Thrasher runs with uncertainty

John Thrasher is among three candidates on the ballot for the State Senate seat from District 6 in the Nov. 4 General Election.

However, the incumbent Republican's impact on the future of politics in Northeast Florida could stretch much further than the bounds of that post should he be re-elected.

In addition to the senate candidacy, the St. Augustine politician is the recommended choice to be president at Florida State University. His hiring, however, won't officially go before the Board of Governors for approval until its Nov. 5 meeting.

Although board approval is viewed as a formality, the difference in the hours between that action and the tally of the election's senate votes will have those interested and involved in statehouse politics holding their collective breath.

Thrasher has said if he wins re-election and is affirmed for the FSU presidency, he will resign the senate seat. If that happens, a special election awaits supervisors of elections in the district's counties as well as its voters, and a domino affect among the region's statehouse delegation will soon follow.

Already, Ronald "Doc" Renuart, seeking re-election as a Republican candidate for District 17 State Representative said he will resign that seat should he win Nov. 4 and run for Thrasher's vacated post. Travis Hutson, a Republican also seeking re-election as District 24 State Representative, which also is in the district Thrasher currently serves, has indicated he may pursue the seat as well.

And now, St. Augustine businessman Mike Davis said he will run for Renuart's House seat should all the stars align by Nov. 5.

"I've already filed all the paperwork with the state," Davis said, "I'm raising money. I've been doing that for about a week and a half."

As for now, it all comes down to Thrasher winning or losing against Democrat Kathleen Trued and nonpartisan Greg Feldman, then receiving the stamp of approval from the Board of Governors if he prevails in the election.

During a recent interview with The Record's editorial board, Thrasher said he initially applied for the FSU position not only because it was his alma mater but also because he felt he had a "skill set that would be beneficial to them at this particular time."

He said he did so with no direct knowledge of a hiring process he thought would only be a matter of weeks instead of months once a decision was made by the FSU Board of Trustees.

"I didn't have control over the process," Thrasher said in the interview, "of how and when that process took place."

If Thrasher loses to either Trued or Feldman the issue is moot. That person is the new senator and Thrasher, with approval, will be the new president in Tallahassee.

"If Thrasher loses, he lost," St. Johns County Supervisor of Elections Vicky Oakes said. "It's not an issue then."

If he wins, however, it'll be up to Gov. Rick Scott to call for a special election. Oakes said that a special election could cost about $330,000 and that's just for St. Johns County.

All the counties in the district likely would have similar price tags for their elections. The reason for the price being so high, Oakes said, is due to the costs of printing the ballots, training poll workers for early and absentee voting, purchasing equipment for voting and other costs.

And, with Thrasher's seat a coveted one, there likely will be more races on the ballot.

If either Renuart, Hutson or both seeks the senate seat, each would be required by law to relinquish his seat in the House.

"In order to run for another office, they have to resign from their seats," Oakes said.

This could call for yet another special election on Scott's word.

Oakes, however, said it all has to do with the timing of the resignation of the house seat to run for the seat in the senate. She said after speaking with the Secretary of State's Office, if the resignation were immediately after the governor set the special election, that would allow for the house seat/s to be included on that ballot.

"By law, they have to resign in a certain time period, prior to qualifying and that's 10 days," Oakes said. "If they wait until that time to resign to run, to qualify for the offices, then there would be too much time that would pass and that would trigger a second set of special elections."