POLITICO Florida

08/22/2023

Former Rep. Debbie Mucarsel-Powell will challenge incumbent GOP Sen. Rick Scott in a race that could prove pivotal in attempts by Democrats to retain control of the U.S. Senate.

“I don’t make any assumptions or underestimate how difficult it is going to be,” she says of her challenge to Rick Scott.

08/11/2023

Ron DeSantis is nearly a third of the way through his tour of each county in Iowa — but now with a chairperson backing his campaign in every part of the state.

The super PAC supporting DeSantis’ presidential bid has established county-level chairs in each of Iowa’s 99 counties.

08/10/2023

Florida is allowing schools to offer the AP Psychology course after Education Commissioner Manny Diaz Jr. confirmed to superintendents that the class at the center of controversy can be “taught consistent” with state laws.

Several school districts already moved on from the class amid the uncertainty and are instead offering different psychology options.

08/07/2023

In a newly posted interview, Gov. Ron DeSantis said point blank about former President Donald Trump: “Of course he lost. Joe Biden’s the president.”

“I don’t think it was a good-run election. But I also think Republicans didn’t fight back,” the Florida governor said.

06/30/2023

Gov. Ron DeSantis and the Seminole Tribe of Florida scored a legal victory Friday after an appeals court refused to block a $2.5 billion gambling deal between the state and the tribe.

The three-judge panel concluded that a lower court judge had wrongly stopped the deal and said that any dispute over the compact between Florida and the tribe should be fought in state court.

06/29/2023

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis irked an influential New York Republican after his presidential campaign failed to coordinate a Rockland County fundraiser with the local party leader.

Rockland County GOP Chair Lawrence Garvey said he got no heads up from the DeSantis campaign before it sent out a flier for a $6,600-a-person fundraiser.

06/29/2023

The DOJ said this week a new law signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis that restricts some Chinese citizens from owning property in Florida violates federal law and the U.S. Constitution.

DeSantis said in May that the measure helps Florida lead the way among states in protecting national security.

The legal action by the department is just the latest skirmish between the Biden administration and Ron DeSantis in recent years.

06/29/2023

The Supreme Court on Thursday ruled against affirmative action in higher education, striking down race-conscious admissions programs at Harvard and the University of North Carolina.

In a ruling divided along ideological lines, the high court found that the two universities discriminated against white and Asian American applicants by using race-conscious admissions policies that benefited applicants from underrepresented backgrounds.

Chief Justice John Roberts wrote for the majority in the case. He was joined by the five other conservative justices. The three liberals dissented.
https://www.politico.com/news/2023/06/29/supreme-court-ends-affirmative-action-in-college-admissions-00104179

06/23/2023

After lashing out at leading Republicans for busing asylum-seekers to Democrat-led cities, New York Mayor Eric Adams turned around and did something similar — sending dozens of migrants to red states like Florida and Texas.

Between April 2022 and April 2023, the city spent around $50,000 on travel costs to resettle 114 migrant households around the country and globe.

06/22/2023

It’s been a year since the Supreme Court struck down Roe v. Wade, but Florida’s abortion bans remain in limbo while the state’s highest court weighs what to do.

The state's Supreme Court will act on a legal challenge that will decide the fate of abortion access.

06/22/2023

As the nation nears the one year anniversary of the fall of Roe, nearly a dozen challenges to abortion restrictions filed by clergy members and practitioners of everything from Judaism to Satanism that are now making their way through state and federal courts.

Jews, Episcopalians, Unitarians, Satanists and other people of faith say the laws infringe on their religious rights.

06/22/2023

A federal judge struck down Florida’s prohibition on Medicaid coverage for gender-affirming care, the second decision to upend restrictions put into place at the urging of Gov. Ron DeSantis.

“Gender identity is real. The record makes this clear,” U.S. District Judge Robert Hinkle said.