Florida Politics - Campaigns & Elections. Lobbying & Government.

Bill RuftyJune 8, 2017

Former state Rep. Baxter Troutman of Winter Haven said he will run for Florida Commissioner of Agriculture. The grandson of the late citrus baron and one-time gubernatorial candidate, Ben Hill Griffin Jr., Troutman will enter the competitive race to succeed Adam Putnam, a Bartow Republican who is term-limited and is running for governor. “I will file […]

Bill RuftyOctober 17, 2016

Polk County School Board candidate Becky Troutman will hold a low-dollar fundraiser Tuesday, Oct. 18, from 5:30-7:30 p.m. at Leland Young’s Show Barn, 2905 Central Ave., Bartow. Campaign donations for the event and eats are at an affordable $20 per family. Troutman is the wife of former Republican State Rep. Baxter Troutman, who represented House District 66 […]

Bill RuftySeptember 4, 2016

Polk County will likely never return to the Democratic bastion that was home to four U.S. senators, three governors, and four presidents of the Florida Senate. But from Tuesday’s primaries and the fielding of candidates for the Nov. 8 general elections, Polk Democrats are slowly learning to make the now-GOP bastion a two-party county again. There […]

Bill RuftyAugust 17, 2016

Strong mayor pushed because of weak responses The city of Lakeland has been going through a series of bipolar political moves — or lack of moves — over the last few decades. Its leaders and business executives in the city can’t seem to figure out if they want to be a big municipality or a small […]

Bill RuftyApril 28, 2016

Former Republican state Rep. Baxter Troutman of Winter Haven left politics in 2010, but politics didn’t leave him. Still mentioned as a potential state Senate candidate when a likely vacancy opens in four years, Troutman is taking a back seat to his wife Rebecca, whom he proposed to on the floor of the Florida House […]

Bill RuftyFebruary 15, 2016

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Polk County Commissioner Ed Smith, a Lake Alfred Republican, has pulled out of the Republican Primary for Florida House District 41, and has entered the nonpartisan race for Polk County School Board against incumbent Dick Mullenax. Smith said his decision to switch to run for a local office is based “solidly on the health of […]

Tag: Polk County School Board
Las Vegas Strip transforms into a Grand Prix.

Baxter Troutman entering competitive Agriculture Commissioner race

Polk School Board candidate Becky Troutman hosting affordable campaign event

Bill Rufty: Polk becoming a two-Party county?

Polk political notebook: Strong mayors, weak spellcheck and dueling websites

Wife of former lawmaker Baxter Troutman catches the political bug

Ed Smith leaves Florida House race for school board