Florida Politics - Campaigns & Elections. Lobbying & Government.

Jenna Buzzacco-FoersterNovember 8, 2016

Presidential races get all the attention, but it’s the folks down ballot that make the real decisions. In the Sunshine State, there’s no shortage of high intensity — and sometimes high drama — battles for office. And we aren’t talking about the races for state House and Senate. There have been allegations of election fraud in a […]

Associated PressNovember 3, 2016

Julieta Corredor, her two sons and their families have used their two-bedroom town house in the heart of Orlando’s tourist district as a place for honeymoons, family gatherings and college housing during the more than 30 years they’ve owned it. When one of the world’s largest timeshare companies bought up the surrounding condominium units and […]

Scott PowersSeptember 2, 2016

Many of Central Florida’s November election contests likely were decided in Tuesday’s primary, because of the strong partisan leans of voters or the apparent mismatches of nominees, but there are a few that will be worth watching this fall if for no other reason than absolute entertainment. Reflecting the gains Democrats have made in voter […]

Scott PowersAugust 18, 2016

Democrats Hillary Clinton, Darren Soto and Val Demings and Republican U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio all won commanding straw poll victories at Tuesday night’s Political Salsa event in Orlando, organizers announced late Wednesday. Clinton got 49 to Republican Donald Trump‘s 39 percent in the presidential question, with Libertarian Gary Johnson grabbing 8 percent and Green Party […]

Scott PowersJuly 21, 2016

Betsy VanderLey has won the endorsement of the political action committee of the Central Florida Hotel & Lodging Association in her quest to be elected to the Orange County Board of Commissioners in District 1 on the west side. The endorsement comes from an organization that represents almost 80 percent of the 118,000 lodging rooms […]

Scott PowersMay 9, 2016

BusinessForce, a political action affiliate of the Orlando Regional Chamber of Commerce, has endorsed the re-election bids of Pete Clarke and Ted Edwards for Orange County Commission. Clarke, a businessman and former public official from Orlando, is running for re-election in District 3, which covers much of south-central Orange County. Edwards, a lawyer from Winter […]

Scott PowersMay 9, 2016

BusinessForce, a politically active affiliate of Orlando’s chamber of commerce, has endorsed Robert “Bobby O” Olszewski in the District 1 race for Orange County Commission. “Bobby Olszewski has a solid business background both professionally and academically and a strong record of working extremely hard as an elected official in Orange County collaborating with businesses and […]

Scott PowersApril 29, 2016

Orange County Commission candidate Betsy VanderLey responded Friday to reports that she had been hit by multiple liens for unpaid taxes in the mid-1990s, saying the liens were the results of mistakes made by the state at that time. State records do not back up that defense, though little information is available about the tax […]

Scott PowersApril 17, 2016

Orange County Tax Collector Scott Randolph is seeking a new judge in his lawsuit against Orange County, claiming the current judge has a Republican bias in a lawsuit over partisan politics. The partisan nature of the complaint may be relevant because the entire lawsuit is about an Orange County charter amendment dealing with partisanship. Randolph […]

Scott PowersApril 8, 2016

Leading candidates in Orange County’s three commission races made it clear Friday they don’t like each other: They pursued personal attacks but offered little to distinguish each other on business issues during a debate sponsored by BusinessForce of Orlando. While Orange County has seen highly contentious business-related issues arise in recent years, notably a petition demanding a […]

Tag: orange county commission
Image via AP.

More than just the presidency: 10 down ballot races in Florida to watch on Election Day

Holdout family won’t sell Florida condo to timeshare giant

Previewing the hot general election campaigns in Central Florida

Political Salsa: Hillary Clinton, Marco Rubio, Darren Soto, Val Demings win straw poll

Betsy VanderLey gets endorsement of hotel association in Orange County commission race

BusinessForce endorses re-elections of Ted Edwards, Pete Clarke, in Orange County Commission races

BusinessForce backs Bobby Olszewski in Orange Commission race

Betsy VanderLey describes 22-year-old tax liens as state errors

Scott Randolph claims judge’s GOP bias, seeks new judge in Orange County case

Orange County Commission candidates’ debates offer heat but few business differences