Sunburn — The morning read of what’s hot in Florida politics — 9.24.26

 

Sunburn — get up to speed with your morning read of Florida politics.

From: Extensive Media Enterprises 

Good Thursday morning.

Ballard Partners is opening offices in Budapest and Warsaw and has hired Gladden Pappin to run them.

Pappin joins the firm as a Partner in its Washington office and will serve as Managing Partner for Central and Eastern Europe. He will lead a new practice advising companies, investors, and governments across more than a dozen countries. The two offices are the firm’s first in the region and add to an international footprint that already includes Tel Aviv, Istanbul, Riyadh, and Caracas.

Gladden Pappin leads Ballard Partners’ expansion into Central and Eastern Europe.

Pappin cofounded the policy journal American Affairs and most recently served as president of the Hungarian Institute of International Affairs. In that role, he participated in the November 2025 White House meetings with President Donald Trump that expanded U.S.-Hungary cooperation in energy, defense, and security. He also worked with Vice President JD Vance on related negotiations and on Vance’s April 2026 visit to Budapest.

“Opening offices in Budapest and Warsaw at the same time gives our clients a presence in two of the region’s most important capitals from day one,” said Brian Ballard, the firm’s president and founder.

The firm cited Poland’s growing role as a U.S. defense and security partner, along with the region’s expanding energy, defense industrial, and technology sectors.

Pappin is a regular at the Munich Security Conference and the Raisina Dialogue. In 2021, he cofounded Realm Alliance, an AI-driven venture serving the mining sector.

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Former state Rep. Pat Patterson, a DeLand Republican, died Monday after a two-and-a-half-year fight with pancreatic cancer. He was 77.

His nephew and onetime campaign manager, Trey Price, shared the news on Facebook.

Patterson served on the Volusia County Council before winning a House seat in 1998 after a recount. He returned to the House in 2002, served until term limits in 2010, then rejoined the County Council from 2012 to 2018.

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