Florida Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam said Monday he’s looking forward to Gov. Rick Scott and the current Cabinet remaining in place in Tallahassee beyond the 2014 election, reports the News Service of Florida.
Putnam, who said he isn’t aware of a potential Republican challenger to Scott, quietly opened his own re-election campaign account with the state Division of Elections on April 16.
At the time, Putnam was being rumored as a potential challenger to Scott. “I’m certainly not aware of any discussion about a primary for governor,” Putnam said Monday during a sit down with reporters in the Capitol. “I certainly look forward to the entire team coming back: the CFO, the attorney general, the governor and hopefully the ag commissioner.”
Besides Putnam and Scott, Attorney General Pam Bondi and Chief Financial Officer Jeff Atwater, all Republicans, are up for re-election in 2014. Bondi has yet to open a campaign account. Putnam drew attention as a potential challenger to Scott after sharply criticizing the governor’s support for an expansion of Medicaid in Florida.
Putnam said he filed his re-election paperwork without a public release so he could begin to collect money before making a formal announcement.
No date has been set to kick off the campaign. “I’m going to keep up this quiet thing because we got such good press out of it,” Putnam said.
