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

First Shot

Former House Speaker Paul Renner is formalizing his push for the Governor’s Mansion with a new organizing arm focused on women voters.

Renner’s campaign just announced the creation of a statewide steering committee for its “Women for Renner Coalition,” assembling dozens of conservative activists, educators, business leaders and faith-based advocates to amplify women’s voices supporting his gubernatorial bid.

The coalition, the campaign said, is designed to mobilize women across political and professional lines around issues. Among them: parental rights, public safety, faith, economic opportunity and what the campaign describes as “principled leadership.”

Renner said in a statement Tuesday that the coalition will serve as both a values-driven and operational component of his campaign.

“Women are the heart and voice of families and communities,” Renner said. “I am honored to have the growing support of strong, dedicated female leaders that will ensure their concerns remain front and center — especially when it comes to protecting faith, American exceptionalism, parental rights, a prosperous economy, and defending the principles of freedom that guide us.”

The “Women for Renner Coalition” will function as an internal organizing network, encouraging women across Florida to share personal stories, engage voters and advocate on key campaign issues. The campaign said the group will also work to elevate women’s perspectives in policymaking and community engagement.

Adriana Renner, the candidate’s wife, said she has seen her husband’s commitment to families and praised the coalition as a vehicle for advancing what the campaign calls a “Florida First agenda.”

Read more on Florida Politics.

Evening Reads

—“What the end of Donald Trump’s first year looks like” via Amber Phillips of The Washington Post

—”Takeaways from Susie Wiles’ candid interviews describing Trump World” via Peter Baker of The New York Times

—”Here’s what Donald Trump’s chief of staff *really* thinks of him” via Chris Cillizza of So What

—”The factory workers who build the power grid by hand” via Jennifer Hiller of The Wall Street Journal

—“Trump widens the breach” via John Dickerson of The Atlantic

—”What Rob Reiner believed” via Judd Legum and Noel Sims of Popular Information

—”New head of Trump’s cancer panel speculated about links between vaccines and cancer” via David Gilbert of WIRED

—”It’s been 25 years since America decided to save the Everglades. Where do we stand?” via Bill Kearney of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel

—”New poll shows Byron Donalds maintains front-runner status in GOP Primary” via Jacob Ogles of Florida Politics

—”‘Sadly-timed’: New bill would allow professors, TAs to open carry on campus” via Liv Caputo of the Florida Phoenix

Quote of the Day

“The article published early this morning is a disingenuously framed hit piece on me and the finest President, White House staff, and Cabinet in history.”

— White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, on a controversial Vanity Fair profile.

Put it on the Tab

Look to your left, then look to your right. If you see one of these people at your happy hour haunt, flag down the bartender and put one of these on your tab. Recipes included, just in case the Cocktail Codex fell into the well.

The latest GOP Primary poll shows U.S. Rep. Byron Donalds is still due for a Coronation Cocktail No. 1.

UWF Ph.D. student Valeria Martin is getting an I’m on Fire for a good reason — CalFireSeg-50, a dataset that will improve how damage from wildfires is mapped.

The Florida League of Cities gets an Obvious Bridge for its study noting that eliminating property taxes would hit rural communities hardest.

Breakthrough Insights

Tune In

Miami tips off against FIU

The Miami Hurricanes try to stay undefeated at home as they host Florida International tonight in a South Florida basketball matchup (7 p.m. ET, ACC Network Extra).

Miami (9-2) has won four straight games, including a 104-79 victory over Louisiana-Monroe on Saturday. In the game, Malik Reneau led the Hurricanes with 22 points while grabbing 10 rebounds. Ernest Udeh Jr. added 14 points and 15 rebounds in the win.

For the season, Reneau leads the team, averaging 20.4 points per game, while Udeh, who started his career at Kansas before transferring to TCU and finally to Miami, leads the squad in rebounding.

FIU (5-3) comes in on a three-game winning streak, including an 88-65 win over Jacksonville University 10 days ago. The Panthers have played only two games outside Florida and will not leave the state again until Jan. 7, when they face Jacksonville State in Alabama.

The Panthers are led by Corey Stephenson, who averages 17.5 points and eight rebounds per game, both team highs. Stephenson transferred from Cal State Bakersfield to FIU ahead of this season.

After tonight’s game, Miami has one more nonconference opponent on the schedule before ACC play begins. The Hurricanes will host North Florida on Sunday and then open conference play at home against Pitt on Dec. 30.

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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.

Florida’s behavioral health safety net system, overseen by seven regional Managing Entities, ensures that uninsured and underinsured Floridians can access essential behavioral health services regardless of their ability to pay. More than $1 billion goes into this robust system of care, which meets individuals’ acute and long-term behavioral health needs in both crisis and non-crisis settings and supports housing, transportation, and employment.

A recent statutorily required audit of the Managing Entities and the safety net system of care found no significant instances of Fraud, Waste or Abuse, proving the accountability, transparency and strength of this system.

