2026-08-07T09:00:29.409Z / 美国有线电视新闻网（CNN）
两名来自其他州、丑闻缠身的前国会议员。一对曾在伊利诺伊州相互对决的候选人。一名印第安纳州议员的顾问，以及一名因参与2021年1月6日国会山骚乱入狱的前内衣模特。
他们都是近年来涌入佛罗里达州西南部、如今角逐该州开放众议院席位的共和党人，将这个根深蒂红的选区变成了“复出故事”的舞台。
这场混战正在唐纳德·特朗普总统的“第二故乡”佛罗里达上演，而此时特朗普仍在全国范围内的共和党初选中扮演着“国王制造者”的角色。但在他的这片后院中，特朗普尚未表态，任由一众“地毯袋客”、各路“奇葩”和保守派人士相互厮杀，争夺谁能扛起“让美国再次伟大”（MAGA）的大旗。
“每个人来这里都是为了开启新生活，显然包括那些想在国会任职的人，”佛罗里达州共和党主席埃文·鲍尔说道，“我们和其他人一样，怀着极大的好奇心关注这场竞选。”
少数候选人坚称他们已与特朗普团队取得联系，并对特朗普最终可能背书自己持乐观态度。总统的一名高级顾问表示，他并未排除背书的可能，但如此庞大的参选阵容让特朗普在权衡选择时民意调查结果变得模糊不清。8月18日的初选提前投票已经开始。
值得注意的是，参与佛罗里达州第19国会选区竞选的六名候选人此前曾在其他州任职或参选国会议员，他们分别是：
- 麦迪逊·考索恩，前北卡罗来纳州国会议员，其短暂而混乱的国会任期在2022年初选失败后告终。
- 克里斯·柯林斯，前纽约州国会议员，因参与内幕交易计划被判入狱26个月。他在服刑两个月后，于2020年12月被特朗普赦免。
- 吉姆·奥伯韦斯和卡塔琳娜·劳夫，两人从伊利诺伊州搬到佛罗里达，曾在2020年芝加哥郊区国会席位的竞选中相互对决。奥伯韦斯曾担任伊利诺伊州参议员，此前曾被共和党提名为该州州长和联邦参议员候选人，他赢得了初选，但在大选中落败。劳夫两年后在伊利诺伊州另一个选区再次参选，但仍在大选中失利。
- 奥拉·哈瓦特梅赫，曾在纽约州参选未果，后成为印第安纳州众议员维多利亚·斯帕茨的顾问。
- 琳达·索耶，2020年及两年前两次参选密歇根州联邦众议院席位的初选均告失败。
佛罗里达州和华盛顿的共和党人带着时而近乎恼怒的戏谑心态关注着这场竞选。
“这简直是一场‘小丑秀’的名人录，”一名众议院共和党幕僚告诉CNN。
佛罗里达西南部洁白如糖的沙滩和四季如夏的气候，长期以来吸引着寻求“第二春”的外来者。该地区的明珠那不勒斯市本身就是由一名肯塔基州参议员于1886年联合创立的，他在竞选连任失利后不久便来到佛罗里达墨西哥湾沿岸。
该选区的许多选民本身也是相对较新的移民。他们定期选举外来者担任公职，包括过去四任该地区驻华盛顿的代表。
该选区现任议员拜伦·唐纳兹出生于纽约，在佛罗里达读大学后定居那不勒斯。他目前正在竞选州长，尚未背书任何潜在继任者。
但即便有这样的历史背景，如此多的外来者争相接替唐纳兹的举动，还是让这个本应稳属共和党的席位沦为一场闹剧。这也为土生土长的当地广播业大亨吉姆·施瓦策尔创造了机会，他只需强调自己在该地区的深厚根基就能脱颖而出。
他的一则广告嘲讽对手是“来自芝加哥和纽约的失败政客，在自己的州都选不上”。
“要代表一个社区，你需要在这里居住一段时间，才能理解人们的处境，”他说，“他们为这个社区做的唯一一件事就是跑来竞选公职。”
与此同时，他的对手们则试图证明自己对新家园的忠诚。
哈瓦特梅赫经营着多家慈善企业，她告诉CNN，“在该选区一年内在当地议题上所做的工作，比那些土生土长的人还要多”。身为富裕投资者的奥伯韦斯表示，他在佛罗里达该选区拥有房产和企业已有近半个世纪。
“比我的任何对手都久，”现年80岁的奥伯韦斯说，“而且凭借我的人生阅历，我比对手们对这些议题的理解更透彻、更深入。”
劳夫是一家健康初创公司的联合创始人，2018年被特朗普任命为美国商务部顾问。她称自己是疫情后从蓝州迁至佛罗里达的众多共和党难民之一。在目睹柯林斯和考索恩发起复出竞选后，劳夫表示她觉得有必要加入竞选，以确保这个共和党据点能选出“一位坚定的保守派和特朗普盟友”。
“这场竞选中有些人显然是为了自己的个人野心，”劳夫说，“这些人代表了共和党过去，我代表的是未来。”
考索恩在最近的一场论坛上表示，他在2022年连任失利后不久就搬到了该地区，并频繁出现在当地共和党活动中。
他还在佛罗里达西南部的多条道路上多次与执法部门打交道。公开记录显示，自搬到该州以来，考索恩已在三个不同郡收到超速罚单——其中两张罚单是超速50英里/小时以上——还有一张鲁莽驾驶罚单。
