Politics

House version of legislative term limits bill filed

Published

5 days ago

February 15, 2025

A Senate bill that could cap House and Senate tenures at eight years in each now has a House companion.

HB 637, filed Friday by Rep. Michael Owen, would create a constitutional amendment allowing voters to limit House members to four two-year terms and Senate members to two four-year terms.

It caps total legislative service at 16 years except in the case of a state Senator whose term was “shortened by appointment.” In that case, they can exceed the term limit cap for one additional term.

Sen. Blaise Ingoglia’s SJR 536 is a similar bill to Owen’s product.

The legislative desire to clarify this question comes as the Florida Supreme Court ruled that Debbie Mayfield was constitutionally eligible to run in the Special Election for Senate District 19.

Mayfield served in the Senate from 2016 to 2024, and could not seek another term in November due to term limits. She instead ran for and won a seat in the House last cycle representing House District 32.

But when Sen. Randy Fine, her successor in the Senate, resigned to run for Congress, Mayfield announced she would seek her old Senate seat in a Special Election. She had already submitted an irrevocable resignation from the House when the state disqualified her.

Florida Secretary of State Cord Byrd and the Division of Elections had disqualified Mayfield from the ballot, citing term limits barring her from seeking the office again. Byrd and his office argued in favor of disqualifying her from the ballot, repeating their claim that running would violate the term limits provisions in the Florida Constitution since she’d served “eight consecutive years” through last November.

But the high court was not convinced, unanimously ruling that Mayfield’s filing “has met the statutory requirements” and that she “has a clear legal right to appear on the primary ballot,” since there was time between the end of her previous time in the Senate and when her next stint could begin later this year.

Now that she’s back on the ballot, Mayfield will face in the Special Election Primary former Melbourne City Council member Tim Thomas; Marcie Adkins, who challenged Fine for his House seat in 2020; and Mark Lightner III, a University of North Florida business graduate and Brevard County native.

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Jacob Ogles contributed reporting.

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Politics

Pam Bondi welcomes terror designation for transnational cartels

Published

29 seconds ago

February 20, 2025

May Greene

Attorney General Pam Bondi believes that President Donald Trump’s designation of transnational cartels as terror groups will help the federal government fight their depredations at home and abroad.

“They are terrorist groups. And it gives us the ability to go after them anywhere in the world and treat them as terrorists. They are terrorists. If you’re bringing fentanyl into this country and killing our kids, you’re a terrorist and we’re coming after you,” Bondi said at CPAC 2025 in Washington, D.C.

Trump’s executive order last month said “cartels functionally control, through a campaign of assassination, terror, rape, and brute force nearly all illegal traffic across the southern border of the United States.”

“In certain portions of Mexico, they function as quasi-governmental entities, controlling nearly all aspects of society. The Cartels’ activities threaten the safety of the American people, the security of the United States, and the stability of the international order in the Western Hemisphere. Their activities, proximity to, and incursions into the physical territory of the United States pose an unacceptable national security risk to the United States.”

Tren de Aragua, Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13), Cártel de Sinaloa, Cártel de Jalisco Nueva Generación, Cártel del Noreste (formerly Los Zetas), La Nueva Familia Michoacana, Cártel de Golfo (Gulf Cartel), and Cárteles Unidos all have the domestic terror designation from the State Department.

Though the crackdown has begun, Bondi worries that the open border policy of the previous administration means that domestic terror from people already in the country is a “huge risk.”

“What Donald Trump has committed to do is to take these people out of our country to prosecute them, to deport them, to get them off our streets. And that’s what all of these law enforcement agencies are doing,” Bondi said Thursday.

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Politics

Donald Trump loyalist Kash Patel is confirmed as FBI director by the Senate despite deep Democratic doubts

Published

32 minutes ago

February 20, 2025

May Greene

‘The politicalization of our justice system has eroded public trust — but that ends today.’

The Senate on Thursday narrowly voted to confirm Kash Patel as director of the FBI, moving to place him atop the nation’s premier federal law enforcement agency despite doubts from Democrats about his qualifications and concerns he will do Donald Trump’s bidding and go after the Republican president’s adversaries.

“I cannot imagine a worse choice,” Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., told colleagues before the 51-49 vote by the GOP-controlled Senate. Sens. Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska were the lone Republican holdouts.

A Trump loyalist who has fiercely criticized the agency he will now lead, Patel will inherit an FBI gripped by turmoil as the Justice Department over the past month has forced out a group of senior bureau officials and made a highly unusual demand for the names of thousands of agents who participated in investigations related to the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol.

