U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel will be taking part in a town hall event at the Fleet Readiness Center Southeast on Naval Air Station Jacksonville (NAS Jax) on Tuesday with U.S. Rep. Ander Crenshaw, R-Fla. In a statement on Monday, Crenshaw welcomed Hagel to the First Coast and brought up the subject of furloughs of civilian defense employees.

Republican Party of Florida Vice Chairman Blaise Ingoglia continues to round up the support of prominent Republicans as he looks to run for the Florida House seat currently held by Rep. Rob Schenck, R-Spring Hill, who faces term limits in 2014. On Monday, Rep. Dane Eagle, R-Cape Coral, endorsed Ingoglia.

With House Democratic Leader Perry Thurston, D-Fort Lauderdale, facing term limits in 2014, a major Democratic candidate filed his paperwork to launch a bid to replace him in representing parts of Broward County.

Nate Cohn over at The New Republic makes an interesting argument that Florida Republicans need to do well with Hispanics or the Sunshine State will turn from purple to blue. With Florida remaining the ultimate swing state in presidential politics, Cohn argues that if Florida becomes more blue due to Hispanic voters -- the way Nevada and New Mexico have -- there could be major consequences for the national GOP:

During the redistricting process in early 2012, then-Rep. Eric Eisnaugle bowed out of the Florida House and set his sights on 2014 instead of taking on fellow Republican Rep. Steve Precourt, R-Orlando, in the primary.

With Precourt, currently serving as GOP majority leader, facing term limits in 2014, Eisnaugle is in excellent shape to return to Tallahassee to represent parts of Orange County. Eisnaugle reeled in $20,375 in the second quarter of 2013, bringing his cash on hand -- which also includes money raised during his scuddled 2012 race -- to around $139,600.

Rep. Doug Broxson, R-Milton, has drawn a Republican primary challenger. Jamie Tabisz-Smith who runs the Liberty Life News site filed his paperwork to run against Broxson in next years Republican primary. Broxson represents parts of Okaloosa and Santa Rosa counties.

So far in the 2014 election cycle, Broxson has raised $12,300 in cash and had around $10,900 in the bank at the end of June.

Following a speech earlier in the day where he suggested the Senate not pass continuing resolutions on the budget unless President Barack Obamas health care law was defunded, U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., signed on as a co-sponsor to U.S. Sen. Ted Cruzs, R-Texas, bill to defund it. Cruz and Rubio are both possible contenders for the Republican presidential nomination in 2016.

Gov. Rick Scott formed a tag team with Paul Levesque, the executive vice president of talent and live events for World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), on Thursday to open the WWEs Global Performance Center in Orlando. Levesque, best known by wrestling fans as Triple H is the son-in-law of WWE CEO Vince McMahon. The project will bring $2.3 million in capital investment and almost 100 jobs to Central Florida.

Sunshine State News is hitting the radio airwaves on Thursday from 2:20-3 p.m. Your humble blogger will be on the Ed Dean radio show, which is hosted by one of the most feisty, informative and entertaining conservatives in Florida. It can be heard onlinehereand on two stations in Central Florida -- 89.3 on the west coast and 90.3 on the Atlantic coast.

In a 5-2 decision along the usual ideological lines, Florida's liberal-leaning Supreme Court has denied a petition by the Florida Legislature to dismiss a lawsuit challenging the 2012 Senate redistricting map.