Senate President-designate Don Gaetz anticipated time with the gavel may be in question after a leadership coup staged by Senate Rules Chairman John Thrasher, a veteran lawmaker who also served as head of the state GOP, failed yesterday.

Gaetz said he played a “very, very limited” role in the still-unraveling presidency power play in which Thrasher, R-St. Augustine, tried to strip Senate Majority Leader Andy Gardiner of his expected ascendency to the throne in two years. Thrasher was joined in his effort by Sen. Joe Negron, R-Stuart, who is angling to take over in 2016.

Gaetz told reporters this evening that who will follow in Senate President Mike Haridopolos’ footsteps will be determined after the November elections. Eleven senators – including eight Republicans – are leaving the chamber this year because of term limits.

“I’ve been designated as the next Senate president. Depending on the results of the 2012 election, the Republicans may or may not control the Senate. At that time, the Senate as a whole will elect its next president. I will be a candidate,” Gaetz, R-Niceville, said. It’s virtually impossible that Republicans won’t control the chamber with their 28-12 lead majority, but the outcome of the elections could very well impact his future.

Sen. Jack Latvala, R-Clearwater, is challenging Gardiner, R-Orlando, for the 2015-2016 presidency. Latvala supporters joined with Gardiner backers yesterday to prevent Thrasher, a veteran lawmaker, from replacing Gardiner in that battle.

The machinations turned sour for many in the GOP caucus, especially on the heels of intense pressure from Haridopolos and his lieutenants who failed to contain a GOP uprising against a prison privatization bill.

“Members on both sides rose up in support of Andy because of outrage over how this was handled,” Sen. Nancy Detert, R-Venice, said, without adding who she’s supporting.

Many in the fractured GOP caucus hope the drama will be resolved before the session ends in two weeks. But the Senate palace intrigue will likely play out for some time with shrewd tacticians Thrasher and Latvala pulling strings.

And the disarray could bring Democrats into play. A bipartisan coalition of conservative Democrats and Republicans joined forces in 1986 to unseat Sen. Ken Jenne, a liberal Hollywood Democrat who was replaced by more conservative Democrat Jon Vogt of Cocoa Beach.

Florida’s leading Republican Senate rivals invoked Hollywood bad boy Charlie Sheen and Florida GOP pariah Charlie Crist while trading character attacks this afternoon in an increasingly nasty primary race.

Former appointed Sen. George LeMieux called U.S. Rep. Connie Mack, R-Cape Coral, “the Charlie Sheen of Florida politics,” citing decades-old bar brawls and more recent divorce and financial woes to say Mack “lacks the character and temperament to serve as a United States Senator.”

Mack’s campaign fired back quickly, with campaign manager Jeff Cohen calling LeMieux “the liberal (or is it amoral?) political operative who created Charlie Crist.” LeMieux was Crist’s chief of staff and campaign “maestro” and was appointed by Crist in 2009 to serve the last 16 months of a Senate vacancy. Crist, who fell from favor with Republicans and bolted the party for an independent Senate bid in 2010, is mentioned 11 times in the Mack campaign’s statement.

LeMieux was commenting on recent Miami Herald reporting on Mack’s history, including a 1992 barrroom beatdown at the hands of former baseball star Ron Gant and a loan from his father (former Sen. Connie Mack) to help pay his 2004 taxes.

The Mack campaign responded that LeMieux’s criticisms are only helping Democratic incumbent Sen. Bill Nelson and are evidence that LeMieux is “not suitable, eligible or desirable to serve in any elective office, and certainly not in the United States Senate.”

Read their dueling statements after the jump…

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Former House Speaker and powerful Senate Rules Chairman John Thrasher may have tipped his hand too soon in a bid to make history as the second lawmaker to serve as leader of both chambers.

Thrasher is embroiled in a fight with Senate Majority Leader Andy Gardiner over the 2014 Senate presidency. Gardiner had already assembled the pledges to assume the leadership role after incoming Senate President Don Gaetz. But Sen. Jack Latvala, a political mastermind who returned to the Senate last year, launched a play for the 2014 top spot.

The drama played out in the Senate Office Building late Tuesday evening. Talk around the Capitol had Gardiner handing over his presumed presidency to Thrasher, who would be followed in 2016 by Sen. Joe Negron, R-Stuart.

