Florida For Sale: Where big donors are putting their campaign dollars for Tuesday’s election

A special report from independent journalist Jason Garcia, shared with his permission from his popular Seeking Rents Substack site. More on how you can support his work below.

The biggest corporate contributor to Florida’s political parties was, by a wide margin, NextEra Energy, the parent company of Florida’s largest electric utility, Florida Power & Light. NextEra stuffed more than $7.3 million into the parties in the run up to the Nov. 3 general election — and all but $50,000 of it went to the Republicans.

By Jason Garcia

Television in Florida has been utterly merciless lately. Every commercial break is filled with political advertisements, most of them savaging one candidate or another and warning of the utter horrors that await should voters elect them.

A lot of the advertising has been focused on what are, against all odds, shaping up as close races for three powerful offices in Tallahassee: Byron Donalds vs. David Jolly for governor; James Uthmeier vs. José Javier Rodriguez for attorney general; and Blaise Ingoglia vs. Annette Taddeo for chief financial officer. (Although if you happen to live in one of the few evenly divided districts in the gerrymandered Florida Legislature, your’ve no doubt been besieged by commercials related your local House or Senate race, too.)

Most of those ads — along with a number of other campaign expenses — are being funded not by the candidates themselves but by the political parties.

On one side is the Republican Party of Florida, which is behind a lot of the ads promoting Donalds, Uthmeier and Ingoglia, as well as the Florida Republican Senatorial Campaign Committee and the Florida House Republican Campaign Committee, which pay for most of the ads promoting Republicans and attacking Democrats in legislative races.

On the other side is the Florida Democratic Party, supporting Jolly, Rodriguez and Taddeo, and its corresponding House and Senate campaign arms: The Florida Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee and the Florida House Democratic Campaign Committee.

Because of a gap in Florida’s campaign laws, the political parties and their legislative leadership funds are able to hide their donors until just before Election Day. The final party fundraising reports — which essentially cover the period from the mid-August primary until just before the Nov. 3 general election — weren’t filed until yesterday.

But we have them now. So to start this election-eve edition of Florida in Five, we’re going to take a little tour of some of the donors and details that jumped out to me.

The kingpin: Florida Power & Light

The biggest corporate contributor to Florida’s political parties was, by a wide margin, NextEra Energy, the parent company of Florida’s largest electric utility, Florida Power & Light.

NextEra stuffed more than $7.3 million into the parties in the run up to the Nov. 3 general election — and all but $50,000 of it went to the Republicans.

The corporation sent the vast majority of that cash — $6.25 million — to the Republican Party of Florida, which, again, has been focused on the races for governor, attorney general and chief financial officer. NextEra has also given $1 million directly to Donalds.

The contributions come as NextEra is actively trying to develop hyperscale data centers around Florida — data centers that would, of course, would buy electricity from FPL. Company executives say they expect to announce at least one major project somewhere in the state by the end of the year.

Which perhaps gives the corporation extra financial incentive to oppose David Jolly, the Democratic nominee for governor who has pledged to halt all data center construction in Florida for at least one year if he is elected.

Projects Silver Fox and Tango

Speaking of data centers, the developers behind two of the most controversial data center proposals in Florida also put an awful lot of last-minute money into the Republican Party.

Ferreira Construction, a New Jersey builder that has proposed “Project Silver Fox” in Martin County, gave $510,000 to the Republican Party of Florida.

At the same time, Palm Beach Aggregates and Phillips Inc., the companies pitching “Project Tango” in Palm Beach County, put a combined $468,000 into the GOP. That included roughly $218,000 for the Republican Party of Florida, plus $150,000 for House Republican campaigns and $100,000 for Senate GOP campaigns.

Neither data center developer donated to the Democratic Party.

What’s also interesting here is that both seem to be paying close attention to the Cabinet offices, too. The Project Tango team donated $50,000 apiece to Uthmeier in the attorney general race and Ingoglia in the chief financial officer campaign. And the Project Silver Fox backer added another $50,000 for Ingoglia.

The three-member Cabinet could potentially play a key role in resolving land use disputes that could emerge between a local county commission and a data center developer. (The three-member Florida Cabinet also includes Agriculture Commissioner Wilton Simpson, who is heavily favored to win re-election.)

