Taking a prize for one of the nastier races in Tampa Bay area politics this fall had to be the House District 68 race in St. Petersburg between Democratic incumbent Dwight Dudley and his GOP rival, Bill Young, son of the legendary Congressman of the same name who passed away almost exactly a year ago.Dudley beat Young tonight, 53-47 percent, and will continue to pushback hard against Duke Energy, the Public Service Commission, and the Republicans who enable them.
"We knew it would be an uphill battle to take on an incumbent n a battleground seat like this, and I couldn’t be prouder of the hard work we put in, " Young said in a statement.
Although Young was well financed in going after the combative Dudley, the district's demographics worked against him. And it became apparent in the last week of the campaign that Young knew he was in trouble, airing a television ad where he accused Dudley of supporting Duke Energy,
"What I’ve noticed is this great enthusiasm has started to occur about ten minutes before Election Day," Dudley said recently about Republicans like Young coming out and criticizing Duke. "I've been working on this for more than two and a half years and had zero help until now."
Dudley says he hopes Republicans in the Legislature like Jack Latvala, Kathleen Peters, and if they're elected, Chris Sprowls and Chris Latvala, join him in pushing for more solar energy and other energy alternatives for the Sunshine State.