But a tired-looking Thrasher left the Senate Office Building around 7 p.m., and more than an hour later, Gardiner was still holed up in his office.

“I am very humbled and very happy. It’s been a real eye-opening thing for me,” Gardiner, R-Orlando, said, emerging from his office for a bathroom break. “I’m a happy warrior.”

Gardiner credited Sen. David Simmons, R-Altamonte Springs, with helping gird his support, calling Simmons “a rock star.”

Thrasher apparently was unable to convince enough of Gardiner’s pledges to switch over. But before going home, the veteran legislator – who also served as chairman of the Republican Party of Florida – did not exactly concede.

“If I got enough votes, I guess I would be” Senate president in 2014, the St. Augustine Republican said. “I don’t know. We’re going to wait and see what happens. I think it’s premature to talk about that right now.”

Negron called the “leadership discussions” normal.

“There have been discussions today as there were yesterday and will be tomorrow and next month and next year among the family caucus on how we want to proceed,” the Stuart Republican said. He said the future presidency was still up in the air. “We’re talking about that.”

And he said he’s been “quietly been gaining support” for his 2016 bid.

“We’ll have to see how the rest of it plays out,” he said.

Thrasher played down what may have been a tide-turning loss Tuesday.

“I’m taking over the last three weeks and throwing Mike Haridopolos out and then I’m taking over from Gaetz and all that,” he joked.

Former Democratic state Sen. Dave Aronberg, the only candidate to open a 2012 campaign for Palm Beach County state attorney, is urging Republican Gov. Rick Scott to appoint a “caretaker” to serve the last 9-1/2 months of incumbent Michael McAuliffe‘s term and not pick someone who will run against Aronberg for a full four-year term.

McAuliffe leaves office next month to take a private sector job. Seven people have applied to Scott for the appointment to fill the remainder of McAuliffe’s term, which ends in January. Several of the applicants have said they are only interested in the short-term appointment and not in running on the 2012 ballot.

Aronberg sent a letter to Scott today saying he won’t seek the appointment “to avoid even the appearance of using the temporary position for political purposes.”

And Aronberg doesn’t want anyone else to use the appointed position for political advantage.

“I believe that the interim State Attorney should be a caretaker, rather than someone who seeks to benefit from the temporary appointment to get elected to the position full-time in November,” Aronberg wrote.

The deadline to apply for the appointment is 5 p.m. Wednesday.

Read Aronberg’s letter after the jump…

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DEERFIELD BEACH — Democratic Broward County Commissioner Kristin Jacobs launched her congressional bid this afternoon by casting herself as a solution-oriented figure and calling primary rival Lois Frankel “divisive” and “another pay-to-play Tallahassee politician.”

Jacobs, a 14-year veteran of the Broward commission, is starting the race for Palm Beach-Broward District 22 nearly one year and $1.4 million behind Frankel, the former West Palm Beach mayor and former state House member who has garnered a slew of endorsements.

Jacobs made her announcement at a 1920 school house near a bridge that links Broward and Palm Beach counties. Jacobs, who pushed for the bridge project after Congress approved the $787 billion stimulus in 2009, said the project is emblematic of her ability to “navigate the impossible and find solutions.”

Jacobs didn’t mention Frankel by name in her remarks, but clearly referred to Frankel’s fiery reputation and 14 years of Tallahassee experience.

“They say the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. So here’s the thing, if we want the same results we’ve been getting – a more bitterly divided House where our work is not being done — then let’s send a divisive insider to Washington,” Jacobs said.

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Legislation that would have shielded lawmakers from having to testify or turn over public documents in court hearings was abruptly dropped Monday, after drawing criticism from a top senator.

The legislation (HB 7123) cleared the House Judiciary Committee last week under fire from Democrats who charged it was intended to serve as an obstacle in emerging lawsuits over redistricting.

Senate Reapportionment Chairman Don Gaetz, R-Niceville, sent a memo to fellow senators Monday saying he didn’t think the measure was necessary.  But he also indicated he was worried how the legislation might appear to a court reviewing the Legislature’s work redrawing House, Senate and congressional boundaries.

“Florida’s newly enacted congressional and legislative districts have been subjected to prolonged public scrutiny like never before,” Gaetz wrote. “They likely will be subject to more litigation than ever before…I do not want to chance even an appearance that the Legislature is not fully willing and able to explain our plans to any court of competent jurisdiction.”

