Is this the year that Democratic Congresswoman Corrine Brown's long run in Washington could come to an end?
Already seeking re-election in a district with a substantial number of new voters thanks to redistricting, Brown received a new blow on Thursday: Media reports said the 12-term incumbent was facing a federal indictment that could be linked to a charity at the center of an FBI investigation.
First Coast News, a Jacksonville TV station, and the Orlando Sentinel reported the potential charges, with both saying Brown's case would come before a court on Friday. Other media outlets said simply that some decision had been made in the case.
A spokesman for Brown did not respond to a request for comment.
The famously pugnacious Brown --- who has fought off challenges to her district and other threats over two decades in Congress --- has insisted on her innocence in the matter. "I'm clean," she told reporters in March as she faced questions about federal probes amid a separate legal fight over the shape of her district.
The U.S. House Committee on Ethics had just released a letter announcing it had opened an investigation but was deferring the inquiry at the request of the U.S. Justice Department.
The ethics committee investigation will delve into allegations that Brown "engaged in improper conduct" with outside organizations, including allegations that she may have "conspired with other persons in connection with fraudulent activity, improperly solicited charitable donations, used campaign funds for personal purposes," and other matters, according to the letter.
Brown was served with a federal subpoena in January. Asked in March if she was confident that she would "come out clean" when the investigations are completed, Brown said, "I am clean. Goodness. Clean. Yes."
The Florida Times-Union in Jacksonville has reported that the head of an organization linked to Brown pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud.
Carla Wiley, president of Virginia-based One Door for Education, agreed to cooperate with investigators, the Times-Union reported. The charges against Wiley involve bilking donors out of about $800,000 by using the power of an unnamed public official, according to the Jacksonville newspaper.
Brown is already facing pressure from outside her power base. Former state Sen. Al Lawson, D-Tallahassee, has challenged her in a reconfigured district that runs from Jacksonville in the east to Gadsden County in the west, cutting through Tallahassee along the way. That's substantially different than the north-south seat, which most recently wound its way from Jacksonville to Orlando, that Brown has represented throughout her tenure in Congress.
WILL SPECIAL SESSION FAILURE PLAY IN THE FALL?
Back in Tallahassee, legislative Democrats were able to sway just three Republicans --- two facing potentially difficult re-election campaigns --- to support a call for a special session to discuss firearms legislation. The proposal to hold such a session fell far short of the 60 percent support needed from both chambers of the GOP dominated Legislature.
The final votes were 36 for the session and 72 against in the House, 14 for and 17 against in the Senate, according to the Secretary of State's office.
The Florida Democratic Party didn't wait long before trying to exploit the result, sending out a release Tuesday that called Rep. Manny Diaz Jr., R-Hialeah, "a special interest puppet" of the National Rifle Association for his vote against the special session. Diaz is facing Democrat Ivette Gonzalez Petkovich in November in House District 103.
Also, Democrats are expected next spring to revisit the topic they wanted addressed in the special session: prohibiting people on FBI terror watch lists from being able to buy weapons.
The topic of gun regulations, with a heightened emphasis on taking some action in response to the Pulse nightclub shooting last month in Orlando that left 49 people dead, will be featured in some key races.
However, it remains to be seen what kind of impact the votes on the special session will have. The three Republicans who supported the session were Sen. Anitere Flores of Miami and Reps. Mike Miller of Winter Park and Shawn Harrison of Tampa.
Miller's vote came as he tries to hold on an Orlando-area swing seat. Harrison, in a district that leans Democratic in terms of registered voters, is facing a November challenge from Tampa City Councilwoman Lisa Montelione.
The well-funded Flores, whose redrawn district now has more registered Democrats than Republicans, may have escaped a more serious challenge as qualifying came to a close on June 24.
Democrat Andrew Korge, whose father, Chris, is a longtime Hillary Clinton supporter and major Democratic fundraiser, decided to enter a Democratic primary for a nearby Senate seat rather than take on Flores. That leaves Flores, who had $515,537 on hand as of June 24, facing Democrat Debbie Mucarsel-Powell in November.
TWEET OF THE WEEK: "Most out-of-left-field question is definitely Rep. Mica's 'Have you seen the Broadway production 'Hamilton'?' "---Byron Tau (@ByronTau), a reporter from the Wall Street Journal, referring to a question from Florida Republican Congressman John Mica during a hearing on the FBI's decision not to seek charges in an investigation involving Clinton's email server. ("All to make a weird point about choreography," Tau added moments later.)
