Florida Republicans maintained their supermajority in both chambers of the Legislature after Tuesday’s elections.
House Republicans gained one seat for an 85-36 advantage, while the composition of the Senate remains the same with 28 Republicans and 12 Democrats.
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Florida voters gave a victory to Gov. Ron DeSantis on Tuesday by rejecting two ballot initiatives on recreational marijuana and abortion rights that the second-term Republican opposed.
Amendment 3, a proposed recreational cannabis program in the state, failed with 55.75% approving out of 10.35 million ballots cast and 44.25% opposed according to preliminary results from the Florida secretary of state’s office.
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Former President Donald Trump will be the 47th President of the United States after being projected to win 270 votes in the Electoral College by Fox News, Newsmax, DecisionDesk HQ, and NewsNation just after midnight on November 6, making him the President-elect of the United States. He will serve alongside Senator JD Vance, who was elected to serve as vice president.
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According to Florida data, 5.35 million voters cast ballots early after early voting ended on Saturday, up 38.14% from 2016.
Data from the Florida secretary of state’s office shows 2.83 million votes have been cast via mail, up 3.74% from the 2016 election when former President Donald Trump won his first term in office.
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Local law enforcement in a Florida county announced the arrest of over 100 people who committed looting and similar crimes in the aftermath of Hurricanes Helene and Milton, with at least 41 of these suspects being illegal aliens.
As reported by Fox News, police officers on patrol for looters in Pinellas County have made the arrests over the course of the last three weeks. A total of 45 suspects were arrested on 68 different charges, ranging from robbery and burglary to grand theft, vandalism, and trespassing.
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Gov. Ron DeSantis cautioned Florida voters against passage of Amendment 3 that would make recreational marijuana legal in the Sunshine State.
DeSantis made his remarks at a news conference in Fort Myers on Thursday as he continues a campaign against two well-funded ballot initiatives.
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Florida sued the Biden-Harris administration’s Department of Justice (DOJ) Wednesday for allegedly blocking the state’s investigation into the second Trump assassination attempt.
Federal officials almost immediately began “taking steps to halt the state’s investigation” into Ryan Wesley Routh, who was indicted for attempting to assassinate former President Donald Trump at his Florida golf course in September, the lawsuit states.
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The man accused of attempting to assassinate former President Donald Trump at his Florida golf course in September filed a motion Thursday requesting that U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon recuse herself from the case.
Ryan Routh’s legal team raised concerns about Cannon’s impartiality due to her appointment by Trump and the former president’s public praise of her judicial decisions regarding his classified documents case, according to the motion. Routh’s attorneys argued that the unique nature of the case could lead the public to question the fairness of the proceedings.
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Florida is suing the Biden administration, alleging that it has not done its duty by verifying immigration records so the Sunshine State can get illegal migrants off the voter rolls.
In the lawsuit obtained by Fox News Digital, Florida alleges that the Department of Homeland Security isn’t following the law by not verifying immigration records.
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After taxpayers spent more than $200 million on highway landscaping in the previous fiscal year, a report says Florida lawmakers might need to consider a cap on that spending.
Florida Taxwatch analyzed the Florida Department of Transportation’s spending on highway landscaping, which can provide benefits such as erosion reduction, safety enhancements and support of local ecosystems.
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Recovery in Florida continued Friday morning following Wednesday’s overnight strike of Hurricane Milton that left 12 dead and millions without power.
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National political reporter Neil W. McCabe reported live from the beach in Destin, Florida on Thursday’s episode of The Michael Patrick Leahy Show where he discussed the destruction Hurricane Milton left in the state just hours after the storm officially retreated out into the Atlantic Ocean.
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Mobilization for hurricane is larger for Milton than any previous in Florida, Gov. Ron DeSantis said from Lake City on Wednesday.
State officials say 6,000 Florida National Guard soldiers and 3,000 from other states await storm rescue and recovery efforts, along with 34 search and rescue aircraft and 500 tactical vehicles. Hurricane Milton is forecast for landfall Wednesday night into Thursday.
