With less than a week to the kickoff of early voting, Thomas Scott and Naya Young were back at WMNF 88.5-FM Friday morning to talk to voters who’ll cast a ballot in the special election for Tampa City Council. District 5 seat.

Scott and Young have qualified for the runoff election after being part of a field that included more than a dozen candidates.

In the first half of a special two-hour collaboration between WMNF programs Down N Dirty and The Skinny, the candidates came on the air to discuss their views on Tampa’s community redevelopment associations, gentrification, federal overreach, and the role council plays in the city’s strong mayor form of government.

Listen the complete debate here:

Scott and Young also responded to questions about campaign contributions, which show that Scott has been heavily favored by developers while Young gets support from educators.

In the second half of the show, hosts John Dingfelder, Mitch Perry and Ray Roa were joined this panel to discuss what they heard in the debate and other citywide issues including zoning, impact fees, political violence and more.

Listen to the debate by visiting the Down N Dirty page on WMNF and hear the roundtable discussion via The Skinny.

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It’s been almost two months since former state Senator Jay Collins resigned from his position representing a portion of Hillsborough County to become Lieutenant Governor.

Now, the ACLU of Florida has filed a lawsuit against Governor Ron DeSantis for not yet holding a special election to fill the vacant seat. 

The lawsuit was filed on behalf of South Tampa Resident Cort Lippe, who says DeSantis is denying Tampa the right to full representation in the state legislature.

 Nicholas Warren is a staff attorney with the ACLU of Florida.

“It means that half a million people in Tampa and Hillsborough County don’t have that voice in the legislature advocating for their interests, their needs,” Warren told WMNF.

 Warren called the move extremely unusual, saying past governors have been more timely in calling special elections. 

“And that makes sense because the people deserve representation that’s as uninterrupted as possible so they don’t lose their voice in the halls of the Capitol,” Warren said.

Although he says he can’t speculate on DeSantis’ motivations, he pointed to possibilities of politics or retribution at play. 

“Earlier this year, we had to file a lawsuit when there was another vacancy in the state Senate. And the leading Republican candidate in that special election had endorsed President Trump over DeSantis in the presidential race a few years ago,” Warren said.

According to ACLU Florida, a judge has ordered the governor to respond to the suit.

Governor Ron DeSantis’ office didn’t respond to WMNF’s request for comment. 

The Legislative Session is set to begin in January. 

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During Wednesday’s Pinellas County Legislative Delegation Meeting, around 100 members of the community spoke to elected officials on various issues like homelessness, education, redistricting and more.

One topic that sparked a lot of attention and induced cheers from the crowd, was the concern over mid-decade redistricting in Florida.

Listen:

Speakers from the League of Women Voters expressed concerns about how this could destabilize the electoral process, become partisan gerrymandering and the pressure it can put on the supervisors of elections.

Tonia Landry is the president of the League of Women Voters of North Pinellas County and she said this will allow those in power to draw lines on political wins instead of census data.

“Mid-cycle redistricting threatens the very foundation of fair representation,” Landry said.

She also said this will undermine stability and public trust in democracy.

Another organization called Equal Grounds was at the meeting to share its concerns about another redistricting.

Simon Adams is a field manager for Equal Grounds. He said in the redraw of 2022, Gov. Ron DeSantis took away two black congressional access districts.

“This was very discouraging for our black community, and we want to make sure he can’t do that again three years later,” Adam said.

The U.S. redistricting process typically occurs every 10 years following the U.S. census. There was a redistricting in 2020 and 2022.

Currently in Florida, there are 20 Republican and 8 Democratic Congress members.

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There will be a runoff election between Thomas Scott and Naya Young to represent Tampa City Council District 5 in East Tampa. According to unofficial results on the Hillsborough County Supervisor of Elections website, Scott received 27 percent of the vote and Young got 13.3 percent. Since no candidate received more than 50% of the vote, the race will proceed to a runoff election on October 28th. 5,400 ballots were cast – that’s 12 percent of registered voters. Early voting for the special runoff election will be October 23 through 26.

