Florida Politics - Campaigns & Elections. Lobbying & Government.

Jim RosicaNovember 30, 2015

There isn’t a name for the period of time before the calm before a storm. For now, let’s call it “last committee week of the year.” It, of course, includes a surplus of fundraising, which lawmakers can do during committee weeks but not during legislative sessions. Departing lawmakers also continue to raise cash for their post-Legislature plans. […]

Ryan RayNovember 13, 2015

A Tallahassee trial court judge Friday afternoon denied a motion filed by the Legislature’s attorneys that sought to appoint a special consultant. Second Judicial Circuit Judge George Reynolds sided with a coalition group of plaintiffs who brought the Senate redistricting challenge that ultimately invalidated the chamber’s enacted maps. Lewis said the time frame for the court’s work was […]

Gary FineoutNovember 11, 2015

A long-running legal battle over Florida’s political landscape wound up back before the state Supreme Court on Tuesday where several justices sounded skeptical about the changes proposed by the Republican-controlled Legislature. The hope is that the court will soon end three years of lawsuits, court hearings and special sessions by finally endorsing a new map […]

Jim RosicaNovember 10, 2015

Despite questions on many parts of the map, the Florida Supreme Court Tuesday focused on South Florida during the final scheduled oral argument in an ongoing congressional redistricting challenge. That inflamed Democratic U.S. Rep. Corrine Brown, whose north-south district had been ordered changed by the court to an east-west configuration. That district didn’t get a mention. Brown, wearing […]

Jim RosicaNovember 10, 2015

The outside lawyer for the Florida House of Representatives argued in a legal brief against a set of suggested congressional district boundaries in part by saying there’s no legal requirement “to create the ‘best’ possible districts.” George Meros, a Tallahassee attorney who also represented then-Texas Gov. George W. Bush in the 2000 presidential recount, says the court […]

Associated PressNovember 10, 2015

A long-running legal battle over the fate of Florida’s political landscape is going back before the state Supreme Court. The Florida Supreme Court will hold a Tuesday hearing on what boundaries should be adopted for the state’s 27 congressional districts. The high court in July threw out Florida’s current districts because they violated the Fair […]

Jim RosicaNovember 5, 2015

The Legislature’s two redistricting chairs hastily agreed Thursday on a map the House passed earlier this week as the one lawmakers should adopt to redraw the state’s Senate districts. It’s the same map that senators already had rejected to force this week’s conference process between House chair Jose Oliva and his Senate counterpart, Bill Galvano. In a one-and-a-half-minute long […]

Peter SchorschNovember 5, 2015

There is no shortage of rumors, guesses and predictions about what map – if any – will ultimately pass the legislature. Seriously, I am pretty sure I have heard every scenario, theory and vote count. I have listened to some of the brightest and best-informed politicos postulate and prognosticate about what the next few days […]

Matthew IsbellNovember 3, 2015

A good deal has happened with the ongoing redistricting saga during the past several days. The state Senate passed its proposed districts with a controversial amendment attached. The House redistricting committee passed their own amended version of the map, and the coalition plaintiffs now have put forward three proposals. We’ll now look over each development. […]

Bill RuftySeptember 25, 2015

Florida Senate Appropriations Chair Tom Lee missed his speaking engagement with the Polk County Tiger Bay Club on Thursday. The Brandon Republican had received a summons to Tallahassee, which Circuit Court Judge Terry Lewis wouldn’t allow him to postpone. He was a witness for the judge’s hearings to decide from perhaps as many as seven maps of […]

Tag: redistricting
Jacksonville’s new women’s pro soccer team, Sporting JAX, will face Wrexham in preseason.

Tallahassee gears up for final committee week before Session

Judge denies Senate motion to appoint new consultant in redistricting case

Supreme Court considers changes to Florida’s political map

Corrine Brown lambastes state Supreme Court over congressional redistricting

House lawyer: Congressional districts don’t need to be perfect

Supreme Court to consider changes to Florida’s congressional districts

Redistricting chairs agree to go back to House-approved map

Pay no attention to the redistricting maps behind the curtain

Matthew Isbell: New coalition maps, DLP’S amendment, Oliva’s plan, and where things now stand in redistricting

Redistricting summons forces Tom Lee to cancel Polk Tiger Bay appearance