James Buchanan (Florida)
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2018 - Present
2026
6
James Buchanan (Republican Party) is a member of the Florida House of Representatives, representing District 74. He assumed office on November 6, 2018. His current term ends on November 3, 2026.
Buchanan (Republican Party) is running for election to the Florida State Senate to represent District 22. He declared candidacy for the 2026 election.[source]
Biography
Buchanan is the son of U.S. Representative Vern Buchanan (R) of Florida's 16th Congressional District.
Committee assignments
Note: This membership information was last updated in September 2023. Ballotpedia completes biannual updates of committee membership. If you would like to send us an update, email us at: editor@ballotpedia.org.
2023-2024
Buchanan was assigned to the following committees:
- Infrastructure Strategies Committee (decommissioned)
- State Affairs Committee
- Ways and Means Committee, Vice Chair
2021-2022
Buchanan was assigned to the following committees:
2019-2020
Buchanan was assigned to the following committees:
Sponsored legislation
The following table lists bills this person sponsored as a legislator, according to BillTrack50 and sorted by action history. Bills are sorted by the date of their last action. The following list may not be comprehensive. To see all bills this legislator sponsored, click on the legislator's name in the title of the table.
Elections
2026
See also: Florida State Senate elections, 2026
General election
The general election will occur on November 3, 2026.
General election for Florida State Senate District 22
James Buchanan is running in the general election for Florida State Senate District 22 on November 3, 2026.
Candidate | ||
| James Buchanan (R) | ||
| ||||
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Endorsements
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2024
See also: Florida House of Representatives elections, 2024
General election
General election for Florida House of Representatives District 74
Incumbent James Buchanan defeated Nancy Simpson in the general election for Florida House of Representatives District 74 on November 5, 2024.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | James Buchanan (R) | 64.6 | 74,060 | |
| Nancy Simpson (D) | 35.4 | 40,516 | ||
| Total votes: 114,576 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
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Democratic primary election
The Democratic primary election was canceled. Nancy Simpson advanced from the Democratic primary for Florida House of Representatives District 74.
Republican primary election
Republican primary for Florida House of Representatives District 74
Incumbent James Buchanan defeated Michelle Pozzie in the Republican primary for Florida House of Representatives District 74 on August 20, 2024.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | James Buchanan | 73.7 | 15,901 | |
| Michelle Pozzie | 26.3 | 5,687 | ||
| Total votes: 21,588 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
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Campaign finance
Endorsements
Buchanan received the following endorsements.
Pledges
Buchanan signed the following pledges.
2022
See also: Florida House of Representatives elections, 2022
General election
The general election was canceled. James Buchanan (R) won without appearing on the ballot.
Withdrawn or disqualified candidates
- Conner Trombley (No Party Affiliation)
2020
See also: Florida House of Representatives elections, 2020
General election
General election for Florida House of Representatives District 74
Incumbent James Buchanan defeated Lisa Stortstrom in the general election for Florida House of Representatives District 74 on November 3, 2020.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | James Buchanan (R) | 62.1 | 73,420 | |
 | Lisa Stortstrom (D) | 37.9 | 44,858 | |
| Total votes: 118,278 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
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Democratic primary election
The Democratic primary election was canceled. Lisa Stortstrom advanced from the Democratic primary for Florida House of Representatives District 74.
Republican primary election
The Republican primary election was canceled. Incumbent James Buchanan advanced from the Republican primary for Florida House of Representatives District 74.
2018
Regular election
General election
General election for Florida House of Representatives District 74
James Buchanan defeated Tony Mowry and Robert Samuel Kaplan in the general election for Florida House of Representatives District 74 on November 6, 2018.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | James Buchanan (R) | 56.9 | 52,107 | |
 | Tony Mowry (D) | 40.5 | 37,078 | |
| Robert Samuel Kaplan (No Party Affiliation) | 2.6 | 2,371 | ||
| Total votes: 91,556 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
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Democratic primary election
Democratic primary for Florida House of Representatives District 74
Tony Mowry advanced from the Democratic primary for Florida House of Representatives District 74 on August 28, 2018.