House Bill 633, passed during the last Legislative Session, requires an independent audit of the Managing Entities. Last week, the Department of Children and Families presented it at a Committee meeting to share the audit results.

Bill Hardin, the Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Office of Substance Abuse & Mental Health, remarked that the audit identified commendable practices and identified enhancements within the system.

During his presentation, Mr. Hardin emphasized that Managing Entities statewide operate at an administrative rate of less than 3% of the total allocations in appropriations and grants totaling $1.2 billion.

He then noted that commendable practices included responsiveness, which is due entirely to the Managing Entities’ past and ongoing transparency and efficiency. This responsiveness facilitated the efficient execution of the audit.

The auditors also noted highly engaged leadership teams among the Managing Entities and overwhelming support from behavioral health providers in the Managing Entity Services network, as indicated by anonymous surveys.

While there were no significant findings of waste, fraud and abuse, areas for improvement within certain processes were identified. Each Managing Entity has independent findings, enabling them to continue enhancing the behavioral health safety net system.

House Bill 633 also called for the streamlined collection and reporting of essential data that shows significant outcomes, services and the return on investment in the state’s behavioral health safety net system. Managing Entities have developed a dashboard to comply with this requirement, and it is now on the Department of Children and Families website.

While Florida’s Managing Entities operate with extreme efficiency at a statewide 3% administrative rate, additional administrative resources will enable them to invest in the recommended enhancements.

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Natalie Kelly is CEO of the Florida Association of Managing Entities.

It didn’t take Elijah Manley long to capitalize on what he sees as an unscrupulous misstep by the Congresswoman he’s running to unseat in Florida’s 20th Congressional District.

Just days after Florida Politics reported that U.S. Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick is fundraising off of federal charges that she stole millions in COVID funds, Manley is also asking for campaign donations while citing the report.

“Yup, she tried to pull a fast one on you,” a fundraising email from Manley’s campaign said.

“The thing is, we can’t count on the establishment media to get this story in front of every voter. But we can count on each other.”

The email, which includes a big “DONATE” button, then provides a link to the Florida Politics report, asking readers to share it, adding, “Let’s make sure everyone in our district knows the truth.”

Asked for comment, Manley sent a text: “The #SCAMQueen is trying to take voters’ hard-earned money in the middle of an affordability crisis to pay for her criminal legal fees. Unfortunately for her, the voters in FL-20 are not naïve. They know a SCAM when they see one.”

A grand jury indicted Cherfilus-McCormick in November, accusing her of stealing $5 million in Federal Emergency Management Agency funds to bankroll her 2021 congressional campaign. Cherfilus-McCormick, 46, has maintained she is innocent of wrongdoing, calling the charges “unjust” and “baseless” and a form of “retaliation” for her vote to release files connected to sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

Notably, none of the 426 other members of the U.S. House was indicted after voting “yes” on that release last month.

Hostilities between Cherfilus-McCormick and Manley, 26, have persisted for months. In September, the Congresswoman sued Manley for $1 million, accusing him of defamation for spreading “blatant lies” about her record and reputation. The suit cited a video Manley’s campaign published of him saying, among other things, that Cherfilus-McCormick “took $5.7 million from taxpayers” and a letter he wrote to the South Florida Sun-Sentinel pointing to an ongoing House Ethics Committee probe of her.

In the letter, Manley wrote that while he once “rooted for” Cherfilus-McCormick, he no longer does because “the Democrats’ collapse in our state has coincided with her election and the many ethical and legal scandals she brought to Congress.”

The two then got into a heated exchange in October at a Broward Young Democrats meeting that ended with Cherfilus-McCormick slinging the classic insult at Manley: “Your mama.”

The ongoing lawsuit isn’t the first time the Congresswoman has sued a foe for keeping word of the accusations she faces alive. In July 2022, she sued another one of her Primary foes this year, 68-year-old Dale Holness, for $1 million over campaign texts that told voters she embezzled $6 million from taxpayers to “buy a seat in Congress.” That suit has been listed as “inactive” since mid-2023.

Two Republicans, Sendra Dorce and Joseph Rodenay, are also running this cycle.

CD 20 spans a majority-Black area in and around western and central Broward County, with a small portion of southeast Palm Beach County. It includes all or part of Fort Lauderdale, Lake Park, Lauderdale Lakes, Lauderhill, North Lauderdale, Plantation, Pompano Beach, Riviera Beach, Sunrise and Tamarac.

It’s Florida’s most Democratic-leaning congressional district, with a Cook Partisan Voting Index rating of D+22.

Cherfilus-McCormick, the first Haitian American woman from Florida elected to Congress, has represented Florida’s 20th Congressional District since January 2022. She won her seat in a Special Election following the death of Alcee Hastings. Last year, she was re-elected unopposed.

The 2026 Primary is Aug. 18, followed by the General Election on Nov. 3.