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Winner and Loser of the Week in Florida politics — Week of 3.9.25

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Last month, we asked the question: Could NASA headquarters make a landing here in the Sunshine State?

That was largely based on a push by Gov. Ron DeSantis to move the HQ to Cape Canaveral. Now, it seems like DeSantis has some allies in Washington on this issue.

Florida’s U.S. Senators, Ashley Moody and Rick Scott, are pushing a new bill to make the move out of Washington permanent. The Consolidating Aerospace Programs Efficiently (CAPE) at Canaveral Act would shift operations to Brevard County as a way of saving money, per Scott.

“Moving to Florida will not only save Americans’ tax dollars, it will enhance efficiency and streamline operations in this important industry with proximity to private-sector partners and a top-tier workforce ready to help America reach its space exploration goals,” Scott said.

As we argued previously, the move makes sense. Why lead operations from Washington when the action is at Kennedy Space Center? There are already renovations underway unrelated to this push. What’s a few more upgrades to make the location suitable for NASA’s headquarters?

President Donald Trump should check with advisor Elon Musk to see just how good Florida has been to SpaceX while hosting many launches from the Musk company.

This isn’t just a pipe dream of the Governor’s anymore. It looks like we may have liftoff.

Now, it’s onto our weekly game of winners and losers.

Winners

Honorable mention: Endangered Florida panthers. Big news for environmentalists, as Conservation Florida worked with the Department of Environmental Protection to expand Fakahatchee Strand Preserve State Park by adding 60 more protected acres.

Conservation Florida bought the land from Avatar Properties. It was then transferred to the state park system to be managed by the state. That means no additional construction on that land.

That’s good news for panthers, who are known to roam in the preserve. The panther population suffered 36 deaths in the past year, 29 from car’s striking them. Conservation Florida estimates that between 120 and 230 panthers remain in Florida.

That makes the move to protect more of this vital land even more important.

“The Fakahatchee Strand is a truly special place,” said Conservation Florida CEO Traci Deen. “In one visit alone to the parcels we acquired, our team encountered rare plants and animals we’ve spent our entire lives wishing to see. It fills us with pride to have helped conserve one of the state’s most extraordinary wild places and added to our award-winning state parks system.”

Almost (but not quite) the biggest winner: Anna Paulina Luna. Members of Congress love to tout their legislative wins. And they are important. We dedicate a good chunk of our twice weekly Delegation newsletters to covering those bills, however big or small.

But you deserve extra credit when you get a bill to the floor without going through the standard process of getting leadership to sign off.

Luna accomplished such a feat using something called a discharge petition. That requires the House to hold a vote on anything that 218 members agree should be voted upon.

You might think that would happen more often. But so much of Washington is structured around backroom deals and insulating members from difficult votes. There are plenty of items, if just given a chance to earn a majority vote, would pass in a second. Instead, they often never hit the floor due to Washington machinations.

And that’s why moves like this are so rare. Because in the event the majority party wants to vote on something, the Speaker will almost inevitably bring it to the floor.

That hasn’t been the case, however, with Luna’s push to allow proxy voting for brand new moms. Proxy voting was used during the COVID pandemic but fell out of favor with Republicans. Once they retook the chamber, proxy voting was out.

Luna, who gave birth during her first term, says an exception should be made for moms recovering from childbirth for the first six weeks.

This, again, is something that would likely pass via a majority. But Speaker Mike Johnson opposes it, as do a fair chunk of Republicans, so her bill is stuck in limbo.

That meant Luna turned to the discharge petition process and this week, she hit the 218 votes needed to force a vote, thanks largely to Democratic support. U.S. Rep. Byron Donalds was the only Republican member of Florida’s delegation to sign the petition.

The vote hasn’t happened yet, but Luna already deserves major credit for jumping through hoops and defying her party’s leadership to force a vote in the first place.

And she’s right on this issue. Your humble author of the column just welcomed a baby boy in January, and the idea that women are expected to rush back to Washington to participate in the legislative process so soon is absolutely insane. It’s somewhat incredible that the party of family values doesn’t see that inherently.

Good on Luna for her work on this.

The biggest winner: Donalds. Donalds lands here not for landing on the right side of Luna’s discharge petition, but for continuing his red-hot momentum in the Florida Governor’s race.

Again, we’re nearly a year and a half away from any votes being cast in this contest. But Donalds continues looking like the clear favorite to earn the Republican nomination and, in an increasingly red Florida, become the state’s next Governor.

