of the vote. He was re-elected unopposed in the general election that year, and then again in 2004 and 2006. In 2008, he faced Ryan Gilbert in the Republican primary, but defeated him easily, winning renomination with 76% of the vote, and was re-elected in the general election without opposition. Florida Senate When State Senator Durell Peaden was unable to seek re-election due to term limits, Evers ran to succeed him in the 2nd District, which stretched from Panama City to Pensacola and included northern Bay County, northern Escambia County, Holmes County, northern Okaloosa County, northern Santa Rosa County, northern Walton County, and Washington County. He was originally set to face fellow State Representative Dave Murzin in the Republican primary, but Murzin opted to run for a seat on the Escambia County Commission instead, so Evers faced Tea Party activist Mike Hill. Despite Hill racking up a number of local endorsements, Evers significantly outraised him, and ended up defeating him in a landslide, receiving 71% of the vote to Hill's 29%. In the general election, Evers was opposed by Christopher S. Crawford, the Tea Party nominee, and defeated him by a wide margin with 79% of the vote. In 2012, following the reconfiguration of the state's legislative districts, the 2nd District was redrawn and made more compact, trading the reach down to Panama City for more of Escambia and Santa Rosa Counties. Evers ran for re-election, which he won unopposed. When he sought re-election in 2014, he won uncontested again. Evers wrote a number of pieces of legislation concerning guns. Following the Marissa Alexander case, Evers wrote legislation that exempted certain acts of self-defense from a law that required twenty years of jail time if a gun was fired during the commission of certain felonies, and the bill was eventually signed into law by Governor Rick Scott. He also authored legislation, nicknamed the "Pop Tart" bill, that prevented schools from "disciplining students who play with simulated weapons", which was also signed into law. In 2015, Evers joined State Representative Greg Steube to author legislation that would have allowed individuals with concealed-carry permits to bring guns onto college and university campuses, but the bill ultimately died in the Florida Senate when the Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Miguel Díaz de la Portilla, refused to bring it up in committee. 2016 Congressional election Evers announced that in 2016 he would run