Dennis Ross

In April 2018, Ross announced that he would retire from Congress, and not run for re-election in 2018.

Starting in 2018, Ross became a distinguished professor of political science at Southeastern University and launched the American Center for Political Leadership (ACPL) in the Jannetides College of Business and Entrepreneurial Leadership.

As of 2017, Ross had an "A-" rating from the NRA, indicating a voting record that was generally pro-guns. According to OpenSecrets.org, Ross has received $19,375 since 2010 in direct and indirect campaign contributions from the NRA and its affiliate organizations. As a Congressman, Ross has voted in favor of several pieces of legislation to expand gun rights, including a yes vote on H. R. 38, which would enable concealed carry reciprocity among all States if and when it is signed into law. In March 2017, Ross voted in favor of the Veterans Second Amendment Protection Act, which, if signed into law, will allow veterans who are considered "mentally incompetent" to purchase ammunition and firearms unless declared a danger by a judge. Ross also voted in favor of H.J.Res.40, which successfully used the Congressional Review Act to block implementation of an Obama-era Amendment to the NICS Improvement Amendments Act of 2007 that was aimed at preventing the mentally-infirm from legally purchasing firearms.

Following the 2017 Las Vegas shooting, Ross signed a letter written to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives urging them to reevaluate the legal status of bump stocks, though no action has been taken as of March 2018. Of bump stocks, Ross said, "I believe in taking the important step to outlaw devices that make a firearm simulate an automatic firearm. I fully support the Second Amendment and the right to keep and bear arms—this is about consistent enforcement of the automatic weapons ban."

Ross voted in favor of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017.

Ross supported President Donald Trump's 2017 executive order to impose a temporary ban on entry to the U.S. to citizens of seven Muslim-majority countries, calling the controversial order a "long overdue" measure to "ensure our country is safe from radical Islamic jihadists."

After redistricting, Ross' district was renumbered as the 15th District. No other candidate filed by the deadline, and he won re-election to a second term unopposed.

Ross decided to run for Florida's 12th congressional district, vacated for retiring Adam Putnam, who decided to run for Florida Commissioner of Agriculture. In the Republican primary, Ross defeated John W. Lindsey, Jr. 69%–31%. In the general election, he defeated Democrat Lori Edwards, the Polk County Supervisor of Elections, TEA Party candidate Randy Wilkinson, a Polk County Commissioner, 48%–41%–11%. This was the second time Ross succeeded Putnam. It was only the third time that a Democrat had managed to get 40 percent of the vote in this district since Andy Ireland switched parties in 1984 in what was then the 10th District (it was renumbered as the 12th after the 1990 census).

In 2009 Ross signed a pledge sponsored by Americans for Prosperity promising to vote against any Global Warming legislation that would raise taxes.

Ross went on to work for a year as a legislative aide in St. Petersburg to State Senator Dennis Jones in 1982. He was elected Chairman of the Polk County Republican Executive Committee, and served until 1995. In 1996, he ran unsuccessfully for the State Senate, losing to incumbent Democratic State Senator Rick Dantzler. In 2000, he ran for the 63rd district of the Florida House of Representatives, vacated by Adam Putnam.

Dennis Alan Ross (born October 18, 1959) is an American businessman and politician who served in the United States House of Representatives from 2011 to 2019. A Republican from Florida, his district was numbered as Florida's 12th congressional district during his first two years in Congress, and it was numbered as the 15th district during his last six years in Congress.

Ross was born October 18, 1959 in Lakeland, Florida, the youngest of five children born to Bill and Loyola Ross. He attended Catholic school for nine years before graduating at Lakeland Senior High School in 1977. After high school, he attended the University of Florida before transferring to Auburn University where he graduated in 1981 with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Organizational Management. He then graduated from Samford University's Cumberland School of Law in 1987.