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Eagle culls easy primary victory

2 min read

Incumbent Dane Eagle easily lapped the field in a four-candidate Republican primary for the State House District 77 seat.

Eagle captured 63.93 percent of the vote, easily defeating Jim Roach, who had 16.21 percent; Terry Cramer with 13.18 percent and Brandon Ivey with 6.69 percent.

“It’s a pleasantly surprising result, but one that was the result of hard work. We knocked on doors every day for months,” Eagle said in a telphone interview. “I thank the voters for again placing their trust in me.”

Eagle faces write-in candidate Jeremy Wood in November’s general election.

Given the district’s strong Republican ties, the chance of Eagle holding his seat for a second term is all but a given.

Still, he said he won’t rest on his laurels.

“We’ll continue to campaign strong. We won’t get complacent,” Eagle said.

It has been a tough year for Eagle on a personal level. In January, his father, Greg, pleaded guilty to fraud charges and was sentenced to six years in prison.

In April, Eagle was charged with driving under the influence in Tallahassee. That charged was reduced to reckless driving.

Eagle said what hasn’t killed him has made him stronger.

“I’ve learned from my mistakes, and I’ll try to do things better moving forward,” Eagle said.

Roach, who unsuccessfully ran for Congress in 2012 as a Democrat, said he faced an uphill battle against an incumbent in his latest bid.

“Of course I’m disappointed,” he said. “With a closed primary and the limited amount of voters, he won. He’s the incumbent and hard to beat. I hope he does well.”