Florida Politics - Campaigns & Elections. Lobbying & Government.

Mitch PerryApril 30, 2015

A half-hour after Eric Ward was named the new Tampa police chief on Thursday, two city council members joined a coalition of activist groups who again called on the Tampa Police Department to temporarily stop their current bike citation policy. Council Chairman Frank Reddick and District 7 Councilwoman Lisa Montelione joined members of the ACLU, […]

Mitch PerryApril 30, 2015

Newly tapped Tampa Police Chief Eric Ward said Thursday during his introduction to the city that black bicyclists have “absolutely not” been unfairly targeted by the department that he’ll take over next week. Activists have said they want a time-out on the bike citations, but when asked by a reporter about the issue Ward didn’t […]

A.G. GancarskiApril 30, 2015

With recent in-house polling suggesting that Lenny Curry has a slight lead over incumbent Mayor Alvin Brown, the Curry camp sent out an email promoting its latest television ad, a spot that started airing Thursday. The email also advances the campaign’s “closing argument,” which is suffused with a “positive vision” for Jacksonville, contrasting his argument with Brown’s […]

A.G. GancarskiApril 30, 2015

Full disclosure: I have known Chris Hand for a quarter century We met during the local competition of the Citizen Bee, a history and social studies competition held by the Close Up Foundation. We advanced to State, then to Nationals. Then our paths diverged until a few years ago, when he became Alvin Brown‘s chief of staff […]

A.G. GancarskiApril 30, 2015

On March 31, Bill Bishop, who finished third in Jacksonville’s First Election, held a press conference on the steps of City Hall, where he said he was not endorsing Alvin Brown or Lenny Curry for Mayor. A couple of weeks later, an email went out from the Bill Bishop for Mayor campaign account. The campaign staffers endorsed Brown’s […]

Melissa RossApril 30, 2015

With just 20 days left until the city’s runoff election, Bill Bishop’s unexpected endorsement of Mayor Alvin Brown has landed as another late-in-the-game twist in the city’s tight mayor’s race. After tallying up 17% of the vote in the March First Election for mayor, Bishop vowed to run again in four years- but repeatedly said he was […]

Melissa RossApril 30, 2015

As the Jacksonville candidates for both mayor and sheriff campaign hard on how to boost public safety, the city’s influential faith leaders are also speaking out about a disturbing spike in crime rates and gang activity. They’re not all on the same page regarding recent calls to impose a 9 p.m. curfew in Jacksonville’s high-crime […]

Mitch PerryApril 30, 2015

When he began running countywide as the Democratic challenger to Hillsborough County Commissioner Brian Blair in 2007, Kevin Beckner started out very early. He had to. Very few people in the political community knew him during his debut run for office. Hillsborough County is a huge area to campaign in, plus he was an openly gay […]

A.G. GancarskiApril 30, 2015

As voting by mail continues in Jacksonville, the trend is still with Duval County Republicans. As of 9:05 a.m. Wednesday, there had been 68,475 vote-by-mail requests with the Supervisor of Elections office, with 21,874 ballots cast. Just under half of the votes (10,863, or 49.7 percent) cast so far have been by Duval County Republicans. […]

A.G. GancarskiApril 30, 2015

With Early Voting just days away in Jacksonville, two citywide Democratic candidates are running ads that take on the problem of street crime. Their messaging seems independent from that of Mayor Alvin Brown. Starting on Thursday morning and running through Tuesday, At Large City Council candidate Tommy Hazouri is running an ad, Ready to Work, Day and […]

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2 Tampa City Council members say bike policy will guide votes on new police chief

New Tampa police chief says he’ll keep bike citation policy

Email insights: Lenny Curry’s “closing argument” advances “positive vision”

Chris Hand, Alvin Brown’s chief of staff, “ready to move on”

Bill Bishop reverses course, endorses Alvin Brown for re-election

Bill Bishop endorsement: “I really do think it’s a game-changer”

Jax pastor: We don’t want to become the next Baltimore or Ferguson

Kevin Beckner starts fundraising early for clerk of courts post

Jax absentee voting continues GOP trend

Jax Democrats take crime messaging to airwaves