As a tropical storm bore down on Florida’s Panhandle, state records show that Gov. Ron DeSantis used funds designed to help Floridians recover from natural disasters—such as storms and hurricanes—for his pet immigration projects like Alligator Alcatraz and Deportation Depot. Reporter Liz Caputo of the Florida Phoenix has the story, and it is reprinted here with permission of the Tallahassee-based news service.

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By Liv Caputo

Florida Phoenix

The DeSantis administration spent nearly two-thirds of Florida’s emergency fund last fiscal year on fighting illegal immigration, dwarfing spending for severe weather, international rescues, and other emergency missions for which the fund was created.

State records show that the Florida Division of Emergency Management (FDEM), the agency in charge of the so-called “Alligator Alcatraz” and “Deportation Depot” lockups, shelled out $890 million in taxpayer dollars between July 1, 2025, and June 30, 2026.

Of that, $564 million — about 63% — went to immigration enforcement, meaning emergency managers spent more on immigration than all emergency missions combined last year.

The rest paid for assistance to counties and other states, costs associated with rescuing Americans from Israel after the Oct. 7, 2023, attack, and severe weather — including snow in the Panhandle, storms in Northwest Florida, and heavy October rainfall.

The spending represents a significant shift in the purpose of the Emergency Preparedness and Response Fund, a trust created in 2022 to allow Gov. Ron DeSantis to quickly pay for disasters like hurricanes, floods, and more without legislative approval.

But in 2023, the trust became a financing vehicle for one of DeSantis’ top priorities: immigration. Gearing up for a presidential run and enjoying an iron grip over the GOP Legislature, DeSantis declared a state of emergency on immigration — one that he’s renewed at least 20 times since.

This opened the fund’s dollars to immigration enforcement, allowing FDEM to spend $573 million out of it since 2023 — 98% of which was paid for in the past year. This is largely because of the so-called “Alligator Alcatraz” and “Deportation Depot,” facilities, state-run detention centers erected last summer, lauded by President Trump, and mirrored by Republican states nationwide.

But these costs represent just a fraction of the total to be spent on immigration. As the Phoenix previously reported, immigration contracts signed by FDEM are valued at roughly $1.01 billion. This doesn’t include isolated immigration costs like food, supplies, or travel.

FDEM still owes the vendors that built and ran the facilities at least another half a billion dollars.

Despite those outstanding costs, the fund has under $7 million left. Lawmakers approved another $250 million for the trust in June, but FDEM hasn’t asked for the money yet.

The agency also missed the deadline for a new quarterly report detailing the fund’s health and cash projections, a requirement lawmakers added this year. Representatives of the Senate president and House speaker told the Phoenix they had not received the report, which was due five days ago. FDEM did not respond to questions about when it would submit the information.

Immigration spending from the fund last fiscal year exceeded the individual costs of several past emergency responses, including Hurricane Idalia, Hurricane Debby, Hurricane Nicole, and evacuation flights for Americans from Israel and Haiti.

The estimated $1.01 billion in immigration-related contracts, meanwhile, would rank as the third-largest use of the trust since its creation, behind only Hurricane Ian ($2.5 billion) and Hurricane Milton ($1.5 billion).

The reporter on this story, Liv Caputo, covers immigration for the Florida Phoenix. She’s had her work cited in The New York Times, the Miami Herald, and the New York Post, as well as having been republished here at Tropic Press. She worked previously at The Floridian Press and The Florida Standard. A Florida native, she graduated from Florida State University.

Florida Phoenix is part of States Newsroom, the nation’s largest state-focused nonprofit news organization. This story is republished with their permission. To support Florida Phoenix, click here:

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Our democracy as we’ve known it for 250 years is at risk. To save it, we will need a groundswell of support from voters in the coming midterm election.

The purpose of this newsletter—and the accompanying Tropic Press website—is to encourage that engagement.

Currently, Tropic Press is reaching more than 700,000 subscribers in Florida and elsewhere, which is great, but there are literally millions of Florida Democrats and independents we are not reaching yet.

You can help spread the word.

Please like this post. Comment if you are so inclined. But, please, also take a moment to share it with people you know.

With mid-term elections on the horizon, the more people we reach, the more effective we can be in helping turn our state and this country around. You can play a vital role in that effort.

Thanks.

J.C. Bruce

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By Mitch Perry

Florida Phoenix

LAKE BUENA VISTA — A series of special and local election victories over the past year have boosted Florida Democrats’ confidence they’ll continue that winning streak into the November midterm elections.

But with more than 1.5 million more registered Republicans than Democrats in the Sunshine State, it won’t be easy.

Pete Buttigieg acknowledges that reality.

The former Department of Transportation Secretary and 2020 presidential candidate was the keynote speaker at the Florida Democratic Party’s Leadership Blue gala at the Coronado Springs Convention Center at Walt Disney World Resort.

Ours was the 29th state he has visited since leaving the Biden administration and preparing for another potential presidential run in 2028. He acknowledged a “blue wave” could be in the offing for Democrats this fall, but emphasized that is “not automatic,” noting how congressional redistricting in red states like Florida and Texas could mitigate any gains in the U.S. House of Representatives.

“But even with that tilted playing field, I see enormous opportunity for Democrats,” Buttigieg told a group of reporters minutes after finishing his speech in front of the more than 900 people.

“I see us competing in places that would have been written off just a few months ago,” he continued. “We’re talking about states and individual districts. And we’ve seen some wins. The fact that Mar-a-Lago is now represented by a Democratic legislator right here in Florida, the fact that Miami just voted for a Democratic mayor for the first time in a generation, shows you that different things are possible. It will never be easy or automatic in more conservative areas, but it’s absolutely within reach.”

Buttigieg was referencing Eileen Higgins’ victory in the Miami mayor’s race in December, the first Democrat to win that seat in decades, and Emily Gregory‘s March win in House District 87, which had gone for Republican Mike Caruso by 19 points just a year-and-a-half before.

More stunning than that was Brian Nathan’s victory on March 24 against Republican Josie Tomkow in the state Senate District 14 seat, where he was outspent 10:1 in a district won by Republican Jay Collins by nearly 10 points in 2022.

Expectations

Buttigieg kicked off his speech by saying, “I know we can compete and win in Florida because I feel how many people here and across the country are ready for something different and ready for something better.”

Florida Democratic Party Chair Nikki Fried’s stated electoral goals sounded relatively modest — she wants to lift her party out of the superminority status it holds in both chambers of the Florida Legislature. (It would need six victories in the House and two in the Senate to get that accomplished, she said).

Other speakers during the evening included incoming Senate leader Tracie Davis, incoming House leader Christine Hunschofsky, and Orlando Democratic U.S. Rep. Maxwell Frost, fresh off being re-elected last month after no Democrat or Republican filed to challenge him before the qualifying deadline. The 29-year-old Frost brought the most energy by far of any of the speakers who took the stage at the Coronado Springs Convention Center.

“Florida Democrats, let’s be honest with ourselves, many in this nation look at our state and they don’t really see us, they see what we’re up against,” he said. “Today, many think the state’s not worth fighting for.”

The next chapter in Florida won’t be written by those “naysayers,” he continued, but by the individuals sitting in the audience. And he stressed that Democrats can’t get tripped up when labeled “socialists” or worse, such as the invective thrown their way at the Republican Party of Florida’s “Sunshine Showdown” conference at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel in Hollywood last month.

“Our opposition, they’re going to call us every name in the book,” Frost said. “I don’t care if you’re a progressive, I don’t care if you’re a moderate, they’re going to call you every name in the book. Please, Florida Democrats, don’t take the bait. Every second you spend saying, ‘No, I’m not,” it’s a second you’re not talking about the issues that most Floridians care about.”

Buttigieg puts Florida Republicans on blast

Buttigieg’s appearance in Florida comes as he is prominently mentioned as a top contender for the Democratic nomination for president in 2028. Just last week, a poll by The Detroit News and WDIV-TV in Detroit of 500 voters in the battleground state of Michigan placed Buttigieg in second place, trailing only former Vice President Kamala Harris.

The former Transportation secretary touted some of his accomplishments in office while serving in the Biden administration during his 23-minute address, noting his agency had helped fund more than 70,000 infrastructure projects, including modernizing terminals at airports in Orlando and Tampa as well as adding new truck parking spaces along the I-4 corridor.

Then he turned to Florida Republicans. He “took pleasure,” he said, in working with Republican leaders across the country to implement the 2021 Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, “but not so much Republicans here in Florida,” none of whom supported that legislation.

He could always count on Florida GOP officials “to take credit for something that they voted against,” he said, specifically mentioning a press event held by U.S. Rep. Vern Buchanan with House Speaker Mike Johnson at the Sarasota Bradenton International Airport in November 2023.

As the Phoenix reported at the time, “The two men spoke in a new section under construction for the airport’s new terminal expansion project, a $100 million investment that includes a five-gate terminal, a four-lane security checkpoint and five boarding hold rooms which will seat nearly 1,000 people.”

Buttigieg noted how Gov. Ron DeSantis rejected $320 million in federal transportation funding “because the word ‘carbon’ was in the title of the program,” but later ended up taking the money. (FDOT officials called the funds “politicization of our roadways” and initially declined the money).

He laid into Florida U.S. Rep. Byron Donalds, the GOP’s likely nominee for governor this fall. He began by noting that Donalds “was ranked the second most far-right wing conservative in the entire U.S. House of Representatives,” referring to a 2024 “report card” by GovTrack.us.

“He tried to pass a national abortion ban, voted to overturn the 2020 election, and repeatedly voted against commonsense background gun checks for gun safety, including voting no on a safety bill that his own Florida Republicans had come to pass after the Parkland massacre,” Buttigieg said. “He wants to be your governor. I think we can do better than that.”

U.S. Rep. Randy Fine of Florida’s Space Coast was another target.

“With the cost of living out of control, our nation at war, Rep. Fine committed his time in Washington to developing unique legislation like — I’m not making this up — Protecting Puppies from Sharia Law Act.”

He then noted a November 2025 poll from Florida Atlantic University’s Business and Economic Polling Initiative reporting that nearly half of Floridians say they have considered moving out of the state due to the cost of living.

“That is not bad luck,” he said. “That is what happens when you have 27 years of one-party rule.”

When it’s proven something doesn’t work, one usually tries something else, Buttigieg said. But Republicans aren’t doing that — “They’re just trying to change the rules,” he continued, referring to the congressional redistricting that went into law in May, designed to add up to four Republican seats to the 28-member party congressional delegation.

In advance of his appearance, the Republican National Committee issued a press release blasting Buttigieg and saying all Democrats, “especially Alex Vindman, Jared Moskowitz, Darren Soto, and Kathy Castor, should be asked if they agree with their new spokesman” about a variety of alleged transgressions, specifically listing “open border and mass amnesty for illegal aliens,” “taxpayer-funded healthcare for illegal aliens,” and “Bernie Sanders-style socialist healthcare.”

The Democrats’ confab took place exactly one month before the Aug. 18 primary elections. The deadline to register to vote in that election is today.

The reporter of this story, Mitch Perry, has covered politics and government in Florida for more than two decades. Most recently, he is the former politics reporter for Bay News 9. He has also worked at Florida Politics, Creative Loafing and WMNF Radio in Tampa. He was also part of the original staff when the Florida Phoenix was created in 2018.

Florida Phoenix is part of States Newsroom, the nation’s largest state-focused nonprofit news organization. This story is republished with their permission. To support Florida Phoenix, click here:

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Our democracy as we’ve known it for 250 years is at risk, as you can see from today’s newsletter.

To save it, we will need a groundswell of support from voters in the coming midterm election.

The purpose of this newsletter—and the accompanying Tropic Press website—is to encourage that engagement.

Currently, Tropic Press is reaching more than 700,000 subscribers in Florida and elsewhere, which is great, but there are literally millions of Florida Democrats and independents we are not reaching yet.

You can help spread the word.

Please like this post. Comment if you are so inclined. But, please, also take a moment to share it with people you know.

With mid-term elections on the horizon, the more people we reach, the more effective we can be in helping turn our state and this country around. You can play a vital role in that effort.

Thanks.

J.C. Bruce

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As Craig Pittman points out, here in Florida we know all about algae growth and what causes it. We even know how to stop it. We just don’t do it. Painting the Reflecting Pool blue and pouring in bleach isn’t the answer. Tropic Press is pleased to share Craig’s essay today with the permission of Florida Phoenix, the Tallahassee-based news service.

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By Craig Pittman

Florida Phoenix

Dear Mr. President,

Greetings from Florida, your adopted home state and the place where you seem to go golfing every week or so.

I hear you’ve been having a big problem with a nasty intruder in the Reflecting Pool there in Washington — not antifa, but an algae bloom.

You must be deeply annoyed to see the media treat this as a huge embarrassment for you. Slate called it “an inescapable metaphor for the Trump administration’s ineptitude, profligate spending, careless meddling with iconic federal properties, and general bad taste.” And that’s one of the milder descriptions.

Then to hear comics comparing it to the Iran War and calling it “The Strait of Warm Ooze,” must have you in a ketchup-hurling fury.

After all, your whole goal here was to hand out some no-bid government contracts to donors to do a quick rush job to help America enjoy a pretty blue Reflecting Pool in time for the big Fourth of July celebration.

Now, instead of blue water, you’ve been dealing with a green mess that looks like something the Creature from the Black Lagoon would have called home.

To help you out, I’d like to offer some suggestions. After all, we’ve been dealing with algae blooms here in Florida for yeeeeeears.

I well remember the Fourth of July weekend 10 years ago, when a putrid blue-green algae as thick as guacamole forced Martin County officials to close Jensen Beach — about an hour north of Mar-a-Lago — as a health hazard.

“I’ve seen Jensen Beach closed for sharks,” the owner of the town’s Driftwood Motel told me then. “I’ve never seen it closed for an algae bloom before.”

One of her friends, a nurse, told me the worst part was the stench: “It smells like death on a cracker.”

A similar algae bloom erupted on the state’s other coast, prompting our governor at the time — a fellow you now know as Sen. Rick Scott — to declare a state of emergency.

We’re STILL dealing with this mess, too. Just last week, the Florida Department of Health issued an alert to everyone to beware the toxic algae in Lake Okeechobee. Residents were warned not to swim at certain places in the lake and to keep their pets away from it, too, or they’d wind up as dead as that trio of ducks found in the Reflecting Pool.

So, while I’m not coming to you with tears in my eyes, I am happy to offer some guidance for how to deal with your algae bloom based on how we’ve dealt with ours.

First, whatever you do, do NOT seek any advice from Gov. Ron DeSantis.

The master of the greenwash

I know your relationship with Gov. D has had more ups and downs than a playground teeter-totter in a hurricane.

An “up” was when your endorsement in 2018 helped him win office. A “down” was when he ran against you for the presidential nomination in 2024 and you dubbed him “DeSannctimonious.”

When it comes to dealing with algae blooms, you should treat the governor as if his name is DON’T-Santis.

The reason why dates to 2018, when we were afflicted with so many toxic algae blooms that it was called “the Summer of Slime.”

Scott, then the governor, was running for U.S. Senate. A lot of people blamed him for allowing the increase in pollution that was fueling the algae blooms. They booed him so thoroughly that he fled the protesters. For years afterward, he was known as “Red Tide Rick.” (Come to think of it, don’t ask him for advice either.)

