Florida Politics - Campaigns & Elections. Lobbying & Government.

Joe HendersonSeptember 29, 2016

I think we have one of our first major campaign issues for the 2018 race to succeed Rick Scott as Florida’s governor. Any serious candidate who doesn’t come out strongly in favor of seriously beefing up the state Department of Environmental Protection will miss a great opportunity. In just the last couple of months alone, […]

Bill RuftySeptember 26, 2016

Sam Killebrew, Republican candidate for Florida House District 41, has raised a campaign war chest double that of Democratic candidate Bob Doyel, who nevertheless raised more than any Democrat running for the district in 16 years. The battle for the open seat is the only competitive race among the seven legislative seats in Polk County […]

Guest AuthorSeptember 22, 2016

Earlier this week, I addressed the Polk County Board of County Commissioners on the recent sinkhole and water loss incident at our New Wales production facility, and believe the updates and sentiments that I shared are pertinent to the entire west-central Florida community. The most important thing for the community to know is that on […]

Bill RuftySeptember 21, 2016

Republicans and Democrats agreeing on a major issue – It seldom (if ever) happens lately in national politics. But on a state level, Republican Sam Killebrew and Democrat Bob Doyel, competing for Florida House District 41, agreed on the critical issue of education in the state of Florida. There are too many tests and perhaps […]

Associated PressSeptember 16, 2016

A phosphate company says more than 200 million gallons of contaminated waste water from a fertilizer plant in central Florida leaked into one of the state’s main underground sources of drinking water after a massive sinkhole opened up beneath a storage pond. Mosaic, the world’s largest supplier of phosphate, said the hole opened up beneath […]

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 […]

Scott PowersJuly 26, 2016

This year, Central Florida voters have an unprecedented diversity of candidates to pick from for the region’s five congressional districts, and at least one, probably two, and possibly more heterosexual-white-male dynasties will fall. Straight, white, male members of Congress have always held the congressional seats in Florida’s 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th and 10th Congressional Districts. […]

Mitch PerryJuly 15, 2016

Florida’s primary election takes place Tuesday, Aug. 30, but early voting will begin days, or in some cases weeks, earlier, depending on where you live in the Sunshine State. Here are the dates and some starting times for Florida’s largest counties. In Miami-Dade, Duval, Hillsborough and Palm Beach counties, early voting takes place for the maximum 14 days, Monday, Aug. […]

Drew WilsonMay 12, 2016

A Polk County Democrat announced this week that she will run against Lakeland Republican Sen. Kelli Stargel in the newly redrawn Senate District 22. Former Polk County School Board member Debra Wright made the announcement Monday during the Open House at the Democratic Headquarters in Haines City, During the same meeting she earned the support […]

Bill RuftyMarch 30, 2016

David Charles Poulin, a Lakeland Democrat, recently opened a campaign account for Florida House District 56, occupied by Wauchula Republican Ben Albritton, who is seeking his fourth two-year term to the seat. Poulin’s entry means all five House seats in or including parts of Polk County now have Democrats running in them. That hasn’t happened […]

Tag: polk county

Joe Henderson: Issue 1 in 2018 Gov’s race, fixing Florida’s environment

Bill Rufty: House District 41 candidates going for the money

Mosaic’s Walt Precourt: Our community, our responsibility

Bill Rufty: A political rarity in HD 41 – Republican, Democrat agree

Sinkhole leaks fertilizer plant’s water into Florida aquifer

Bill Rufty: Polk becoming a two-Party county?

Straight, white, male dynasties falling in Central Florida congressional districts

Early voting for Florida’s Aug. 30 primary depends on where you live

Kelli Stargel draws Polk County Democrat challenger in SD 22 race

Democrats becoming challengers on I-4 again?