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Lakeland Commissioner Scott Franklin projected to win Republican nomination, defeating incumbent Ross Spano

Franklin appears to have defeated Spano, a freshman congressman.

LAKELAND, Fla. — Scott Franklin, a Lakeland city commission member, has narrowly won the Republican nomination to run for the District 15 seat in Florida, according to unofficial election results.

Franklin’s projected win nudges out incumbent Ross Spano, who won his first term in the House in 2018. Franklin ended the night with 51 percent of the more than 59,000 votes cast.

Franklin will now face Democrat Alan Cohn, a former investigative journalist at WFTS-TV, for the congressional seat in November.

While Spano faced the repercussions of an alleged campaign finance violation and several investigations throughout his first term, Franklin gained a key endorsement from Rep. Matt Gaetz, who represents the most western parts of the Florida Panhandle.

Franklin is a retired Naval Aviator who actively served for 14 years and then 12 in the Reserves, according to the city of Lakeland. He’s also the president and CEO of Lanier Upshaw, Inc., an insurance and risk management agency in the area.

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