Rep. Larry Metz, R-Yalaha, whose civil justice subcommittee advanced the proposal (HB 7123), said the immunity bill has nothing to do with redistricting. Instead, Metz said legal protections now granted legislators by courts on a case-by-case basis should be broadened.

He also said it was wrong that legislators could be forced to testify about their “legislative functions and duties.”

Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fort Walton Beach, went even further, saying immunity is a “defense against gamesmanship and bullying.”

Labor unions have sued legislators over new teacher standards, retirement system payroll contributions and election law changes in the past year. In an attempt to sway a judge or jury, union legal strategy could include making lawmakers testify about their “intent” in approving these laws.

In redistricting, the motives of lawmakers crafting new maps also could prove pivotal.  But Metz’ proposal would have kept lawmakers off the witness stand.

House Speaker Dean Cannon, R-Winter Park, and Rules Chairman Gary Aubuchon, R-Cape Coral, said Monday — soon after Gaetz’s memo was released — that the House was dropping the immunity proposal this year. Cannon, however, added some criticism to those who had derided the legislation.

“The hysterical reaction we’ve witnessed over the last few days  has been ill-informed and politically-motivated,” Cannon said. “Unfortunately, a debate this year on this subject will never be free of partisan rancor, blatant political opportunism, and unrestrained hypocrisy on the part of those who wish to discredit the most open and transparent redistricting process in Florida’s history.”

 

After trashing front-runner Connie Mack at a GOP women’s forum Sunday afternoon, George LeMieux emerged as the winner of the group’s straw poll in the Republican U.S. Senate primary.

LeMieux, who served for about 16 months alongside incumbent (and target) U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, is trailing Mack by 30 points in some polls.

But the GOP ladies apparently liked him enough to give him a considerable lead over retired Army Col. Mike McCalister and Mack, who came in last.

The results were interesting, FFRW VP Kim Carroll said in an e-mail, because a poll on the organization’s website prior to Sunday’s event resulted in a virtual three-way tie.

The candidates did not appear together during the two-hour forum, and were only in the same room together briefly, although the trio was scheduled to be on stage at the event’s conclusion.

Mack, who was up first, left the Hotel Duval shortly after fielding prepared questions from the women. McCalister followed, and LeMieux went last, hanging around after the meeting and working the crowd that included some of the state’s most influential Republican women, including RNC Co-Chairwoman Sharon Day. The straw poll of 117 members of the FFRW’s executive committee was held shortly after the forum.

One of the questions specific to LeMieux dealt with an explanation for his ties to former Gov. Charlie Crist, a once-loved politico now anathema to party loyalists after he jumped the GOP to run as an independent in a losing fight for the U.S. Senate against Marco Rubio.

“I’m my own man. And I proved it when I was in the US Senate,” LeMieux said. “I governed based upon my conservative values, your conservative values. A lot of us in this room supported the former governor at one time or another. And he disappointed all of us.”

LeMieux handled his response well, some of those present said.

Each of the candidates appeared separately onstage and were asked questions posed by members and selected and edited by FFRW chairwoman Cindy Graves.

Each candidate was supposed to be hit with a somewhat critical question. LeMieux was asked about his former employer Crist, McCalister was asked about whether he has exaggerated his military career and Mack was asked…nothing.

The Congressman was supposed to be questioned about criticism that he does not spend enough time in his Ft. Myers-area district but instead divides his time between Washington and California, where his wife and fellow congressional colleague U.S. Rep. Mary Bono Mack resides.

“Whoever was given the question to ask didn’t ask it,” Graves said.

The Florida Democratic Party filed its legal brief Friday with the state Supreme Court, opposing House and Senate redistricting maps drawn by the Republican-led Legislature.

More briefs are expected to roll in from the Legislature, Attorney General Pam Bondi, and the League of Women Voters and other voter rights’ groups by today’s deadline. Justices have set Feb. 29 for arguments in the case.

Democrats in their 58-page filing argued that justices should be able to toss the maps out fairly easily.

“The Legislature cannot credibly contest that the Senate and House Plans were drawn with the intent and result of favoring the Republican Party,” they wrote. “Incontrovertible statistics demonstrate a significant partisan imbalance in both plans that simply cannot be justified on the basis of voter registration or election data, racial fairness, or any other legitimate rationale.”

