In 1986, Saunders ran for the Florida House of Representatives from the 120th District, facing Wilhelmina Harvey and Harry Rosenthal in the Democratic primary.

Saunders attempted a political comeback in 2002 by running in the Democratic primary in the 39th Senate District, but narrowly lost to former State Representative Larcenia Bullard, who later won the general election.

He won the nomination of his party uncontested and defeated his general election opponent, Republican David Rice, by a solid margin to win a fifth nonconsecutive term.

He faced former Key West Mayor Morgan McPherson, who emerged as the Republican nominee, and Henry Llorella, who was associated with the Tea Party movement; Saunders won re-election with 55% of the vote.

Saunders faced Bullard’s son, State Representative Dwight Bullard, former State Representative James Bush, JJ Johnson, and Sal Gutierrez in the primary.