Florida Politics - Campaigns & Elections. Lobbying & Government.

Steve SchaleOctober 25, 2016

Dear friends and casual Twitter followers: It is Florida election memo time! I know you all are excited. Fourteen days left. If Jaguars fans can survive the Gus Bradley era, America can do 14 days of this. Also of note: 18 days until FSU basketball tips off. So here are some notes on the first […]

Brendan FarringtonSeptember 13, 2016

Florida Supreme Court Justice James Perry announced Monday he is stepping down Dec. 30, which will give Gov. Rick Scott his first opportunity to begin reshaping a court that has frustrated Republicans on issues ranging from political maps to protecting doctors from lawsuits. Perry, 72, is forced to leave the court because he’s reached the […]

Joe HendersonAugust 19, 2016

It was a big story earlier this year when U.S. Rep. David Jolly proposed a law that would stop lawmakers, especially those named David Jolly, from spending at least four hours a day on the phone begging for money. He even went on “60 Minutes” to promote his bill, called the Stop Act. He told […]

Associated PressJuly 11, 2016

Presidential battleground states were supposed to be swarming with Republican Party workers by now. “We’ve moved on to thousands and thousands of employees,” party chairman Reince Priebus declared in March, contrasting that with the GOP’s late-blooming staffing four years earlier. “We are covering districts across this country in ways that we’ve never had before.” That […]

Associated PressJune 27, 2016

Donald Trump has finally acknowledged that to best compete against Hillary Clinton he needs more than the bare-bones campaign team that led him to primary success. But many of the most experienced Republican political advisers aren’t willing to work for him. From Texas to New Hampshire, well-respected members of the Republican Party’s professional class say […]

Tom JacksonJune 22, 2016

That whooshing sound, like a battalion of leaf blowers set on high, is the hierarchy of the Republican Party responding to a rare moment of good news. Marco Rubio, who shouldn’t have been in such a hurry to leave in the first place, says he’s decided to seek re-election to the U.S. Senate. The Washington […]

Joe HendersonJune 3, 2016

When it comes to Marco Rubio, Florida Republican Party leaders are starting to sound like a jilted lover that can’t quite let it go. They ignore that Rubio was beaten soundly by Donald Trump in 65 of the state’s 66 counties in the Florida Primary, causing him to drop out of the presidential race. They […]

Darryl PaulsonMay 23, 2016

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The opposition to Donald Trump has been constant from the start of the 2016 presidential campaign. However, it has been unfocused and essentially leaderless. Many Trump opponents believed he would not enter the race. When he entered, they believed he had no chance of winning. Now that Trump has all but won the nomination, they […]

Bob SparksMay 12, 2016

Most Florida voters have some vitally important choices to make in this year’s primary election in late August. Republicans and Democrats have some key choices to make, but some want to expand the voter pool. For a quarter century, Leon County has been well served by its Supervisor of Elections, Ion Sancho. Voters in Tallahassee […]

Martin DyckmanMay 4, 2016

Early in 1955, when I was a sophomore at Florida State University, I thought about applying for a summer job at the Clearwater Sun, the now-defunct newspaper where I had been a student correspondent and had already spent one vacation. That’s when Momma Bird kicked me out of the nest. “You’ll do no such thing,” […]

Tag: republican party

Steve Schale: Notes on the first day of early voting in Florida

Rick Scott to get first state Supreme Court pick

Joe Henderson: GOP message for David Jolly, ‘Play along. Or else.’

A lot of holes in GOP presidential ground game in key states

Many experienced GOP strategists unwilling to work for Donald Trump

Tom Jackson: Seeking Florida voters’ forgiveness, Marco Rubio hits the reset button

Joe Henderson: Florida Republicans just can’t let go of Marco Rubio

Darryl Paulson: It’s now or never for #NeverTrump

Bob Sparks: Voters still have plenty of choices without open primaries

Martin Dyckman: A salute to the Tampa Tribune and its fine journalists