2024年4月，他与佛罗里达州公路巡逻队的车辆相撞，并于2025年5月被判未为应急车辆让行罪名成立。一名法官对他处以罚款、吊销驾照，并判处他12小时驾驶课程。
他后来还因驾驶时驾照被吊销而被起诉。在他未出庭后，法院发出了逮捕令。他以2000美元保释金获释。
考索恩2014年在佛罗里达度假时遭遇车祸，腰部以下瘫痪。他还收到了七张在未出示许可的情况下占用残疾人专用停车位的罚单。今年6月，他在佛罗里达州李县因车牌过期被开罚单，这是他今年第二次因该违规行为被处罚。
CNN曾尝试通过考索恩参选时向州政府提供的电话号码和电子邮件地址联系他，但未得到回复。发往其竞选网站上列出的媒体邮箱的邮件也被退回。
一名共和党官员告诉CNN，国会议员们多次询问是否应该为考索恩的回归做好准备——他在国会山的前任期内一直是共和党领导层的一大头疼问题。华盛顿的两名幕僚告诉CNN，共和党领导层并不认为他能胜出，但10人参选的阵容将如何分流选票仍是一个未知数。
众议院共和党人一直小心翼翼，除非出现对党派当选几率构成重大风险的情况，否则不会要求特朗普介入初选。
到目前为止，佛罗里达州第19国会选区发生的这场闹剧还不需要这种干预。特朗普2024年在该选区以30个百分点的优势获胜，这意味着共和党候选人在11月的大选中将占据压倒性优势。
然而，其他势力也在暗中发力。
保守派组织“增长俱乐部”已承诺斥资至少110万美元，阻止柯林斯重返国会。柯林斯作为首位公开背书特朗普2016年总统竞选的在任国会议员，曾深得特朗普欢心，但“增长俱乐部”抨击他的投票记录不够保守。
柯林斯及其竞选团队未回应置评请求。
由已故保守派活动家查理·柯克创立的青年政治组织“转折点行动”，已背书前模特、新冠疫情时期活动家约翰·斯特兰德。斯特兰德因参与2021年1月6日国会山骚乱入狱，后被特朗普赦免。
然而，斯特兰德尚未筹集到足够资金在该选区的电视荧屏上传播其竞选主张，在资金更雄厚的对手面前难以崭露头角。
奥伯韦斯已为自己的竞选活动注资近500万美元，在电视广告上的花费超过任何其他候选人。柯林斯已自掏腰包260万美元用于竞选，施瓦策尔则投入了100万美元。支持劳夫的超级政治行动委员会“保护自由”已为其竞选活动投入超过210万美元的广告资金。
奥伯韦斯和劳夫都抱怨称，施瓦策尔作为当地电视和广播电台所有者拥有先天优势——他们称他利用这一资源宣传自己的竞选活动并攻击对手。他们表示，施瓦策尔公司运营的保守派谈话广播电台经常批评他们。
周一，该电台的X账号分享了芝加哥一家新闻台关于这些前“本地政客”重返佛罗里达参选的报道。在该帖子中，该账号称奥伯韦斯和劳夫是“两名失败的伊利诺伊州国会候选人”，如今“在他们曾经的——也只是最近才离开的——政治舞台上重新亮相”。
“他竟然利用自己的职位做这种事，太荒谬了，”劳夫说，“想象一下，如果他在国会任职，会如何为自己的利益行事。”
奥伯韦斯还抱怨称，他在施瓦策尔拥有的电台上做广告花费不菲，实际上是在为他的主要竞争对手之一创收。
施瓦策尔告诉CNN，他不会告诉主持人该说什么，而且“如果奥伯韦斯和劳夫想说服我的听众，麦克风随时为他们敞开”。
“两名搬到佛罗里达西南部竞选这个席位的候选人，现在却抱怨西南佛罗里达的广播谈话节目主持人对他们不够恭敬，”施瓦策尔说，“这不是联邦通信委员会的问题。这就是谈话广播，是第一修正案赋予的权利。”
这场口水战反映了选票统计前几周日益紧张的竞选氛围。但无论背景差异多大，所有候选人都一致认同这场竞选的核心要求：坚定不移地支持特朗普。
在最近一场有劳夫、考索恩和哈瓦特梅赫参与的竞选辩论中，主持人要求候选人说出一个与总统意见相左的议题。
无人能答。
CNN记者萨拉·费里斯和戴维·赖特对本文亦有贡献。
A ‘clown show’ of carpetbaggers and characters has upended a Republican primary in Trump’s backyard
2026-08-07T09:00:29.409Z / CNN
Two scandal-scarred former congressmen from other states. A pair of candidates who once competed against each other in Illinois. An adviser to an Indiana lawmaker and an ex-underwear model imprisoned for his role in the January 6 attack on the US Capitol.
