Staff Reports
Last Call – A prime-time read of what’s going down in Florida politics.
First Shot
The tussle over ads supporting the abortion rights ballot amendment escalated on Wednesday, with the backing committee filing a new First Amendment lawsuit in federal court.
The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court, claims one TV station in the Fort Myers TV market caved to threats from the state Department of Health and pulled pro-Amendment 4 ads from the airwaves.
The amendment’s backing committee, Floridians Protecting Freedom, is currently negotiating with CBS affiliate WINK-TV to get the ads back on the air. Still, the committee says the state’s meddling has cost them valuable time to reach voters in that market with the election just three weeks away.
“The State’s threatened sanctions against third-party media organizations that host the advertisement — in a heavy-handed effort to silence FPF’s speech — is a classic and deeply disturbing example of unconstitutional coercion,” the lawsuit said.
“Defendants’ threat is an escalation of a broader State campaign to attack Amendment 4 using public resources and government authority to advance the State’s preferred characterization of its anti-abortion laws as the ‘truth’ and denigrate opposing viewpoints as ‘lies.’”
The lawsuit is asking the federal courts for an injunction to stop the state from threatening or intimidating more TV stations over the ads, aimed at supporting a ballot measure that would protect abortion rights in Florida’s Constitution and overturn the state’s current six-week abortion ban. FPF is also asking for compensatory and punitive damages and attorney fees.
The ad at the heart of the controversy is about a Tampa woman who found out she was diagnosed with terminal brain cancer when she was 20 weeks pregnant with her second child. Before Florida’s current abortion law, she was able to get an abortion to get chemotherapy that extended her life for her family.
Read more on Florida Politics.
Evening Reads
—“Paths to victory in the 2024 Election” via James Benedict of The Wall Street Journal
—“Are Republican pollsters ‘flooding the zone?’” via Nate Silver of the Silver Bulletin
—“The 2024 Election could have a big impact on education policy” via Jennifer Vilcarino of FiveThirtyEight
—“The 44 must-see lines from Donald Trump’s wild Bloomberg interview” via Chris Cillizza of So What
—”Trump clarifies that his ‘enemy within’ comment was about evil Democrats” via Philip Bump of The Washington Post
—“Republicans tell Trump that Elon Musk’s Super PAC is blowing it” via Asawin Suebsaeng, Miles Klee and Andrew Perez of Rolling Stone
—”A Trump loyalist on the brink” via Russell Berman of The Atlantic
—“The nightmare facing Democrats, even if Kamala Harris wins” via Ian Millhiser of Vox
—“Why an interview on Fox News made sense for Harris” via Adam Nagourney of The New York Times
—”Ron DeSantis may attack TV stations airing pro-abortion ads” via Jason Garcia of Seeking Rents
Quote of the Day
“What would we call them? If you’re rounding people up and putting them in camps? What would we call those? It’s a concentration of people that are in a camp. I’m not suggesting anything beyond that, but I just think it seems rather inhumane to me.”
— Jacksonville Mayor Donna Deegan suggesting Donald Trump would implement “concentration camps” if voters sent him back to the White House.
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.
Maybe it’s a routine move, but the Governor still gets a Classic Transfusion for shifting his leftover super PAC cash to his re-christened federal war chest.
Mix up a Crystal Clear for the folks at JEA, who just landed an award from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for a program promoting efficient water use.
One Fort Myers TV station acquiesced and stopped playing pro-abortion rights ads after threats from the state Department of Health, but Floridians Protecting Freedom is looking for the courts to serve them a BRB.
Breakthrough Insights
Tune In
FIU looks to bounce back from OT loss
Florida International looks for a third win of the season as they face UTEP in El Paso tonight (9 p.m. ET, CBS Sports Network).
The Panthers (2-4, 1-1 Conference USA) are coming off a 31-24 overtime loss at Liberty. FIU trailed 24-10 in the fourth quarter but rallied to score a pair of touchdowns, first a short touchdown run by Kejon Owens and then a 1-yard touchdown run by quarterback Keyone Jenkins.
Liberty came into the season as the favorites to win the conference, but FIU has the chance to improve its standing against UTEP (0-6, 0-3). The Miners have struggled on both sides of the ball this season. They have surrendered 40 or more points three times this season while topping 21 points on offense only once.
If FIU can limit turnovers, they should have a good chance for the road win. Jenkins has thrown nine touchdown passes and five interceptions this season, while Owens leads the team in rushing. Wide receiver Eric Rivers has been the big play threat through the air. Rivers has averaged 18.7 yards per game and leads the Panthers with 448 receiving yards.
After tonight’s game against UTEP, FIU hosts Sam Houston, the second-place team in Conference USA, next Tuesday night.
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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.