With no comment or fanfare, Gov. Rick Scott signed into law Thursday congressional boundaries approved last week by lawmakers — likely triggering another lawsuit by Democratic-allied organizations.

The Florida Democratic Party has already sued over the congressional plan. But the League of Women Voters, La Raza and Common Cause of Florida said last week they also planned to challenge the congressional map as designed to help ruling Republicans maintain their majority.

The proposal creates 27 congressional districts — up from the current 25 seats, because of population gains revealed in the 2010 Census.

Redrawn House and Senate maps, which also sustain Republican dominance in a majority of seats, are to be reviewed by the Florida Supreme Court.  Justices are scheduled to hear arguments Feb. 29 on the legality of the maps. Legal briefs are to be filed tomorrow by competing sides in the case.

 The emerging legal fight could prove lengthy. Candidate qualifying for state and federal offices is slated for June 4-8, but it’s possible boundaries may not be settled by then.

Republican Senate-turned-congressional hopeful Adam Hasner has landed the endorsement of former Gov. Jeb Bush.

The Bush endorsement could come in handy if Broward County Commissioner Chip LaMarca or some other Republican gets a notion to challenge Hasner in the primary.

Hasner, the Boca Raton resident who was state House majority leader before he was term-limited in 2010, is running in Palm Beach-Broward congressional District 22. The seat is now held by U.S. Rep. Allen West, R-Plantation, who bolted to new District 18 when District 22 was redrawn with a Democratic tilt. West is also backing Hasner.

Says Bush in a statement released by Hasner’s campaign: “I am proud to endorse my friend Adam Hasner for the U.S. House of Representatives in District 22. Adam has a passion for reform and for common-sense conservative solutions, and he will take that passion to a Washington that is certainly in need of both.

“The challenges America faces grow each and every day, and we need representatives that share Adam’s commitment to principle, his dedication to government accountability and his proven record in working for his community.

“Adam served Palm Beach and Broward counties with distinction in the state legislature, and I know he will continue to do so in the U.S. House.”

South Florida Tea Party Chairman Everett Wilkinson says he’s pondering a run for Congress against a national tea party favorite — U.S. Rep. Allen West, R-Plantation.

Wilkinson, a former Republican who’s now registered with no party affiliation, says he agrees with West on most issues but thinks the newly drawn Palm Beach-Treasure Coast congressional District 18 should have a local candidate. West lives in Broward County, but announced Jan. 31 that he’ll leave his Palm Beach-Broward district to run in District 18.

“Congressman West doesn’t live in this district. I’ve lived in this district four years,” said Wilkinson, whose group has had West as a speaker at some of its major rallies. “There’s local people in politics that may have considered running in that district who live there. Why shouldn’t they?”

Martin County Sheriff Robert Crowder also cited concerns about West’s Broward County residency when he announced Tuesday that he plans to run against West in a GOP primary for the District 18 seat.

Wilkinson says he’ll make a decision about running in the next few weeks.

The likely Democratic candidate for District 18, Patrick Murphy, lives in Fort Lauderdale.

Longtime Martin County Sheriff Robert Crowder says he has decided to challenge U.S. Rep. Allen West, R-Plantation, in a Republican primary for a new Palm Beach County-Treasure Coast congressional seat.

Crowder said voters in the new District 18, which includes all of Martin and St. Lucie Counties and a chunk of northern Palm Beach County, should have the option of choosing a homegrown candidate rather than one from Broward County. West announced Jan. 31 that he would leave his Palm Beach-Broward seat to run in the new district, which has been approved by the Florida legislature but is still subject to legal challenge.

Crowder said he’s running “to provide some local representation for a new district — rather than having someone who’s not really familiar with the district coming in and purporting to represent the people here. I just think the people need to have that option. If they choose to elect an outsider, that’s their choice.”

Crowder, 66, is completing his fifth term as sheriff and had already announced he wouldn’t seek reelection. He began entertaining thoughts of running for Congress after redistricting led U.S. Rep. Tom Rooney, R-Tequesta, who lives in District 18, to announce he was running in a new district to the west. Less than an hour after Rooney’s announcement, West announced plans to run in District 18 rather than his own district, which has been redrawn with a pronounced Democratic tilt.

