Politics
Winner and Loser of the Week in Florida politics — Week of 1.5.25
It’s the age of the Florida Man (and Woman) at the pinnacle of national Republican politics with President-elect Donald Trump soon set to take office. But is a Florida Man also set to secure a prime position in the Democratic Party?
Parkland survivor turned gun regulation activist David Hogg secured two major endorsements this week as he mounts a bid for a Vice Chair position with the Democratic National Committee.
First, U.S. Rep. Maxwell Frost, a fellow Generation Z member and the youngest member of Congress, backed Hogg for the role. “His experience of building one of the largest youth-movements in the history of our country will be invaluable to the DNC,” Frost said.
Then, 2024 Democratic vice presidential nominee Tim Walz added his support. “This is exactly what we need right now: experienced, thoughtful and energized leadership that meets people where they are and takes bold action to win,” Walz said of Hogg’s bid.
Hogg has forcefully pushed for the national Democratic Party to reevaluate their electoral strategy after losing to Trump this past November. He’s advocated for a greater focus on the youth vote, and for Democrats to look critically at why men are moving away from the party, among other focuses.
Are these moves part of the magic formula to regain the White House in 2028? We’d say don’t believe anyone who’s convinced one way or the other. After all, at this time in 2020, who saw Trump triumphantly returning to Washington?
But Hogg is an on-the-ground activist and an outside voice whose opinion will add to the conversation as Democrats find a way forward. The party will have to decide whether that warrants rewarding Hogg with a top position. But with major voices backing his bid, his odds look to be increasing.
Now, it’s onto our weekly game of winners and losers.
Winners
Honorable mention: Rick Scott. Scott is back with his efforts to “lock the clock,” reintroducing legislation to make daylight saving time permanent.
The Naples Republican crossed the aisle to partner with Democratic U.S. Sen. Patty Murray of Washington to back the bill.
“In 2018, as Governor of Florida, I signed legislation that would allow the state to opt out of the practice of changing the time and I’ve been a leading effort in getting this done on the federal level,” Scott said in a prepared statement about the bill.
Yes, even though Florida approved legislation to make the change, we’ve been waiting on the feds to OK it for years. And sure, there are a few of you freaks who oppose this change. But the rest of us are sick of the twice-a-year disruption and disorientation in the current system and are ready to ditch it.
Arizona and Hawaii don’t switch their clocks and they seem to be functioning just fine. Indeed, most of the world keeps clocks locked throughout the year, including many countries that had previously used the twice-a-year switch but no longer do so.
So good on Scott for continuing to drill this change until it finally passes. And that could happen soon, with President-elect Donald Trump seemingly on board.
Almost (but not quite) the biggest winner: Byron Donalds. A candidate hired a pollster to work with his campaign, and that was enough to land him near the top of this week’s winner’s list.
Yeah, 99 times out of 100, that type of move isn’t going to garner attention. But when it’s Donalds — a rumored 2026 gubernatorial candidate — hiring the top pollster for Trump — whose endorsement could decide that race on its own — you bet the move is going to garner attention, and rightfully so.
Sunburn was first with the story that Donalds had hired Fabrizio, Lee & Associates, the firm led by Tony Fabrizio. Fabrizio was Trump’s pollster in 2016. This cycle, he worked with the pro-Trump super PAC MAGA Inc.
Any Republican seeking to run in an open 2026 Governor’s race would be wise to cozy up to Trump World. You can bet that every potential candidate would have loved to make this move, but Donalds is the one who pulled it off.
As we detailed in our 2024 end-of-year column, Florida is a red state for the foreseeable future. That means, barring a seismic event, the GOP nominee is going to win the Governor’s Mansion in this upcoming cycle. So getting through what’s sure to be a packed Primary is key.
What better way to do so than land an endorsement from the unquestioned leader of the party? And what better way to do that than to bring in those close to Trump’s orbit?
Heck, we’ve been making the case that a Trump endorsement could even revive Gaetz’s political career should he mount a 2026 run for Governor. Speaking of which, he teased a run of his own this week.
And that’s all the more reason why Donalds snagging Fabrizio was such a win. This race isn’t going to be decided for a long while, particularly if Trump avoids conflict altogether and decides not to endorse. But there’s no doubt Donalds made a savvy move in setting up a potential run next year.
The biggest winner: Evan Power. Congratulations to the Republican Party of Florida Chair, who will continue leading the party during its most successful period in modern history.
Power easily won election to the role on Saturday. He originally took over just over a year ago following the scandal surrounding former Chair Christian Ziegler.
Since then, Power saw Trump and Rick Scott win the state by record margins, Republicans keep their legislative supermajority in November then expand it with two party flips post-election, and dominance on the local level.
Now, Trump is entering the White House, which will lead to Florida continuing being the epicenter for GOP politics in the next four years as Florida Republicans hope to continue growing a voter registration advantage.
