Florida Politics - Campaigns & Elections. Lobbying & Government.

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 […]

Scott PowersAugust 29, 2016

Heading into the final weekend before the primary, Democratic congressional candidate Bob Poe lent his campaign another $100,000 Friday, bringing his personal investment to just over $2 million in his bid for election in Florida’s 10th Congressional District. Poe vowed from the start to fund much of his campaign and so far the self-made millionaire entrepreneur has bankrolled virtually […]

Peter SchorschAugust 23, 2016

The Florida Education Association has put another $25,000 into the political committee chaired by Orlando Democratic Rep. Randolph Bracy, who is running in a four-way primary for the newly redrawn Senate District 11. The “Floridians for Progress” political committee has brought in $55,000 in contributions from the teachers’ union, which accounts for nearly half of […]

Associated PressAugust 23, 2016

A former police chief, the former state Democratic Party chairman, an incumbent state senator and a political newcomer are vying to represent an Orlando-area congressional district reshaped so drastically the Republican incumbent decided to run in a new, neighboring district. Florida’s 10th Congressional District now favors Democrats after redistricting. So Republican Rep. Daniel Webster, a […]

Scott PowersAugust 19, 2016

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Democratic congressional candidate Fatima Rita Fahmy is charging that her leading opponent in the Florida’s 10th Congressional primary, Val Demings, is taking money from organizations fighting against Democratic issues such as marijuana, Everglades restoration and renewable energy. The latest criticism is part of Fahmy’s ongoing efforts to paint Demings, a former Orlando police chief who […]

Tag: Geraldine Thompson

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

Bob Poe rolls another $100K loan into his campaign

Teachers union, voucher advocates square off in Dem primary for SD 11

Democrats take advantage of CD 10 reshaping

Fatima Rita Fahmy, facing her own finance issues in CD 10, blasts Val Demings for her PAC money