Vern Buchanan wearing headphones for translation, sitting at a desk with a microphone and American flag — Vern Buchanan (R-Longboat Key) during a congressional visit to Moldova on April 14, 2025. Credit: Parlamentul Republicii Moldova from Chișinău, Republic of Moldova, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons

Florida Republican U.S. Rep. Vern Buchanan, who has represented the Sarasota area and other parts of Southwest Florida for nearly 20 years, announced Tuesday that he will not run for re-election in November.

The sitting vice chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, Buchanan saw 51 of his bills and legislative initiatives signed into law under four presidents. He particularly stood out in championing Florida’s environment, working to combat red tide, safeguard water quality, and protect manatees and coastal ecosystems.

He frequently cosponsored bipartisan bills to permanently ban oil drilling off the coast of Florida, aiming to protect the state’s tourism, environment, and military training areas.

Buchanan is considered one of the biggest supporters of animal rights in Congress. He was co-sponsor of the Preventing Animal Cruelty and Torture (PACT) Act in 2019, which was the first federal laws targeting extreme acts of animal cruelty — such as crushing, burning, drowning, suffocating, or impaling — occurring in interstate commerce or on federal property.

And he was the only member of the U.S. House of Representatives to receive the Humane Society’s national “Legislator of the Year Award” twice.

“Serving the people of Southwest Florida has been the honor of my lifetime,” Buchanan said in a written statement.

“Every achievement worth doing began with listening to my constituents and fighting for their priorities. I came to Congress to solve problems, to fight for working families and to help ensure this country remains a place where opportunity is available to everyone willing to work for it. After 20 years of service, I believe it’s the right time to pass the torch and begin a new chapter in my life.”

Buchanan was already a successful business owner when he first decided to run for Congress in 2006, having operated a number of car dealerships, and served as chairman of the Florida Chamber of Commerce. NewsNation reported a year ago that he had a projected wealth of nearly $250 million.

Buchanan’s toughest election was his first—and it was controversial.

The seat was open that year after Republican incumbent Katherine Harris stepped down to run for U.S. Senate (she lost to Democrat Bill Nelson). Buchanan ran against Democrat Christine Jennings.

The Florida Division of Elections certified Buchanan as the winner by 369 votes out of more than 238,000 counted.

But Jennings filed a formal protest, claiming that there were approximately 18,000 “undervotes” in Sarasota County, the biggest county in the 16th Congressional District and where Jennings had run the strongest. These ballots, mostly cast on electronic machines, contained votes cast for other offices but not in the House race.

Jennings filed a lawsuit in state court, but lost. As the Sarasota-Herald Tribune reported at the time, the judge ruled that her arguments about the possibility of lost votes were “conjecture” that didn’t warrant overriding the trade secrets of the voting machine company.

Jennings then contested the results in Congress. After a 10-month investigation by the Government Accountability Office provided “further confirmation that the machines accurately recorded election ballots,” Congress in February 2008 dismissed her challenge.

Florida’s 16th Congressional District includes parts of eastern Hillsborough County and all of Manatee County and is heavily Republican in its make-up. Donald Trump defeated Kamala Harris by 18 points in the district in November 2024, while Buchanan won his re-election that same night over Democrat Jan Schneider by 19 points.

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