Last Call for 8.15.24 – 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

Tonight, Gov. Ron DeSantis will be part of a discussion about Florida’s abortion ballot initiative.

DeSantis will be the featured speaker at an event at Jesuit High School in Tampa. The hour-and-a-half discussion will discuss what will appear on the November ballot as Amendment 4.

Currently, Florida has a six-week abortion ban in place. Amendment 4 would nullify the current law and block the state from restricting abortions before fetal viability, which is typically around 22 to 25 weeks into a term.

Florida Freedom Fund, a political action committee established by DeSantis in May, is hosting the event. The committee was founded to fight Amendment 4 and the proposed Amendment 3, which would legalize recreational marijuana for adults 21 and older.

DeSantis has vocally opposed both amendments, criticizing them for being “radical” and claiming — particularly regarding Amendment 3 — that other states have enacted similar amendments with disastrous results.

After a slow start (raising just $10,000 over the first five weeks post-launch), the committee has since picked up the pace, raising about $1.9 million as of Aug. 2. That’s still far short of the $39 million Floridians Protecting Freedom, the pro-Amendment 4 committee, and $66 million Smart & Safe Florida, the committee that backs Amendment 3, had raised through the same date.

Recent polls have shown both amendments are teetering at the threshold. An FAU/Mainstreet Research poll conducted Aug. 10-11 showed 56% approval for both amendments, just short of the 60% vote needed for passage. Still, the opposition isn’t baked in — only 21% outright oppose Amendment 4 while 23% are undecided; Amendment 3 had 29% disapproval with 15% undecided. That means there’s still wiggle room for both proposals to find success.

DeSantis is expected to begin speaking at 6 p.m. — right when Last Call hits your inbox. Voters will decide the fates of Amendments 3 and 4 on Nov. 5.

Evening Reads

—”Republicans practically beg Donald Trump to change it up. He’s not listening.” via Aaron Blake of The Washington Post

​​—“The 49 wackiest lines from Trump’s North Carolina speech” via Chris Cillizza of So What

—”Kamala Harris has opened up a second path to victory, according to The Post’s polling model” via Lenny Bronner of The Washington Post

—”JD Vance is more unpopular than Sarah Palin” via Nathaniel Rakich of FiveThirtyEight

—“Democrats have new hope in battle for Senate majority” via Lindsay Wise of The Wall Street Journal

—“Recent voter registration data offers hint of enthusiasm for Democrats” via Francesca Paris of The New York Times

—“Why Facebook blocked Popular Information’s reporting on Laura Loomer” via Judd Legum of Popular Information

—”Ukraine’s incursion into Russia reveals a dramatic shift” via Julian E. Barnes and Eric Schmitt of The New York Times

—”Police officers are falling in love with electric cars” via Matteo Wong of The Atlantic

—”The hidden reason why your power bill is so high” via Adam Clark Estes of Vox

Quote of the Day

“It’s time to decriminalize, and I think we can control the time, place, and manner.

— Sen. Joe Gruters, an Amendment 3 supporter, on legislation to ban public pot smoking. 

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.

Sen. Joe Gruters gets a snifter of D’usse (pronounce it like douse just this once) for throwing cold water on pot-smoking-in-public fears.

Inspiration Academy founder Eddie Speir gets an Apple Antics for his campaign strategy in CD 16, though he’s almost assured to fail on Aug. 20.

EPCOT’s marquee festival doesn’t start for a couple of weeks, but The Mouse is celebrating its rising visitation numbers early with a glass of wine and some fancy cheese.

Breakthrough Insights

Tune In

Jaguars, Bucs meet in preseason

On Saturday, two of the three Florida NFL teams will face off in the preseason. The Jaguars will host the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Jacksonville (7:30 p.m. ET, WJAX in Jacksonville, WKRG in Tampa).

Jaguars’ head coach Doug Pederson said on Thursday that Trevor Lawrence will not play in the game after the two teams held combined practices in Jacksonville on Wednesday and Thursday. That means that C.J. Beathard and Mac Jones, who are competing for the backup job, will take the bulk of the snaps for the Jaguars.

Jones, a Jacksonville native, said today that he has enjoyed the competition with Beathard.

“I think we have a great room here. Trevor and C.J. have been awesome,” Jones said. “And I feel like we’re brothers in there and that’s what you want. And you want to bounce ideas off each other and compete every day. And sometimes we have these net challenges and stuff. It’s like three brothers out there just throwing the ball around.”

The Jaguars opened the preseason with a 26-13 win over the Kansas City Chiefs.

The Buccaneers beat the Cincinnati Bengals in the preseason opener, a game in which most of the starters did not play.

“The guys that didn’t play get more reps and they’ve got to come out in better shape there mentally and physically ready to play,” said Buccaneers head coach Todd Bowles. “But I thought they fought hard.”

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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.