Florida Politics - Campaigns & Elections. Lobbying & Government.

Mitch PerryNovember 15, 2016

With his legacy on the line, Barack Obama went all out during this just-concluded election season to not only get Hillary Clinton elected, but also more than 150 down ballot races for state Senate and House in states across the country, including 13 Democrats on the ballot in Florida. With one House race so close […]

Mitch PerryNovember 10, 2016

Incoming Florida House Minority Leader Janet Cruz is in Miami, overlooking the the automatic recount expected to begin Friday between House District 118 Democrat Robert Asencio and Republican David Rivera, which ended Tuesday night with Asencio defeating Rivera by 68 votes out of nearly 63,000 cast. If Ascencio prevails, he would give Cruz and the Florida Democratic Party’s House Victory division […]

Mitch PerryNovember 9, 2016

Where do you begin? One of the biggest political upsets in U.S. history, to start with, in Donald J. Trump beating Hillary Clinton to become the 45th President of the United States of America. Lots of analysis there, including about the Democratic nominee, who for the second time in eight years, thought she had the […]

Joe HendersonNovember 8, 2016

Republican Shawn Harrison held on in a rough-and-tumble race against challenger Lisa Montelione to represent House District 63. With all precincts reporting, Harrison had 51 percent of 71,483 votes cast. Montelione held a close early lead but Harrison overcame that and steadily pulled ahead as the night progressed. “Obviously, we’re very happy,” Harrison said in […]

Tom JacksonNovember 8, 2016

And so, at last, it is upon us. Election Day. Time, fence-sitters, to decide. We’ve been counting down so long, all the way back to the spring of last year; it sometimes seemed we’d never get here. Great nation that we (still) are, however, propelled by momentum and time-honored systems that guide truer than any […]

Mitch PerryNovember 7, 2016

In this space on Friday, we reminisced about October surprises in previous election cycles before referring to the dual bombshells that have rocked this year’s presidential election: First, the release of that 2005 “Access Hollywood” tape in which Donald Trump spoke lewdly about women, followed 10 days ago with the announcement of the discovery of hundreds of thousands […]

Mitch PerryNovember 4, 2016

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An attorney for the Lisa Montelione campaign is calling on local television stations to stop airing an ad by her Republican opponent in House District 63, Shawn Harrison, claiming it infringes on copyrighted material of Montelione. The ad mocks Montelione’s own television ad released last month, which depicted a commercial film set with a director, cameraman, technical crew — but no candidate. “Seen the Lisa Montelione […]

Mitch PerryNovember 4, 2016

It was the Thursday night before the 2000 general election when Fox News’s Carl Cameron reported George W. Bush had been arrested in 1976 in Maine on a DWI case. It was definitely an “October surprise,” and it definitely seemed to stop Bush’s momentum in that contest — a contest in which he ultimately lost the […]

Mitch PerryNovember 3, 2016

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Shawn Harrison is hitting Lisa Montelione hard in the final days of their competitive House District 63 race. The ad begins as an homage of sorts to Montelione’s own television ad released last month, which depicted a commercial film set with a director, cameraman, technical crew — but no candidate. “Seen the Lisa Montelione commercial? You know, the one where she doesn’t show up,” […]

Peter SchorschOctober 25, 2016

With two weeks to go until Election Day, the Tampa Bay area’s Senate seats are pretty much decided. Welcome back Sens. Jack Latvala and Tom Lee and say hello to Darryl Rouson, who should cruise past John “Mr. Manners” Houman to win the SD 19 seat. Tampa Republican Rep. Dana Young still has a race […]

Tag: Lisa Montelione
Mike Johnson. Image via AP.

Barack Obama goes below .500 in his picks for Florida House and Senate seats

Janet Cruz says Democratic House Victory was a winner on Election Night in Florida

Mitch Perry Report for 11.9.16 — GOP dominance

Shawn Harrison holds on in rough-and-tumble HD 63 race

Tom Jackson: At our time of choosing, will we guess wrong?

Mitch Perry Report for 11.7.16 — Closing arguments

Lisa Montelione campaign calls on TV stations to pull Shawn Harrison ad

Mitch Perry Report for 11.4.16 — What will be this year’s decisive October surprise?

Shawn Harrison slams Lisa Montelione in new TV ad in HD 63 race

Here’s where sh*t stands in Tampa Bay’s legislative races