It’s June 2026 and the summer’s intense heat is slowly creeping across the East Coast. In Florida, a different kind of heat is threatening to burn Republicans — a firestorm of political backlash that could at best force the GOP to spend millions more in the midterms, and at worst cost the party what should be a safely red House seat. Mike Haridopolos, R-Fla., was one of the first to sound the alarm publicly about embattled Rep.
Cory Mills, R-Fla., and the scandals that could have sandbagged his re-election chances. It’s an unusually bold move for a first-term congressman, particularly when all of the House GOP leadership and the White House were still publicly backing Mills. But Haridopolos’ plan was well-executed — and with the help of Rep.
Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., Mills went down as one of only four Republican incumbents to lose a primary in the 2026 midterm cycle. Republican election watchers saw the loss with some relief, privately feeling better about their chances with former journalist Ryan Elijah, who Haridopolos recruited to run, against Democratic former NASA official Bale Dalton. And Haridopolos was there with Elijah both figuratively and literally.
The former local news anchor said he was "right there in the front row" during the primary debate. REPUBLICANS MOVE TO OUST EMBATTLED FLORIDA GOP LAWMAKER IN BITTER PRIMARY FIGHT "Not only was he there, he was kind of like the spin room. He did a lot of the media interviews, and that was huge for us," Elijah told Fox News Digital.
TRUMP'S SUPPORT DOESN'T SAVE SCANDAL-PLAGUED LAWMAKER IN PRIMARY Haridopolos told Fox News Digital, "I recognized that Cory Mills was absolutely going to lose a general election against a solid Democrat candidate. And so I went to the leadership and, of course, the president's team and said, look, we need to find a way for Mills to step aside." "Unfortunately, Mr. Mills was not willing to step aside.
And so I let the leadership and the president know that I'd be helping someone else in the primary," he continued. "It was not the easiest thing to do, taking on a colleague. But … this is a team sport and all of us need to work together." CORY MILLS BLASTS DOJ PROBE AS ‘POLITICAL OP' AHEAD OF FLORIDA PRIMARY "Team sport" is an analogy that the Florida Republican has used frequently, and one that he’s used to try and define his tenure in the House.
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