Last Call for 9.25.25 – 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 2026 landscape saw a couple of shifts Thursday — one that could preview energy in the top-of-ticket U.S. Senate race, and another that takes a potential turnout driver off the table.

Jacksonville Rep. Angie Nixon announced she’s launching a listening tour as she considers entering the U.S. Senate race.

“Change can’t wait, and neither can we,” she said.

Nixon has been the subject of speculation for months, and while she hasn’t filed paperwork, Democratic consultants said the prospect of her candidacy has “put a lot of pressure on former and current contenders on whether they would stay in the race or not.”

Currently, Brevard County School Board member Jennifer Jenkins is the only major Democrat vying for the nomination to face Republican U.S. Sen. Ashley Moody. The election will decide who serves the final two years of the term now-Secretary of State Marco Rubio won in 2022. An election for a full term will be on the 2028 ballot.

Yet as Nixon moves toward the statewide stage, Democrats have lost a potential rallying point for the Midterms when Florida Decides Healthcare announced it is no longer aiming to put Medicaid expansion before voters next year and instead will aim for 2028.

Florida Decides Healthcare cited new election laws that make it more difficult for constitutional amendments to appear on the ballot. The group currently has just 72,917 valid petition signatures of the 880,062 it needed to log by Feb. 1, the cutoff to make the 2026 ballot. State records show the committee had more expired signatures (90,250) than valid ones as of Thursday.

“Politicians in Tallahassee didn’t just make it harder to get on the ballot; they tried to shut Floridians out and deny them their constitutional right to participate in their own democracy,” said Mitch Emerson, the group’s Executive Director.

A lawsuit challenging the law is set for trial in January, but the group says it will use the extra time to build a larger coalition and raise more resources.

Evening Reads

—”White House threat of federal layoffs only deepens shutdown impasse” via Tony Romm and Catie Edmondson of The New York Times

—“Pete Hegseth orders rare, urgent meeting of hundreds of generals, admirals” via Tara Copp, Dan Lamothe, Alex Horton, Ellen Nakashima and Noah Robertson of The Washington Post

—”What Republicans can do if they really want to protect free speech” via Conor Friedersdorf of The Atlantic

—”The story of DOGE, as told by federal workers” via Zoë Schiffer, Leah Feiger, Vittoria Elliott, Makena Kelly, Kate Knibbs, David Gilbert, Molly Taft, Aarian Marshall, Paresh Dave and Jake Lahut of WIRED

—”RFK Jr.’s team wanted to tout an autism therapy. He went after Tylenol instead.” via Liz Essley Whyte of The Wall Street Journal

—”$4M or bust: State agency says it needs that much to keep Canadian Rx importation efforts alive” via Christine Sexton of the Florida Phoenix

—”Blaise Ingoglia bashes Alachua County tax increases as part of growing calls for spending control” via Drew Dixon of Florida Politics

—”Following Tina Certain’s comments on Charlie Kirk, Florida education chief says ACSB ‘failing’ its mission” via Chelsea Long of The Gainesville Sun

—”Tampa’s top code enforcer, spouse of ex-police chief, under FDLE probe” via Nina Moske of the Tampa Bay Times

—”Inside a South Florida minister’s support group for white-collar criminals” via Shira Moolten of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel

Quote of the Day

“I think the fact that they want to do it right here in Miami, right by that Freedom Tower, to me is a testament that they view Miami as a city on the rise and the state of Florida as a place on the rise.”

— Gov. Ron DeSantis, on the proposed site of the Trump Presidential Library.

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.

Order some Molecular Mojitos for the Alachua County Commission, because they are learning what it feels like to be under CFO Blaise Ingoglia’s microscope.

Two years is a bit long for a Rain Delay, but Florida Decides Healthcare can chain a few of them now that they’ve shifted their efforts to 2028.

Send an On the Rise to Gov. Ron DeSantis, who said locating the Donald Trump Library in Miami shows Florida is on the upswing compared to the President’s home state.

Breakthrough Insights

Tune In

Seminoles must avoid looking ahead against Virginia

The Florida State Seminoles travel to face the Virginia Cavaliers on Friday (7 p.m. ET, ESPN) as they try to remain focused ahead of next week’s matchup with Miami.

The Seminoles (3-0), ranked eighth in this week’s Associated Press Top 25 poll after opening the season with an upset of Alabama and easy victories over East Texas A&M and Kent State. Friday’s game is the first road game for Mike Norvell’s team this season. 

This week, the ACC voted to expand its conference schedule to nine games starting in 2026, meaning that non-conference games against smaller programs will likely be eliminated. Florida State and other conference teams will be required to play 10 games against teams from the Power 4 conferences, the ACC, SEC, Big Ten, and Big 12. FSU holds an annual meeting with Florida, in addition to its conference schedule.

The Big 12 and Big Ten have already played nine conference games, and the SEC and Big 12 require conference teams to play 10 Power 4 games.

Through three games, quarterback Tommy Castellanos has been efficient, completing 71 percent of his passes with three touchdowns and one interception. He has not been sacked in 38 passing attempts. Castellanos has also run 27 times for 139 yards and three scores.

Next week, FSU hosts the #2 Hurricanes in one of the biggest matchups in the rivalry’s recent history. The last time the programs met with both teams ranked in the top 10 was 2013, when #3 FSU beat #7 Miami 30-26 behind Jameis Winston’s 325 yards passing.

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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.

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