| | | | |  | | By Kimberly Leonard | |  Former U.S. Rep. Debbie Mucarsel-Powell, center, speaks after winning the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate, Tuesday, Aug. 20, 2024, in Coral Gables, Florida. | Marta Lavandier/AP Photo | Good morning and welcome to the day after the election. The results are in. GOP Sen. Rick Scott now has a Democratic challenger — former Rep. Debbie Mucarsel-Powell — as he tries to get reelected to a second term in November and then run for Republican leader. It’s one Senate race Democrats are hoping to put on the map as they scramble to keep control of the chamber, though Republicans have the voter registration edge in Florida and Scott has major name recognition. The Senator declared in a statement that the results meant “Florida is RED” while Mucarsel-Powell said she hoped to bring along a broad coalition of voters. “I have seen the energy on the ground,” she said at her victory party in Coral Gables last night. “Floridians are ready for change. They are rejecting the extremism. And they're saying, with me, no mas.” Some key House races got lined up last night, too. GOP Rep. Anna Paulina Luna will face off against Democrat Whitney Fox, a former transportation official, in the 13th District. And GOP Rep. María Elvira Salazar will go up against Lucia Báez-Geller, a progressive Miami-Dade school board member, in the highly competitive Miami-based 27th District. Democratic Rep. Darren Soto’s Osceola County-based 9th District is less competitive, but the National Republican Congressional Committee is still going to target it, with Thomas Chalifoux, a former school board member, winning the GOP ticket. GOP Rep. Matt Gaetz crushed his primary opponent in the 1st District, despite an onslaught of attacks from former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, who tried to take down his former colleague for leading his House ouster. (Read more from POLITICO’s Gary Fineout.) It’s also likely that Mike Haridopolos, the former Florida Senate president, is heading to Congress after easily winning his primary in the ruby red 8th District. Despite technical difficulties across several county election websites, tons of state and local races were called last night. Democrat Ashley Brundage, a business owner, won her race to face GOP incumbent state Rep. Karen Pittman Gonzalez in HD-65 — and if she wins she would become the first transgender woman in the Florida Legislature. In SD-35, former Broward County Commissioner Barbara Sharief fought off two other opponents to win the Democratic nomination for the blue-leaning seat being vacated by state Senate Minority Leader Lauren Book because of term limits. State Rep. Kristen Arrington won the Democratic nomination in SD-25, beating Carmen Torres, a community leader and the wife of the outgoing state Sen. Vic Torres. As local races go, Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava won another term, easily exceeded the threshold to avoid a two-person runoff in November. The victory for the Democrat is sure to intensify chatter about whether she’ll enter the 2026 governor’s race, which already has a ton of interested candidates on both sides. At least 11 conservative school board candidates backed by Gov. Ron DeSantis fell in key races yesterday, weakening the winning streak DeSantis enjoyed in 2022. Democrats endorsed 11 candidates across the state, seven of whom won and two of whom are headed to runoffs. (Read more from POLITICO’s Andrew Atterbury.) But DeSantis did get a win in HD-35, where Erika Booth, a former school board member and candidate he endorsed in a special election in January, got the GOP nomination again. That means Booth will get a rematch against state Rep. Tom Keen, a Democrat the state party often extolls as an example of how to flip seats in Florida. The proxy-war between former President Donald Trump and DeSantis wound up split. Meg Weinberger, who’s got the nickname “MAGA Meg” and the Trump endorsement, won her primary against DeSantis favorite Anthony Aguirre, a health care operations manager and consultant, in HD-94. A second race that was marked with even more tension (and that got expensive) between the Trump and DeSantis wings of the party was SD-07. Trump endorsed David Shoar, a St. Johns County Sheriff, late in the game and last night he lost. Florida Senate leadership and DeSantis favored state Rep. Tom Leek who was able to come out on top. State Sen. Debbie Mayfield — who flipped from DeSantis to Trump during the 2024 GOP presidential primary — handily won her primary against former Rep. Dave Weldon in HD-32. Incumbent Democrats largely kept their seats, including HD-13’s state Rep. Angie Nixon, a progressive and member of the Black caucus who staged a sit-in in protest of DeSantis’ redistricting map, state Sen. Geraldine Thompson in SD-15, state Rep. Rita Harris in HD-44, and state Rep. Kimberly Daniels in HD-14, who is anti-abortion. (Read more from POLITICO’s Gary Fineout.) Have a tip, story, suggestion, birthday, anniversary, new job, or any other nugget in the campaign reporting that Playbook should look at? Get in touch at: kleonard@politico.com.
