Florida Politics - Campaigns & Elections. Lobbying & Government.

Danny McAuliffeMay 1, 2018

Amid calls from many to reconsider allowing controversial conservative Dinesh D’Souza to speak at its summer conference, the Republican Party of Florida added one of D’Souza’s critics to its list of speakers. RPOF Chair Blaise Ingoglia said in a news release Tuesday that Matt Schlapp, chair of the American Conservative Union, and Grover Norquist would be speaking at […]

Scott PowersApril 30, 2018

The Republican Party of Florida is highlighting its decision to have Dinesh D’Souza, the firebrand commentator who mocked Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting survivors in February, as a featured speaker at the upcoming Sunshine Summit. Democratic gubernatorial candidate Andrew Gillum immediately responded with fire of his own, calling the invite a new low. The Republicans announced Monday […]

Scott PowersApril 19, 2018

A Florida Republican gubernatorial primary debate has been set for a national telecast during the Republican Party of Florida’s “Sunshine Summit” in Orlando in late June, the party announced Thursday. The debate is being co-produced by FOX News Channel and the Republican Party of Florida, with FOX News political anchor Bret Baier and The Story anchor […]

Mitch PerryDecember 1, 2015

Pinellas County U.S. Rep. and GOP Senate candidate David Jolly and Laura Donohoe married this past summer, but because Congress was still in session the couple delayed their honeymoon until late November during the week-long Thanksgiving congressional break. Their plans were to celebrate their nuptials in the Paris, the City of Light. Then the terrorist […]

Bob SparksNovember 19, 2015

On the morning after the Islamic terrorist massacre in Paris, the Republican Party of Florida’s Sunshine Summit continued with its second, and final, day. Circumstances required the second-day speakers to alter their prepared messages. Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum summed up the mood by offering sentiments we all shared. He talked about ISIS wishing to […]

Peter SchorschNovember 16, 2015

So much for Blaise’s Blunder … After a few hiccups and a barrage of negative attention from Florida’s political media, namely the Tampa Bay Times’ Adam Smith and, to a lesser extent, POLITICO Florida’s Marc Caputo, the Florida GOP’s Sunshine Summit was a smashing success. Fourteen presidential candidates and four U.S. Senate candidates spoke to more than 2,500 attendees. Three […]

Mitch PerryNovember 16, 2015

The rhetoric coming from the two-day cavalcade of Republican presidential candidates that took place in Orlando this past weekend changed halfway through due to the Paris terrorist attacks, but not as much as you might think. That’s because for many of the candidates, criticizing Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton‘s foreign policy achievements/objectives has been the stock […]

Jim RosicaNovember 14, 2015

Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal took a scattershot approach in his Sunshine Summit speech Saturday, bouncing between political correctness, immigration and national security. He first chided fellow candidate Donald Trump, however, for equating Ben Carson‘s childhood “pathological temper” to a child molester in comments to CNN. Saying it was an “insane comment,” Jindal told the crowd, “I’m for all an […]

Peter SchorschNovember 14, 2015

The hundreds of activist Republicans attending the Florida GOP’s Sunshine Summit are waking up to a different world than the one they went to sleep in last night. A series of attacks targeting young concertgoers, soccer fans and Parisians enjoying a Friday night out at popular nightspots killed at least 120 people in the deadliest violence to strike […]

Associated PressNovember 14, 2015

It’s no longer a safe assumption that one of Florida’s two most popular Republicans will carry the presidential primary in their home state, as most of the GOP candidates turned their attention Friday to the state’s winner-take-all primary. Sen. Marco Rubio and former Gov. Jeb Bush no longer lead the polls in Florida, where Republicans […]

Tag: Sunshine Summit

After inviting Dinesh D’Souza to summit, Florida GOP adds speaker who blocked D’Souza speech

Republicans spotlight Dinesh D’Souza invite, Andrew Gillum calls it ‘low point’

Republican governor candidates debate set

After honeymooning in Paris, David Jolly vows “terror will never win”

Bob Sparks: GOP, Obama heading for high-stakes showdown on Syrian refugees

With successful Sunshine Summit, Blaise Ingoglia makes critics eat crow

Mitch Perry Report for 11.16.15 — A post 11/13 world?

Bobby Jindal talks radical Islam, immigration at #SunshineSummit

Paris attacks cast a dark cloud over Florida GOP’s Sunshine Summit

No longer a given that Florida will support Marco Rubio or Jeb Bush