West is a national tea party celebrity who has raised more than $5.9 million and began 2012 with more than $2.7 million in his campaign account. Crowder said he’s never raised more than $100,000 for any of his campaigns.

Crowder wouldn’t estimate how much it might cost to challenge West, but said he’ll have other advantages after living in the area more than 50 years.

“I think because of my history here there’s a lot of grass-roots things I can do that might not work for an outsider,” Crowder said.

In Republican primaries, Valentine’s Day means candidates take a break from proclaiming their love for Ronald Reagan to proclaim their rivals’ love for liberalism and big government.

GOP Senate hopeful George LeMieux‘s campaign weighs in this morning by accusing rival Connie Mack of having a crush on earmarks. And Newt Gingrich offers a mash note from the left to Mitt Romney.

Attorney General Pam Bondi sent the Legislature’s redistricting plans to the Florida Supreme Court on Friday — a move that will start justices’ review of the maps.

Under state law, Bondi had 15 days to act. But she sent the proposals to the court about 24 hours after they earned final approval from the state Senate.

Justices will have 30 days to examine the plans.  The court is asked to determine if the plans for redrawing the state’s 40 Senate districts and 120 House seats complies with state law, including new constitutional standards requiring that boundaries be drawn without concern for incumbents or either political party.

The Florida Democratic Party has already filed suit in Leon County Circuit Court against the congressional map, also approved Thursday.

Gov. Rick Scott is expected to sign the plan into law next week. Scott’s action is expected to bring another lawsuit by the League of Women Voters, La Raza and Common Cause of Florida, which contend the Legislature’s ruling Republicans designed the plan to help the party maintain its majority in the congressional delegation.

 

 

 

Republican Broward County Commissioner Chip LaMarca, a former chairman of the Broward County GOP, is considering running for the Palm Beach-Broward District 22 congressional seat despite heavy Republican establishment backing for former state House Majority Leader Adam Hasner of Boca Raton.

“I clearly want to look at it and see what the feel of the voters is,” LaMarca said this morning. “I count Adam as a friend, but I need to look at this.”

U.S. Rep. Allen West, R-Plantation, holds the seat now. But with the legislature redrawing District 22 with a Democratic tilt, West announced he’ll run instead in more balanced Palm Beach-Treasure Coast District 18. After West’s announcement, Hasner dropped his Republican U.S. Senate bid to run in District 22, bringing nearly $700,000 in campaign cash and endorsements from West and House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va. Hasner has also been designated an “on the radar” candidate by the National Republican Congressional Committee.

LaMarca says he’ll probably decide within a week whether to pursue the congressional bid.

Democrats Lois Frankel and Kristin Jacobs are also running in District 22.

Palm Beach County Circuit Judge Krista Marx told PostOnPolitics this afternoon that she will not run for state attorney or seek the interim appointment to replace incumbent Michael McAuliffe.

Marx, a former assistant state attorney, was entertaining the idea after McAuliffe announced last month that he would not seek reelection this year. McAuliffe later announced he’s leaving office in March to take a job with West Palm Beach-based Oxbow Carbon, which means Gov. Rick Scott will appoint a replacement to serve the last nine months of McAuliffe’s term.

Former Democratic state Sen. Dave Aronberg is the only candidate to open a 2012 campaign for McAuliffe’s job.

Scott’s office says it has received one application for the state attorney appointment, from Wesley Forrest White, an assistant state attorney in Nassau County near Jacksonville. White said he would move to Palm Beach County if he got the appointment. He said he is not interested in running for a four-year term.

It’ll be more of a candidate forum than a back-and-forth debate this month when the Florida Federation of Republican Women hosts the first meeting of Republican U.S. Senate candidates since Rep. Connie Mack, R-Cape Coral, got into the race.

Mack, former appointed Sen. George LeMieux and businessman Mike McCalister are scheduled to participate in the Feb. 19 event in Tallahassee. The three are vying to run against Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson in November.

Candidates will appear together and make brief opening statements, then appear individually for 15 to 20 minutes apiece to answer questions from the audience and a moderator, said Federation 3rd VP Kim Carroll. While one candidate is answering questions, the others will be offstage and won’t hear the exchange with the audience, Caroll said. The candidates will then appear together at the end for a brief wrap-up.

