Vincent Ross Spano is an American politician currently serving as the U.S. Representative from. The district stretches from Lakeland to the northeastern suburbs of Tampa. A Republican, he was first elected to Congress in the 2018 elections.
In 2012, following the reconfiguration of the Florida House of Representatives districts, Spano ran in the newly created 59th District, and faced Joe Wicker, Betty Jo Tompkins, and Mike Floyd in the Republican primary. He emerged victorious with 40% of the vote, with Wicker close behind having 38% of the vote. Spano ran in the general election against the Democratic nominee, Gail Gottlieb. Spano defeated Gottlieb with 51% of the vote, coming out ahead by 1,051 votes. In the Florida House of Representatives, Spano serves on the Choice and Innovation Subcommittee, Civil Justice Subcommittee, Health Quality Subcommittee, Higher Education & Workforce Subcommittee, and Judiciary Committee. Ross Spano also served on the Federal Judicial Nominating Commission during his tenure in the Florida House. While serving in the legislature Spano authored numerous pieces of human trafficking legislation. He sponsored a bill to allow judges "to vacate certain criminal convictions if the offender can prove that they committed them under duress," as would happen in a situation in which someone had been illegally trafficked. In 2017, Spano sponsored a resolution declaring that the viewing of pornography was causing a "public health crisis."
US House of Representatives
Elections
2018 general election
In 2018, Spano ran to represent Florida's 15th Congressional district in the United States House of Representatives. He defeated Neil Combee in the Republican Primary, winning approximately 44% of the votes to Combee's 34%. Spano went on to face Democratic candidate Kristen Carlson in the general election. Spano defeated Carlson, receiving 53% of the vote to Carlson's 47%. It was the closest race in the district in 26 years, when Charles Canady only won by five points in 1992 in what was then the 12th District. Additionally, it was only the fourth time that a Democrat had managed 40 percent of the vote in the district since Andy Ireland switched parties in 1984 in what was then the 10th District. During Spano's election to the House of Representatives in 2018, he loaned his campaign more than $100,000 from what he reported as personal funds - a move that drew media attention as financial disclosures forms filed by Spano indicated that he did not have the necessary funds to loan himself the reported amount. It was later reported that Spano had been lent the money by friends. In December 2018, Spano wrote in a news release that his campaign financing "may have been in violation of the Federal Campaign Finance Act". In November 2019, it was reported that the Justice Department was conducting a criminal investigation into Spano over possible campaign finance violations. Spano has denied any wrongdoing.