Candidate | ||
| ✔ | | Tony Mowry |
| ||||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
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Republican primary election
Republican primary for Florida House of Representatives District 74
James Buchanan defeated Linda Yates in the Republican primary for Florida House of Representatives District 74 on August 28, 2018.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | James Buchanan | 59.2 | 12,886 | |
| Linda Yates | 40.8 | 8,878 | ||
| Total votes: 21,764 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
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Special election
A special election for District 72 in the Florida House of Representatives was held on February 13, 2018. The seat became vacant following Alexandra Miller's (R) resignation.[1] Democratic candidate Margaret Good won the special election by defeating Republican candidate James Buchanan and Libertarian candidate Alison Foxall.[2][3][4] Good initially moved on to the special election after defeating Ruta Jouniari in the primary on December 5, 2017.[5]
In February 2018, the Sarasota Herald-Tribune said of the race, "The House District 72 race is a proxy for the same political battles roiling Washington, D.C., with Trump playing a starring role in attack ads against Buchanan and Good being linked to U.S. House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi."[6]
Former Vice President Joe Biden (D) endorsed Good for the seat, exemplifying the Democratic Party's interest in the race.[7] Former Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley also visited Sarasota to host a fundraiser for Good on February 7, 2018. At the same time, Gov. Rick Scott appeared with Buchanan at a Manatee County business. President Donald Trump's (R) former campaign manager Corey Lewandowski also campaigned for Buchanan on February 11, 2018. He was endorsed by Sen. Marco Rubio (R) as well as state Sen. Bill Galvano and state Rep. Jim Boyd.[8][9][10][11]
General election
Special general election for Florida House of Representatives District 72
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Margaret Good (D) | 52.2 | 23,081 |
| James Buchanan (R) | 44.8 | 19,816 | ||
 | Alison Foxall (L) | 3.0 | 1,339 | |
| Total votes: 44,236 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
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Campaign themes
2026
Ballotpedia survey responses
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2024
James Buchanan did not complete Ballotpedia's 2024 Candidate Connection survey.
2022
James Buchanan did not complete Ballotpedia's 2022 Candidate Connection survey.
2020
James Buchanan did not complete Ballotpedia's 2020 Candidate Connection survey.
2018
The video below is an interview with Suncoast News Network.
Campaign finance summary
Note: The finance data shown here comes from the disclosures required of candidates and parties. Depending on the election or state, this may represent only a portion of all the funds spent on their behalf. Satellite spending groups may or may not have expended funds related to the candidate or politician on whose page you are reading this disclaimer. Campaign finance data from elections may be incomplete. For elections to federal offices, complete data can be found at the FEC website. Click here for more on federal campaign finance law and here for more on state campaign finance law.
Scorecards
A scorecard evaluates a legislator’s voting record. Its purpose is to inform voters about the legislator’s political positions. Because scorecards have varying purposes and methodologies, each report should be considered on its own merits. For example, an advocacy group’s scorecard may assess a legislator’s voting record on one issue while a state newspaper’s scorecard may evaluate the voting record in its entirety.
Ballotpedia is in the process of developing an encyclopedic list of published scorecards. Some states have a limited number of available scorecards or scorecards produced only by select groups. It is Ballotpedia’s goal to incorporate all available scorecards regardless of ideology or number.
Click here for an overview of legislative scorecards in all 50 states. To contribute to the list of Florida scorecards, email suggestions to editor@ballotpedia.org.
2024
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2024, click [show]. |
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In 2024, the Florida State Legislature was in session from January 9 to March 8.
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2023
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2023, click [show]. |
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In 2023, the Florida State Legislature was in session from March 7 to May 5.
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2022
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2022, click [show]. |
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In 2022, the Florida State Legislature was in session from January 11 to March 14.
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2021
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2021, click [show]. |
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In 2021, the Florida State Legislature was in session from March 2 to April 30.
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2020
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2020, click [show]. |
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In 2020, the Florida State Legislature was in session from January 14 to March 19.
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2019
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2019, click [show]. |
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In 2019, the Florida State Legislature was in session from March 5 through May 3.
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See also
2026 Elections
External links
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Officeholder Florida House of Representatives District 74 |
Personal |
Footnotes
- ↑ Bradenton Herald, "Dates set for House District 72 special election," September 1, 2017
- ↑ Florida Election Watch, "Unofficial Election Results," accessed February 13, 2018
- ↑ Herald-Tribune, "Governor sets date for District 72 special election," September 1, 2017
- ↑ Your Observer, "Good wins House District 72 Democratic primary," December 5, 2017
- ↑ Saint Peters Blog, "Four candidates qualify for HD 72 special election," September 29, 2017
- ↑ Herald-Tribune, "Sarasota state House race has national implications," Updated February 4, 2018
- ↑ Herald-Tribune, "Joe Biden endorses Margaret Good in Sarasota state House race," February 5, 2018
- ↑ Herald-Tribune, "Corey Lewandowski rallies GOP base in closing stretch of Sarasota state House race," February 11, 2018
- ↑ Florida Politics, "James Buchanan adds Marco Rubio endorsement," September 28, 2017
- ↑ Sunshine State News, "James Buchanan Reels in Endorsements from Galvano, Boyd, Sarasota Sheriff," September 22, 2017
- ↑ Herald-Tribune, "Sarasota state House candidates get help from prominent party members," February 7, 2018
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Julio Gonzalez (R) |
Florida House of Representatives District 74 2018-Present |
Succeeded by - |
