The Florida Senate conducted it's first ever drawing for districts Wednesday complete with bingo-style balls and brass cages, and 14 incumbents won the lottery to extend their terms to 10 years beyond the eight-year term limits -- if voters choose to return them to office. The other 12 senators would get the maximum of eight years as a result of the drawing.
The winners in the extended terms lottery are: Don Gaetz, Bill Montford, Charlie Dean, Steve Oelrich, Thad Altman, Alan Hays, Nancy Detert, Jim Norman, Arthenia Joyner, Andy Gardiner or David Simmons, Jeremy Ring, Gwen Margolis, and Anitere Flores. Oscar Braynon, who was elected in March 2011, is the biggest winner with the potential to serve to a total of 11 years.
The Florida Constitution requires staggered terms for the Senate's 40 members but, in a reapportionment year, every district must have an election, so half the districts get a two-year term and the other half gets four. Those who have already served six year, like Gaetz, Oelrich and Ring, expected to be termed out of office in 2014 but now get two more years. (Oelrich, however, has announced he is running for the newly drawn congressional seat in North Florida so is unlikely to take advantage of the extended time.)
The Florida Supreme Court rejected the Senate's original numbering scheme because it gave nearly every returning incumbent a four-year term, an apparent violation of the new Fair Districts amendments, which forbids lawmakers from intentionally favoring incumbents. That prompted Gaetz to order up the bingo machines and conduct a Lotto-style drawing in the committee room Wednesday.
Here are the results of the drawing:
Greg Evers, District 2
John Thrasher, District 6
Audrey Gibson, District 9
Thad Altman, District 16
Ronda Storms, District 24
Jack Latvala, District 20
Nancy Detert, District 28
Lisbeth Benacquisto, District 30
Joe Negron, District 32
Miguel Diaz de la Portilla, District 40
Oscar Braynon, District 36
Ellyn Bogdanoff or Maria Sachs, District 34
Senate incumbents that, if elected, would get four-year terms in 2012:
Don Gaetz, District 1
Bill Montford, District 3
Charlie Dean, District 5
Steve Olerich, District 7
Audrey Gibson, District 9
Andy Gardiner or David Simmons, District 13
Alan Hays, District 11
Arthenia Joyner, District 19
Chris Smith, District 31
Garrett Richter, District 23
Eleanor Sobel, District 33
Gwen Margolis, District 35
Anitere Flores, District 37
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