Florida Politics - Campaigns & Elections. Lobbying & Government.

Scott PowersNovember 6, 2018

Republicans are sweeping all four Florida House seats Tuesday, returning state Reps. Rene Plasencia, Thad Altman, and Randy Fine to office and keeping the other in GOP control by electing Tyler Sirois. None of the four had much trouble, in what turned out to be a pretty red wave washing ashore along the Space Coast. […]

Scott PowersNovember 6, 2018

In election contests that were far from mysteries, voters returned Orlando Democratic state Reps. Carlos Guillermo Smith and Amy Mercado, and Orlando Republican state Rep. Rene Plasencia to office in eastern Orange County Tuesday. Mercado and Smith are leaders of the progressive wing of House Democrats and fended off token challenges from late-qualified Republicans George […]

Scott PowersOctober 29, 2018

Republican state Rep. Rene Plasencia spent raised more than $23,000 during the week ending Oct. 19 and spent even more than that on his re-election bid in Florida House District 50. The week was the biggest yet in Plasencia’s campaign for either contributions or expenditures and easily swamped the campaign finance activity of his Democratic […]

Scott PowersOctober 26, 2018

Republican state Rep. Randy Fine picked up an additional $10,550 in campaign contributions in the week ending Oct. 19, easily the biggest haul of any Florida House candidate running in Brevard County. Fine’s latest collections pushed his campaign total to more than $243,000, more than 11 times as much as his Democratic opponent, Phil Moore […]

Scott PowersOctober 22, 2018

Democratic congressional candidate Sanjay Patel is launching the first television commercial of his campaign Monday to challenge Republican U.S. Rep. Bill Posey in Florida’s 8th Congressional District. Patel, a business consultant and activist, pushes an upbeat, progressive-politics message in the ad, quickly mentioning such issues as toxic algae, economics, and health care from a progressive […]

Scott PowersOctober 19, 2018

Democratic congressional candidate Sanjay Patel has launched his first video commercial, a digital ad that talks about how his brother’s death from cancer has inspired him to seek better, and how for him that includes affordable health care, a fairer economy, environmental protection and investments in schools and infrastructure. The two-minute, 17-second video, released on […]

Scott PowersOctober 18, 2018

Democratic U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson ripped his Republican challenger Gov. Rick Scott Thursday for not supporting the Affordable Care Act or Medicaid expansion and then blamed Scott’s environmental policies for exacerbating red tides to the point they now menace as far north as Brevard County. Nelson made the attacks during a roundtable discussion in Orlando […]

Scott PowersOctober 11, 2018

The Sierra Club of Florida has endorsed Democratic congressional candidate Sanjay Patel in his race against Republican U.S. Rep. Bill Posey in Florida’s 8th Congressional District. The club, which calls itself the nation’s largest and most influential environmental organization, announced the endorsement Thursday, declaring Patel an “environmental champion.” “We are pleased to announce today that […]

Scott PowersOctober 10, 2018

More than 388,000 homes and businesses lost power in the onslaught of Michael, with Bay County taking the brunt, according to the first power-outage release issued shortly before 6 p.m. by the Florida Division of Emergency Management. In Bay County, where Michael came ashore, more than 99,000 of the 108,000 homes and businesses were without […]

Scott PowersSeptember 26, 2018

Republican U.S. Rep. Bill Posey went to Facebook Tuesday night to apologize for comments he made last week disparaging supporters of Sanjay Patel, his Democratic opponent in this fall’s election in Florida’s 8th Congressional District. At a Trump Club meeting in Brevard County on Sept. 19, shown in a video posted on Youtube.com and since […]

Tag: Brevard County
Image via the Department of Juvenile Justice.

Republicans keep all four Brevard County House seats

Amy Mercado, Rene Plasencia, Carlos Smith re-elected

Rene Plasencia rakes in $23K for re-election bid in HD 50

Randy Fine pulls in $10K for final push in HD 53, leading all Brevard House candidates

Democrat Sanjay Patel launches TV ad in CD 8 contest

Sanjay Patel launches digital ad in CD 8 race

Bill Nelson rips Rick Scott on health care, red tides

Sierra Club backing Sanjay Patel in CD 8 race

Power outages now affecting 388,000 customers after Hurricane Michael

Bill Posey apologizes for ‘dumpiest house’ comment; Sanjay Patel says it’s typical condescension