DeSantis vowed to fix the algae bloom problem, and people believed him. After he was elected, he wrote an op-ed for the South Florida Sun-Sentinel that said, “I will fulfill promises from the campaign trail. That means prioritizing environmental issues, like water quality and cleaning the environmental mess that has resulted in toxic blue-green algae and exacerbated red tide around the state.”

After he took office, he appointed a panel of actual scientists to recommend countermeasures for the algae blooms. They did.

Then, I am sorry to say, he and the Legislature ignored nearly all of their recommendations. They passed a law that didn’t require polluters to do anything. He then hailed that weak law as if it were a major environmental victory.

“DeSantis is the master of the greenwash, and that has left us literally covered in slime,” said Cris Costello of the Sierra Club.

Algae blooms have continued, killing off so much seagrass in the Indian River Lagoon that more than 1,000 manatees starved to death.

Instead of doing what the scientists recommended, DeSantis cut a secret deal with an Israeli company called BlueGreen (no I am not making that up) Water Technologies. The state paid the Israeli company millions to repeatedly dump a hydrogen peroxide mix into algae-tainted waterways.

That cleared up the algae for a little while. But because the governor didn’t order his agencies to stop the pollution, the blooms just keep coming back.

“DeSantis’ fight against algal blooms in Florida will fail,” the CEO of BlueGreen Water Technologies wrote on social media in 2019. “There is no question that preventing raw sewage and runoffs from spilling into waterways must be addressed.”

DeSantis’ betrayal of his campaign promise turned out to be a harbinger of his whole career. He vetoed funding for restoring the Ocklawaha River, built a destructive tent city in the Big Cypress Preserve (even though that completely undercut all the restoration work he’s approved for the Everglades), and tried to put golf courses in Jonathan Dickinson State Park.

I hear your National Park Service has also been dumping hydrogen peroxide in the Reflecting Pool. You can see why that’s at best a temporary fix, but temporary is fine with DeSantis.

Unlike him, you should try to focus on the root causes of the bloom.

How to handle the heat

I consulted a number of my fellow Floridians about what you should do. You’ve probably never met any of them because they don’t hang out at any fancy-schmancy places like your Mar-A-Lago country club.

But they do know about algae blooms.

These folks reminded me that microscopic algae linger in small amounts in still water. The two ingredients for sparking the massive explosion that we call a bloom are 1) heat and 2) nutrients.

Let’s talk about the heat, first. That’s going to be the stickiest part of the discussion.

Although you’ve repeatedly complained about what you call “the Climate Change Hoax,” the data show that our days and nights are, in fact, getting warmer. It’s the reason our oceans are warming up and our hurricanes grow stronger a lot faster.

Climate scientists have repeatedly warned that one of the consequences of living in this warmer world is that there will be more toxic algae blooms just like the one we saw in the Reflecting Pool.

Since you keep telling us how smart you are, I’m sure you can see why it’s a bad idea to reject clear and convincing facts about the climate crisis that everyone can see.

Even your pal Vladimir Putin acknowledges that climate change is real. And the country run by your friend Xi Jinping, China, is on track to hit net zero emissions earlier than its goal.

I know how reluctant you are to ever admit you’re wrong. But doing something about the algae bloom doesn’t require you to announce that you’ve been wrong all along about climate change.

Instead, you can just say you’ve changed your mind about the color.

Don’t paint it black

When you first announced you’d be repainting the Reflecting Pool, you said, “You’re going to end up with a beautiful, beautiful reflecting pool. The way it’s supposed to be. Much better than it ever was, actually.”

You said you’d initially considered painting it turquoise but then someone persuaded you to paint it a deep blue like the American flag.

One of my sources, Gary Roderick, used to be the southeast bureau chief for the Florida Department of Environmental Protection. He pointed out that repainting the pool surface as a deep blue made it more likely that the water would get really hot, because darker colors tend to absorb more heat from the sun.

The only thing that would have been worse is to copy the Rolling Stones and paint it black. Imagine how hot the water would be then!

Now that the hydrogen peroxide is making the blue paint peel off (or vandals are cutting it, as you have claimed), this is the perfect time to repaint it a lighter color.

Here‘s my advice: Announce that you’ve reconsidered. Now, you say, instead of turquoise or blue, you think that the pool should be dazzling white.

Why white? Explain that you want it to match the purity of the character of our nation’s founding fathers. I bet the folks on Fox would fall all over themselves praising you for that.

If you repainted the Reflecting Pool white, it would tend to reflect (heh heh!) the rays from the sun that are currently warming the water like it’s a pot on the stove.

Doesn’t that seem like the move of a smart guy who’s aced all his cognitive tests?

Now let’s talk about what you’ve been feeding those little green monsters.

The cement pond

As we’ve learned in Florida, feeding the algae blooms nutrients like fertilizer and sewage tends to make them grow like those wacky pro-algae protesters have been chanting at the Reflecting Pool: “Let’s grow, algae, let’s grow!”

Some folks, like Capt. Karl Deigert of the Florida Rights of Nature Network, also blame the state’s rampant spraying of herbicides for fueling Florida’s blooms.

So, what’s making the blooms happen in the pool?

Despite the name, the Reflecting Pool is not, in fact, a pool at all. It covers nearly eight acres of surface area and contains more than 6 million gallons of water. Even a big, strong swimmer like Olympian Michael Phelps would get tuckered out swimming laps in that sucker.

The Reflecting Pool more closely resembles the “cement pond” the Clampetts of “The Beverly Hillsbillies” splashed around in. It’s a big concrete basin designed to reflect the surrounding monuments.

The water in the Reflecting Pool is not tap water (although city water sometimes gets used), nor is it from a Florida bottler like Zephyrhills. Instead, it’s drawn from the Tidal Basin, connected to the Potomac River, which earlier this year was heavily polluted by a 300 million gallon sewage spill.

The Reflecting Pool’s water goes through a filtration system, but it can’t catch every impurity, so I’m guessing some of the sewage got through.

Meanwhile, the nanobubblers that had been installed in the pool to guarantee clean water were apparently turned off for your Ultimate Fighting Championship birthday event. By the time they were turned back on, the algae had gotten quite a head start.

The hydrogen peroxide actually made things worse.

By dumping peroxide in the pool, park service employees knocked out the blue-green algae but that just made room for “a more persistent and harder-to-get-rid-of green algae,” according to Wayne Carmichael, a biological sciences professor at Wright State University, quoted by PBS.

Now the nanobubblers are back bubbling away and the algae has faded. But it could easily come back, especially if there’s another Potomac sewage spill. After all, algae also showed up bigly in 2012 after the last big renovation.

Now the park service is saying they’re going to drain it again sometime after the Fourth of July and start over. So, here’s my suggestion for eliminating what’s fueling the algae.

One of the donors supporting your Freedom 250 celebration was a Florida company known as Mosaic. The company mines phosphate, the main ingredient in fertilizer, and needs federal approval to expand one of its ginormous gypsum stacks.

Despite Mosaic’s frequent TV ad claims that it’s a friend of the environment, a lot of people around the state have blamed the company for the pollution that’s repeatedly fueled Florida’s algae blooms.

Why not ask Mosaic to foot the bill for refilling the Reflecting Pool with clean, filtered water that’s missing the Potomac poo-poo factor? Given their massive sales, I’m sure you could ask them to kick in some of the other kind of green to keep it clean, too.

Leave a comment

Craig Pittman is a native Floridian. In 30 years at the Tampa Bay Times, he won numerous state and national awards for his environmental reporting. He is the author of six books. In 2020 the Florida Heritage Book Festival named him a Florida Literary Legend. Craig is co-host of the "Welcome to Florida" podcast. He lives in St. Petersburg with his wife and children.

Florida Phoenix is part of States Newsroom, the nation’s largest state-focused nonprofit news organization. This story is republished with their permission. To support Florida Phoenix, click here:

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It’s easy to feel overwhelmed if you are a rational person living in the Free State of Florida, but there are plenty of smart, reasonable people just like you here. The purpose of this newsletter and the Tropic Press website is to provide a source of news and commentary that shines a light through this irrational fog, both original reporting and contributions such as today’s article from the Florida Phoenix.

Thank you for your support as a subscriber. It is invaluable. This is especially so for those of you who have chosen to upgrade to paid subscriptions. Your contributions are making this possible.

J.C. Bruce

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As this newsletter was written, Tropic Press was reaching more than 700,000 subscribers in Florida and elsewhere. But there are literally millions of Florida Democrats and independents we are not reaching yet.

That’s a problem you can help solve.

With mid-term elections on the horizon, the more people we reach, the more effective we can be in helping turn our state and this country around. You can play a vital role in that effort by sharing this newsletter with friends.

If you are reading this as an email, simply forward it. Or you can use the link below. Thanks.

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By Jonathan Shorman

States Newsroom

U.S. Senate Democrats have introduced legislation to require Congress to sign off on any deployment of federal troops to the polls, as President Donald Trump and his administration refuse to rule out the idea.

Fears of troops or other federal agents at voting sites have long loomed over the approaching midterm elections in November. Democrats and voting rights advocates have grown alarmed in recent months as Trump has publicly entertained the possibility. Other administration officials have mocked or sidestepped questions about possible deployments.

The legislation, the Protect Our Polls Act, would require Congress to pass a resolution approving any deployment beforehand. Federal law prohibits troops and other armed federal personnel from polling places, but contains an exception to “repel armed enemies of the United States” — fueling speculation that Trump could invoke this exception to bypass the ban.

“He is trying to nationalize the elections, and he is telling us in his own words what he is trying to do,” Sen. Elissa Slotkin, a Michigan Democrat, said at a news conference at the Capitol. “On top of that, Trump’s nominees for his Cabinet positions have come up here and refused to rule out uniformed military or federal law enforcement being sent to the polls on Election Day.”

White House justification

The bill would require the White House, 48 hours before any deployment, to provide Congress with intelligence, legal justifications, deployment plans and evidence that state and local officials are unable to address the threat themselves.

It also prohibits military personnel from using federal funds to access election records, a provision designed to block troops from seizing ballots.

Slotkin is offering the bill alongside Sens. Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin, Ruben Gallego and Mark Kelly of Arizona, Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, Alex Padilla of California, Jacky Rosen of Nevada and Raphael Warnock of Georgia.

“One of the things I’m very proud of is that I served to protect the Constitution of the United States and our democracy,” said Gallego, a Marine veteran. “I swore that oath, and the last thing any Marine, sailor, Army, Coastie, Air Force, spacemen — whatever they call them nowadays — wants to do is to undermine that. We’re here to protect democracy, we’re not here to undermine democracy.”

White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson said in a statement that if Democrats “really cared about securing our elections,” the party would pass the SAVE America Act.

The legislation would require voters to provide documents, such as a birth certificate or passport, proving their citizenship. The measure has stalled in the Senate amid opposition from Democrats and a handful of Republicans.

In May, Trump told reporters that he would “do anything necessary to make sure we have honest elections,” in response to questions about sending National Guard personnel or federal immigration agents to voting locations in November.

Amendments blocked

At a Senate hearing in April, Slotkin pressed Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on sending troops to the polls. He called the questions “another gotcha hypothetical.”

The Democratic legislation comes a week after Slotkin said Republicans on the Senate Armed Services Committee blocked two amendments to ban troops at the polls during work on the National Defense Authorization Act. The committee typically works on the defense spending bill behind closed doors.

The Protect Our Polls Act has virtually no chance of passing the Republican-controlled Congress. Still, its introduction underscores the level of concern among Democrats as Trump’s efforts to influence the midterm elections come into focus.

The Department of Justice has spent a year demanding states turn over unredacted copies of their voter rolls, including sensitive personal data on voters. DOJ officials have said in court that the department wants to share the data with the Department of Homeland Security, which operates a powerful computer program that can identify possible noncitizen voters.

The DOJ has sued 30 states and the District of Columbia for the data, but no judge has so far ruled in the administration’s favor.

Investigations

The Department of Justice is also engaged in several election-related investigations over past elections.

The FBI raided a Georgia elections warehouse in January and seized ballots from the 2020 election. Election officials have been subpoenaed in Minneapolis, and the FBI last week searched the office of an Ohio voting rights group.

And Trump signed an executive order that restricts voting by mail. It would require states to provide lists of voters to the U.S. Postal Service before using the mail to send ballots and directs Homeland Security to share lists of voting-age citizens with every state. The order remains in effect for now, despite a series of lawsuits challenging it.

“There’s a common theme here,” Padilla said at a Democratic forum on election security. “All of these things are illegal and many unconstitutional.”

Leave a comment

Jonathan Shorman covers democracy for States Newsroom. His coverage area includes elections and voting rights, fights over state and federal power, civil liberties and more. An alumnus of the University of Kansas, he previously covered politics for The Kansas City Star.

Florida Phoenix is part of States Newsroom, the nation’s largest state-focused nonprofit news organization. This story is republished with their permission. To support Florida Phoenix, click here:

DONATE

Thanks for your support

It’s easy to feel overwhelmed if you are a rational person living in the Free State of Florida, but there are plenty of smart, reasonable people just like you here. The purpose of this newsletter and the Tropic Press website is to provide a source of news and commentary that shines a light through this irrational fog, both original reporting and contributions such as today’s article first published in the Florida Phoenix.

Thank you for your support as a subscriber. It is invaluable. This is especially so for those of you who have chosen to upgrade to paid subscriptions. Your contributions are making this possible.

J.C. Bruce

Subscribe now

Share Tropic Press!

As this newsletter was written, Tropic Press was reaching more than 700,000 subscribers in Florida and elsewhere. But there are literally millions of Florida Democrats and independents we are not reaching yet.

That’s a problem you can help solve.

With mid-term elections on the horizon, the more people we reach, the more effective we can be in helping turn our state and this country around. You can play a vital role in that effort by sharing this newsletter with friends.

If you are reading this as an email, simply forward it. Or you can use the link below. Thanks.

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“Florida is making some progress towards improving the state’s child well-being, but the level of investment is not moving the needle in helping Florida families with affordability in housing, access to childcare, and access to medical care, namely Medicaid.”

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By Jay Waagmeester

Florida Phoenix

Florida’s overall state of child wellbeing did not improve in this year’s Kids Count Data Profile, although some segments including graduation rates and teen birth did see gains.

Florida jumped four spots in education ranking compared to last year’s report, up to 15th, working toward the fifth place ranking the state held two years ago. Florida’s family and community category improved, too, jumping one spot, to 29th.

The state’s children’s health category dropped three places, to 35th.

The data compiled by the Annie E. Casey Foundation reflect children’s ability to read, the number who are overweight, and parental financial stability, among other factors like teen pregnancy and deaths. Much of Florida’s data in the 2026 report are from 2024.

“Florida is making some progress towards improving the state’s child well-being, but the level of investment is not moving the needle in helping Florida families with affordability in housing, access to childcare, and access to medical care, namely Medicaid,” Norín Dollard, Kids Count director at Florida Policy Institute, said in a news release.

According to the 2026 report, fewer children than in 2025 are giving birth or living in poverty.

The 2026 report shows one less teen death, 28, than in the 2025 report, 29.

The rate of children whose parents lack secure employment improved, 25% in the 2026 report. It was 26% in the 2025 report.

One percent more, 39%, of children live in a household with a high housing cost burden compared to last year’s report. It is 3% higher than 2019 data.

The education category overall improvement since last year’s report reflects an improved graduation rate, but all three related categories — reading and math proficiency and three-and-four-year-olds not in school, stayed the same.

The report shows a decrease in reading and math scores, putting Florida 19th nationwide in education.

