Senate District 27: classic gerrymandering

So state Rep. Kevin Rader, D-Delray Beach, is remaining in the Senate District 27 race after some aggressive flirtation last week with the Senate District 30 contest.

But will the treadwear-testing Fort Myers-to-West Palm Beach district survive the 2012 redistricting?

Read about it in this week’s Politics column. Also, catch the latest on state House musical chairs, GOP Second Amendment love and Hal Valeche’s fence-mending with the Rooney family.

In a geographically significant announcement, Fort Myers real estate appraiser Matt Caldwell, the GOP’s unsuccessful 2008 candidate for the state Senate District 27 seat, said today he will not run for the seat in 2010 when incumbent Sen. Dave Aronberg, D-Greenacres, runs for attorney general.

Caldwell also announced he’s supporting a Palm Beach County Republican — Wellington Councilwoman Lizbeth Benacquisto — in the 2010 Senate race.

District 27 runs from West Palm Beach to Fort Myers. About 54 percent of voters live in Palm Beach County and about 45 percent live in Lee County. In a Republican primary, however, Lee County is dominant, with about 60 percent of GOP voters living there.

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