Donalds already has the Donald Trump bump, and that’s arguably enough to seal this thing already among the GOP base.

But the benefit of securing the President’s endorsement isn’t just him speaking out in favor. It’s everyone in his orbit, and much of the existing Republican Party power structure, also falling in line behind Donalds.

We started to see some of that this week. Donald Trump Jr. is, unsurprisingly, endorsing Donalds’ bid. So too is Charlie Kirk, one of the largest conservative influencers in the country who runs the powerful Turning Points USA organization that has major sway among Republican voters.

But what kicked off this strong week from Donalds was the Club for Growth PAC announcing support for Donalds.

That’s notable not just because of Club for Growth’s status in the conservative movement, but also because the group supported DeSantis during his initial 2018 run. Now, with DeSantis floating his wife as a possible successor, the group is out on the DeSantis dynasty and backing Donalds instead.

Being able to flip a prominent group like that speaks well of Donalds’ ability in the year-plus ahead to continue securing support from various pillars of the Republican base. This is just the beginning.

Losers

Dishonorable mention: Dave Weldon. Weldon joins fellow Florida Men Chad Chronister and Matt Gaetz in earning nominations for premier posts in the second Trump administration … only to have those nominations blow up and be withdrawn.

Weldon was far along in the process to be the next Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. But reports say as Weldon was on his way to his confirmation hearing Thursday morning, he got the call that the Trump administration was pulling Weldon’s name from consideration.

Ouch.

There hasn’t been official comment from Weldon or the White House on the reasoning for the move. But Weldon’s previous vaccine-skeptical views reportedly led to multiple key Senators opposed to his nomination. Weldon didn’t have the votes, so Team Trump looked to spare themselves the humiliation of their nominee going down.

That means the former Florida Congressman won’t return to Washington after all. It’s unclear who Trump’s next choice to lead the agency will be.

Almost (but not quite) the biggest loser: House Democrats. Republicans hold supermajorities in both chambers of the Legislature, leaving Democrats in Tallahassee already embarrassed to some degree.

But somehow, they keep finding a way to dig up more bad press.

Recall that Democrats went on the offensive in 2024, running candidates in every seat on the ballot to try and break the GOP supermajority. They failed.

Then, following the election, two Democratic House members announced they were swapping parties. They gave various reasons, but the real reason is that the Democratic brand had become so toxic that they felt their odds of extending their respective political careers were better if they joined the red team.

Now this week, the Democrats had a private blowup go public. And the spat included the top Democrat in the House.

Our own Jacob Ogles broke the news of House Democratic Leader Fentrice Driskell confronting Rep. Jose Alvarez of Kissimmee after Alvarez voted during a committee hearing to advance legislation that would make it harder to get future petitions on the Florida ballot.

It wasn’t a vote on the floor, and Democrats at times play nice and vote to advance bills out of committee before voting down on them when it counts. Other times, Democratic leadership sees bills as being so toxic that they require disapproval throughout the entire process.

For Driskell, this bill reportedly fell into the latter camp. And Driskell said she wasn’t given a heads up on Alvarez’s decision to vote in favor.

“Part of the culture we are trying to develop here is, we understand the party in some ways is a coalition, and we may not vote the same on every bill,” Driskell said. “What I ask is that people let us know.”

Lobbyists indicated to Florida Politics that Alvarez also seemed to be down on the bill before praising it during the committee hearing and voting “yes.” Alvarez, for his part, said Driskell offended him during the confrontation.

“It was very disrespectful of her to speak to another member of the House that way,” Alvarez said, “for someone who calls herself a leader, to disrespect me in front of that, to tell me I vote whichever way she wants me to vote. I’ve been in public office long enough to know never to tell people to do a vote.”

That was just the beginning of the tea that spilled out of this meeting. And the big thing unclear to us — and likely to Democratic voters across the state — is if Democrats can’t even get their own caucus in line and work in unison on their own game plan, how are they ever going to dig out of the hole they’ve found themselves as they watch Republicans dominating the state?

Like we keep saying: Florida is a red state now. And it’s going to stay that way with Democrats continuing clown shows like this.

The biggest loser: Baseball in Tampa Bay. And that’s that. The deal to develop the Historic Gas Plant District and build a new stadium for the Rays is officially dead.

Rays owner Stuart Sternberg made the announcement in a social media post this week ahead of a March 31 deadline for the team to put its final signature to the deal.

And the face that the Rays no longer have a future home puts the team’s entire existence in the Tampa Bay area in doubt.