Two years ago, the report ranked Florida as fifth in education in the United States. Now, it is ranked 15th. New Jersey, Massachusetts, and Connecticut are the top three education states, according to the report.

Florida maintained its rank at 43rd for economic wellbeing. New Hampshire, Minnesota, and Wyoming are the top three in this category.

“Behind every number in this report is a child who is either hungry or fed, housed or homeless, progressing academically or falling behind. No state is consistently getting this right,” Lisa M. Lawson, president and CEO of the Annie E. Casey Foundation, said. “The Data Book challenges us to follow the evidence and do what delivers results.”

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Jay Waagmeester covers education for the Florida Phoenix. He previously worked for the Iowa Capital Dispatch and the Iowa State Daily. He grew up in Iowa and is a graduate of Iowa State University.

Florida Phoenix is part of States Newsroom, the nation’s largest state-focused nonprofit news organization. This story is republished with their permission. To support Florida Phoenix, click here:

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Thanks for your support

It’s easy to feel overwhelmed if you are a rational person living in the Free State of Florida, but there are plenty of smart, reasonable people just like you here. The purpose of this newsletter and the Tropic Press website is to provide a source of news and commentary that shines a light through this irrational fog, both original reporting and contributions such as today’s article from the Florida Phoenix.

Thank you for your support as a subscriber. It is invaluable. This is especially so for those of you who have chosen to upgrade to paid subscriptions. Your contributions are making this possible.

J.C. Bruce

Subscribe now

Share Tropic Press!

As this newsletter was written, Tropic Press was reaching more than 700,000 subscribers in Florida and elsewhere. But there are literally millions of Florida Democrats and independents we are not reaching yet.

That’s a problem you can help solve.

With mid-term elections on the horizon, the more people we reach, the more effective we can be in helping turn our state and this country around. You can play a vital role in that effort by sharing this newsletter with friends.

If you are reading this as an email, simply forward it. Or you can use the link below. Thanks.

Share Tropic Press: J.C. Bruce

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By Mitch Perry

Florida Phoenix

Gov. Ron DeSantis’ recently redistricted congressional map that could net Republicans up to four additional seats this fall will remain in place after the Florida Supreme Court rejected an emergency petition to stop the map from taking effect.

The Equal Ground Education Fund had filed the petition, asking the high court to overturn the First District Court of Appeal’s decision to reject a temporary injunction. The ruling does not end the legal battle, with the underlying challenge still intact.

The Elias Law Group, on behalf of Equal Ground, originally filed the lawsuit on May 4 on behalf of 18 individual plaintiffs who live throughout the state. That was the day DeSantis signed the GOP-controlled Legislature’s map into law.

The suit contends the new map violates Florida’s 2010 Fair Districts Amendments, which prohibit drawing congressional (and state legislative) districts that favor incumbents or a political party.

Genesis Robinson, executive director of Equal Ground, issued a blistering statement.

“Let’s be clear, the Florida Supreme Court’s failure to stop this brazen partisan power grab is not only an assault on democracy, but an abdication of its duty to the people of Florida,” he said. “Courts are meant to serve as a check on government overreach and a safeguard against constitutional violations, but, once again, when Floridians needed that protection most, the Court declined to intervene.”

“The Florida Supreme Court just stopped Marc Elias’ attempted takeover of Florida’s congressional map and denied his request to hear the case. COMPLETE AND TOTAL VICTORY,” wrote Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier in a social media post.

Elias is one of the country’s most prominent election attorneys working for Democrats nationwide. The Elias Law Group is litigating the case on behalf of Equal Ground.

Florida Republicans control 20 of the state’s 28 congressional seats. The deadline for candidates to qualify to run for Congress in Florida is today at noon.

Leave a comment

Mitch Perry has covered politics and government in Florida for more than two decades. He is the former politics reporter for Bay News 9. He has also worked at Florida Politics, Creative Loafing, and WMNF Radio in Tampa. He was also part of the original staff when the Florida Phoenix was created in 2018.

Florida Phoenix is part of States Newsroom, the nation’s largest state-focused nonprofit news organization. This story is republished with their permission. To support Florida Phoenix, click here:

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Trump Derangement Watch

From The Independent

President Donald Trump spent nearly a full hour earlier this week ranting about the new-look Lincoln Memorial reflecting pool, trashing Democrats as “Dumocrats” and downplaying the sky-high inflation that his war against Iran has caused before nearly forgetting to do the one thing he’d brought reporters into the Oval Office to see.

As White House aides attempted to usher the White House press pool from the room after Trump ended the event by thanking reporters, he was reminded that he had not put pen to paper on the immigration and border funding package he’d meant to sign as top GOP congressional leaders looked on.

But when someone pointed out that he hadn’t actually signed the bill — at the signing ceremony in the Oval Office — he quickly pivoted to attacking his predecessor’s use of an autopen as he took out his bespoke Sharpie and inked a signature on the page.

Thanks for your support

It’s easy to feel overwhelmed if you are a rational person living in the “Free” State of Florida, but there are plenty of smart, reasonable people just like you here. The purpose of this newsletter and the Tropic Press website is to provide a source of news and commentary that shines a light through this irrational fog, both original reporting and contributions such as today’s article from the Florida Phoenix.

Thank you for your support as a subscriber. It is invaluable. This is especially so for those of you who have chosen to upgrade to paid subscriptions. Your contributions are making this possible.

J.C. Bruce

Subscribe now

Share Tropic Press!

As this newsletter was written, Tropic Press was reaching more than 700,000 subscribers in Florida and elsewhere. But there are literally millions of Florida Democrats and independents we are not reaching yet.

That’s a problem you can help solve.

With mid-term elections on the horizon, the more people we reach, the more effective we can be in helping turn our state and this country around. You can play a vital role in that effort by sharing this newsletter with friends.

If you are reading this as an email, simply forward it. Or you can use the link below. Thanks.

Share Tropic Press: J.C. Bruce

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By Mitch Perry, Christine Sexton, Jay Waagmeester

Florida Phoenix

Gov. Ron DeSantis on Wednesday announced his plan for a homestead property tax exemption that could crimp local governments’ ability to fund schools, health care, and public safety.

Simultaneously, he called for lawmakers to return to Tallahassee and address his plan in a three-day special session starting Monday.

DeSantis has been discussing elimination of all property taxes for more than a year, although he eventually narrowed his plan to elimination of homestead property taxes only.

Despite the lengthy build-up, he provided few details other than a one-page summary, noting he still wants to “ensure funding for core services.”

The governor rejected tax proposals offered by the Florida House earlier this year. He said his plan — which would require three-fifths approval from both the House and Senate and then 60% approval by Floridians as a proposed constitutional amendment in November — would immediately eliminate property taxes for 60% of Florida homeowners.

The governor said he wants to increase the state’s existing homestead exemption to $250,000. He added that he wants that to increase to $500,000, which would eliminate property taxes for up to 92% of homesteaded property owners, although he said he would leave the timing to the Legislature.

This would be the third special session since the regular legislative session ended in March. The Legislature is required to annually meet for 60 days.

“We need to start standing up for taxpayers,” DeSantis said.

“For all this time, as we’ve seen inflation throughout the country, all these different things, it’s always the individual, the consumer, the taxpayer that’s expected to change things in order to make ends meet. They never expect government to be able to change things that so that it can benefit the taxpayers,” he continued.

“We’ve always focused on the homestead part of it, which, again, is less money than local governments get from residential properties that are not homestead, so that is something that’s doable and it’s something that’s really, really meaningful.”

There’s no definition of core services in the one-page summary, but they “include” public safety, education, infrastructure, and natural resources, he said.

Local governments pay nearly half of school funding. Property taxes contribute much of the local government contribution to schools. A local government’s share of the contribution to education funding depends on property values and taxes levied on those properties.

House Democratic leader Fentrice Driskell voiced concern about what the proposal could mean for schools.

“My mom is a retired educator; I hang out with a lot of teachers. I think there’s a reason why the governor didn’t want to show his work today,” Driskell said during a news conference at the Capitol Wednesday.

DeSantis, Driskell said, contradicted himself. “He says he wants to ensure funding for core services, and he says that that includes education. So, he wants to ensure that there’s funding, but there’s nothing in his plan that says that that funding won’t be cut.”

She added: “I’m very concerned that it could mean reduced funding for our schools overall, even though there could be some core service funding for core services that might maintain, but he hasn’t explained exactly what that would look like or how much there would be.”

The Florida Chamber of Commerce said in a written statement that it would “evaluate the proposed constitutional amendment with our members once specific bill text and potential fiscal impacts are released.” The pro-business lobby did note that “property taxes accounted for nearly $60 billion in local government and school funding in 2025, up from $55.18 billion the year prior and $35.7 billion in 2019.”

Healthcare

Florida requires counties to contribute to the state’s costs of the basic Medicaid program. What a county contributes varies depending on its share of Medicaid enrollment. That amount is calculated annually and adjusted through changes in Medicaid expenditures. Documents show that counties in 2025 contributed $411.6 million toward the Medicaid program in FY 26-27. Economists predict that number will increase to $438.4 in FY 27-28.

Moreover, some counties contain hospital taxing districts, which also are supported by local property taxes. Large hospital systems, such as Broward Health, Memorial Health Care, and Hallifax Health, are run by taxing districts that rely on property taxes.

According to the Florida Office of Economic and Demographic Research, 28% of homestead parcels in Florida have a median just value of $250,000 and below. That same report shows that about 76% of homestead parcels have a median value of $500,000 or below. According to Redfin, the median sale price for a home in Florida in March was $416,800.

DeSantis’ proposal would require any individual who establishes Florida residency after Jan. 1, 2027, to maintain it for five years before receiving the increased homestead exemption. It would change the limit on future property tax assessments on small businesses from 10% to 5%.

His proposal would provide a trust fund to assist local governments with continuation of core local services. DeSantis had set aside $300 million in his proposed state budget in December to help backfill potential lost property tax revenues for the state’s 29 fiscally constrained counties, but he said Wednesday that the fund would not be limited to those regions.

“We are creating a trust fund in state government that will be able to provide grants to local governments for support for these core services,” he said, referring to law enforcement and education. Some counties wouldn’t need such support, he added, referring specifically to Palm Beach County.

Such a trust fund would be established following the November election by the Legislature and his office if the measure passes, he said.

Public opinion

Public opinion surveys have been mixed about whether Floridians would approve a constitutional amendment on property tax relief. A University of North Florida poll released in March showed 56% of respondents expressing support with 35% opposed. The proposed measure could only become law if 60% of voters agree.

Senate President Ben Albritton released a statement showing he is all in on the governor’s proposal.

“Since the Governor first introduced this issue, my goal has been for the Senate to pass an amendment that gives voters the opportunity to reduce their property taxes in a straightforward and substantial way,” Albritton said.

“In my view, the proposal the governor explained today does that. I can’t think of a more meaningful way to celebrate America’s 250 then the passage of $250,000 in tax relief for every Florida homeowner. I believe this amendment will provide meaningful relief for Florida families, while protecting businesses from extreme tax increases and safeguarding local funding for public safety, education and our clean water infrastructure.”

Following DeSantis’ lead, Albritton’s chamber opted not to offer any proposal to provide property tax relief during the regular legislative session that concluded in March.

The House did pass a proposal from Rep. Monique Miller, R-Palm Bay, that would completely have ended non-school property taxes by Jan. 1, 2027. Her original proposal passed through three House committees and would have gradually increased the homestead exemption for non-school property taxes by $100,000 each year for 10 years.

“We are pleased the Governor has finally gotten around to share an actual proposal,” House Speaker Daniel Perez said in a statement, according to the Tampa Bay Times. “We look forward to reviewing it once we have received the language.”

Leave a comment

The Reporters on this story:

Mitch Perry has covered politics and government in Florida for more than two decades. Most recently he is the former politics reporter for Bay News 9. He has also worked at Florida Politics, Creative Loafing and WMNF Radio in Tampa. He was also part of the original staff when the Florida Phoenix was created in 2018.

Christine Sexton has spent more than 30 years reporting on Florida health care, insurance policy, and state politics and has covered the state’s last six governors. She lives in Tallahassee.

Jay Waagmeester covers education for the Florida Phoenix. He previously worked for the Iowa Capital Dispatch and the Iowa State Daily. He grew up in Iowa and is a graduate of Iowa State University.

Florida Phoenix is part of States Newsroom, the nation’s largest state-focused nonprofit news organization. This story is republished with their permission. To support Florida Phoenix, click here:

DONATE

Help make the midterms competitive

Not happy with the news coming out of Tallahassee? Do something about it.

The upcoming midterm elections provide a generational opportunity to change the complexion of Florida’s political makeup. But for that to happen, Republican candidates for the state Legislature must face opponents on the ballot.

Currently, there are still seats where Republicans are running unopposed. You can change that. You can decide to run. In which case, Project 140 can help you. Or you can pitch in and help fund those candidates who have already volunteered.

Run or Donate or Both

Thanks for your support

It’s easy to feel overwhelmed if you are a rational person living in the Free State of Florida, but there are plenty of smart, reasonable people just like you here. The purpose of this newsletter and the Tropic Press website is to provide a source of news and commentary that shines a light through this irrational fog, both original reporting and contributions such as today’s article from the Florida Phoenix.

Thank you for your support as a subscriber. It is invaluable. This is especially so for those of you who have chosen to upgrade to paid subscriptions. Your contributions are making this possible.

J.C. Bruce

Subscribe now

Share Tropic Press!

As this newsletter was written, Tropic Press was reaching more than 700,000 subscribers in Florida and elsewhere. But there are literally millions of Florida Democrats and independents we are not reaching yet.

That’s a problem you can help solve.

With mid-term elections on the horizon, the more people we reach, the more effective we can be in helping turn our state and this country around. You can play a vital role in that effort by sharing this newsletter with friends.

If you are reading this as an email, simply forward it. Or you can use the link below. Thanks.

Share

By Mitch Perry

Florida Phoenix

Democratic gubernatorial candidate David Jolly says that if he’s elected in November, he would establish an Office of Civil Rights within the governor’s office.

Speaking in Fort Myers recently during a gathering hosted by the Florida Democratic Hispanic Caucus, the former U.S. representative from Pinellas County reflected on the recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling weakening Section 2 of the 1965 U.S. Voting Rights Act, which has permitted southern states to redraw congressional maps to eliminate Democratic districts and dilute the influence of Black voters.

“I don’t think that the disparate impact of prejudicial and racist policies of the last 100 years has now expired and now we’re a moment of great equality and equity, I don’t,” he said. “I think the disparate impact is still real today.”

To contend with that, he says Florida “deserves an Office of Civil Rights.”

He said it would look at voting rights, access to healthcare, and ensure everyone is getting a “high quality education” as outlined in the Florida Constitution, among other aims.

His comments came as the Ron DeSantis administration has applied a sledgehammer to vestiges of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs in the state. Those efforts began in 2023, when the state passed legislation banning the state’s public colleges and universities from spending any money on DEI programs.

That was followed last month with the governor signing legislation (SB 1134) that bans local governments from funding or promoting DEI initiatives, with local officials who are found to have violated the law subject to removal from office. It takes effect on Jan. 1, 2027.

There’s also the case of Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier, who issued an advisory legal opinion on the Martin Luther King Jr. federal holiday in January declaring that any state actions recognizing racial disparities are “presumptively unconstitutional” under both federal and state law.

His opinion included an appendix listing more than 80 state laws referencing minority preferences, race-based state action, and affirmative action in state hiring and contracting that he said his office would no longer defend or enforce.

