Just seven months to the August primary, Democrats have little clue whose names they’ll be marking on their ballots for two of South Florida’s most competitive congressional races.

Evidence is piling up that Democrats in Florida have no clear bench of candidates willing to challenge Republican incumbents in South Florida, in what’s expected to be a daunting and expensive 2022 cycle for their party.

Two first-time candidates who made early announcements they would run for South Florida House seats have both since dropped their bids to pursue runs for state office. A rumored likely candidate for federal office, former state Sen. José Javier Rodríguez, was recently nominated by President Joe Biden to serve as an assistant secretary at the Department of Labor.

And even with proposed new congressional maps shaping up to give Democrats a fighting chance at flipping Florida’s 26th and 27th congressional districts, no Democrat has registered a campaign committee in one of the two competitive districts to run against U.S. Rep. Carlos Gimenez.