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Florida’s Tampa Bay area could face record storm surge flooding from Hurricane Milton as officials try to clean up debris from Hurricane Helene before Milton makes landfall late Wednesday night.
Gov. Ron DeSantis said crews will continue to work 24 hours a day to pick up debris in affected areas from Helene until Wednesday when it is no longer safe to continue. A record 15-foot storm surge is forecast in Tampa Bay.
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Atlantic storm Milton strengthened Monday to a Category 5 hurricane with maximum wind speeds of 125 mph in the Gulf of Mexico and is taking aim at Florida’s Gulf Coast where residents are preparing for evacuations.
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A survey published this Tuesday shows how Cuban-American voters in Florida would become a key support for Republican candidate Donald Trump a few weeks before the general elections in the United States.
The revelation came to light after a survey conducted by Telemundo Station Group and Mason-Dixon Polling & Strategy, Inc. in the Sunshine State, revealing the decisions Latino voters would make in this year’s presidential election.
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The Cuban regime could be trying to exploit sister city partnerships to influence U.S. policy throughout the United States and advance its agenda, an ADN investigation cross-referencing documents and public records shows. Sister Cities International is registered as a nonpartisan 501(c)(3) nonprofit that was founded by President Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1956 and serves as the national membership organization for individual sister cities, counties, and states across the United States.
The organization facilitates agreements based on cultural, educational, information, and trade exchanges between two geographically and politically distinct localities, but the concept of sister cities has been used by other organizations as well, and has long been scrutinized by Congress due to concerns about how China might exploit sister-city partnerships in the U.S. for espionage or to gain influence.
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Florida’s prepaid college tuition plan is generating enough revenue to provide refunds to parents in part because of strong earnings on the plan’s investments and low tuition statewide.
Gov. Ron DeSantis said this week part of those savings is how the state has held down tuition and other costs at the state’s colleges and universities. The plan factors in future tuition costs and when those costs don’t reach predictions, families can receive a refund.
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U.S. Senators Rick Scott and Marco Rubio on Thursday introduced a bill calling for increasing the reward for information leading to the capture of Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro.
The Ensuring Timely Payment Opportunities and Maximizing Rewards for Stopping Illegal Regime Officials (STOP MADURO) Act seeks to increase the reward amount from $15 million to a maximum of $100 million.
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Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said Tuesday the state has the jurisdiction to prosecute Ryan Wesley Routh for attempted murder and will be more transparent in its investigation than the federal government.
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Federal authorities in Florida on Monday filed two gun charges against the suspect in what the FBI is calling an assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump, the second in two months.
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U.S. Secret Service agents shot at and later arrested a man with an AK-47 rifle near Donald Trump’s West Palm Beach, Fla., golf club Sunday afternoon while Trump was on the course. The FBI said it is investigating the incident as an attempted assassination of the former president, the second in two months.
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Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration is asking law enforcement to “prioritize” the investigation into what may be “fraudulent” signatures on petitions to get a pro-abortion measure on the Nov. 5 ballot, according to a letter shared with The Daily Signal.
The Palm Beach Supervisor of Elections’ office received complaints from voters about their signatures being forged on constitutional initiative petitions circulated by Floridians Protecting Freedom, the pro-abortion coalition behind an amendment that would legalize abortion on demand up to birth.
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Republican incumbent Sen. Rick Scott and Democratic challenger Debbie Mucarsel-Powell aired Spanish-language ads this week while amplifying their attempts to reach the Latino vote.
Scott, who speaks fluent Spanish, has so far released several Spanish language television and radio ads targeting Latino voters, and a pro-Scott super PAC backing Scott is also airing a Spanish language ad in Spanish in Orlando this week.
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A new Florida condominium law is affecting the Sunshine State’s real estate market. The new measure requires costly inspections, significantly increasing homeowners’ costs.
The law — Senate Bill 4D — was passed during a special session in 2022 and requires condominium associations to retain adequate funds for building repairs. Buildings three stories or higher are subject to inspection requirements.
