Spectrum Bay News 9's Mitch Perry covered local reaction to George Floyd, COVID's affect on politics, and of course, Decision 2020. Below, he picked out the Top 10 Political stories of the year.

1-Michael Bloomberg campaigns in Tampa (January 26)

While Florida remains a crucial battleground swing state in general presidential elections, its place on the primary calendar precludes it from being very influential in presidential primaries (that’s why legislative leaders voted to move up the primaries in 2008 and 2012, though they were later sanctioned for doing so).

Michael Bloomberg entered the Democratic race for president extremely late, but for a brief, shining moment, appeared as if he could be the choice for centrist-leaning Democrats fearful of a Bernie Sanders nomination and Joe Biden’s early failure to emerge in the polls.

Bloomberg spent millions and hired a lot of folks to boost his campaign in the Sunshine State, which included a Sunday morning visit in January.  None of it took hold, though, and he ultimately dropped out of the race before Florida’s March presidential primary election.

Michael Bloomberg's short-lived presidential bid included a stop in Tampa. (Mitch Perry/Spectrum Bay News 9)

2-The first ever “Satellite” Iowa Caucuses are held around the world – including St. Petersburg (February 3)

Enmity towards the fact that Iowa, a relatively small, diversity free state has so much (disproportionate?) power in choosing our presidential nominees was already prevalent before this election cycle. That’s why the Democratic National Committee called on the Iowa Democratic Party to find a way to allow more people to participate in the process in 2020.

That led to the first-ever satellite caucuses. Though the majority remained in Iowa, cities with a significant number of registered voters living in other states around the country (and even a few globally) could petition to host a satellite, and that’s what led St. Petersburg to host one of those satellite caucuses on the first Monday in February. 

The (big) winner in the St. Pete satellite Iowa caucus was Minnesota Democrat Amy Klobuchar, who promptly dropped out of the race before the end of the month.

3-The Coronavirus gets real in America – but Florida goes on with its primary election (March 17) 

With Donald Trump running for reelection and a host of Democratic candidates dropping out of the primary race immediately after Joe Biden won the South Carolina primary, Florida’s presidential preference primary election set for March 17 wasn’t going to be very interesting.

But less than a week before the primary, the question of whether it should even be held became an issue. That’s when it was discovered that both actor Tom Hanks and an NBA player had contracted COVID-19, and that the NBA was shutting down immediately - and seemingly everything did in the following days. 

But on Friday the 13^th of March, Gov. DeSantis announced that Florida would not be shutting down for the election. 

“We’re definitely voting,” DeSantis said during a press conference held at a warehouse at the Florida Department of Health in Tallahassee. “They voted during the Civil War – we’re going to vote.”

4-The Protests and Social Unrest in the Summer (May 25)

On Memorial Day George Floyd died while in custody of the Minneapolis Police Department. The revulsion to the incident led to protests calling for police accountability and racial equality throughout the world.

Those demonstrations continued for weeks on end (in some cases, months). While the first weeks of protests in Tampa led to property destruction, overall the protests were mostly peaceful in Florida.

George Floyd's death sparked protests across the country, including in the Bay area.

In response, St. Petersburg Mayor Rick Kriseman talked about “re-imagining the police” as he and Police Chief Tony Holloway created the Community Assistance Liaison program that will have social workers and mental health professionals take over non-violent emergency calls for police officers.

In Tampa, Mayor Jane Castor and the city council approved increasing the police budget, but Castor did propose “enhancements” to the city’s Citizens Review Board (CRB) that activists have criticized since its inception in 2015 as being relatively toothless in holding rogue police officers accountable. Negotiations continue between the police union, activists and the administration on what a new CRB may look like in 2021. 

 5) Scott Franklin Stuns Ross Spano in GOP Congressional District 15 Race (August 17)

The Lakeland City Commissioner's upset over the vulnerable GOP incumbent not only dashed Spano’s dreams of remaining in Congress, but also the Democratic Party’s realistic hopes that they would be able to flip this longtime Republican stronghold blue. 

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee had targeted the seat as one that they felt they could realistically win for one major reason: the allegations that Spano had received improper campaign contributions during his 2018 run for congress. Those allegations had spurred a U.S. Justice Dept. investigation, though Spano was insistent just a week before the race that he’d be victorious. 

Whether those allegations would be enough for a Democrat to defeat him was always an open question – but that seemed to be the only question most political observers talked about going into 2020. Not being discussed was whether a Republican challenger could defeat Spano. Franklin didn’t enter the race until March and largely self-funded his primary contest.  But he won the election by 2.4 percent.

Scott Franklin's primary victory over Ross Spano was seen as one of 2020's bigget political upsets.

6) Gwen Myers defeats four other Democrats to win the Hillsborough County Commission District 3 race. (August 17)

There were five Democrats who filed to run the commission seat that had been held by Les Miller for a decade, and to go by name recognition, Gwen Myers was the least known of the five entering the race.

But the 63-year-old former county staffer received 227 more votes than former county commissioner and Tampa City Councilman Tom Scott in the August Primary. She then waltzed to an easy victory in November in the heavily Democratic-leaning district.

7) In the general election, Republicans dominate in most parts of the Tampa Bay area. (November 3)

In Polk, Pasco, Manatee, Hernando and Citrus counties, Republicans dominated local elections. 

8) Pinellas County Remains One of the Most Competitive Swing Counties in the U.S.

The county, which earned global attention going into November as one of the critical battleground counties for the presidential election, Joe Biden narrowly defeated Donald Trump, and the county continued its reputation for choosing the presidential winner (10 out of 11 elections now).

In the two hotly contested county commission races, Democratic incumbents Janet Long and Charlie Justice barely survived insurgent campaigns by Republicans Larry Ahern and Tammy Vasquez, respectively. 

Republican Linda Chaney’s defeat of Democratic incumbent Jennifer Webb in the House District 69 seat was considered the biggest upset in Bay area legislative races.

And while Charlie Crist was reelected to a third-term in Congress in his District 13 race, his margin of victory over newcomer Anna Paulina Luna was much closer than expected.

9) Democrats perform Strongly (Again) in Hillsborough County on Election Day. (November 3)

Joe Biden defeated Donald Trump by 6.8 percentage points, the same margin of victory that Hillary Clinton defeated Trump in 2016.

With the exception of sheriff, Democrats swept all of the county’s constitutional offices, and Nancy Millan and Cindy Stuart are two of the new faces (at Tax Collector and Clerk of the Courts, respectively) taking over in January. 

In the three county commission races on the ballot, Democrats swept all three, and now maintain a 5-2 edge over Republicans there.

The results, the third straight election cycle where Hillsborough Dems thrived, led by party chair Ione Townsend to decide to enter the race for Florida Democratic Party Chair at the end of the year.

Joe Biden defeated Donald Trump by 6.8 percentage points, the same margin of victory that Hillary Clinton defeated Trump in 2016, in Hillsborough County.

10) Pasco County Supervisor of Elections Brian Corley issues a statement condemning Americans who continued to say that there was blatant fraud in the presidential election (December 2)

“After delivering the most secure, transparent election in history with record turnout and during a pandemic, dedicated public servants deserve recognition, respect and thanks – not vilification,” the Republican SOE wrote in early December as a large percentage of Republicans continue to assert that Donald Trump won the election (As of this writing, Biden has collected more than 7 million more votes than Trump).