Photo via Ross Spano/Facebook State Rep. Ross Spano is planning to ditch the Florida Attorney General's race to run for Congress.  The Tampa Bay Times reports Spano will announce Monday that he's running for the seat vacated by U.S. Rep. Dennis Ross. The Lakeland Republican announced last week that he wouldn't run for re-election in Congressional District 15, which includes parts of Lake, Hillsborough and Polk counties.  Spano, R-Dover, was one of four Republican candidates running for state attorney general.  Spano is, perhaps, best known for being the sponsor of a resolution declaring pornography a "public health risk" in the Florida House this past session. The resolution recognized the health risk created by explicit material and acknowledged "the need for education, prevention, research and policy change to protect citizens of this state."  Spano's resolution garnered enough votes to pass in the House – while at the same time, a bill that would have actually made a difference in the lives of Floridians failed. State lawmakers declined to take up a measure that would ban the sale and possession of assault weapons and large-capacity ammunition magazines.  While being watched by survivors of the Parkland high school mass shooting, Florida lawmakers passed Spano's porn resolution while refusing to debate semiautomatic assault weapons. Spano joined most Republicans in a 76-36 voterejecting the bill from Orlando Rep. Carlos Guillermo Smith.  Last year after Spano first filed a bill declaring porn a "public health crisis," Orlando Weekly discovered that Spano's Twitter account had "favorited" a tweet featuring a porn clip from adult entertainment company Reality Kings.  "With a thorough examination of my accounts, it will be easy to see that this is not my doing," Spano said after OW pointed out the thirsty like.  Stay on top of Orlando news and views. Sign up for our weekly Headlines newsletter.   

Florida’s Republican primary race to be the next state Attorney General is stewing to be one of the most contentious in recent history, as several of the announced candidates in the race are now actively engaging in a political fist fight with each other. Rep. Jay Fant (R) ongoing Jiu Jitsu, ‘you are a liberal Democrat’ political assault against the presumed frontrunner in the race, former Judge Ashley Moody (R), has stolen much of the limelight in the race. While Rep. Frank White (R) has been quite for the most part, his colleague in the Florida House of Representatives Ross Spano (R) has not. Spano, the married father of 4 and commercial litigation attorney from the Tampa area, has come out swinging with conservative and work experience bona fides. Spano told The Floridian that the reason why he is running to replace outgoing AG Pam Bondi is because he has always had an “indescribable passion for justice,” adding that his personal experience of having to push back against political “bullies” who have told him to “wait his turn” and “step down” because he was not the “chosen one” in the AG race. “At some point in your life when you will have to stand up to the bullies, sometimes it may will cost you everything, it usually requires sacrifice, and it always requires courage,” said Spano. When asked what his advantages over the other candidates in the race were, Spano cited that his 20 years of litigating 500 cases, possible as much as 1000 cases, made him the right man for the job. Because Spano, Fant, and White have been in Tallahassee working through the legislative session, Moody has been able to freely hit the road and deliver her message to Republican groups around the state. Expect that Fant, Spano and White will do the same shortly after the session concludes this week.