Good morning and welcome to Wednesday.
Republicans won their pair of special elections for the House last night as expected. But there was still a surprise in the results.
And it didn’t come from RANDY FINE’s race in the 6th District, where President DONALD TRUMP, the MAGA universe and Florida’s GOP grassroots apparatus pulled out all the stops to help him defeat progressive challenger JOSH WEIL and his massive fundraising haul. Fine ended up winning by 14 points — less than the more-than-30-point margin Trump earned in November.
The surprise instead: The 1st District, where former Chief Financial Officer JIMMY PATRONIS won against Democrat GAY VALIMONT by nearly that same margin. He also appears to have lost Escambia County, which includes Pensacola. Patronis in a statement called the Panhandle a “force of its own” after the results were called.
Republicans said the only thing that mattered was winning, especially in the face of massive cash opposition, and not to read too much into the margins. Democrats, meanwhile, saw reasons to celebrate the results, with Florida Democratic Party Chair NIKKI FRIED saying the overperformance showed that “voters are already rejecting Trump’s extreme agenda.”
Bottom line: House Speaker MIKE JOHNSON will get the two extra votes he needs to help deliver Trump’s agenda. Republicans were certainly giddy toward the end of the day, when it became clear the GOP’s all-hands strategy had worked. Republican Party of Florida Chair EVAN POWER shared a meme of a dumpster on fire, being carried along by floodwaters. “Everything’s fine,” the caption read.
“The smell of them burning $20 Million!!!” chimed in RPOF Executive Director BILL HELMICH, referring to the massive amount of fundraising from Democrats. At the end of the evening, Power said the results “[reinforce] the state’s position as the cornerstone of the conservative movement” given how significantly the party was outspent.
One Republican who isn’t happy about Fine going to D.C. — in his old seat nonetheless — is Gov. RON DESANTIS. “The president got really bad advice about endorsing him and was told that he was the only candidate that could win, which is totally not true,” DeSantis said on The Dana Show with Dana Loesch, per Florida Politics’ A.G. Gancarski. “And there’s a whole host of reasons how bad advice gets to him that I think is very problematic.” (Note: Fine took a risk for Trump in the 2024 presidential primary by flipping his endorsement from DeSantis to Trump, so there appears to be more than outside advice at play.)
DeSantis also revealed Tuesday that he wouldn’t be appointing Patronis’ replacement until mid-May. Patronis had asked DeSantis to give the job to someone by today and take his name off state documents, which may make it difficult for the state government to pay its bills. DeSantis, however, said “my guys have looked at it” and he’ll instead appoint an interim CFO and that “we’re vetting” for the job in the meantime, reports POLITICO’s Gary Fineout.
“I’ve said publicly if people are interested, let us know if you got the qualifications and you’re going to support strong policies,” he said. “But the reality is we’ve got to go through that process.”
So, what’s next? Fine and Patronis are expected to be sworn into Congress sometime this week or next. The timing is TBD because Congress recessed early on Tuesday after a failed discharge petition over proxy voting for new moms led GOP leaders to send members home for the week.
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HOPE FLORIDA GROWS … “DeSantis on Tuesday announced an expansion of the Hope Florida program, establishing a point of contact at every sheriff’s office in the state as the state House and Senate consider bills that would cement the program into law,” reports POLITICO’s Arek Sarkissian. “Hope Florida was created by first lady Casey DeSantis as a clearinghouse of community-based welfare services for people who would otherwise seek help from government-sponsored programs.”
… AND IS ALSO IN HOT WATER — “The charity arm of The Hope Florida Foundation, launched by first lady Casey DeSantis, hasn’t told state lawmakers or auditors about its activities or structure as required in state statutes. It also appears not to have filed its federal tax returns,” reports Tampa Bay Times’ Lawrence Mower and Times/Herald’s Alexandra Glorioso. “The revelations are noted in a House bill analysis about one of the DeSantises’ top priorities this session — and one that’s supposed to be a launchpad for Casey DeSantis if she runs for governor in 2026.”
TODAY — “A proposed House budget conforming bill would repeal a 2024 state law — a priority of then-Senate President Kathleen Passidomo — that distributed hundreds of millions of dollars in Seminole Tribe gambling revenue for environmental programs,” reports POLITICO’s Bruce Ritchie.
“State House Budget Chair Lawrence McClure (R-Dover) said Tuesday the repeal is needed because the state’s financial outlook has changed … The House Budget Committee will take up the proposed conforming bill, BUC PCB 25-06, on Wednesday.”
ABOUT LAST NIGHT — DeSantis has been turning up the heat on state House Republicans in recent days, taking aim at them on social media and during press conferences. On Tuesday he contended the House GOP was trying to drum up negative media coverage on Hope Florida as part of a “smear.”
But DeSantis gave a searing 21-minute speech to Florida Republicans on Monday evening at the governor’s mansion where he ripped into House leaders and asserted that they were more interested in “joining with the Democrats to oppose me than doing what’s right.” In video of his remarks posted online, the governor blasted state House Republicans for “pettiness” and said they were wasting their supermajority by refusing to push conservative bills such as allowing open carry in the state.
DeSantis asserted that the House targeted Sen. ASHLEY MOODY for “payback” because she supported him in a standoff with the Legislature over immigration. He lambasted some of their legislative proposals such as one that would eliminate the lieutenant governor and create a new Cabinet post.
