Florida Politics - Campaigns & Elections. Lobbying & Government.

Anne LindbergOctober 7, 2016

Most Pinellas candidates running in the six races for a place in the Florida House of Representatives sharply disagreed with their opponents when the topic of guns on college campuses came up during a Wednesday forum on the Seminole campus of St. Petersburg College. The House District 68 race was the only exception. In that […]

Mitch PerryOctober 4, 2016

There hasn’t been much attention paid to the House District 68 race in Pinellas County after the intense Democratic primary battle between Ben Diamond and Eric Lynn. Diamond won rather decisively in that race, and he is now the favorite against Republican JB Benshimen in November. The Diamond campaign announced Tuesday the St. Petersburg attorney […]

Mitch PerrySeptember 27, 2016

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Pinellas County House District 68 hopeful Ben Diamond is going up with his first television ad of the general election campaign. Diamond, 38, defeated Eric Lynn last month in one of the most competitive Democratic primary races in the Legislature this year, and is now facing home health care executive JB Benshimen in the Nov. 8 election. As FloridaPolitics reported Monday, Diamond is crushing […]

Mitch PerrySeptember 27, 2016

Was it as good as you hoped it would be, America? For months, people have talked about how they could not wait to watch Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump battle it out in their first presidential debate. We all know that excitement wasn’t because of Clinton’s sterling debate style. No, it was because of the unknown about how The Donald […]

Mitch PerrySeptember 26, 2016

Joseph “JB” Bensmihen is used to having people underestimate him, so he says it’s not surprising if people want to go by metrics such as fundraising to surmise his fate in his House District 68 encounter with Democrat Ben Diamond. With six weeks to go before the election in Pinellas County, the 47-year-old Benshimen, a home health […]

Mitch PerrySeptember 14, 2016

David Singer says that when he began his run for the Hillsborough County based House District 60 race in April, his goal was not to get into an ideological discussion about left vs. right, but “right vs. wrong.” And now that the primary election season is over, he says he intends to use the next eight […]

Jenna Buzzacco-FoersterSeptember 9, 2016

Eric Lynn promised to transfer $500,000 from his congressional campaign into a political committee backing his state House run, but state and federal records show Lynn moved much less than that. Federal campaign finance records show Lynn had $273,481 in his federal campaign account as of June 30. The most recent reporting period ran from […]

Mitch PerrySeptember 6, 2016

(UPDATED) Dana Young will debate Democrat Bob Buesing and the other two independent candidates running in the Florida state Senate District 18 at the Tampa Tiger Bay Club after all. Hours after FloridaPolitics.com reported earlier Tuesday that Young could not attend the originally scheduled encounter on Sept. 16, The Tampa Tiger Bay Club and the Young campaign said all […]

Mitch PerryAugust 31, 2016

Good morning, everyone. Florida’s primary election is history. So, where to begin? Patrick Murphy will face Marco Rubio in November. Murphy crushed Alan Grayson, 59 to 18 percent, with Pam Keith a close third at 15 percent. Rubio gets credit for honesty, saying that he can’t say for sure that he’ll fulfill all six years of his term if elected, […]

Mitch PerryAugust 30, 2016

Ben Diamond has defeated Eric Lynn in the highly competitive House District 68 Democratic race in Pinellas County. Diamond received 54 percent of the votes, Lynn 46 percent. “I’m so humbled by this victory,” said Ben Diamond after the final results. “I want to thank all of my volunteers, supporters, friends, and family who worked so hard to […]

Tag: Ben Diamond
Aerial photo courtesy Jesse Biter.

Carrying guns on college campuses? Pinellas House candidates split on the issue

Ben Diamond boasts of campaign endorsements in his HD 68 race

Ben Diamond puts up first TV of general election campaign for HD 68

Mitch Perry Report for 9.27.16 — The ‘what difference does it make?’ debate

HD 68 Republican JB Benshimen hits fundraising rut

HD 60 Democrat David Singer says his campaign is about right vs. wrong, not left vs right

Finance reports show Eric Lynn never transferred all of the money out of his congressional account

Update: Dana Young will debate Bob Buesing on October 21

Mitch Perry Report for 8.31.16 — Moving on to November

Ben Diamond beats Eric Lynn in HD 68 race, 54%-46%