Jimmy Patronis was a Republican member of the who represented the 6th District, which included Panama City and other parts of southern Bay County, from 2006 to 2014.
Background
Patronis was born in Panama City and attended Gulf Coast Community College, where he graduated with his associate degree in restaurant management in 1994, and then he attended Florida State University, where he graduated with his bachelor degree in political science in 1996.
Education
AS in Restaurant Management, Gulf Coast Community College, Panama City, 1994. Associate of Arts in General Education, Gulf Coast Community College, Panama City, 1994. Bachelor of Science in Public Administration, Communications, Political Science, Florida State University, Tallahassee, 1996.
Career
After graduation, he worked as an intern in the Florida Senate and the House of Commons of the United Kingdom. In 1998, he was appointed by Governor Lawton Chiles to the Florida Elections Commission and again in 2001 by Governor Jeb Bush where he served until 2003. Patronis also served on the Bay County Airport Authority from 2004 to 2006, when he first ran for office.
Following the inability of Allan Bense, the Speaker of the, to seek re-election in 2006, Patronis ran to succeed him in the 6th District, which included Gulf County, southern Bay County, and western Franklin County.
In the Republican primary, Patronis emerged victorious, defeating Lee Sullivan, Cameron Floyd Skinner, and Bill Fisher with 39% of the vote. In the general election, Patronis defeated Democratic nominee Janice Lucas with 67% of the vote.
He was re-elected without opposition in 2008. In 2010, he defeated Democratic nominee John McDonald with 78% of the vote.
In 2012, following the reconfiguration of districts, Patronis remained in the 6th District, but it swapped its portions in Franklin County and Gulf County for a further incursion into Bay County.
He was unopposed in both the primary and general elections, and thus was re-elected to his final term unopposed. Patronis intended to run for the Florida Senate in 2016 in the 4th District, as the incumbent, Don Gaetz, is term-limited.
Achievements
Membership
During the 2012-2014 legislative session, Patronis worked with State Representative Marti Coley and State Senator Don Gaetz, the other members of the legislature from Bay County to support an effort by the County to "create an irrevocable trust for a hospital pension and a separate measure to allow the county to remove its member on the board managing the pension," though Patronis remained hopeful that a solution could be reached without the legislature having to acting