We’re not saying Power’s job is easy, as there will be plenty of work to do. But he is certainly the best-positioned Florida GOP Chair in recent memory to stack up wins around the state, and his partnership with Trump will likely only grow his influence.
Losers
Dishonorable mention: Jessie Thompson. Thompson is officially out as Volusia County School Board Chair, as she resigned following fallout from several disparaging comments she made about her colleagues and students in the District.
Thompson landed in this same spot last month when the story first broke. This week, she stepped aside after fellow Board members announced an intention to reevaluate the Chair position.
Thompson did say she’s staying on as a Board member, issuing a cookie-cutter statement where she even partially defended her previous remarks. Among those remarks:
— Saying she wouldn’t trust some Volusia students who graduated but tested at lower proficiency to fill her gas tank.
— Bragging that she fed false information to other School Board members to advance agenda items.
— Referring to a colleague as a “tan man.”
She didn’t much address the latter two in remarks to the Daytona Beach News-Journal. But she framed the first point as: “Concerns that if we have high graduation rates and lower proficiency rates, how well are students prepared?”
That’s a fair question. But was there no better way to express that than taking shots at students and saying they couldn’t serve as gas station attendants?
Anyone can send a manufactured statement that went through multiple PR checks, as Thompson did after resigning. But her remarks that started this mess showed people how she really thinks and feels about the people she got elected to serve, and serve with.
Almost (but not quite) the biggest loser: Florida’s kids. In August, we noted that the state declined a chance to participate in a 2025 Summer food program to help feed kids in need while school isn’t in Session. That followed the state also passing on the program in 2024.
Turns out, state officials got a second chance recently to opt into the program for 2025. And once again, they declined.
The Summer Electronic Benefit Transfer Program for Children aims to provide families with funds to spend on groceries, with funding available per child. Florida was being offered $250 million in federal money, but rejected it out of concerns about paying around $13 million in administrative costs associated with the program.
Again, these are kids from low-income homes who qualify for assistance during the school year, assistance that isn’t always available during the Summer Break. State officials have countered by saying they already have resources to help those kids. But critics say children are still being left out..
We get the desire to not be reliant on the federal government. It’s a similar argument against expanding Medicaid, despite the vast majority of costs being paid for by the feds.
But $13 million is chump change when it comes to Florida’s revenues (see the state’s most recent budget, tallying $116.5 billion). Just take the damn money already.
The biggest loser: Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick. In addition to facing an ethics investigation opened more than a year ago, the state is now suing Cherfilus-McCormick’s former company trying to recoup millions accidentally paid due to a clerical error.
According to reports, Trinity Health Care Services, where Cherfilus-McCormick worked at the time as CEO, invoiced the state in 2021 for $50,578.50 while doing work registering people for COVID vaccinations.
Instead of paying that amount, the state reportedly moved the decimal places two spots to the right and paid Trinity $5,057,850.00.
Whoops.
Now, it’s easy to dunk on the state here. A government utilizing our tax dollars shouldn’t accidentally pay 100 times what’s owed on a contract. We get it!
So fair enough, have at it. But the new lawsuit says part of the contract for doing business with the state included language requiring such overpayments to be sent back to the state. Instead, per the lawsuit, Trinity cashed the payment and hasn’t been willing to return the money.
Cherfilus-McCormick is no longer in the CEO role, but she was when this all reportedly took place. And when Cherfilus-McCormick first won a seat in Congress by self-funding her campaign with millions, questions swirled about how she amassed such a fortune so quickly.
Might some dots be connected as more scrutiny is put on the Congresswoman?
Cherfilus-McCormick notably was the only member of Florida’s delegation to earn re-election automatically this past cycle, as no Democrat or Republican filed to challenge her. That will also likely change if the Congresswoman cannot answer the questions swirling around her.
And back to that Ethics Committee probe. It started off as fairly small potatoes but has already been expanded once. The committee hasn’t given full details on precisely what the investigation details. But be sure that if they aren’t already looking at the circumstances around this COVID-era overpayment and where that money ended up, they certainly will be now.
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Chuck Millar is a longtime Palm Beach Gardens resident. Over the past four decades, he’s become well-known in the community for his activism and involvement in local government, including a current unelected Chair post on the city’s Planning and Zoning Board.
Now, he’s seeking a seat on the City Commission. It’s his first run at public office.
Elections attract scrutiny. A look into Millar’s legal history shows that seven years ago, he faced accusations of cyberstalking and harassment. An ex-girlfriend sought a temporary restraining order against him, and she included in the request screenshots of messages he sent her.
The woman, whom we’ll call Kathy, filed a petition seeking protection against him for stalking, Palm Beach County Clerk records show. It included a request that Millar stay at least 500 feet from her and four people, including her two daughters, and the Jupiter-based K-12 private school they attended.
