Jacob Ogles
Former Brevard County School Board member Jennifer Jenkins formally launched her U.S. Senate campaign.
“The United States Senate is where Florida’s future is being determined,” the Satellite Beach Democrat told Florida Politics. “It’s where my nine-year-old daughter’s future is being decided, whether it’s from economic policy or her right to reproductive freedom. And I really believe that if we want different outcomes, we need different people at the table.”
A launch video begins with images of Jenkins delivering groceries and tells the story of when the educator took on a second job during tough times. Then it discusses her entry into politics. “When the school board wasn’t delivering, I decided to run myself. And despite the odds, I won in a county that (President Donald) Trump won by double digits.”
Jenkins in 2020 unseated Brevard County School Board member Tina Descovich, a prominent conservative and ally of Gov. Ron DeSantis who went on to found Moms for Liberty.
That record of success could attract Democratic voters in a state where a Democrat hasn’t won a statewide election since 2018. Jenkins goes on to contrast her own working-class background to that of “career politician” Ashley Moody, the appointed Republican representing Florida in the U.S. Senate now.
“While we fight for the minimum to get by, our Sen. Ashley Moody got handed a U.S. Senate seat, knowing she’ll do exactly what Trump, DeSantis, and the billionaires tell her to do,” Jenkins says in the video. “Ashley Moody doesn’t know what it’s like to struggle paying for food, housing, health care and day care, but I do. And that’s why I’m running for the United States Senate.”
In an interview with Florida Politics. Jenkins said she sees Moody as more vulnerable to a challenge than Republican leaders may think.
“A lot of people actually don’t even know who she is, and I think that she’s going to have to try really hard to make sure people understand who she is and what she stands for,” Jenkins predicts. “And I think that’s going to highlight to traditional voters that she is a rubber stamp for Donald Trump, just like she was a rubber stamp for Ron DeSantis. And in this case, it’s for things that people aren’t happy about.”
Jenkins points to Moody’s recent support for DeSantis’ push to end all mandates for vaccines in schools, a move that brought pushback even from other Republicans like U.S. Sen Rick Scott and gubernatorial candidate and U.S. Rep. Byron Donalds.
If Democrats in Florida can focus the electorate in 2026 on unpopular Trump policies, rather than making everything about Trump as a candidate, Jenkins believes the party can win back ground lost in the last several election cycles.
“I live in a deep red county, a county that Trump won by 17 points when I won by almost 10,” she said. “I know what it feels like to have conversations with my neighbors who don’t agree with me on everything, but they voted for me anyway because they trusted where I stood on an issue, and they knew where I was coming from.”
She also said she has experience fighting against right-wing extremists while building public opinion. The video showcases demonstrations during the COVID-19 pandemic when conservative activists called for her recall. While no actual organized effort to remove Jenkins from office ever materialized, she ended up in high-profile fights with conservatives, including now-U.S. Rep. Randy Fine.
Now she’s ready to take her political ambitions statewide. That will first require winning the Democratic nomination. She’s the only major Democrat in the field right now, though five others have open Federal Election Commission accounts right now.
That includes former U.S. Rep. Alan Grayson, who said he hasn’t decided if he will run in 2026 but has kept an account open for compliance. Rumors also persist of other potential candidates like state Rep. Angie Nixon, a Jacksonville Democrat. That means Jenkins may have a fight for the nomination against some of Florida’s most liberal politicians, before the ultimate nominee must run in a state where Republicans currently outnumber Democrats by more than 1.3 million voters.
But Jenkins notes a third of Florida’s electorate has no party affiliation, making the vast majority of voters non-Republicans. She thinks many of them, even those sold last year on Trump’s promises, feel the impacts of conservative policies, whether that’s tariffs hurting small business, family farms being crippled by federal policies or economic positions continuing to drive inflation at grocery stores.
“People need to know that if I have the pleasure of serving the state, that I would work for them and not for special interests, that I understand the things that they’re dealing with on a daily basis,” she said. “When I come home and I have dinner with my family at the kitchen table, you know, I’m worrying about the same things they’re worrying about. I truly want to be a true, honest representative of everyday Floridians up in Washington.”
