Senate President Don Gaetz, R-Destin, named former House Speaker Allan Bense, the father-in-law of current House Speaker Will Weatherford, R-Wesley Chapel, to the board of trustees of Triumph Gulf Coast Inc., which manages funds won from lawsuits or settlements in the BP oil spill in the Gulf back in 2010.

On Thursday, former U.S. Rep. Allen West continued to attack President Barack Obamas handling of the Middle East.

The Republican Party of Florida (RPOF) fired back on Thursday at the Florida Democratic Partys charges that attacks made on Allison Tant, the state partys chairwoman, and U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla., are "sexist."

Former Rep. Shawn Harrison is getting the support of some of his former colleagues in the Florida House as he looks to return to Tallahassee. Harrison is already running hard against Rep. Mark Danish, D-Tampa, who represents parts of Hillsborough County.

On Thursday, Harrison announced Deputy Whip Elizabeth Porter, R-Lake City, Rep. Jim Boyd, R-Bradenton, Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Shalimar, Rep. Ray Pilon, R-Sarasota, and Rep. Greg Steube, R-Sarasota, were backing his campaign.

Rep. Cary Pigman, R-Sebring, a lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Army Reserves and serving with the Florida National Guard, is back in the Sunshine State after a three-month tour of Kuwait. Pigman was there in his role as a physician, treating service members wounded in Iraq.

With news emerging that the NSA has mined more than 56,000 emails and other communications from Americans who are not under investigation for terrorism links, U.S. Rep. Dennis Ross, R-Fla., pointed to a bill he filed two months ago as a needed reform.

Freshman U.S. Rep. Ted Yoho, R-Fla., weighed in on the situation in Egypt on Wednesday. Yoho sits on the Foreign Affairs Committee as well as the Middle East and South Asia subcommittee and the Terrorism, Nonproliferation, and Trade subcommittee.

Under fire for her role in backing Allie Braswell for state CFO, Allison Tant, the chairwoman of the Florida Democrats, is up in arms about the attacks coming from the Republican Party of Florida (RPOF). After jumping in at the end of last week, Braswell left the race on Monday after reports emerged that he had filed for bankruptcy three times. The short-lived candidacy raised questions and concerns about Tant and the Florida Democrats especially as Braswell appears not to have been vetted yet received the partys support.

Gwen Graham, the daughter of Florida political legend Bob Graham, is running for the Democratic nomination to challenge U.S. Rep. Steve Southerland, R-Fla. In an op-ed published in the Tallahassee Democrat late on Tuesday, Graham slammed both Southerland and House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., for voting to increase student loan rates.

Former U.S. Rep. Allen West, who has opened the door to a political comeback in 2016, continued to attack the Obama administrations handling of the Benghazi attack last September.