Ryan Nicol
It’s the age of the Florida Man (and Woman) at the pinnacle of national Republican politics with President-elect Donald Trump soon set to take office. But is a Florida Man also set to secure a prime position in the Democratic Party?
Parkland survivor turned gun regulation activist David Hogg secured two major endorsements this week as he mounts a bid for a Vice Chair position with the Democratic National Committee.
First, U.S. Rep. Maxwell Frost, a fellow Generation Z member and the youngest member of Congress, backed Hogg for the role. “His experience of building one of the largest youth-movements in the history of our country will be invaluable to the DNC,” Frost said.
Then, 2024 Democratic vice presidential nominee Tim Walz added his support. “This is exactly what we need right now: experienced, thoughtful and energized leadership that meets people where they are and takes bold action to win,” Walz said of Hogg’s bid.
Hogg has forcefully pushed for the national Democratic Party to reevaluate their electoral strategy after losing to Trump this past November. He’s advocated for a greater focus on the youth vote, and for Democrats to look critically at why men are moving away from the party, among other focuses.
Are these moves part of the magic formula to regain the White House in 2028? We’d say don’t believe anyone who’s convinced one way or the other. After all, at this time in 2020, who saw Trump triumphantly returning to Washington?
But Hogg is an on-the-ground activist and an outside voice whose opinion will add to the conversation as Democrats find a way forward. The party will have to decide whether that warrants rewarding Hogg with a top position. But with major voices backing his bid, his odds look to be increasing.
Now, it’s onto our weekly game of winners and losers.
Winners
Honorable mention: Rick Scott. Scott is back with his efforts to “lock the clock,” reintroducing legislation to make daylight saving time permanent.
The Naples Republican crossed the aisle to partner with Democratic U.S. Sen. Patty Murray of Washington to back the bill.
“In 2018, as Governor of Florida, I signed legislation that would allow the state to opt out of the practice of changing the time and I’ve been a leading effort in getting this done on the federal level,” Scott said in a prepared statement about the bill.
Yes, even though Florida approved legislation to make the change, we’ve been waiting on the feds to OK it for years. And sure, there are a few of you freaks who oppose this change. But the rest of us are sick of the twice-a-year disruption and disorientation in the current system and are ready to ditch it.
Arizona and Hawaii don’t switch their clocks and they seem to be functioning just fine. Indeed, most of the world keeps clocks locked throughout the year, including many countries that had previously used the twice-a-year switch but no longer do so.
So good on Scott for continuing to drill this change until it finally passes. And that could happen soon, with President-elect Donald Trump seemingly on board.
Almost (but not quite) the biggest winner: Byron Donalds. A candidate hired a pollster to work with his campaign, and that was enough to land him near the top of this week’s winner’s list.
Yeah, 99 times out of 100, that type of move isn’t going to garner attention. But when it’s Donalds — a rumored 2026 gubernatorial candidate — hiring the top pollster for Trump — whose endorsement could decide that race on its own — you bet the move is going to garner attention, and rightfully so.
Sunburn was first with the story that Donalds had hired Fabrizio, Lee & Associates, the firm led by Tony Fabrizio. Fabrizio was Trump’s pollster in 2016. This cycle, he worked with the pro-Trump super PAC MAGA Inc.
Any Republican seeking to run in an open 2026 Governor’s race would be wise to cozy up to Trump World. You can bet that every potential candidate would have loved to make this move, but Donalds is the one who pulled it off.
As we detailed in our 2024 end-of-year column, Florida is a red state for the foreseeable future. That means, barring a seismic event, the GOP nominee is going to win the Governor’s Mansion in this upcoming cycle. So getting through what’s sure to be a packed Primary is key.
What better way to do so than land an endorsement from the unquestioned leader of the party? And what better way to do that than to bring in those close to Trump’s orbit?
Heck, we’ve been making the case that a Trump endorsement could even revive Gaetz’s political career should he mount a 2026 run for Governor. Speaking of which, he teased a run of his own this week.
And that’s all the more reason why Donalds snagging Fabrizio was such a win. This race isn’t going to be decided for a long while, particularly if Trump avoids conflict altogether and decides not to endorse. But there’s no doubt Donalds made a savvy move in setting up a potential run next year.
The biggest winner: Evan Power. Congratulations to the Republican Party of Florida Chair, who will continue leading the party during its most successful period in modern history.
Power easily won election to the role on Saturday. He originally took over just over a year ago following the scandal surrounding former Chair Christian Ziegler.
