Florida's Latest News

Two Florida Democrats join every Republican in Congress in voting to condemn socialism and the DSA

Two Florida Democrats who are fighting for their political lives after seeing their congressional seats redistricted voted Tuesday for a resolution denouncing “socialism in all of its forms.”

Kathy Castor and Darren Soto joined six other Democrats in supporting the resolution. The final vote was 220-192, with two Democrats voting present.

The resolution “denounces socialism in all of its forms, including the Democratic Socialists of America.”

Democratic Socialists of America-backed candidates have seen success in high-profile primary races across the country this summer, including in Florida, where Jacksonville state Rep. Angie Nixon defeated the vastly better-funded Alex Vindman in the primary for U.S. Senate last month.

Ron DeSantis and Byron Donalds make peace during GOP unity event

Although he’s not on this year’s ballot, there was no doubt who the star of Tuesday night’s Republican candidate forum was.

Gov. Ron DeSantis walked on stage as a video of him rousingly declared: “We will never surrender to the woke mob. Florida is where woke goes to die.”

If wokeness isn’t the most pressing matter in this year’s election, neither were the other golden oldies DeSantis recalled to regale the ballroom crowd at TPepin’s Hospitality Centre about his eight years in office.

Like the time Florida defied Dr. Anthony Fauci, former President Joe Biden’s chief medical officer, on COVID restrictions. Or when Florida ceased being a swing state. Or when he took on Disney and won.

7 Miami-Dade Mayors ask Gov. DeSantis to hit the brakes on Flock camera purge

Seven Miami-Dade County Mayors want Tallahassee to slow down before police cameras start coming off the road.

The group, led by Miami Beach Mayor Steven Meiner, signed a letter to Gov. Ron DeSantis and Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) Secretary Jared Perdue seeking a halt to the agency’s order stripping automated license plate readers (LPRs), provided by vendors like Flock Safety, from state rights-of-way within 30 days.

Instead of a wholesale purge, they want a petition process letting well-run municipal programs survive under tighter state auditing and data-governance rules.

It’s the first organized municipal counteroffensive against a directive that has otherwise met swift compliance from Sheriffs and Police Chiefs statewide.

How a proposal to ditch Duke Energy could get on St. Petersburg ballots

The campaign to drop Duke Energy in St. Petersburg and have a city-run electric utility took a big step Wednesday, as organizers announced a push to pose the question to voters on the 2028 ballot.

“When we think about this day in the future, I’m very confident this will be remembered as a historic turning point for St. Petersburg,” Josh Sproat, a clean energy advocate with the Sierra Club, told TV news cameras in Williams Park across from Duke’s St. Petersburg office.

“It’s going to get complicated in the future, but today it’s really very simple: Our electric bills are way too high.”

The Sierra Club joined a new coalition that’s behind the campaign, called Public Power St. Pete, designed to expand the manpower and reach of the grassroots Dump Duke effort. The nonpartisan coalition includes other environmental and affordability-focused organizations: The CLEO Institute, Florida Rising, the Florida Youth Action Fund and People Power for Florida.