Ana Cruz | |
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Citizenship | American |
Occupation | Lobbyist |
Ana Cruz is an American lobbyist at Ballard Partners in Tampa, Florida. [1] She was the first Hispanic executive director of the Florida Democratic Party and was a spokesperson for Hillary Clinton’s presidential pampaigns in 2008 and 2016. [2] Cruz is known as “Tampa’s First Lady”, partner of Tampa Mayor, Jane Castor. [3]
Cruz is a managing partner at Ballard Partners, Florida's largest lobbying firm. [4] As a lobbyist, she has sought to build coalitions between government and businesses, professional sports teams, hospitals and technology companies. [5] Cruz worked to attract technology startups to Tampa. [6] She lobbied for Verizon’s integration of their FTTP technology in Tampa and Hillsborough County in 2006 [7] and for Uber ride-sharing to be permitted in the Tampa area and securing federal funding for 'Connected Vehicles' in Tampa. [8] Cruz is assigned by her firm to direct government affairs in Washington D.C. where she worked with the Biden administration on implementing progressive policies. [9]
Cruz managed her first campaign and worked various staff positions for Bill Clinton, Al Gore and Senator Bill Nelson. [10] Cruz was the executive director of the Florida Democratic Party for two years, the youngest person and first Hispanic person in the role. Cruz was a Hillary Clinton campaign spokesperson in 2008 and 2016, and a Joe Biden campaign advisor in 2020, on the DNC’s convention platform committee as a representative for Joe Biden. [11]
Cruz is on the board of the Greater Tampa Bay Chamber of Commerce, the Athena Society, the 51st Super Bowl committee. Cruz was included in "Florida's Top 100 Most Influential" by Florida Politics Magazine in 2020 and 2021. [12]
Elizabeth Castor is an American educator and former politician. Castor was elected to the Florida Senate and as Florida Education Commissioner, and she subsequently served as the President of the University of South Florida, and President of the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards.
James Oscar Davis III is an American politician from the U.S. state of Florida. He is a Democrat and served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1997 to 2007, representing Florida's 11th congressional district. He was the Democratic nominee for governor of Florida in the 2006 election, but was defeated by Republican Charlie Crist.
Raymond James Stadium is a multi-purpose stadium in Tampa, Florida, United States. It opened in 1998 and is home to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers of the National Football League (NFL) and the University of South Florida (USF) Bulls college football program. The seating capacity for most sporting events is 69,218, though it can be expanded to about 75,000 for special events with the addition of temporary seating. Raymond James Stadium was built at public expense as a replacement for Tampa Stadium and is known for the replica pirate ship located behind the seating area in the north end zone. Raymond James Financial, a financial service firm headquartered in the Tampa Bay area, has held the naming rights for the stadium for the stadium's entire existence.
The Tampa Bay Times, called the St. Petersburg Times until 2011, is an American newspaper published in St. Petersburg, Florida, United States. It is published by the Times Publishing Company, which is owned by The Poynter Institute for Media Studies, a nonprofit journalism school directly adjacent to the University of South Florida St. Petersburg campus.
George D. Chamberlain High School is a public high school in Tampa, Florida, United States. It was opened in 1956 on North Boulevard. The school is named in honor of George D. Chamberlain, who served for several years as a trustee for the Hillsborough County School System.
Pamela Jo Bondi is an American attorney, lobbyist, and politician. A member of the Republican Party, she served as Florida attorney general from 2011 to 2019, the first woman elected to the office.
Katherine Anne Castor is an American politician and lawyer currently representing Florida's 14th congressional district in the United States House of Representatives, serving since 2007. The district, numbered as the 11th district from 2007 to 2013, is based in Tampa. A Democrat, Castor was a member of the Hillsborough County Commission.
The 2008 Florida Democratic presidential primary took place on January 29, 2008. Originally, the state had 185 delegates up for grabs that were to be awarded in the following way: 121 delegates were to be awarded based on the winner in each of Florida's 25 congressional districts while an additional 64 delegates were to be awarded to the statewide winner. Twenty-five unpledged delegates, known as superdelegates, were initially able to cast their votes at the Democratic National Convention.
