Anthony Sabatini suspends congressional campaign, endorses Carey Baker in CD 11

Lake County Commissioner Anthony Sabatini has dropped his campaign to succeed retiring U.S. Rep. Daniel Webster in Congress. This marks the second time in two election cycles the controversial Republican has backed out of a federal run.

Sabatini cited Florida’s resign-to-run law and loyalty to another candidate, former Property Appraiser Carey Baker, in his decision.

“First, qualifying to run for Congress would require me to immediately resign from the Lake County Commission. It would be irresponsible to do so because there’s too much on the line for Lake County—my seat would likely be given to a corrupt political insider who will vote to drown Lake County with overdevelopment and do nothing to advance true conservative policy,” Sabatini wrote on a post to X. “We filed a lawsuit to strike down the unconstitutional ‘resign to run’ law but unfortunately it was too late for a challenge to be fully heard and decided on the merits before the qualifying date.”

A judge this month said Sabatini would have to comply with the “resign to run” that law has been in Florida statutes for decades.

Sabatini won election to the Lake County Commission two years ago, unseating incumbent Doug Shields in a Republican Primary. Sabatini dropped a GOP Primary bid against Webster to run for the county office.

But Sabatini also cited loyalty to Baker, who announced his candidacy after Sabatini. Baker was a political mentor to Sabatini when the younger Republican as a Eustis City Council member won election to the Florida House.

“Our district needs a great leader from Lake County to be our Representative; Carey Baker and I would’ve split too many votes within our home of Lake County to be competitive in the larger primary race,” Sabatini posted.

“We have not had a true Lake County leader represent our district in Congress since Syd Herlong in the 1960s. Therefore, I’m asking all of my supporters to get behind Carey Baker for US Congress—one of the few truly honest & principled people I’ve worked with in government.”

Other candidates already qualified for a Republican Primary in Florida’s 11th Congressional District include physician Nizam Razack, air conditioning business owner Joe Strada and comedian Tim Wilkins.

“Thank you to all of my patriotic supporters and friends who helped us along the way and knocked on thousands of doors,” Sabatini wrote. “I will continue to fight for our County, State and Nation—this is not the end, but only the beginning—stay tuned.”