A day after kicking off her campaign at the St. Petersburg Yacht Club, Republican Melissa Rutland is betting House District 60 voters can be persuaded to return the seat to the GOP after two consecutive Democratic wins.
Rutland faces Democrat Lindsay Polega-Quigley in the Nov. 3 general election for the open seat being vacated by Rep. Lindsay Cross, who decided late in qualifying not to seek another term.
Cross won the newly drawn district for Democrats in 2022, defeating Republican Audrey Henson with 54.2% of the vote, then retained it in 2024 against former St. Petersburg City Councilmember Ed Montanari with 53.6%. The district includes portions of St. Petersburg, Pinellas Park and Lealman.
“This part of St. Pete has been represented by Republicans like Frank Farkas and Jeff Brandes, and more recently by Democrats,” Rutland told Poliverse. “Voters here pick the candidate, not the party.”
The current HD 60 boundaries first took effect in 2022, so comparisons to former representatives are imperfect. Under the current map, Democrats have won both contests. The district also supported the Democratic presidential candidate by about 6.7 percentage points in 2024, according to MultiState election data.
Still, Republicans have made the seat a priority this cycle.
Rutland has consolidated support from a significant portion of Pinellas County’s Republican establishment, including U.S. Rep. Gus Bilirakis, state Sens. Ed Hooper and Nick DiCeglie, several Republican state House members and a majority of the Pinellas County Commission. Her campaign website also lists support from local constitutional officers and municipal leaders.
Earlier campaign finance reports showed Rutland with more than $100,000 raised, including $30,000 from the Florida House Republican Campaign Committee. Polega-Quigley had reported $76,560, including $23,000 from the state Democratic committee, according to previous Poliverse reporting.
Cross endorsed Polega-Quigley immediately after announcing her departure, giving Democrats an established local surrogate as they try to hold the seat.
“I respect Rep. Cross, and we have worked together on legislation, but an endorsement does not lower a single family’s insurance bill or property tax bill,” Rutland said.
Rutland is a fourth-generation Pinellas County native who began her career in real estate development and investment at Raymond James nearly three decades ago. She currently serves on the boards of the St. Petersburg Downtown Partnership and Orlando Health Bayfront Hospital Foundation, and has previously served with several local business and nonprofit organizations.
“The biggest difference is what we have each actually built,” Rutland said. “I am a businesswoman, and for over two decades my work has been solving real problems here, such as helping to bring the new Speer YMCA and Mangrove Bay Middle School to life.”
“That is why a Democratic mayor and a Republican governor have both put me to work,” she said, “and it is exactly how I will show up in Tallahassee.”
A St. Petersburg attorney, she has centered her campaign around affordability, insurance, housing and government accountability. In a previous interview with Poliverse, Polega-Quigley said Florida’s insurance crisis cannot be reduced to a single culprit and pointed to litigation practices, insurer behavior, construction quality, flooding and development in high-risk areas as interconnected problems.
Rutland is also putting insurance and affordability near the top of her agenda, with an emphasis on market competition, property taxes and infrastructure.
“I will fight for targeted property tax relief that protects homeowners and seniors without taking funding from public safety and schools,” she said.
“I will push insurance costs down by bringing more insurance companies into Pinellas so real competition lowers premiums, and by investing in the stormwater and flood infrastructure, such as the Lift Program, that lowers risk across Pinellas.”
She also wants changes to permitting and housing regulations, along with policies aimed at increasing higher-paying employment.
Rutland added government ethics to that list, calling for greater transparency and “a ban [on] insider trading by elected officials.”
Neither candidate had a primary opponent Aug. 18, sending both directly to the November ballot. For Republicans, the race is another shot at a district they have failed to win under its current boundaries. For Democrats, it is a defense of one of the party’s few legislative seats in Pinellas County.
“I believe a businesswoman with support from both parties and real experience on affordability, insurance and infrastructure is exactly the problem solver Pinellas voters are looking for,” Rutland said.