| | | | DON’T MISS OUR AI & TECH SUMMIT: Join POLITICO’s AI & Tech Summit for exclusive interviews and conversations with senior tech leaders, lawmakers, officials and stakeholders about where the rising energy around global competition — and the sense of potential around AI and restoring American tech knowhow — is driving tech policy and investment. REGISTER HERE. | | | | | |  | ... DATELINE TALLAHASSEE ... | | REMODELING PLANS INVOLVE AT LEAST 9 PARKS — “Are changes coming to Florida’s state park system?” by the Tampa Bay Times’ Max Chesnes. “Gov. Ron DeSantis’ environmental agency is considering plans to turn some of Florida’s vaunted park space into areas that feature more recreational amenities — including more lodges, golfing, pickleball courts and disc golf courses, according to a news release sent by the state this week. But details were scarce late Tuesday … On Monday, the Florida Department of Environmental Protection said the initiative is meant to support Florida’s ‘outdoor recreation economy’ and add new lodging options. But without further elaboration, some environmental groups say they fear sensitive habitats on state park land could be threatened by creating more recreational areas.” PROGRAM BEGINS — “Dozier compensation ‘time sensitive’ as applications reviewed for boys abused at notorious Florida school,” by Dara Kam of News Service of Florida. “Nearly two dozen men, most of them elderly, inspected draft copies of the proposed applications during a Monday meeting in downtown Tallahassee, peppering some of Attorney General Ashley Moody’s aides with questions about reparations for the brutality they endured as children and adolescents at the notorious Arthur G. Dozier School for Boys in Marianna and Okeechobee School in South Florida. The program, years in the making, will compensate people who were at the reform schools between 1940 and 1975 and ‘who were subjected to mental, physical or sexual abuse perpetrated by school personnel.’ The plan requires Moody’s office to set up a process to ‘accept, review, and approve or deny applications for the payment of compensation.’ The money will be divided evenly between eligible applicants.” — “Jimmy Patronis looks to counter ‘woke’ banks with state-chartered alternative,” reports A.G. Gancarski of Florida Politics.
| | PENINSULA AND BEYOND | | TODAY — Florida’s 3rd District Court of Appeal is expected to announce as early as today whether it’ll rehear a case challenging how developers lowered termination thresholds in buildings to override cases in which a small number of condo owners don’t want to sell their units. The case would affect condo ownership across the state and the extent to which developers try to take over older condo buildings. (Read more about the dispute.)
|  Opposition leader Maria Corina Machado looks on with a hand in her chest during a protest against the result of the presidential election on July 30, 2024 in Caracas, Venezuela. | Alfredo Lasry R/Getty Images | TRAPPED IN ARGENTINE COMPOUND — “They ran a campaign in hiding. Now they wait,” reports Genevieve Glatsky of The New York Times. “Every morning they wake up and look at the mountains of Caracas. On days when protests fill the streets they can hear the chants. But they know that if they take one step outside their compound, they could be arrested and thrown in prison. For the past five months, five top aides for the party of Venezuela’s opposition leader, María Corina Machado, have been living in an Argentine diplomatic residence where they sought asylum after the country’s attorney general announced warrants for their arrest.” RULES OUT — “New restrictions on wholesalers spark fears about Cuban private sector’s future,” reports Nora Gámez Torres of the Miami Herald. “The Cuban government has announced new measures, including limiting wholesale trade by the private sector, that officials say would ‘correct economic distortions’ but will likely exacerbate shortages and worsen inflation in the midst of a severe economic crisis. In a 167-page document published Monday in the official Cuban gazette, the government issued several laws and regulations imposing new taxes, protracted bureaucratic requirements and restrictions on the activities of small and medium enterprises, non-agricultural cooperatives and the self-employed, which comprise the island’s nascent private sector.” WITHDRAWN — “SRQ Airport withdraws land deal from FAA. Where does it now leave New College of Florida?” by Jesse Mendoza of the Sarasota Herald-Tribune. “Faced with likely denial, Sarasota-Bradenton International Airport has withdrawn a request to the Federal Aviation Authority for the sale of land to New College of Florida. New College officials offered $11.5 million to purchase 30.94 acres from the airport for needed renovations at existing buildings and potential sports program facilities. That land sale was rejected by the FAA, then appealed by the airport, and it has now been withdrawn.” — “Hurricane potential takes brief pause before ramp-up at end of August, forecasters say,” reports Angie Dimichele of the South Florida Sun Sentinel.
