Politics

Florida Politics reports: Bob Milligan, who served as Florida’s last elected Comptroller before it changed to the current Chief Financial Officer post, says he’s backing Kamala Harris for President. Jim Smith, Florida’s 32nd Attorney General and two-time Secretary of State, and longtime GOP strategist Mac Stipanovich are doing the same. Milligan, who retired from the U.S. Marine Corps as a …

The Florida Phoenix reports: A federal judge temporarily barred the DeSantis administration from intimidating and coercing television stations that air ads in support of the proposed Amendment 4, which would bar government interference in abortion. The ruling stops Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo as the head of the Florida Department of Health from acting against broadcasters the department has already threatened …

Axios reports: The campaign arm of House Democrats is suing the Federal Election Commission (FEC) over a controversial campaign finance loophole, Axios has learned. Republicans have resorted to legally-contested tactics to get around their cash crunch, with Democrats hammering the GOP in fundraising this year. Democrats have accused Republicans of illegally financing their campaign ads, appealing to the FEC to …

Via press release from the AARP: Recent statistics reveal concerning shifts in migration patterns, and since this data reflects 2023, it predates the peak of the property insurance crisis, the recent challenges posed by new homeowner association rules, the aftermath of two major hurricanes and the rising cost of housing in our state. In 2023, the Census reports, Florida’s net …

The Washington Post reports: Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, the architect of the Oct. 7 attacks on Israel, was killed by the Israeli military in Gaza after eluding their forces for more than a year. His body was identified after DNA testing in Israel, said an Israeli official, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive matter. Hamas did …

The Washington Post reports: An independent panel called Thursday for new leadership at the Secret Service, hired mostly from outside the protective agency, saying it needs a major shake-up or security failures such as the July 13 shooting at Donald Trump’s rally in Pennsylvania “can and will happen again.” The bipartisan panel, ordered by President Joe Biden to review the …

The Florida Times-Union reports: Jacksonville Mayor Donna Deegan said during an appearance on Times Radio in London that former President Donald Trump’s immigration policy would amount to creating “concentration camps” for holding undocumented immigrants. Trump’s campaign on Wednesday called Deegan’s comments “horrendously irresponsible” and a host a Republican elected officials criticized her after a clip of the interview was posted …

Florida Politics reports: An ad appealing to Republicans features words of the current GOP presidential nominee, former President Donald Trump. While he hasn’t shot a spot specifically for Amendment 3, the Mar-a-Lago resident said he will vote for the constitutional amendment in November. A spot entitled “Good” features a Truth Social post in which Trump commits to voting “Yes.” Then, …

Florida Politics reports: A Fort Myers TV station acquiesced and stopped playing pro-abortion rights ads after a Department of Health (DOH) lawyer threatened Florida TV stations with criminal prosecution. It’s a revelation in a new First Amendment lawsuit as the political committee supporting the Amendment 4 abortion rights initiative sued a pair of state officials Wednesday in federal court. Floridians …

The Hill reports: Ride-hailing service Lyft announced that it will offer discounted rideshare, bike-share and scooters on Election Day, an initiative designed to increase transportation access for voters, according to a press release. Lyft plans to offer a 50 percent discount to customers who use a certain code, which will be valid from 5 a.m. to 10 p.m. in every …

The New York Times reports: After weeks of fielding phone calls, text messages and direct mail pleas to cast ballots before Election Day, Georgia voters did not waste time: Within six hours of polls opening on Tuesday, the presidential battleground state had posted record turnout for the first day of early voting. Gabriel Sterling, the chief operating officer for the …

The Daily Beast reports: Democratic Rep. Colin Allred dished out plenty of one-liners Tuesday while debating Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, calling his podcast “angertainment” and labeling Cruz’s anti-trans messaging a “hail Mary” to distract from his unpopular opinions on abortion. In one particularly memorable exchange, Allred told voters that his rival in the U.S Senate race would rather focus on …

ABC News reports: As part of its ongoing investigation into Rep. Matt Gaetz, the House Ethics Committee recently issued a subpoena for documents from a civil lawsuit brought by one of the Florida congressman’s longtime friends against several third parties, ABC News has learned. The subpoena, which has not been previously reported, requests all documents related to Gaetz that are …

CBS News reports: One vulnerability is proving particularly difficult to measure: What happens if the U.S. House fails to select a speaker by Jan. 6, 2025? It wasn’t an issue in 2021. But the uncommon scenario happened just two years ago, amid an internal Republican battle over who should lead the party in the House after the midterm elections. The …

NBC News reports: Americans are more eager to vote early than they were before the pandemic, but a deep partisan divide on early voting remains, the latest national NBC News poll shows. With not even a month to go before Election Day, 5% of registered voters said they had already cast their ballots (3% by mail and 2% in person), …

Axios reports: The Biden administration sent a letter to Israeli leaders on Monday demanding Israel take steps within 30 days to improve the dire humanitarian conditions in Gaza or risk the supply of U.S. weapons to Israel being affected, according to a copy of the letter obtained by Axios. Countries that receive U.S. military aid and are in an active …

Law & Crime reports: Federal inmate Michael Avenatti didn’t get any closer the second time around asking the U.S. Supreme Court to hear his case for overturning his convictions, and once again Justice Brett Kavanaugh sat on the sidelines. The high court declined to disturb Avenatti’s conviction for aggravated identity theft for the fraud perpetrated on his former client Stormy …

Politico Magazine reports: You might have missed it, but in August, Gorsuch published a book titled Over Ruled, which argues that there are too many laws on the books and that government officials at both the federal and state levels are enforcing them in increasingly unpredictable and unjust ways. Gorsuch went on a monthslong publicity tour to promote the book …

The Tallahassee Democrat reports: Gov. Ron DeSantis’ latest attempt to defeat the abortion rights ballot measure, known as Amendment 4, emerged in a report from the office of his elections chief, alleging a host of violations involving the campaign’s petition signature-gathering. The 348-page report comes from the office of Florida Secretary of State Cord Byrd, a Republican former state House …

The Daily Beast reports: Ted Cruz could screw up his party’s chance of flipping the Senate. A memo from the Senate Leadership Fund shows the PAC’s own internal polling has  Cruz at 48 percent, leading opponent Colin Allred by a single percentage point Cruz is the subject of FEC complaints alleging he struck a sketchy deal to funnel hundreds of …