Seminole is a city in Pinellas County, Florida, United States. It is part of the Tampa Bay area. The population was 19,364 at the 2020 census.
The Seminole are a Native American people who developed in Florida in the 18th century. Today, they live in Oklahoma and Florida, and comprise three federally recognized tribes: the Seminole Nation of Oklahoma, the Seminole Tribe of Florida, and the Miccosukee Tribe of Indians of Florida, as well as independent groups. The Seminole people emerged in a process of ethnogenesis from various Native American groups who settled in Spanish Florida beginning in the early 1700s, most significantly northern Muscogee Creeks from what are now Georgia and Alabama.
Osceola and Renegade are the official symbols of the Florida State University Seminoles. Osceola, representing the historical Seminole leader Osceola, and his Appaloosa horse Renegade introduce home football games by riding to midfield with a burning spear and planting it in the turf.
The State of Muskogee was a proclaimed sovereign nation located in Florida, founded in 1799 and led by William Augustus Bowles, a Loyalist veteran of the American Revolutionary War who lived among the Muscogee, and envisioned uniting the Native Americans of the Southeast into a single nation that could resist the expansion of the United States. Bowles enjoyed the support of the Miccosukee (Seminole) and several bands of Muscogee. He envisioned his state as eventually growing to encompass the Cherokee, Upper and Lower Creeks, Choctaw, and Chickasaw, in parts of present-day Georgia and Alabama.
Lee Constantine is an American politician and real estate broker. He served as a Republican member of the Florida Senate from 2000 to 2010, and of the Florida House of Representatives from 1992 through 2000, representing Orange and Seminole counties.
Betty Mae Tiger Jumper, also known as Potackee (Seminole), was the first and so far the only female chairperson of the Seminole Tribe of Florida. A nurse, she co-founded the tribe's first newspaper in 1956, the Seminole News, later replaced by The Seminole Tribune, for which she served as editor, winning a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Native American Journalists Association. In 2001 she published her memoir, entitled A Seminole Legend.
The Seminole Tribe of Florida is a federally recognized Seminole tribe based in the U.S. state of Florida. Together with the Seminole Nation of Oklahoma and the Miccosukee Tribe of Indians of Florida, it is one of three federally recognized Seminole entities. It received that status in 1957. Today, it has six Indian reservations in Florida.
Janet C. Long is a Democratic politician and educator who serves as a member of the Pinellas County Commission for the at-large District 1. Previously, she represented District 51 in the Florida House of Representatives from 2007 to 2011, and was a member of the Seminole, Florida City Council from 2002 to 2006.
Michelle Rehwinkel Vasilinda is an American politician and lawyer from Florida. She is a former member of the Florida House of Representatives, in which she represented the 9th District, which includes most of Leon County, from 2008 to 2016. In addition to her legislative career, Rehwinkel Vasilinda is an attorney and has been a professor of Legal Studies and Applied Ethics at Tallahassee Community College since 1989.
The government of Jacksonville is organized under the city charter and provides for a "strong" mayor–council system. The most notable feature of the government in Jacksonville, Florida, is that it is consolidated with Duval County, which the jurisdictions agreed to in the 1968 Jacksonville Consolidation.
The Seminole Nation of Oklahoma is a federally recognized Native American tribe based in the U.S. state of Oklahoma. It is the largest of the three federally recognized Seminole governments, which include the Seminole Tribe of Florida and the Miccosukee Tribe of Indians of Florida. Its citizens are descendants of the approximately 3,000 Seminoles who were forcibly removed from Florida to Indian Territory, along with 800 Black Seminoles, after the Second Seminole War. The Seminole Nation of Oklahoma is headquartered in Wewoka within Seminole County, Oklahoma. Of 18,800 enrolled tribal citizens, 13,533 live in Oklahoma. The tribe began to revive its government in 1936 under the Indian Reorganization Act. While its reservation was originally larger, today the tribal reservation and jurisdictional area covers Seminole County, Oklahoma, within which it has a variety of properties.
Sandra Adams is an American politician who was the U.S. representative for Florida's 24th congressional district. She is a member of the Republican Party. She is a former law enforcement professional who represented District 33 in the Florida House of Representatives. On August 14, 2012, she was defeated in her bid for a second term in the Republican primary election by fellow Congressman John Mica after being redistricted to the 7th district.
The 2010 Florida Attorney General election took place on November 2, 2010, to elect the Attorney General of Florida. Incumbent Attorney General Bill McCollum opted to run for run for Governor rather than seek reelection. The election was won by Republican Pam Bondi, a former assistant state attorney for Hillsborough County, who defeated Democrat Dan Gelber by a 54.8% to 41.1% margin. Bondi took office in January 2011.
Jason T. Brodeur is a Florida State Senator representing the 10th district, which consists of Seminole and a small part of Orange County. Before the redistricting that took effect with the 2022 election, he represented the old 9th district. A Republican, Brodeur also serves as the president and CEO of the Seminole County Chamber, which advocates for pro-business practices in Seminole County and across the state of Florida. He previously served as a member of the Florida House of Representatives from 2010 to 2018. From 2010-2012, he represented the 33rd District. During his final six years in the Florida House, Brodeur represented the 28th District, which consists of eastern Seminole County.
Forrest Lake was a prominent politician, banker, real estate investor, a mayor of Sanford, Florida and a member of the Florida House of Representatives. Lake had an instrumental role in the formation of Seminole County. In 1928, Lake was convicted of embezzlement and served 3 years of a 14-year sentence.
A special election for Florida's 13th congressional district was held March 11, 2014, to elect a member of the United States House of Representatives, following the death of incumbent Republican Congressman Bill Young on October 18, 2013. Primary elections were held on January 14, 2014. Young, who had already announced that he would not be running for re-election in 2014, was re-elected in 2012 with 57 percent of the vote. With 100% of the precincts reporting, David Jolly was declared the winner.
Melony Mincey Bell is an American politician who is currently a member of the Florida House of Representatives, representing the 56th District which covers the entirety of DeSoto and Hardee Counties, as well as part of Polk County. Bell has served as commissioner for the Polk County Board of County Commissioners, as the mayor of Fort Meade, Florida and as a Fort Meade city commissioner.
Ivy Julia Cromartie Stranahan (1881–1971) was an American philanthropist heavily involved with the Seminoles of Southern Florida. She trained as a teacher initially, but after marrying Frank Stranahan, she settled permanently in Fort Lauderdale. While there, she began supporting the rights of the Seminoles and aiding them in moving to an Indian reservation. She is closely associated with the Friends of the Florida Seminoles, an organisation through which she sought to support the education of Seminole children, build homes and eventually to support themselves fully.
The 2023 Jacksonville mayoral election was held on March 21, 2023, with a runoff held on May 16. Incumbent Republican mayor Lenny Curry was term-limited and could not seek a third term in office. Seven candidates filed to run, including four Republicans, two Democrats, and an independent. Jacksonville mayoral elections use a blanket primary system where all candidates, regardless of party affiliation, appear on the same ballot.
Edna Branch Jackson is an American politician from Georgia. Jackson is a Democratic member of the Georgia House of Representatives for District 165. She was previously the Mayor of Savannah from 2012 to 2015, the first female African-American to hold the office.
