Robert Milner "Rob" Bradley, Jr. (born August 24, 1970 in

Green Cove Springs, Florida Green Cove Springs is a city in and the county seat of Clay County, Florida, United States. Green Cove Springs is a part of the Jacksonville, Florida Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 9,786 at the 2020 census, up from 6,908 at ...

) is a Republican politician from

Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

. He served as a member of the

Florida Senate The Florida Senate is the upper house of the Florida Legislature, the State legislature (United States), state legislature of the U.S. state of Florida, the Florida House of Representatives being the lower house. Article III, Section 1 of the C ...

, representing parts of North Central Florida from 2012 until he was term-limited in 2020. He currently chairs the St. Johns River Water Management District through March 2028.

History

Bradley graduated from the

University of Florida The University of Florida (Florida or UF) is a public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in Gainesville, Florida, United States. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida and a preem ...

with a degree in telecommunications in 1992, and again with a

Juris Doctor A Juris Doctor, Doctor of Jurisprudence, or Doctor of Law (JD) is a graduate-entry professional degree that primarily prepares individuals to practice law. In the United States and the Philippines, it is the only qualifying law degree. Other j ...

in 1996. Upon graduating from law school, he worked as an assistant state attorney in the Fourth Judicial Circuit of Florida until 1998, and then worked as a special magistrate for Green Cove Springs. In 2007, Bradley was appointed to the Clay County Commission by then-Governor

Charlie Crist Charles Joseph Crist Jr. ( ; born July 24, 1956) is an American attorney and politician who served as the 44th List of governors of Florida, governor of Florida from 2007 to 2011 and as the United States House of Representatives, U.S. represen ...

following the resignation of previous County Commissioner John E. Thrasher. He was re-elected in 2008 against write-in opposition, winning 96% of the vote. From 2009 to 2012, he served on the St. Johns River State College Board of Trustees, and currently works as the managing partner of Kopelousos, Bradley & Garrison, P.A., a law firm in

Orange Park, Florida Orange Park is a town in Clay County, Florida, United States. As a suburb of Jacksonville in neighboring Duval County, it is formally a part of the Jacksonville, Florida Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 9,089 at the 2020 cen ...

. He also launched a lobbying and consulting firm, Oak Strategies, in 2021 with legislative colleague Travis Cummings.

Florida Senate

When the state's legislative districts were redrawn in 2012, Bradley opted to run in the newly created 7th District, and won the Republican primary unopposed. Advancing to the general election, he was opposed by Will Mazzota, the Democratic nominee and a

student who had his filing fee paid for by the

Florida Democratic Party The Florida Democratic Party is the affiliate of the Democratic Party in the U.S. state of Florida, headquartered in Tallahassee. Former commissioner of agriculture Nikki Fried is the current chair. Andrew Jackson, the first territorial go ...

. Though the race was built up as a "Clay-vs.-Alachua County race," Bradley ended up defeating Mazzota with ease, winning 58% of the vote to Mazzota's 42%. In hindsight, Mazzota noted, "I think I put as much effort into it as I could have as a student and I'm proud of what I did," and Bradley pledged to focus on creating jobs and improving education in the legislature. During the 2014 legislative session, Bradley was one of the three main Senate sponsors of legislation that allowed "severely epileptic children to seek relief legally by ingesting nonsmokable, low-THC medical marijuana." He noted that although he was opposed to legalizing marijuana, he was fully committed to helping "the desperate parents" of the children who have tried everything else. After court-ordered redistricting, Bradley was redistricted in 2016 to the reconfigured 5th district. He was elected to that district, which encompasses

Baker A baker is a tradesperson who baking, bakes and sometimes Sales, sells breads and other products made of flour by using an oven or other concentrated heat source. The place where a baker works is called a bakery. History Ancient histo ...

Bradford Bradford is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in West Yorkshire, England. It became a municipal borough in 1847, received a city charter in 1897 and, since the Local Government Act 1972, 1974 reform, the city status in the United Kingdo ...

Clay Clay is a type of fine-grained natural soil material containing clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolinite, ). Most pure clay minerals are white or light-coloured, but natural clays show a variety of colours from impuriti ...

, Columbia,

Dixie Dixie, also known as Dixieland or Dixie's Land, is a nickname for all or part of the Southern United States. While there is no official definition of this region (and the included areas have shifted over the years), or the extent of the area i ...

, Gilchrist, Lafayette, Levy, Suwannee, and Union Counties, and part of western Marion County.

External links

Florida State Senate - Rob BradleyBradley for Senate

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bradley, Rob Republican Party Florida state senators 1970 births Living people People from Green Cove Springs, Florida University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications alumni Fredric G. Levin College of Law alumni 20th-century American lawyers 21st-century American lawyers 21st-century members of the Florida Legislature