Since then, Power saw Trump and Rick Scott win the state by record margins, Republicans keep their legislative supermajority in November then expand it with two party flips post-election, and dominance on the local level.
Now, Trump is entering the White House, which will lead to Florida continuing being the epicenter for GOP politics in the next four years as Florida Republicans hope to continue growing a voter registration advantage.
We’re not saying Power’s job is easy, as there will be plenty of work to do. But he is certainly the best-positioned Florida GOP Chair in recent memory to stack up wins around the state, and his partnership with Trump will likely only grow his influence.
Losers
Dishonorable mention: Jessie Thompson. Thompson is officially out as Volusia County School Board Chair, as she resigned following fallout from several disparaging comments she made about her colleagues and students in the District.
Thompson landed in this same spot last month when the story first broke. This week, she stepped aside after fellow Board members announced an intention to reevaluate the Chair position.
Thompson did say she’s staying on as a Board member, issuing a cookie-cutter statement where she even partially defended her previous remarks. Among those remarks:
— Saying she wouldn’t trust some Volusia students who graduated but tested at lower proficiency to fill her gas tank.
— Bragging that she fed false information to other School Board members to advance agenda items.
— Referring to a colleague as a “tan man.”
She didn’t much address the latter two in remarks to the Daytona Beach News-Journal. But she framed the first point as: “Concerns that if we have high graduation rates and lower proficiency rates, how well are students prepared?”
That’s a fair question. But was there no better way to express that than taking shots at students and saying they couldn’t serve as gas station attendants?
Anyone can send a manufactured statement that went through multiple PR checks, as Thompson did after resigning. But her remarks that started this mess showed people how she really thinks and feels about the people she got elected to serve, and serve with.
Almost (but not quite) the biggest loser: Florida’s kids. In August, we noted that the state declined a chance to participate in a 2025 Summer food program to help feed kids in need while school isn’t in Session. That followed the state also passing on the program in 2024.
Turns out, state officials got a second chance recently to opt into the program for 2025. And once again, they declined.
The Summer Electronic Benefit Transfer Program for Children aims to provide families with funds to spend on groceries, with funding available per child. Florida was being offered $250 million in federal money, but rejected it out of concerns about paying around $13 million in administrative costs associated with the program.
Again, these are kids from low-income homes who qualify for assistance during the school year, assistance that isn’t always available during the Summer Break. State officials have countered by saying they already have resources to help those kids. But critics say children are still being left out..
We get the desire to not be reliant on the federal government. It’s a similar argument against expanding Medicaid, despite the vast majority of costs being paid for by the feds.
But $13 million is chump change when it comes to Florida’s revenues (see the state’s most recent budget, tallying $116.5 billion). Just take the damn money already.
The biggest loser: Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick. In addition to facing an ethics investigation opened more than a year ago, the state is now suing Cherfilus-McCormick’s former company trying to recoup millions accidentally paid due to a clerical error.
According to reports, Trinity Health Care Services, where Cherfilus-McCormick worked at the time as CEO, invoiced the state in 2021 for $50,578.50 while doing work registering people for COVID vaccinations.
Instead of paying that amount, the state reportedly moved the decimal places two spots to the right and paid Trinity $5,057,850.00.
Whoops.
Now, it’s easy to dunk on the state here. A government utilizing our tax dollars shouldn’t accidentally pay 100 times what’s owed on a contract. We get it!
So fair enough, have at it. But the new lawsuit says part of the contract for doing business with the state included language requiring such overpayments to be sent back to the state. Instead, per the lawsuit, Trinity cashed the payment and hasn’t been willing to return the money.
Cherfilus-McCormick is no longer in the CEO role, but she was when this all reportedly took place. And when Cherfilus-McCormick first won a seat in Congress by self-funding her campaign with millions, questions swirled about how she amassed such a fortune so quickly.
Might some dots be connected as more scrutiny is put on the Congresswoman?
Cherfilus-McCormick notably was the only member of Florida’s delegation to earn re-election automatically this past cycle, as no Democrat or Republican filed to challenge her. That will also likely change if the Congresswoman cannot answer the questions swirling around her.
And back to that Ethics Committee probe. It started off as fairly small potatoes but has already been expanded once. The committee hasn’t given full details on precisely what the investigation details. But be sure that if they aren’t already looking at the circumstances around this COVID-era overpayment and where that money ended up, they certainly will be now.
