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For weeks, rumors have swirled of a plot to shake up the Hillsborough County Commission and dramatically alter the political landscape there. In its current state, there are seven county commissioners - four elected in equally apportioned single-member districts and three who serve county-wide.
The strategists plotting Florida Gov. Rick Scott's re-election bid in 2014 faced a problem: The state's explosive growth, especially in liberal cities like Miami, Orlando and Tampa, was being fueled by an influx of voters likely to back Scott's Democratic opponent. To win a second term, Scott would have to find votes in unlikely places.
Fire officials inspect a side door where an arson took place at the Daarus Salaam Mosque in Thonotosassa, Fla., Friday, Feb. 24, 2017. Officials from the Hillsborough County Sheriff's office, Fire Department and ATF talk outside the Daarus Salaam Mosque in Thonotosassa, Fla., after an arson there early Friday, Feb. 24, 2017.
Two years after they both ran unsuccessfully for a countywide Hillsborough County Commission seat, Republican Tim Schock and Democrat Pat Kemp now find themselves in a head-to-head battle for another spot on the same board. Schock easily won the Republican nomination last week to Hillsborough's open District 6 office, while Kemp coasted to victory in a four-way Democratic field.
Augie Ribeiro thinks he's the only "true Democrat" running for Florida Senate District 19 - and he's spent at least $141,000 on mailers alone to tell voters that. His glossy ads land in mailboxes with an uncommon frequency.
In the week after the Orlando shooting, the country joined arms in grief and sympathy. But actually honoring the LGBT dead is a bit too much for a few people who are uncomfortable with homosexuality.