Republican state Sen. John Thrasher ran for re-election and won. Weeks later, he was moving into the presidential office at Florida State University.

That left his seat for State Senate District 6 open.

Now, political insiders and outsiders alike are trying to get to Tallahassee.

Leading the charge are former Florida House members and Republicans Ronald “Doc” Renuart (yes, he's a doctor of internal medicine) and Travis Hutson.

They gave up their respective House seats to seek a spot in the state Senate.

Dennis McDonald, who twice ran for Flagler County Commission, rounds out the trio on the Senate side.

Hutson's resignation from his House District 24 seat creates a void in the district, which covers the entire county.

Former St. Johns County Commissioner Ron Sanchez is running, as is Danielle Anderson, a Palm Coast journalist.

Paul Renner is the third candidate and is the most-funded, by an 80-1 margin. He moved to Palm Coast after running for, and losing, the state House District 15 seat in Jacksonville by just two votes.

This special election Putnam, St. Johns and Volusia counties are tied in to one of these two races.

But only Flagler County is covered entirely by both.

This means, for the time being, the county has no direct representation in Tallahassee.

We reached out to Anne-Marie Shaffer, the chairwoman of the Flagler County Republican Executive Committee.

When asked about what set up these special elections, she emailed a response:

“A large number of Republican voters have indicated their dissatisfaction with how the special election came about and the resulting cost to taxpayers. Many are feeling discouraged and abandoned, seeing no compelling reason to vote.”

It's believed the cost of the special elections for state Senate and the two House seats could top $1 million.

The winners of the GOP primary for both House District 24 and Senate District 6 must face Democratic opposition.

However, both districts heavily favor a Republican candidate.