Florida Politics spoke with Rutland to learn more about her background and her campaign priorities.<\/p>\n
Three things stood out: Rutland has been highly involved in the St. Pete community for years, she has enjoyed support from both major political parties, and she doesn\u2019t sound like a Republican, at least not in the way people have come to expect under President Donald Trump\u2019s GOP.<\/p>\n Community involvement<\/p>\n Rutland has a strong record of community involvement. In 2015, she was also appointed by Mayor\u00a0Rick\u00a0Kriseman, a Democrat, to the St. Petersburg Development Review Commission, where she served for nearly a decade, including a stint as its first female Chair.<\/p>\n In 2023, Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis<\/a>\u00a0also appointed Rutland to the\u00a0Juvenile Welfare Board of Pinellas County<\/a>, and she also serves on the\u00a0St. Petersburg Downtown Partnership<\/a> Board of Directors. She also previously served on the St. Petersburg Area YMCA Board for a decade, and on the Orlando Health Bayfront Hospital Foundation. She currently serves on the Rotary Club of St. Pete.<\/p>\n She also previously served on Boards for the St Petersburg Museum of History and Florida CCIM West Coast, and as Treasurer of Babycycle, a nonprofit supporting local families with young children.<\/p>\n \u201cI have been involved because my family, that\u2019s just what we do. I just was brought up that way,\u201d Rutland said.<\/p>\n She also worked extensively on a joint venture between Pinellas County Schools and the YMCA of Greater St. Petersburg to establish a facility that serves both YMCA members and about 500 middle school students, at the Speer YMCA and Mangrove Bay Middle School facility, which opened in 2024<\/a> to significant fanfare for the nearly 112,000-square-foot facility.<\/p>\n Rutland also worked with local leaders for years to land a Whole Foods in her community, on 38th Avenue and 4th Street.<\/p>\n \u201cI have the expertise to know the questions to ask, who to partner with, and how to translate ideas into real-world solutions,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Business experience<\/p>\n Rutland\u2019s family helped build St. Petersburg\u2019s business community through Rutland Brothers Department Store, Rutland\u2019s men\u2019s store on Central Avenue, and St. Petersburg Bank & Trust, which eventually became Rutland Bank.<\/p>\n In 2015, Rutland launched the Rutland Florida Gulf Group, focusing on commercial real estate investments. Rutland began her career in the real estate department of Raymond James headquarters. Now, she has spent roughly two decades in commercial real estate brokerage, asset management, development and consulting.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen the opportunity arose, I saw the chance to make a difference, because I\u2019m already doing it in the background,\u201d Rutland said. \u201cI\u2019ve got great ideas. Sometimes in Tallahassee the good ideas are not always translated in the bill drafting process and I think I have the skills to fix that. That\u2019s why I jumped in.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI think it\u2019s time for us to have a little bit of real-world experience up there in someone that can implement commonsense policies,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n Solutions aren\u2019t partisan<\/p>\n Rutland is a Republican, but she\u2019s not loud about it. In fact, she told Florida Politics that when she first began telling people she was running in the HD 60 race, they immediately praised her decision before pausing to ask a question.<\/p>\n \u201cThey would be like, \u2018Wait, are you a Republican or a Democrat,\u2019\u201d she recalled with a chuckle.<\/p>\n \u201cSolutions aren\u2019t partisan,\u201d is a slogan of sorts for Rutland, and when she talks about \u201ccommonsense solutions,\u201d it doesn\u2019t sound as much like political talking points as one might expect in this day and age of polarized politics.<\/p>\n \u201cCommon sense is just taking the low-hanging fruit and implementing something that we\u2019re not already doing, that we could be doing. It\u2019s taking the issues that matter most to the people and translating it into legislation in Tallahassee,\u201d Rutland said.<\/p>\n That, she said, includes work on what she describes as her three pillars: quality of life and affordability, infrastructure, and the economy and business climate.<\/p>\n \u201cThere are high housing costs and insurance and inflation, there is just so much,\u201d she said. \u201cI don\u2019t know that there\u2019s one silver bullet that gets them all, but I know that I\u2019m going to fight for as many of those things as I can to keep the costs down where it\u2019s possible.\u201d<\/p>\n She\u2019s also eyeing reforms to a state program she says \u201cisn\u2019t being responsive.\u201d The state launched the Elevate Florida program<\/a> after Hurricane Helene in 2024. Using federal grant money, the program covers 75% of the cost to elevate homes in flood prone areas.<\/p>\n But homeowners have reported a lack of communication<\/a> and delays in receiving any funding. While delays have been blamed on the Federal Emergency Management Agency, state and local officials have been pushing back to expedite action for constituents, including letters from lawmakers based in Pinellas County this month.