Florida Politics - Campaigns & Elections. Lobbying & Government.

Mitch PerryMarch 10, 2016

In what is being dubbed by critics as the “low-energy” summit, Jeb Bush is scheduled to meet today in Miami separately with John Kasich and Ted Cruz, after reportedly already meeting with Marco Rubio on Wednesday. The idea being, I take it, is that Jeb might come out with an endorsement. If he’s going to do […]

Mitch PerryMarch 9, 2016

Despite the wooing of state Democrats, St. Petersburg City Council member Darden Rice says she will not leave her seat to challenge Republican Jeff Brandes in the state Senate District 24 race this fall. “I really like what I’m doing right now, and I really don’t have any interest in the job,” Rice said on Tuesday. After […]

Janelle Irwin TaylorDecember 8, 2015

Mayor Rick Kriseman’s tweet Monday night “banning” Donald Trump from St. Pete has drawn national attention. It’s been reported by local news outlets across the state and country and even CNN. The tweet has been “liked” and shared thousands of times. The Tampa Bay Times documented reaction to Kriseman’s anti-Trump tweet as the city’s latest […]

Peter SchorschNovember 4, 2015

Tuesday’s slate of elections in St. Petersburg certainly provided a list of winners and losers, and I’m not just talking about the candidates. Here’s my list of the real winners and losers coming out of Tuesday’s elections. Let me know if I missed anyone. Winners Ed Montanari – Lost in the three City Council races that were […]

Mitch PerryNovember 4, 2015

Considering he was at Charlie Crist‘s pitch two weeks ago to run for Congress, it was no surprise Wednesday when the Crist campaign said it now has Pinellas County Commissioner Ken Welch‘s backing. “Charlie Crist has been standing up for our values his whole life, even when it wasn’t easy,” Welch says in a prepared […]

Mitch PerryOctober 23, 2015

Will Iowa voters be getting trashed again by Donald Trump today? (Or by one of his interns?) We saw the unprecedented action of a Trump apology yesterday, after he re-tweeted a tweet from one of his interns who wrote, “#BenCarson is now leading in the #polls in #Iowa… Too much #Monsanto in the #corn creates issues in the brain? @realDonaldTrump #GOP“ That came after the […]

Mitch PerryOctober 22, 2015

St. Petersburg City Councilwoman Darden Rice, who at one point this year flirted with the possibility of running in the CD 13 seat being vacated by GOP incumbent David Jolly, said Thursday she’s endorsing newly minted candidate Charlie Crist in the contest. “Pinellas County deserves a voice in Washington, but Congress is more interested in […]

Mitch PerryOctober 1, 2015

Since I’ve been following politics, it’s been a common complaint to question why the two major political parties have allowed two relatively homogenous states like Iowa and New Hampshire to have such an outsized influence in choosing our presidential nominees. And over the past three presidential cycles, invariably there’s been “serious” proposals floated to change the cycle, […]

Mitch PerryJuly 24, 2015

(Updated with quote from Eric Lynn spokesman Bill Burton below). Even before a poll was released earlier this week that showed he would be an overwhelming underdog to former governor Charlie Crist in a Democratic primary election in Florida’s 13th Congressional District, Eric Lynn made it clear that he was committing to run for the seat next year. And that’s […]

Mitch PerryJuly 24, 2015

A new survey of a newly reconfigured Florida 13th Congressional District map shows a hypothetical Charlie Crist versus Rick Baker matchup could be a cliffhanger. The survey from St. Pete Polls shows Crist leading with 46.2 percent of the vote, to Baker’s 42.2 percent. The remaining 11.6 percent are undecided. Baker leads the only declared Democrat in the CD 13 race, Eric Lynn, […]

Tag: Darden Rice
Jonathan Dickinson State Park. Image via Visit Florida.

Mitch Perry Report for 3.10.16 – Why hasn’t the Florida GOP establishment rallied around Marco Rubio?

Darden Rice will not challenge Jeff Brandes in SD 24

St. Pete City Council members react to Rick Kriseman’s Donald Trump “ban”

Winners & losers coming out of St. Petersburg’s City Council elections

Ken Welch latest Democrat to embrace Charlie Crist’s congressional candidacy

Mitch Perry Report for 10.23.15 – Friday follies

Darden Rice backs Charlie Crist in CD 13 race

Mitch Perry Report for 10.1.15 – Will Reince Preibus have the guts to change the GOP presidential primary schedule?

Pinellas Democratic Party chair thinks it’s premature to speculate about CD 13 race

Charlie Crist 46%, Rick Baker 42% in new survey of proposed CD 13 map