The governor also contended House Republicans were working to “contort the laws of the state of Florida” to “funnel” money to trial attorneys — a reference to several measures moving through the House including one revolving around attorney’s fees in insurance lawsuits. He called out Rep. HILARY CASSEL, who switched from being a Democrat to a Republican late last year, and said she stood to benefit from one of the bills because she is an attorney.
DeSantis also took a veiled swipe at House Speaker DANIEL PEREZ, who is friends with famed trial attorney JOHN MORGAN, a one-time Democratic mega-donor and founder of the successful Morgan and Morgan law firm.
“I’m sorry,” DeSantis said. “If you have Morgan and Morgan hanging around you, you’re not on my team.”
— Gary Fineout
ARREST IN THE CAPITOL — “In what could be one of the first arrests under a bathroom bill lawmakers passed in 2023, Florida police earlier this month jailed a transgender woman who washed her hands in a women’s restroom at the Capitol,” reports Romy Ellenbogen of the Tampa Bay Times.
EX-LG STAYS WITH SPACE — A Senate committee unanimously voted for JEANETTE NUÑEZ to become Space Florida’s chair of the Board of Directors after Gov. RON DESANTIS reappointed her to the role in February.
— “Lobbyist for a billionaire-run hedge fund wrote a bill allowing longer non-competes, records show,” by Jason Garcia of Seeking Rents.
BILLS MOVING THROUGH THE LEGISLATURE …
— A bill filed by Rep. BERNY JACQUES that would require all private employers to comply with E-Verify cleared its first House committee. This comes more than a month after the bill was originally filed and shortly after DeSantis skewered the Legislature on X for not moving any E-Verify legislation forward. (Although DeSantis has approved of Jacques’ bill, the two-page proposal lacks harsher penalties for businesses that fail to use E-Verify.) With one month left until the end of regular session, it’s unclear whether the Florida Senate will move any of its E-Verify bills.
— Isa Domínguez
— A bill that would require school boards to use and buy materials using “Gulf of America” is moving to the Senate floor, reports Florida Politics’ A.G. Gancarski.
— “A Senate bill that would allow parents to file a wrongful death lawsuit over the death of an unborn child cleared its first committee Tuesday despite bipartisan opposition over concerns the measure could be used to harm women,” reports POLITICO’s Arek Sarkissian.
“The bill, SB 1284, was approved by the Senate Committee on Judiciary 6-4, with an opposing vote from state Sen. Tom Leek (R-Ormond Beach), who was concerned the definition of a fetus used in the bill would expose mothers and others to a wide variety of lawsuits well-outside the intended scope.”
— “State House members are proposing a massive shake up for how Florida measures K-12 performance through a new grading scale that would substantially raise standards gradually over the next decade,” reports POLITICO’s Andrew Atterbury.
“The idea, encompassed in a package advanced Tuesday by the House’s Student Academic Success Subcommittee, would make it significantly more difficult for schools to score top marks from the Florida Department of Education.”
MADURO TO BRING BACK MIGRANTS — “Venezuelan ruler Nicolás Maduro has announced that his regime will send a plane to Mexico on Thursday to retrieve 300 Venezuelan migrants, most of them women and children, who he claims fled the United States fearing persecution,” reports Antonio Maria Delgado of the Miami Herald.
FIRST SIGNAL, NOW GMAIL — Floridian and national security adviser MICHAEL WALTZ is trying to waltz his way out of a crisis that started with Signalgate. But the Washington Post revealed that Waltz and other members of Trump’s National Security Council have been using Gmail to send sensitive military and government information, reports John Hudson.
POT PUSH — “Trump as a candidate vowed to decriminalize marijuana and make it easier for weed companies to obtain bank accounts and for universities to research the drug,” reports CNN’s Steve Contorno. “Now, commercials carrying reminders of Trump’s promises will air on televisions where the president spends most of his time.
“American Rights and Reform PAC, a group backed by the cannabis industry, is planning a seven-figure ad campaign that is noticeably critical of two of Trump’s regular fixations: former President Joe Biden and Canada.”
‘MAKE AMERICA SAFE AGAIN’ — Attorney General PAM BONDI is pushing for prosecutors to make the case for LUIGI MANGIONE to receive the death penalty, reports POLITICO’s Amanda Friedman. Bondi wrote in a statement that this decision comes “as we carry out President Trump’s agenda to stop violent crime and Make America Safe Again.”
— “Debbie Mayfield takes a step closer to old Senate seat, winning GOP nomination in SD 19,” reports Jacob Ogles of Florida Politics.
— “‘You’re saying there’s a chance’: Ron DeSantis channels ‘Dumb and Dumber’ to tease Casey’s 2026 run,” reports A.G. Gancarski.
TODAY — Rep. VERN BUCHANAN (R-Fla.) is joining POLITICO Live’s Health Care Summit at 8 a.m. to talk about “the future of the MAHA agenda.”
FEDERAL FUNDING GETS SCRAPPED — Republicans like Rep. ANNA PAULINA LUNA (R-Fla.) fought to secure federal funding for local projects after last year’s hurricanes, but then they “voted to cancel funding for every project,” reports Kirby Wilson of the Tampa Bay Times.
BIRTHDAYS: Gary Yordon, president of The Zachary Group and host of “The Usual Suspects.”
