Pasco state Rep. Kevin Steele faces questions over his race to represent Hillsborough County in congress ⁠9%

By Mitch Perry⁠30% Florida Phoenix⁠44%

8/6/2026, 10:23:45 AM

BS Summary: This article contains 12 faulty reasoning types, including Negativity Bias, Confirmation Bias, and Self-Serving Bias, with Framing Effect as the most egregious example at 11.3% saturation with 79 hits. Analysis detected 355 faulty-reasoning hits from 701 analyzed words, generating a BS Score of 18.3% and a BS Rank of ⁠9% (27,947 of 30,584 articles). This article is better (less manipulative) than 91.40% of the article peer group.

Rep. 
Kevin Steele, R-Dade City, serves as vice chairman and offers comments during the Information Technology Budget & Policy Subcommittee on Jan.y 14, 2025. 
Rep. 
Kevin Steele, R-Dade City, serves as vice chairman and offers comments during the Information Technology Budget & Policy Subcommittee on Jan.y 14, 2025. 
Credit: Photo by Meredith Gettings / State of Florida 
UPDATED : Pasco County Republican state lawmaker Kevin Steele has resigned from his seat representing House District 55 in the Florida Legislature, which he has held since 2022. 
Steele had previously announced that he would not run for re-electionthis fall. 
He entered the race for the Republican nomination for Congress in Florida’s 14th District in May, after the district was redrawn to make it more favorable for Republicans and harder for Democratic incumbent Kathy Castor to defend this fall. 
But he continued to serve in his House seat. 
Although Steele’s main residence has been in Pasco County, federal law does not require a member of Congress to live in the district he or she represents. 
However, state law says a state lawmaker must live in the district he or she represents. 
When asked by the Phoenix Tuesday night whether he intended to move from Pasco to Hillsborough if elected in November, he said he already lived in and had voted in the district. 
He posted a photo on social media Monday with members of his family at the Jan Platt Library in South Tampa, the first day of early voting in the county. 
His letter announcing his resignation was submitted on Wednesday to Governor DeSantis and House Speaker Daniel Perez. 
“Please accept this letter as notice that I hereby resign irrevocably from the Florida House of Representatives effective August 5, 2026. 
I respectfully request the district office remain open to continue providing constituent services until the new State Representative is elected. 
It has been an honor to work with you and Governor DeSantis to enact the America First agenda here in Florida and I look forward to working with President Trump to bring Florida’s successes to the rest of America.” 
Records show Steele is registered to vote in Hillsborough County. 
However, he still has a homestead exemption at his Dade City home in Pasco County. 
According to his most recent Form 6 financial disclosure filed July 1, under the description of assets, he lists his “Residence and Land” as the street address of his home in Dade City, but instead of Dade City he lists the city as Tampa. 
However, the street he lists as his residence does not exist in Tampa. 
State law says House candidates or incumbents must live and be registered to vote in the districts in which they were running at the time of the election and maintain a residence in the district for the entire term to which they are elected. 
Lawmakers are allowed to own multiple homes but can only have one principal, or legal, residence. 
Florida House rules also say they consider a lawmaker’s legal residence to be the one listed on official documents or mentioned in statements to others, voter registration records, homestead exemption paperwork, or a driver’s license; where a lawmaker receives mail; or where a spouse and minor children live and attend school. 
Steele has emphasized his Hillsborough County roots since entering the race for the seat. 
He grew up in Tampa and attended Hillsborough Community College and USF. 
The CD 14 seat has been held for the past 20 years by Tampa Democrat Kathy Castor. 
But after it was redrawn from a district she won by 15 points in 2024 to one that Donald Trump won by more than 10 points that same year, Steele and seven other Republicans filed to run for the seat. 
Florida Phoenix is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. 
Florida Phoenix maintains editorial independence. 
Contact Editor Michael Moline for questions: info@floridaphoenix.com . 
The post Pasco state Rep. 
Kevin Steele faces questions over his race to represent Hillsborough County in congress appeared first on Creative Loafing Tampa . 
