Winner and Loser of the Week in Florida politics — Week of 6.8.25

They finally did it.

After a month of delay, two more weeks of negotiation and several spending spats, the House and Senate have finally agreed to a budget.

It got worrisome at times this past week, with multiple days of silence as lawmakers targeting a Friday deadline in order to satisfy the state’s 72-hour cooling off period to wrap the process by Monday.

But breakthroughs came toward the end of the week, and lawmakers finally agreed to a $115.1 billion total.

Legislators also agreed to a plethora of tax cuts, including some favorites for back-to-school and storm preparedness items. And long-rumored language to eliminate the business rent tax also made it into the final plan.

Most importantly for some (including this dad of a 4-month-old), the deal came ahead of Father’s Day Weekend, allowing dads in and around The Process to rest easy ahead this weekend of a Monday vote.

The final budget total came in less than $500 million short of Gov. Ron DeSantis’ original budget proposal, which does make you wonder what this drawn out delay was really all for.

But the work is now done, with the House and Senate set to come back Monday at 7 p.m. ahead of a vote shortly after 10 p.m. to formally sign off on the package.

This is the epilogue to one of the most contentious and action-packed Sessions in recent memory. But now, Summer is in sight.

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

Winners

Honorable mention: DeSantis. DeSantis lands here not necessarily for anything that happened in his home state this week, but for what’s happening in his cross-country rival state of California.

DeSantis and California Gov. Gavin Newson have, of course, sparred over the years regarding policy, particularly immigration. That most notably resulted in a 2023 debate on Fox News.

So it’s no surprise that amid the unrest in California in the past week or so, DeSantis has messaged heavily to boost his own record and bash Newsom’s.

DeSantis cheekily offered to send the Florida State Guard to help Newsom deal with the protests in Los Angeles. Newsom declined. DeSantis then bashed him for that decision and took time to rip the rioters causing destruction in the city.

DeSantis also, as he tends to do, couldn’t resist making some over-the-top comments, such as leaning on the GOP trop of blaming George Soros for the protests without evidence, or messaging all the way that it’s permissible for Florida drivers to run over protestors (which, merits aside, is just a pretty insane thing for a Governor of a state to do).

But this stuff plays well with his base, and that’s who DeSantis is messaging to.

Almost (but not quite) the biggest winner: Florida Education Association. FEA leaders say education unions across the state are still going strong despite state efforts to make life more difficult for those unions.

A 2023 law required unions to prove at least 60% of eligible members supported a union operating. As spotlighted by Jeffrey S. Solochek of the Tampa Bay Times, local education unions have been working overtime to meet those requirements, with the FEA spotlighting this week the 100th consecutive successful recertification vote backing an education union.

“Nearly 125,000 educators in Florida spanning job titles, socioeconomic backgrounds, political parties, religions and more know that when we stand together under our constitutional right as a union, we can make change happen,” said FEA President Andrew Spar.

“Nearly two years after a law that sought to destroy a worker’s right to have a union and millions of dollars spent by out-of-state, fringe, anti-worker groups, educators are standing firm and proudly voting to keep their local unions.”

That’s no small feat when up against a DeSantis administration that, for better or worse depending on your political orientation, is doing its best to reshape the education system throughout the state.

Then again, maybe it’s that challenge that has led these unions to be able to rally support and continue their work.

The biggest winner: Debbie Mayfield. One moment, Mayfield was term limited out of the Senate. Now, she’s again a redshirt member and set to be a force for a decade.

Just last November, Mayfield was facing term limits in the Senate and decided to return to the House, running for the House District 32 seat. She won, of course, but we all know that Senators see such a move as something of a downgrade. That put Mayfield in limbo, likely waiting for the right seat to come open years down the line and possibly line up a return to the upper chamber.

Instead, Mayfield waited a mere weeks before getting her opportunity, when Sen. Randy Fine announced he would leave to run for Congress.

But Mayfield also had to clear a hurdle from her own party, as DeSantis and his administration made a legally dubious argument blocking her from running for the Senate District 19 seat, which we called out at the time.

