Thanksgiving Weekend is brought to you by these Florida lobbyists and political organizations

This year, Thanksgiving dinner will take a bigger bite out of wallets, and Democrats. Image via AP.

It’s time to talk turkey. And stuffing, pie, football and shopping.

Thanksgiving marks the beginning of the winter holiday season. That means loads of holiday parties and visits from far-flung family.

Still, the message of the Thanksgiving holiday is the same — it’s a day for Americans to reflect on what they’re grateful for. But it’s also a day to gorge on goodies, sneak a snack between meals, and loosen your belts while watching the big game.

For food, Publix is the obvious choice. It’s where you’ll find all the turkey, potatoes, stuffing, and cranberries you can eat — they even sell Rubbermaid containers to store the stuff you cannot. The Florida-based grocer has Thomas Culligan and Tara Chilton in-house, and Matt Bryan, Teye Carmichael, and Jeff Hartley of Smith Bryan & Myers are on retainer.

Chances are, many of the items you toss into your shopping cart will come from U.S. Sugar growers. Sugar is the gimme, as you’ll need that for the turkey brine. But the company’s farmers grow several other crops, such as green beans, the core ingredient in green bean casserole.

Just as sugar is far from the company’s only export, the following is far from an exhaustive list of their lobbyists: Greg Black of Waypoint Strategies; Charlie Dudley of Floridian Partners; David Browning, Mercer Fearington, Seth McKeel, Sydney Ridley and Clark Smith of The Southern Group; Richard Heffley and Kelly Horton of Heffley & Associates; Frank Mayernick and Tracy Mayernick of The Mayernick Group; Kirk Pepper of GrayRobinson; and Christopher Smith of Tripp Scott PA.

Yes, Publix does sell turkeys, but if you haven’t bought one by now … well, you’re not hopeless. You’ll need to start researching what “spatchcocking” is and sharpen your kitchen shears (please tell us you have kitchen shears).

Google and YouTube have brought many Thanksgivings back from the brink. They also have many lobbyists working for them in Tallahassee. Their team includes Brian Ballard, Brad Burleson, Justin Sayfie, and Amy Young of Ballard Partners; Carlos Trujillo and Jimmy Card of Continental Strategy; Bill Rubin, Heather Turnbull, Erica Chanti and Zachary Hubbard of Rubin Turnbull; and in-house advocates Ron Barnes, Joseph Dooley, Taylor Ferguson, Lilyn Hester, Leah Popoff and Lewis Roberts Jr.

Deep frying is also an option, but if you’re Googling a how-to video the day of, you’re more likely to become a statistic than enjoy a nice meal with your family.

According to the National Fire Protection Association, there are more house fires on Thanksgiving than on any other day of the year. Turkey frying is a big reason — fire departments respond to about 1,000 fryer fires every Thanksgiving, and about 900 of them result in a destroyed home.

It often goes unsaid, but firefighters are people we should all be thankful for. There are many firefighter groups in Florida, and many of them have lobbyists.

Johnson & Blanton is a go-to firm for these first responders. Travis Blanton, Jon Johnson, Eric Prutsman, Darrick McGee, and the rest of Team J&B represent the Florida Fire Chiefs’ Association and the Florida Fire Marshals and Inspectors Association. The Florida Professional Firefighters, meanwhile, are represented by in-house lobbyists Wayne Bernoska Jr., George Marsh, Rocco Salvatori, and Meredith Stanfield, with assistance from contract lobbyist Screven Watson.

If you happen to have a fire suppression system on the premises, be thankful for the American Fire Sprinkler Association and the Florida Fire Sprinkler Association. The former is represented by Ron Pierce, Natalie King, Edward Briggs, William George and Matthew Herndon of RSA Consulting. The latter’s lobbying team includes Tim Meenan and Joy Ryan of Meenan, PA.

While shopping at Publix is indeed a pleasure, don’t even think about making a run for last-minute supplies such as whipped cream for your pumpkin pie. Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Easter are a few holidays when Publix shuts down so staffers can share the day with family and friends.

If you’d rather not bother with cooking, plenty of restaurants are ready to serve you, whether dine-in or carry-out. The Florida Restaurant and Lodging Association aims to “protect, educate and promote” the state’s $82 billion hospitality industry.

Representing FRLA in Tallahassee are Jim Daughton, Warren Husband, Doug Bell, Leslie Dughi, Alli Liby-Schoonover, Aimee Lyon, Anna Lewis, Andy Palmer, and Karl Rasmussen of Metz Husband & Daughton. The association also has an in-house team that includes President Carol Dover, Geoff Luebkemann, and Samantha Padgett.

If you’re traveling for Thanksgiving, cooking probably isn’t your responsibility — getting there is hard enough. According to AAA, 79.9 million people will travel 50 miles or more from home this Thanksgiving, an increase of 1.7 million people compared to last year and 2 million more than in 2019, before the pandemic cratered the numbers for a couple of years.

A chunk of the increase is from air travel, which AAA expects to break records this year with an estimated 5.84 million travelers set to take the skies. Many of those travelers will be boarding an American Airlines flight. As one of the biggest carriers in the biz, American Airlines relies on one of the Top firms in Florida to steer its operations away from turbulence in Tallahassee. Their jump crew includes Jeff Johnston, Amanda Stewart and Anita Berry of Johnston & Stewart Government Strategies.

Once the leftovers are put away and the dishes are done — assuming no house fires — it’s time to plan your Black Friday stops. According to the National Retail Federation, an estimated 183.4 million people shop on Thanksgiving Day through Cyber Monday. That beats the record set last year by a couple of million dollars.

Needless to say, that’s great news for Florida’s retail stores, which rely on the Florida Retail Federation to make sure their voices are heard in Tallahassee.

FRF has seven lobbyists on tap, including president and CEO R. Scott Shalley; in-house advocates Angela Bonds, Lorena Holley and Jessica Kraynak; French Brown of Jones Walker; and Team J&B.

Many larger retail chains have their lobbying teams. Target has in-house lobbyist Molly Cagle working alongside Joseph Salzverg, Jason Unger and Carlecia Collins of GrayRobinson; Walmart has Michael Corcoran, Jacqueline Corcoran, Matt Blair, Will Rodriguez and Andrea Tovar of Corcoran Partners; and Amazon has Brian Ballard, Carol Bracy, Courtney Coppola and Abby Vail of Ballard Partners.

Shopping for presents under the tree is undoubtedly an excellent way to spend the Friday after Thanksgiving. However, if you want to make a difference for the less fortunate this holiday season, consider helping at your local food bank.

Feeding Florida is a statewide network that brings together 14 food bank members across the state to reduce hunger. The association has the team at Johnson & Blanton backing it up when it needs a helping hand.

As you consider other ways to help Floridians in need this holiday season, use the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services “Check-A-Charity” tool to get detailed information about the organizations you want to give to this year.