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

First Shot

Florida Politics rolled out its 2025 Politician of the Year package this week, spotlighting three figures who helped shape — and in some cases upend — the state’s political landscape over the past year.

Honorable Mention goes to U.S. Sen. Rick Scott, who enters 2026 wielding more influence in Washington and Tallahassee than at any point in his political career.

Fresh off his strongest electoral showing yet, the Naples Republican embedded himself with both Senate leadership and the conservative grassroots, becoming a key bridge between the House Freedom Caucus and the upper chamber.

Back home, Scott also played an unusually active role in Florida politics, endorsing Byron Donalds for Governor and weighing in on oversight fights involving Gov. Ron DeSantis — all while laying groundwork for a renewed push to remake the nation’s health care system.

The Runner-Up nod belongs to U.S. Rep.Donalds, whose march toward the Governor’s mansion looks increasingly inevitable. 

Armed with President Donald Trump’s endorsement, massive fundraising and commanding poll leads, the Naples Republican closes out 2025 as the dominant figure in Florida’s next statewide race.

While rivals have surfaced on both sides of the aisle, Donalds’ combination of MAGA credibility, establishment support and cable-ready presence has left the field scrambling — positioning him to potentially become Florida’s first Black Governor.

Claiming the top honor, Florida Politics names House Speaker Daniel Perez its 2025 Politician of the Year.

Though he was little-known outside political circles at the start of the year, the House Speaker fundamentally altered the balance of power in Tallahassee, ending years of near-total legislative deference to the Governor’s Office.

From budget veto overrides and aggressive oversight to redistricting and immigration showdowns, Perez reasserted the Legislature as a coequal branch — empowering rank-and-file lawmakers and reshaping the institution even as tensions with Gov. DeSantis and the Senate escalated. With nothing left to lose heading into 2026, Perez closes the year as the most consequential force in Florida government.

Evening Reads

—”Here are the Top 10 federal stories impacting Florida in 2025” via Jacob Ogles of Florida Politics

—”Here are the Top 10 political stories from South Florida in 2025” via Jesse Scheckner of Florida Politics

—“Here are the Top 10 political stories from Central Florida in 2025” via Gabrielle Russon of Florida Politics

—”Here are the Top 10 political stories from Tampa Bay in 2025” via Janelle Irwin Taylor of Florida Politics

—”Here are the Top 10 political stories from Southwest Florida in 2025” via Jesse Mendoza of Florida Politics

—”Here are the Top 10 political stories from Jacksonville in 2025” via A.G. Gancarski of Florida Politics

—”Here is the top political story from Citrus County in 2025” via Mike Wright of Florida Politics

Quote of the Day

“I’m not a big proponent of telling people what they can and can’t do on their land. … But you’re going to have to be regulated like heck to make sure that nothing on that property is going to adversely affect the residents of a community.”

— House Speaker-designate Sam Garrison, on AI ‘tension’ heading into the 2026 Legislative Session.

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.

There’s no need for Daniel Perez to wait until midnight tomorrow to pop the cork — Florida Politics’ Politician of the Year can have his champagne tonight.

Sen. Joe Gruters gets a set of mini cocktails for aiming a shrink ray at Citizens Property Insurance’s policy rolls. 

Send Rep. Wyman Duggan a Teacher’s Pet for filing a bill to give the Duval School Board more legal autonomy.

Breakthrough Insights

Tune In

Seminoles open conference play at Tar Heels

Florida State opens Atlantic Coast Conference play as it visits North Carolina tonight (7 p.m. ET, ESPN2). 

The Seminoles (7-6) were picked to finish 15th in the 18-team ACC. During the non-conference schedule, the Seminoles lost games to major conference schools, including Florida, Texas A&M, Georgia, and Houston. Florida State’s scheduled conference-opening slate includes the Tar Heels and the Duke Blue Devils.

Under New head coach Luke Louks, FSU has shifted to a three-point-focused offense. The Seminoles rank 11th in the nation in three-pointers made per game. The Knowles have featured a balanced offense with guard Robert McCray leading the team in scoring at 13.5 points per game.

North Carolina (12-1) enters the game ranked 12th nationally. The Tar Heels’ only loss came against Michigan State in November. Forward Caleb Wilson leads the Tar Heels in scoring at 19.6 points per game.