Article reasoning-pattern comparisonThis article: 6.3%Mitch Perry: 1.6%Creative Loafing Tampa: 1.6%Confirmation Bias6.3%This article: 0.0%Mitch Perry: 0.2%Creative Loafing Tampa: 0.4%Anchoring Bias0.0%This article: 4.3%Mitch Perry: 1.1%Creative Loafing Tampa: 1.0%Availability Heuristic4.3%This article: 0.0%Mitch Perry: 0.5%Creative Loafing Tampa: 0.2%Representativeness Heuristic0.0%This article: 0.0%Mitch Perry: 0.4%Creative Loafing Tampa: 0.3%Hindsight Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Mitch Perry: 1.6%Creative Loafing Tampa: 0.8%Overconfidence Bias0.0%This article: 11.3%Mitch Perry: 7.2%Creative Loafing Tampa: 4.1%Framing Effect11.3%This article: 2.9%Mitch Perry: 0.4%Creative Loafing Tampa: 0.8%Loss Aversion2.9%This article: 0.0%Mitch Perry: 0.1%Creative Loafing Tampa: 0.3%Status Quo Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Mitch Perry: 0.0%Creative Loafing Tampa: 0.2%Sunk Cost Effect0.0%This article: 0.0%Mitch Perry: 0.4%Creative Loafing Tampa: 2.5%Optimism Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Mitch Perry: 0.3%Creative Loafing Tampa: 0.9%Pessimism Bias0.0%This article: 9.4%Mitch Perry: 4.6%Creative Loafing Tampa: 3.3%Negativity Bias9.4%This article: 4.6%Mitch Perry: 1.8%Creative Loafing Tampa: 1.1%Self-Serving Bias4.6%This article: 0.0%Mitch Perry: 0.3%Creative Loafing Tampa: 0.4%Fundamental Attribution Error0.0%This article: 0.0%Mitch Perry: 0.0%Creative Loafing Tampa: 0.0%Actor-Observer Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Mitch Perry: 4.2%Creative Loafing Tampa: 1.9%In-Group Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Mitch Perry: 0.3%Creative Loafing Tampa: 0.0%Out-Group Homogeneity Bias0.0%This article: 0.7%Mitch Perry: 0.7%Creative Loafing Tampa: 1.1%Halo Effect0.7%This article: 0.0%Mitch Perry: 0.0%Creative Loafing Tampa: 0.0%Horn Effect0.0%This article: 0.0%Mitch Perry: 0.0%Creative Loafing Tampa: 0.0%Dunning-Kruger Effect0.0%This article: 0.0%Mitch Perry: 0.8%Creative Loafing Tampa: 0.8%Recency Bias0.0%This article: 2.0%Mitch Perry: 0.1%Creative Loafing Tampa: 0.1%Primacy Effect2.0%This article: 0.0%Mitch Perry: 0.0%Creative Loafing Tampa: 0.0%Blind-Spot Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Mitch Perry: 1.6%Creative Loafing Tampa: 0.9%Ad Hominem0.0%This article: 0.0%Mitch Perry: 0.0%Creative Loafing Tampa: 0.3%Straw Man0.0%This article: 0.0%Mitch Perry: 3.2%Creative Loafing Tampa: 0.9%Appeal to Authority0.0%This article: 0.0%Mitch Perry: 0.6%Creative Loafing Tampa: 0.8%False Dilemma0.0%This article: 0.0%Mitch Perry: 0.3%Creative Loafing Tampa: 0.5%Slippery Slope0.0%This article: 0.0%Mitch Perry: 0.0%Creative Loafing Tampa: 0.0%Circular Reasoning0.0%This article: 1.9%Mitch Perry: 1.2%Creative Loafing Tampa: 1.7%Hasty Generalization1.9%This article: 0.0%Mitch Perry: 0.4%Creative Loafing Tampa: 0.2%Red Herring0.0%This article: 0.0%Mitch Perry: 0.0%Creative Loafing Tampa: 0.1%Bandwagon0.0%This article: 0.0%Mitch Perry: 4.5%Creative Loafing Tampa: 3.7%Appeal to Emotion0.0%This article: 0.0%Mitch Perry: 0.4%Creative Loafing Tampa: 0.0%Begging the Question0.0%This article: 0.0%Mitch Perry: 0.4%Creative Loafing Tampa: 1.0%Post Hoc (False Cause)0.0%This article: 0.0%Mitch Perry: 0.1%Creative Loafing Tampa: 0.0%Tu Quoque0.0%This article: 0.0%Mitch Perry: 0.1%Creative Loafing Tampa: 0.1%Burden of Proof0.0%This article: 1.7%Mitch Perry: 0.1%Creative Loafing Tampa: 0.2%Appeal to Nature1.7%This article: 0.0%Mitch Perry: 0.0%Creative Loafing Tampa: 0.0%Composition/Division0.0%This article: 0.0%Mitch Perry: 0.6%Creative Loafing Tampa: 0.5%Anecdotal0.0%This article: 0.0%Mitch Perry: 0.1%Creative Loafing Tampa: 0.0%No True Scotsman0.0%This article: 0.0%Mitch Perry: 0.2%Creative Loafing Tampa: 0.6%Ambiguity (Equivocation)0.0%This article: 0.0%Mitch Perry: 0.0%Creative Loafing Tampa: 0.0%Gambler’s Fallacy0.0%This article: 0.0%Mitch Perry: 0.0%Creative Loafing Tampa: 0.0%Middle Ground0.0%This article: 0.0%Mitch Perry: 0.0%Creative Loafing Tampa: 0.0%Personal Incredulity0.0%This article: 0.0%Mitch Perry: 0.0%Creative Loafing Tampa: 0.0%Special Pleading0.0%This article: 0.0%Mitch Perry: 0.2%Creative Loafing Tampa: 0.0%Genetic Fallacy0.0%This article: 0.0%Mitch Perry: 0.4%Creative Loafing Tampa: 0.4%Unattributed Quote0.0%This article: 0.0%Mitch Perry: 1.0%Creative Loafing Tampa: 0.3%Quote-first Misdirection0.0%This article: 4.6%Mitch Perry: 2.3%Creative Loafing Tampa: 2.8%Biased Writer Voice4.6%This article: 0.0%Mitch Perry: 0.2%Creative Loafing Tampa: 0.6%Indoctrination0.0%This article: 0.0%Mitch Perry: 1.8%Creative Loafing Tampa: 1.5%Politically Left Leaning Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Mitch Perry: 0.7%Creative Loafing Tampa: 0.0%Politically Right Leaning Bias0.0%This article: 1.1%Mitch Perry: 0.1%Creative Loafing Tampa: 3.3%Attempt to Sell a Product or S…1.1%

701 words analyzed.

Speakers

3speakers27%attributed speech514writer words
Selected voice

Florida Phoenix

100%flagged-word coverage
5 attributed words2.7% of attributed speech49% writer coverage
0%2.5%5.0%Attempt to Sell a Product -1.6 ptsWriter: 1.6%Florida Phoenix: 0.0%0.0%

Attribution is sentence-level. Pattern percentages are calculated only from words assigned to that voice.

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Analysis

Hover over highlighted words in the article to view the associated bias or fallacy analysis.