On the same day, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton issued an advisory opinion asserting that “decades’ worth of DEI frameworks” embedded in Texas law are unconstitutional.

Florida Republican lawmakers filed legislation that would have codified Uthmeier’s opinion into state law, but those proposals didn’t move in the regular 2026 Florida legislative session.

“I think David is absolutely right in creating this office, especially in a state that is actively rolling back many of those very civil rights,” said Miami Gardens Democratic state Sen. Shevrin Jones, who endorsed Jolly for governor in March. “So, yes, not only is it needed, it’s necessary.”

Human rights

Nearly every state in the nation manages its own state-level civil rights or human-rights commission to protect residents from discrimination in sectors such as unemployment, housing, and public accommodations. In the case of Florida, the Legislature created the Florida Commission on Human Relations in 1969 to enforce the Florida Civil Rights Act to address discrimination.

“If Florida’s Commission on Human Relations is fully meeting this moment, most Floridians certainly cannot tell,” said Jones.

Several other specialized civil rights offices operate within state government, with an Office of Civil Rights in the Attorney General’s office, the Department of Children’s and Families, and Department of Economic Opportunity.

Jolly said Sunday that he’s ready to respond to those who “recoil” at his idea.

“I will tell you this. If we don’t have any problems, then you’ve got nothing to worry about. But I think we need an Office of Civil Rights in the office of the governor to investigate where the problems are and figure out how we move ahead.”

Leave a comment

Mitch Perry has covered politics and government in Florida for more than two decades. Most recently he is the former politics reporter for Bay News 9. He has also worked at Florida Politics, Creative Loafing and WMNF Radio in Tampa. He was also part of the original staff when the Florida Phoenix was created in 2018.

Florida Phoenix is part of States Newsroom, the nation’s largest state-focused nonprofit news organization. This story is republished with their permission. To support Florida Phoenix, click here:

DONATE

Related:

David Jolly’s campaign website

Jerry Demings’ campaign website

Help make the midterms competitive

Not happy with the news coming out of Tallahassee? Do something about it.

The upcoming midterm elections provide a generational opportunity to change the complexion of Florida’s political makeup. But for that to happen, Republican candidates for the state Legislature must face opponents on the ballot.

Currently, there are still seats where Republicans are running unopposed. You can change that. You can decide to run. In which case, Project 140 can help you. Or you can pitch in and help fund those candidates who have already volunteered.

Run or Donate or Both

Thanks for your support

It’s easy to feel overwhelmed if you are a rational person living in the Free State of Florida, but there are plenty of smart, reasonable people just like you here. The purpose of this newsletter and the Tropic Press website is to provide a source of news and commentary that shines a light through this irrational fog, both original reporting and contributions such as today’s article from the Florida Phoenix.

Thank you for your support as a subscriber. It is invaluable. This is especially so for those of you who have chosen to upgrade to paid subscriptions. Your contributions are making this possible.

J.C. Bruce

Subscribe now

Share Tropic Press!

As this newsletter was written, Tropic Press was reaching more than 700,000 subscribers in Florida and elsewhere. But there are literally millions of Florida Democrats and independents we are not reaching yet.

That’s a problem you can help solve.

With mid-term elections on the horizon, the more people we reach, the more effective we can be in helping turn our state and this country around. You can play a vital role in that effort by sharing this newsletter with friends.

If you are reading this as an email, simply forward it. Or you can use the link below. Thanks.

Share

Subscribe now

By Mitch Perry

Florida Phoenix

David Jolly and Jerry Demings are vying to become the first Democratic governor to lead Florida in nearly three decades. If elected, they’ll face an additional challenge — working with an opposition Republican Party that enjoys a supermajority in the Legislature.

Speaking during a campaign event in Clearwater recently, Jolly mentioned a couple of specific ways he believes he could overcome that problem to deliver his policy goals, beginning with the power to name agency heads.

“Think about a state that come January [or] February we have a new surgeon general in charge of the state,” he said, referring to how he would jettison controversial Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo from his position on his first day in office.

“Think about an education commissioner who actually is going to have the backs of teachers and kids and books and academia and science and, yes diversity,” he continued. “Think about an environmental policy that is set by people that believe in environmental science. Think about an ethics and transparency office that actually begins to reveal the corrupt campaign finance system we have in the state of Florida, and yes, there’s a lot we can do.”

One lever of power that Democrats certainly should have learned from Gov. Ron DeSantis is executive authority, something that the Republican Legislature has rarely objected to during the past seven years. Among the decisions that DeSantis has made over the heads of the House and Senate was using taxpayer funds to send undocumented immigrants from Texas to Martha’s Vineyard in Massachusetts in 2022, and working with the federal government over the past year to create the detention facility for migrants dubbed Alligator Alcatraz (now on the verge of being closed down).

If elected, Jolly said, he intended to use the governor’s office to initiate litigation to boost the interests of the state.

“The attorney general exercises that authority. I don’t think the governor is precluded from exercising that authority, so I intend to … litigate a few things,” he said, specifically saying such litigation could include pushing for more access to reproductive care for women in Florida.

State law prohibits most abortions after six weeks of pregnancy, with some exceptions. More than 57% of Floridians voted to overturn that law in a constitutional amendment in 2024 — a clear majority but short of the 60% required for passage.

The Florida Democratic Party’s other major gubernatorial candidate, Jerry Demings, has also been thinking about how he could govern successfully with Republican-controlled Legislature.

“As mayor of Orange County, I’ve worked with Democrats and Republicans alike to get things done,” he said in a written statement to the Phoenix.

“As governor, I will be the bulwark against radical right-wing policies and force the Legislature to work on issues that matter to Floridians, such as affordability. And I will continue to work with local governments, the Florida Association of Counties, and the Florida League of Cities on issues of mutual interest.

“I will also not be afraid to wield the veto pen to stop the out-of-control tax-funded giveaways to special interests,” he added. “I will do everything I can to help end the supermajority and bring sane governance back to Tallahassee.”

Jolly also believes that if Floridians vote a Democrat into office as governor in November, they likely will also elect enough Democrats in legislative races to overcome the Republicans’ supermajority.

Trifectas

Florida is one of 23 Republican trifectas in the United States, where the state governor and legislature are of the same party. There are 16 Democratic trifectas and 11 divided governments in which neither party holds complete control.

Of those states, a handful feature a Democratic governor and a Republican legislature: Arizona, Kansas, Kentucky, North Carolina, and Wisconsin. Vermont has a Republican governor and Democratic-led Legislature.

In Kansas, Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly is finishing her eighth and final year in office working with a Republican-led Legislature.

Sherman Smith, editor of the Phoenix-affiliated Kansas Reflector, said Kelly was “totally underestimated” by Republicans during her first couple of years in office “and she got a lot of wins because of that.”

However, after the Kansas GOP expanded its supermajority in 2020, it’s been a much harder path for her to govern, Smith added.

And, since the 2024 election, that Republicans have “just entirely written her out of the process because they have strong enough members now, they just say, ‘We don’t even have to talk to the Democrats or tell them what we’re doing, or care what the governor thinks about it.’ They took the budget process away from her and a whole bunch of other stuff — what that means now it that they own it all.”

Kelly isn’t completely helpless: Following Kansas’ most recent legislative session earlier this year, she vetoed 24 bills and 31 budget line items.

In North Carolina, Democrat Josh Stein took office in January and is now working with a GOP-controlled General Assembly in Raleigh. Five months into his tenure, the results have been “mixed so far,” according to the Associated Press.

“The General Assembly passed storm-relief packages but gave Stein roughly a little over half the money he requested,” the AP reports. “It overrode several of his vetoes on bills that build up immigration enforcement, weaken transgender rights and assert other GOP priorities — results that Stein laments.”

It should be noted at this point that even with Republicans dominating state government, there have been plenty of clashes between the governor and the Florida House, in particular, since Gov. DeSantis won reelection but lost his presidential campaign in 2024.

For example, Gov. DeSantis a year ago vetoed more than half-a-billion dollars in projects from Republicans and Democrats alike in the 2025-26 fiscal year budget. That followed the Legislature overriding DeSantis’ veto of nearly $57 million for the Legislature’s operations in January 2025.

Republican Party of Florida Chair Evan Power says the whole discussion is academic.

“We now live in a ruby red state with 1.5 million more voters than Democrats,” he said in a text message. “Neither stands a chance to lead the free state of Florida.”

Another wrinkle is that Florida governor’s share executive power with the independently elected Florida Cabinet — the attorney general, chief financial officer, and agriculture commissioner, each office held by a Republican.

‘Let’s not waste time’

Jolly says that, if elected, he’ll immediately reach out to Florida’s Republican legislative leaders (who will be Jacksonville’s Sam Garrison in the House and Manatee County’s Jim Boyd in the Senate) and say, “Let’s not waste the next four years on behalf of the state. Let’s figure out how to work together.”

As a former Republican turned political independent who tried to build up a third political party before becoming a Democrat last year, Jolly says he’s in “a very post-partisan, post-ideological” phase in his life.

But that approach might be simpler said than done.

“We’re seeing a couple of Democrats running for governor this election year and talking about how he or they can reach across the aisle and work with the Republicans if they’re elected,” Smith said of what’s happening in Kansas this year. “But the reality is, the Republicans don’t want to work with them. And they don’t have to.”

Would the Republican-controlled Florida Legislature take a similar attitude following the shock of losing the governor’s mansion for the first time since 1994? We won’t know until November.

Leave a comment

Mitch Perry, the reporter on this story, has covered politics and government in Florida for more than two decades. Most recently he is the former politics reporter for Bay News 9. He has also worked at Florida Politics, Creative Loafing and WMNF Radio in Tampa. He was also part of the original staff when the Florida Phoenix was created in 2018.

Florida Phoenix is part of States Newsroom, the nation’s largest state-focused nonprofit news organization. This story is republished with their permission. To support Florida Phoenix, click here:

DONATE

Related:

David Jolly’s campaign website

Jerry Demings campaign website

Trump Approval falls to record low

Help make the midterms competitive

Not happy with the news coming out of Tallahassee? Do something about it.

The upcoming midterm elections provide a generational opportunity to change the complexion of Florida’s political makeup. But for that to happen, Republican candidates for the state Legislature must face opponents on the ballot.

Currently, there are far too many seats where Republicans are running unopposed. You can change that. You can decide to run. In which case, Project 140 can help you. Or you can pitch in and help fund those candidates who have already volunteered.

Run or Donate or Both

Thanks for your support

It’s easy to feel overwhelmed if you are a rational person living in the Free State of Florida, but there are plenty of smart, reasonable people just like you here. The purpose of this newsletter and the Tropic Press website is to provide a source of news and commentary that shines a light through this irrational fog, both original reporting and contributions such as today’s article from the Florida Phoenix.

Thank you for your support as a subscriber. It is invaluable. This is especially so for those of you who have chosen to upgrade to paid subscriptions. Your contributions are making this possible.

J.C. Bruce

Subscribe now

Share Tropic Press!

As this newsletter was written, Tropic Press was reaching more than 700,000 subscribers in Florida and elsewhere. But there are literally millions of Florida Democrats and independents we are not reaching yet.

That’s a problem you can help solve.

With mid-term elections on the horizon, the more people we reach, the more effective we can be in helping turn our state and this country around. You can play a vital role in that effort by sharing this newsletter with friends.

If you are reading this as an email, simply forward it. Or you can use the link below. Thanks.

Share

Gov. Ron DeSantis says Alligator Alcatraz “saved taxpayers' money” — a classic example of political doublespeak. In truth, it has been a financial and environmental boondoggle, a publicity stunt that has blown up in his face. Now that it is being shut down, what must the behind-the-scenes discussions looked like? Tropic Press is pleased to share Craig Pittman’s imagined conversation.

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By Craig Pittman

Florida Phoenix

News item: Gov. Ron DeSantis confirms that he’s talking to the Trump administration about shutting down his Alligator Alcatraz prison camp because it turns out it’s incredibly expensive to detain immigrants in cages in the Big Cypress National Preserve miles from civilization.

Which led me to dream up this little scenario:

The setting: A beige-walled conference room in the Florida Capitol. Six people in suits sit around a conference table with one empty chair. The white-haired man at the head of the table checks his watch for the fourth time, then picks up a gavel and bangs it on the table.

Chairman: “OK, it’s 10 minutes past, I’m not gonna wait anymore. I’m calling this meeting to order. Because the governor is now ready to shut down Alligator Alcatraz in the Big Cypress National Preserve, this is the first meeting of the Committee on Removing Alligator Alcatraz from the Preserve. Who’s keeping minutes? Judy, can you do that? OK, make a note that we need to find a better acronym.”

Judy, rolling her eyes but picking up a pen: “OK, who’s here and who’s missing?”

Chairman: “We’ve got you from the Department of Environmental Protection — good to see you again, Judy! — as well as Joe, Jack, and Jim from the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, and the South Florida Water Management District. I’m chairman because I represent the Division of Emergency Management, which got stuck paying for this. The person we’re still waiting for is the representative from Attorney General James Uthmeier.”

Water district representative, grumbling: “Which is ironic since this is all his fault.”

Chairman, nodding: “Yep, as per usual. I swear, every time this administration screws up, it’s Uthmeier’s doing. First, he runs the governor’s presidential campaign about as skillfully as the captain of the Titanic maneuvering around an iceberg. Then he comes up with that Hope Florida scheme that derailed the First Lady’s political career. Now we’ve got this ongoing embarrassment. How can the governor claim to be a fiscal conservative when he built a tent city that’s costing the taxpayers $1 million a day?”

Judy from DEP: “Hang on, Mr. Chair. How candid can we be? I’d hate to have some nosy reporter use the Sunshine Law to get hold of these comments.”

Chairman: “Don’t sweat it. You know how little the governor thinks of the Sunshine Law. If anybody requests our records, we’ll make ’em wait until the middle of the next administration. Now, let’s turn to the problem at hand. The camp shutdown starts in June so we need to have a plan ready by then.”

Water district official: “Want me to start? I’ve been out there. It’s a mess.”

Chairman: “How do you mean?”

Water district official: “At least 20 acres of new asphalt was laid in the middle of the swamp. You can see why our scientists have been howling since it opened. Putting a prison camp for more than 1,000 people out there was the worst insult to the Glades since some nitwit turned loose the first Burmese python.”

Careless people

Suddenly the door bursts open and a 20-something bearded man in a rumpled suit rushes in and plops down in the empty chair. He’s Attorney General James Uthmeier’s representative.

“Sorry I’m late! We were getting the boss on Fox News again. So, what have I missed?” he said.

Water district representative: “I was talking about what has to be removed. I mentioned the 20 acres of new asphalt. We’ll need to decide if it’s more destructive to rip all that out or just leave it. We’ll definitely need to remove the miles of new fencing you put out there. And then there’s the lighting.”

Attorney general representative: “What about the lighting? Can’t we just turn it off and walk away?”

Water district employee: “No. You guys installed high-wattage industrial lighting that’s so bright, it’s visible from 20 miles away. Big Cypress was known as a ‘dark sky’ domain until that happened.”

Chairman: “Yeah, you need bright lights powered by 200 diesel-powered generators to run a prison camp. One more reason why it was a bad idea to put this in a dark spot in a nature preserve.”

Water district representative: “Did you guys never think about the consequences of doing what you were doing?”

Attorney general representative inhales loudly: “It’s a swamp. What harm could there be? I mean, the governor himself said there would be ‘zero impact’ on the Everglades.”

