Florida's Latest News

Looking to give campaign a boost, DeSantis falls back on law and order priorities

When Gov. Ron DeSantis suspended Central Florida State Attorney Monique Worrell last week, he portrayed her as soft on crime. Her office, he said, had avoided mandatory minimums, hesitated to charge juveniles and dropped too many cases.

The governor’s move reflects a law-and-order focus that is likely to sharpen as Republicans seize on voters’ increasing fear of crime in their communities. Polling indicates that GOP candidates are more likely to succeed with a “law and order” message than with conversations about wokeness.

For DeSantis, who is running for president, the focus on crime is not entirely new. The governor has for years promoted himself as a tough-on-crime leader and a friend of law enforcement. He expanded Florida’s death penalty, signed an anti-riot bill after the 2020 George Floyd protests, enacted a migrant relocation program and suggested that border patrol agents should be able to use deadly force on suspected drug traffickers.

But his national brand has been shaped more by his pushback on COVID-19 restrictions, his emphasis on reshaping Florida’s education system to forbid some conversations about race and sexuality and his crusade against “gender ideology.

DeSantis Team: Americans Decide Election not Media

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R) continues to push back against his detractors. After facing protestors in Iowa, Governor DeSantis’ campaign is looking ahead to the first Republican presidential debate in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. In calling for support, the campaign reassured that only the American people will decide the election and not the media.

In recent weeks, Governor DeSantis has been struggling in all the national public polls while chiming in on an ongoing rivalry with President Donald Trump (R). President Trump is leading Governor DeSantis in the polls, and though Trump has chosen to sit out the debate, DeSantis has signed a pledge to support the Republican primary nominee – even if it’s Trump.

Over the weekend, Republican candidates took to Iowa to campaign and enlist further support. Though DeSantis was met with protestors that included Trump supporters, DeSantis remains committed to taking on President Joe Biden (D) in the upcoming election.

His campaign is now reaffirming that pledge by reminding the American people that they should not be swayed by other entities.

In an email directed to supporters, the team reminded supporters that “this presidential election won’t be decided by the corporate media, the DC elites, or the woke mob.”

OIR approves Mainsail as newest domestic property insurer; Citizens in line to shed nearly 300,000 policies

Florida’s Office of Insurance Regulation (OIR) this week granted authorization to Mainsail Insurance Company, a property and casualty insurer headquartered in Texas, to function as a domestic insurer within the state.

According to OIR data, the insurer has been approved to offer 17 varying lines of insurance including auto, property, and commercial coverage.

The approval of Mainsail’s application marks the second company to be allowed in as an authorized insurer following the passage of HB 837 earlier this year. The bill, among other provisions, sought to reduce frivolous litigation by reserving attorney fee multipliers, requiring proof that an insurer breached its agreement with a policyholder before a lawsuit can be filed, and preventing insureds from transferring their unilateral right to receive attorneys’ fees to contractors.

At the time of the bill signings, Florida homeowners paid nearly three times higher than the national average for home insurance, according to the Insurance Information Institute, partly as a result of an exodus of insurers that have left the state. At the start of the current calendar year, 15 insurers have been deemed insolvent since 2020, leaving Floridians with a dwindling number of market options.

State Department of Education calls teachers union count of vacancies ‘blatant lie’

The Florida Department of Education is pushing back against a finding that teacher and staff vacancies are at an all-time high as the new school year begins.

State Education Commissioner Manny Diaz Jr. posted on X, calling a report from the state’s largest teachers union on teacher vacancies a “blatant lie.” That comes after the Florida Education Association (FEA) reported that nearly 7,000 teachers and 5,000 support staff are missing from the state’s public schools.

Diaz said the methodology the union used — counting advertised vacancies on county school websites — is “inaccurate” and that the number of vacancies is lower than this time last year.

“As of today, Florida has 4,776 vacancies which is 1.3 (teacher vacancies) on average per school,” he posted on X, quote-posting the FEA’s original post on Thursday. “In fact, our vacancies are nearly 10% lower than this time last year.”