She provided proof that between March 4, 2018, when she broke up with him, and March 15, 2018, when she took legal action, Millar sent dozens of texts and emails to which she did not respond.
Some of the messages were sexually demeaning. In others, Millar implied that he was tracking her online dating accounts and referenced a domestic battery case from her past.
Millar is 65. He was 58 at the time he sent the messages. In an email to Millar’s sister seeking help, Kathy said they’d only dated a month, during which she’d broken up with him twice “due to his extreme and violent temper and outbursts that made no sense to me.”
Millar told Florida Politics they dated for a little more than a month. He regretted his actions and the whole ordeal, which ended on March 29, 2018, when Judge Karen Miller of the 15th Judicial Circuit instructed him to stop contacting Kathy before dismissing the case.
“I followed the court’s direction verbatim,” Millar said Thursday, adding that he’d since undergone counseling and treatment. “It made me a better person.”
Millar sent Kathy a lengthy text on March 4, 2018, after she cut things off with him, referencing “issues” and his “character flaws.”
“(I) take full responsibility for my faults. My heart is broken, but you tore my heart to pieces as I prayed each night you’d finally say you loved me, too. Those words are so powerful to me. You’re my true love, and I know it could work. I would have taken a bullet for you,” he wrote.
Later that day, seemingly in response to Kathy telling him her decision was final, Millar’s amorous tenor turned vitriolic.
“I’m fucking done with you too. Go fuck yourself. Get out and stay the hell out of my life. You have serious mental health issues,” he wrote. “You can have your fucking underware (sic) back. Enjoy the pink vibrator. You’ll need it. Bitch!”
Millar sent another text at 3:25 a.m. on March 5.
“Guaranteed the next time you have sex, you’ll think of me. Enjoy that train wreck,” he wrote. “And by the way, I read your entire file on your domestic battery case. It’s public record.”
Kathy said in her petition that she blocked Millar’s number after that.
He then sent her emails. One on March 8 was a variation of the prior message. “Your comment about never dating again is just total crap,” he wrote. “You know it, and I know it. But trust me, the next time you have sex with whomever or whatever, you’ll think of me.”
On March 10, Millar sent another email intimating Kathy had “a new man” and that the three of them should meet up at a baseball game. Two days later, he sent her an email titled “Weekend Fun” and asked about dates he believed Kathy had arranged on Match.com.
He wrote again on March 13, telling her, “Enjoy that vacation with your ex, no drama, mama. LOL.”
Later that day, Kathy — who said she and the ex to whom Millar referred never vacationed together — emailed Millar’s sister with screenshots of his communications. Kathy described Millar’s actions as “creepy” and “very frightening” and noted that she’d instructed a security guard at her gated community to call the police if he showed up.
Millar’s sister called her brother’s messages “completely unhinged” and said she’d talk to her husband about developing a plan of action to deal with him. The sister told Kathy in a follow-up email that after conferring with her spouse, they’d decided to stay out of it but advised Kathy to “take whatever steps (are) necessary to ensure” her and her children’s safety, including filing a temporary injunction or calling the police.
In the days that followed, Millar continued with his emails. One included a message Kathy sent him about a continuous neighborhood issue she’d had with her homeowner’s association. In another, Millar said he’d spoken with one of the association’s board members with whom Kathy had an issue.
“I see this as a threat from Chuck that he will continue to contact (the board member) and get in my neighborhood that way. Empty threat because I have taken necessary action and alerted our Board and the Security company of his actions,” Kathy told Millar’s sister. “I’m terrified of your brother. He’s a loose canon (sic). Right now, I want to move as far away from him as I can, but I can’t.”
A log of texts sent to Kathy’s cellphone show he messaged her 25 separate times in nine days.
Florida Politics contacted Kathy by text and email for comment but received none by press time.
Millar told Florida Politics he was “very remorseful” about his behavior, which he attributed to issues he’s since addressed in therapy. He said it was the first time he’d been broken up with by text.
“My emotions overcame my intelligence. That doesn’t usually happen,” he said. “My past has made me what I am today, which is a better ex-husband, father, brother and employee, and the best and most qualified candidate.”
He said that if he thought he still had emotional issues that needed addressing, he wouldn’t be running for office.
“It was an unfortunate thing, but it was a learning tool that I use today to be a better person, to understand empathy and sympathy,” he said. “I have the utmost respect for women, and most of my campaign team is made up of amazing ladies.”
A land use, zoning, planning, and real estate research professional, Millar switched his voter registration from Democrat to Republican in 2016, according to state records. He faces 47-year-old Republican firefighter John Kemp for the City Council’s Group 4 seat.
The Palm Beach Gardens election is on March 11. In the race, incumbent Commissioner Marcie Tinsley and her lone challenger, John “Scott” Gilow, will also be on the ballot.
