Jacob Ogles, Author at Florida Politics - Campaigns & Elections. Lobbying & Government.

Jacob OglesNovember 7, 2018

Democratic candidate for Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried says she’s braced for a recount in Florida’s closest statewide election. On Tuesday night, Republican state Rep. Matt Caldwell came out ahead in the Cabinet position race, but on Wednesday morning the race tightened to 4,008,205 votes for Caldwell to 3,995,684 for Fried. That’s a margin of 12,521 votes, or 0.16 percent. […]

Jacob OglesNovember 7, 2018

Wilton Manors, a heavily gay community for years, has elected Florida’s first all-gay City Commission. Last night, voters elected openly gay Justin Flippen as mayor. Additionally, Gary Resnick and Paul Rolli came out on top in an at-large city commission race for two seats. They defeated incumbent Scott Newton, the only straight member of the […]

Jacob OglesNovember 7, 2018

Republican state Rep. Matt Caldwell declared victory Tuesday night as he held a narrow advantage in the contest to succeed term-limited Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam. Caldwell, a real estate appraiser from North Fort Myers, gave an acceptance speech from an election watch party, according to WGCU Public Media. As of Wednesday morning, Caldwell led Democrat […]

Jacob OglesNovember 7, 2018

History repeats: Another Tampa Bay-area prosecutor will be Florida’s Attorney General. Republican Ashley Moody, a former judge and prosecutor, came out ahead in the statewide race to be Florida’s chief legal officer. She defeated Democratic state Rep. Sean Shaw, also of Tampa. With 99.2 percent of precincts reporting statewide, Moody had more than 52 percent of […]

Jacob OglesNovember 6, 2018

State Rep. Margaret Good won her first full term in the Florida House on Tuesday after defeating Republican challenger Ray Pilon, but by a closer margin than expected. With all votes counted, Good led Pilon 51 percent-49 percent, or 41,278 votes to 40,134. The Sarasota Democrat made national headlines after her special election victory in […]

Jacob OglesNovember 6, 2018

Republican Joe Gruters gets a promotion to state Senate, after defeating Democratic opponent Faith Olivia Babis in Florida Senate District 23. Gruters led in Sarasota County with 53 percent of the vote over Babis’ 47 percent, with all early and absentee votes and 28 percent of precincts counted. In the slice of Charlotte County within […]

Jacob OglesNovember 6, 2018

U.S. Rep. Vern Buchanan held onto his seat in Florida’s 16th Congressional District, taking 54 percent to Democrat David Shapiro’s 46 percent according to early returns. NBC called the race for Buchanan shortly after the polls closed. But that wasn’t before facing the most well-funded challenge to his candidacy, ever. Buchanan had strong performance in […]

Jacob OglesNovember 6, 2018

You’ve gotten the texts. The ones that start out saying “It’s AJ” or “It’s Tom” or some other name, and just as you try to remember how anyone named AJ got your number, they deliver the “ask.” They want you to vote for a candidate, or maybe a constitutional amendment. Sorry to ruin the magic, […]

Jacob OglesNovember 6, 2018

Candidates in Southwest Florida anticipated lengthy debates about Medicaid expansions, gun rights and maybe charter school funding to dominate political discourse this election. So it seemed illustrative to state Sen. Kathleen Passidomo when a Naples candidate forum contained not one question about health care came up. “This year,” she said, “it’s all about the water […]

Jacob OglesNovember 6, 2018

It’s no easy task running for office when your name doesn’t appear on the ballot. But replacement candidates who stepped in this year for deceased had to do just that. In Florida Senate District 14, Tommy Wright stood up after the withdrawal of Republican state Sen. Dorothy Hukill, who died days after ending her candidacy. […]

Jacob Ogles

Agriculture Commissioner race: Nikki Fried readies for recount, hopes to catch Matt Caldwell

Wilton Manors elects all openly gay city commission

Matt Caldwell edges Nikki Fried in surprisingly competitive Ag. Commissioner race

Ashley Moody easily defeats Sean Shaw to become next Attorney General

Democrat Margaret Good holds onto District 72 seat

Call him ‘Senator’: Joe Gruters wins SD 23, overcomes Olivia Babis

Vern Buchanan captains course to re-election over David Shapiro

Who dis? Meet the guy behind those ‘go vote’ texts

Red Tide Politics: It’s the environment, stupid.

Running on a memory: Replacement candidates’ difficult campaign role