Putnam To Run For Ag Commissioner

By The Tampa Tribune
Published: February 20, 2009

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BARTOW (AP) - U.S. Rep. Adam Putnam would rather be in Florida.

Joined by friends and family Thursday in his Bartow hometown, the 34-year-old former state legislator and five-term Republican congressman formally announced his plans to run for Florida agriculture commissioner.

The current ag commissioner, Charles Bronson, is completing his second term in the office and cannot run again because of Florida's term limits law.

Putnam, a fifth-generation Floridian who grew up on a Polk County ranch, was elected to the Florida House in 1996 at the age of 22 and then to Congress in 2000.

Former state Rep. Marty Bowen and state Sen. Carey Baker of Eustis have also said they plan to run for the GOP nomination. No Democrat has entered the race.