Winner and Loser of the Week in Florida politics — Week of 3.2.25

The Process can’t seem to get enough of musical chairs in recent months, and we got another edition this week.

This time, it was former state Rep. Bob Rommel deciding to take a gig with the America First Policy Institute (AFPI) as the Florida State Chapter’s Executive Director.

That’s notable as it takes Rommel out of the running for the Senate District 28 contest to replace former Senate President Kathleen Passidomo.

Rommel has raised big stacks of cash in anticipation of a run. But his path was complicated when Passidomo endorsed state Rep. Lauren Melo as her preferred successor.

Still, Rommel had enough cash to mount a serious run and at least force Melo to spend significantly to secure the GOP nomination next year.

Instead, Rommel decided against the move — and against running for Congress to replace U.S. Rep. Byron Donalds as he mounts a run for Governor — and took a gig working with Donalds’ wife, Erika, at AFPI.

That gives Rommel a cushy job and clears the path for Passidomo’s preferred successor. The difference between this and a normal game of musical chairs? It seems that all the major players here are winners.

Now, it’s onto our weekly game of winners and losers.

Winners

Honorable mention: BayCare St. Anthony’s. A point of personal privilege to start our winner’s list. We want to give credit to BayCare St. Anthony’s for taking extra good care of our publisher, Peter Schorsch.

Peter went in for a hip replacement surgery this week that was a full success. And that’s thanks to the wonderful team at St. Anthony’s that was able to keep Peter in one piece.

“I cannot express how grateful I am for my wife and her unending love, concern, and patience. (Of course she got us custom T-shirts for the surgery because what would a day in the family’s life be without the right gear?),” he shared following the surgery.

“Nor can I properly express the appropriate level of gratitude I have for the doctors, nurses, PTs, and the rest of the @BayCare St. Anthony’s team for their incredible level of professionalism. Even the security guard and valets are pros! Always grateful to God, who watches over us, and to the Beloved Virgin Mary, who has protected and nurtured me so many times in my life.”

Also a shout-out also to BayCare lobbyist Jason Rodriguez for providing service outside his normal line of work and checking in on Peter during his stay.

We are a small team here at Florida Politics, and needless to say we can’t do what we do without Peter. We were all awaiting the good news as Peter’s procedure was underway, and it was a huge relief to know that everything went smoothly thanks to the St. Anthony’s A-team.

Now, the recovery begins.

Almost (but not quite) the biggest winner: JD Vance. We don’t make it a habit of spotlighting politicians without a strong connection to Florida. But Vance gets a surprise spot on this list thanks to a pull putting him 14 points ahead of Gov. Ron DeSantis in a 2028 Presidential Primary poll … of just Florida voters.

DeSantis getting creamed in his home state is not a strong sign for his future presidential prospects.

Now of course, it’s way too early to take away anything set in stone from these polls. And the survey came from the Donald Trump-aligned Fabrizio Lee & Associates, which certainly has an interest in propping up Trump’s Vice President — and possibly shivving on-and-off political rival DeSantis.

But other surveys of the contest nationwide have also put Vance well ahead of DeSantis.

So when this latest poll put Vance ahead of DeSantis 47% to 33% in Florida, it definitely caught our attention.

And if DeSantis goes from losing big to Trump in 2024 to seeing his wife lose the Governor’s race in 2026 (again, way too early to know what will happen there), then we have to think polls like this will make DeSantis think twice to opening himself up to a third straight electoral embarrassment. And that would make it all the more likely Vance is the GOP’s heir apparent.

The biggest winner: James Uthmeier. Uthmeier makes his first appearance atop this list from his strong stance against reprobate brothers Andrew and Tristan Tate.

We made our feelings known on these two tools last week. This week, Uthmeier confirmed the existence of a state investigation into the brothers’ conduct to see if they potentially broke any laws in Florida.

“Many of these victims are coming forward, some of them minors. People can spin or defend however they want, but in Florida, this type of behavior is viewed as atrocious. We’re not going to accept it,” Uthmeier said.

“They chose to come here and set their feet down in this state, and we’re going to pursue every tool we have within our legal authority to hold them accountable.”