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m just sad watching my neighbors suffer,\u201d Rutland said, describing conversations with residents who have applied for funding only to hear nothing back for months on end. \u201cIt\u2019s time they have someone in Tallahassee that is fighting for them.\u201d<\/p>\n Rutland also addressed a looming issue in Florida, where homeowners pay among the highest property insurance rates in the nation.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve got to keep the competition open,\u201d she said of the approach she would take in Tallahassee to continue reducing premiums. \u201cThe more companies we have operating and offering property insurance the less it\u2019s going to cost. But it\u2019s not just supply, we want options that are good ones.\u201d<\/p>\n Rutland said she would continue supporting policies that promote competition while also cracking down on insurance fraud that some say is causing higher premiums.<\/p>\n On housing, Rutland said the state needs more inventory and out-of-the-box solutions, such as mother-in-law suites, formally called accessory dwelling units, or tiny homes. She also said the state should work with local governments to reduce permitting delays, which she said would support the addition of \u201cthousands of new homes.\u201d<\/p>\n State of the race<\/p>\n While Rutland may not be overtly partisan, make no mistake, she\u2019s a Republican. She supports Republicans, and they support her. She has endorsements<\/a> from a large slate of Pinellas County GOP officials, including Sens. Nick DiCeglie and Ed Hooper; Reps. Adam Anderson, Kim Berfield,\u00a0Linda Chaney, Berny Jacques\u00a0and Adam Ross; and Pinellas County Commissioners Dave Eggers, Vince Nowicki, Kathleen Peters, Chris Scherer\u00a0and Brian Scott.<\/p>\n The combination of Rutland\u2019s ability to buck partisanship, while also benefiting from it, likely makes her an ideal candidate for the GOP this cycle.<\/p>\n As of the end of May, Democrats outnumbered Republicans in HD 60 by just 584 voters, making a true swing district. Considering Republican voters historically turn out in higher percentages than Democrats, some would argue Republicans actually have an advantage.<\/p>\n But this could be a tough year for the GOP. The party in power in the White House often suffers up and down ballot during Midterm years, and that\u2019s especially true when the President\u2019s popularity is struggling. Trump\u2019s approval rating as of early July was underwater 21 percentage points, at just 37% approval to 59% disapproval, according to The Economist<\/a>.<\/p>\n That makes Rutland\u2019s softer approach to partisanship in this race a likely boon for her chances. Even with potential challenges during a Midterm year, trends are on her side. As early as the last election cycle, in 2024, Democrats had a more than 2-percentage-point voter registration<\/a> advantage, and that advantage had already been shrinking before 2024.<\/p>\n In 2022, the year Cross was first elected, Democrats controlled more than 37%<\/a> of the district\u2019s electorate, compared to just 31% for Republicans. And in 2020, under what was then House District 68 represented by former Democratic Rep. Ben Diamond, the spread was similar, at 38% to 32%<\/a>.<\/p>\n Still, the race is likely to be close. Recent election cycles have maintained similar support for Democrats even as voter registration numbers have moved further toward the red.<\/p>\n Diamond won his most recent race, in 2020<\/a>, with nearly 54% of the vote, a more than 7-percentage-point victory. The next cycle, under the current HD 60 lines, Cross won<\/a> with more than 54% of the vote. Last cycle, Cross saw a slight dip in support, but still won with close to 54% of the vote<\/a>.<\/p>\n But Rutland reminds voters that a Republican is more likely to bring home results.<\/p>\n \u201cRepublicans can just get more done in the environment there,\u201d she said in a nod to the GOP supermajority in both chambers of the Legislature.<\/p>\n While Cross has had challenges getting legislation across the finish line as a member of the minority party, she has had some success working with local Republicans to bring home wins.<\/p>\n She has often worked with DiCeglie\u00a0to secure funding for her St. Petersburg district, especially for\u00a0environmental conservation<\/a>, resilience, sustainability, and storm recovery after the severe hurricanes in 2024 that caused major flooding and wind damage.<\/p>\n This year, Cross\u00a0worked with other local lawmakers<\/a>\u00a0to try to get funding for the University of South Florida after a fire destroyed a downtown St. Pete building. In the end, the funding was not included in the budget.<\/p>\n In 2025, Cross helped secure\u00a0over $3 million<\/a>\u00a0for local projects. She also worked with DiCeglie to pass a law\u00a0making it a traffic violation<\/a>\u00a0for drivers who speed through flooded streets and make wakes that worsen neighborhood flooding. This issue became clear after Hurricane Helene.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/20250658_FINAL_FloridaPolitics_728x90.jpg\")
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