Winner and Loser of the Week in Florida politics — Week of 5.18.25

A new era of Orlando theme parks is here now that Universal’s Epic Universe is officially open to the public.

The park had been in soft opening mode for weeks. But Thursday marked the first full opening date, marking the biggest Orlando theme park launch in a quarter century, since Island of Adventure opened in 1999, just a year after Disney introduced Animal Kingdom.

Gov. Ron DeSantis was in Orlando to visit Epic Wednesday as part of a private ceremony, signifying the park’s importance to the state’s still-booming tourism economy, with Orlando leading the way.

It was a long road to get here since Universal announced the new park in 2019. The COVID pandemic upended Florida tourism, creating extended uncertainty about the project’s future and delaying its planned opening by two years.

But things are back to normal and the park is now a reality.

But this isn’t just a win for Universal. As executives at Disney and United Parks and Resorts have said, more people visiting Orlando to check out the hot new thing means more people available to visit other parks as well.

Most visitors aren’t brand loyalists locked into one set of parks, especially if those visiting from far away. They want to sample all Orlando has to offer, meaning other parks, as well as hotels, restaurants and other amenities, are also benefiting from Epic’s arrival.

A new era indeed.

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

Winners

Honorable mention: Ocala. Just two weeks after Sovereignty edged Journalism at the Kentucky Derby, Journalism took home first prize at the Preakness.

And both horses have an Ocala connection, with Sovereignty and Journalism undergoing early training at Bridlewood Farm.

Florida horses dominated the Kentucky Derby field in early May. And with Sovereignty’s owners declining to run the horse in the Preakness to pursue the Triple Crown, that opened the door for its fellow Ocala alum to pull off a remarkable move to win the race.

Will an Ocala horse win the Belmont on June 7? Well, there are pretty good odds they will, because both Sovereignty and Journalism will be running in this race, setting up a showdown between the Triple Crown leg winners.

And they aren’t the only horses with Ocala ties expected to be competitive. Rodriguez trained at Eddie Woods Stable in Ocala and is among the favorites as well.

We know we’ll be tuned in.

Almost (but not quite) the biggest winner: Pollie Award winners. Florida was well-represented among the honorees at this year’s Pollie Awards, with major players in The Process taking home awards.

Susie Wiles secured arguably the evening’s top honor, winning Campaign of the Year alongside Co-Campaign Manager Chris LaCivita for their work on Donald Trump’s re-election bid.

Wiles was repeatedly praised during the campaign for bringing a professionalism and focus to the effort, a necessary quality for someone as volatile and unscripted as Trump.

James Blair earned recognition as the Republican Most Valuable Player of the Year, also for his work on the Trump campaign.

Trump’s pollster, Tony Fabrizio, took home two honors. He and Tim Saler shared the Data & Analytics Innovator of the Year award. Fabrizio also took home honors as the Republican Pollster of the Year.

It was a great night for the Trump 2024 campaign.

“The 2025 Campaign Excellence Award winners and Hall of Fame inductees represent the best of our profession — visionaries, innovators, and dedicated leaders who are shaping the future of political consulting,” said Larry Huynh, President of the American Association of Political Consultants (AAPC), which puts on the awards.

And in addition to the regular awards, the AAPC recognized Republican consultant Brad Herold as part of its 2025 class of 40 under 40, which is split evenly between Republicans and Democrats.

The biggest winner: Guana River. Did the state really not learn its lesson after last year’s state parks debacle?

Apparently not, because once again the Department of Environmental Protection (emphasis should be on “protection”) tried to slip past a deal that could have jeopardized public land, this time in the Guana River Wildlife Management Area.

And once again, widespread opposition, including from leading Republicans statewide, caused the deal to embarrassingly — and thankfully — belly flop.

Here again Wiles gets recognition. Shortly after word of an impending vote in front of the Acquisition and Restoration Council leaked, the Northeast Florida power broker issued a strong statement opposing the deal.

To allow — even enable — this land grab to occur is outrageous and completely contrary to what our community desires,” Wiles said. “Elected and appointed leaders should vote against this development wolf in sheep’s clothing and preserve this extraordinary natural bounty.”

State Rep. Kim Kendall, a St. Augustine Republican, also led on this issue. She scheduled a presser to oppose the deal, but before that event could even happen, the developer pulled the proposal. So Kendall used her time instead to promise to front an effort to get the state to buy the 104 acres adjacent to the Guana River Wildlife Management Area to further protect it.

