With Donald Trump Poised To Be The Nominee, Will Rick Baker Finally Make Up His Mind ?
For months, Rick Baker’s name has been floated as a potential Republican nominee for Florida’s 13th Congressional District. But, time and time again he has missed his own self-imposed timelines to make a decision on whether or not he will run. This isn’t the first time Baker hesitated to run in this district. He pulled the same charade during the 2013 special election, when the district was much better territory for Republicans. Baker now faces even stronger headwinds with the district being solidly Democratic and Donald Trump poised to be at the top of the ticket. Take a look at Baker’s ever-evolving timeline:
- July 2015: “While interested in possibly running for CCD 13, Rick Baker says it’s “premature” to decide before maps are redrawn. Decision = this fall.”
- July 2015: “I’ve had a lot of friends and other people call me and urge me to consider this, so I am considering it. But I think it’s very early to get into a decision-making process because we don’t even know where the lines are drawn at this point,” said former St. Petersburg Mayor Rick Baker. “I would say it would be some time before I really take a hard look at it.”
- October 2015: “The Republican, who won two mayoral terms by drawing overwhelming support from Democrats, is seriously looking at running, too. ‘I am intrigued by the idea,’ Baker said Monday evening. ‘A number of people I have great respect for have encouraged me to consider it and I will. I’ll decide by early next year.’”
- February 2016: “U.S. House Speaker Paul Ryan on Wednesday visited a St. Petersburg house, or condo tower rather, causing plenty of gawking downtown at the bevy of limousines and security provided by Florida Highway Patrol and the St. Petersburg Police Department. Top GOP fundraiser Mel Sembler and his wife Betty live in the penthouse of Ovation tower at 180 Beach Dr. NE, where the vehicles were parked […] Another diner at the restaurant saw former St. Petersburg mayor Rick Baker and U.S. Rep. David Jolly go into Ovation. […] Could it be that a purpose for the meeting was to convince Baker, who won overwhelmingly Democratic African-American votes when he served as St. Petersburg’s mayor from 2001-2010, to run for the seat?”
- March 2016: “Today 10News was the first to hear directly from a source with intimate knowledge of the decision that former St. Petersburg Mayor Rick Baker is doing everything necessary to prepare for a run against Charlie Crist for congress in CD-13.”
- March 2016: “The former St. Petersburg Mayor said so last Saturday night at the Pinellas County Republican Lincoln Day Dinner in St. Pete. When asked what his timetable was, Baker replied, ‘It’s gotta be soon.’”
“Time and time again, Rick Baker has missed his self-imposed deadlines to decide whether or not he should run for Florida’s 13th Congressional District. He has already passed up on this race one time, and with the strong likelihood of Donald Trump being at the top of the ticket, it is no surprise that Rick Baker is hesitating to enter the race,” said DCCC spokesman Jermaine House. “If Rick Baker is serious about being a candidate, then he owes Pinellas County voters an answer on whether or not he will stand by Donald Trump’s campaign.”