost to Democratic Rep. Bill Foster.
Lauf, a former Trump administration adviser at the Commerce Department and a business owner, made her “America First” credentials a central part of her campaign. She emphasized border security, economic growth, deregulation, and fighting what she described as the political establishment. She branded herself as a “next-generation America First” candidate.
In an interview with the Washington Examiner last week, Lauf said she wants to bring her business experience to Congress and work alongside Trump on his economic agenda.
“I’d love to go up there and look at legislation from a business perspective, not from a political politician’s perspective,” Lauf said to the Washington Examiner ahead of her primary.
The primary was one of the most crowded Republican House contests in Florida, with Schwartzel facing Lauf, Cawthorn, Collins, businessman Jim Oberweis, and several other candidates.
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Donalds won reelection in 2024 with 66.3% of the vote.
Schwartzel will face Democrat Victoria Arias in November.