Florida Politics - Campaigns & Elections. Lobbying & Government.

Drew WilsonSeptember 13, 2018

Tampa City Council Chairman Frank Reddick has endorsed state Rep. Shawn Harrison in his re-election bid for Hillsborough County’s House District 63. Tampa City Councilors are chosen in non-partisan elections, though Reddick is a Democrat and Harrison is a Republican. HD 63 is a swing seat that Harrison has held for three non-consecutive terms. In […]

Mitch PerryMarch 2, 2018

Updated In 2016, Luis Viera defeated Jim Davison by just 65 votes to win Tampa City Council District 7. Could there be a rematch in 2019? “I haven’t decided,” Davison said Friday morning, the day after Viera officially filed for re-election. In fall 2016, the two men engaged in an intense battle for the North […]

Mitch PerryDecember 4, 2017

As Cesar Hernandez was finishing up his fifteen-month experience in the IE Brown Executive MBA program earlier this year, he sat down with advisers to discuss his future. The 31-year-old Brooklyn native wanted to continue working in tech development and public affairs management, skills he has honed since graduating from USF as student body president, and […]

Mitch PerryJuly 11, 2017

Shawn Harrison narrowly avoided losing his House District 63 seat last year. Heading into the 2018 election cycle, Democrats are fired up about a “wave” election they say will help them win the seat. Harrison is fully aware of that, which is why he’s stepping up fundraising efforts early in the election cycle, raking in […]

Mitch PerryJune 5, 2017

In 2016, Democrats targeted a handful of Florida House districts they believed they could flip from red to blue. One of them was Hillsborough County’s House District 63, where the Florida Democratic Party put some money behind Lisa Montelione in her bid to oust Republican incumbent Shawn Harrison. After a close race, Harrison ultimately prevailed, 51 to 49 […]

Mitch PerryFebruary 13, 2017

Saying that he is “shocked” that a committee in the Florida House voted to kill funding for Enterprise Florida and Visit Florida last week, Governor Rick Scott came to Tampa on Monday to urge the public to urge their state legislators to maintain the funding for those two besieged agencies. “This is an important issue to me personally,” […]

Mitch PerryFebruary 1, 2017

While some Republicans in Tallahassee were startled last week when Democrats walked out of a committee hearing in reaction to a speaker who made controversial comments, Janet Cruz says her caucus won’t be “mainstreaming hate speech as a legitimate part of political debate” anytime soon. The Democrat House Minority Leader was referring to Thursday, when five Democrats in the House’s […]

Mitch PerryDecember 7, 2016

“Image is everything” that great philosopher, Andre Agassi, once said in a series of television ads for Canon in the early 1990’s. Though a bit of an exaggeration, there’s no question that the image of the Hillsborough County Democratic Executive Committee has taken a significant body blow following its reorganization meeting on Monday night. To recap: Party Chair Ione Townsend concluded that the party’s by-laws […]

Mitch PerryDecember 6, 2016

By just 65 votes, Luis Viera defeated Jim Davison in the Tampa City Council District 7 special run-off election, taking 50.64 percent to Davison’s 49.36 percent, a difference of only a single percentage point. Viera received 2,588 votes to Davison’s 2,523, just 65 votes out of 5,120 cast. The special election was held to succeed Lisa Montelione, who […]

Mitch PerryNovember 16, 2016

Now that the shock is starting to wear off over Donald Trump’s stunning upset in the presidential election a week ago, the biggest story in national politics is what he intends to do with his enormous power and who will help him do it. That means the selection of cabinet officers, with the most high-profile […]

Tag: Lisa Montelione

Frank Reddick crosses the aisle to back Shawn Harrison’s re-election bid in HD 63

Luis Viera files for re-election on Tampa City Council; Jim Davison could challenge

Tampa public affairs startup Publicus now up and running

Shawn Harrison brings in more than $36,000 in June for re-election bid

Bob Buckhorn crosses party lines to help Shawn Harrison’s bid for re-election

At Tampa rally for Enterprise Florida funding, Rick Scott repeatedly calls out Shawn Harrison

Janet Cruz says Florida Dems won’t ‘mainstream hate speech’ in 2017

Mitch Perry Report for 12.7.16 – The Hillsborough County DEC melts down

By only 65 votes, Luis Viera defeats Jim Davison in Tampa District 7 run-off

Mitch Perry Report for 11.16.16 — Who will be our next Secretary of State?