“We don’t want to set it up so it’s a bash-my-fellow-candidate debate,” said Carroll, who said debates with all the candidates on stage together tend to devolve into “name-calling sessions” that distract from the issues.

Veteran Tallahassee legislator Al Lawson, a Democrat, intends to run for Congress again, this time with the help of the GOP.

“Big Al” said he is going to make another stab at the Congressional seat now held by U.S. Rep. Steve Southerland, a tea party Republican who ousted long-time Democratic Congressman Allen Boyd in 2010.

After being termed out of the Senate in 2010, Lawson lost in a brutal primary by about 2,000 votes to Boyd, who held the seat for 16 years before losing to Southerland.

But the maps drawn by the Republican-dominated legislature, slated to be voted out of the Senate this week and sent on their way to Attorney General Pam Bondi and ultimately the courts for review, may give Lawson (and other Democrats) a leg up against the incumbent from Panama City.

Five GOP-leaning counties that helped Southerland get to Washington – Okaloosa, Walton, Dixie, Lafayette and Suwannee – will no longer be in the District 2 North Florida seat if the maps withstand Department of Justice scrutiny and expected legal challenges.

Lawson said one of the reasons he’s running again is because he didn’t like what Southerland said after Arizona Rep. Gabrielle Giffords was shot last summer. Southerland suggested his $174,000-a-year Congressional salary wasn’t worth the safety risks and the time away from his family and funeral home business.

“Throughout my political career, I’ve always fought hard for workers, for economic development and jobs for this district. And this Southerland complained about his $174,000 salary that was taking away from his business,” Lawson, who served in the Florida House and Senate for nearly three decades, said in a telephone interview. Lawson said he intends to formally file to run for the seat next week.

“He seems to be more concerned about the tea party than concerned about his distict where you have high unemployment, and people need somebody to fight for them in Congress. I have a 28-year history of doing that and it’s something the people need,” Lawson said. “I just need to retire him. And let him go back to the funeral home business.”

Lawson could face another veteran state lawmaker in what may be a crowded primary. Nancy Argenziano, a former Republican who switched to become an independent, wants to run as a Democrat for the seat. But she can’t because of a provision included in an election law (controversial for other reasons) approved by lawmakers last year and signed into law by Gov. Rick Scott in June. That provision bars candidates from switching parties one year before the qualifying period for the general election begins, meaning the candidate must be registered in the party for nearly 18 months before the 2012 November election. Argenziano, who served in both the state House and Senate and also as the chairwoman of the Florida Public Service Commission, is challenging that part of the election law in court.

State Rep. Leonard Bembry, a Greenville Democrat and Boyd look-alike, also intends to run for the seat.

Palm Beach County Republican Chairman Sid Dinerstein said he’s not endorsing GOP presidential frontrunner Mitt Romney, but “if I were king, I’d ask all the others to drop out…There’s just no path for anyone else.”

Dinerstein was asked about Rick Santorum‘s victories Tuesday in nonbinding contests in Minnesota, Missouri and Colorado and whether they indicate that Romney has a problem with the party’s conservative base.

“There’s less there than meets the eye. As long as there are primaries, there will be conservatives who will vote for some conservative who isn’t Mitt Romney. When the primaries end or when everyone gives up, the conservatives will support Mitt Romney,” Dinerstein said.

“At the end of the day, you can’t catch Mitt…This was decided with the Florida primary,” Dinerstein said.

Former Democratic state Rep. Kevin Rader today announced he’s challenging state Sen. Maria Sachs, D-Boca Raton, in a Democratic primary.

“I am running because I believe we need an unwavering Democrat in the state Senate and, simply put, Maria Sachs is not a real Democrat,” a Rader press release says. He notes that Sachs contributed to George W. Bush (she made $500 contributions in 1999 and 2000) and says Sachs “steadfastly praised Governor Jeb Bush.” Rader also notes that Sachs voted in December for a Republican redistricting plan. Sachs said that was a “procedural vote” to move the process along; her explanation was accepted by Palm Beach County Democratic Chairman Mark Alan Siegel.

Sachs wasn’t immediately reachable for comment this afternoon.

Rader served in the state House for one term, leaving in 2010 to make an unsuccessful state Senate bid against Republican Lizbeth Benacquisto.