Democrat Harvey Shifrin is entering the race for House District 72, setting up a Democratic Primary contest against Luther Keith Wilkins.
Shifrin was previously a candidate for Manatee County School Board in the current election cycle, but withdrew his candidacy on April 30.
According to a mid-April post in the Education Matters in Manatee County Facebook page, citing a previous press release, Shifrin is a lawyer and certified Public Accountant with decades of experience in law and finance. He also worked with elementary and middle school students for 27 years through the Odyssey of the Mind and Destination Imagination programs.
Prior to that, Shifrin has also served as a substitute teacher at the elementary, middle and high school levels, and served as an adjunct professor at the John Marshall School of Law. He actively supports local arts, including the Manatee Performing Arts Center, The Sarasota Players and Florida Studio Theatre. He’s married to an educator with more than 40 years of experience of her own.
Shifrin filed for the race Monday.
Wilkins himself had previously filed to run in House District 70 until he switched to run in HD 72 in April. Neither candidate has filed a campaign finance report for the race, but Wilkins had previously reported raising $50 in the first quarter for the HD 70 race.
The Democratic nominee would challenge either incumbent Lakewood Ranch Republican Rep. Bill Connerly or John Phillips III. Phillips is challenging Conerly during the GOP Primary.
Conerly has raised just over $112,000 through his campaign account since January 2025, and has spent just under $26,000. The Engineering a Successful Florida PAC supporting Conerly’s campaign has raised just over $130,000 and spent just under $82,000 since April 2024.
Meanwhile, Phillips has raised less than $1,000 in outside cash and loaned another $10,000 to his campaign. He has spent just over $2,000 of those funds.
