Mitch Perry, Author at Florida Politics - Campaigns & Elections. Lobbying & Government.

Mitch PerryJune 24, 2016

As the deadline for state legislative candidates expired at noon on Friday, there were four Democrats on the Aug. 30 ballot in the Senate District 19 race that encompasses both Hillsborough and Pinellas Counties. Three all relatively well known — Ed Narain and Darryl Rouson currently serve in the Florida House, and Betty Reed previously held Narain’s HD 61 seat. Add […]

Mitch PerryJune 24, 2016

Incoming House Minority Leader Janet Cruz has been re-elected to her House District 62 seat in Tampa without any GOP opposition. Cruz has been serving in the Florida House since early 2010, when she survived an intense Democratic primary special election against attorney Pat Kemp. Since that time, she has diligently worked her way up […]

Mitch PerryJune 24, 2016

A pair of Tampa Bay-area Republicans will return to Tallahassee in 2017, having ended the qualifying period without drawing an opponent. Plant City-based Rep. Jake Raburn has been re-elected to the House District 57 seat, while Hillsborough County Rep. Jamie Grant will continue in HD 64. The qualification period ended noon Friday. Raburn was a prime co-sponsor this past year a […]

Mitch PerryJune 24, 2016

One of the few Hillsborough County Democratic primaries in the state legislature, the House District 63 race between Lisa Montelione and Mike Reedy, ended Friday when Reedy dropped out of the contest. “I wanted to personally let you know that today I have decided to end my campaign for State House,” said Reedy, an organizer with Equality Florida, stated […]

Mitch PerryJune 24, 2016

St. Petersburg Republican Sen. Jeff Brandes looks to win re-election easily this November to his Pinellas/Hillsborough Senate District 24 seat. No Democrat has emerged in 2016 to oppose him, perhaps intimidated by Brandes’s war chest, which includes more than $300,000 cash-on-hand. An Army veteran, Brandes graduated from Carson-Newman College in Tennessee in 1999 with a degree in business administration. […]

Mitch PerryJune 24, 2016

Agostinho J. Ribeiro, who serves as the chief executive officer of the law firm of Ventura, Ribeiro & Smith based in Danbury, Connecticut and St. Petersburg, has filed to run in the Florida State Senate District 19 race. FloridaPolitics.com originally reported he would do so on Wednesday. Ribeiro filed his qualifying papers Thursday. His entry will certainly shake […]

Mitch PerryJune 24, 2016

Todd Wilcox is dropping out of the U.S. Senate race in Florida. Sources close to Wilcox’s decision say his withdrawal from the race is imminent and that he will support Marco Rubio for the good of the Republican Party. The former Special Forces commander and CIA veteran becomes the fourth Republican to drop out of the contest after Rubio decided to run for […]

Mitch PerryJune 24, 2016

I was driving to a dental appointment yesterday when I heard via Sirius/XM’s POTUS channel that CNN had hired former Donald Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski as a “contributor” to their network’s political team. The motivation for hiring such a prominent surrogate, obviously, is to get somebody on set who can get into the candidate’s head, if […]

Mitch PerryJune 23, 2016

A court has rejected a request by a coalition of taxi cab companies to have Victor Crist removed as chair of the Hillsborough County Public Transportation Commission. The Second District Court of Appeal in Lakeland issued an order dismissing the request Thursday. “This was a malicious intent by the taxi coalition and their representatives to discredit me,” Crist said, […]

Mitch PerryJune 23, 2016

Adult club impresario and progressive activist Joe Redner is once again running for office, this time in the Senate District 18 race that features Republican Dana Young and Democrat Bob Buesing battling it out. The iconoclastic Redner, who has been unsuccessful running for local and state offices for years, has previously run as a Democrat […]

Mitch Perry

Civil justice attorney Augie Ribeiro says he can make a difference if elected in SD 19

Janet Cruz re-elected without opposition to her HD 62 seat

Jake Raburn, Jamie Grant re-elected without opposition to Tampa Bay-area seats

Mike Reedy drops out of HD 63 race, meaning Lisa Montelione wins Democratic primary

Jeff Brandes gets write-in opponent in bid for re-election to SD 24 race

St. Pete trial attorney Augie Ribeiro officially files for SD 19 race

Todd Wilcox dropping out of race for U.S. Senate

Mitch Perry Report for 6.24.16 — CNN’s questionable move

Court rejects taxi companies request to remove Victor Crist from Hillsborough PTC

Joe Redner files to run as an independent in Senate District 18 race