Senator Jack Latvala wins re-election, but not by as much as you'd think

in Uncategorized by

Sen. Jack Latvala, a Clearwater Republican who is seeking to become Senate president in 2016, appeared to handily win another term Tuesday night in newly redrawn District 20.

With 134 of 135 precincts reporting, Latvala had nearly 58 percent of the vote in his race against Democrat Ashley Rhodes-Courter, according to the Pinellas County elections website.

With Pinellas County trending blue, it’s not surprising that Latvala did not crest 60% of the vote, but one could argue Latvala did not beat the spread.

Latvala served in the Senate from 1994 to 2002 before returning to Tallahassee in 2010.

Material from the News Service of Florida was used in this report.

Peter Schorsch is the President of Extensive Enterprises and is the publisher of some of Florida’s most influential new media websites, including SaintPetersBlog.com, FloridaPolitics.com, ContextFlorida.com, and Sunburn, the morning read of what’s hot in Florida politics. SaintPetersBlog has for three years running been ranked by the Washington Post as the best state-based blog in Florida. In addition to his publishing efforts, Peter is a political consultant to several of the state’s largest governmental affairs and public relations firms. Peter lives in St. Petersburg with his wife, Michelle, and their daughter, Ella.