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Florida's primary ends today, and in Central Florida's 7th Congressional District, Republican Congressman Cory Mills is fighting to keep his seat. Catherine Welch reports.
CATHERINE WELCH, BYLINE: Congressman Cory Mills' district stretches from the suburbs of Orlando to the beaches near Daytona. In the heart of the district, you'll find the quaint historic city of Sanford. It's where Patrick Austin (ph) cast his ballot for the incumbent Mills on Saturday.
PATRICK AUSTIN: He delivers for our district. He's brought a lot of money. He's fixed a lot of issues that we needed, and that's really all I want.
WELCH: Mills, running for his third term, is under a House ethics investigation that includes allegations of assaulting a former girlfriend and violating campaign finance laws. NPR reached out to Congressman Mills' office for a response to those allegations but did not hear back. He has previously denied any wrongdoing. Despite the controversy, Yoshida Hiro voted for Mills.
YOSHIDA HIRO: In today's world, you can indict a ham sandwich. I believe a person is innocent until proven guilty.
WELCH: When asked recently, Florida's Republican governor, Ron DeSantis, said he does not support Cory Mills. And while President Trump endorsed him back in February, he left Mills off his recent string of Florida endorsements posted on social media. Mills' main primary challenger is former local TV news anchor Ryan Elijah.
TIFFANY DAVIS: I was a die-hard Cory Mills fan, but I think I'm going to have to go with Ryan Elijah this time.
WELCH: Waving a sign for her husband who's running for mayor, Sanford Republican Tiffany Davis says Mills has too much baggage. Scandals around Mills here in Florida, Max Miller in Ohio and Tony Gonzales in Texas have muddied Republicans' clear chance of winning and keeping those House seats.
DAVIS: I think Cory Mills will get beat, honestly, if it comes to a Democrat, like, and I just - I don't think I can chance it.
WELCH: Democratic voter Penny Murthie (ph) would love for Mills to win and give her party's challenger a shot at beating him.
PENNY MURTHIE: Because he has a lot of controversy around him and he does not represent the people.
WELCH: Even though Mills won this district twice, Democrats consider this race competitive and are putting money toward flipping the seat.
For NPR News, I'm Catherine Welch in Sanford, Florida.
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