Minority candidates challenge Amendment 6
Two members of Congress on Wednesday sued in federal court in Miami to block a constitutional amendment approved by voters Tuesday to change the way congressional districts are drawn.
John Stemberger of the Florida Family Policy Council says it is "unlikely" that the vetoed ultrasound-before-abortion bill will come up for an override vote at the 2011 Legislature "because a couple of the new GOP House member pickups are not pro-life."
But Stemberger said the inability to gain a two-thirds majority on the proposal doesn't mean the idea is dead.
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TEA (Taxed Enough Already) Chairman Fred O'Neal said the party's 20 candidates received a collective total of more than 300,000 votes in Tuesday's election.
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State Rep. Will Weatherford, R-Wesley Chapel, doesn't think that the loss of Amendment 8 spells the end of the class-size debate.
In a statement released Wednesday afternoon, Weatherford said "the results showed Floridians' support for flexibility in keeping class sizes small in Florida by a wider margin than the vote by which the 2002 class-size amendment passed.
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Before noon on the day after Tuesday's GOP election sweep, the first public call for Democratic Party leaders to step aside came down.
"It's remarkable (Florida Democratic Chairwoman) Karen Thurman hasn't resigned by now," state Sen. Jeremy Ring, D-Margate, said just after Democrat Alex Sink gave a concession speech in the governors race Wednesday morning. "There needs to be new leadership of the party ... All the success we had two years ago, they just let that die."
Florida businesses have bemoaned the national Democratic policies they think constrain growth, but business leaders had no complaints after the midterm election results came in Tuesday night.
While Republican U.S. Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart and Democratic U.S. Rep. Corrine Brown won their congressional bids on Tuesday, they were two of the leading opponents of Amendments 5 and 6, the measures on redistricting that were approved by Florida voters.
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With the political wind at their backs, Florida Republicans increased their majority in the state Senate, claiming 28 of its 40 seats -- a very comfortable majority for incoming Gov. Rick Scotts legislative agenda.
Florida's congressional delegation has shifted from 15-10 Republican to 19-6 in the GOP's favor.
