NEW: Byron Donalds received $100,000 from Future of Education LLC – a company tied to a Texas-based executive who is pushing for AI teachers in publicly-funded school classrooms. 🧵

On a podcast with an anti-abortion activist, @AGJamesUthmeier boasted he would "use every tool in his office" to eliminate all abortion clinics in FL and discussed his efforts to use an obscure family court case to push for "fetal personhood." @CBSMiami cbsnews.com/miami/news/flori…

Amendment 3 isn't a tax cut. It's a $12 billion tax shift. Cutting property taxes for some homeowners doesn't make the cost of roads, deputies and firefighters go away. Someone still has to pay billions a year. Under Amendment 3, it's renters, young families, small businesses and new buyers, who are the people who never got the tax cut. The Tax Foundation's new analysis shows who pays: 🔴 Renters. They get no tax cut. A third of Floridians rent, and nearly half do in Miami-Dade. When landlords' taxes go up, research shows half or more gets passed on in rent. 🔴 Young families and first-time buyers. Picture two identical houses on the same street. One owner gets a $250,000 exemption. The other bought in 2027 and gets $50,000 for five years. That gap can easily mean $2,000 or more a year, for the same house and the same services. 🔴 Police, fire and EMS. They get zero guaranteed funding. Rural counties like Bradford, Dixie, Lafayette and Union are already at the constitutional tax limit, so they can't raise rates. They'll have to cut services or add fees. 🔴 Everyone, eventually. The $12 billion figure doesn't include the Legislature's new power to exempt homesteads entirely. State economists say that cost can't even be estimated. 🔴 Future voters. This goes into the constitution, so fixing the damage will take another statewide campaign. Homeowners, even if you'd save, the money comes back around. You'll see it in new fees and special assessments, higher prices from local businesses, and fewer deputies and firefighters when you need them. Yes, local government spending deserves serious scrutiny. But reducing property taxes doesn't automatically reduce government spending. Without corresponding spending cuts, the costs may simply shift to renters, young families, and small businesses through higher taxes, fees, and assessments. This isn't tax relief. It's a tax shift. Read the research: taxfoundation.org/research/a…

Senate President Ben Albritton, who presided over the 30–9 vote to put Amendment 3 on the ballot, now says he’ll vote NO on Amendment 3. He warns rural counties could lose up to 30% of their resources, threatening law enforcement, emergency services, and infrastructure. I respect Ben and appreciate his willingness to speak candidly about the consequences. But perhaps this is exactly why the Legislature should have required comprehensive fiscal modeling and local impact analysis before putting it on the ballot. These questions deserved answers before the vote, not months afterward. floridapolitics.com/archives…

Tonight, 60 Minutes is covering the election officials holding the line in the face of federal interference. ⤵️

The Republican Party of Florida is threatening criminal prosecution of anyone who repeats a Leon County grand jury’s finding that high-ranking state officials diverted $10 million in the Hope Florida scandal. #DefendDemocracy floridatrident.org/florida-g…

BREAKING: The Republican Party of Florida wants a judge to pull a Democratic TV ad about the Hope Florida grand jury report. It says airing the report's "content, gist, or import" is now a crime. The lawsuit, filed at 11:36 p.m. Friday in Highlands County, targets the Florida Democratic Party, its three statewide candidates and 11 TV stations in Orlando and Tampa Bay. The party also referred the stations to FDLE and prosecutors. One copy went to the statewide prosecutor, who works in AG James Uthmeier's office. Uthmeier is the candidate the ad targets. What the lawsuit leaves out: - The grand jury report has been public since Aug. 26. - The appeals court ruling it relies on isn't final until Friday at the earliest. - The U.S. Supreme Court struck down part of the same secrecy law in 1990. Early voting starts Monday in many counties. floridatrident.org/florida-g…