Patel has spoken of his desire to implement major changes at the FBI, including a reduced footprint in Washington and a renewed emphasis on the bureau’s traditional crime-fighting duties rather than the intelligence-gathering work that has come to define its mandate over the past two decades as national security threats have proliferated.

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Politics

Last Call for 2.20.25 – A prime-time read of what’s going down in Florida

Published

1 hour ago

February 20, 2025

May Greene

Last Call – A prime-time read of what’s going down in Florida politics.

First Shot

Florida’s Governor is one of several new faces on the presidentially appointed Council of Governors.

President Donald Trump announced that Gov. Ron DeSantis is part of a wave of picks to the “bipartisan group of state leaders tasked with strengthening state-federal partnerships on key national security, disaster response, and military coordination issues.”

Trump also appointed Virginia Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin and North Carolina Democrat Gov. Josh Stein as Co-Chairs.

Republican Governors Brian Kemp of Georgia, Jeff Landry of Louisiana, and Henry McMaster of South Carolina are among the new regular members.

Additionally, Trump empaneled Democratic Govs. Kathy Hochul of New York, Wes Moore of Maryland, Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania and Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan.

DeSantis will be in Washington, D.C., on Friday, where he has said that he intends to press the Trump administration on a variety of issues. These include the Atlantic red snapper season, relocating NASA to Florida, federal block grant funding of Everglades restoration projects, changing guidelines for college accreditation and importing pharmaceuticals from Canada.

Read more on Florida Politics.

Evening Reads

—”This is what happens when the DOGE guys take over” via Michael Scherer, Ashley Parker, Matteo Wong, and Shane Harris of The Atlantic

—“Donald Trump comes close to the red line of openly defying judges, experts say” via Justin Jouvenal, Leo Sands and Ann E. Marimow of The Washington Post

—”Emergency food, TB tests and HIV drugs: Vital health aid remains frozen despite court ruling” via Stephanie Nolen of The New York Times

—”Trump banned gender-affirming care for teens. now, these families are in chaos” via Alex Morris of Rolling Stone

—”‘He could have been the king’: Gov. Ron DeSantis praises George Washington’s restraint while unveiling statue” via Gabrielle Russon of Florida Politics

—“Trump taps DeSantis for bipartisan Council of Governors” via A.G. Gancarski of Florida Politics

—“In Trump’s DC, K Street clamors for Florida-linked lobbyists” via POLITICO

—”Florida sues Target for ‘leftist agenda that sexualized children,’ harm to retirement fund” via Jeffrey Schweers of the Orlando Sentinel

—”One state’s flawed, desperate new plan to fix its egg shortage” via Kenny Torrella of Vox

—”USF outlines plans for upcoming presidential search” via Ian Hodgson of the Tampa Bay Times

Quote of the Day

“He could have been the king of the United States of America if he wanted to do it.”

— Ron DeSantis, revealing a new bronze George Washington statue in the State Capitol Rotunda.

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Breakthrough Insights

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MLS Season kicks off Saturday

MLS Season kicks off on Saturday. Inter Miami hosts NYCFC while Orlando City hosts Philadelphia

The regular season kicks off in Major League Soccer on Saturday when Inter Miami hosts NYCFC (7:30 p.m. ET, Apple TV+) and Orlando City hosts the Philadelphia Union (7:30 p.m. ET, Apple TV+).

This is the 30th season of the league.

Inter Miami finished last season with the best record in MLS and qualified for round one of the 2025 League Cup and CONCACAF Champions Cup. However, the postseason did not go well for Inter Miami, as they lost in round one to Atlanta United in a best-of-three series.

Two Inter Miami stars scored 20 goals, tied for second-best in the league. Both Lionel Messi and Louis Suarez each scored a hat trick during the season as part of their 20-goal years. Messi also added 16 assists, tied for third-best in the league. Both are back with the club for the 2025 season.

Miami’s opening match opponent, NYFCF, finished seventh place in the Eastern Conference last season.

Orlando finished in fourth place in the Eastern Conference in 2024 and beat Atlanta United in the conference semifinals before being eliminated by the New York Red Bulls in the finals. Facundo Torres scored 20 goals to become the all-time leading goal scorer in club history with 47 goals.

Philadelphia missed the playoffs last season, finishing with nine wins in 34 matches.

The regular season runs until Oct. 18, with the playoffs to follow.

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Last Call is published by Peter Schorsch, assembled and edited by Phil Ammann and Drew Wilson, with contributions from the staff of Florida Politics.

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