St. Petersburg Mayor Rick Baker has endorsed fellow Republican Jack Latvala as Latvala seeks to return to the Florida Senate. Latvala faces Democrat Nina Hayden, a Pinellas School Board member, in the 2010 race.

"Jack Latvala has valuable experience that will benefit our region in Tallahassee. He accomplished many things for the Tampa Bay area and the state as a whole when he served in the Senate from 1994-2002. He was the driving force to end the water wars in the Tampa Bay area, he was a champion for the environment, and he delivered results for the communities he represented," Baker said in Latvala's news release.

David DeCamp, Times staff writer