The entire room bursts into laughter. When it subsides, the wildlife commission representative says, “That’s about as truthful as our commission chairman claiming our latest bear hunt was dictated by science.”

The chairman sighs. “I dunno. This whole administration reminds me of that line from ‘The Great Gatsby,’ the one about how they were careless people who smashed up things and then left it to others to clean up the mess.”

The smell test

Judy from DEP adjusts her glasses and asks: “Mr. Chair, didn’t your agency complete an environmental assessment?”

Chairman: “Yes, but four months after the site was already up and running.”

Judy: “No way! Why so late?”

Chairman, looking directly at the attorney general representative: “The people who dreamed this thing up were so eager to get it built, they didn’t want to wait for any environmental studies or public hearings. Then when we sought reimbursement of $608 million from the federal Department of Homeland Security, the feds told us the law required us to provide them with an assessment. Too bad Mr. Uthmeier didn’t take care of that little detail in advance.”

Attorney general representative: “Hey, we had an emergency to deal with!”

Chairman, looking skeptical: “Yeah, an emergency to scoop up people like that Palm Beach restaurant owner who’d lived here quietly for 30 years. What was the number I saw? Something like three-fourths of the Alligator Alcatraz detainees had no criminal convictions? It was all a political stunt, and we wasted hundreds of millions of dollars from an emergency fund that was supposed to be used for the next hurricane.”

Wildlife commission representative: “Getting back to the environmental assessment — can we use that to figure out what we need to remove?”

Chairman: “Have you read it? It says there won’t be any impacts to wetlands and the impact to protected wildlife will be negligible.”

Wildlife commission employee: “So, you’re saying it doesn’t pass the smell test.”

Chairman, nodding: “Just like the $92 million worth of Doodie Calls portable toilets we put out there.”

A cleansing ritual

Judy from DEP raises her phone: “Mr. Chairman, I have a suggestion. In the 10 minutes before you started the meeting, I flipped through some of the court filings and interviews with the groups that sued.”

Chairman, looking confused: “Why would you do that?”

Judy: “These people have spent every Sunday for 40 weeks protesting outside Gator Guantánamo — er, I mean Alligator Alcatraz. They’ve seen a lot of what’s gone in and out. They’re a great source of intel about what we’re facing.”

Chairman: “For instance?”

Judy: “Here’s an interview with Eve Samples from Friends of the Everglades. She says that the Texas environmental consultants your agency hired reported we put 38 acres of asphalt out there, not 20. She also talks about chemical spills out there — jet fuel used by the planes, septic waste that sloshed out of the trucks, and so forth. Oh, and here’s a video.”

Video of Samples plays from Judy’s phone: “This political stunt was a failure by every measure — our government failed the Everglades and failed taxpayers, and history will remember.”

Chairman: “Yikes! Who’s that next one? The dark-haired woman?”

Judy: “That’s Jessica Namath. She runs a group called Floridians for Public Lands. Here, let me play you her interview: ‘Aside from dismantling what we see above ground, one of my biggest concerns is the septic system they’ll need to remove. A lot of what we saw trucked in early on has been buried underground. According to family members, once detainees were allowed to shower, the water smelled like well water, so they presumably also drilled a well or wells.’”

Chairman, sighing: “Water wells and a septic system? Wow, this place is MUCH more intrusive than just some tents. What’s that photo she’s pointing to?”

Water district representative: “I recognize it. That truck is carrying four water storage tanks.”

Judy: “Right. Namath says they saw the truck hauling them through the front gate, but they’re no longer visible above ground. Presumably they’re now buried underground.”

Chairman: “Good Lord! How about that woman in the straw hat? Who’s she?”

Judy: “That’s Betty Osceola, an elder in the Miccosukee Tribe of Indians. They have a village next door to the prison, so she’s been out protesting more than anyone. She says she saw a lot of gravel fill being trucked in, probably to be poured into the wetlands to stabilize the ground. And there are towers so the guards would have cell service.”

Chairman: “Dang! Next, you’ll tell me we leased some of it out as affordable housing.” He pauses for a laugh, doesn’t get one.

Judy: “Betty Osceola says there are sacred cultural sites accessible only by crossing the prison site, which they can no longer cross. Once the prison’s cleared away, she said the tribe needs to perform a cleansing ritual.”

Chairman: “I feel like I need a cleansing ritual myself after hearing all this.” He looks closely at the attorney general representative, who appears to be squirming in his seat. “Something the matter?”

Attorney general representative: “Well, to be honest, this is all kind of MY fault.”

I started a joke

Chairman: “Well, we know Mr. Uthmeier was the one who sold the governor on this and became the public face of it. He even went on a podcast and claimed it would be a low-cost alternative to an actual prison, which shows how clueless he is.”

Wildlife commission employee: “Oh yeah, the same podcaster was later pushing the official Alligator Alcatraz merchandise sold by the Republican Party of Florida. There’s been some speculation that that was the whole point, to sacrifice the Glades as a fundraiser for the GOP.”

Attorney general representative slumps in his chair. “Yeah, I’ve been trying to avoid it, but I guess I need to confess. This was my idea. But I didn’t mean it.”

Water district representative, eyes widening; “What the hell did you do?”

Attorney general representative: “You know that song, ‘I Started a Joke’?”

Judy: “The one by the Bee Gees? I loooove that song.”

Attorney general representative: “Well, that’s what happened. We were in a meeting and somebody brought up the fact that 75% of Florida prisons have no air conditioning and the guards are upset about working in all that heat. And I said, just as a joke, that we should build our next prison in the Everglades and hire the gators as the guards, because they wouldn’t complain.”

Agriculture employee: “Holy cow!”

Chairman shakes his head: “The ironic thing is that Alligator Alcatraz DOES have air-conditioning. It’s not very good, but it’s better than nothing.”

Judy, looking appalled: “Didn’t you tell them you weren’t serious?”

Attorney general representative, looking ashamed: “Before I could say anything else, the boss’s eyes began to twitch and he got a big smile on his face and shouted, ‘That’s IT! The governor will LOVE it!’ and he ran out of the room. There was nothing I could do to stop him.”

Just then, the chairman’s phone chimes. He pulls it out, reads the message, then announces to the room: “Bad news. That was from the governor. Just as the contracts for building Alligator Alcatraz went to people who donated to his campaign, so he wants us to make sure that the contracts for pulling it out go to his contributors too.”

Judy puts down her pen: “So, I guess we’re looking at a 20-year project, just like the full Everglades restoration.”

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Craig Pittman is a native Floridian. In 30 years at the Tampa Bay Times, he won numerous state and national awards for his environmental reporting. He is the author of six books. In 2020 the Florida Heritage Book Festival named him a Florida Literary Legend. Craig is co-host of the "Welcome to Florida" podcast. He lives in St. Petersburg with his wife and children.

Florida Phoenix is part of States Newsroom, the nation’s largest state-focused nonprofit news organization. This story is republished with their permission. To support Florida Phoenix, click here:

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It’s easy to feel overwhelmed if you are a rational person living in the Free State of Florida, but there are plenty of smart, reasonable people just like you here. The purpose of this newsletter and the Tropic Press website is to provide a source of news and commentary that shines a light through this irrational fog. That includes both original reporting and shared contributions, such as today’s story from Craig Pittman of the Florida Phoenix.

Thank you for your support as a subscriber. It is invaluable. This is especially so for those of you who have chosen to upgrade to paid subscriptions. Your contributions are making this possible.

J.C. Bruce

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As this newsletter was written, Tropic Press was reaching more than 700,000 subscribers in Florida and elsewhere. But there are literally millions of Florida Democrats and independents we are not reaching yet.

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By Diane Roberts

Florida Phoenix

Florida Democrats have gotten a bit giddy lately. Optimistic, even.

These are unfamiliar emotions for them.

Some election year polls are perking them up something fierce.

Democrats — “Dixiecrats” as many were called back in the day — owned this state for more than 150 years (with a little pause during Reconstruction), holding all state offices, controlling the Legislature, looking unbeatable.

But by the 1970s, the Democrats had become the Party of Civil Rights and Republicans, who had once favored racial justice and other progressive notions, had become the Party of Scared White People.

With population growth from the Midwest and the North, Republicans made slow inroads and, in 1998, Florida elected Jeb Bush. The Rs already had control of the Legislature and have run this state ever since.

Twenty-eight years on, Republicans hold supermajorities in the Florida House and Senate and occupy all state-wide elected offices. State Supreme Court justices, all but one chosen by Gov. Ron DeSantis, range from the extremely conservative to the we-don’t-need-no-stinking-Constitution conservative.

The one moderate, Justice Jorge Labarga, will retire in January 2027, opening a seat for another right-winger — unless, by some voodoo, divine miracle, or electoral freak, a Democrat becomes governor.

That’s crazy talk, you say. And you’re probably right.

Nevertheless, a Stetson University poll shows Rep. Byron Donalds, long considered a sure thing, in a competitive match-up with two Democrats, Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings and former U.S. Rep. David Jolly.

Demings is within four points of Donalds; Jolly is within seven points.

Seven percent of voters remain undecided.

Pining for Jim Crow

In the race for attorney general, the incumbent finds himself in a dogfight with former Democratic state Sen. José Javier Rodriguez.

One poll shows Rodriguez leading DeSantis appointee James Uthmeier 42.8% to 39.6%.

Former attorney general and sitting U.S. Sen. Ashley Moody is barely ahead of Democratic challenger Lt. Col. Alex Vindman, within the margin of error, with a substantial 14% undecided.

Important Caveat 1: This poll was conducted by two communications firms led by Democratic political consultants. Other polls are much closer, often with the Republican in the lead.

Important Caveat 2: Almost all the Republicans have raised more money than the Democrats, although that may not mean as much as it used to.

In March, Navy veteran and union organizer Brian Nathan flipped a state Senate seat in a Hillsborough County, beating a much better funded Republican.

Over in Palm Beach County, Democrat Emily Gregory won a House seat previously considered as red as a MAGA necktie: District 87 is home to the gold-leafed festival of vulgarity we know as Mar-a-Lago.

Donald Trump won it by 10 points in 2024.

Republicans observe that these aren’t real elections, merely special elections. Nobody’s paying attention. Turnout is low. They don’t really count.

Yet you can see why Florida Democrats allow themselves to hope.

The Republican candidates for high office are, by any rational measure, terrible. Wannabe dictators. Often dumb as a bag of hair. Also, weird.

Take Donalds, the Trump-endorsed U.S. representative from southwest Florida and acknowledged front-runner in the gubernatorial race. He has claimed segregation had some really good points: “During Jim Crow the Black family was together.”

Moreover, Black folks were rock-ribbed conservatives, lamenting that in the Good Old Days before all that civil rights business, “more Black people voted conservatively.”

Contempt

I daresay you see the problem with this statement. Except for the all-too-brief experiment in democracy from 1865-1877, Black people could be as “conservative” as they liked, but it was almost impossible for them to vote, not until the 1965 Voting Rights Act, at least.

You could get lynched for even trying.

Donalds should read up on his American history, just not in one of those dubious texts approved by the State of Florida.

There are a couple of other reasonably serious hopefuls, including Lt. Gov. Jay Collins and former House Speaker Paul Renner.

Alas for them, they aren’t making much of an impact statewide, and nobody gives them a snowball’s chance on a June afternoon in Miami.

They’re tragically dull, too.

However, if you’ve never heard of James Fishback, who also wants to be governor, do yourself a favor: Look him up.

He’s not dull; he’s terrifying.

Fishback’s a Gen Z ultra-conservative praised by white supremacist Nick Fuentes, fawned over by Tucker Carlson, and endorsed by accused rapist Andrew Tate. He’s called Byron Donalds a “slave” and suggested he’d turn Florida into a “ghetto.”

His fans say he’s the future of the Republican Party. Young white men love him.

Other races? There’s James Uthmeier, appointed attorney general by DeSantis after Ashley Moody went to D.C. to fill out now-Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s term in the U.S. Senate.

Moody’s running for a full term; Uthmeier’s running for A.G., and boy, is he a piece of work.

A federal judge has found him in contempt for violating a court order, and fellow Republican Sen. Alex Andrade has accused him of criminal fraud and money laundering in the Hope Florida scandal.

Flouting the Constitution

He proudly takes credit for naming Florida’s Everglades internment camp, “Alligator Alcatraz,” and sells t-shirts with grinning gators saying, “Nowhere to Run, Nowhere to Hide,” on his campaign merch site.

Way worse, he regards Florida law as nothing more than a suggestion: He feels free to violate it at any time when, in his superior judgment, it does not mean what you — and most legal scholars — think it means.

Article 1, Section 3, of the Florida Constitution says you can’t use public money “directly or indirectly in aid of any church, sect, or religious denomination or in aid of any sectarian institution,” which seems pretty clear: The government cannot favor, support or promote religion with taxpayer dollars.

Uthmeier insists that’s wrong, a violation of the First Amendment, and besides, the Founders meant the United States to be a Christian country: Church should not be separate from state.

So what if the state’s governing document spells it out in black and white? He, James Uthmeier, knows better, and if you voted for that amendment, you were wrong.

Mind you, flouting the Florida Constitution is pretty much de rigueur for Florida Republicans.

The Legislature has now passed a congressional redistricting map doing its damnedest to eliminate Democratic representation in Florida.

If past electoral patterns hold in this year’s midterms, Republicans could pick up four more House seats.

They know better

Again, the Florida Constitution forbids this. In 2010, Florida voters approved the Fair Districts Amendments by more than 60%. It says: “No district shall be drawn with the intent to favor or disfavor a political party on an incumbent.”

Fair Districts also forbids maps drawn with the “result or intent of denying or abridging the equal opportunity of racial or language minorities to participate in the political process or to diminish their ability to elect representatives of their choice.”

Again, Uthmeier and Ron DeSantis know better than the voters. The new map disenfranchises minorities.

Now that the Trumpist U.S. Supreme Court has gutted the Voting Rights Act, Republican-run states feel empowered to gerrymander in favor of white folks.

DeSantis claims that’s not his motive. Nor did he do this for political reasons, oh goodness, no. Just because Donald Trump demanded states draw a map to help Republicans keep their tenuous grip on the House of Representatives, and just because DeSantis unveiled his map on Fox “News” subtly color-coded red and blue, doesn’t imply partisan intent.

If you believe that, Elvis is alive, Hillary Clinton drinks babies’ blood, and Donald Trump’s tan is real.

Now: Looking at these Republican end-runs around voter-approved constitutional amendments, bending (or ignoring) statutes, prevaricating, election-rigging, and general hostility to the law, Democrats have a big basket of attractive candidates and strong issues.

In 2019, Alex Vindman, a Ukrainian-born Iraq vet and former National Security Council official, blew open Donald Trump’s attempt to strong-arm President Volodymyr Zelenskyy into finding dirt on Hunter Biden’s business dealings in Ukraine.

Vindman testified before Congress; Trump fired him and denied him his army promotion.

The guy has a Purple Heart.

Stupid lawsuits

Ashley Moody, his opponent in the Senate race has, well, a J.D. and a history of stupid lawsuits such as trying to overturn the 2020 election.

Back then, Moody’s own staff lawyers called her move “bats— insane.”

Surely there’s an opening for candidates actually interested in addressing Florida’s out-of-control insurance costs, reining in runaway sprawl, addressing the climate crisis, and improving our education system.

You’d think, right?

But there’s logic and good sense, and then there’s the Florida Democratic Party.

The history of the last few decades shows that, if there’s a way they can screw up, they probably will.

Yet there remains that chance — that little chance — one or two will break through.

