Republicans tapped Mark Flanagan to rebuild a troubled party. Is a run for Congress next?

It has been more than 20 years since Mark Flanagan served in a legislative body. But could he feel the call to run again, this time for Congress?

The Manatee GOP Chair says he has received numerous calls urging him to run in Florida’s 16th Congressional District.

“I’m humbled with the amazing outpouring of encouragement and respect I have received since Congressman Buchanan made his announcement he would retire,” Flanagan told Florida Politics. “It lit a fire in me and reminded me of the call of public service at this level.”

Flanagan said he has yet to decide for certain whether he will run for the seat. But the former state lawmaker has built up a larger political profile recently, starting well before anyone knew U.S. Rep. Vern Buchanan would retire.

After the Republican Party of Florida suspended the entire Manatee County Republican Executive Committee amid a wave of filed grievances, state party leaders tapped Flanagan to take over as the new county Chair. It’s a job he held before, in 2004, shortly after he completed an eight-year stint in the Florida House.

Of note, Flanagan also ran for Congress before. While serving as Manatee GOP Chair, he ran in 2006, the year Buchanan ultimately won the election to an open seat in the U.S. House. That year, Flanagan won 10% of the vote in a five-person Republican Primary.

But at that point, Sarasota County voters made up a plurality of voters. Today, Manatee County makes up the bulk of the district, and Sarasota County isn’t in the current boundaries at all.

That could change in a congressional redistricting Special Session of the Legislature in April. But for the moment, Flanagan says there is a hunger in Manatee County to serve as home to a Congressman for the first time in decades.

He noted that the last time Manatee County was represented by a Manatee County resident was during the tenure of U.S. Rep. Dan Miller, a fellow Manatee High School alumnus (Miller in the class of 1960, Flanagan in 1980) who left the U.S. House in 2003. And it’s the place where Flanagan worked in politics and later as a Special Olympics coach. He hopes that matters in a race where many of the most high-profile contenders actually still live in Sarasota County.

“Manatee County — in my lifetime experience all the way to high school, working here, serving this community — it really is a district where relationships and decades of community service carry real weight,” he said.

Should he run, Flanagan believes he would have the support of a number of elected officials and business leaders. And he knows the political power of that.

“I have a personal view of politics that there are two camps, a camp of respect and a camp of support,” he said. “Respect is hard to get but support is even harder.”

Flanagan said he cannot control who else enters the race, but that won’t impact his decision. Whatever he does will be a personal choice.

“So many leaders and grassroots activists are encouraging me to run, and telling me to announce as soon as possible,” he said. “I’m leaving it in the hands of the lord, to tell the truth. I’m not someone chasing public office and never will be. But I am someone who believes in stepping forward when called.”