Eddie Tarazona of Tarazona Cigars has come up short in his bid to be the Republican candidate for Florida’s 18th Congressional District, an area that covers a large amount of land to the west and northwest of Lake Okeechobee in central Florida.

In the primary election held on Tuesday, Tarazona came in fifth among the five candidates for the seat. Incumbent Scott Franklin was declared the winner by the Associated Press and other media outlets just after 8 pm EDT, after he received approximately 73 percent of the vote. Tarazona had won just over 3 percent of the vote, according to the state’s election results website.

Tarazona billed himself as a conservative leader that is “pro-Constitution, pro-family, pro-freedom and pro-you,” who promised to “take the fight to the establishment and stand for Florida and #AmericaFirst.”

Tarazona issued the following statement about the outcome of the primary election to his campaign’s Twitter account:

Overall Score

Avatar photo

Patrick Lagreid

I strive to capture the essence of a cigar and the people behind them in my work – every cigar you light up is the culmination of the work of countless people and often represents generations of struggle and stories. For me, it’s about so much more than the cigar – it’s about the story behind it, the experience of enjoying the work of artisans and the way that a good cigar can bring people together. In addition to my work with halfwheel, I’m the public address announcer for the Colorado Rockies and Arizona Diamondbacks during spring training, as well as for the Salt River Rafters of the Arizona Fall League, the WNBA's Phoenix Mercury and previously the Arizona Rattlers of the Indoor Football League. I also work in a number of roles for Major League Baseball, plus I'm a voice over artist. Prior to joining halfwheel, I covered the Phoenix and national cigar scene for Examiner.com, and was an editor for Cigar Snob magazine.