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The state of Florida is suing the Biden-Harris administration to obtain information on how many illegal foreign nationals convicted of violent crimes who served time in prison were released into the U.S. instead of being deported.
“Historically, when illegal aliens were brought to the U.S. to be prosecuted for their crimes, it was well understood that the aliens would be deported once they have served their sentence,” Florida’s lawsuit, filed by Attorney General Ashley Moody, states. “That was until the Biden-Harris Administration implemented their shockingly irresponsible immigration policy, pushing unknown numbers of dangerous criminals straight from federal prison into our communities and causing chaos, anarchy, and crime.”
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A large group of Florida physicians recently united to oppose the state’s Amendment 4 initiative, warning voters about its potential impacts as it heads to the ballot in November. Florida’s Amendment 4, also known as the Right to Abortion Initiative, is sponsored by the Sarasota-based group “Floridians Protecting Freedom.” The amendment seeks to end the state’s six-week abortion ban by enshrining abortion rights in Florida’s constitution. While some physicians support the amendment, others have begun to caution voters against it.
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A coalition of book publishers and individual authors have filed a lawsuit against the state of Florida over its law banning sexually explicit books from school libraries in the state.
As the Daily Caller reports, the lawsuit was filed in the Orlando Federal Court on Thursday by a group of over a dozen publishers and authors, claiming that the bill signed into law in May of 2023 by Governor Ron DeSantis (R-Fla.) is a violation of both the First and 14th Amendments. The law, the plaintiffs claim, “interferes” with their ability to produce and distribute “constitutionally protected” books, insisting that the law is too vague in its description of “sexual conduct.”
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The Satanic Temple (TST) is threatening to “raise hell” over a Florida law that allows school chaplain programs, according to local outlet WOKV.
Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed the bill into law in April, allowing schools to “authorize volunteer school chaplains to provide support, services, and programs to students” so long as they have parental consent. TST took to social media days after Florida Education Commissioner Manny Diaz published model policies for the program, with the group asking members to “stand” with them.
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From a Romanian theft ring to a notorious Big Boi drug trafficking ring, Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody’s Office of Statewide Prosecution is continuing to prosecute transnational criminal organizations.
She’s also issued a warning to criminals: “Florida law enforcement will track you down, and my Statewide Prosecutors will ensure you end up in prison.”
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Democrat-turned-Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy announced Friday that he suspending his 2024 presidential campaign.
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Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis criticized Democrats and the media for comparing President Joe Biden to America’s first president, George Washington.
DeSantis did so as Florida passed a milestone this month – more than one million Republicans are registered to vote in the Sunshine State than Democrats are.
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Jordanian national who currently lives in Orlando, Florida has been arrested and charged with destroying an energy facility and threatening the use of explosives to destroy multiple other businesses.
According to the Daily Caller, the charges were filed against 43-year-old Hashem Younis Hashem Hnaihen by the Department of Justice (DOJ). The charges were announced in a DOJ press release on Thursday, detailing his campaign of violence against multiple businesses in the Orlando area that resulted in over $700,000 in damage.
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The state of Florida reportedly has one million more registered Republican voters than Democratic voters.
There are 5.3 million active GOP voters and 4.3 million active Democratic voters, according to The Associated Press. Roughly 3.9 million voters in the Sunshine state don’t associate with either party.
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Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis says that he is against using state money to fund the construction of sports stadiums.
DeSantis, however, announced Thursday that he and the state will grant $8 million from the Governors’ Job Growth Grant Fund toward road infrastructure around the new construction of Miami Freedom Park by the Inter Miami soccer club’s ownership.
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by Andrew Powell The Sunshine State ranks second in the nation for the protection of religious liberty, according to a new report from the Center for Religion, Culture and Democracy. The report, “Religious Liberty in the States,” is a project that measures legal safeguards for religious liberty across the…
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Vice President Kamala Harris has tapped Gov. Tim Walz, D-Minn., to serve as her running mate, multiple news outlets have reported.
