Florida Politics - Campaigns & Elections. Lobbying & Government.

Mitch PerryMay 6, 2015

Gov. Rick Scott‘s trip to Washington on Wednesday to meet with U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Burwell about the soon-to-expire Low Income Pool did not come to a happy resolution. As has been documented in the media, health care officials in Florida have been aware for several years that that the $2.2 billion LIP funding […]

Mitch PerryMay 6, 2015

The Hillsborough County Commission voted 6-1 on Wednesday to ask the the Florida Commission on Ethics to pursue legal frees from a Plant City winery owner whose ethics complaint against Commissioner Al Higginbotham was deemed to be without merit by that same commission. Joe Keel, owner of Keel and Curley Winery, filed an ethics complaint against […]

Mitch PerryMay 6, 2015

That didn’t take long. Shortly after Florida Republican U.S. Rep. Ron DeSantis announced he is an official candidate for the U.S. Senate seat in 2016, the Florida Democratic Party responded immediately with a website, RonDeSantis2016.com, that features a large picture of the 36-year-old Representative with the words, “Ron DeSantis: For the Tea Party.” “The last […]

Mitch PerryMay 6, 2015

FreedomWorks PAC endorsed Republican U.S. Rep. Ron DeSantis on Wednesday in his run for U.S. Senate in Florida. “I’m proud that Congressman DeSantis is the first endorsement of the 2016 cycle by FreedomWorks PAC. Congressman DeSantis is a fiscal conservative leader who will bring much-needed leadership on important issues to the U.S. Senate,” FreedomWorks PAC […]

Mitch PerryMay 6, 2015

Jeb Bush says the key to lifting Baltimore from its decades-long torpor is the type of education reform that he practiced in Florida when he was governor from 1998 to 2006. In an op-ed in Wednesday’s Chicago Tribune, he uses the same language other conservatives have during the past two weeks, and longer — that […]

Mitch PerryMay 6, 2015

The Iowa caucuses are likely to be dominated by social conservatives, so nobody is expecting Jeb Bush to excel in the first presidential contest in 2016. But seventh place? That’s where he is in a new Quinnipiac survey released Wednesday morning. Once again, neighboring Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin leads in Iowa: In this poll […]

Mitch PerryMay 6, 2015

They batted it around for more than two hours Tuesday night, but in the end, the members of the Hillsborough County Charter Review Board were no closer to recommending any changes regarding the current configuration of the Hillsborough Board of County Commissioners than they were when they began. For more than 30 years, the board has consisted […]

Mitch PerryMay 6, 2015

According to a story by Waveney Ann Moore in Wednesday’s Tampa Bay Times, it’s looking good for advocates of Pier Park to be the chosen design to finally replace the aging iconic inverted Pier in downtown St. Petersburg. “I’ve had more calls in support of Pier Park than anything,” City Councilman Darden Rice says. “It […]

Mitch PerryMay 5, 2015

Jeb Bush and Marco Rubio continue to hover around the top of the GOP presidential field according to a New York Times/CBS News poll released Tuesday evening, with Rubio continuing to ascend. Forty-eight percent of Republicans say they would support Rubio. Forty-seven percent say they would support former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, who just officially entered the […]

Mitch PerryMay 5, 2015

The Florida Democratic Party said Tuesday it will feature Virginia Democratic Sen. Mark Warner and Hawaii U.S. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard as keynote speakers at its Leadership Blue Dinner next month. The party’s biggest fundraising night of the year is scheduled to take place in Hollywood. Warner was re-elected to the Senate in November, narrowly surviving a […]

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(L-R) Michael Hartline, Adam Hasner and John Volin. Images via Florida State University, Florida Atlantic University and University of Maine.

Kathy Castor says Rick Scott “fighting for a wasteful, inefficient outdated pot of dollars”

Hillsborough Commissioners want winery owner to pay Al Higginbotham’s legal fees

Florida Democratic Party creates new website blasting Ron DeSantis

FreedomWorks PAC out early to endorse Ron DeSantis for U.S. Senate

Jeb Bush says raising education standards is key to improving Baltimore

Jeb Bush falling, Marco Rubio rising in new Iowa poll

Hillsborough Charter Review Board defers on county commission makeup

Mitch Perry Report for 5.6.15 — St. Pete Pier politics, part 23

Marco Rubio gains support in latest CBS-NY Times Poll

Mark Warner, Tulsi Gabbard to headline Florida Democratic Party Leadership Blue Dinner