Florida Politics - Campaigns & Elections. Lobbying & Government.

Peter SchorschJanuary 22, 2016

Immediately after U.S. Rep. David Jolly announced “The STOP Act,” a bold plan to ban federal elected officials from raising money while in office, he called on fellow congressional members to follow suit. One politician who refused to take the call is U.S. Rep. Ron DeSantis, Jolly’s GOP rival in the upcoming Florida U.S. Senate primary. By […]

Mitch PerryJanuary 21, 2016

Pinellas County Republican U.S. Rep. David Jolly‘s proposal to ban federal officeholders from directly seeking campaign contributions has been getting an ambivalent reception across the region and the country. His legislation would affect only elected federal officials: the president, vice president and members of Congress. The change would not apply to candidates for federal office who […]

Mitch PerryJanuary 21, 2016

A GOP presidential poll released Wednesday by Florida Atlantic University shows Donald Trump leading in Florida in the March 15 presidential primary, with a stunning 48 percent share of the vote. Jeb Bush and Marco Rubio are well behind at 11 and 10 percent, putting them in third and fourth places, respectively (Ted Cruz is […]

Mitch PerryJanuary 13, 2016

The Florida Legislature convened Tuesday to begin their 60-day session with huge issues confronting them: such as coming together on a major water bill, and dealing with legislation regarding guns, the death penalty, rape kits, education, and health care. But Pinellas County House Republican Larry Ahern also wants the Legislature to weigh in on weightier topics […]

Mitch PerryJanuary 10, 2016

The deadline to sign up to to get on the Affordable Care Act in 2016 ends in three weeks, which is why Health & Human Services Secretary Sylvia Burwell was in Tampa on Sunday. Burrell addressed the congregation at New Mt. Zion Baptist Church in the V.M. Ybor neighborhood of Tampa, where she was joined […]

Mitch PerryJanuary 8, 2016

The popular perception is that the Democratic Party as a whole stopped debating gun control after Al Gore lost his home state of Tennessee and Bill Clinton‘s Arkansas in the 2000 election. Looking back on that perspective 16 years later, it’s evident that yes, they did stop debating the issue nationally, but that it doesn’t […]

Mitch PerryJanuary 7, 2016

U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor has become just the latest member of Congress to blast the persistent problems with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. Listing three major problems that have surfaced in the news recently, the lawmaker has penned a letter to VA Secretary Robert McDonald. She writes that “the VA has not met its responsibility to […]

Mitch PerryDecember 17, 2015

There are several gun bills that will be before the Florida Legislature when they convene next month in Tallahassee, including a guns-on-college-campuses bill. The legislation failed in the 2015 session, but GOP lawmakers are pushing for it again next year. On Wednesday, Florida’s Congressional Democrats sent a letter to Senate President Andy Gardiner and House Speaker […]

Mitch PerryDecember 7, 2015

(UPDATED) Last week President Obama signed into law the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation Act or FAST Act, a $305 billion transportation bill that will provide the state of Florida with $890 million more than it would have gotten under current funding formulas — and about $12 billion overall. “What will be most relevant for us in this bill is it will […]

Mitch PerryDecember 3, 2015

While the news is all about the latest gun shooting in San Bernardino on Wednesday, let’s focus here on another death that’s been in the news a lot in the past couple of weeks: that being of Laquan McDonald, the black teenager killed by a white Chicago police officer a year ago. In between her […]

Tag: Kathy Castor
Image via AP

In refusing David Jolly’s no-fundraising pledge, Ron DeSantis shows true colors

Kathy Castor says David Jolly’s campaign finance idea doesn’t go far enough

Mitch Perry Report for 1.21.16 — New Florida Senate poll is interesting

Larry Ahern wants Congress to declare war on Islamic terrorism

HHS Secretary Sylvia Burwell visits Tampa to tout ACA

Mitch Perry Report for 1.8.16 — No, Obama still isn’t going to take away the guns

Kathy Castor tells VA Secretary latest problems “unacceptable”

Florida Congressional Democrats weigh in against guns on campus bill in Legislature

FAST Act means more money for Florida transit agencies’ buses

Mitch Perry Report for 12.3.15 – Rahm Emanuel and Chicago are stuck with each other