Next Tuesday Jacksonville-area Republican voters will vote in a primary to fill a state senate vacancy, with a leading candidate being John Thrasher, who was instrumental in helping the administration of Gov. Jeb Bush steer liability reform through the legislature in 1999. As a result, Thrasher has drawn frenetic attack ads from the state’s personal injury bar and its allies, including a group calling itself Conservative Citizens for Justice, which turns out to be led by a past president of the state’s AAJ affiliate, the Florida Justice Association. [Dan Pero, American Courthouse; Times-Union and more; Jacksonville Observer] In response, Jeb Bush has cut a TV ad for Thrasher pointedly directed at the lawyers. [Miami Herald]

Filed under: Florida, politics