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FLORIDA OFFSHORE FIGHT: With several senior members of Florida’s House delegation retiring, freshman GOP Rep.
Updated Oct 16, 2026, 3:12 PM ET
Republican · 3 November 2026
Jimmy Patronis
U.S. Representative for Florida's 1st congressional district (since 2025)
Jimmy Patronis, a Republican who served as chief financial officer of Florida from 2017 to 2025 and has represented Florida's 1st congressional district since 2025, seeks re-election in 2026 against Democrat Gay Valimont.
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Live TruthIndex™ and prediction market consensus for races contested by Jimmy Patronis.
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- Born
- April 13, 1972
- Birthplace
- Panama City, Florida
- Education
- Gulf Coast Community College (associate degree in restaurant management, 1994)
Florida State University (bachelor's degree in political science, 1996)
Biography & Campaign Analysis
Background
Jimmy Patronis was born on April 13, 1972, in Panama City, Florida, and is of Greek descent.
He graduated from Gulf Coast Community College with an associate degree in restaurant management in 1994 and from Florida State University with a bachelor's degree in political science in 1996, working as an intern in the Florida Senate and the House of Commons of the United Kingdom while at Florida State.
His family has run Captain Anderson's, a seafood restaurant in Panama City, since 1967, and he is a partner in the business. He married his wife, Katie, in 2006, and they have two children.
Career
Jimmy Patronis served on the Florida Elections Commission from 1998 to 2003, after appointments by Governors Lawton Chiles and Jeb Bush, and chaired the Bay County Airport Authority from 2004 to 2006.
He represented the 6th district in the Florida House of Representatives from 2006 to 2014, and in 2015 Governor Rick Scott appointed him to the Florida Public Service Commission.
Scott then appointed him chief financial officer of Florida, and he was sworn in on June 30, 2017, to complete Jeff Atwater's term. Patronis won a full term in 2018, defeating Democrat Jeremy Ring with 52% of the vote.
After Matt Gaetz resigned from the U.S. House, Patronis declared his candidacy for the 1st congressional district on November 25, 2024. Under Florida's resign-to-run law, he resigned as chief financial officer effective March 31, 2025. He defeated Democrat Gay Valimont in the special election and was sworn into the U.S. House by Speaker Mike Johnson on April 2, 2025.
2026 race
Florida's 1st congressional district has been represented by Jimmy Patronis since April 2, 2025, when he took office after winning the special election held following Matt Gaetz's resignation on November 13, 2024.
Patronis won the 2026 Republican primary with 62,965 votes, or 71.1%, ahead of Army veteran John Frankman with 19.5% and Navy veteran Douglas C. Chico with 9.4%.
In the general election on November 3, 2026, he faces Democrat Gay Valimont, an athletic trainer who was the party's nominee for the district in 2024 and 2025, along with independent candidate Tyler Davis.