Dennis Ross makes clear he’s sticking with CD 15 run

Dennis Ross is concerned about the increasing contention in politics.

Former Rep. Dennis Ross made clear Thursday he’s running to return to Congress in Florida’s 15th Congressional District. While he announced his campaign in March, he put out a fresh statement following the Legislature’s approval of a new congressional map (P 0109) submitted by Gov. Ron DeSantis.

“I commend Gov. DeSantis and the Legislature for approving Florida’s congressional redistricting map and am very pleased to note that the newly created District 15 I am running in is made up of nearly 75% of my previous congressional district,” he said.

“Since announcing my intention to return to Congress just one month ago I have received an outpouring of support from constituents eager for a leader who will go to Washington, D.C. and fight tirelessly to restore hope in America’s greatness. As a lifelong resident of Florida, I was born and raised in this district and I will bring those strong, conservative values and a positive vision for our country back to Congress.”

The district notably appears quite different from an analogous jurisdiction in the map approved in March by the Legislature. That plan (H 8019) had contained CD 15 in north Hillsborough and south Pasco counties. But the Governor vetoed that configuration.

The new map also includes much of Polk County in the greater Lakeland area. That means it looks similar to CD 15 as it appears today.

The Plant City Republican retired from Congress in 2019, and his seat is now represented by Rep. Scott Franklin, a Lakeland Republican.

But Franklin is expected to run on the DeSantis map in Florida’s 18th Congressional District. That’s a seat that spans from the Lakeland area in Polk County all the way south to Hendry County, covering much of the Florida Heartland.

“From Brandon to Plant City, Lakeland to Lutz and Temple Terrace to Zephyrhills, Floridians deserve so much better than the destructive and divisive policies of the (Joe) Biden administration and this Congress,” Ross said.

“They deserve an agenda that puts them, their families, and their interests above the interests of leftist progressives, Big Tech and the Fake News Media. We must secure our borders, empower moms and dads in their children’s classrooms, reestablish law and order in our communities, hold Big Tech accountable, protect unborn children’s right to life, secure our elections, and rein in the reckless and wasteful spending by Washington that is driving record inflation. These are the priorities I intend to fight for in Congress.”