The Daytona Democrat has dropped out of the race for Florida’s 6th Congressional District

A Democratic candidate in the special election for Florida’s 6th District withdrew from the race after Friday she is told she is not a democrat.

Purvi Bangdiwala, a single mom from Daytona Beach who qualified for January 28 mayor and whose name is on the ballot, is out of the race. Any vote for her will be reduced.

That leaves Ges Selmont and Josh Weil as the remaining Democratic candidates, while Randy Fine, Aaron Baker and Ehsan Joarder are competing in the Republican primary.

The winners of the Democratic and Republican primaries will advance to the April 1 general election, where they will face three other candidates: Libertarian Andrew Parrott, unaffiliated candidate Randall Terry and Chuck Sheridan.

The election was called because Michael Waltz, who was re-elected to the seat in November, is stepping down Jan. 20 to become President-elect Donald Trump’s national security adviser.

Bangdiwala — who is an NPA registered voter, or no party affiliation — apparently mistakenly filled out a candidate oath form, swearing she was a Democrat and had been for the past 365 days. She resigned Friday in a letter to Volusia County Supervisor of Elections Lisa Lewis and the Florida Division of Elections.

In the letter, Bangdiwala made no reference to the confusion over her party affiliation, writing, “I think this is not the right time; however, I will look forward to running in the future.”

Bangdiwala did not respond to messages seeking comment Thursday and Friday.

Lewis said about 7,000 primary ballots were mailed to Democratic and Republican voters and some were returned. Lewis said ballots sent between now and Jan. 16, the deadline to request mail-in ballots, will include a notice that votes for Bangdiwala will not be counted, and voters who voted in person, either during early voting, either on election day, they will also be informed of Bangdiwala’s exit from the race.