TALLAHASSEE — As the first week of the legislative session came to a close, state Sen. Lizbeth Benacquistoshifted gears from lawmaker to candidate.
She was heading home Thursday night, using the six-hour drive from Tallahassee to Fort Myers to follow up on emails, respond to constituents and catch up on Senate-related work. Her daily calendar shows she’s scheduled to attend an awards ceremony at Fort Myers High School on Friday morning.
By Friday afternoon, she’s expected to shift into campaign mode. She is scheduled to meet Naples Daily News editorial page editor Jeff Lytle in the afternoon. There’s a congressional forum scheduled for 5 p.m. in Naples she plans to attend.
Benacquisto, R-Fort Myers, is one of four Republicans battling for the party’s nomination in the congressional District 19 special primary. The April 22 primary is just 11 days before the 2014 legislative session is scheduled to close.
“When I’m here, my focus is legislative,” she said as she walked to a committee meeting Thursday afternoon. “There’s a lot to do, because I’m a legislator and the majority leader.”
Benacquisto serves on 11 different committees. Six of those committees, including the state Senate gaming committee and the appropriations committee, met this week. She attended all of them.
A spokeswoman for Senate President Don Gaetz, R-Niceville, said Benacquisto has had no excused absences from legislative work this year.
“Anybody who has been a mother and worked out of the home and still raised two wonderful kids, as she has, knows how to juggle a lot of things at once,” Gaetz said. “I would tell you she is fulfilling her responsibilities as majority leader completely. She’s here. She’s working. She’s voting in committees. She’s helping us manage the session.”
As Senate majority leader, Benacquisto has sway over what bills hit the Senate floor and carries influence over other members.
It’s a time-intensive position, and one Sen. Garrett Richter, R-Naples, said Benacquisto remains fully engaged in.
“She continues to do a great job,” he said.
Still, the campaign goes on — even when she is in Tallahassee.
Benacquisto’s personal Twitter account now identifies her as a congressional candidate. Until Feb. 3, when she announced she was running for Congress, most of the tweets were legislative in nature — such as promoting measures she was working on or shoutouts to fellow senators on their birthday.
Nowadays, most of the tweets coming out of the account are mostly campaign related. She’s asked followers to email her suggestions for what to change in Congress and touts endorsements.
Brian Hughes, a spokesman for Benacquisto’s campaign, said her Twitter account is a personal platform and doesn’t know when Benacquisto switched her biography to show she’s a congressional candidate. It is not uncommon for a public official’s Twitter account to be handled by staff and Hughes said the campaign has the capability to send out messages from the account.
Benacquisto didn’t need to resign to run for federal office and can continue to raise money in her congressional run, despite the Legislature being in session. That’s not the case for Florida lawmakers who are seeking re-election to state legislative office.
Hughes said there have been no formal fundraising events yet in Tallahassee.
Benacquisto has made it clear her priorities in Tallahassee are legislative, he said.
“She needs to be up there,” he said. “She made a commitment to serve.”
That means during the week, the Southwest Florida campaigning is left to surrogates, such as the campaign manager and volunteers. She then hits events on the weekends or when the Legislature isn’t in session.
It’s not uncommon for Benacquisto to go home on weekends. The state Legislature is generally not in session on Fridays and Benacquisto, like many state lawmakers, usually heads back to her district for a three-day weekend.
“It’s what we do every session,” she said. “We go home to be with our families, to be immersed in the happenings of the district. So this is nothing new.”
Scripps/Tribune Capital Bureau reporter James L. Rosica contributed to this report.
Jenna Buzzaco Foerster -- Scripps-Tribune Capital Bureau
Posted March 6, 2014 at 7:04 pm
She was heading home Thursday night, using the six-hour drive from Tallahassee to Fort Myers to follow up on emails, respond to constituents and catch up on Senate-related work. Her daily calendar shows she’s scheduled to attend an awards ceremony at Fort Myers High School on Friday morning.
By Friday afternoon, she’s expected to shift into campaign mode. She is scheduled to meet Naples Daily News editorial page editor Jeff Lytle in the afternoon. There’s a congressional forum scheduled for 5 p.m. in Naples she plans to attend.
Benacquisto, R-Fort Myers, is one of four Republicans battling for the party’s nomination in the congressional District 19 special primary. The April 22 primary is just 11 days before the 2014 legislative session is scheduled to close.
“When I’m here, my focus is legislative,” she said as she walked to a committee meeting Thursday afternoon. “There’s a lot to do, because I’m a legislator and the majority leader.”
Benacquisto serves on 11 different committees. Six of those committees, including the state Senate gaming committee and the appropriations committee, met this week. She attended all of them.
A spokeswoman for Senate President Don Gaetz, R-Niceville, said Benacquisto has had no excused absences from legislative work this year.
“Anybody who has been a mother and worked out of the home and still raised two wonderful kids, as she has, knows how to juggle a lot of things at once,” Gaetz said. “I would tell you she is fulfilling her responsibilities as majority leader completely. She’s here. She’s working. She’s voting in committees. She’s helping us manage the session.”
As Senate majority leader, Benacquisto has sway over what bills hit the Senate floor and carries influence over other members.
It’s a time-intensive position, and one Sen. Garrett Richter, R-Naples, said Benacquisto remains fully engaged in.
“She continues to do a great job,” he said.
Still, the campaign goes on — even when she is in Tallahassee.
Benacquisto’s personal Twitter account now identifies her as a congressional candidate. Until Feb. 3, when she announced she was running for Congress, most of the tweets were legislative in nature — such as promoting measures she was working on or shoutouts to fellow senators on their birthday.
Nowadays, most of the tweets coming out of the account are mostly campaign related. She’s asked followers to email her suggestions for what to change in Congress and touts endorsements.
Brian Hughes, a spokesman for Benacquisto’s campaign, said her Twitter account is a personal platform and doesn’t know when Benacquisto switched her biography to show she’s a congressional candidate. It is not uncommon for a public official’s Twitter account to be handled by staff and Hughes said the campaign has the capability to send out messages from the account.
Benacquisto didn’t need to resign to run for federal office and can continue to raise money in her congressional run, despite the Legislature being in session. That’s not the case for Florida lawmakers who are seeking re-election to state legislative office.
Hughes said there have been no formal fundraising events yet in Tallahassee.
Benacquisto has made it clear her priorities in Tallahassee are legislative, he said.
“She needs to be up there,” he said. “She made a commitment to serve.”
That means during the week, the Southwest Florida campaigning is left to surrogates, such as the campaign manager and volunteers. She then hits events on the weekends or when the Legislature isn’t in session.
It’s not uncommon for Benacquisto to go home on weekends. The state Legislature is generally not in session on Fridays and Benacquisto, like many state lawmakers, usually heads back to her district for a three-day weekend.
“It’s what we do every session,” she said. “We go home to be with our families, to be immersed in the happenings of the district. So this is nothing new.”
Scripps/Tribune Capital Bureau reporter James L. Rosica contributed to this report.
Jenna Buzzaco Foerster -- Scripps-Tribune Capital Bureau
Posted March 6, 2014 at 7:04 pm