Now, the Tates and others tried to twist this thing into some sort of political attack on the DeSantis administration and tried to wedge it in as another piece of the proxy war between DeSantis and Trump, the latter of whom Andrew Tate vehemently supports.

Except, that narrative got blown to smithereens when Donalds, who is Trump’s choice in the 2026 race for Governor, backed Uthmeier’s move.

“I think those allegations have to be fully investigated, and that we go from there,” Donalds said.

“The key thing is, we don’t tolerate the trafficking of women or, frankly, the abuse of women. We do not tolerate that. So if the Attorney General finds cause under Florida law to investigate that, then I wish him the best, and I support whatever he’s going to do on that matter.”

So yeah, it seems like no one wants these guys in our state. And look, if the Tates really committed no crimes, as they claim, then no formal charges will be filed. But given their history, it’s prudent for Uthmeier to make sure they are clean. Credit to Uthmeier for leading the charge here and setting a precedent for his tenure as Attorney General.

Losers

Dishonorable mention: Ileana Garcia. Garcia got plenty of attention late last year when she filed a bill banning weather modification, feeding into concerns from conspiracy theorists about “chemtrails.”

After moderating her language about the bill a bit, Garcia got support last month from her first Senate panel — and from one of Trump’s ex-wives, Marla Maples.

But as of this week, the future of Garcia’s bill is very much in the air.

That’s because the Senate Appropriations Committee on Agriculture, Environment, and General Government decided to temporarily postpone the measure.

It’s as yet unclear where this is a true “temporary” postponement or a more permanent one. But it may be a sign Garcia’s legislation isn’t going to fly this Session.

Almost (but not quite) the biggest loser: DeSantis, Joseph Ladapo. Speaking of scientifically questionable choices by government officials, the Governor and his loyal Surgeon General went full anti-vaxxer this week at a presser pushing to make mandatory the state’s ban against mRNA vaccine mandates.

Ladapo mocked pushes to have people take the measles vaccine amid a Texas measles outbreak that is the worst in decades.

“These are the same people that tell you that boys can be girls, that men can be women, that an experimental vaccine the children do not need is actually something that’s critical to their health, that you need one or two or three masks depending on what time point in the pandemic you look, right?” Ladapo said of medical professionals recommending the vaccine.

DeSantis added his 2 cents about the annual flu vaccine, which he said “doesn’t exactly have a stellar record with efficacy.”

Now if DeSantis stopped there, he’s not technically wrong in a vacuum. Because these vaccines must be made in advance of knowing exactly what strain of the flu will hit in a given season, yeah, some years the vaccine is more effective than others. That’s true.

But DeSantis wasn’t speaking in a vacuum here given the topic of the press conference and Ladapo’s remarks. And even more importantly, he didn’t stop there.

“And the question is, okay, well, why is this stuff being pushed on the society? Well, because people make money off of it. I mean, that’s why it’s being pushed. I think we all know that,” DeSantis continued.

That twists this from something that could possibly be read as a factual description of the vaccines’ effectiveness into another way to spin a web of conspiracy theories to further undermine public confidence in medical experts.

It’s not out of character for DeSantis, unfortunately. Arguably his biggest move to undercut public faith in health experts was appointing Ladapo as Surgeon General in the first place.

The biggest loser: Insurance companies. This is now back-to-back weeks of insurance companies landing in this spot, as the writing continues to be on the wall that state officials may finally be using their power to crack down on these entities.

Last week, it was due to reports that insurance companies declared losses by shifting money into affiliate companies all while crying poverty as they jacked up rates and begged for government assistance.

This week, House Speaker Daniel Perez announced a committee would conduct a probe into those reports, including “issuing subpoenas, putting witnesses under oath and hiring outside experts.”

If there is an effective criticism of the Republican Party, it’s that there has too often been an instinct to look the other way regarding corporate power at the expense of the little guy.

But here, the pain Floridians are suffering as home insurance rates skyrocketed in recent years is too serious to ignore. Credit to Perez for showing signals that something significant may happen to help consumers desperate for a life raft.

The proof will be in whatever passes this Session. But so far, this is a good start.