FL-6 & 9: Below the Radar

Yesterday, we covered two Florida congressional districts that Democrats purportedly believe are upset opportunities (FL-15 and 16), but current polls suggest that the GOP nominees, state Rep. Ross Spano (R-Riverview/Lakeland) in the open 15th and Rep. Vern Buchanan (R-Sarasota) in the 16th, hold comfortable leads.
 
A pair of other Sunshine State seats, however, may look differently. In GOP gubernatorial nominee Ron DeSantis’ (R) former congressional district, FL-6, a new Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research poll for the Nancy Soderberg (D) campaign finds the two major party nominees falling into a dead heat. Michael Waltz (R), an author and former staff member to Vice President Dick Cheney, should be favored to hold what is normally a reliable Republican seat, but the data suggests he has fallen into a tie with Ms. Soderberg, a former administrative US Ambassador.  The GQR polling numbers produced a 45-45% tie.       
 
When freshman Rep. Darren Soto (D-Kissimmee) defeated former Rep. Alan Grayson in this year’s Democratic primary, it looked like the serious campaigning was over.  A new Survey USA poll for Spectrum News (10/2-7; 535 FL-9 likely voters) is suggesting something different, however.  The S-USA data finds Rep. Soto leading his re-election campaign, but by an unimpressive 48-40% margin opposite under-funded Wayne Liebnitzky, an engineer and Navy veteran. 
 
Though both parties will likely hold these seats when the votes are actually tabulated, the fact that such districts are falling into competitive mode provides more evidence verifying the current heightened activity level.