Florida → Senate → District 27
The Florida Senate directory lists Ben Albritton (R) for the 2024–26 term and gives the county coverage as Consists of Charlotte, DeSoto, Hardee counties and parts of Lee, Polk counties.
District map · 2022 Senate plan
County Coverage: Entirety of Charlotte, DeSoto, and Hardee counties, combined with southern portions of Polk County and north/east portions of Lee County.
Key Municipalities and Unincorporated Centers: Punta Gorda (Charlotte); Arcadia (DeSoto); Wauchula, Bowling Green, and Zolfo Springs (Hardee); Bartow, Fort Meade, and Frostproof (Polk portions); Lehigh Acres and North Fort Myers (Lee portions).
Transportation Corridors: Interstate 75 (primary north-south evacuation and freight spine through Charlotte and Lee); U.S. Route 17 (spine traversing Polk, Hardee, DeSoto, and Charlotte); U.S. Route 98 (traversing southern Polk); State Road 60 (east-west logistics spine crossing Bartow/Polk).
Environmental Features: Peace River Basin (primary surface water watershed crossing Polk, Hardee, DeSoto, and Charlotte into Charlotte Harbor); Charlotte Harbor Estuary; Caloosahatchee River corridor (northern boundary of Lee segments); Lake Wales Ridge scrub ecosystems in eastern Polk.
Population Benchmarks: Target Florida Senate district ideal population under the 2020 Census was approximately 539,638 residents. S027S8058 was configured within statutory single-member district deviation thresholds (±1%).
Demographic Composition: The district merges rural agricultural communities (Hardee, DeSoto, southern Polk) characterized by significant Hispanic agricultural workforces with suburban residential and retiree-heavy populations in Charlotte and inland Lee County (Lehigh Acres). Precise whole-district demographic aggregates aligned exclusively to S027S8058 boundaries require tract-level shapefile tabulation from the Florida Redistricting Data Repository.
Voter Registration Profile: Heavily Republican-leaning across rural counties (Hardee, DeSoto) and retiree-dense coastal/suburban Charlotte County, counterbalanced by non-party affiliated and Democratic growth in suburban Lee County pockets.
2022 General Election: Senator Ben Albritton won election to newly drawn District 27 on November 8, 2022, defeating Democratic challenger Christopher Proia with 71.4% of the vote across the redrawn five-county footprint, verified via the Florida Division of Elections 2022 General Election Results.
2024 General Election: Albritton won re-election on November 5, 2024, defeating Democratic challenger Phillip Carter, securing his seat to serve as Senate President, as documented by the Florida Division of Elections.
Political Performance: Rated solidly conservative; historical results consistently deliver strong supermajority margins for statewide Republican candidates across Hardee, DeSoto, Charlotte, and southern Polk.
Agriculture and Citrus: Anchored by commercial citrus groves, beef cattle ranching, and commercial packing operations. Central Florida and the Peace River valley serve as core operational hubs for organizations like the Florida Citrus Mutual.
Phosphate Mining and Fertilizer Production: Extensive industrial presence in Hardee and southern Polk counties, dominated by The Mosaic Company's Central Florida phosphate mining and processing footprint.
Healthcare Systems: ShorePoint Health (Charlotte County), DeSoto Memorial Hospital (Arcadia), AdventHealth Wauchula (Hardee), and Bartow Regional Medical Center (Polk/BayCare).
Higher Education and Research: South Florida State College (campuses in Hardee and DeSoto), Florida SouthWestern State College (Charlotte campus in Punta Gorda), and the University of Florida / IFAS Citrus Research and Education Center nearby in Polk.
Incumbent Representation: Ben Albritton, commercial citrus grower and businessman from Wauchula; previously served in the Florida House of Representatives (2010–2018) representing District 56 before election to the Senate in 2018.
Political Committees: Affiliated political committees supporting Albritton include Advancing Florida Agriculture and Preserving Florida's Future, filed with the Florida Division of Elections Campaign Finance Database.
Local Governance Entities: Charlotte County Board of County Commissioners, DeSoto County Board of County Commissioners, Hardee County Board of County Commissioners, and the Peace River Manasota Regional Water Supply Authority.
Industry & Advocacy Groups: Peace River Valley Citrus Growers Association, Florida Cattlemen's Association, and the Florida Farm Bureau Federation.
Presidency and Committee Clout: As Senate President (2024–2026), Albritton oversees chamber-wide committee assignments, calendar control, and legislative priorities. In preceding sessions, he served as Senate Majority Leader (2022–2024) and chaired the Agriculture Committee.
Legislative Priorities: Focused on agricultural infrastructure protections, post-hurricane agricultural relief, citrus greening research funding, rural water supply protection, and property insurance reforms.
Appropriations Track Record: Consistently directed state appropriations toward Peace River basin flood mitigation, local road infrastructure, rural hospital stabilization grants, and the Citrus Research and Field Trial (CRAFT) foundation through the Florida General Appropriations Act.
Network & Policy Correlation Analyses:
Investigation 1 (Citrus Relief vs. Production Inputs): Correlate line-item appropriations for citrus greening and CRAFT initiatives in the General Appropriations Act against production recovery metrics published by the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (FDACS) to evaluate policy efficacy versus grower concentration.
Investigation 2 (Phosphate Mining Permitting vs. Water Infrastructure): Analyze Peace River Basin water quality monitoring data from the Florida Department of Environmental Protection alongside legislative funding directed to the Peace River Manasota Regional Water Supply Authority to assess corporate vs. public cost allocation.
Investigation 3 (Campaign Contributions vs. Ag-Exemption Legislation): Map political committee filings from Advancing Florida Agriculture against specific statutory expansions of agricultural property tax protections and rural land conservation easements under the Rural and Family Lands Protection Program.
Research text: Gemini browser session, 2026-10-04. Officeholder and county coverage: Florida Senate directory. The graph keeps these leads separate from the reference office record.