Republican state Rep. Paula Stark of St. Cloud also spoke out against the deal. And a shout-out to Callie DeHaven, who abruptly resigned as Director of the DEP’s Division of State Lands without explanation, but presumably in protest of the agency moving forward with this deal.

That is, until the developer backed out under pressure. In a letter explaining the move, The Upland LLC said “there was never any intention to develop the acquired land for commercial or community development purposes” and blamed “misinformation” for public sentiment turning against the deal.

Then what was the point? And why pull it so abruptly?

It’s legitimately perplexing why the DeSantis administration tried to muscle through two controversial land deals in back-to-back years. It’s further confounding why DeSantis tried to absolve himself of blame in both instances, and even more inexplicable why DeSantis agreed to sign legislation stopping development of state park land only for this proposal to pop up and nearly be snuck through.

Credit goes to all who spoke out, especially those Republicans who showed they give a damn about the environment that makes this state so special.

Losers

Dishonorable mention: William Robert Braddock III. There’s a lot of moralizing on either side about political rhetoric that may or may not be out of hand, but we’re pretty sure everyone agrees you shouldn’t threaten to kill your opponent.

According to prosecutors, Braddock had no such qualms as he ran against now-U.S. Rep. Anna Paulina Luna in the 2022 Republican Primary.

Braddock was forced to drop out a year before voting after a recording leaked where he said he has “access to a hit squad, too, Ukrainians and Russians,” As prosecutors argued, those were part of a set of comments where he threatened to kill Luna.

“I really don’t want to have to end anybody’s life for the good of the people of the United States of America,” Braddock said, according to POLITICO. “That will break my heart. But if it needs to be done, it needs to be done.”

According to The Hill, Braddock fled to Thailand and then the Philippines, where he was detained and then transported to the U.S.

This week, he was sentenced in Tampa to three years in prison after facing a maximum of five years. Hopefully, he’s learned his lesson.

Almost (but not quite) the biggest loser: Black bears. Weeks after a fatal bear attack in Southwest Florida, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) voted to approve the first state-sanctioned bear hunt since 2015.

The move comes despite opposition from environmental groups, who spoke out against the proposal.

Just last year, lawmakers passed language making it easier to kill bears without punishment. The law already allowed individuals to kill a bear in a life-or-death scenario. But the updated law permits killing a bear if a person reasonably believes there is “imminent threat of death or serious bodily injury to a pet, or substantial damage to a dwelling.”

Environmental groups also opposed that move, though hunters have pushed Florida to allow for more regular kills, despite the recent bear attack being the first documented death due to a bear attack in Florida.

Those looking for a crackdown on the population won out, though a final vote must still be held in August. The hunt would tentatively be scheduled from Dec. 6-28. But the FWC action could lead to an annual hunt that would take place from Oct. 1 to Dec. 31.

The biggest loser: Storm victims. Based on the current outlook for the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), we would hope to start this section by hoping for a quiet storm season.

According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), that isn’t happening.

NOAA is projecting that there will be between 13 and 19 named storms this hurricane season, which officially begins June 1. For perspective, during last year’s devastating season, which saw three major strikes on Florida, there were 18 named storms in total.

That’s a problem, according to Democratic U.S. Rep. Jared Moskowitz, who led Florida’s Division of Emergency Management under DeSantis and was briefly floated to lead FEMA after Trump won his second term.

In testimony on Capitol Hill this week, Moskowitz warned that FEMA “is going to fail this Summer.”

The messaging surrounding the agency can already be deemed a failure. Trump has gone back-and-forth over the agency’s future, and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem has also recently been pushing to eliminate FEMA entirely.

DeSantis seems to think the state will be just fine without FEMA. Moskowitz, meanwhile, warned several states could go bankrupt without federal support in the aftermath of a disaster in the coming months.

His concern is based on what he says are behind-the-scenes efforts to gut the agency as Trump decides on its ultimate fate, which could lead to a slowdown in aid or a failure to help altogether.

Moskowitz, for his part, has joined Republican U.S. Rep. Byron Donalds — the same Byron Donalds endorsed by Trump to be Florida’s next Governor — to elevate FEMA by making it a stand-alone agency and removing it from DHS altogether.

Instead, the agency appears to be part of the Department of Government Efficiency cuts that have swept through the federal government indiscriminately and left devastation in their wake in search of spending cuts.

We hope, for Florida’s sake, NOAA is wrong. Or, if not, that Florida is nevertheless spared. Or, if not, that DeSantis is correct and the state can bear the brunt of one or multiple storms ripping through the state.

Or, if not … well, we don’t want to find out.