Longtime Bill Nelson spokesman Dan McLaughlin to retire

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Another longtime staffer to Florida Democratic U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson is stepping down.

Dan McLaughlin, Deputy Chief of Staff and Communications Director, will retire at the end of the year, after a 21-year association with Nelson, the past 15 in the Senate.

Dan has been my confidant and friend all these years, and is recognized in both journalism and communications as one of the best,” Nelson wrote in a memo to staffers.

McLaughlin is a former reporter for The Tampa Tribune. He will be replaced by Ryan Brown.

in October, Pete Mitchell, Nelson’s longtime chief-of-staff, announced that he would be departing from Nelson’s staff. However Nelson noted at the time that Mitchell would “begin laying the groundwork for my re-election in 2018.”

The 73-year-old Nelson has been Florida’s highest-ranking Democrat for years, and flirted with running for governor of 2014, but never appeared serious. He clearly indicated that he’d like to challenge Rick Scott, and he may get his wish in 2018.

Scott has not discouraged talk that he would be a candidate for the Republican nomination for Senate in ’18.

Mitch Perry

Mitch Perry has been a reporter with Extensive Enterprises since November of 2014. Previously, he served five years as political editor of the alternative newsweekly Creative Loafing. Mitch also was assistant news director with WMNF 88.5 FM in Tampa from 2000-2009, and currently hosts MidPoint, a weekly talk show, on WMNF on Thursday afternoons. He began his reporting career at KPFA radio in Berkeley and is a San Francisco native who has lived in Tampa since 2000. Mitch can be reached at [email protected].



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