Once she was back on the ballot, she became the instant favorite and closed out her bid with a Special Election win Tuesday.

Because this race only fills the remaining year and a half on Fine’s term, Mayfield will be eligible to run for re-election two more times, meaning she may be able to serve nearly 10 more years in the Senate.

She has already served as Majority Leader and Rules Chair during her earlier time in the Senate. Does she earn an even bigger role this time around?

Losers

Dishonorable mention: Angela Suggs. Suggs, who was hired as Florida A&M’s Athletic Director this past October, is facing fraud charges after Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) investigators say she used a corporate credit card to rack up more than $24,000 in personal charges.

That includes, according to the investigation, Suggs visiting casinos during work trips and using the card in question. The affidavit says she spent more than $13,800 in expenses over two days at Seminole Hard Rock Casino, and another nearly $5,900 over three days at Potawatomi Bingo in Wisconsin.

The incidents allegedly took place prior to her tenure at FAMU, when Suggs was CEO of the Florida Sports Foundation (FSF). The FSF operated under FloridaCommerce.

According to the FDLE, Suggs falsely listed several of those charges as meals to hide her actions. She has repaid FSF some, but not all, of the money the organization says she owes.

Suggs released a statement apologizing and noting the charges aren’t connected to her time as FAMU AD.

“I regret the distraction caused and I am deeply grateful for the unwavering support, fervent prayers, and continued encouragement I’ve received during this most difficult time. I remain focused, resilient, and committed to our shared goals and determined to fulfill our ongoing, planned, and collective success.”

How committed FAMU remains is another matter. The university has placed Suggs on administrative leave indefinitely.

Almost (but not quite) the biggest loser: Hope Florida. It was another week of bad headlines for First Lady Casey DeSantis’ initiative, due in part to ongoing budget talks.

Lawmakers appear to have pulled back on multiple different funding pots to assist Hope Florida. That comes amid tension between the legislative and executive branches regarding $10 million being directed to the Hope Florida Foundation, the charitable arm of Hope Florida, as part of a Medicaid settlement before being rerouted for political purposes.

The House previously threatened subpoenas over the controversy, but now it appears lawmakers are using budget authority to send a message to the organization and the DeSantises.

It wasn’t all bad budget news, as the Senate in its sprinkle list did include $1.8 million in funding that had appeared to be zeroed out early in the budget process.

But there were bad headlines for the organization beyond the budget. Jeffrey Schweers of the Orlando Sentinel (not the Governor’s favorite reporter at the moment) reported that the Foundation needed to amend its tax return to report more donations to the Foundation.

That’s yet another entry in the drip-drip-drip nature of questions surrounding the organization’s expenses and operation.

And the longer it continues to generate negative headlines, the less likely it is that the First Lady will be able to mount a serious campaign for Governor.

The biggest loser: David Hogg. We had Hogg on the loser list last month after the Democratic National Committee (DNC) set the stage for removing Hogg as Vice Chair.

Now, it’s official.

Hogg confirmed he would not run from the post again after the DNC booted him and Vice Chair Malcolm Kenyatta from their posts on a technicality.

Of course, the backdrop of this is Hogg’s desire to fund Leaders We Deserve, a PAC looking to primary Democratic incumbents in deep-blue districts. Hogg says Democrats need new blood in certain seats and is frustrated with the party’s machinery universally backing incumbents, even when they are ineffective.

That’s particularly important in the Trump era, Hogg argued.

“We have a real challenge ahead of us. We lost voting share with almost every demographic across the board, and despite all that Trump has done, our approvals remain at 27%,” Hogg said.

“If we don’t show our country how we are dramatically changing and provide an alternative vision for the future as a party, we will continue to lose.”

Hogg sees this as a noble stand, and time will tell if his gamble pays off or dooms him to further irrelevancy with the Democratic Party.

But for now, he’s out from a position of power within where he could have advocated for change. He’ll have to hope voters and donors are still willing to listen to what he has to say.