Art Argenio, the self-described “most conservative person in the world,” said party leaders talked him out of running against Joe Negron in a Republican state Senate primary.

From former Palm Beach Post Martin County bureau chief Glenn Henderson’s blog:

Argenio said party leaders had encouraged him to drop out from next month’s primary.

“Joe’s been in the race for more than a year. He had deeper resources than I,” he said.

He said he was never really looking forward to “mixing it up” with Negron, who has been endorsed by Pruitt and former Gov. Jeb Bush. Without a divisive primary, Argenio said, the party has a much better chance of beating the Democrats in the August general election.

Gov. Charlie Crist today ordered June 30 primaries and an Aug. 4 general election to fill the Treasure Coast-Palm Beach County state Senate District 28 seat of retiring Sen. Ken Pruitt, R-Port St. Lucie.

Pruitt, with an eye on the statutory timetable for calling special elections, set his resignation for Aug. 4 so the district would not go unrepresented.

Former Republican state Reps. Art Argenio and Joe Negron, who clashed in a bitter special election primary in 1999 (won by Argenio) and another tough primary in 2000 (won by Negron) are running for Pruitt’s seat. Democrat Bill Ramos has also opened a campaign and frequent-filing Democrat Stan Smilan has expressed interest. Read more about the race here.

The period for candidates to officially qualify for the special election ballot will be from 8 a.m. on June 2 until 12 noon on June 3.

Former Republican state Rep. Art Argenio on March 31 put $40,000 of his own money into his 2010 campaign for the seat of term-limited state Sen. Ken Pruitt, R-Port St. Lucie. Argenio raised $3,050 from other sources. Former Republican state Rep. Joe Negron has raised $63,800 for the race.

First-quarter campaign finance reports are due today. We’ll have more updates throughout the day.

Argenio beat Negron in a bitter 1999 special election runoff to win a state House seat. Negron ousted Argenio in another rough-and-tumble primary the following year.