Last Call for 10.11.23 — A prime-time read of what’s going down in Florida politics

Last Call — A prime-time read of what’s going down in Florida politics.

First Shot

Campaign finance reports for state candidates were due yesterday. Florida Politics covered a lot of the big ones, but On 3 Public Relations has the fix for the data-hungry campaign junkies out there.

The shop founded by Christina Johnson has updated its campaign finance tracker to include all campaign contributions, loans and expenditures reported for state legislative candidates through Sept. 30.

For those who don’t remember the names of all 160 lawmakers, On3PR’s handy spreadsheet makes it easy by splitting incumbents and challengers into their own columns. And, of course, the On3PR team crunched the numbers to give you the most important figure of all: cash on hand.

There are some eye-popping numbers on that front.

Among Senate candidates, SD 13 Republican hopeful Bowen Kou boasts the biggest war chest — he had nearly $1.1 million in the bank at the end of last month. The next-closest Senate candidate is Rep. Tom Leek, who is running in SD 7. He has $284,000 on hand.

The No. 1 all-star in the House: HD 20 Republican candidate Judson Sapp with $273,000 banked. One of the candidates Sapp faced when he ran for Congress, James St. George, is a close No. 2 at $269,000 on hand — St. George is running for HD 19 this cycle.

The next round of campaign finance reports, which will cover all fundraising and spending through Dec. 31, are due to the state on Jan. 10.

Evening Reads

—”Nikki Haley is the new Ron DeSantis” via David A. Graham of The Atlantic

—”U.S. families with loved ones missing in Israel turn to Washington for help” via Chao Deng and David S. Cloud of The Wall Street Journal

—”Hamas’ rave massacre was better planned than you know” via Nancy Dillon of Rolling Stone

—”Graphic war videos go viral, testing social media’s rules” via Will Oremus and Naomi Nix via The Washington Post

—“How to think morally about the Israel-Hamas war” via Zack Beauchamp of Vox

—”‘We are one people’: Thousands of Floridians support Israel at rally in Miami Beach” via Lauren Costantino of the Miami Herald

—“AG Ashley Moody sues feds related to Florida anti-union law; Joe Biden administration concerned about union rights” via Michael Moline of the Florida Phoenix

—”Florida still has to determine whether more than two million people can keep their Medicaid coverage” via Jackie Llanos of the Florida Phoenix

—”How a series of air traffic control lapses nearly killed 131 people” via Sydney Ember and Emily Steel of The New York Times

Quote of the Day

“This is not just their 9/11, this is like 10 or 20 9/11s piled on top of each other if you compare for the size of Israel.”

— Gov. Ron DeSantis, on the Israel-Hamas war.

Put It on the Tab

Look to your left, then look to your right. If you see one of these people at your happy hour haunt, flag down the bartender and put one of these on your tab. Recipes included, just in case the Cocktail Codex fell into the well.

Assuming RFK Jr. likes tequila, tell the bartender to have a Vaccine ready for him when he swings through Florida tomorrow.

U.S. Sen. Rick Scott will take an Oaxacan Coffee, just make sure the mixologist isn’t using Starbucks beans.

Senate Democratic Leader Lauren Book deserves a Taste the Rainbow or two for reintroducing her bill to ban ‘panic’ defenses.

Small-business owners and credit union execs deserve a Royal Bill — the drink, not a massive uptick in their credit card processing fee costs.

Breakthrough Insights

Tune In

TOMORROW

7 p.m. — Orlando Magic @ Cleveland Cavaliers

8 p.m. — Florida Panthers @ Minnesota Wild

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Last Call is published by Peter Schorsch, assembled and edited by Phil Ammann and Drew Wilson with contributions from the staff of Florida Politics.