They are among the Republicans who have descended on Southwest Florida in recent years and are now in pursuit of an open House seat there, transforming a deeply red district into a staging ground for comeback stories.
The free-for-all is unfolding in President Donald Trump’s adopted home state at a moment when he continues to play kingmaker in Republican primaries across the country. But in this corner of his backyard, Trump has yet to weigh in, leaving a sprawling field of carpetbaggers, characters and conservatives fighting over who can claim the MAGA mantle.
“Everyone who comes here is in search of a new life, including apparently people who want to serve in Congress,” said Evan Power, the chairman of the Republican Party of Florida. “We’re watching the race with as much curiosity as everyone else.”
A handful of candidates insist they have been in contact with Trump’s team and remain optimistic he may yet endorse them. A senior adviser to the president said he hasn’t ruled it out, but the sprawling field has produced muddled polling for him as he considers the options. Early voting is already underway ahead of the Aug. 18 primary.
Remarkably, six candidates running for Florida’s 19th House District have previously served in or ran for Congress in other states. They are:
- Madison Cawthorn, the former North Carolina congressman whose brief and chaotic tenure in Congress ended in a 2022 primary defeat.
- Chris Collins, a New York congressman who was sentenced to 26 months in prison for his role in an insider trading scheme. He was ultimately pardoned by Trump in December 2020 after spending two months behind bars.
- Jim Oberweis and Catalina Lauf, who moved to Florida from Illinois, faced each other in a 2020 race for a suburban Chicago congressional seat. Oberweis, a former Illinois state senator previously nominated by the GOP for governor and US Senate there, won the primary but lost in the general. Lauf tried again in a different Illinois district two years later but came up short in the general election.
- Ola Hawatmeh, who previously ran unsuccessfully in New York and then became an adviser to Indiana Rep. Victoria Spartz.
- Linda Sawyer, who lost primary bids to represent Michigan in the US House in 2020 and again two years ago.
Republicans in Florida and Washington have watched the race unfold with an amusement that has at times veered toward exasperation.
“It’s a who’s who of the clown show,” one House GOP operative told CNN.
The sugar-white beaches and endless summers of Southwest Florida have long attracted outsiders in search of a second act. The city of Naples, the region’s jewel, was itself co-founded in 1886 by a Kentucky senator who arrived on Florida’s Gulf Coast shortly after losing his bid for reelection.
Many of the district’s voters are themselves relatively recent arrivals. They have regularly elected transplants, including the last four people to represent the area in Washington.
Its current congressman, Rep. Byron Donalds, was born in New York and settled in Naples after attending college in Florida. He is now running for governor and hasn’t endorsed a potential successor.
But even against that history, the parade of newcomers seeking to replace Donalds has made a spectacle of a safe Republican seat. And it has created an opening for local broadcasting mogul Jim Schwartzel, a lifelong resident, to distinguish himself simply by emphasizing his deep roots in the region.
One of his advertisements derides his rivals as “failed politicians from Chicago and New York (who) couldn’t get elected in their own state.”
“To represent a community, you need to be able to have lived there for a certain period of time to understand what people go through,” he said. “The only thing they have done for this community is run for a political office.”
His opponents, meanwhile, have sought to demonstrate their devotion to their newfound homes.
Hawatmeh, who has run several philanthropic ventures, told CNN she has “done more on local issues in a year in the district than the ones living there.” Oberweis, a wealthy investor, said he has owned property and businesses in the Florida district nearly half a century.
“Longer than any of my opponents,” said Oberweis, who recently turned 80. “And because of my life experiences, I have a much better grasp of the issues and at a greater depth than my opponents.”
