Mark Sharpe will not run for Congress, after all. For now, anyway.
Speaking on Tampa radio station 1470 AM-WMGG with Republican political consultant and blogger Chris Ingram, Sharpe said he would not end his campaign to run for the District 11 seat currently held by Democrat Kathy Castor, but instead suspend it. He said he might re-enter the race after the courts decide on the newly drawn legislative and congressional districts voted on yesterday by the Florida Senate (the Democrats have already filed suit, and a number of other groups say they will file litigation when and if Governor Rick Scott signs the legislation).
"My hope was that the redistricting effort would create a competitive map where I could run a race that would be worthy of the district..where I could raise money and spend it wisely, and a race where we would have a chance of winning," he told Ingram.
"The way the map has been gerrymandered, it still makes it nearly impossible to have a good competitive race."
The Hillsborough County Commissioner announced last August in a much covered press conference at Tampa's Buddy Brew coffee shop that in fact he would enter the race for the Republican race for Congress in District 11, where he hoped to take on Castor this fall.
This article appears in Feb 9-15, 2012.