Florida Politics - Campaigns & Elections. Lobbying & Government.

A.G. GancarskiMay 4, 2018

Crowded Democratic primaries for Northeast Florida Congressional seats have been resolved after Friday’s action. In Congressional District 5, a candidate has officially stepped aside. Rontel Batie, a former Corrine Brown staffer, officially announced his withdrawal from the race Thursday. “I’ve come to realize that the time for Florida to elect a young, African American progressive to […]

A.G. GancarskiFebruary 8, 2018

Rontel Batie is not the incumbent in the Democratic primary in Florida’s 5th Congressional District; that’s Al Lawson. Nor is he the former mayor of the biggest city in the district: that’s Alvin Brown. Nonetheless, Batie (who carried a meager $4,314 cash on hand out of 2017, compared to Lawson’s $100,531), asserts that “this race is far […]

A.G. GancarskiJanuary 23, 2018

President Donald Trump will give the State of the Union address next week and, according to Buzzfeed, the Congressional Black Caucus plans action. “We could go, we could go and walk out, we could go and hold up fists … or we could not go, or we could hold our own State of the Union,” CBC Chair […]

A.G. GancarskiJanuary 16, 2018

There will not be an open seat in Jacksonville’s U.S. Congressional Delegation in 2018, confounding those who expected otherwise. U.S. Rep. John Rutherford confirmed to Florida Politics Monday evening that he does, in fact, plan to run for re-election in Florida’s 4th Congressional District — a Jacksonville-centered district that includes Nassau and northern St. Johns County. “It […]

A.G. GancarskiDecember 22, 2017

Rontel Batie, a former Corrine Brown staffer who is now running to take back her seat in Florida’s 5th Congressional District, issued the first salvo of the 2018 Democratic primary campaign against the incumbent Thursday evening. That incumbent — Rep. Al Lawson, a moderate Democrat from Tallahassee — does not align with the priorities of the Congressional Black […]

A.G. GancarskiNovember 7, 2017

It was only a matter of time before U.S. Rep. Al Lawson, a Tallahassee Democrat, drew a primary challenge in Florida’s 5th Congressional District. However, that challenge isn’t coming from former Jacksonville Mayor Alvin Brown, at least not yet. Rather, the first primary opponent for Lawson is Rontel Batie, a 29 year-old former Tallahassee lobbyist and former Corrine Brown policy director who […]

Tag: Rontel Batie

Qualifying deadline clears fields in Northeast Florida congressional primaries

Congressional candidate Rontel Batie: ‘This race is far from over’

Al Lawson won’t walk out of State of the Union, even if Congressional Black Caucus does

Two more years: John Rutherford, Al Lawson plan re-election runs

Primary challenger questions Al Lawson fealty to Congressional Black Caucus

Corrine Brown alum mounts primary challenge to Al Lawson