Jenkins is a former Brevard school board member who garnered attention by defeating a future cofounder of Moms for Liberty. In launching her Senate bid, Jenkins said she will counter what she described as “MAGA extremists,” while working to lower the cost of living, protecting access to health care and ensuring that every Floridian has the “freedom to thrive.”

The European Commission president says she plans to seek sanctions and a partial trade suspension against Israel over its war in Gaza. Wednesday’s announcement marked a sharp turnaround for Ursula von der Leyen, a longtime supporter of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

1000 Friends of Florida is urging the 2026 Legislature to repeal damaging provisions of a new Florida law. WMNF’s Julia Ferrara reports on why the non-profit advocacy group is concerned about the law and what it could mean for Floridians.

More than a year after closing to start on millions of dollars in renovations, the Florida Holocaust Museum is opening its doors again. WMNF’s Chris Young takes us to the ribbon-cutting in St. Petersburg.

The Scoop, produced by Seán Kinane.

WMNF anchors Seán Kinane, Chris Young, Lisa Marzilli, Josh Holton, Randi Zimmerman. 
WMNF News Director Seán Kinane
WMNF reporters Chris Young, Lisa Marzilli, Seán Kinane, Zoe Sax, Julia Ferrara, Leah Burdick, Josh Holton
Special thanks to Taylor Lovejoy and Corey Beltran.

Theme music, Fresh06, by Stian via archive.org – CC-BY-NC-SA 2.5
https://archive.org/details/jamendo-001084/02.mp3
The Scoop logo by Robin Milcowitz / Greener Pixels / greenerpixels.com / WMNF

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There are 13 candidates, and one write-in, on the ballot for the special election for the District 5 Tampa City Council seat. A dozen of them made it into the WMNF Tampa studio last Friday for a special two-hour forum moderated by hosts of public affairs programs Down N Dirty and The Skinny.

Topics included stormwater, police accountability, spending taxpayer money for a Rays stadium, allowing police to assist ICE, preemption, Sulphur Springs and so much more.

We also discussed whether or not a non-Black candidate should represent the district—and, yes, even each candidate’s favorite spot to eat in District 5.

In the first hour, we heard from: Albert Cooke, Alison A. Hewitt, Ariel Amirah Danley*, Audette Bruce, Carroll “Carrie” West, Darrell Ashley Dudney, Elvis Piggott.

The second hour featured: Jose N. Vazquez Figueroa, Juawana Colbert, Naya Young, Thomas DeGeorge Jr, and Thomas Scott.

Click the links above to listen.

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Outside West Pasco Government Center on Monday around 60 people gathered to share their thoughts about why Congress member Gus Bilirakis should not be in office.

Demonstrators held a mock town hall meeting, even though their member of Congress was not there. People spoke to a photo of Bilirakis proped up on a chair.

An organizer with Pasco Resists recorded demonstrators sharing why they are against Bilirakis’ politics. The video will be sent to Rep. Bilirakis.

• Crowd gathers to protest outside the West Pasco Government Center. Photo by Leah Burdick
• A sign that rest outside the crowd explaining what they are here for. Photo by Leah Burdick
• A popular sign at the protest saying Evict the Tick Gus Bilirakis. Photo by Leah Burdick.
• Larry Richards calling speakers up to speak to the crowd. Photo by Leah Burdick
• A speaker sharing why she does not support Gus Bilirakis. Photo by Leah Burdick

Some common issues brought up were how he does not care for the people, how he is not helping veterans and how he only cares about President Donald Trump.

“You sat there while our First Amendment rights have been trampled on? While the Fifth Amendment rights to due processes have been ignored. You have ignored Congressional mandates,” said Veteran Chris Cain.

Cain was an airborne combat engineer and said he took an oath to defend and protect the Constitution and has lived on this foundation. He said he wants Bilirakis to do the same.

“We don’t need a bureaucrat. We need somebody who’s going to stand for that oath and grow a spine,” Cain said.

More than 10 people spoke passionately and emotionally. Listeners agreed and chanted back at times. One speaker even held back tears after sharing a personal story.

“People have to feel that it’s okay to protest. And when they see signs, like, oh, my gosh, I thought I was the only one. No, you’re not,” Jackie Dicaire said.

