Politics
Last Call for 3.26.26 – A prime-time read of what’s going down in Florida
Last Call – A prime-time read of what’s going down in Florida politics.
First Shot
The Florida Chamber Foundation’s latest report shows measurable progress in reducing childhood poverty, but it’s clear the business community needs to build on the momentum to hit its 2030 goal of halving the rate.
The group’s 2026 “State of Childhood Poverty in Florida” report shows 711,576 children, or about one in six Florida youth, are living in poverty.
That’s still a massive number, but the long-term trend is moving in the right direction: Nearly 200,000 fewer children are living in poverty compared to when the Florida Prosperity Initiative launched in 2016 — the state’s population has grown by at least 2.5 million residents since then, with more generous growth estimates approaching 3 million, so a sustained downtick in the raw count indeed represents real progress.
While the Florida Chamber said the results are encouraging, President and CEO Mark Wilson said the data show “too many children still face barriers to economic opportunity,” adding that further progress “is not just a moral imperative, it’s an economic one.”
He and the Chamber have been hitting the same note for the better part of a decade, following the release of the 2030 Blueprint, a comprehensive plan to lift Florida’s economy into the Top 10 if measured as its own country.
The Sunshine State’s GDP was over $1.7 trillion in 2024, and while final 2025 data are pending, it’s expected to reflect year-over-year economic growth. Still, based on known data, Florida is nipping at the heels of No. 15 — that slot is currently held by Australia, South Korea or Mexico, depending on who’s measuring.
The childhood poverty tie-in: The kids who are coming up today will comprise the workforce that could carry the state over the finish line.
The latest data show only modest movement from 2023 to 2024, with a reduction of about 3,200 children in poverty. The net reduction masks an upward trend in rural counties, but the Chamber says most poverty is concentrated in distinct pockets of the state, making it all the more solvable — more than half of Florida’s children in poverty live in just 15% of the state’s ZIP codes. If businesses take the initiative in those communities rather than relying on one-size-fits-all policies from Tallahassee, the results would be concentrated and impossible to miss.
“These findings reinforce the importance of targeted, community-driven solutions that move more Floridians out of poverty and government dependency to prosperity and self-sufficiency,” said Karen Moore, founder and CEO of Moore Agency and Chair of the Foundation’s Board of Trustees.
Evening Reads
—”‘Because I’m President’: Donald Trump defends his use of mail voting” via Erica L. Green of The New York Times
—“The 36 most ridiculous lines from Trump’s speech at House Republicans’ fundraising dinner” via Chris Cillizza of So What
—“Is this America’s Suez moment?” via Jamie Dettmer of POLITICO
—”The countdown to a ground war” via Thomas Wright of The Atlantic
—”The Supreme Court is scared it’s going to break the internet” via Ian Millhiser of Vox
—”Using a VPN may subject you to NSA spying” via Dell Cameron of WIRED
—“At Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick’s Ethics trial, Elijah Manley calls for troubled incumbent to step down” via Jacob Ogles of Florida Politics
—”As election looms, Hope Florida players could keep grand jury report secret” via Alexandra Glorioso and Lawrence Mower of the Miami Herald
—”How companies are using AI to pay workers as little as possible” via Rebecca Crosby and Noel Sims of Popular Information
—”The ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ era of AI in music” via Nathan Brackett of Rolling Stone
“You can’t just assume that text messages and TV ads are going to get the job done.”
— U.S. Rep. Byron Donalds, commenting on Republicans’ high-profile Special Election losses this week.
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.
Rep. Daryl Campbell says Attorney General James Uthmeier is serving Floridians a Distraction by going after the Rooney Rule while rent, gas and property insurance continue squeezing everyday people.
U.S. Rep. Byron Donalds is recommending the Florida GOP knock back a Double Down, then lean into the fundamentals to keep their streak of November dominance humming along.
Send some 2-by-4s to Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Gov. Ron DeSantis … actually, send Rubio the two and DeSantis a distant four.
Breakthrough Insights
Tune In
Gators face No. 4 Razorbacks
After beating Florida State on Tuesday in Jacksonville, the Florida Gators’ baseball team is scheduled to play a three-game series against No. 4 Arkansas starting Friday night. Sunday’s finale will air on SEC Network (1 p.m. ET).
The Gators (20-6) fell out of the Top 25 after being swept by Alabama last weekend but rebounded with a 5-0 shutout of the Seminoles. Three Florida pitchers, Russell Sandefer, Luke McNeillie, and Jackson Barberi, combined to limit the Seminoles to four hits in the win.
Now, the Gators return to conference play. Before the Alabama series, Florida swept a three-game series with South Carolina the previous weekend. As usual, the conference is balanced in baseball. No team has fewer than two conference losses through the first two weekends of SEC play.
Florida’s leading hitter, Brendan Lawson, is hitless in his last three games but is still hitting .370 with 10 home runs and 29 runs batted in, all team highs. He was intentionally walked three times by the Seminoles on Tuesday.
Arkansas (19-7) is led by three of the top prospects in baseball. Right-handed pitcher Gabe Gaeckle, lefty Hunter Dietz, and catcher Ryder Helfrick are all projected in the top 40 picks of the June draft. Gaeckle and Dietz have been the Friday and Saturday starters this season for the Razorbacks.
After the series with Arkansas, the Gators will host Jacksonville University on Tuesday.
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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.