Florida Politics - Campaigns & Elections. Lobbying & Government.

Lloyd DunkelbergerAugust 16, 2017

As the Republican field running for governor grows, a top GOP strategist offered some advice Wednesday to candidates seeking to follow term-limited Gov. Rick Scott. “Just don’t be Trump’s mini-me, a simple rule,” Rick Wilson told the Capital Tiger Bay Club in a luncheon speech. Wilson, a Tallahassee-based national Republican strategist who has become one […]

Scott PowersJuly 19, 2017

The Stand Up Republic campaign run by two former Republican insiders has come out with another internet video ad blistering President Donald Trump‘s relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin, an ad produced by Florida Republican operative Rick Wilson. The ad begins with unflattering pictures of Putin and Trump with the declaration, “When America is under […]

Peter SchorschNovember 10, 2016

Tuesday’s slate of general elections in Florida certainly provided a list of winners and losers, and I’m not just talking about the candidates. Here is my list of the real winners and losers coming out of Election Day. Winners Rick Scott — The Naples Republican was an early backer of the president-elect, comparing Trump’s rise to his own 2010 gubernatorial […]

Steve SchaleOctober 24, 2016

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Dear Traveling Trump Press Corps: Well, the sputtering, crashing, and long-since derailed Trump Train is headed to my town, Tallahassee. I, for one, will admit it, I cannot believe how badly he and his shop are at campaigning. Take all of the personal flaws of Donald Trump aside; I really believed he would rise to […]

Peter SchorschOctober 23, 2016

Back before there was a FloridaPolitics.com and it was just me blogging at SaintPetersBlog.com, I would write a semi-regular screed about the Tampa Bay Times’ political coverage. This was so long ago, the Times still had St. Petersburg in its masthead. I gave up the “5 things I think I think…” column after a while […]

Melissa RossMay 4, 2016

The Florida GOP media consultant and campaign adviser who founded the #NeverTrump movement says he will continue to oppose Trump to the bitter end — and will support the nascent push for a conservative third-party candidate he says better reflects Republican values. “I am willing to look at a conservative third-party option, even if that candidate can’t pull […]

Peter SchorschMarch 25, 2016

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Tallahassee’s own Rick Wilson sat down with Ana Marie Cox of The New York Times Magazine to talk Donald Trump this week and, predictably, well-informed hilarity ensued. Wilson — leading GOP political consultant and Dean of the #NeverTrump movement — spoke forthrightly, as usual, about the 2016 campaign and his personal jihad against Trump and his backers, for whom he said Trump […]

Mitch PerryMarch 2, 2016

We were prepared not to weigh in on the results from last night’s Super Tuesday results, but watching the evisceration of Chris Christie on Twitter last prompted a closer look at what Florida GOP strategist Rick Wilson writes about in today’s Daily Beast. “Far from having the same kind of Kevlar media armor Trump enjoys, […]

Jenna Buzzacco-FoersterFebruary 17, 2016

The American Democracy Legal Fund has filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission against Carlos Lopez-Cantera’s Senate campaign and the super PAC supporting him. The complaint alleges that the lieutenant governor’s Senate campaign and Reform Washington, the super PAC backing Lopez-Cantera, violated the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971. According to the complaint, the […]

Mitch PerryJanuary 19, 2016

I know soccer aficionados (somewhat pretentiously) like to call their favorite sport “The Beautiful Game.” As much as I respect that it’s the world’s favorite sport, it ain’t America’s. That would be football. Personally, I would advocate that basketball is actually the most beautiful sport when it’s executed the way the San Antonio Spurs did two years […]

Tag: Rick Wilson
Debate party at Sports Grill Kendall. Image via AP.

GOP strategist Rick Wilson tees off on Donald Trump

Republican anti-Donald Trump group launches new Vladimir Putin ad

A rundown of the real winners and losers from Florida’s general election

Steve Schale: Dear Donald Trump press corps: Welcome to my house

5 things I think I think about today’s Tampa Bay Times

#NeverTrump founder Rick Wilson: ‘Never means never’

Rick Wilson’s war

Mitch Perry Report for 3.2.16 — How safe will it be for Republicans to endorse Donald Trump?

ADLF files complaint against Carlos Lopez-Cantera’s Senate campaign and Reform Washington

Mitch Perry Report for 1.19.16 — Sorry, LeBron. Actually not sorry