Watch this space.

Leave a comment

Diane Roberts is an 8th-generation Floridian, born and bred in Tallahassee, which probably explains her unhealthy fascination with Florida politics. Educated at Florida State University and Oxford University in England, she has been writing for newspapers since 1983. Her work has appeared in the New York Times, the Times of London, the Guardian, the Washington Post, the Oxford American, and Flamingo.

Florida Phoenix is part of States Newsroom, the nation’s largest state-focused nonprofit news organization. This story is republished with their permission. To support Florida Phoenix, click here:

DONATE

Thanks for your support

It’s easy to feel overwhelmed if you are a rational person living in the Free State of Florida, but there are plenty of smart, reasonable people just like you here. The purpose of this newsletter and the Tropic Press website is to provide a source of news and commentary that shines a light through this irrational fog. That includes both original reporting and shared contributions, such as today’s story from Diane Roberts of the Florida Phoenix.

Thank you for your support as a subscriber. It is invaluable. This is especially so for those of you who have chosen to upgrade to paid subscriptions. Your contributions are making this possible.

J.C. Bruce

Subscribe now

Share Tropic Press!

As this newsletter was written, Tropic Press was reaching more than 700,000 subscribers in Florida and elsewhere. But there are literally millions of Florida Democrats and independents we are not reaching yet.

That’s a problem you can help solve.

With mid-term elections on the horizon, the more people we reach, the more effective we can be in helping turn our state and this country around. You can play a vital role in that effort by sharing this newsletter with friends.

If you are reading this as an email, simply forward it. Or you can use the link below. Thanks.

Share Tropic Press: J.C. Bruce

Bob Brecha

Tropic Press Correspondent

Florida’s own Marco Rubio wants to reassure U.S. citizens who might have noticed that it costs more to fill up at the gas station nowadays: “There are people that were predicting [it] would be much higher at this point.”

So, Rubio thinks we should feel fortunate when choosing between filling the tank or, say, paying our electric bill?

Other countries were suffering “big time,” Rubio claimed. The U.S. was “very fortunate” to be a net exporter of oil since it’s less reliant on oil from the Middle East, he said.

So lucky.

But there are several things wrong with Rubio’s statements.

First, it’s his boss, Donald Trump, who has unnecessarily created the chaos that has led to the high prices at the pump. There’s no justification to feel fortunate about rising gas prices because two months ago, before the Iran “adventure,” prices were much lower.

In January, for instance, average Florida gas prices were $2.70 per gallon, and now they are $4.30 per gallon, an increase of 60 percent. Remember Trump’s campaign promises about reducing inflation:

“We’re going to get your energy prices down. We’re going to get your energy prices down by 50 percent. Energy is going to bring us back. That means we’re going down and getting gasoline below $2 a gallon, bring down the price of everything from electricity rates to groceries, airfares, and housing costs.”

It seems that his 50 percent was broadly correct, but he just got the direction of change wrong. It’s up, not down.

As for other countries suffering, gasoline prices in Europe (it varies by country, but let’s look at Italy and Germany) have hovered around $2 per liter or a bit more over the past year. That’s expensive compared to the U.S., but it’s what people are used to paying. Data for April of this year show that in Germany, the price rose to about $2.50 per liter, and in Italy, there was very little change because the government decided to subsidize the increased cost by removing some taxes. In other words, Italian drivers don’t notice much of anything different at the pump, and Germans have seen an increase of about 25 percent. Thus, we have a 60 percent increase in the U.S., 25 percent in Germany, and no change in Italy.

Who’s suffering most?

Of course, this doesn’t take into account countries that are much less fortunate than wealthy Europeans. Many countries in Asia and Africa are suffering from a lack of deliveries of fuel due to the closure of the Strait of Hormuz. These hardships will only increase over time as Trump tries to figure out how to extricate himself from this self-inflicted mess.

After all, no matter how he tries to spin the news and float dubious claims about how close we are to a solution, the Strait of Hormuz was completely open a couple of months ago, and now it has become a potent lever that can be used to blackmail the world economy.

As I’ve pointed out in previous commentaries, just because the U.S. is nearly self-sufficient in producing fossil fuels does not mean that we are insulated from price swings due to geopolitical chaos. Oil and natural gas are traded on global markets, so if demand continues and supply is throttled, prices will go up everywhere. U.S. producers will love the opportunity to sell around the world at elevated prices, which will mean U.S. consumers will also be hit.

The final problem with Rubio’s statement is the apparent smugness with which he characterizes the “big time” suffering of other countries.

There is, on the one hand, the childish, non-professional language he uses, which is just embarrassing. But more seriously concerning is the attitude toward, and careless disregard for, the well-being of others that is a constant feature of this administration.

Framing the potential for global suffering as a competition between countries as to who is caused to suffer most, as long as it is not the U.S., is truly beyond cynical. One can only hope that some of Pope Leo’s sense of caring for people of all backgrounds and countries might rub off on Rubio during his visit to the Vatican this week.

Bob Brecha is a retired professor of sustainability, renewable energy and physics (University of Dayton), and longtime newspaper junkie (print and electronic). He consults on energy systems and climate change policies, based in Berlin, Germany. When not fretting about the state of the world and the global climate emergency, he enjoys hiking, biking and reading as much as possible.

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Thanks for your support

It’s easy to feel overwhelmed if you are a rational person living in the Free State of Florida, but there are plenty of smart, reasonable people just like you here. The purpose of this newsletter and the Tropic Press website is to provide a source of news and commentary that shines a light through this irrational fog. That includes contributions from correspondents here in Florida and around the globe, such as today’s article by Bob Brecha.

Thank you for your support as a subscriber. It is invaluable. This is especially so for those of you who have chosen to upgrade to paid subscriptions. Your contributions are making this possible.

J.C. Bruce

Subscribe now

Share Tropic Press!

As this newsletter was written, Tropic Press was reaching more than 700,000 subscribers in Florida and elsewhere. But there are literally millions of Florida Democrats and independents we are not reaching yet.

That’s a problem you can help solve.

With mid-term elections on the horizon, the more people we reach, the more effective we can be in helping turn our state and this country around. You can play a vital role in that effort by sharing this newsletter with friends.

If you are reading this as an email, simply forward it. Or you can use the link below. Thanks.

Share Tropic Press: J.C. Bruce

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By Bob Brecha

Tropic Press Correspondent

Marco Rubio is visiting Pope Leo XIV today to have “frank conversations” in the shadow of Donald Trump’s repeated attacks on the pontiff.

Pope Leo has made quite clear, unsurprisingly, that he and the church of which he is the leader do not support illegal aggression and unnecessary wars, and neither do they support country’s having nuclear weapons.

Rubio’s visit also comes after Vice President J.D. Vance chimed in a few weeks ago that the Pope should “be careful when he talks about matters of theology” and that he should be sure that his statements are “anchored in the truth.”

From my view here in Europe, and reading accounts and commentary in German and, especially, Italian newspapers, the sense of astonishment was palpable that a recent-convert U.S. politician would preach to the Pope about theological matters and the use of facts. Especially when this comes from a U.S. administration that has shown itself to have only a tenuous connection to facts in its own pronouncements.

About 20 percent of U.S. citizens are Catholic, and the same percentage of Floridians. After having taught at a Catholic university for three decades, and absorbing a certain amount of Catholic social teaching, I thought it might be interesting to gather here a series of quotes from Popes that might be somewhat surprising to most Catholics. I promise, none of these is from Bernie Sanders, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez or Zohran Mamdani.

“The fact that some States, power groups and companies hoard non-renewable energy resources represents a grave obstacle to development in poor countries. … No one may appropriate surplus goods solely for his own private use when others lack the bare necessities of life. … the right of private property may never be exercised to the detriment of the common good.” (Benedict XVI 2009)

“The way humanity treats the environment influences the way it treats itself, and vice versa.” (Benedict XVI 2009)

“Everyone knows that the Fathers of the Church laid down the duty of the rich toward the poor in no uncertain terms. As St. Ambrose put it: ‘You are not making a gift of what is yours to the poor man, but you are giving him back what is his. You have been appropriating things that are meant to be for the common use of everyone. The earth belongs to everyone, not to the rich.’ These words indicate that the right to private property is not absolute and unconditional. No one may appropriate surplus goods solely for his own private use when others lack the bare necessities of life. In short, ‘as the Fathers of the Church and other eminent theologians tell us, the right of private property may never be exercised to the detriment of the common good.’ When ‘private gain and basic community needs conflict with one another,’ it is for the public authorities ‘to seek a solution to these questions, with the active involvement of individual citizens and social groups.’” (Pope Paul VI 1967)

“Once the demands of necessity and propriety have been met, the rest that one owns belongs to the poor” (Pope Leo XIII 1891)

“The stockpiling of natural resources, which in many cases are found in the poor countries themselves, gives rise to exploitation and frequent conflicts between and within nations. These conflicts are often fought on the soil of those same countries, with a heavy toll of death, destruction and further decay. The international community has an urgent duty to find institutional means of regulating the exploitation of non-renewable resources, involving poor countries in the process, in order to plan together for the future.” (Benedict XVI 2009)

“Sometimes globalization is viewed in fatalistic terms, as if the dynamics involved were the product of anonymous impersonal forces or structures independent of the human will. … Underneath the more visible process, humanity itself is becoming increasingly interconnected; it is made up of individuals and peoples to whom this process should offer benefits and development, as they assume their respective responsibilities, singly and collectively. … Hence a sustained commitment is needed so as to promote a person-based and community-oriented cultural process of world-wide integration that is open to transcendence.” (Benedict XVI 2009)

“It is likewise incumbent upon the competent authorities to make every effort to ensure that the economic and social costs of using up shared environmental resources are recognized with transparency and fully borne by those who incur them, not by other peoples or future generations: the protection of the environment, of resources and of the climate obliges all international leaders to act jointly and to show a readiness to work in good faith, respecting the law and promoting solidarity with the weakest regions of the planet.” (Benedict XVI 2009)

There might be a number of quotes by the same Popes with which I would not agree. And of course, there is nobody who can react with anything other than repulsion to the abuse scandals in the church.

However, when it comes to matters of the economy, the environment, and social justice, for more than a century at least, the Catholic Church has been quite consistent in its teaching about the need for international and social solidarity. In particular, solidarity should take the form of strong support to poorer countries by wealthier countries, who have both historically benefited from past exploitation of finite fossil fuel resources, as well as having contributed most to the climate crisis, for example.

Marco Rubio and J.D. Vance have their work cut out for themselves in trying to reconcile their militaristic and selfish version of Catholicism with the messages quoted above by “conservative” Popes, but succinctly expressed by Pope Francis (note that I have not quoted him thus far!) of the primary responsibility to “hear the cry of the earth and the cry of the poor.”

Bob Brecha is a retired professor of sustainability, renewable energy and physics (University of Dayton), and longtime newspaper junkie (print and electronic). He consults on energy systems and climate change policies, based in Berlin, Germany. When not fretting about the state of the world and the global climate emergency, he enjoys hiking, biking and reading as much as possible.

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It’s easy to feel overwhelmed if you are a rational person living in the Free State of Florida, but there are plenty of smart, reasonable people just like you here. The purpose of this newsletter and the Tropic Press website is to provide a source of news and commentary that shines a light through this irrational fog. That includes contributions from correspondents here in Florida and around the globe, such as today’s article by Bob Brecha.

Thank you for your support as a subscriber. It is invaluable. This is especially so for those of you who have chosen to upgrade to paid subscriptions. Your contributions are making this possible.

J.C. Bruce

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The legal challenge to Florida’s redrawn congressional maps—designed to cut in half Democrats’ representation in Congress—asks a crucial question: Why is it that DeSantis and Florida Republicans think they can blatantly ignore the Florida Constitution and the instructions of their own voters?

By Mitch Perry

Florida Phoenix

As predicted, a lawsuit has been filed against the Florida congressional redistricting map signed into law Monday by Gov. Ron DeSantis.

Equal Ground Education Fund, a Black-led organization that works to increase Black political power in Florida, filed a 71-page lawsuit in the Second Judicial Circuit in Leon County on behalf of 18 individual plaintiffs who live throughout the state. The suit seeks declaratory and injunctive relief to stop the new map from going into effect.

The map, created by DeSantis’ office and approved by the Republican-controlled Legislature last week, is expected to give Republicans as many as four new seats to add to the 20 out of 28 seats they already represent in Florida.

“The 2026 Plan is, by traditional measures of partisan gerrymandering, one of the most extreme gerrymanders in American history,” the complaint declares.

The lawsuit says that the GOP-controlled Legislature approved and DeSantis signed into law a map that violates the 2010 Fair Districts Amendments, which prohibits drawing congressional (and state legislative) districts that favor incumbents or a political party.

The lawsuit notes that Jason Poreda, the governor’s map drawer, admitted when speaking before the Legislature last week that he used partisan data. Additionally, Mo Jazil, the governor’s attorney, and David Axelman, the governor’s general counsel, confirmed before the Legislature that the map’s legal justification depends on the Florida Supreme Court striking down Fair Districts in their entirety.

Both attorneys said last week that they believe the Fair Districts ban on drawing districts to diminish racial or language minorities’ ability to elect representatives of their choice violates the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, and thus is unenforceable. They also argued that the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in the Louisiana v. Callais case last week confirms their premise.

“[M]ost remarkably, having argued that the Fair Districts Amendment’s race-related protections are unconstitutional, Axelman argued that the entire Fair Districts Amendment must fall with them, including the Amendment’s prohibition on partisan gerrymandering and Tier II requirements to draw compact districts and to use political and geographic boundaries where feasible,” the lawsuit says.

“That conclusion is not only legally baseless, it is transparently convenient, as it would free the Legislature to engage in precisely the kind of partisan gamesmanship that Florida voters amended their Constitution to prohibit.”

The lead law firm working for the plaintiffs is the Elias Law Group, a Washington firm that has previously handled much of the Democratic Party’s redistricting litigation.

‘Carving up the state’

The lawsuit notes that Jazil acknowledged that DeSantis’ nonseverability argument — that the entirety of Fair Districts would be unenforceable, including its ban on partisan gerrymandering, if its race-related provisions are unconstitutional — “is the Governor’s own legal theory, not a conclusion any court has reached. Nor is it a conclusion that the Florida Supreme Court is likely to reach.”

Regarding that nonseverability argument, the lawsuit notes that veteran Republican Sen. Don Gaetz does not agree. Speaking on the floor of the Senate last week as he presented the bill, Gaetz said, “I believe that the rest of the Fair Districts Amendment could and should and ought to stand. I don’t think we should do gerrymandering on the basis of political partisanship. … I believe that we should be required to follow all of the other demands of the Fair Districts Amendment.”

The suit says the new map “radically reshapes” Florida’s congressional lines, “carving up the State to the benefit of the Republican Party.”

It notes the plan splits the heavily Democratic city of Tampa into three separate districts, none of which contains a majority of Tampa’s population, pairing them with “faraway, rural voters.” And it says that the plan splits the Democratic-leaning population of Orlando five ways, “even though it only has the population for two congressional districts.”

In South Florida, the lawsuit says, the way the map carves up voters to make it harder for Democrats to win “is nothing less than shocking.”

And it says that in North Florida, no changes have been made whatsoever — specifically congressional districts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7 — all of which have reliably elected Republicans.