Now, there are some reassurances here. DeSantis said Friday that he spoke to MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred and that Manfred is “committed” to finding a way forward where the Rays stay put.

And while Sternberg pulled out of the existing deal, he left some sort of path open to constructing a new deal, though it’s unclear how that’s feasible. Is turning to Tampa, rather than St. Pete, a viable option? There’s also reportedly an investor group interested in purchasing the Rays and promising to keep them in the Tampa Bay area.

So there are possibilities where this ends well. But there is no longer certainty, and we’ve seen plenty of bad things happen when team owners don’t get the deal they want. Just look at the sad saga of another MLB franchise, the Oakland A’s.

For us and everyone else, this looked like a done deal last Summer, when St. Pete and Pinellas County got on board with the deal. But due to a series of freak events prompted by an act of nature, we somehow ended up here. Before Hurricane Milton hit, it looked like there were better odds of a Ray-Marlins 2025 World Series than this deal falling apart. Yet here we are.

This is documentary material at this point. Let’s hope there’s a happy ending that keeps the Rays at home. But until we have that set in stone — for real this time — fans have to wonder what the future holds for this team.


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David vs. Goliath battle lines drawn over retirement community reform bill

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A battle of David versus Goliath has emerged in response to a bill filed in the House and Senate which is supported by the Office of Insurance Regulation (OIR).

The bill (SB 1656) proposes amendments to Florida Statute 651 which are intended to reform the law that governs continuing care retirement communities (CCRCs), especially provisions intended to give the OIR new tools to deal with CCRC bankruptcies.

Insurance Commissioner Mike Yaworsky has gone on record criticizing a major continuing care provider association because some of its members have pressured retirement home residents to oppose provisions of the bill that are supported by Florida Life Care Residents Association (FLiCRA), the association made up of 13,000 residents of retirement communities across Florida.

The Commissioner communicated in writing to LeadingAge Southeast that he found the association was engaging in “unacceptable and unproductive behavior.”

Hank Keith, who is CEO of Westminster Communities of Florida, has also come under fire from Westminster retirement community residents across the state, after he wrote to residents personally several times urging them to launch a letter-writing campaign to urge legislators to oppose the OIR bill.

In his letters to residents Keith claimed that the OIR bill would lead to “significant increases in monthly costs” for residents and would “reduce charitable impact.”

FLiCRA Executive Director Bennett Napier says FLiCRA “supports specific provisions in the bills centered around new and improved definitions, additional financial transparency and protection of resident financial interests.”

“Like other stakeholders, FLiCRA wants to ensure the Florida CCRC marketplace is stable and able to grow to meet consumer demand.” Napier said. “We appreciate that a number of owner/operators of Florida CCRCs chose not to engage their residents in letter writing against the House and Senate bills that are likely to be amended during the committee process.”

Some Westminster residents believe their friends and neighbors may have been misled into signing the form letters that Westminster management provided to them.

One such resident is former Rep. Marjorie Turnbull, who lives at Westminster Oaks in Tallahassee. After receiving communication from Westminster that included a pitch from Keith criticizing the bill, sample letters, and contact information for legislators, Turnbull fired back a response asking Westminster to withdraw the request.

“I was perturbed by the email asking Westminster Oaks residents to contact their legislators regarding a bill that has not been explained to us in detail prior to this request,” Turnbull said. “Without more detailed information and a like statement from FLiCRA, which solicits resident input prior to taking a position, I would suggest that any resident, who sends such a letter to a legislator, may not be acting in his/her own best interest.”

“It would be wise (for Westminster) to retract the request until we receive more information,” she concluded.

It appears Westminster instructed managers at all 12 of its Florida CCRC locations to distribute the Keith communication to residents.

At the Sandhill Cove Senior Living Community in Palm City, local management took it a step further and made a presentation to the community at both the February and March “Cup of Joe” monthly gatherings.

Sandhill Cove resident Pete Morrisey said the presentations came without any advance notice. “At the end of the meetings they said there were form letters they could give to people,” Morrisey said.

Morrisey said he agrees with Turnbull that the tactics of Westminster and some other owner/operators surely led some residents to sign form letters without fully knowing what they were opposing.

The OIR bill is scheduled to be taken up by the Senate Banking and Insurance Committee on Monday.


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AOC raises a ruckus over two Florida Democrats in Congressional races use her material without permission

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Vice Chair of the Democratic National Committee, David Hogg, warned Democratic candidates to back off using unauthorized material.