| | CAMPAIGN MODE | | | | 
Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., speaks during the Democratic National Convention Monday, Aug. 19, 2024, in Chicago. | Paul Sancya/AP Photo | BREAKFAST LINEUP — The Florida Democratic Party’s breakfast this morning includes speakers Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego and Fedrick Ingram, secretary-treasurer for the American Federation of Teachers. Florida Democrats are planning to wear pink today in support of abortion rights. — “Rep. Maxwell Frost: Project 2025 is already happening in Florida,” reports POLITICO’s Mia McCarthy. COUNTERPROGRAMMING — Rep. Mike Waltz (R-Fla.) is holding a press conference at the Trump Hotel & Tower in Chicago at 10 a.m. Central where he’ll spotlight the Trump campaign promise to “make America strong again.” … Yesterday was Rep. Byron Donalds, per of PolitiFact for the Tampa Bay Times. “Donalds criticized Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris for not taking questions from the media in recent weeks and for focusing her message on intangibles rather than substance. Poking at the newfound Democratic unity after Harris supplanted President Joe Biden as the party’s presumptive nominee, Donalds said that ‘joy and vibes don’t put food on the table.’” BIPARTISAN CASH — “Democratic power broker directs $1 million to DeSantis PAC,” reports Jeffrey Schweers of the Orlando Sentinel. “A prominent Democratic consultant directed $1 million to a fund set up by Gov. Ron DeSantis to defeat two ballot amendments important to the Florida Democratic Party, one to legalize marijuana and the other to secure abortion rights. The move by Pradeep ‘Rick’ Asnani, president of Cornerstone Solutions, raised red flags among state party officials and some of the consultant’s clients, who are concerned their donations to a committee Asnani controls may have been passed through to the governor’s anti-marijuana and anti-abortion efforts. Asnani’s clients includes longtime Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw and other Democrats seeking state and local office, as well as political powerhouses like the Seminole Tribe and Florida Power & Light.” MORE JOIN THE FIGHT — “Leading national anti-abortion group forms PAC to oppose Amendment 4,” reports Mitch Perry of the Florida Phoenix. “Marjorie Dannenfelser, the anti-abortion advocate the Los Angeles Times called ‘perhaps more than any other woman … responsible for the fall of Roe v. Wade,’ is now leading a political committee formed to oppose Amendment 4, the proposed constitutional amendment that would enshrine the right to abortion in Florida. Dannelfelser, president of Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, is chair of Protect Women Florida Action, which by the Phoenix’s count is at least the fifth political committee created to raise money to oppose the measure.” COURTING LATINOS — “Harris campaign launches WhatsApp channel aimed at bilingual Latino voters,” reports NBC News’ Nicole Acevedo. “As the Democratic National Convention kicks off Monday in Chicago, the presidential campaign of Vice President Kamala Harris has created a bilingual WhatsApp channel targeting Latino voters. Campaign officials say the channel is the first-of-its-kind in a presidential election. It officially launched early Monday with a selfie-style video message from Julie Chavez Rodríguez, manager of the Harris campaign, welcoming new followers to the channel.”
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