Florida Rep. Leonard Bembry announced on Thursday that he has filed to run against Republican U.S. Rep. Steve Southerland in 2012.
The priorities of this Congress couldnt be more wrong for North Florida and our nation, Bembry said in a statement. While politicians in Washington fight with each other and refuse to address the big issues we face, real people everywhere continue to struggle with a stalled economy and poor job market that need a jolt charge and a runaway budget that needs to be responsibly controlled.Steve Southerland has not delivered on the political promises he made in 2010 to create jobs, change Washington, D.C., and bring practical solutions that will put Floridians back to work and tackle the tough challenges we face.
I was a farmer and businessman for almost 40 years before I decided that it was my responsibility to pursue public service.I am grounded in North Florida because its always been my home.It is where I was raised and where Susan and I have chosen to raise our family. We love it here, added Bembry. I am concerned about the kind of future we are leaving for our children and grandchildren. The country is not on the right track and our elected leaders in Washington, D.C., are failing the test of true citizenship by playing politics instead of solving problems.
Bembry who has represented all of Hamilton, Madison and Taylor counties, and parts of Alachua, Columbia, Dixie, Franklin, Jefferson, Levy and Wakulla counties since 2008, is generally recognized as the most conservative Democrat in the House -- something he played up on Thursday.
If elected, I will go to Washington as a common-sense, honest, hard-working, conservative problem-solver who believes that a dose of North Florida values and can-do spirit is what we need to get this country moving again, said Bembry.
Southerland defeated then-U.S. Rep. Allen Boyd, a Democrat, in the 2010 election cycle. Besides Bembry, two other Democrats are planning to run -- environmentalist Jay Liles and former Bay County Democratic Chairman Alvin Peters who ran for mayor of Panama City earlier in the year.While she had originally filed to run as a Democrat, former Public Service Commissioner Nancy Argenziano, a veteran of both chambers of the Legislature and a former Republican, is running with no party affiliation.
Reach Kevin Derby at kderby@sunshinestatenews.com or at (850) 727-0859.