One last note here: Project Tango isn’t the only signficant project involving Palm Beach Aggregates and Phillips Inc. The two companies also want to open a rock mine south of Lake Okeechobee, on sugar farmland that was once a part of the Everglades.

A number of environmental groups and Everglades activists are trying to stop the project, which is known as “Southland” — and which could conceivably end up as an issue before the Florida Cabinet, too.

AI billionaires and legislative leaders

Earlier this year, a Super PAC funded primarily by the billionaire investors behind OpenAI — the parent company of the ChatGPT chatbot — spent more than $2 million on advertising to help Byron Donalds win the Republican nomination for governor.

Now, they’re spending their money on the leaders of the Florida Legislature.

The political committee they set up in Florida made $275,000 in contributions in September: $100,000 each for the House and Senate Republican campaign funds, as well as $50,000 for incoming House Speaker Sam Garrison (R-Fleming Island) and $25,000 for incoming Senate President Jim Boyd (R-Bradenton).

One of OpenAI’s top artificial intelligence rivals recently started spending on state elections, too.

Anthropic — the company behind the Claude chatbot — has doled out more than $400,000 since August, all of it to Republicans. The gifts included $100,000 apiece for the Republican Party of Florida, House GOP campaigns, and Senate GOP campaigns.

Prediction market or sports book?

Florida Power & Light has long been one of the top corporate contributors in all of Florida politics. But the No. 2 corporate donor to the political parties this fall is a newer player: Kalshi Inc., the predication market (read: gambling) giant.

Kalshi is believed to be preparing for what could be a $40 billion IPO. But it’s also trying to stop states from adopting laws or regulations related to the sports betting that occurs on its site.

Altogether, the company gave nearly $4.3 million to the Republicans this fall — about $3.5 million to the Republican Party of Florida, plus another $750,000 for Senate GOP campaigns.

A bipartisan coalition of states, from Alabama to California, are currently suing Kalshi in federal court over whether the states can regulate sports bets on the site. Florida, though, has not joined on to the lawsuit.

It may then be worth mentioning here that Kalshi has also given $50,000 to Attorney General James Uthmeier — who refused to answer when Politico Florida asked him why he was staying on the sidelines of that lawsuit.

Sig Sauer is back

Just before the start of this year’s legislative session, the gun-maker Sig Sauer suddenly showered more than $500,000 on Republican leaders in Tallahassee — doling out checks ranging from $5,000 to $50,000 to everyone from the speaker of the House and president of the Senate to an assortment of committee chairs to Attorney General James Uthmeier.

The donations came just as the company began lobbying for changes intended to defend it against a growing number of lawsuits brought by police officers and others who have been injured by allegedly defective Sig Sauer guns that fired without anybody ever pulling the trigger.

The Sig Sauer immunity bill ultimately failed to pass when it became stuck in the Florida Senate.

But Sig Sauer may now be trying to get it unstuck: A little over one week ago, the company gave $100,000 to the Senate Republican campaign fund.

Blue ribbons and red flags

If there’s a single bill hanging in the balance of this year’s elections, it’s the so-called “Blue Ribbon Projects” proposal, which would enable the state’s largest landowners to develop their properties without any meaningful local input or control from the surrounding community.

Seeking Rents reported earlier this month that the New York investors lobbying for the legislation — who have amassed more than 80,000 acres of rural land across north Florida — had donated nearly $300,000 this fall to important Republican candidates. That included $100,000 for Byron Donalds, plus thousands more for GOP candidates in crucial Senate contests.

Well, it turns out those investors — who have been donating through a land-owning entity called “Jax-Palatka Farms LLC” — have also been putting money into the parties, too.

The newly disclosed party donations include $100,000 for Senate Republican campaigns and $50,000 for House Republican campaigns.

But that’s not all. Jax-Palatka Farms also gave $25,000 each to House and Senate Democrat campaign funds.

That’s now $490,000 in contributions just since September. And the $50,000 ticketed for Democratic campaigns suggests that Blue Ribbon Projects boosters are trying to buy at least a few Democratic votes for whatever new version of the legislation emerges in 2027.

