Staff Reports
Last Call — A prime-time read of what’s going down in Florida politics.
First Shot
Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried’s campaign announced it has made more than 1 million voter contacts ahead of the Democratic Primary for Governor.
The campaign said more than half those contacts were made in the past two weeks by phone, canvassing or through text messaging. It credited an “army of campaign volunteers” for achieving the milestone.
“This is what momentum looks like on the ground,” said Matthew Van Name, senior adviser and strategic manager to the Fried campaign. “Nothing beats direct voter contact for results, and after we’ve talked to 1 million voters, we’re hearing incredible feedback on the ground. Thank you to our volunteers. We wouldn’t be here without them.”
Deputy campaign manager Adrienne Bogen added, “We’ve completed more than 1,200 volunteer shifts reaching out to voters in every single county in the state. From Monroe to Escambia, and everywhere in between, Nikki Fried campaign volunteers are working tirelessly to talk to voters about early voting locations, mail ballots and Election Day.”
Fried faces U.S. Rep. Charlie Crist in the Aug. 23 Democratic Primary. The former Republican Governor and current Democratic Congressman leads Fried in fundraising and in most polls, and recently touted a $500,000 contribution from the American Federation of Teachers.
However, Fried’s campaign believes a late surge will put her over the top on Election Day and notes that Fried “has been endorsed by the most grassroots Democratic caucuses, including the Democratic Black Caucus of Florida, Florida College Democrats, and Environmental Caucus, and has dominated grassroots straw polls, including the Democratic LGBTQ+ Caucus.”
Evening Reads
—“An informer told the FBI what docs Donald Trump was hiding, and where” via William M. Arkin of Newsweek
—“Subpoena preceded search warrant in push to retrieve material from Trump” via Maggie Haberman, Ben Protess and Glenn Thrush of The New York Times
—“Justice Department asks to release Mar-a-Lago warrant, ‘absent objection from’ Trump” via Michael Wilner and Alex Roarty of the Miami Herald
—“Ron DeSantis so confident he’ll win, he just might lose” via Steve M. of No More Mister Nice Blog
—“The most powerful Republican you don’t know” via Myra Adams of The Hill
—“Joe Biden administration steps into Florida’s fight with higher education accreditation agency” via Andrew Atterbury of POLITICO Florida
—“After all these years, Marco Rubio still hasn’t figured out how to comply with federal campaign fundraising laws” via Dan Christensen of the Florida Bulldog
—“Florida Democrats hope fiery Val Demings can ignite their ballot chances in 2022 election” via Mark Harper of The Daytona Beach News-Journal
—“Election 2022: GOP candidates call for more oil drilling, just not near Florida” via Skyler Swisher of the Orlando Sentinel
Quote of the Day
“FPL ratepayers deserve to know whether the money they are forced to send the utility every month to pay their bills was used to influence elections and undermine our democracy through fake candidates and other schemes — and whether FPL broke any laws in its quest for total political control of our state.”
— Reps. Anna V. Eskamani, Joy Goff-Marcil, Yvonne Hayes Hinson and Carlos Guillermo Smith, calling on Attorney General Ashley Moody to investigate Florida Power & Light
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