John Bryan Morgan is an American attorney. He is best known as Founder of personal injury law firm Morgan & Morgan. Politico described Morgan as "the godfather of Florida's medical marijuana amendment and a Democratic fundraiser."
Ana Violeta Navarro-Cárdenas is a Nicaraguan-American political strategist and commentator. She appears on various television programs and news outlets, including CNN, CNN en Español, ABC News, and Telemundo. She is also a co-host of the daytime talk show The View, garnering Daytime Emmy Award nominations for her work.
An election for Mayor of Tampa was held on March 5, 2019. The election is officially nonpartisan, and the winner is elected to a four-year term.
The 2022 United States Senate election in Florida was held on November 8, 2022, to elect a member of the United States Senate to represent the state of Florida. Incumbent Republican Senator Marco Rubio won re-election to a third term, defeating Democratic nominee Val Demings in a landslide victory. Rubio was first elected in 2010, filling the seat of appointed Senator George LeMieux. Rubio won re-election to a third term, becoming the first Republican to do so in Florida history. Rubio was sworn in for what would be his last term in the senate serving from January 3, 2023, to January 21, 2025, when he assumed the office of United States Secretary of State in the second Trump administration.
Jane Castor is an American politician and former police officer serving as the 59th mayor of Tampa, Florida.
The 2022 Florida gubernatorial election was held on November 8, 2022, to elect the governor of Florida, alongside other state and local elections. Incumbent Republican governor Ron DeSantis won re-election in a landslide, and defeated the Democratic Party nominee, Charlie Crist, who served as governor of Florida from 2007 to 2011 as a Republican and later as an independent. No Democrat has been elected governor of Florida since 1994.
The 2022 United States House of Representatives elections in Florida were held on November 8, 2022, to elect the 28 U.S. representatives from Florida, one from each of the state's 28 congressional districts. The primary was held on August 23, 2022. The elections coincided with the 2022 United States Senate election in Florida, other elections to the House of Representatives, other elections to the United States Senate, and various state and local elections.
The 2022 Florida attorney general election took place on November 8, 2022, to elect the Florida attorney general. Incumbent Republican attorney general Ashley Moody was reelected for a second term, defeating Democratic challenger Aramis Ayala by a 21-point margin in a landslide victory. Moody received the most raw votes and the highest percentage of the vote of any state-wide candidate in the 2022 Florida elections.
The 2021 St. Petersburg, Florida, mayoral election was held on August 24, 2021, with a runoff on November 2 because no candidate received more than 50% of the vote in the first round. It elected the mayor of St. Petersburg, Florida. Incumbent Democratic mayor Rick Kriseman was term-limited and could not seek a third term in office. Municipal elections in St. Petersburg are officially nonpartisan. Former Pinellas County commissioner Ken Welch easily defeated city councilor Robert Blackmon in the runoff. Candidates eliminated in the first round included city councilor Darden Rice, former state representative Wengay Newton, and restaurateur Pete Boland. Welch took office in January 2022, becoming the first black mayor of St. Petersburg.
The 2024 United States presidential election in Florida was held on Tuesday, November 5, 2024, as part of the 2024 United States presidential election in which all 50 states plus the District of Columbia participated. Florida voters chose electors to represent them in the Electoral College via a popular vote. The state of Florida has 30 electoral votes in the Electoral College, following reapportionment due to the 2020 United States census in which the state gained a seat. This gave Florida the third-most electoral votes in the country, which marked the first time it carried more weight than New York in a presidential election.
Allison Tant is an American former lobbyist, Democratic Party of Florida chair, and politician serving as a member of the Florida House of Representatives from the 9th district. She assumed office on November 3, 2020.
Kenneth T. Welch is an American politician serving as mayor of St. Petersburg, Florida. A member of the Democratic Party, Welch served on the county commission of Pinellas County, Florida. Welch is the city's first African-American mayor.