Support for pot initiative sparks disagreement within Florida’s Young Republicans

Bills to cap pot potency were stamped out. Image via AP.

A weekend vote on a recreational pot initiative sparked a schism between the Florida Young Republicans (YR) and the state party — and within its membership.

A divide became public Tuesday after it was announced the Young Republicans as the latest group to endorse Amendment 3. That’s a proposed ballot measure on the November ballot which, if 60% of voters support it, will constitutionally demand Florida lawmakers decriminalize recreational marijuana use by adults.

A statement issued by the Florida Young Republicans cited GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump’s support for the measure as playing a significant role.

“The Florida Young Republicans hereby stand with President Trump on his positions regarding the Florida ballot measures,” the statement reads. “We back the President’s stance on FL Amendment 3 to legalize cannabis.”

But shortly after, dissenters within the statewide group started making noise. The Capital Young Republicans, a Tallahassee-based chapter, issued its own press release making clear that its membership opposes legalizing marijuana.

“The last thing we need is unfettered marijuana smoke on playgrounds, streets, and parks,” the release said.

The group also put out a list of signatures on the release from Young Republicans in the chapter and across the state, including from Brandon Ludwig, who serves as current Chair of the Florida Young Republicans.

Ludwig took to social media to castigate the statewide YR board for its stance.

“The Florida YRs ‘endorsement’ was pushed at the last minute by an individual paid by the Yes on 3 campaign,” he posted on X. “The vote would’ve failed had that person disclosed these payments and recused themselves.”

That was a swing at Jake Hoffman, Executive Director of the Tampa Bay Young Republicans and political director for the Smart & Safe Florida campaign.

But the 33-year-old Hoffman stressed that he didn’t push for a position on Amendment 3 because of that campaign. He has worked for years on growing support within Republican circles for legalizing marijuana decriminalization.

“People are getting angry at me for being involved in this, but I have been advocating since the medical marijuana amendment,” he said.

Florida voters passed that initiative in 2016. Hoffman continued to support further changes in cannabis policy, and said his work on the past ballot measure made him an attractive hire for the pro-Amendment 3 campaign.

He didn’t know if Florida YRs would ever take a stance on the matter. But when he heard the board wanted to formally oppose Amendment 4, which would overturn Florida’s six-week abortion ban, he and others thought it was worth discussing Amendment 3 as well.

On Saturday, as Republican activists had already convened in Hollywood for the 2024 Victory Dinner, the YR executive board set a meeting in town that weekend. Members asked that a vote on Amendment 3 be considered. A total of 17 of the executive board’s 26 members attended the meeting, enough for a quorum. The board voted 12-5 to endorse recreational pot, enough to clear a two-thirds requirement to endorse.

Ludwig was among the “no” votes, and doesn’t think the matter should have been considered at all.

“It was not an agenda item at our meeting, but an individual pushed the vote through to override the agenda at the last minute and it narrowly passed. I myself as Chairman did not support it,” he said. “Many of our Executive Committee members were not in attendance for the vote because it wasn’t supposed to be on the agenda.”

Once news broke of the endorsement, YR members across the state who weren’t involved in the discussion voiced their concerns. Hoffman suspects that many members also heard from party colleagues — and maybe even employers. It surprised few that the Tallahassee chapter, which includes many legislative staffers and employees of state agencies and political operations, rallied member opposition to the executive board’s position.

On top of that, the difference in opinion also rekindled an internal dispute that led to a complete reorganization of Florida’s Young Republicans over the last two years. That battle felt relevant anew as the Florida Federation of Young Republicans (FFYR), an entirely separate organization from the Florida Young Republicans, issued its own statement opposing Amendment 3.

“We believe that Amendment 3 is absolutely the wrong way to go about permitting the use of recreational marijuana,” the statement reads.

“This Amendment will tie the Florida Legislature’s hands from being able to put commonsense regulations on so many aspects of marijuana use that proponents overlook. Amendment 3’s language allows the legislature to only enact provisions that are ‘consistent’ with it. This will all but ensure that judges will call balls and strikes on time, place, and manner restrictions, THC caps, liability, and allocation of revenue generated from the sale of marijuana.”

The statement also stressed that its position put the group in line with the Republican Party of Florida (RPOF), Gov. Ron DeSantis and the Florida Sheriffs Association in opposing Amendment 3.

But that doesn’t mean the group otherwise has any relationship to the state party. Indeed, the Federation in 2022 broke from the Young Republican National Federation (YRNF). Then the official YR chapter for Florida, the group’s leadership said attempts by the national YRs to control the state organization prompted the abandonment of its charter. “Ultimately, the YRNF attempted to vacate the duly-elected FFYR statewide officers with the sole intent of replacing them with allies to the YRNF Chairman.”

Regardless of reason, that meant an end to any relationship with the party, and the organization largely exists purely as an online presence.

The break between FFYR and the official party prompted the creation last year of the Florida Young Republicans, the only YR organization chartered with the RPOF. The new organization has since been included in party activities and state meetings, but when Florida YRs formally endorsed Amendment 3, it put the organization at odds with the state party with which it was chartered.

Of note, county Republican Executive Committees cannot take positions on constitutional amendments that run counter to the state party’s official position. Clubs adhere to different rules, and RPOF Chair Evan Power said the group did not violate any party bylaws by taking the position it did.

But when the position went public, it immediately created party pushback on the group, which represents younger Republicans ages 18 to 40. The strong pushback, to Ludwig, means a second vote needs to be held by the executive board.

Hoffman said that would be unfortunate for reasons beyond legalization of marijuana. The YR group represents the rising generation of conservatives, and may sometimes reflect evolving views, he said. By nature, that means it shouldn’t have establishment institutions dictating what positions members hold.

“This vote was not just about marijuana and the issue of Amendment 3, but was also about us as a new organization testing waters to see if we would get attention for stepping out of line,” he said.

That seems to be exactly what occurred. Multiple sources told Florida Politics that pressure from the Governor’s Office, state party and lawmakers opposed to Amendment 3 has pushed for Florida YRs to reconsider their position. Power, for his part, declined to comment until YRs dealt with their internal conflict.

Ludwig wants the YR board to hold another vote. “I look forward to our Exec. Committee reversing this vote,” he posted on X.

That could be done in the near future in a special meeting on the executive board with its full membership present.

“We are just gonna get it resolved as a team,” Ludwig said. “We’ve got elections to win in 2024 and that’s where our focus is,” he said.

A new meeting could be held by phone, which Hoffman feels could give unfair involvement to leaders of largely dormant chapters. Regardless, the Tampa Bay YRs have already separately endorsed Amendment 3, and that won’t change, Hoffman said. That group represents the largest active chapter of YRs in the state.

And he suspects that regardless of the position members take publicly, many will personally benefit if Amendment 3 passes and adult use of marijuana recreationally becomes legal. “Republicans,” he said, “smoke weed, too.”