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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.

Sarasota Republican Sen. Joe Gruters has filed legislation that would authorize the state to create and manage a cryptocurrency reserve, positioning Florida to invest directly in digital assets as part of its long-term financial strategy.

The proposal is split across two bills (SB 1038, SB 1040). Together, the bills would establish the Florida Strategic Cryptocurrency Reserve within the Office of the Chief Financial Officer and create a dedicated trust fund to hold and manage those assets.

SB 1040 would create the Florida Cryptocurrency Reserve trust fund and outlines its funding sources and purpose. The reserve would receive money through legislative appropriations, revenues dedicated by law and cryptocurrency acquired through purchases, blockchain forks or airdrops. Investment earnings on non-cryptocurrency holdings could also be deposited into the fund. 

The reserve is meant to diversify the state’s investment portfolio and “position the state to participate in and adapt to the emerging digital economy.”

SB 1038 authorizes the Chief Financial Officer, currently Blaise Ingoglia, to manage the reserve and sets guardrails on how cryptocurrency investments could be made. The CFO would only be able to buy cryptocurrency if the asset has maintained an average market capitalization of at least $500 billion over the prior two years.

The bill would also allow the CFO to contract with qualified third-party custodians, liquidity providers and auditors and to make investments in the reserve’s best interest.

The legislation would establish a five-member Florida Strategic Cryptocurrency Reserve Advisory Committee, chaired by the CFO. Other committee members would be appointed and dismissed by the CFO, and would serve without compensation but could be reimbursed for per diem and travel expenses.

The bill requires the CFO to submit biennial reports to legislative leaders detailing the estimated value of cryptocurrency held and actions taken to manage the reserve.

The reserve would be subject to Florida’s sunset review process and is scheduled to terminate July 1, 2030 unless reauthorized or ended sooner. Upon termination, remaining assets would be liquidated and transferred to the General Revenue Fund.

Both bills, filed Tuesday, are contingent on each other becoming law. If approved, the measures would take effect July 1.

If history is a guide, Republicans stand a good chance of losing control of the House of Representatives in 2026. They have just a slim majority in the chamber, and the incumbent party usually gives up seats in Midterm elections.

President Donald Trump, whose loss of the House halfway through his first term led to two impeachments, is trying to keep history from repeating — and doing so in ways his opponents say are intended to manipulate next year’s election landscape.

He has rallied his party to remake congressional maps across the country to create more conservative-leaning House seats, an effort that could end up backfiring on him. He’s directed his administration to target Democratic politicians, activists and donors. And, Democrats worry, he’s flexing his muscles to intervene in the Midterms like no administration ever has.

Democrats and other critics point to how Trump has sent the military into Democratic cities over the objections of Democratic Mayors and Governors. They note that he’s pushed the Department of Homeland Security to be so aggressive that at one point its agents handcuffed a Democratic U.S. Senator. And some warn that a Republican-controlled Congress could fail to seat winning candidates if Democrats reclaim the House majority, recalling Trump’s efforts to stay in power even after voters rejected him in 2020, leading to the violent attack by his supporters on the U.S. Capitol.

Regarding potential military deployments, Ken Martin, Chairman of the Democratic National Committee (DNC), told The Associated Press: “What he is going to do is send those troops there, and keep them there all the way through the next election, because guess what? If people are afraid of leaving their house, they’re probably not going to leave their house to go vote on Election Day. That’s how he stays in power.”

Military to the polls, or fearmongering?

Democrats sounded similar alarms just before November’s elections, and yet there were no significant incidents. California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a frequent Trump antagonist who also warns about a federal crackdown on voting in 2026, predicted that masked immigration agents would show up at the polls in his state, where voters were considering a ballot measure to counter Trump’s redistricting push.

There were no such incidents in November, and the measure to redraw California’s congressional lines in response to Trump’s efforts elsewhere won in a landslide.

White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson said the concerns about the Midterms come from Democratic politicians who are “fearmongering to score political points with the radical left flank of the Democrat party that they are courting ahead of their doomed-to-fail presidential campaigns.”

She described their concerns as “baseless conspiracy theories.”

Susie Wiles, Trump’s Chief of Staff, denied that Trump was planning to use the military to try to suppress votes.

