Republican state Sen. Villalobos endorses Sink

It’s the season of the surprise endorsement.

Earlier today, Republican state Sen. Alex Villalobos announced he was supporting Democrat Alex Sink for governor over Republican candidate Rick Scott. In a prepared statement, Villalobos called Sink “the only candidate running with the integrity and character needed to lead our state,” an apparent swipe at Scott’s history running a chain of hospitals that pleaded guilty to Medicare fraud. “With her decades of respected business experience, I know she is a fiscal conservative who we can trust to move our state forward and work in a bipartisan way to find solutions to Florida’s challenges,” Villalobos stated.

Sink earlier won the endorsements of the police unions, the PBA and FOP — the first time in 20 years both unions endorsed a Democrat.

Scott, meanwhile, has been endorsed by the Florida Chamber of Commerce and Associated Industries of Florida, and has picked up a nod from the national conservative activist organization FreedomWorks, which, with the Scott-funded group Conservatives for Patients Rights, attempted to kill Democratic health care reform proposals last year. Those are not surprising endorsements.