Florida Governor-Elect Charlie Crist has appointed State Rep. Holly Benson, a fellow Republican, as the next secretary of the Department of Business and Professional Regulation. As a result the District 3 seat will need to be filled by a special election.
As the Tallahassee Democrat reports:
One of Crist's first official acts after he is sworn in Tuesday will be setting a date for a special election to fill the District 3 seat that the Pensacola Republican is vacating. The election could be within 60 days.
Everyone in the District is gearing up for this election. There might be a real chance to get a Democratic replacement, but it's going to take some persuasion. That's where YOU come in. More below.
[SHE SAID NO! LET'S GET BEHIND LIZ CAMPBELL AND WHY THIS RACE IS IMPORTANT]
Here's the kicker from the Tallahassee Democrat story:
One of the biggest question marks is Pensacola Democrat and former Rep. Dee Dee Ritchie, a 53-year-old commercial real estate broker who was fist elected to the seat in 1998.
Ritchie said she has been approached by Democrats and Republicans to run for the seat, but is still weighing her options. Her original timetable for running was 2008.
''I would want to serve in a way that I could be the most effective for the people of Pensacola,'' Ritchie said. ''I'm thinking about it.''
Here's the lowdown on Ritchie:
Dee Dee Ritchie was born in Louisiana and lived in many places, as her family was military and then IBM. Her family is 5th generation Floridian and originally homesteaded south Florida. IBM eventually took her parents and her four brothers and sister to Huntsville, Alabama. Earning her undergraduate degree from Auburn University and a master's degree from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, DeeDee Ritchie taught high school government, history, law and economics for 25 years.
In 1990 she was named Florida Teacher of the Year, and in 1998 was inducted into the Florida Educators Hall of Fame. Dee Dee was elected to the Florida House of Representatives where she served from 1998-2000. She is the mother of two children -- Jenny (23) and Beau (20). Dee Dee is very active in the community. In addition to serving as President of the Gulf Coast Economics Club, she is a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution, The Arts Council, and is a founding director of the Pensacola Bay International Film and Television Festival.
(photo from FilmNorthFlorida.com)
As for her running as a Republican, there's this:
All the speakers were great. Dee Dee Ritchie was a wonderful emcee. She is still basking in the national victories of the Dems.
I found Ritchie's business email on the Internet (like it says above, she's a commercial real estate broker): dritchie@naihalford.com
What I'm thinking is what would happen if she came to work on Tuesday and found her inbox filled with emails. And what if they all said "Run, Dee Dee, Run!" in the subject line. Wouldn't that be cool?
If that doesn't encourage her to run, I don't know what will. Unless of course every one pledged to donate some money too. But we can always get into that later, when she makes her decision. If you want, you can provide a link to this diary, so she knows where it all came from. We need to make sure politicians everywhere know we exist and we care about what they do.
To understand the political situation in the Florida legislature let me quote from this St. Petersburg Times article that came out after the November elections:
But most intriguing is what happened in the Florida House. Democrats lost control of the chamber a decade ago and have been losing seats ever since. But on Tuesday they gained seven seats, ousting two Republican incumbents and winning five open seats — including two in Pinellas.
[snip]
With a little luck and a little more money, Florida Democrats could have boosted their gain to 10 House seats. They won more than 49 percent of the vote in districts along the North Suncoast, Palm Beach County and Sarasota County.
[snip]
All of this has to be kept in perspective. Republicans still control the Governor’s Mansion and two of three Cabinet seats. They kept their 26-14 margin in the Senate, and they still control the state House by 78-42. But now Republicans in the House don’t have enough votes to waive the rules and do whatever they want without consulting Democrats . . . (emphasis added)
That's right. The tide's been turned. Now we're going to start the push back. And it can begin right here in District 3 if the Democrats can put up a candidate who can WIN. Dee Dee's that candidate. She's smart, she's strong, she's sassy. She can do it!
As you can see from the graphic, District 3 is in the panhandle, an area written off by most Democrats. Holly Benson beat her last opponent 62% to 38%. She would have been term-limited in 2008, but her appointment has speeded up the opportunity.
Focusing on this race is what the 50 state strategy is all about on a local basis! Let's show Dee Dee what the netroots is made of! RUN, DEE DEE, RUN!