“I say it is categorically false, will not happen. It’s just wrongheaded,” she told Vanity Fair for an interview that was published earlier in December.

DNC Litigation Director Dan Freeman said he hasn’t seen an indication that Trump will send immigration enforcement agents to polling places during the Midterms, but is wary.

He said the DNC filed public records requests in an attempt to learn more about any such plans and is drafting legal pleadings it could file if Trump sends armed federal agents to the polls or otherwise intervenes in the elections.

“We’re not taking their word for it,” Freeman said in an interview.

States, not presidents, run elections

November’s off-year elections may not be the best indicator of what could lie ahead. They were scattered in a handful of states, and Trump showed only modest interest until late in the fall when his Department of Justice announced it was sending federal monitors to California and New Jersey to observe voting in a handful of counties. It was a bureaucratic step that had no impact on voting, even as it triggered alarm from Democrats.

Alexandra Chandler, the Legal Director of Protect Democracy, a group that has clashed with Trump over his role in elections, said she was heartened by the lack of drama during the 2025 voting.

“We have so many positive signs we can look to,” Chandler said, citing not only a quiet election but GOP Senators’ resistance to Trump’s demands to eliminate the filibuster and the widespread resistance to Trump’s demand that television host Jimmy Kimmel lose his job because of his criticism of the President. “There are limits” on Trump’s power, she noted.

“We will have elections in 2026,” Chandler said. “People don’t have to worry about that.”

Under the Constitution, a President has limited tools to intervene in elections, which are run by the states. Congress can help set rules for federal elections, but states administer their own election operations and oversee the counting of ballots.

When Trump tried to singlehandedly revise election rules with a sweeping executive order shortly after returning to office, the courts stepped in and stopped him, citing the lack of a constitutional role for the President. Trump later promised another order, possibly targeting mail ballots and voting machines, but it has yet to materialize.

DOJ voter data request ‘should frighten everybody’

Still, there’s plenty of ways a President can cause problems, said Rick Hasen, a UCLA law professor.

Trump unsuccessfully pushed Georgia’s top election official to “find” him enough votes to be declared the winner there in 2020 and could try similar tactics in Republican-dominated states in November. Likewise, Hasen said, Trump could spread misinformation to undermine confidence in vote tallies, as he has done routinely ahead of elections.

It’s harder to do that in more lopsided contests, as many in 2025 turned into, Hasen noted.

“Concerns about Trump interfering in 2026 are real; they’re not frivolous,” Hasen said. “They’re also not likely, but these are things people need to be on guard for.”

One administration move that has alarmed election officials is a federal demand from his Department of Justice for detailed voter data from the states. The administration has sued the District of Columbia and at least 21 states, most of them controlled by Democrats, after they refused to turn over all the information the DOJ sought.

“What the DOJ is trying to do is something that should frighten everybody across the political spectrum,” said David Becker, a former Justice Department voting rights attorney and Executive Director of the Center for Election Innovation & Research. “They’re trying to use the power of the executive to bully states into turning over highly sensitive data — date of birth, Social Security numbers, driver’s license, the Holy Trinity of identity theft — hand it over to the DOJ for who knows what use.”

‘Voter protection’ vs ‘election integrity’

Voting rights lawyers and election officials have been preparing for months for the midterms, trying to ensure there are ways to counter misinformation and ensure state election systems are easy to explain. Both major parties are expected to stand up significant campaigns around the mechanics of voting: Democrats mounting what they call a “voter protection” effort to monitor for problems while Republicans focus on what they call “election integrity.”

Freeman, the DNC Litigation Director who previously worked in the DOJ’s voting section, said his hiring this year was part of a larger effort by the DNC to beef up its in-house legal efforts ahead of the midterms. He said the committee has been filling gaps in voting rights law enforcement that the DOJ has typically covered, including informing states that they can’t illegally purge citizens from their voter rolls.

Tina Barton, Co-Chair of the Committee on Safe and Secure Elections, a coalition of law enforcement and election officials who advise jurisdictions on de-escalation and how to respond to emergencies at polling places, says interest in the group’s trainings has “exploded” in recent weeks.

“There’s a lot at stake, and that’s going to cause a lot of emotions,” Barton said.

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Republished with permission of The Associated Press.