State Rep. Jay Fant wants to take Jacksonville’s influence with him to the Florida attorney general’s office.
The Republican announced his candidacy for the Cabinet post Tuesday at a news conference in Tallahassee.
After stops in Tampa and Orlando, Fant finished the day on home turf, making his first official pitch at a reception in Jacksonville.
He told supporters the race was a chance to give Jacksonville a seat on the state Cabinet, which has been void of local representation for years.
“We don’t have any Cabinet members from Jacksonville, we don’t have any statewide elected office holders from Jacksonville,” Fant said. “I can tell you after being in Tallahassee, there needs to be more Jacksonville-type people there.”
The 49-year-old father of four is serving his second term representing the 15th District of the Florida House of Representatives, an area that includes Downtown and southern Duval County. He was first elected in 2014.
Before that he was chairman of Jacksonville-based First Guaranty Bank and Trust Co., which the Florida Office of Financial Regulation closed in 2012.
Fant earned his law degree in 1994 from the University of Florida Frederic G. Levin College of Law and was admitted to The Florida Bar in November 1994, according to the Bar’s website.
Fant is the first to announce a bid for attorney general, which came the day after lawmakers ended this year’s legislative session.
Fant previewed what’s likely to come on the campaign trail over the next 16 months, promising to protect the state against judicial activism and overreaching government. The election is Nov. 6, 2018.
“You need an attorney general that will stand up to all of that, and I’m that guy,” he said.
If elected, Fant said his primary focus would be to defend Florida’s interest by upholding the Constitution and making government less threatening for average citizens.
He said he’ll be able to do that more effectively as attorney general than as a state representative.
“It’s the best role at using both the federal and state constitutions to protect people’s property and your liberty,” Fant said.
Fant is the first of what could become a crowded field of candidates to replace Pam Bondi, who steps down in 2018 because of term limits.
Spending only a few years in the Legislature, Fant isn’t a well-recognized name in the state beyond North Florida, a challenge he said he’s not taking lightly.
“I’ll have to hoof it. I’ll have to get in the car and meet as many people as I can,” he said.
Fant said he plans to tour a different part of the state each week, listening to people’s concerns.
As for Jacksonville, Fant said he’s not going to assume people will vote for him on name recognition alone.
“We’ll be knocking on doors, getting the word out here just as much,” he said. “We’ll be busy.”
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