Two candidates announce bid for District 22 seat

Two Republicans declared their bid to fill the Florida House of Representatives District 22 seat in 2024.

Raemi Eagle-Glenn and Robert Woody announced Tuesday they will run for the seat currently held by Chuck Clemons, R-Newberry. District 22 includes Levy and Gilchrist counties and part of Alachua County.

Clemons, who was re-elected in November, has reached his term limit after serving in the position since 2016.

Eagle-Glenn, an attorney since 2012, recently served for five months in 2022 on the Alachua County Board of County Commissioners after Gov. Ron DeSantis appointed her to fill Mary Alford’s District 1 seat on June 9. Alford resigned in mid May due to family issues and questions about whether she lived inside District 1, but regained the seat in November when she defeated Eagle-Glenn 58.65% to 41.35%. 

“I served on the Alachua County Commission for five months and I learned so much about working on a delegative body and how to do the most good for the most people by acting with civility and decorum,” said Eagle-Glenn in a phone interview. “I was what many consider a hostile environment being only the third Republican in Alachua County history to sit on the commission.

“All the other commissioners were Democrats, but I was able to find a few of those common ground issues with some of my Democrat colleagues, No. 1 being the raise for the (Alachua County) Sheriff’s deputies, and that taught me a lot. So, I want to continue that at the state house for District 22.”

Woody sent a press release out Tuesday afternoon to also throw his hat in the ring for the District 22 seat. Over his career of nearly four decades in law enforcement, Woody has served as the Alachua County Jail director, the Gainesville Police Department community relations director and as the deputy secretary for Florida’s Department of Juvenile Justice. He was appointed to the Eighth Circuit Judicial Nomination Commission in 2019 by DeSantis.

“Thanks to Gov. DeSantis and our Republican majority in Tallahassee, Florida has become a beacon of freedom for the rest of the country,” said Woody in a press release. “As a law-and-order conservative and longtime former Republican State Committeeman, I am committed to keeping Florida free.”