When candidates like Mike Rahn run from their records, they run at their opponents

Every election cycle, the same tired play unfolds: candidates who can’t defend their own record suddenly become experts on their opponent’s flaws. It’s the oldest trick in politics—and the last refuge of a politician who hopes voters never look behind the curtain for their voting record, character flaws, and real actions.

This op-ed is for voters who deserve better.

I asked a nationally known opposition research consultant who has seen every version of the “nothing to offer” campaign, from school boards to presidential races. He explained that the formulas are identical: attack, distract, and pray the public never asks basic questions. When he was asked to evaluate the Manatee County Commission race, he came in with a clean slate and examined both Commissioner Mike Rahn and Glen Gibellina. His job was to assess the race honestly and prepare Mr. Gibellina for the tactics Rahn would use — tactics built on vicious, inaccurate personal attacks because Rahn has nothing else to run on.

The Distraction Playbook

Candidates with weak records don’t run on vision. They run on noise! Mr. Gibellina had real struggles decades ago—and he rebuilt his life with redemption, integrity, transparency, responsibility, and two decades of service to his community. He doesn’t hide from his past. He owns it. The concern is that Rahn will weaponize those long-ago issues to keep voters from examining his own record—a record defined by votes that consistently benefit builders and developers eager to pave over Manatee County’s natural beauty. Mike Rahn’s political playbook has one page: distract the public long enough to avoid accountability.

The Preemptive Strike

Before voters can ask, “What have you actually accomplished?” some candidates like Rahn launch early attacks to define their opponent as controversial or dangerous. It’s political misdirection: wave one hand wildly so no one notices what the other hand is doing.

Rahn’s campaign will absolutely target Mr. Gibellina’s past. Why? Because Mike Rahn has nothing else to run on. Rahn doesn’t fear his opponent’s past—he fears voters finally noticing his own.

As one of Rahn’s recent opponents put it, “My opponent has nothing to run on, which is why he hasn’t told anyone what he wants to do on the Manatee County Commission.” The research confirms it: Rahn has voted exactly how the builders who supported him would have wanted. The only consistent principle in Rahn’s public life is that builders get what they want and voters get what they’re given. The truth is simple: Rahn votes with the builders, protects the builders, and serves the builders.

The Manufactured Crisis

When a politician lacks achievements, they manufacture drama. Minor issues become “scandals.” Disagreements become “crises.” Accuracy doesn’t matter—only volume. People remember the accusation long after they forget the truth. Manatee County has seen this firsthand. After volunteers exposed problems at the newly constructed Bishop Animal Shelter, Rahn voted to bring misdemeanor trespassing charges against a volunteer and a concerned citizen. Whistleblowers are supposed to be protected. Rahn chose to punish them — twice. Rahn’s idea of leadership is to punish the people who expose problems rather than to fix the problems themselves. So Rahn’s instinct isn’t to solve problems — it’s to silence the people who reveal them.

Then there’s the alleged Sunshine Law violation. Rahn was accused of pressuring a former acting administrator to hire a lobbyist as deputy commissioner. The State Attorney General’s Office declined to prosecute due to insufficient evidence to obtain a conviction, but did not state that the conduct had not occurred. That matters.

The Projection Game

Projection is the easiest trick in politics: accuse your opponent of the very behavior you’re guilty of.

Rahn loves to say he meets with constituents — and that’s fine. But meeting with people and then voting every single time with the builders they oppose is not “listening.” It’s political theater. It’s the projection game: “I hear you,” followed by votes that prove he doesn’t.

Rather than listening to the overwhelming number of Manatee County residents who support mandating that developers include roads, infrastructure, and stormwater drainage, and build less housing to conserve green space in their master-planned communities, Rahn has consistently supported standard market-rate suburban sprawl.

One need only look at the massive number of expensive, colorful, exaggerated, and misleading direct mail pieces being sent almost daily by the Rahn campaign and Political Action Committees to prove my point further. His distorted claims are laughable at best. For example, “As Chairman of Seaport Manatee, stood up for our environment and fought against developers who wanted to destroy wetlands and build a cruise terminal.”

Is he serious? Fought against builders? On October 5, 2023, he ignored over 300 constituents in attendance at a BOCC Meeting and voted to significantly decrease the wetland buffers. He, Ballard, and Kruse tried to give away the Port to the State of Florida at the same time the Cruise ships were proposed. Curious that Mike Rahn, the Seaport Chairman, is Chairman of Friends of Mike Rahn, and his treasurer is the hired Seaport Lobbyist—David Ramba.

Rahn also voted to increase the longevity of Mosaic’s mining lease for fourteen more years. He made the motion to approve CIP’s Piney Point contract after not disclosing Bill Galvano’s letter even before a presentation could be given. He took campaign contributions from Courtney DePol at CIP and $1,000 (the maximum allowable contribution) from Grimes/Galvano before his motion and vote on Piney Point. He thinks the voters are stupid. He is the builders’ and special interests’ candidate!

