Eh, its a solid republican district in Florida anyway. In a strong enough wave (which we might be having) it might be in play for a democrat, but he couldn't have known that when he filed to run.
Running independents seems to be working in Nebraska, possibly Idaho and South Dakota, and the democratic party is trying to get its own candidate to drop out in Montana because the independent can probably win there this year but she can't. So, running an indie in this election was probably a solid idea in the spring.