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Last Call – A prime-time read of what’s going down in Florida politics.
First Shot
Florida Republicans’ intraparty battle continued Thursday, with the Legislature telling the Governor that it was their way or the highway, not the other way around. Ron DeSantis returned the favor by threatening defiant lawmakers with primary challengers.
Reminiscent of a call by DeSantis earlier this month, House Speaker Daniel Perez held a town hall with state GOP leaders, pushing the Legislature’s narrative on the immigration bill scuffle packaged alongside criticism of the Governor’s plan.
According to those on the call, Perez said the Legislature’s bill was more conservative than the one pushed by DeSantis, which he claimed was a thinly veiled play to give the Governor a “mini version of ICE” that would duplicate the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown efforts rather than augment them.
“He (DeSantis) is not going to work with ICE. He wants a little mini version of ICE. He wants his own state guard, with his own bureaucrat, picking up the illegal aliens and shipping them off to another portion of the world, wherever it is that they originate from. That’s not working (in) conjunction with President Trump.”
The Governor, meanwhile, amped up his rhetoric — he has gone from casting the Legislature’s bill as “weak, weak, weak” to a “very grotesque piece of legislation.” He’s also directing more frustration at Agriculture Commissioner Wilton Simpson, whom he accused of instigating this saga by supposedly leveraging his influence as a former Senate President.
As it stands, the Legislature is still winning the numbers game, with just one GOP lawmaker — Rep. Mike Caruso — publicly breaking ranks to side with the Governor.
Evening Reads
—“Donald Trump blames predecessors, diversity programs for fatal air collision” via Isaac Arnsdorf of The Washington Post
—“The 25 most eye-popping lines from Trump’s off-the-rails remarks on the D.C. plane crash” via Chris Cillizza of So What
—“The plane crash that ripped through the world of elite figure skating” via Louise Radnofsky, Allison Pohle and Jennifer Levitz of The Wall Street Journal
—“Trump kicks Congress to the curb, with little protest from Republicans” via Carl Hulse of The New York Times
—“What it’s like to go to school in the shadow of ICE” via Anna North of Vox
—“Trump is just watching this crisis unfold” via David A. Graham of The Atlantic
—”As GOP rift widens, Ron DeSantis pledges money to elect ‘strong conservative’ successor” via Skyler Swisher of the Orlando Sentinel
—”Joel Rudman said he felt unwelcome in a House ‘itching for a fight’ with DeSantis” via Jacob Ogles of Florida Politics
—”‘Powerless and angry’: Venezuelans react to roll-back of deportation protections” via Verónica Egui Brito and Syra Ortiz Blanes of the Miami Herald
—”Mercenaries for Millionaires: Inside the private army that protects L.A.’s rich and famous” via Jason McGahan of The Hollywood Reporter
Quote of the Day
“This was an argument waiting for an excuse. If not for immigration, they would have fought over new hours for the cafeteria.”
— Former Rep. Joel Rudman, on the Legislature v. Ron DeSantis bout.
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.
Rudman’s campaign for Florida’s 1st Congressional District may’ve gone bust, but Doc Rock deserves a “Peace Out” for heading for the exit before the gloves came off.
Separate from his war with the Legislature, DeSantis is catching flak from Tucker Carlson, who called him a “donors’ puppet.” Since the strings aren’t showing up on camera, however, we’re recommending he be served a Muppet.
With all the drama, we imagine rank-and-file staffers are itching for politics-free happy hour. A Paris Between the Wars should help them forget work for a few minutes.
Breakthrough Insights
Tune In
Gators face Vols in key rematch
For the second time this month, the Florida Gators and Tennessee Volunteers meet when the teams tip off on Saturday in Knoxville (noon ET, ESPN).
On Jan. 7, Florida shocked then-top-ranked Tennessee 73-43 in Gainesville. The win was among the Gators’ most notable regular-season victories in program history. Ince beating Tennessee, Florida (18-2, 5-2 SEC) has won four of five games, only losing to Missouri on Jan. 14.
The game is the first since the school cleared Florida head coach Todd Golden following a four-month investigation into sexual misconduct allegations.
Both teams enter the game ranked in the top 10 of the Associated Press poll. Florida is ranked #5, while Tennessee (17-4, 4-4) is ranked eighth. The game is also the first of four straight for the Gators against ranked teams. Between now and Feb. 11, Florida will face Tennessee, Vanderbilt, Auburn, and Mississippi State.
The Gators are coming off an 89-59 win over Georgia on Saturday. Five Gators scored in double figures in the game, including Walter Clayton Jr. and Alijah Martin, who each scored 17 points. Both rank in the top 10 in scoring average in the SEC. Clayton is tied for sixth (17.8 points per game), while Martin is tied for 10th (16.1).
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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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