Ryan Ray, Author at Florida Politics - Campaigns & Elections. Lobbying & Government.

Ryan RayJuly 24, 2015

Dr. Dena Minning – a medical doctor and “biotechnology entrepreneur” – has officially filed to succeed her boyfriend and fellow Democrat U.S. Rep. Alan Grayson in the Orlando-based 9th Congressional District, according to records filed today with the Federal Election Commission. The move makes formal a move that was expected for months, shortly after rumors intensified that Grayson would […]

Ryan RayJuly 24, 2015

House District 49 Democratic candidate Carlos Guillermo Smith announced to a rally of fast food workers he will stand with them in gesture of solidarity by agreeing to temporarily live on Florida’s minimum wage $8.05 an hour. The move, which liberal legislators such as Sen. Dwight Bullard and Rep. Cynthia Stafford have mirrored in the past, comes amid […]

Ryan RayJuly 24, 2015

Orlando activist Tiffany Namey, a staple on the left-leaning political circuit in “the City Beautiful,” said Friday she won’t seek the Democratic nomination in House District 30 to challenge first-term Altamonte Springs Republican Rep. Bob Cortes. As first reported by Frank Torres in The Orlando Political Observer, Namey cited personal and strategic reasons for taking a pass […]

Ryan RayJuly 24, 2015

Gov. Rick Scott took flak for visiting France during a Special Session in Tallahassee where lawmakers narrowly avoided a constitutional crisis by passing an eleventh-hour budget. According to a news release on Friday, though, the trip was not in vain: Florida aerospace and aviation industries collected about $150 million in sales during 2015 Paris Air Show. […]

Ryan RayJuly 23, 2015

Many dissident Florida Democrats who resented a perceived “coronation” of Charlie Crist as last year’s Democratic gubernatorial nominee see the same establishment attitude toward U.S. Rep. Patrick Murphy as he fends off a challenge from U.S. Rep. Alan Grayson for the Senate. Those progressives who supported former Sen. Nan Rich against Crist last year might be surprised, then, […]

Ryan RayJuly 23, 2015

In the wake of the exit of Patti Nelson — who was at the helm of the state Department of Health’s nascent Office of Compassionate Use since its 2014 inception — the agency has picked a replacement just two days later. Taking over will be Christian Bax, who joins the office by way of CBK Consulting, […]

Ryan RayJuly 22, 2015

U.S. Rep. David Jolly released the first official campaign video of his run for the Senate on Wednesday. Called simply “The Conservative,” the new ad touts his ideological credentials on issues related to education, Florida fisheries and veterans’ affairs in an appeal to the GOP base. “A little more than a year ago” Jolly begins, Pinellas voters elected […]

Ryan RayJuly 21, 2015

Republican Mary Thomas will announce her candidacy for Florida’s 2nd Congressional District on Wednesday at the Florida Press Center in Tallahassee, according to a news release. A first-generation American, Thomas — “a mom, a wife, an attorney, a first-generation American and a strong conservative” — would be the first Indian-American woman in Congress. Thomas is seeking the […]

Ryan RayJuly 20, 2015

Patricia “Patti” Nelson, who has led the Department of Health’s Office of Compassionate Use since its inception in 2014, is leaving the department and joining the Executive Office of the Governor, a DOH spokesman said Monday. “Patricia Nelson will be rejoining the Governor’s Office of Policy and Budget,” read a response to an inquiry. “The […]

Ryan RayJuly 20, 2015

Citing personal baggage and “divisive rhetoric,” national leaders in the progressive movement are abstaining from supporting U.S. Rep. Alan Grayson‘s campaign to leave his safe Democratic House seat to jump to the Senate, writes Andrea Drusch in National Journal. “Alan Grayson’s opening Senate salvo should have been the campaign of liberals’ dreams. In the first week of […]

Ryan Ray
A state investigator, right, works with a Florida resident to look out for fraud after Hurricane Helene. Photo via Florida Chief Financial Officer,.

Dena Minning files to succeed beau Alan Grayson in Orlando congressional seat

House candidate Carlos Smith accepts minimum wage challenge

Activist Tiffany Namey to stay out of HD 30 race in Orlando

Rick Scott says Paris air show yielded $151 million in sales for Florida companies

Patrick Murphy endorses Nan Rich for Broward commission

DOH announces new Compassionate Use director

David Jolly releases first Senate campaign video

Mary Thomas to formally announce run for CD 2 Wednesday in Tallahassee

Compassionate Use director Patti Nelson leaving DOH

Some big-time national lefties not sold on Alan Grayson for Senate