Florida Rep. Cliff Stearns appears likely to lose his primary to obscure tea party challenger, veterinarian Ted Yoho. The 12-term congressman trailed Yoho by 829 votes but the Associated Press has not yet called the race.
From the Tampa Bay Times:
“Cliff Stearns embodied a career politician, the establishment,” Yoho said. “He was more concerned about getting re-elected than doing what’s right. He’s not a bad guy. We just need different leadership.”
Yoho, unknown in Florida political circles until now, has lived in North Central Florida for more than 3 decades. He ran an aggressive campaign against Stearns, including a TV ad showing men in suits feeding from a pig trough (see ad in the jump). Yoho said he had grown increasingly disillusioned with leaders in Washington who were afraid to take on big challenges, such as shoring up Social Security and fixing the immigration system.
A “backbencher” for most of his career, according to the Times, Stearns became chairman of the Energy and Commerce Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee in 2010 and used the position to launch partisan investigations into Planned Parenthood and Solyndra.
