News Service Florida Political Blog

Aaron Bean was endorsed Friday by Chief Financial Officer Jeff Atwater in Bean’s bid for the newly drawn Senate District 4 seat. The seat covers part of Duval County and all of Nassau County. “Aaron is a true conservative candidate who has a record of cutting property taxes and holding government accountable for every dollar spent,” Atwater said in a statement.  “We need a conservative, like Aaron, to represent Northeast Florida in the Senate.” Bean, a former House member from Fernandina Beach,  has also been endorsed by former Gov. Jeb Bush, Sen. John Thrasher, R-St. Augustine, and Sen. Steve Wise, R-Jacksonville.

Rep. Mike Weinstein, R-Jacksonville, is also in the GOP primary, as is Wyman Duggan, a Jacksonville lawyer with the  Rogers Towers firm.

But believes John Delaney and Sheriff John Rutherford will remain neutral.

Jacksonville.com has more

http://jacksonville.com/news/florida/2012-05-09/story/john-delaney-john-rutherford-pull-their-endorsements-aaron-bean

After  the first quarter Rep. Kelli Stargel was leading Jack Myers in the cash race for the Polk County-based Senate  District 16 seat. The Winter Haven News Chief has Bill Rufty’s latest on the contest.

There was a surprise fundraising leader for the first three months of the year in the race for the new Senate District 4, the district that would wrap around Jacksonville and include Nassau County, the Jacksonville beaches, and the area west of the city. While former legislator Aaron Bean remains the far-and-away money leader among three Republicans vying for the seat, Jacksonville lawyer Wyman Duggan pulled in the most during the quarter, according to figures filed with the Division of Elections. Duggan, an attorney with Rogers Towers, raised $25,785 in the quarter, but it was his first of the campaign and so that’s his total as well. Bean, who has been running for the seat for a couple of years, raised $22,055 during the first quarter. But Bean, of Fernandina Beach, has raised more than $340,000 in all. Another GOP newcomer to the race, Rep. Mike Weinstein, R-Jacksonville, was prohibited from raising money during most of the quarter because the Legislature was in session. He raised $6,375, and in all has raised $113,100.

It’s good to be in leadership. While most sitting lawmakers struggled  to keep up with newcomers in a first quarter in which they were in session most of the time, members of the GOP Senate leadership team did OK. Incoming Senate President Don Gaetz, R-Niceville, as expected, had a more-than-respectable quarter, drawing just under $43,000 in donations during the quarter, and bringing his total re-elect haul to $472,260. Senate Rules Chairman John Thrasher, R-St. Augustine, meanwhile, raised $26,650 during the first quarter, bringing his total in his re-elect bid for Senate District 6 to $428,315. Senate Majority Leader Andy Gardiner, R-Orlando, raised $24,700 in the quarter and is closing in on $400,000 total for the cycle, with just over $397,000 raised.

Republican Rob Bradley said Monday he raised more than $70,000 in the first three months of the year in his bid to win a newly-drawn north Florida Senate seat that includes the Gainesville area and Clay and Bradford counties. Bradley, of Fleming Island, is a former Clay County commissioner, is a former prosecutor and currently in private law practice. Gainesville businessman Brian Scarborough, a Democrat, has also announced for the seat. The incumbent who lives in the area now is Sen. Steve Oelrich, R-Cross Creek, a Republican who is running for Congress.

Republican Rep. Mike Weinstein said Monday he’ll run for a newly drawn state Senate district that includes Nassau County and cuts a big semi-circle around Jacksonville, taking in part of Duval County, the Florida Times-Union reported. Under the House map that’s in place now, Weinstein lives in the same district as fellow Republican House incumbent Charles McBurney, R-Jacksonville. Weinstein said that instead of facing McBurney, he’ll run in the Senate seat if the district doesn’t change substantially this week. There’s technically no incumbent living in the Nassau-Duval Senate seat, though Aaron Bean of Fernandina Beach, who previously served eight years in the House, is running for the seat. The Times-Union also reported that another Republican, Wyman Duggan of Jacksonville, also plans to run.

There appears to be a consensus in the Senate that the current Senate District 27, which crosses the state from the Fort Myers area on the Gulf to Palm Beach County on the Atlantic won’t look like that when lawmakers finish drawing maps in the current redistricting process. The district is currently represented by Sen. Lizbeth Benacquisto, R-Fort Myers. The chairman of the Senate Reapportionment Committee, Sen. Don Gaetz, R-Niceville, said yesterday that the district  “stretches not only across the state, but stretches the imagination.”

Gaetz’s committee hopes to file a proposed committee bill Dec. 6.

For full coverage of the redistricting process, www.newsserviceflorida.com

Fewer than 9 percent of voters in Senate District 1 turned out to vote in the race to replace Tony Hill on Tuesday or in the early voting period, statistics compiled by the Division of Elections show.

Former state Rep. Audrey Gibson easily defeated three others in an all-Democratic race in five northeast Florida counties to replace Hill, who resigned to work for Jacksonville Mayor Alvin Brown. Only 8.7 percent of registered Democrats turned out to vote in the race, which was a closed primary.

There’s a general election scheduled for Oct. 18, but Gibson’s will be the only name on the ballot.

Turnout was highest in Duval County, the largest part of the district, but even there it was only 9.7 percent. In Flagler County, fewer than 50 actual voters showed up to cast a ballot, out of nearly 1,800 registered Democrats in the district, for a turnout of 2.3 percent. In the second biggest county in the district, Volusia, turnout was 3.5 percent. Gibson defeated Terry Fields, Ramon Day and Leandrew Mills.

For complete coverage of legislative races, go to www.newsserviceflorida.com

Former state Rep. Audrey Gibson appeared set to return to the Legislature after unofficial returns showed her easily beating three others in a decisive primary for an open northeast Florida Senate seat. Gibson, a Democrat from Jacksonville, would replace Tony Hill, who resigned from the District 1 seat to work for new Jacksonville Mayor Alvin Brown.

In unofficial results posted by the state Division of Elections, Gibson had just under 7,600 votes, 62 percent of those cast, to just under 3,900 for her closest rival, Terry Fields, also a former state House member. Behind Fields, who got 32 percent of the vote, were Ramon Day and Leandrew Mills, who each got about 3 percent of the vote.

The majority of the district is in Duval County, but votes were also cast in Volusia, St. Johns, Putnam and Flagler counties. Gibson outpolled Fields and the other candidates in all five counties.

Technically, there is an Oct. 18 general election, but Gibson will be the only one on the ballot. The election still must be held because voters could write in a candidate. No Republicans qualified to run in the heavily-Democratic district. Hill’s resignation is technically official Oct. 1.

Here are the most recent results, according to the Division of Elections:

NOFFICIAL ELECTION NIGHT RETURNS
(may not include absentee or provisional ballots)