Which also tells you just how tight a final vote might be.

Agricultural enclave showdown

Another controversial development issue whose fate may hinge on this year’s elections is the state’s new “agricultural enclave” law, which makes it easier for homebuilders to put subdivisions on farmland near cities.

The now-infamous law — written by lobbyists for major developers — has hit like a bomb in fast-growing St. Johns County, where a host of builders have raced to take advantage of it.

The most notable is the Davis family of northeast Florida — best known as the founders of the Winn-Dixie grocery chain and the developers of Nocatee — who are trying to use the new law to lock in entitlements for thousands of homes on a giant tract of timberlands southeast of Jacksonville.

County commissioners in St. Johns are trying to stop that and some other agricultural enclave developments. They have also vowed to push the Florida Legislature to repeal or revise the law during the 2027 session, which will begin early next year.

The Davis family may be preparing for a fight in the Florida Capitol. One of the corporate entities they control — Big Creek Timber LLC — put a quarter of a million dollars into Republican campaigns this fall. That included $150,000 for the Republican Party of Florida and $50,000 each for House and Senate GOP campaign funds.

The Davis family has also been a big Byron Donald donor, too.

Who does the Legislature work for?

Back in September, the South Florida Sun Sentinel and Orlando Sentinel obtained a secret state report revealing that dozens of property insurance companies claiming big losses in Florida where actually making lots of money.

But perhaps the most shocking detail of the whole story was that the Florida Senate threatened to sue the newspapers if they published the findings of the report. The newspapers, to their enormous credit, wrote the story anyway.

With that context in mind, here’s an interesting donor of note: Slide Insurance — which has aggressively used profit-shifting tactics — gave $550,000 to the Republican Party of Florida this fall.

Big Tobacco and a big tax break

There seem to be three main battleground races in the Florida Senate this year — and Philip Morris International just dumped a bunch of money into all of them.

On the very same day, the Big Tobacco giant gave $25,000 to Sen. Jason Brodeur (R-Sanford), who is running against Democratic challenger John Lowndes in Senate District 10 in Orlando; $10,000 to former state Rep. Josie Tomkow (R-Polk City), who is running against Sen. Brian Nathan (D-Tampa) in Senate District 14 in Tampa; and $10,000 to Sen. Alexis Calatayud (R-Miami), who is running against Democratic challenger Richard Lamondin in Senate District 38 in Miami.

Around the same time, Philip Morris also gave $200,000 to Donalds and another $100,00 each to the incoming House Speaker and Senate president. It also gave $150,000 to the Republican Party of Florida.

What does it want? Well, Philip Morris is lobbying for the last couple of years for a big tax break from the Florida Legislature — namely, an exemption from state taxes on cigarettes and tobacco for its “IQOS” line of heated tobacco products.

Philip Morris already got outgoing Gov. Ron DeSantis and his administration to give the company the tax exemption through executive action — shortly after Philip Morris donated $500,000 to DeSantis during the 2024 elections.

But Philip Morris wants to lock that tax break in permanently.

After all, an executive action can be undone by a future governor — perhaps a future governor who has not taken mountains of cash from Philip Morris.

More doodie

A few final fundraising tidbits:

• A company linked to Doodie Calls — the portable toilet vendor that was paid more than $90 million as part of ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ — gave $575,000 to Byron Donalds, who has said he is not interested in investigating misspending at the now-closed Everglades detention center.

• The Panhandle developer who sold four acres of land to the state last year for more than $80 million — in a transaction that one longtime conservation leader called “a sham” — gave another $100,000 to Donalds in October. One of his companies had already donated $25,000 each to Donalds and Attorney General James Uthmeier, who voted to approve the original land deal as a member of the Florida Cabinet.

• The leader of a “wastewater surveillance” company that helps police agencies test toilet water for drugs and other substances — which successfully lobbied for a $500,000 earmark in this year’s state budget — gave $25,000 to Uthmeier.

• Elon Musk’s newly public SpaceX has begun making big campaign contributions in Florida — most notably, a $100,000 donation to Donalds.

  

This report by Jason Garcia is from Seeking Rents, a newsletter and podcast devoted to independent journalism about Florida politics, with an emphasis on how big businesses and other special interests influence public policy in the state.

