Barbara Watson appears headed to Tallahassee. The former Miami Gardens vice mayor was behind Sharon Pritchett in initial returns from the special election held last week for the House seat vacated by Oscar Braynon.
After recounts, Watson was ahead of Pritchett by 18 votes. All three candidates who ran in the special election were Democrats, retaining this seat -- which represents parts of Miami-Dade and Broward counties --for the minority caucus led by Rep. Ron Saunders of Key West No surprise on this one, but Rep. Rick Kriseman, D-St. Petersburg, announced this week that he intends to runs for a fourth term in the Florida House in 2012. Kriseman, who represents parts of Pinellas County, had served on the legislative advisory board of the centrist Democratic Leadership Council which suspended operations after more than two decades Former Gov. Jeb Bush led the 11th Annual Celebration of Reading (ACR) event backed by his family as well as Dollar General stores. The event, held last week in Bonita Springs, featured former first lady Barbara Bush and a new book on deaf children penned by Jeb Bush Jr. and his wife Sandra
On Monday, former state Department of Transportation Secretary Stephanie Kopelousos joined the U.S. House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee as a senior adviser. Kopelousos is no stranger to Washington, having worked in Gov. Jeb Bushs Washington office. She still plans to work as county manager for Clay County when she is finished with the committee Speaking of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, Florida Republican U.S. Rep. John Mica, who is its chairman, announced last week that DeLand received a $250,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Affairs to help construct a Boys and Girls Club community center. Mica stumped Central Florida on Saturday, speaking in Maitland and DeLand U.S. Rep. Tom Rooney, joined by fellow Republican U.S. Rep. Lynn Westmoreland of Georgia as well as Democrats U.S. Rep. John Larson of Connecticut and U.S. Rep. Chellie Pingree, will be speaking at a media event in Washington on Tuesday, urging their fellow congressmen not to pass an amendment funding an engine program for the F-35 fighter, which they contend wastes $6 billion in federal funds
Florida Republican U.S. Rep. Vern Buchanan continues to insist that he is keeping the door open to launching a bid to take on Democratic U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson in 2012. Buchanan is sitting on more than $950,000 in campaign cash he can use for federal office ... Having already launched two successful conferences in his district for entrepreneurs, Florida Republican U.S. Rep. Bill Posey will be sponsoring a third one in Kissimmee on April 27 Evangelical Christians will be leading pro-life efforts across the Sunshine State in May. The Stand4LIFE campaign is hoping to have pro-life activists taking part in peaceful events, namely prayer efforts, at every abortion provider in Florida on May 7
Former Gov. Claude Kirk suffered a heart attack in January and is recovering well. Kirk, who is 85 and led the state from 1967 until 1971, was the first Republican to serve as governor since Reconstruction While all eyes will be on the first round of Jacksonvilles mayoral race on March 22, dont overlook the race to replace Mike Hogan, who is running for mayor, as Duval County tax collector. There are three candidates, all Republicans, in the race: former Rep. Dick Kravitz, former Jacksonville City Council President Michael Corrigan and political newcomer Ryan Taylor who has served more than a decade in the tax collectors office Democratic U.S. Rep. Ted Deutch will be continuing his series of meetings with constituents. Deutch will hold Coffee with your Congressman events as well as town hall meetings in Coconut Creek, Margate, Palm Aire, Tamarac and Boca Raton at the end of February as well as in March and April.
Reach Kevin Derby at kderby@sunshinestatenews.com or at (850) 727-0859.
