After getting elected to the Florida House last year, Riverview Democrat Adam Hattersley announced Monday he will run for Congress in 2020.
Hattersley will try to unseat freshman U.S. Rep. Ross Spano, R-Dover, in Congressional District 15, which is made up of parts of Hillsborough, Lake and Polk counties.
Hattersley’s announcement came a week after state Rep. Margaret Good, D-Sarasota, announced she was launching a campaign to try to unseat U.S. Rep. Vern Buchanan, R-Longboat Key, in Congressional District 16.
Hattersley, a Navy veteran who served in the Iraq war, was elected to an open seat last year in state House District 59, which had previously been held by Spano. Hattersley captured 51.5 percent of the vote in that race.
Spano, meanwhile, received 53 percent of the vote as he was elected to replace former U.S. Rep. Dennis Ross, a Republican who decided not to run for another term.
“I believe we’re in desperate need of leaders who will serve with honor and integrity and put country before party,” Hattersley said in a prepared statement Monday. “Those are the lessons that I learned as a U.S. Navy officer and it’s why I’m running for Congress.”
As of Monday morning, Republicans Melissa Lee Haskins and Michael Joseph Owen had opened campaign accounts to run next year in state House District 59.
