Democratic activist David Schauer, treasurer of St. Pete Pride and treasurer to the Pinellas DEC, has sent a letter to state Sen. Nan Rich, the Democratic leader in the Florida Senate, that he intends to run an insurgent campaign against lackluster incumbent Arthenia Joyner. This is not the first time a possible challenger to Sen. Joyner has considered running against her. State Rep. Darryl Rouson, bolstered by intriguing poll numbers, is also said to be thinking about running against Sen. Joyner.
The text of the letter from Schauer is below:
Dear Sen. Rich,
I know we have spoken in the past about trying to find people to run for Senate, especially in Pinellas. Although we have not been successful in finding someone to strongly in the open seats, I have decided to run myself in District 18.
There are several reasons for me doing this. In all my times living in this district, I have never been able to get Sen. Joyner to return a phone call. Not as a constituent, chair of St. Pete Pride or Treasurer of the Democratic Executive Committee. My partner, whom you know, is the President of the District Florida Nurses Association as well as sitting on the State Board. He has attempted to meet with her for years and has not had a return call or message.
As I speak to people around the district I get the same story time and time again. Second is her lack of support for the local party. Over the last three years she has demanded to be a speaker at the dinner event but has never bought a ticket, much less a table. She has not done anything to help the local (Pinellas) county party. I think we need to move forward to get a faithful Dem elected where we can.
To that end, I am planning a formal announcement during St. Pete Pride this year. I am going to DC next week to make a pitch for national money but I am also in a position to seed my campaign with a self loan of $50 – 75K.
I look forward to working with you in the near future.
