Last Call for 6.10.24 — 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

Independent candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. will appear on Florida ballots this fall, his campaign announced.

Kennedy is now eligible to appear on Florida presidential ballots after his party, The Reform Party of the United States, regained ballot access in the state of Florida on Wednesday, as announced on the Reform Party’s website. 

“I look forward to working with the Kennedy campaign,” said Matthew Crowley, the Vice Chair of the Florida Reform Party. “Not only do I think that the Kennedy campaign will be on all fifty state ballots this election, but I am confident we will win Florida and 270 electoral votes in November.”

The reinstatement is a significant development for the Kennedy campaign’s goal of appearing on all 50 states’ ballots for the election. So far, he has gained ballot access for seven states: California, Utah, Florida, Hawaii, Oklahoma, Michigan, and Delaware. Florida holds the third-most electoral votes in the country, behind California and Texas, the latter of which Kennedy has already submitted a ballot access petition.

The reinstatement of the Reform Party and Kennedy’s nomination allowed him to avoid a ballot access petition, where he would have needed to gather 130,000 signatures from registered voters to appear on the ballot. When he accepted the nomination from the Reform Party on May 24, the party had its status as a registered party revoked due to failure to comply with an audit.

It is unclear what effect this could have on voting outcomes in Florida, which President Donald Trump won in 2020 by three percentage points. A poll from the New York Times shows that nearly 10% of registered voters in swing states supported Kennedy, the strongest a third-party candidate has polled in decades. The campaigns of Trump and President Joe Biden have made efforts to pull support away from Kennedy, with Trump calling Kennedy a “Democrat Plant” and Biden’s campaign rallying support from members of the Kennedy family and filing complaints accusing some of Kennedy’s funders of breaking federal election law. 

Evening Reads

—”Donald Trump embraces harsh immigration rhetoric during Las Vegas rally” via Kimberly Leonard of POLITICO Magazine

—”Trump to address group that wants abortion ‘eradicated entirely’” via Amy Wang of The Washington Post

—”The 47 most ridiculous lines from Trump’s Las Vegas speech” via Chris Cillizza of So What

—”A Republican election clerk vs. Trump die-hards in a world of lies” via Eli Saslaw of The New York Times

—”Prodded by fed up parents, some in Congress try to curb kids’ use of social media” via Shauneen Miranda of the Florida Phoenix

—”A politically made insurance panic” via The Wall Street Journal editorial board

—”11 questions politicos want answered during Florida candidate qualifying week” via Florida Politics

—“Qualifying week: An updating list of candidates locking their spot on 2024 ballots via Jeff Burlew of the Tallahassee Democrat

—”Florida teachers will get $1.25 billion in state-allocated raises, Ron DeSantis says” via Scott Travis of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel

—”Homeless men sue Seminole for criminalizing panhandling” via Martin Comas of the Orlando Sentinel

—”‘It’s in my DNA’: How the godfather of indie music became a rock ‘n’ roll snowbird in Miami” via Andres Viglucci of the Miami Herald

Quote of the Day

“And I also said: ‘You know what I feel good about how the cup is going to proceed. So if somehow the Oilers win, I’ll not only send the rum, I’ll also throw in a Key lime pie to boot.’” 

— Gov. Ron DeSantis on a bet he made with the Premier of Alberta, Danielle Smith, on the result of the Stanley Cup Final.

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.

Cheers to Ron DeSantis for accepting a wager with Premier Danielle Smith over the Stanely Cup outcome. DeSantis is putting up some Florida rum while Smith will fork over some Canadian whiskey, perfect for a Canadian Maple Old-Fashioned, named after the type of butt-whopping the Panthers inflicted in Game 1.

It’s mojito time in South Florida, as Donald Trump is launching a group celebrating his Latino supporters. Republican Latinos have plenty to celebrate if polls are to be believed, but Democrats will be making a push in Miami-Dade in November.

Florida drivers can pour themselves a gasoline cocktail to celebrate the state’s falling petrol prices. The good news comes at a great time, during the Summer vacation season, though we recommend sipping on this one after you go to fill up the tank, not before.

Breakthrough Insights

Tune In

Panthers look to stay in control in Stanley Cup Finals

After an impressive opening game win, the Florida Panthers try to take control of the Stanley Cup Finals as they host the Edmonton Oilers in Game 2 of the best-of-seven series tonight (8 p.m. ET, ABC).

Florida stormed to a 3-0 win in Game 1 behind a stellar performance by goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky. Bobrovsky stopped all 32 Edmonton shots on goal. While Florida managed only 18 shots, three of them found the net, more than enough with Bobrovsky’s play to send Florida on top of the series.

Playing on home ice, the Panthers were expected to win at least one of the first two games. Now that they have achieved that, there is more to be accomplished. If the Panthers can win tonight’s second game, they could potentially win the first Stanley Cup in franchise history in Edmonton, where Games 3 and 4 are scheduled to be played.

This is not the first time Edmonton has faced similar odds. The Oilers lost the first game of their second-round series in Vancouver, then bounced back to win Game 2. Ultimately, Edmonton won the series in seven games, winning on the road to advance to the Western Conference finals.

Game 3 is scheduled for Thursday in Edmonton.

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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.