A Democrat has filed to run against St. Petersburg Rep. Wengay Newton in House District 70, setting up a possible primary for the first-term representative. Vito Sheeley opened up his campaign account for the seat on Friday and is the only candidate running against Newton, who took over for now Sen. Darryl Rouson after winning a three-way Democratic against Dan Fiorini and Chris Czaia.
Charlie Crist, the 60-year-old former Republican-turned-independent-turned-Democrat, returned to public office earlier this year, after defeating incumbent David Jolly in a bitter contest for Congress in Florida’s 13th Congressional District. In serving in Washington for the first time after a lifetime in Florida politics, the St. Petersburg native had a rocky transition to working in Washington. Crist missed one of his first votes, condemning the United Nations for a resolution perceived to be anti-Israel. A few weeks later his head of…
David Jolly is in New York this week, making the rounds at the cable news networks as one Republican not afraid to criticize Donald Trump. On his latest appearance on MSNBC’s The Last Word (with guest host Joy Reid), the former (and possibly future?) congressman from Florida’s 13th District called Trump’s first month in office “his JV moment,” specifically referring to Stephen Miller’s performance on the Sunday morning shows. Miller is the 31-year old senior adviser to Trump who is reported to be working alongside Steve…
Vito Sheeley says that despite his decision to now work for former Republican Congressman David Jolly, he remains a Democrat. In one of the more enigmatic personnel developments in Tampa Bay area politics recently, Sheeley announced Monday that he was leaving the office of Charlie Crist, to now work for Jolly as a senior adviser. Crist defeated Jolly in Pinellas County’s 13th Congressional District race last fall. The move came just days after reports that Sheeley was going to work for St. Petersburg Mayor Rick Kriseman‘s office, along with (unreported) rumors Crist had jettisoned Sheeley…
David Jolly says that he has not made a decision whether to run for his former congressional seat next year, but that’s the impression he has given by announcing on Monday that he has hired Vito Sheeley to serve as his “senior advisor for the 2018 political cycle.” Sheeley has been working as district director for Charlie Crist, the man who defeated Jolly last November in the Congressional District 13 race. Sheeley also worked on Crist’s congressional campaign as his campaign outreach director. “While I have made…