Two Florida Democrats with long-shot campaigns for U.S. Congressional seats are taking heat from a national leader of the party for the unauthorized use of material in their advertisements.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, also known as AOC in political pop culture, is the U.S. Representative  for New York’s 14th Congressional District, is taking Gay Valimont and Josh Weil to task. Valimont is seeking Florida’s 1st Congressional District seat that was held by Matt Gaetz in the Panhandle until he resigned in November after President Donald Trump nominated Gaetz for U.S. Attorney General. Gaetz resigned his Congressional seat but then withdrew his name from the nomination after he had resigned from the U.S. House of Representatives.

Weil is running for Florida’s 6th U.S. Congressional District in and surrounding the Space Coast and as recent as Friday his Republican competitor Randy Fine called for his arrest because one of his campaign workers was distributing campaign flyers on a stolen bicycle.  That congressional seat is up for a special election April 1 after Republican Michael Waltz vacated it to become National Security Advisor for Trump.

Ocasio-Cortez in a social media post on the X platform this weekend said neither Valimont or Weil had permission to take excerpts from the New York Democrat’s Instagram speech that lasted 92 minutes recorded in February. The two Florida Democrats were using Ocasio-Cortez’s Instagram address to raise funds for their campaigns in the Sunshine State.

“Fyi this is being run as an ad without my consent. I’m not personally involved in any races right now,” Ocasio-Cortez said in an X post dated Saturday.

David Hogg, the vice chair of the Democratic National Committee has gotten involved in the inner-party flap. Hogg, who is from Florida and one of the survivors of the school shooting in Parkland in 2018, said he has advised the Florida Democrats to back off.

“The campaign hasn’t been approving this type of content – it’s this consultant who’s running this without anyone’s consent,” Hogg said in an X post, adding he has sent a cease-and-desist order to the political fundraising consultants on the campaign.

Hogg singled out fundraising advisor Jackson McMillan for the unauthorized use of the the Ocasio-Cortez material.

“I’m done dealing with these a**holes and it’s time they start being called out. Everyone says f*** the consultants but won’t name names. Jackson is one of many,” Hogg said in his X post.

While Valimont is the up for the special election in April 1 for the vacant Gaetz seat, the favorite to win the seat is current Florida Chief Executive Officer Jimmy Patronis.


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Hospitality and culinary competition results in more than $1M in scholarships for Florida students

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Some 400 students from about 40 high schools from all over Florida this month competed in the ProStart Culinary Team Competition and the Hospitality & Tourism Management (HTM) competition that was organized by The Florida Restaurant and Lodging Association (FRLA) Education Foundation.

While the competition was intense in the 24th annual event, it ended with the distribution in more than $1.6 million in scholarships to the students who received recognition for their efforts. The scholarships were offered from several institutions including the Culinary Institute of America, Culinary Institute of Virginia, Florida International University, Keiser University, Nicholls State University, University of Central Florida’s Rosen College of Hospitality and Hillsborough Culinary Academies at Erwin Technical College.

“We are incredibly proud of the talent and dedication shown by these students during the 24th annual ProStart and HTM events,” said Laura Rumer, director of the FRLA Educational Foundation. “These competitions highlight their skills and passion for the industry. It’s inspiring to see so many receive scholarships and recognition for their hard work. Congratulations to all the winners, and we look forward to seeing them represent Florida at the national ProStart Invitational in Washington, D.C. this May.”

The overall winners for culinary competitions were Martin County High School from Stuart finishing first. Strawberry Crest High School from Dover came in second with Wekiva High School from Apopka coming in third. South Lake High School from Groveland and Fort Pierce Central High School tied for fourth and there was a tie for fifth between George Jenkins High School from Lakeland and Lyman High School from Longwood.

There were also awards issued for culinary, hospitality management, edible centerpiece, waiters relay competitions.

The overall winners for hospitality included Stoneman Douglas High School from Parkland finishing first, Colonial High School from Orlando in second and Osceola High School from Kissimmee.

Other honors for hospitality also included hotel operations, hospitality project and a knowledge bowl.

“As the state’s top industry, hospitality is at the heart of Florida’s economy, and these high school students are its future,” said Carol Dover, president and CEO of the FRLA. “We are thrilled to support their growth through programs like ProStart and HTM, which provide them with the skills and opportunities needed to succeed in this dynamic field. With the largest ProStart program nationwide and the unique distinction of being the only state to host a statewide HTM contest, we remain committed to nurturing the next generation of industry leaders.”


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