Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi expanded her national profile this week, agreeing to serve on the board of a national political organization and getting involved in an attorney general race in another state.
On Tuesday, Bondi announced that she had joined the national board of Maggies List, a PAC focused on electing female candidates to federal office who are fiscal conservatives and supporters of strong defense policies.
Former Florida Secretary of State Sandra Mortham, the national chair of Maggies List, welcomed Bondi as she started her new duties.
We are thrilled to have Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi join the Maggies List national board, Mortham said on Tuesday. General Bondis proven track record for standing up for conservative principles and her commitment to service women through her work on some of the toughest issues of our times make her an outstanding person to help address representation of women.
General Bondi is keenly aware of the reality that even with 55 percent of the electorate being women, women still make up less than 20 percent of the members serving in the 114th Congress, Mortham added.
Bondi will find some familiar faces from Florida politics as she involves herself with Maggies List. The group lists Florida Republicans former U.S. Sen. George LeMieux, former U.S. Reps. Ginny Brown-Waite and Cliff Stearns and current U.S. Reps. Bill Posey and Dennis Ross as congressional partners.
From her perch as chairwoman of the Republican Attorneys General Association (RAGA), Bondi is also getting involved in the Kentucky attorney general race in November after state Sen. Whitney Westerfield won the GOPs nomination on Tuesday. Republicans are hoping Westerfield can flip the seat which is currently held by Kentucky Attorney General Jack Conway, a Democrat who is running for governor. Westerfield will face attorney Andy Beshear, the son of Gov. Steve Beshear, D-Ky., in November and Bondi pledged to help the new Republican nominee.
I want to congratulate Whitney Westerfield on securing the Republican Party nomination in tonights Kentucky primary election for attorney general, Bondi said on Tuesday night. I look forward to joining Whitney on the campaign trail to help him become the next attorney general. Whitney has the right experience to serve as the states top law enforcement officer. He will defend the rule of law, push back against overreaching federal regulations that kill jobs, and he will be a strong partner in the ongoing fight against Obama initiatives, such as the presidents executive order on immigration, which is a blatant abuse of power and undermines the U.S. Constitution. I have all the confidence that Whitney will make an extraordinary attorney general.
While Bondi has closed the door to running for the open U.S. Senate seat in 2016, she has garnered some buzz as a potential candidate in 2018. Bondi has been active at the national level, leading the coalition of states that unsuccessfully challenged President Barack Obama's federal health-care law. At a Federalist Society event at the end of February at Walt Disney World, conservative pundit Fred Barnes of the Weekly Standard called the Republican attorneys general the most effective opposition to Obama.
Reach Kevin Derby at kderby@sunshinestatenews.com or follow him on Twitter: @KevinDerbySSN
