Randy Wilkinson, a Lakeland resident, filed on March 9 to run for Florida Senate District 22, joining a race in which Rep. Colleen Burton, R-Lakeland, is also running.
District 22, now represented by Sen. Kelli Stargel, R-Lakeland, includes most of northern Polk County and a section of southern Lake County. Stargel is prohibited by term limits from running again.
Another Republican, Bienvenido Valentin of Kissimmee, filed to run last year. No Democrat has yet entered the race.
Wilkinson served on the Polk County School Board from 1994 to 1998. He was then elected to the Polk County Commission, serving from 1998 to 2010.
Wilkinson said he is running as a Christian conservative
“I’m running because of my dire concern, disgust, even anger about the creeping, corrupting corporatocracy/corporatism of our Legislature, largely through contributions and PACs,” Wilkinson said in a written statement. “This corporatocracy is hamstringing and hog-tying legislators and having hideous effects on our children, the conservation and preservation of our beautiful state, of our colleges and universities, of our constitutional values, and of the nature of compassion itself, especially in these troubled and needful times.”
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