That’s despite the fact that “they have some of the fastest growing populations including in St. John’s County (CDs 5 and 6) and Flagler County (CD 6) both of which the Florida Legislature’s Office of Economic and Demographic Research reports have grown by more than 20% since 2020, which is, of course, one of Gov. Ron DeSantis’ main purported justification for the need to redraw districts.”

“The question is not whether this map is a partisan gerrymander, because it is,” said Elias Law Group Partner Abha Khanna in a statement. “The question is why Governor DeSantis and Florida Republicans think they can blatantly ignore the Florida Constitution and the instructions of their own voters.”

Florida Secretary of State Cord Byrd and the Florida Senate and Florida House are named as defendants in the lawsuit.

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Mitch Perry, the reporter on this story, has covered politics and government in Florida for more than two decades. Most recently he is the former politics reporter for Bay News 9. He has also worked at Florida Politics, Creative Loafing and WMNF Radio in Tampa. He was also part of the original staff when the Florida Phoenix was created in 2018.

Florida Phoenix is part of States Newsroom, the nation’s largest state-focused nonprofit news organization. This story is republished with their permission. To support Florida Phoenix, click here:

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It’s easy to feel overwhelmed if you are a rational person living in the Free State of Florida, but there are plenty of smart, reasonable people just like you here. The purpose of this newsletter and the Tropic Press website is to provide a source of news and commentary that shines a light through this irrational fog. That includes both original reporting and shared contributions such as today’s story from the Florida Phoenix.

Thank you for your support as a subscriber. It is invaluable. This is especially so for those of you who have chosen to upgrade to paid subscriptions. Your contributions are making this possible.

J.C. Bruce

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By Bob Brecha

Tropic Press Contributor

Donald Trump recently attacked Spain for its “disastrous economic figures” and asked, “Has anyone noticed how badly Spain is doing? Its economic figures, despite contributing practically nothing to NATO or its military defense, are absolutely disastrous. It’s very sad to see.”

Unfortunately, and as is often the case, many press outlets reported Trump’s statements without checking to see if they were at all true.

Let’s start with the numbers, taken on their face. GDP growth in the Eurozone as a whole was about 0.9% in 2024 and 1.5% in 2025, significantly lower than that of the U.S. (2.8% in 2024 under Biden and 2.2% in 2025 under Trump). What about the “disastrous” Spanish economy? Quick searches show 3.2% growth in 2024 and 2.8% growth in 2025.

Oops – the “sad” economy has faster growth than the U.S. under Trump. So, which country is the real disaster? And those countries that did pledge to spend a lot more on military defense, such as Germany and Italy, have shown economic growth even lower than the EU average.

There are lots of reasons to question how important GDP is as a measure of well-being in a country, and critics will point out that the overall economic growth in Spain is not necessarily well distributed among all levels of society. But Trump is not likely to look into those kinds of details.

It is interesting to look at some potential reasons for Spain’s relative economic success over the recent past. Two issues stand out (aside from the refusal of Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez to bow down to Trump’s threats over spending on military hardware): immigration and energy.

Spain garnered headlines recently because of a new program meant to regularize the immigration status of at least 500,000 people who are in the country and working, but who have not had the option of legalizing their status. Like in most European countries and the U.S., people come to have a better life, and for the vast majority, to build a life, become part of the workforce where they are badly needed, and in the end, contribute to their new society.

Not only does the Spanish program remove some legal hurdles, but there are also efforts to actively promote and assist in integration of immigrants. These programs are in stark contrast to countries like Germany and Italy, both desperately in need of immigrants at all levels of education and skills. In the latter two countries, government policies are best described as highly hypocritical, with programs to import labor to support industry and (especially) agriculture, with workers then often subject to abusive conditions and little to no support. The pretense is that these people will “just go away” when their work is done, and the government can continue to rail against foreigners.

Another pillar of Spain’s modernization efforts is the energy system transformation the country is undergoing. Electricity generation has gone from 60% fossil fuel to 25% over the past couple of decades, and CO2 emissions from electricity generation have decreased by 70%.

Solar and wind energy are now the two largest sources of electricity and are growing rapidly. And Spain consistently has amongst the cheapest electricity in Europe, belying the further claims of the Trump administration that only fossil fuels can provide affordable power.

International crises like unprovoked attacks by Russia on Ukraine or by Israel and the U.S. against Iran impact oil prices most dramatically and, to a lesser degree, electricity prices. Countries like Spain and many others in Europe are realizing more clearly why it is to their advantage to transition away from oil and natural gas as an economic hedging strategy with clear benefits for their citizens.

Although Spain lags behind other European countries in sales of EVs, I would be willing to bet that this will change in the near future, especially since they have a strong domestic automobile industry that has moved increasingly into electric vehicles.

Spain has higher economic growth than other peer countries, is attempting to build up a more welcoming culture for immigrants, and is also pushing forward with great success on the ecological transition away from fossil fuels and toward domestic renewable energy sources.

None of these efforts is perfect, and we can find critics from all sides of the political spectrum. However, rather than being a “disaster,” for many, Spain could actually serve more as a beacon of hope for how societies can adapt to the challenges of the 21st century.

Bob Brecha is a retired professor of sustainability, renewable energy and physics (University of Dayton), and longtime newspaper junkie (print and electronic). He consults on energy systems and climate change policies, based in Berlin, Germany. When not fretting about the state of the world and the global climate emergency, he enjoys hiking, biking and reading as much as possible.

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By Liv Caputo

Florida Phoenix

Florida officials are fighting a court order to expand detainee phone access at the so-called “Alligator Alcatraz” center, arguing it would be too costly for taxpayers — but they’ve already spent roughly $34 million in public dollars on technology, IT support, and more, state records show.

The agency in charge of the remote center, the Florida Division of Emergency Management (DEM), did not explain why the millions it has already spent in that silo doesn’t cover cell or landline service, why additional funding would be needed, or what those millions specifically funded, if not internet or carrier services.

The dispute arose after U.S. District Judge Sheri Polster Chappell in March ordered DEM to provide at least one phone for every 25 detainees so they can make confidential legal calls, after civil rights advocates alleged officials were limiting access to attorneys.

As of April 2, the facility had 1,383 detainees booked.

DEM denied all wrongdoing, and said detainees can speak to their attorneys through confidential Zoom calls or in person at the center.

They also claimed that complying would be prohibitively expensive.

Adding landlines or building cell towers would be “entirely unfeasible,” DEM argued Wednesday in court filings, pleading with the judge to pause her order. The only way they could add phones would be to spend $180K up front and another $6,000 weekly to mobilize and maintain cell connectivity at the center, which they say lacks traditional telephone infrastructure.

That would be for 77 cellphones, 77 security configurations, manual labor, and installation.

The agency did not respond to the Phoenix’s questions about how its existing $34.2 million in technology spending fits into those claims. Records from Florida’s government accountability website show the payments from the state’s emergency fund — dating to September — went to companies providing services for internet, communications, surveillance, IT support, and radio.

They did not explain specifically where that money went or provide line-items for the millions spent.

The lion’s share — $33 million — was paid to Gothams LLC. Public records previously reviewed by the Phoenix revealed that Gothams was hired to handle the following at “Alligator Alcatraz”:

• Internet supply and firewall.

• Access control system.

• Surveillance systems.

• Communications.

• Office technology.

• On-site IT support.

• Comprehensive support services for all technology installed within the facility.

The remaining $1.2 million went to seven other vendors, including nearly $500,000 for Baker’s Electronics and Communications, almost $400K for SkyBase Communications, and thousands more for SpaceX, Starlink, AT&T, Comcast, and Accu-Tech.

The state’s case to pause the court order comes as Florida still awaits a $608 million reimbursement from the federal government for Alligator Alcatraz. DEM has said that these new phone costs likely won’t be covered by the feds — and therefore would be provided at the Florida taxpayer’s expense.

“The state of Florida has not received any federal funding for the Alligator Alcatraz facility, and the federal government has not obligated itself to reimburse the State Defendants for the costs of complying with the preliminary injunction,” DEM bureau chief Ian-Paul Gadea-Guidicelli wrote.

The case follows a legislative reckoning with DEM’s spending from Florida’s emergency fund. During the 2026 legislative session, the chambers battled over whether to add guardrails on what DEM could use the trust for.

DEM reported that it spent more than $573 million on immigration in three years — more than 70% of it in the six months after “Alligator Alcatraz” was constructed, including millions in legal fees and hundreds of thousands on private jet flights to and from the center and food products.

The Legislature created the emergency fund in 2022 to allow the governor to quickly spend money on disasters without legislative approval. When Gov. Ron DeSantis declared a state of emergency on immigration the following year, it opened the dollars to a host of anti-illegal immigration initiatives.

He’s renewed the immigration state of emergency every 60 days since he first declared it in Jan. 2023.

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Liv Caputo covers immigration for the Florida Phoenix. She’s had her work cited in the New York Times, the Miami Herald, and the New York Post. She worked previously at The Floridian Press and The Florida Standard. A Florida native, she graduated from Florida State University.

Florida Phoenix is part of States Newsroom, the nation’s largest state-focused nonprofit news organization. This story is republished with their permission. To support Florida Phoenix, click here:

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Onward thru the fog

It’s easy to feel overwhelmed if you are a rational person living in the Free State of Florida, but there are plenty of smart, reasonable people just like you here. The purpose of this newsletter and the Tropic Press website is to provide a source of news and commentary that shines a light through this irrational fog. That includes both original reporting and shared stories such as this one today by Liv Caputo of Florida Phoenix.

Thank you for your support as a subscriber. It is invaluable. This is especially so for those of you who have chosen to upgrade to paid subscriptions. Your contributions are making this possible.

J.C. Bruce

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By Diane Roberts

Florida Phoenix

Rejoice, Florida: Domestic terrorism is about to be terrorized, thanks to a terrific team headed by our triumphant governor, the talented Cabinet, and our tough law enforcement hombres.

The state — indeed, the nation — is riddled with no-goodniks determined to damage the domestic tranquility of normal citizens and upset regular folks. Maybe even make them somewhat uncomfortable.

This is the United States: We want things to be nice and not weird or scary.

We want you to rest easy in your recliner, watching “Survivor” secure in the knowledge that people you don’t agree with will be Dealt With.

To that end, in December 2025, Gov. Ron DeSantis took decisive action, sticking the terrorist tag on an outfit calling itself the Council on American Islamic Relations.

Everyone knows Islam is a threat to puppy dogs, Christmas, and the beer industry.

As the governor said: “We’ll do millions for public safety. Millions for education. But never one red cent for jihad.”

Some federal judge in Tallahassee blocked the governor’s order, noting CAIR is a civil rights organization and citing nonsense about the unconstitutional suppression of speech.

Well, we’ll see about that.

The governor has now signed a law allowing him to say who is and who ain’t a terrorist — him and the head of FDLE, the chief financial officer, the commissioner of agriculture, and the attorney general.

These wise men can also sanction anyone who provides resources or material support to anyone they label terrorists.

Anywhere, anytime, for any obscure, even irrational, reason.

So, all you Sharia freaks looking for taxpayer-funded holy war, forget it: The gravy train ends with Ron DeSantis.

Perfidious Episcopalians

But let’s not stop with CAIR.

Something must be done about Antifa. The governor had their number five years ago, warning against the type of “scraggly looking” individual who thinks he has a “right” to protest in our clean American streets.

(What’s so wrong with fascism, anyway?)

CAIR and Antifa are merely the tip of the extremist iceberg. Florida harbors many unsavory groups that need to be slapped with a big fat “TERRORIST” label and run out of the Sunshine State.

Take Scouting America.

This bunch used to be called the Boy Scouts, but then they started doing woke stuff.

Like admitting girls.

Like trying out a new merit badge in Sewing and Needlework, rewarding boys for doing girl-work.

This is how our enemies weaken us from within.

As Secretary of Maximum Lethality Hegseth says, Scouting America is now in thrall to “a radical ideology that is anti-America and anti-American.”

Speaking of anti-American and woke ideology, how about Episcopalians?

They drink wine on Sunday morning. They talk about loving your neighbor as yourself. They use incense (at least, that’s what they say it is).

They let women preach.

Remember that bishop, Mariann Edgar Budde? During a post-inauguration prayer service at the National Cathedral, she refused to condemn illegals, insisting they’re not criminals — even though they invaded our country with the sole goal to become rapists and murderers and drug dealers.

Then she said, “Our God teaches us that we are to be merciful to the stranger, for we were all once strangers in this land.”

Her church is pro-gay, pro-trans, pro-DEI, and obviously a sinister influence on the entire nation, Florida included.

Et tu, FSU?

You need proof? The Episcopal church of Sts. Mary Magdalen and Martin in Coral Springs doesn’t try to hide it. Their website declares, “Yes, We are a Woke Church!” and “God loves you. No exceptions.”

No exceptions? Terrorist talk.

The governor must stop this before the woke mind virus infects the whole of Broward County.

Wokeness of the eco-greenie kind has already caused much trouble in South Florida.

You’ve got a cluster of enviros suing the government, claiming Alligator Alcatraz — our big, beautiful concentration camp — is “polluting” the Everglades.

You’ve got another enviro cell suing because some patriotic developers want to build a fine 4,000-acre town with a golf course and 2 million square feet of commercial space bang in the middle of what the eco-greenie freaks call “critical habitat.”

Come on, people: That part of Collier County is empty except for some bears, bald eagles, ibis, Big Cypress fox squirrels, rare orchids, aquifer-filtering wetlands, Sandhill cranes, crested caracas, herons, wood storks, shaggy cypress, and endangered Florida panthers.

Governor, you must preserve our precious development industry and declare Friends of the Everglades, the Sierra Club, the South Florida Wildlands Association, and the Center for Biodiversity domestic terrorists and send ’em to Guantánamo.

“Biodiversity:” Told you they were woke. Dangerous, too.

Another group wreaking havoc on our sense of order and well-being (this one may surprise some people) is the Florida State University football program.

The University of Florida football program, too.

Once clean-limbed, square-jawed, championship-winning heroes, these teams now stink. Like 5-7 and 4-8, and that’s just last year.

Their excruciatingly terrible, mind-bogglingly inept games are psycho-terror attacks, causing despair to thousands of Floridians and eating away at our pride and self-esteem.

Such assaults cannot be accidental.

Librarians with attitude

We can only conclude these teams have been taken over by our enemies to sap our resolve. If the state does not declare them domestic terrorists, we could be looking at an invasion from Canada and enforced ice hockey-watching.

Speaking of pain, let’s sanction the American Medical Association and its renegade doctors.

These medicos decree our children must be stuck with needles full of chemicals designed to keep them from getting polio, measles, Hepatitis B, diphtheria, mumps, and the like.

This is, as our state surgeon general and expert on demon sperm says, pretty much the same as slavery.

He valiantly demanded the Legislature “end all vaccine mandates in Florida law. All of them!”

But the Legislature (keep your eye on them, governor; some of them are likely terrorists, too) failed to do it, obviously wanting Our Children to be tainted by Big Pharma.

An even more serious menace to Our Children? Librarians.

And their co-conspirators, teachers.

These militants need to be called out, corralled, and controlled, lest they pollute the minds of the young with unapproved knowledge.

What’s wrong with books, you say?

Have you looked in books lately? They will teach your kids that slavery was not the fun job-training program we all know it was; that some boys like other boys; that girls experience sexual feelings; that the Indians weren’t happy for the pioneers to take their land; that when it comes to racism, Black people may have a point; that humans share 99% of their DNA with chimpanzees; that the earth is way more than 6,000 years old; and that Christopher Columbus did not “discover” America.

He landed in Haiti, but we’d rather not discuss it.

