Dwight Dudley files to run as judge in Pinellas County
Dwight Dudley

DwightDudley

Pinellas County state House Democratic Rep. Dwight Dudley has filed to run for judge of the County Court in Pinellas County’s Group 9.

Dudley is a St. Petersburg-based attorney who operates his own law firm. He announced last week that he would not run for re-election for his HD 68 seat that he was first elected to in 2012, and re-elected to in 2014.

Dudley will be running against Judge Myriam Irizarry, who was appointed to her position last July by Gov. Rick Scott to  fill the vacancy created by the retirement of Judge Walt Fullerton.

Irizarry has served as chief deputy and general counsel to the Pinellas Clerk of the Circuit Court since 2003.

Dudley’s abrupt departure from the Legislature has left a heated Democratic primary in the Dem-leaning seat, where Dudley fended off a significant Republican challenge in 2014.

Former Obama administration member Eric Lynn has exited a congressional primary against former Gov. Charlie Crist in CD 13 to seek the seat. Meanwhile, attorney and longtime Democratic politico Ben Diamond, who filed first for the HD 68 seat after Dudley’s departure, has garnered the support of Democratic establishment operatives in Tallahassee and elsewhere around the state.

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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