Florida Politics - Campaigns & Elections. Lobbying & Government.

Scott PowersNovember 26, 2018

With federal financial reports now on file well through the Nov. 6 election, the total spending by outside groups in Florida’s U.S. Senate election reached $86.8 million, far and away the most outside money ever spent on a Florida federal race. More than three-fifths of that money, $54.7 million was spent on a losing cause, […]

Drew WilsonNovember 26, 2018

Another four Democrats and four Republicans took the first step toward re-election before in the days leading up to Thanksgiving. Coconut Creek Democratic Rep. Kristin Jacobs, who opened her campaign account Wendesday, and Lakeland Republican Rep. Colleen Burton are the longest tenured of the bunch. Jacobs, a former Broward County Commissioner, was first elected to the Florida House in 2014. […]

Peter SchorschNovember 26, 2018

Florida Democrats may not have gotten everything they wanted, but they still walked away with some noteworthy wins in the 2018 election. The most important among them: Nikki Fried scoring a narrow victory over former state Rep. Matt Caldwell in Agriculture Commissioner race. The former lobbyist was down by a handful of votes on Election […]

Drew WilsonNovember 23, 2018

Just a couple weeks removed from the 2018 election, Florida lawmakers are already looking ahead to their 2020 re-election campaigns. Republican Reps. Clay Yarborough and Mike Beltran and Democratic Rep. Patricia Williams on Tuesday added their names to the list of two-dozen incumbent members of the Florida House who have opened campaign accounts for the […]

Peter SchorschNovember 19, 2018

Even with his opponent retracting his concession while a recount of the election results was underway, Ron DeSantis has wasted little time preparing to take the reins of state government. Since as soon as the Friday after Election Day, the former congressman has sat in on a series of meetings and interviews designed to chart […]

Peter SchorschNovember 18, 2018

Just a few days ago, Republican candidate for Agriculture Commissioner Matt Caldwell told Florida Politics that he had “zero interest in winning this election on a legal loophole.” If what the former lawmaker from North Fort Myers said remains true, it is now time for him to do the honorable thing and concede the race […]

A.G. GancarskiNovember 16, 2018

Republican Ron DeSantis, the 40-year-old former three-term Congressman, has defeated Democrat Andrew Gillum to become the next Governor of Florida after a mandated machine recount. The win was just 0.4 percent, a spread of 33,652 votes. The gubernatorial race, like the U.S. Senate and Agriculture Commissioner contests, had margins under the 0.50 percent threshold that triggers a recount. With the margin more than […]

Scott PowersNovember 16, 2018

Gov. Rick Scott‘s Republican U.S. Senate campaign wants Broward County’s late-transmitted machine recount results to count in Florida’s U.S. Senate race. Scott’s campaign recount attorney Tim Cerio has fired off a letter to Florida Secretary of State Ken Detzner asking for confirmation that Detzner will accept the Broward County numbers even though they arrived after Thursday’s […]

Scott PowersNovember 15, 2018

Republican Gov. Rick Scott‘s U.S. Senate campaign has pulled in more than $1.4 million to support his legal and public relations battles over Florida’s vote recounts in that race. His campaign released that with a scathing comparison with his opponent in the contested election, Demoratic U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, and pledged that “Scott will continue […]

Scott PowersNovember 15, 2018

The Orange County vote canvassing board has completed its machine recounts of the 2018 election with very little change in the final tabulations of contested races. Orange is the first of Florida’s seven big, urban counties — which include Miami-Dade, Broward, Palm Beach, Hillsborough, Pinellas, and Duval — to report the machine-recount numbers. It’s among […]

Tag: 2018 election

Outside groups spent $87 million on Florida’s U.S. Senate race

Eight more House incumbents kick-off 2020 re-election bids

Email insights: Florida Democrats forget their own history in flub-filled memo

Incumbent House members start filing for 2020

Richard Corcoran for Chief of Staff? And other notes from inside the DeSantis transition

Matt Caldwell should ‘concede’ ASAP

After winning Governor’s race, Ron DeSantis seeks summit with Andrew Gillum

Rick Scott’s team wants Broward County recount results to count

Rick Scott campaign raises $1.4 million to support ballot battles

Orange County machine recount finished with no discernible changes