Political Partners

Rochelle Dudley/32/Sarasota-Bradenton
Candice McElyea/38/Sarasota-Bradenton

Candice McElyea and Rochelle Dudley entered politics in different ways, but the duo, unbeknownst to each other, shared an idea: To tell politicians' personal stories in ways that go past mere policies and ideology.

That idea is now Politically Personal, a Manatee County-based startup video and story blog that has generated a good deal of buzz in the busy political season. McElyea and Dudley, in conjunction with the Hub, a Sarasota-based business incubator, launched Politically Personal in June. The Hub handles equipment, editing and Web design, while McElyea, 38, and Dudley, 32, are the faces, interviewers and blog writers — and occasional videographers, courtesy of their iPhones.

“We are trying to reach a different demographic,” says Dudley. “We are trying to make politics a little sexier to people who normally wouldn't focus on politics.”

A side venture for both founders, Politically Personal has yet to turn a profit. But the founders eventually envision two revenue streams: One would be from selling ads on www.politicallypersonal.com, which they hope to do by increasing traffic and readership on the site. A second way would be to sell videos to political candidates for campaign promotional pieces. Says McElyea: “We want to humanize politicians through video.”

Politically Personal has so far focused mostly on local politicians and issues. Stories include a video interview of Manatee County Sheriff Brad Steube, who recently won re-election, and an article about a strong-elected mayor proposal voted down by Sarasota City commissioners.

McElyea and Dudley also scored a big “get” for Politically Personal in late August, when they were one of four local media outlets that interviewed Donald Trump. The real estate mogul was in Sarasota the night before the Republican National Convention to accept a Statesman of the Year award from the Sarasota Republican Party. The Trump interview, 4 minutes, 25 seconds, was posted online Aug. 26 and had 10,152 views through Sept. 28.

A St. Petersburg native, Dudley got into politics mostly by accident. She studied journalism at the University of South Florida. But soon after she graduated, Dudley, at 24, became an entrepreneur when she ran a paint-your-own-pottery studio near the Hyde Park neighborhood in Tampa.

The experience led Dudley to engage in local politics, such as when she and some fellow storeowners fought a traffic-light proposal they believed would negatively impact the neighborhood. “That's how I got into politics,” Dudley says. “I realized at 24 I could make a change.”

Dudley grew into her passion quickly. She volunteered for Tampa-area Republican events, and met U.S. Rep. Vern Buchanan, R-Longboat Key, at a parade in Bradenton. She later moved to Manatee County and founded OnMessage Strategic Communications, a political consulting firm with a focus on fundraising for state and local candidates.

McElyea, meanwhile, entered politics through the candidate side: She ran in a Democratic primary for U.S. Congress in Sarasota when she was 24 years old. She raised $40,000, but lost the race. The rest of McElyea's career has been in journalism or public relations. A University of Florida graduate, McElyea was an on-air TV reporter in Sarasota and Salisbury, Md. She now runs her own public relations firm, 360 Degrees.

McElyea and Dudley both have two young children, and they share a jovial friendship and business partnership, where they occasionally finish each other's sentences. They also both thrive off a daily routine that's one part planned, many parts harried. Yet even though they chat together like lifelong friends, they met less than two years ago.

“Our backgrounds were very similar,” says McElyea. “We just really hit it off.”