Fentrice Driskell roasts Republican leadership over GOP infighting during the 2026 Session

House Democratic Leader Fentrice Driskell says the 2026 Legislative Session will be remembered less for policy accomplishments than for missed opportunities caused by Republican infighting.

In a post-Session media availability, the Temple Terrace Democrat sharply criticized Republican leaders for what she described as a session dominated by internal conflict rather than solutions to the state’s rising cost of living — the top priority in the Democratic delegation’s platform.

While lawmakers spent weeks debating priorities ranging from election laws to transportation and immigration policy, Driskell argued the Legislature failed to deliver meaningful relief for Floridians struggling with housing, insurance and everyday expenses.

She said infighting within the GOP across both chambers has sullied the Session, which concludes Friday without a finalized budget and leaves Republican priorities like property tax reform still on the to-do list.

Driskell said Democrats entered the Session pushing an affordability agenda focused on lowering property insurance costs and expanding access to affordable housing, but criticized the Legislature at large for drifting away from those concerns. She said affordability was the dominant issue voters raised with lawmakers after the 2024 election, and that the Legislature failed to address it.

“There was too much talk and too little action, and that’s a missed opportunity for the people of Florida,” Driskell said.

“Affordability was the number one issue coming out of the 2024 election. We talked about affordability as a chamber, that that’s what we were going to focus on, but instead I’ve seen no transformative policies that help Floridians keep more money in their pockets and that help ease the affordability crisis.”

Driskell criticized the Legislature’s inability to finalize a state budget over spending differences, noting that passing a balanced spending plan is lawmakers’ primary constitutional responsibility. Senate President Ben Albritton and House Speaker Daniel Perez announced a Special Session to finalize the budget Thursday that is scheduled for mid-April.

Driskell argued that political disputes between Republican leaders may dominate headlines in Tallahassee, but voters are focused on the cost of everyday necessities.

“Floridians don’t care about the infighting, they’re not following that,” Driskell said. “All they know is that they have an affordability crisis. Gas is too expensive. Housing is too expensive. Groceries? The cost of that is high, utilities as well, and they want solutions. They want a Legislature that focuses on them, and that’s not what happened this Session.”

Driskell also weighed in on a broader debate about the House asserting its independence from the Governor and other political power centers — a dynamic that has shaped much of the 2026 Session. She said strengthening the Legislature’s institutional independence can be healthy, but warned that the focus on political positioning risks overshadowing substantive policy work.

“I do think it is good for the House to distinguish itself as part of the legislative branch — a separate branch of government from the Governor,” Driskell said. “However, we see that the impact of that is that we’re not really getting things done and there has been so much focus on that as a legacy, rather than the problems that are before us right now.”

She added that historical narratives about legislative independence will mean little to Floridians dealing with economic hardship.

“That’s going to sound really good for the history books,” Driskell said. “But that doesn’t help the teacher who’s living in their car or the family in Jacksonville who can’t afford their utilities.”

Driskell also suggested that long-standing Republican control of state government places responsibility for legislative outcomes squarely on the majority party. Republicans currently hold supermajorities in both chambers and control the Governor’s Office, yet have struggled to reconcile differences between factions. Democrats were largely seen debating on bills in agreement with one another this Session, but ultimately overruled by Republicans on more matters.

“They’ve got the gavel in the Senate President’s Office, they’ve got the gavel in the House, they’ve got the Governor’s Mansion,” Driskell said. “It is absolutely ridiculous. It is an abomination that we could not get things done for the people of Florida this Session.”

Asked about proposals to restore or modify the Governor’s emergency spending authority, Driskell said she remains skeptical of expanding the program without stricter limits. She said the fund has previously been used for initiatives she considers political rather than emergency responses. Driskell added that limiting the fund strictly to natural disaster response might attract bipartisan support but warns about doors left open for unintended uses.

“He’s basically using it as a slush fund for political stunts,” Driskell said. “I think that is inappropriate. I think anytime you’re talking about taxpayer dollars — which are hard-fought, hard-earned dollars — there has to be real accountability. The challenge that I see with their bill is they’re trying to put some accountability in it, but not enough.”

Despite her criticism of the Session overall, Driskell noted that lawmakers did manage to pass some bipartisan legislation. She pointed to a measure expanding cancer benefits for firefighters — legislation honoring former Rep. Joe Casello — as one of the Session’s more positive moments. 

“Joe Casello was a lawmaker from Palm Beach, he was a member of my caucus, he was a firefighter and a public servant to his core,” Driskell said. “I loved the bipartisan moment of us passing a bill to provide cancer benefits for firefighters and their families. That was a really beautiful bipartisan moment.”

However, she returned to her central critique: that those moments did not address the economic concerns she believes voters wanted lawmakers to prioritize.

“Still, having said that, what we were supposed to focus on was affordability and we didn’t, the Republicans didn’t, and that’s a missed opportunity,” she said in closing.