Greater Tampa Chamber backs Steube, Boyd

Florida House candidates Greg Steube and Jim Boyd won their respective straw polls taken during the Greater Tampa Chamber of Commerce's Political Hob Nob last week.

For the District 67 seat,  Steube received 47.4 percent of the vote, compared to 21.9 percent for the only Democrat  in the race, Z.J. Hafeez. Steube's two rivals in the Aug. 24 Republican primary, Robert K. McCann and Jeremiah "JJ" Guccione, received 17.5 percent and 8 percent, respectively. John Studebaker, who is running with no party affiliation, received 5 percent.

In District 68, Boyd, a Republican, received 76.7 percent, and Dave "Watchdog" Miner, who is running with no party affiliation, received 23.3 percent.

The House races were the only two with particular interest to Manatee County included in the straw poll.

In the U.S. Senate race straw poll, former Florida House Speaker Marco Rubio, a Republican, received 47.8 percent; Gov. Charlie Crist, running as an independent, received 33.2 percent; Democrat Kendrick Meek received 6.6 percent; and Democrat Jeff Greene received 4.4 percent.

And in the race for governor, Republican Bill McCollum received 39.7 percent, compared to 28.8 percent for Democrat Alex Sink, and 22.8 percent for Republican Rick Scott.