Lakeland activist plans run as Democrat against Rep. Canady in Florida House-50 race

Bonnie Patterson-James, an activist for abortion rights and LGBTQ rights, plans to challenge Florida Rep. Jennifer Canady, R-Lakeland, in next year’s election.

The Lakeland resident filed paperwork Friday to run as a Democrat in District 50. Canady is in her first term representing the district, which covers Lakeland and northwest Polk County.

Patterson-James, 55, gained statewide attention last month when she was arrested for an incident in which she allegedly threw a pair of women’s underwear toward Canady as the latter posed for photos following a groundbreaking at the Options for Women pregnancy center in South Lakeland. Patterson-James was charged with battery on a law-enforcement officer because a Polk County sheriff’s deputy said the panties struck his right leg.

That felony charge has been dropped, and Patterson-James now faces a second-degree misdemeanor charge of attempting to disrupt a lawful assembly.

Patterson-James is a cardiac sonographer and worked in medical equipment sales and as a paralegal and has been on corporate medical disability since 2013. She said she has lived in Polk County for much of her life.

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Patterson-James has helped organize demonstrations for reproductive rights in Lakeland in recent years, including gatherings at Southgate Shopping Center last summer after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the Roe v. Wade ruling. She traveled to Tallahassee this year to protest bills being advanced in the Florida Legislature.

She criticized Canady and the Legislature for allocating $25 million this year to support a network of pregnancy centers, including Options for Women.

“After Tallahassee and the six-week abortion ban, the most extreme in the nation, and seeing that (neither) the House nor the Senate are listening to anything that constituents are saying, and the amendments that were being tried to make these hateful bans against our bodies and reproductive rights and freedoms to choose our personal health care and freedom — I couldn't sit by,” Patterson-James said. “And then $25 million with no oversight, no audit, to faith-based clinics. It was just so overwhelming.”

Options for Women and other pregnancy centers are nonprofits often affiliated with churches or religious groups. They provide pregnancy testing, sonograms and some other services but do not offer or refer for abortions. The Legislature has allocated regular funding to the network for years and greatly increased the amount in this year’s session.

Patterson-James insisted that her arrest for the May incident was politically motivated. She said the panties did not hit anyone and that she had previously had panties bearing an abortion-rights message delivered to Canady’s office in Tallahassee. She had heckled Canady and other speakers during the ceremony, standing behind a fence at the adjacent Lakeland Women's Health Center.

In addition to supporting abortion rights, Patterson-James said she would challenge recently passed laws seen as targeting Florida’s LGBTQ population, including restrictions on medical care for transgender people.

Canady, the wife of Florida Supreme Court Justice Charles Canady, achieved prominence during her first legislative session. She was one of two House sponsors on the six-week abortion bill, and she also sponsored a bill that increases the share of money charter schools receive from school districts. Canady, a teacher at Lakeland Christian School, is reportedly in line to become House Speaker in 2028, assuming she remains in office and Republicans keep control of the House.

“I was taught you don't back down from bullies,” Patterson-James said. “Jennifer Canady is a bully and she's a liar, and it's been proven.”

Patterson-James said that Veysel Dokur, who unsuccessfully challenged Sen. Colleen Burton last year, will serve as her campaign manager. She said she hopes to receive support from such groups as Florida NOW, which criticized her arrest last month.

Canady reported nearly $50,000 in available campaign money as of May 1. Her political action committee has received $152,000 and spent nearly $94,000 since February 2022, according to Florida Division of Elections records. Patterson-James has not yet had to file a campaign finance report.

Patterson-James is the first Democrat filing to run in any of the six legislative districts that include Polk County.

Gary White can be reached at gary.white@theledger.com or 863-802-7518. Follow on Twitter @garywhite13.

This article originally appeared on The Ledger: Lakeland Democrat files to challenge Canady in Florida House-50 race