Lauf, the co-founder of a health startup who was appointed by Trump in 2018 as an adviser to the US Department of Commerce, counts herself among the many Republican refugees from blue states who relocated there after the pandemic. After watching Collins and Cawthorn launch comeback bids, Lauf said she felt compelled to jump in to ensure the Republican stronghold is represented by “a strong conservative and Trump ally.”
“You have individuals in this race who are clearly doing this for their own personal ego,” Lauf said. She added: “These guys represent the past of the party. I represent the future.”
Cawthorn told a recent forum that he relocated to the region shortly after losing reelection in 2022 and became a staple at local party events.
He also quickly and repeatedly encountered law enforcement on roads throughout Southwest Florida. Since moving to the state, Cawthorn has received speeding tickets in three different counties — including two citations for driving 50 mph over the speed limit — and one citation for reckless driving, public records show.
In April 2024, he collided with a Florida Highway Patrol vehicle and was found guilty in May 2025 of failing to move for an emergency vehicle. A judge fined him, suspended his license and sentenced him to 12 hours of driving school.
He was later charged with driving with a suspended license. After he failed to appear in court, a warrant was issued for his arrest. He was released on a $2,000 bond.
Cawthorn, who was paralyzed from the waist down in 2014 as the passenger in a car crash while on vacation in Florida, has also received seven citations for parking in spaces reserved for handicap or disabled persons without displaying a permit. In June, he was cited for driving with expired registration tags in Lee County, Florida, his second such offense this year.
CNN attempted to reach Cawthorn at a phone number and email address he provided to the state when he filed to run, but he did not respond. An email sent to the press address listed on his campaign website bounced back.
One party official told CNN that members of Congress have repeatedly checked in on whether they should brace for a return from Cawthorn, a regular source of headaches for Republican leadership during his previous stint on the Hill. Party leaders don’t expect him to win, two operatives in Washington told CNN, though how the 10-candidate field will split votes remains a source of intrigue.
House Republicans have been careful not to ask Trump to wade into primaries unless a substantial risk to the party’s electability chances presented itself.
So far, the drama unfolding in Florida’s 19th District hasn’t required that kind of intervention. Trump won the district in 2024 by 30 points, making the Republican nominee the overwhelming favorite in November.
Others, however, are putting their thumbs on the scale.
The conservative Club for Growth has vowed to spend at least $1.1 million in an effort to block Collins from returning to Washington. Collins endeared himself to Trump by becoming the first sitting member of Congress to endorse his 2016 presidential campaign, but the Club for Growth has attacked his voting record as insufficiently conservative.
Neither Collins nor his campaign responded to a request for comment.
Turning Point Action, the youth-focused political organization founded by the late conservative activist Charlie Kirk, has endorsed John Strand, a former model and COVID-era activist. Strand served time in prison for participating in the January 6 attack on the US Capitol before he was pardoned by Trump.
Strand, however, hasn’t raised the money needed to carry his message across the district’s television airwaves and has struggled to break through against better-funded opponents.
Oberweis has loaned his campaign nearly $5 million and has spent more on TV advertisements than any candidate. Collins has put $2.6 million of his own money into his bid and Schwartzel is in for $1 million. Protect Freedom, a pro-Lauf super PAC, has boosted her bid with more than $2.1 million in ad spending
Both Oberweis and Lauf have complained that Schwartzel enjoys a built-in advantage as the owner of local television and radio stations — an asset they say he used to promote his campaign and attack his opponents. They said they are often criticized on the conservative talk radio station operated by Schwartzel’s company.
On Monday, an X account for the station shared a report by a Chicago news station about the ex-locals running again in Florida. In the post, the account called Oberweis and Lauf “two failed Illinois congressional candidates” who were “back in the spotlight in their former — and only recently departed — political stomping grounds.”
“It’s ridiculous he’s using his position like this,” Lauf said. “Imagine how he’ll use a position in Congress for his own interests.”
Oberweis also bemoaned how much he has paid to advertise on stations owned by Schwartzel, effectively enriching one of his chief rivals.
Schwartzel told CNN he doesn’t tell hosts what to say, and “the microphone is available” to Oberweis and Lauf if they want to persuade his listeners.
“Two candidates who moved to Southwest Florida to run for this seat are now upset that Southwest Florida radio political talk hosts aren’t deferential enough to them,” Schwartzel said. “That’s not an FCC problem. That’s talk radio, and it’s the First Amendment.”
The sniping is illustrative of the increasingly testy campaign in the weeks before ballots are counted. But for all their disparate backgrounds, the candidates remain united on the race’s central requirement: their unwavering support for Trump.
At a recent campaign debate featuring Lauf, Cawthorn and Hawatmeh, the candidates were asked to identify an issue where they broke with the president.
None could identify one.
CNN’s Sarah Ferris and David Wright contributed to this report.
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