Over the last five years, state Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam has been near center stage in Florida politics, but there has always been a feeling he will soon claim a larger role.
Putnam has been busy indeed over the last five years, taking on the federal EPA over water nutrient standards, working on renewable energy and water issues and urging local schools to use more Florida produce in their lunch programs. In the last five years Putnam has risen from an up-and-coming congressman who had served in the Republican leadership to a statewide official who proved his electoral credentials with big wins in 2010 and 2014.
Always defending and promoting Florida agriculture, Putnam has also become increasingly outspoken as an advocate for conservatism, preaching how it can flourish in the Sunshine State. Last month, in a speech to the Federalist Society, Putnam offered a glaring contrast between the dysfunction in Washington, D.C., and the opportunities Florida offers, especially in contrast to traditionally Democratic states across the nation.
His attempts over the last five years to stake out the right have often proved successful and he won a great deal of praise from conservatives for criticizing Gov. Rick Scott, R-Fla., for being open to Medicaid expansion. However, the commissioner does have some weak areas for conservatives, including his support for immigration reform. On the whole, however, his efforts have generally been successful and he is in a good position to advance his political career in the coming years.
Even in 2010, during his campaign against former Tallahassee Mayor Scott Maddox, a former chairman of the Florida Democratic Party who had run for governor, Putnams future ambitions have been at the core of his political personality. The assumption has always been that he gave up his safe congressional seat for a shot at higher office and that, whatever his passion for agriculture and other issues, his current position is a stepping stone to becoming governor.
Even as Putnam won two statewide elections and got most of his agenda through the Legislature during his first term, the last five years have often felt like a prelude to a 2018 gubernatorial bid. Five years is plenty of time for a rising star to fall, but Putnam is still ascending, far better positioned now than he was in 2010 for a future gubernatorial campaign.
Putnam has improved as a speaker and shows off a far better sense of humor in his speeches than he did only a few years ago. Now 40, he is no longer the boyish, red-haired politician his opponents dismissed as Opie. He comes off as a mature leader, charismatic and quietly confident in virtually any public venue. Anyone who saw him last month deliver directions to the legislative committee drawing up Amendment 1 policy saw a commanding -- in fact, a riveting -- performance.
Over the last five years Putnam could have merely bided his time, waited for a chance to run for governor. Instead, he has been a champion for Florida agriculture and for less regulation from both Tallahassee and Washington, D.C. His record over the last five years has made him one of the leading political personalities in Florida, even if he hasn't reached his political prime.
(Adam Putnam is the third in a special anniversary series of 20 political personalities who loomed large since early 2010, when Sunshine State News set up shop in Tallahassee. To backtrack in the series, readNo. 20, Ted Yohoand No. 19, Jeff Atwater.)
Reach Kevin Derby atkderby@sunshinestatenews.comor follow him on Twitter: @KevinDerbySSN