4. The Outsider Masquerade

Rahn presents himself as “one of us.” His campaign contributions tell a different story. In politics, you are who funds you — and Rahn is funded by builders and developers. The outsider act collapses under the weight of his donor list. The builders and developers of Manatee County don’t have a better friend than Commissioner Mike Rahn.

Mike Rahn isn’t just another commissioner in the Manatee–Sarasota political machine. He’s positioned as a central node in a network of builder-funded operatives, dark money PACs, and establishment power brokers who use him to manufacture and elevate candidates loyal to developers. The Friends of Mike Rahn PAC might as well be an arm of the builder’s coalition.

5. The Victim Routine

When the attacks don’t land, some candidates pivot to victimhood. Suddenly, they’re being “targeted” or “persecuted.” It’s a tactic designed to shut down scrutiny.

Rahn’s own history shows this pattern. In his 1997 divorce, despite earning $100,000 a year while his wife earned $25,000, he argued he shouldn’t have to pay child support. His ex-wife called him a delinquent dad. A judge ultimately ordered him to pay just over $1,500 a month. One wonders whether he spent more fighting responsibility than he would have paid by simply accepting it.

Mike Rahn’s pattern of behavior—from targeting whistleblowers to fighting basic parental responsibility—speaks louder than any attack he could launch.

The ‘Hit Piece”

For elite Florida consultants like Max Goodman, Florida Politics isn't just a site you read—it's an active sandbox used to signal viability to donors, unnerve opponents, and drive the daily conversation in Tallahassee and across the Gulf Coast. Goodman has earned a reputation among Florida insiders for weaponizing opposition research to disrupt his opponents.

In a profile published by Florida Politics itself, political allies noted that he is "masterful at creating chaos for opponents internally and throwing them off of their game." Political analysts note Goodman is adept at producing advertisements and media narratives that are intentionally "scandal-stoking" to put political rivals on the defensive. Outlets like Florida Politics are the natural destination for a consultant looking to drop a well-timed, damaging story about a political rival to generate negative headlines and derail their momentum.

Many in Florida's political orbit treat Florida Politics less like a traditional public-interest news outlet and more like an influential trade publication and advocacy tool, where media coverage is closely tied to financial and political alliances. With Rahn’s voting record, this type of attack on outdated and resolved issues was expected.

Why These Tactics Work

Chaos is a political strategy. When voters are overwhelmed, distracted, or exhausted, they stop looking closely — and that’s exactly what candidates with thin records count on. But Manatee County deserves better. It deserves a race about issues, accountability, and the future — not a circus built on distraction and personal attacks.

But tactics only work when voters allow them to work!

Case in point: Passed during the final days of the 2025 state legislative session, SB 180 was packaged as a "hurricane relief" bill but contained a sweeping, pro-developer provision. It legally froze the ability of local governments to adopt stronger land-use regulations, comprehensive plan updates, or development moratoriums for up to several years if they fell within a broad radius of a hurricane landfall.

The peak of this controversy occurred at the September 2, 2025, Board of County Commissioners meeting, when a massive coalition of Florida local governments decided to fight back by launching a class-action lawsuit against the State of Florida, calling SB 180 an unconstitutional overreach that stripped away local voter intent.

Mike Rahn was the only commissioner who voted NO.

During the meeting, numerous citizens showed up to speak in unanimous support of the county suing the state to protect its growth-management powers. Not a single member of the public spoke against joining the lawsuit. Despite the overwhelming community mandate, Rahn did not object to the developer-backed restrictions from the dais on behalf of his constituents.

After an exhausting opposition research report, the findings can be broken down into a series of straight talk analysis:

Watching Mike Rahn operate is like watching a politician audition for his own parody. Every time he’s confronted with a real issue, he doesn’t address it — he performs. Whistleblowers expose problems at the Bishop Animal Shelter? Rahn’s response isn’t to fix the problems; it’s to slap misdemeanor charges on the people who noticed them. Sunshine Law concerns arise? Rahn doesn’t clarify anything — he simply pretends the whole thing was a misunderstanding and hopes no one reads past the headline. He talks about listening to constituents, but the only people he seems to hear are the builders and dark money folks who fund his campaign.

At this point, the only thing Rahn has been consistent about is inconsistency, and the only thing he’s transparent about is how badly he wants voters looking anywhere except at his record. If voters ever stopped to examine Mike Rahn’s voting record without the noise, his campaign would last about ten minutes.

Commissioner Mike Rahn’s record on the Manatee County Commission reads like a checklist of exactly what voters are tired of in Manatee County. And simply put, Mike Rahn’s record isn’t complicated; it’s simply indefensible.

Dr. Robert McCann is a Republican representing District 5 on the Manatee County Commission. 

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