Familiar faces stayed in the Florida Senate in 2014 but that will change considerably over the next two years. Many of the new senators wont be strangers to Tallahassee since plenty of them are veterans of the Florida House.
Not a single senator faced term limits in 2014. Nor did any incumbents go down to defeat in the election. Only two of them -- Republican Jeff Brandes and Democrat Maria Sachs -- had to really break a sweat to keep their seats last time out.
But things are already in motion to change the Senate. Quickly after winning another term in November, John Thrasher resigned to take over as president of FSU. This has prompted a nasty primary between two current Republicans sitting in the Florida House -- Travis Hutson and Doc Renuart -- which will be held on Jan. 27. At the very least, later this year, there will be a new face in the Florida Senate.
There will soon be other new senators and plenty of them, like Hutson and Renuart, are currently on the other side of the state Capitol. Take Matt Gaetz, a current member of the House. With his father Don facing term limits in 2016, the younger Gaetz is a very heavy favorite to replace him in the Senate. Even after he chased Jimmy Patronis from the race, Baby Gaetz hasnt taken his foot off the gas. Look for him to easily win his fathers seat in 2016.
Charlie Dean will also be term-limited in 2016 and two Republicans in the state House are already off and running for the seat. Dennis Baxley and Jimmie Smith are both solid conservatives who are veterans of tough campaigns. This looks as though it will turn into an interesting primary in this secure seat for Republicans.
Theres another Senate seat up for grabs in Southwest Florida as Garrett Richter faces term limits and two more members of the Florida House are gunning for it. Matt Hudson announced this week that he will run for the seat. Kathleen Passidomo got in back in November. This seat is pretty safe for Republicans as well, meaning the real action will be in the primary.
On the Democratic side, familiar faces from the House are looking to move to the Senate. David Richardson has filed for the Senate seat currently held by veteran legislator Gwen Margolis and has indicated he would be open to primarying her if she runs again. While neither man is currently in the House, Perry Thurston and Jim Waldman, both of whom just left Tallahassee, are running for Senate seats that will open up in 2016 due to term limits.
Now, at this early point, not all retiring senators will be replaced by House members. Take the seat held currently by Andy Gardiner, for instance. Realtor Dean Asher is running strong for the Republicans while Democrats have a solid candidate of their own in Rick Roach, a longtime member of the Orange County School Board. But, so far, while there will be plenty of new senators come 2016, most of them will be very familiar with Tallahassee from their time in the House.
Tallahassee political writer Jeff Henderson wrote this analysis exclusively for Sunshine State News.