Seeking Rents is free, but you can support Jason Garcia’s work by becoming a paid subscriber and/or by making a one-time donation. The name, Seeking Rents, comes from a term meaning the act or process of exploiting the political process or manipulating the economic environment to increase one’s revenue or profits.

Today’s report is from his weekly Florida in Five: Stories you need to read from the past week in Florida politics. Links to those articles follow.

To subscribe to Jason Garcia’s work, click here:

Florida in Five:

A southwest Florida family of developers is spending big in Hillsborough races (Tampa Bay Times) ($)

See also: Who’s betting on Byron Donalds? Prisons, gambling giants and billionaires (Miami New Times)

Follow the money, Vol. 2

‘Lighting money on fire’: Florida paid $82M for Canadian drug program that never imported a drug (WKMG)

See also: New College seeking up to $47M to finance campus transfer, existing debt (Tampa Bay Times) ($)

See also: New College of Florida’s finance committee votes to take on unnamed investor to finance USF campus takeover (WMNF)

Donalds v. Jolly

Erika Donalds’ $30M charter school empire faces scrutiny in governor’s race (USA Today Network – Florida)

See also: In Florida’s Gubernatorial Race, a Choice Between New Climate Policy or the Status Quo (Inside Climate News)

See also: Byron Donalds discusses the final stretch in his gubernatorial campaign with Jim DeFede (CBS News Miami)

Should an embryo have the same legal rights as you?

Where Florida AG candidates Uthmeier, Rodriguez stand on abortion, surrogacy (Tampa Bay Times) ($)

See also: What Florida’s governor and attorney general candidates say about abortion (WUSF)

See also: Jose Javier Rodriguez looks to unseat Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier (WPLG Local 10)

‘A spokesman for Ingoglia said he was too busy to do an interview.’

Florida CFO race heats up as Annette Blaise Taddeo accuses Ingoglia of failing taxpayers (CBS News Miami)

A supermajority hangs in the balance

Lowndes vs. Brodeur: Seminole’s rural boundary dominates state Senate race (Orlando Sentinel) ($)

See also: Florida GOP spends millions in push to save Tallahassee supermajority

The Big Thing on the ballot

Floridians Weigh ‘Faustian Bargain’ of Cutting Property Taxes (New York Times) ($)

See also: Affordability? For who?’ Voters decide between helping homeowners or public services (NPR)

See also: Amendment 3 would slash Florida’s health safety net. But no one knows what that will look like (Florida Trib)

See also: Amendment 3 makes an exception for schools. Students, families would still be affected if passed (WLRN)

See also: What could Amendment 3 mean for Florida renters? (Tampa Bay Times) ($)

But the textbooks can’t say climate change

‘Highest king tide ever’ swamps South Florida and exposes danger of sea rise (Miami Herald) ($)

See also: No hurricane needed as South Florida king tides smash water-level records (Palm Beach Post)

See aso: Florida is a national ‘hot spot’ for forest loss. Here’s what’s replacing the trees (Miami Herald) ($)

See also: Wetlands ‘created Florida.’ A new proposal could threaten their existence. (Suncoast Searchlight)

The Ag Department as ICE

Data show Florida agriculture agency’s role in immigration enforcement (Tampa Bay Times) ($)

See also: What’s behind the surge in Florida’s ICE arrests? (WUSF)

Last-minute podcast listening

Navigating Florida’s 2026 Midterm Elections with Concern for our Natural Areas. (As Bad As It Is)

See also: An interview with Democratic candidate for Attorney General, José Javier Rodriguez (Florida Unwired)

A big win for watchdog journalism

Coalition of organizations will expand watchdog reporting in South Florida (Florida Trib))

Perspectives

Florida wildlife agency put a homebound dementia patient under surveillance (Florida Phoenix)

3 major issues that Republican Byron Donalds or Democrat David Jolly will need to address as Florida’s next governor (The Conversation)

Ready, aim, backfire! CFO ad blasts opponent for tax hike … that CFO supported (Orlando Sentinel) ($)

Uthmeier, Ingoglia are wrong for Florida in word and deed (Orlando Sentinel) ($)

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