Florida Politics - Campaigns & Elections. Lobbying & Government.

Scott PowersMay 17, 2018

Republican state Rep. Bobby Olszewski has picked up the endorsement of the International Drive Resort Area Chamber of Commerce, the powerful Orlando tourism organization that also is in his district. Olszewski, who came to office in a special election last October, represents Florida House District 44 covering southwest Orange County, including most of the Orlando […]

Drew WilsonMay 15, 2018

Orlando Democrat Margaret Gold is betting big on her campaign to unseat freshman Republican Rep. Robert “Bobby O” Olszewski in House District 44. Gold filed for the seat in mid-April and showed $5,430 in contributions during her first two weeks in the race, but she matched that haul nearly four times over with a $20,000 […]

Scott PowersApril 12, 2018

The House District 51 open seat race in Brevard County is heating up as Cocoa Mayor Henry Parrish posted his second big month of fundraising since entering the race in February. Parrish, a Republican, raised $12,012 in March, following up the $21,100 brought in during his debut month; he said it’s reflecting the revival the […]

Scott PowersApril 3, 2018

Two Florida House speaker designates, state Reps. Chris Sprowls and Paul Renner, are the headliners at an upcoming campaign fundraiser for Republican state Rep. Bobby Olszewski‘s House District 44 re-election campaign. Sprowls, the Palm Coast Republican who chairs the House Judicial Committee and is in line to become speaker in 2021, and Renner, the Palm […]

Scott PowersApril 2, 2018

The Central Florida Hotel and Lodging Association’s Political Action Committee and Political Committee have both endorsed state Reps. Bobby Olszewski, and Rene Plasencia and Orange County Commissioner Victoria Siplin for re-elections. The CFHLA political committees’ board of directors declared the trio – Olszewski and Plasencia are Republicans, and Siplin a Democrat – to be “pro-hospitality […]

Scott PowersApril 2, 2018

Former state Sen. Geraldine Thompson filed for a chance to return to the Florida Legislature, entering the race for Florida’s House District 44 in southwest Orange County. Thompson, of Orlando, served four years in the Florida Senate, representing Senate District 12, and six in the Florida House, representing House District 39 before redistricting. She left the […]

Scott PowersNovember 20, 2017

There is no pardon for the Groveland Four. At least not yet, and possibly not in the foreseeable future, despite much celebration last spring that they deserved and should receive posthumous pardons. The Groveland Four are the young, black men who were falsely accused of raping a white woman in rural Lake County in 1949. […]

Mitch PerryNovember 15, 2017

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A likeness of educator and civil-rights activist Mary McLeod Bethune is one step closer to replacing a statue of a Confederate general as one of Florida’s two representatives in the U.S. Capitol. On Wednesday, the Senate Appropriations Committee cleared a bill (SB 472) to replace the statue of Gen. Edmund Kirby Smith with Bethune, who lived 1875-1955. Only Sen. Dennis Baxley, an Ocala […]

Scott PowersFebruary 14, 2017

Two South Florida lawmakers are hoping to get Florida to make some amends for one of the darkest moments of the racist Jim Crow days, with bills seeking exoneration for the so called “Groveland Four,” young black men and teenagers killed or imprisoned over false 1949 rape charges. State Rep. Bobby DuBose and state Sen. […]

Scott PowersAugust 30, 2016

If there is vindication in politics, Val Demings is enjoying it Tuesday night, though she would never acknowledge it. The former Orlando Police chief, dubbed years ago as the next big rising star in Central Florida Democratic politics, handily won the Democratic primary to be the nominee in Florida’s 10th Congressional District. “I am so humbled […]

Tag: Geraldine Thompson

Bobby Olszewski picks up I-Drive Chamber endorsement

Margaret Gold antes up in HD 44 Dem. Primary

Henry Parrish has second big fundraising month in HD 51 race

Chris Sprowls, Paul Renner to headline Bobby Olszewski fundraiser

Central Florida hoteliers endorse Bobby Olszewski, Rene Plasencia, Victoria Siplin

Geraldine Thompson is back, filing to run in HD 44

Where are the Groveland Four pardons? Their story continues in silence

Mary McLeod Bethune statue may replace Confederate general in Capitol

‘Groveland Four’s’ haunting 1949 injustice addressed in resolutions

Val Demings earning big CD 10 Democratic primary victory, vindication