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The Florida Auditor General recently published a follow-up audit of the Sunshine State’s economic incentives programs and found some uncorrected issues remain.
The Florida Department of Commerce assists the governor in working with the Legislature, state agencies, business leaders, and economic development professionals. For fiscal 2023-24, state lawmakers appropriated approximately $1.8 billion.
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Gov. Ron DeSantis and first lady Casey DeSantis held a news conference Monday to recognize 13 top-performing Hope Florida CarePortal Churches.
Hope Florida’s mission is to create pathways to prosperity for communities and individuals, to help them become more economically self-sufficient and to instill hope. Casey DeSantis spearheaded the project, which is implemented through the Florida Department of Children and Families.
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Four members of the far-left militant group Jane’s Revenge pleaded guilty to felony charges in federal court for threatening and vandalizing crisis pregnancy centers in Florida last year after the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization in 2022.
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The Broward County School Board on Tuesday unanimously voted to restrict students’ use of cellphones in an effort to keep them focused and off social media during school hours.
Although the school district said restrictions on cell phone use were already part of the Student Code of Conduct, there will now be some changes that will go into effect when classes start on August 12.
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Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., introduced legislation Thursday aimed at blocking state officials and bureaucrats from intervening in elections through politicized prosecutions and sentencings.
The Prevention of Election Interference Act of 2024 would bar the sentencing of presidential candidates in court 120 days before a presidential election. It also would prevent the candidate from being sentenced 60 days after a presidential election.
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Federal immigration authorities in Florida last week apprehended more than a dozen illegal migrants who were convicted or charged of crimes while in a program that allowed them to live freely in the U.S. despite crossing the border illegally.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents arrested 18 illegal migrants in a week-long raid referred to as “Operation Drumbeat,” according to a press release from the agency. The operation, which was done in conjunction with Border Patrol agents, apprehended noncitizens charged or convicted of a slate of heinous crimes, such as child abuse, extortion, assault, burglary and other offenses.
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President Joe Biden announced in an open letter to Americans on Sunday that he will not accept his party’s nomination for president, and instead will “focus solely” on fulfilling his duties as president for the remainder of his term.
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If recent polls and fundraising totals are to be believed, Florida incumbent U.S. Sen. Rick Scott will likely keep his seat in the GOP column.
Scott is leading in both the polls and fundraising efforts against his Democrat challenger Debbie Mucarsel-Powell ahead of the general election on Nov. 5.
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A new report from the Florida Legislature’s research arm found a significant decrease in the number of child victims of commercial sexual exploitation in the Sunshine State, but some services still sorely need improvement.
The Florida Office of Program Policy Analysis and Government Accountability published its annual report on the sexual exploitation of minors in Florida and the data shows there has been an 11% decrease overall since 2020 in child victims of exploitation.A new report from the Florida Legislature’s research arm found a significant decrease in the number of child victims of commercial sexual exploitation in the Sunshine State, but some services still sorely need improvement.
The Florida Office of Program Policy Analysis and Government Accountability published its annual report on the sexual exploitation of minors in Florida and the data shows there has been an 11% decrease overall since 2020 in child victims of exploitation.
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The Florida Auditor General’s office has released two reports that detail significant issues and financial trends in the Sunshine State’s charter schools, charter technical career centers and district school boards.
There are 720 charter schools and charter technical career centers operating in Florida, with the majority in Miami-Dade and Broward counties. State law requires these schools to be annually audited by an independent certified public accountant.
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Former President Donald Trump announced Ohio U.S. Senator JD Vance (R-OH) as his running mate in the 2024 presidential election.
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Gunshots erupted and Donald Trump was pulled to the ground. About a minute later he stood up, raised his fists defiantly, and was removed by Secret Service into a car and taken from the scene.
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Florida state officials said on Monday that litigation could affect cost estimates for a proposed constitutional amendment that could enact a right to abortion statewide.
The Office of Economic and Demographic Research held a Financial Estimating Conference Monday to review the financial impact of the ballot initiative, which will appear on the Nov. 5 ballot.
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