Democrat Enters HD 72 Race, Setting Up Primary Contest in Treasure Coast-Area District

Democrat Harvey Shifrin filed Monday to run for Florida House District 72, triggering a Democratic Primary against Luther Keith Wilkins and launching what is shaping up to be a competitive race for a seat that touches communities on the northern edge of the Treasure Coast region.

Shifrin brings a hybrid professional background to the contest. He is a licensed attorney and certified public accountant with decades of experience in law and finance, public documents indicate. He also spent 27 years working with elementary and middle school students through the Odyssey of the Mind and Destination Imagination programs and has served as a substitute teacher at all three school levels and as an adjunct professor at the John Marshall School of Law.

His entry into the HD 72 race follows a brief candidacy for Manatee County School Board, from which he withdrew April 30.

Wilkins, his Democratic Primary opponent, has his own winding path to the ballot. He originally filed to run in House District 70 before switching to HD 72 in April. Neither candidate has filed a campaign finance report for the HD 72 race yet. Wilkins previously reported raising $50 in the first quarter for the HD 70 contest.

The eventual Democratic nominee will face a Republican opponent still being decided in a separate GOP Primary. Incumbent Rep. Bill Conerly, a Lakewood Ranch Republican, is being challenged by John Phillips III. Conerly has raised just over $112,000 through his campaign account since January 2025 and spent just under $26,000. The Engineering a Successful Florida PAC backing Conerly has raised just over $130,000 and spent just under $82,000 since April 2024. Phillips, by contrast, has raised less than $1,000 in outside money, loaned his campaign $10,000 and spent just over $2,000.

The financial disparity between the two Republican candidates gives Conerly a commanding structural advantage heading into the primary. Whether either Democrat can close the gap against a well-funded incumbent — or a lesser-known challenger who might upset him — remains the central question for the fall campaign.

Florida's primary elections are scheduled for August 2026, with the general election to follow in November.

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