Senator Ashley Moody’s appearance on @WIOD last week raised more questions than they answered about her role in the plan to divert $10 million to Hope Florida. Moody rarely does interviews and listening to this interview may explain why. @CBSMiami piped.video/1yhtMNUpqok?is=IbXg…

I joined WEDU’s Florida This Week to discuss what Amendment 3 supporters would rather not talk about: Who pays when billions in local revenue disappear? I support real property tax relief. But you cannot eliminate billions in recurring revenue and pretend the costs of police, fire, and essential services disappear with it. Those costs don’t vanish. They get shifted to renters, businesses, higher fees, and assessments. Amendment 3 doesn’t eliminate the bill. It changes who pays it. Floridians deserve the truth before they vote. Watch: wedu.org/shows/florida-this-…

Many of these people have been out of power for eight days. Instead of showing empathy, he yells at them. Remarkable window into this man.

If Amendment 3 passes, some public hospital districts in Florida will lose over half their revenue, resulting in less access to care & decreased funding for programs that serve Floridians with low income. Read/download FPI's fact sheet ⬇️ floridapolicy.org/posts/fact…

Here’s an Amendment 3 question we aren’t asking enough: What happens to your home’s value when the community around it slowly deteriorates? Cities facing significant revenue losses won’t eliminate police and fire overnight. They may trim staffing, stretch response times, reduce library hours, close recreation centers, defer road maintenance and take longer to fill potholes. It won’t happen overnight. It’ll happen one budget at a time. And it won’t happen evenly. Two nearly identical homes ten minutes apart could eventually have very different values because one community maintained its services while another struggled. People don’t just buy houses. They buy neighborhoods. Safety, roads, parks, libraries and quality of life all have economic value. This isn’t just theoretical. A peer-reviewed study examining more than 3 million Florida home sales found that access to police, fire and emergency medical services is reflected in property values. onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/… Some communities will cut services. Others will raise fees or find efficiencies. The outcomes will vary. But here’s the question: How much property-tax savings would compensate you for declining services and potentially lower home values? Your property-tax bill tells you what local government costs. Your home’s value may tell you what those services are worth.

This morning I examine the appeals court striking down the Hope Florida grand jury report, @GovRonDeSantis’s reaction, and why his admin’s decision to take $10 million that could have helped Floridians but instead ended up in his PAC, remains an issue cbsnews.com/miami/news/desan…

"Honey please I need you to get this done for me." How Kimberly Guilfoyle pressed a MAGA ally to transfer $100,000 to her Amex account. on.wsj.com/4zlmjUL

Palm Beach GOP doesn’t rule out supporting candidate accused of child sex abuse miamiherald.com/news/politic…

My latest report on Hope Florida focuses on the Florida Chamber of Commerce president for his critical role in the “scheme” to divert millions in taxpayer dollars meant to help poor children. @CBSMiami cbsnews.com/miami/news/flori…

I had a good time at today’s @TampaTigerBay luncheon. It could have been a great time. Both candidates originally agreed to a real debate for today’s event. Unfortunately, when one candidate found out there would be real voters asking real, unscripted questions and there was a risk of fact-checking and rebuttal, that candidate bailed out and sent a proxy last week. Fortunately, @davidjollyfl honored his commitment and showed up for the agreed-upon “debate” to answer each and every question from the audience for an hour straight. Real debates aren’t coordinated by one campaign, structured around pre-scripted questions and canned answers written by staff. They’re not held in empty studios. Today could have been a real debate. One candidate ducked it. David Jolly did not. Thank you Tampa Bay Tiger Bay and David for an informative, honest, and energetic event!

Amendment 3 on your ballot is a tax shift that will cut critical services and raise our costs. This November, vote NO on 3. Learn more: SoSFL.org

For months, Florida GOP gubernatorial nominee Byron Donalds wanted anyone who would listen to know that he was endorsed by President Trump. That moment appears to be over. nbcnews.com/politics/2026-el…

Byron Donalds strips Trump references from his campaign website miamiherald.com/news/politic…