Alfie Oakes announces that he will seek re-election at an April 4 event at his restaurant, Food & Thought 2.
June 16, 2024 by David Silverberg
Francis Alfred “Alfie” Oakes III, the prominent pro-Trump grocer and farmer and a central figure in Collier County politics, has not qualified for the Republican state committee seat he was seeking to retain.
Oakes is currently a Republican state committeeman and announced in April that he would run to keep his seat. Because he is disqualified, his name will not appear on the August 20 Republican primary ballot.
Qualifying forms for all candidates were due at noon on Friday, June 14. Oakes did not file his form until after the noon deadline.
As a result, “Pursuant to Florida Statute 99.061 the candidate qualifying documents that were received in the Supervisor of Elections office were not properly filed. Therefore, you did not qualify for the Republican State Committeeman position,” Collier County Supervisor of Elections Melissa Blazier stated in a two-sentence letter to Oakes.
According to one source, Oakes misfiled his forms, submitting a form for county commissioner and not correcting the mistake until 12:04 pm.
Efforts to reach Oakes by publication time were unsuccessful.
There will still be two candidates for the state committeeman seat.
Douglas Rankin will be attempting a comeback. A practicing Naples attorney specializing in elder law, Rankin began his Party activism with the Young Republicans in 1984. From 2008 to 2020 he was a Republican state committeeman until pushed out by Oakes for being insufficiently pro-Trump and anti-mask amidst the COVID pandemic.
Frank Schwerin, who will also appear on the ballot, has served as Chair of the Collier County Republican Executive Committee.
A State committeeman or woman represents his or her county on the leadership team of the Republican Party of Florida and serves a four-year term.
Liberty lives in light
© 2024 by David Silverberg