Licensed Florida agency A3400127 · Investigator C3400073 · Veteran-led, 12 years Army military intelligence · Phone answered 24 hours a day, seven days a week · Silver, Best Private Investigator, Bradenton’s Best 2025 and 2026
Insight Investigative Group, LLC is a licensed Florida private investigative agency, agency license A3400127, that conducts political opposition research and candidate vetting for campaigns, committees and attorneys across the Florida Suncoast. Every finding is sourced to a public record, documented to evidentiary standards, and delivered by an investigator who can explain exactly where it came from.
What is opposition research?
Opposition research is the systematic review of a candidate’s public record: what they have said, filed, signed, owned, sued over and been sued over. Campaigns use it to understand an opponent. Candidates use it on themselves to find out what an opponent will discover. Done properly it is public record work, not spying, and the result is a documented file rather than a rumor.
Candidate opposition research
A typical engagement covers voting history and attendance records for anyone who has held office, campaign finance filings, civil and criminal court records, property and business interests, professional licensing and any discipline attached to it, and the public statement trail across media and social platforms. The deliverable is a sourced report. Every claim in it carries a citation to the record that supports it, because a claim a campaign cannot defend is worse than no claim at all.
Self-vetting for candidates
The same research, run on you, before you file. If there is a lien from 2011 or an old lawsuit with your name on it, your opponent will find it. Finding it first means you control the timing and the framing instead of reading about it two weeks before the vote. Self-vetting is inexpensive relative to the cost of being surprised late in a race, and it is the engagement we recommend candidates run first.
If you want to see what that research covers before you commission it, we published a walkthrough of the public records involved: how to check a political candidate’s record in Florida.
How much does opposition research cost?
This is the one service we do not publish a flat price for, and the reason is honest: cost tracks the length of the subject’s public life. A first-time candidate with no litigation history is a smaller project than a twenty-year officeholder with a filing trail in three counties. We scope the engagement against the actual record and quote it in writing before any work begins. There is no hourly meter running while you wait.
Where the line is
We work from public records and lawful open source collection. We do not access sealed or expunged records, bank records, phone records, credit reports or medical records, and no legitimate firm can. We do not manufacture claims, and we do not pad a report with insinuation. If a fact cannot be sourced, it does not go in the file.
Your file stays yours
Under section 493.6119 of the Florida Statutes, a licensed agency may not release the contents of an investigative file to anyone other than the client or employer. Who you researched and what we found are confidential.
Campaign expenditure reporting is separate and we will not pretend otherwise. If your committee is required to disclose payments to vendors, the engagement itself may appear in a public filing even though its contents do not. We will walk through that with you before any work begins.
Opposition research questions, answered
Is opposition research legal?
Yes. Opposition research conducted from public records, court filings, campaign finance reports and publicly visible statements is lawful. What is not lawful is accessing sealed records, private accounts, or protected data such as bank, phone or medical records, and a licensed investigator will not do those things for any client. The line is public versus protected, and a professional stays on the right side of it.
What does opposition research include?
A standard engagement reviews court records, campaign finance filings, voting and attendance history for past officeholders, property and business ownership, professional licensing and discipline, and the candidate’s public statement trail including social media. Every finding is cited to its source record so the campaign can defend anything it chooses to use.
Should a candidate run opposition research on themselves?
Yes, and ideally before filing. Self-vetting surfaces everything an opponent’s researcher will find, which lets the campaign prepare answers on its own schedule instead of reacting late in a race. It is the engagement we recommend candidates run first.
Why do you not publish a flat price for this service?
It depends on how long the subject’s public life is: a first-time candidate with no litigation history is a smaller project than a twenty-year officeholder. Insight Investigative Group scopes and quotes each engagement in writing before any work begins. Call 941-297-8213 for a confidential consultation.
Who can see the results?
The client. Florida law, section 493.6119, prohibits a licensed agency from releasing the contents of an investigative file to anyone other than the client or employer, subject to narrow exceptions including a request or subpoena from the state regulator. Note that campaign expenditure reporting is separate: the payment itself may appear in a public filing even though the findings do not.
Speak with a licensed investigator
Consultations are confidential. We will scope the engagement and quote it in writing before any work begins.
Call and a licensed investigator answers, day or night, including weekends. Written inquiries are answered within 48 hours.