Getting ideas

Haiti’s a problem. Just because Haitians suffer from natural disasters, a collapsed state, hunger, disease, and vicious gang violence doesn’t mean we should let them just sashay across the water and break into Florida.

It’s not like they’re Norwegians.

(Plus, the vice president reminds us they eat our cats and our dogs.)

As the governor said, “When a state faces the possibility of invasion, it has the right and duty to defend its territory and people.”

But back to the librarians and the teachers.

Their underground leaders are code-named “Judy Blume,” “Kurt Vonnegut,” and “Toni Morrison.”

We have intelligence two of those are actually dead. Still, hundreds of cells inspired by their so-called “art” have infiltrated school systems and universities where they hide in plain sight.

Round ’em up; put ’em on trial for sedition; ban their operations; quash their ideas.

If our young people start getting ideas, Florida as we know it will not survive.

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Diane Roberts is an 8th-generation Floridian, born and bred in Tallahassee, which probably explains her unhealthy fascination with Florida politics. Educated at Florida State University and Oxford University in England, she has been writing for newspapers since 1983. Her work has appeared in the New York Times, the Times of London, the Guardian, the Washington Post, the Oxford American, and Flamingo.

Florida Phoenix is part of States Newsroom, the nation’s largest state-focused nonprofit news organization. This story is republished with their permission. To support Florida Phoenix, click here:

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Related story:

DeSantis signs his pet anti-terrorism bill; should Donald Trump be worried?

Onward thru the fog

It’s easy to feel overwhelmed if you are a rational person living in the Free State of Florida, but there are plenty of smart, reasonable people just like you here. The purpose of this newsletter and the Tropic Press website is to provide a source of news and commentary that shines a light through this irrational fog. That includes both original reporting and shared stories such as this one today by Diane Roberts of Florida Phoenix.

Thank you for your support as a subscriber. It is invaluable. This is especially so for those of you who have chosen to upgrade to paid subscriptions. Your contributions are making this possible.

J.C. Bruce

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Share Tropic Press!

As this newsletter was written, Tropic Press was reaching more than 700,000 subscribers in Florida and elsewhere. With mid-term elections on the horizon, the more people we reach, the more effective we can be in helping turn this country around. You can play a vital role in that effort by sharing this newsletter with friends. If you are reading this as an email, simply forward it. Or you can use the link below. Thanks.

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Coming Saturday: Miss Mingo Writes Again!

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Why don’t you run for office?

The upcoming midterm elections provide a generational opportunity to change the complexion of Florida’s political makeup. But for that to happen, Republican candidates for the state Legislature must face Democratic opponents on the ballot. Currently, there are far too many seats where Republicans are running unopposed. You can change that. Find out how you can run and how to get help doing so:

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When Florida voters go to the polls this fall, we will have the chance to oust Republican Ashley Moody from her appointed U.S. Senate seat. Alex Vindman is considered the frontrunner among Democrats seeking the nomination in the August primary election. Whoever the final nominee is, he or she will need a huge turnout by Democrats and like-minded independents to win. Which is why it is vital that in the upcoming election there are Democrats on the ballot for every contested seat. More on that below.

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By Christine Sexton

Florida Phoenix

Calling incumbent Sen. Ashley Moody an “automatic yes vote” for “corruption” and “chaos,” former U.S. Army Lt. Col. Alex Vindman made his bid for the U.S. Senate official Wednesday.

Vindman, a Democrat who out-raised Moody in the first quarter of 2026, turned in his qualifying paperwork in person in Tallahassee, making official the Senate run he first announced in January.

He then addressed the press, announcing he would be a candidate for the people, one who will work to lower the costs of living, and accused Moody of making special interests her priority.

“So, I think this is, this is a motivating factor, especially on the more conservative side of the spectrum. That they have somebody that’ll do the right thing, as I’ve done throughout my career, and that will deliver for Floridians’ interests, not corporate special interests,” he said.

“I think that’s a fundamental message to get across — that there is a fighter in your corner, not a fighter for corporate interests, not a fighter for billionaire class, but a fighter in your corner.”

Vindman’s paperwork comes on the heels of polling that found him competitive with Moody.

The 50-year-old Vindman will have to edge other Democrats in the race to face Moody, including former U.S. Rep. Alan Grayson, Jacksonville state Rep. Angie Nixon, and Air Force veteran Tamika Lyles.

While other Democrats could still join the race, Vindman’s entry could potentially earn the Florida Senate contest national exposure.

Emma Hall, Southeast regional communications director for the Republican National Committee, earlier this year attacked Vindman as a “carpetbagger” and “grifter” because he moved to Florida only recently.

Republicans also have gone after Vindman for his role in the first impeachment of President Donald Trump. In late February, the Republican Party of Florida launched a digital ad attacking him for playing a “traitorous” role in that episode.

But Vindman, who emigrated with his father, brothers and grandmother to New York City in 1979 from Ukraine after his mother died, painted stark contrasts between himself and Moody, who served as Florida attorney general between 2019 and 2025. Gov. Ron DeSantis appointed her in 2025 to fill the Senate seat vacated when Marco Rubio became U.S. Secretary of State.

Noting Florida’s high homeowners’ insurance rates, Vindman complained Moody has “given a pass to the big insurance companies.” He criticized Moody stock purchases last year including $250,000 in stock from Eli Lilly, raising questions of insider trading. She sits on the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee.

“How do you think that plays out? She’s happy to engage in stock trades, some $2 million, on insider information that only Congress gets. I think that’s wrong. I think that should be illegal,” he said.

By contrast, Vindman noted that he is an Army combat veteran who was awarded the Purple Heart for wounds received in 2004 in the Iraq War.

He was director of European Affairs for the U.S. National Security Council when, in October 2019, he came to national attention for his congressional testimony revealing that Trump had asked Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden’s son Hunter Biden while his father was campaigning for president as a condition for military aid against Russia.

Vindman resigned from the military in July 2020. Following that separation, he said, for the first time in his adult life he had a choice of where to live and not just simply move where the military had assigned him.

“My wife and I chose Florida because I was raised in New York. Where else can I go?” he said jokingly. “So, pretty, pretty awesome to be able to raise a family here for the same reason that a lot of us come here — it’s a beautiful place, sunny, warm, lovely.”

Vindman’s twin brother, Eugene “Yevgeny” Vindman, also a retired lieutenant colonel in the Army and also a whistleblower in Trump’s first term, was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 2024 for Virginia’s 7th District. He is running for re-election in 2026 but this time to represent Virginia’s 1st Congressional District.

The reporter on this story, Christine Sexton , has spent more than 30 years reporting on Florida health care, insurance policy, and state politics and has covered the state’s last six governors. She lives in Tallahassee.

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Coming Saturday: Miss Mingo Writes Again!

Is it true that Donald Trump has ordered McDonald’s to name a hamburger after him? Miss Mingo has the answer. Coming to your inbox on Saturday.

By Mitch Perry

Florida Phoenix

Gov. Ron DeSantis has previously indicated that he’s holding back on offering his own proposal to reduce taxes on homestead properties until the moment is “ripe” — and it doesn’t appear that’ll be anytime soon.

A special legislative session is now scheduled to take place in the last week of April to deal with congressional redistricting, artificial intelligence, and vaccine mandates.

Yet to be addressed is another special session to approve a balanced budget, which the Legislature is required to send to the governor by June 30.

“We don’t even know where it stands, and that’s a sad commentary for the legislators not to know what’s about to happen,” Democratic Rep. Dianne Hart-Lowman of Tampa lamented Wednesday night when asked about the property tax question during a town hall meeting.

“We really don’t know where we are on property taxes, but I’m looking forward to talking about it because I really need our communities to understand what it’s all about.”

Some Republicans have already indicated that whatever property tax proposal comes before them may not be as substantial as they would like. Rep. Ryan Chamberlin, R-Belleview, has said that his pessimism prompted him to attempt a citizen initiative removing all property taxes on the 2028 ballot.

Other Republicans, like Rep. Berny Jacques, R-Seminole, insist property tax relief must be passed this year.

“We did our job in the House in the regular session by passing a measure that would make that a reality,” he told the Phoenix. “It’s now time for everyone to come to the table so we can finalize a relief measure that we can send to the voters this year.”

The strategy

Speaking at Palm Beach Atlantic University’s LeMieux Center for Public Policy on March 25, DeSantis said, “Why would I produce something that is not ripe in terms of when we’re actually going to put in front of the Legislature?”

He added: “There’s obviously a strategy involved.”

DeSantis has previously mused that he’d like to wait as long as possible before having lawmakers discuss a proposed constitutional amendment. Last fall, he suggested legislators could “potentially have a special session on property taxes right in the middle of the Republican primary season in July or August,” although he was quick to add, “I’m not saying we’re going to wait that long.”

Former Republican state Sen. Jeff Brandes argues the governor is intentionally keeping mum. “I think the strategy is not to give people a chance to evaluate this,” he said.

In his remarks in Palm Beach County, DeSantis said his proposal would be phased in to allow municipalities and counties to absorb their reductions in revenue. “We would likely start at the bottom and then phase it in where you’re raising the exclusion until you get to elimination,” he said.

The governor has also said that he’s willing to fund grants to local governments to ease the transition. Critics note that while he put additional funding in his proposed 2026-2027 fiscal year budget in December for that purpose, there’s no guarantee a future governor would continue to do that. DeSantis leaves office in January.

On Wednesday night, Tampa Bay area Democratic Rep. Michele Rayner said that property owners in Florida would likely get a tax cut or benefit if a measure is approved by the voters in the fall but that the question of how to replace those revenues for infrastructure, parks, and libraries has yet to be addressed.

“That cost has to go to someone else,” she said. “It has to go to renters. It’s going to go to businesses. It’s going to go to everyday Floridians. And everyone already knows that Florida is already unaffordable to live here, so I would just like to know where they think they’re going to come up with the money. And when I asked that question on the House floor, [Republicans] told me that they’d figure it out.”

Brandes hopes whatever proposal that the governor and the GOP-controlled Legislature decide upon, it has a sunset date attached. “It can be two years, three years, four years, so that we can evaluate how it’s actually working and maybe change course.”

Earlier this week, GOP gubernatorial candidate Paul Renner released a plan that included a new $1 million homestead exemption that he said would eliminate property taxes for nearly 95% of Florida homeowners. He also would provide a $750,000 exemption for non-housing properties (which he says would relieve 70% of small businesses from paying property taxes) and a $250,000 per-unit exemption for rental housing to give renters a break.

For the Legislature to be put its own constitutional amendment on the November ballot, a joint resolution would need three-fifths support in both the House and Senate. It would then need to win approval by 60% of the voters to become law.

Recent polls have shown such a proposal winning more than 50% support —short of the 60% required for passage. However, that’s without the public knowing any specific details of such a plan.

The Phoenix reached out to the Florida Division of Elections office to learn what the deadline would be for the Legislature to approve a joint resolution to qualify for the November ballot, but it did not provide an immediate response.

Mitch Perry has covered politics and government in Florida for more than two decades. Most recently he is the former politics reporter for Bay News 9. He has also worked at Florida Politics, Creative Loafing and WMNF Radio in Tampa. He was also part of the original staff when the Florida Phoenix was created in 2018.

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Florida Phoenix is part of States Newsroom, the nation’s largest state-focused nonprofit news organization. This story is republished with their permission. To support Florida Phoenix, click here:

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Note to readers

Just a note to mention that I am on the road this week. I’m helping my son with a cross-country move. Because of this, you will likely see fewer of my original posts for the next few days and more sharing of articles by other contributors, such as today’s story by Mitch Perry. Thanks for reading.

J.C. Bruce

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As this newsletter was written, Tropic Press was reaching more than 700,000 subscribers in Florida and elsewhere. With mid-term elections on the horizon, the more people we reach, the more effective we can be in helping turn this country around. You can play a vital role in that effort by sharing this newsletter with friends. If you are reading this as an email, simply forward it. Or you can use the link below. Thanks.

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“Exempting the entire oil and gas industry … is not a national security measure, it’s a giveaway. Florida’s coastal communities, our fisheries, and our wildlife deserve better.”

By Jay Waagmeester

Florida Phoenix

Environmental groups are joining an effort to block rules from President Donald Trump’s administration exempting energy companies drilling in the Gulf of Mexico from legal protections for endangered species.

Last month, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth asked for an exemption to the Endangered Species Act, on the basis of national security, to drill for oil and gas in the Gulf. That means species such as Rice’s whale, Kemp’s ridley sea turtle, and other endangered species lose protection.

The Endangered Species Committee, an administrative panel sometimes called the “God Squad” because of its sweeping power to overrule environmental protections, comprising top administrators in the Trump administration, approved the exemption.

Now, the Southern Environmental Law Center is representing environmental groups in petitioning the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia to review the administration’s decision.

The groups include the National Wildlife Federation, National Parks Conservation Association, Florida Wildlife Federation, Louisiana Wildlife Federation, and Texas Conservation Alliance.

“Our organization witnessed firsthand the devastation of the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill, as we watched oil wash ashore on Florida beaches, saw fishing families lose their livelihoods overnight, and documented the toll on sea turtles, shorebirds, and marine life that took years to recover,” Sarah Gledhill, president and CEO of the Florida Wildlife Federation, said in a news release.

“The [Endangered Species Act] review process is one of the hard-won lessons of disasters like that, and it forces industry to plan for harm, minimize it, and answer for it,” she said.

The groups warn that noise, vessel strikes, and spills could further threaten endangered species if oil and gas drilling picks up.

“Exempting the entire oil and gas industry from ESA compliance, forever, is not a national security measure, it’s a giveaway. Florida’s coastal communities, our fisheries, and our wildlife deserve better. We will stand firmly in the way of anyone who tries to shortchange the Gulf,” Gledhill said.

The named respondents include Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum, Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins, Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency Lee Zeldin, Secretary of Defense Hegseth, and the remaining members of the Endangered Species Committee.

The appellate court may enjoin, suspend, or modify the agency’s decision.

Another suit

Two weeks ago, other environmental groups sued for an injunction. Represented by Earthjustice, an environmental law organization, the Sierra Club, Friends of the Earth, Turtle Island Restoration Network, and Healthy Gulf filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.

They argue the Trump administration is abusing the national security exemption under the Endangered Species Act, and that more than two dozen species now protected as either threatened or endangered are directly at risk. And they contend that Hegseth’s finding of a national security consideration is entirely arbitrary.

Jay Waagmeester covers education for the Florida Phoenix. He previously worked for the Iowa Capital Dispatch and the Iowa State Daily. He grew up in Iowa and is a graduate of Iowa State University.

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Florida Phoenix is part of States Newsroom, the nation’s largest state-focused nonprofit news organization. This story is republished with their permission. To support Florida Phoenix, click here:

DONATE

Note to readers

Just a note to mention that I am on the road this week. I’m helping my son with a cross-country move. We loaded the U-Haul yesterday, and we’re heading out today. Because of this, you will likely see fewer of my original posts for the next few days and more sharing of articles by other contributors, such as today’s story. Thanks for reading.

J.C. Bruce

Share Tropic Press. Please!

As this newsletter was written, Tropic Press was reaching more than 700,000 subscribers in Florida and elsewhere. With mid-term elections on the horizon, the more people we reach, the more effective we can be in helping turn this country around. You can play a vital role in that effort by sharing this newsletter with friends. If you are reading this as an email, simply forward it. Or you can use the link below. Thanks.

Share Tropic Press: J.C. Bruce