Rep. Steube to headline 2025-26 speakers for Longboat Republican Club

The Republican Club of Longboat Key has big names coming with the set schedule.

After taking the slow summer season off, the club is kicking off its monthly meetings on Nov. 12 at the Sarasota Yacht Club. Club President Nick Gladding said he has finalized four guest speakers for the next six meetings.

“I’m excited about this,” he said. “I wanted to give a mix of hopefully informative information of different aspects of things that would appeal to our members.”

Meetings start at 5:30 p.m. for a cocktail hour before dinner at 6:30. The guest speaker addresses the crowd a little after 7 and takes questions for about 45 minutes, Gladding explained. Meetings usually have about 70 attendees, but he expects higher numbers for some events.

The first meeting of the season is Nov. 12 with U.S. Rep. Greg Steube as guest speaker. Steube has represented Florida’s 17th district including Sarasota, Siesta Key, Venice, Port Charlotte and Punta Gorda since 2019.

Jan. 20 will kick off 2026 for the Republican Club at the yacht club as Seaport Manatee executive director Carlos Buqueras is the speaker. Seaport Manatee is at Tampa Bay north of Palmetto and bills itself as “the closest U.S. deepwater seaport to the expanded Panama Canal.” Before starting with Seaport Manatee in 2012, Buqueras was director of business development at Port Everglades.

Zota Beach Resort will host the Republican Club’s February meeting, welcoming State College of Florida President Tommy Gregory as guest speaker on Feb. 17. Hired to lead SCF in 2024, Gregory resigned from his position as a state congressman in the Florida House of Representatives to take the SCF job.

On Dec. 9, the club is holding a holiday party at Crab & Fin Restaurant on St. Armands Circle.

The penultimate meeting will feature guest speaker Victor Ashe, former United States ambassador to Poland, longtime Knoxville, Tennessee mayor and Tennessee state representative. That meeting will be March 17, 2026, at the Sarasota Yacht Club.

The final meeting of the year on April 21 at Sarasota Yacht Club will have elections for Republican Club leadership.