Dicaire is a retired teacher who thought it was funny that when they planned to oppose Bilirakis, he didn’t show up.

She said it was great to still see people come and speak out even though he was not there.

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Students for a Democratic Society held a march that started in front of City Hall to the Convention Center to protest against the Turning Point USA (TPUSA) Student Action Summit and the Trump administration.

What started off as a peaceful protest quickly grew with aggression and frustration. At 3 p.m. participants gathered outside City Hall and were listening to speakers and learning the chants they would cheer outside the Convention Center.

Even then, the tension quickly grew when counter protestors arrived in Make America Great Again apparel weaving in and out of the crowd.

There was not one meaning to why the organization gathered the community to go against the summit. There were participants there to fight against the Trump administration, Alligator Alcatraz, human rights, immigration and more.

Vicky Tong was the leader of the protest against TPUSA. She said they gathered everyone today and collaborated with other organizations to show that the community does not support the summit.

“They are holding a student action submit here and are specifically targeting student and young people with their agenda,” Tong said.

• No Kings No Dictator signs in the bushes outside City Hall. Photo by Leah Burdick
• Giant toilet paper roll sign about how TPUSA needs to be flushed away. Photo by Leah Burdick
• Defeat the Trump Agenda Banner. Photo by Leah Burdick
• No Kings Resist sign. Photo by Leah Burdick
• Opposing protestor interaction. Photo by Leah Burdick

She said TPUSA is an extremely far right organization that has a racist, sexist and anti-immigrant agenda.

Nick Molin said he came out for the protest to show that these views from TPUSA are not acceptable or wanted in Tampa.

“They are a conservative organization that aligns with Donald Trump policies and I kind of oppose must of his policies myself,” Molin said.

Molin said he specifically came out to protest against the funding of ICE and Alligator Alcatraz.

After the speeches and refreshments, the protest headed over to the Convention Center around 5 p.m.

According to multiple news outlets there some physical altercations where Tampa Police Department had to step in.

Besides the small aggressive altercations, spectators could see signs about “No Kings,” “No ICE on Campus,” and the “Due Process.”

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We were privileged to welcome Florida House Minority Party Leader, Democrat Fentrice Driskell, representing District 67 in Tampa, today on MidPoint. Leader Driskell has served in the Florida House since 2018. She is term-limited now and deciding on her next steps in politics. Although she did not confirm her intentions on MidPoint, it seems certain that she will find a way to continue her public service, probably in an elected State office.

We asked Leader Driskell what she sees on the ground from the voters of Florida that might make the Democrats more competitive in our next elections. “I would say that right now, there certainly seem to be sharp lines between Republican and Democratic elected officials. But when I speak to the people, they just want solutions, and I’m starting to get the sense that they don’t care who’s delivering them, whether it’s Republicans or Democrats. But they want some solutions, and they don’t know what is… they don’t like what is happening. They don’t like the direction that the State is moving in, or that the country is moving in. So, I think there’ll be some real opportunities in the upcoming elections.”

Florida has held a number of special elections recently. In each of them, except the election for State House in Orlando’s District 35, which was first won by Democrat Tim Keen in the special election, but then lost in the general election, the Democrat has outperformed expectations, but still lost. Why? Leader Driskell believes these performances are significant and bode well for the future. She says, “It’s really difficult in the general, because you’ve got a lot of weight on the top of the ticket, either that’s going to push you up or pull you down. I will tell you that each of the candidates in our in our program outperformed the top of the ticket because we were on the ground doing that data-driven, messaging, engaging with voters, and re-enrolling people, and vote by mail. The plan is there.”

What is the plan? According to Leader Driskell, it shouldn’t be the Howard Dean “run a candidate in every race” strategy that the Florida Democrats touted in the last election. According to Leader Driskell, “I don’t like this strategy of filing candidates in every seat. I talked about it a little last cycle. But now that I’m, you know… we’ll speak real freely. It’s not a good strategy. We say that, ‘Oh, it drives democratic excitement.’ What it really does is drive Republican turnout in districts where the numbers are not close. It makes it more difficult for Democrats because we tend to not have as much money as the Republicans raise. You know, they got all the billionaires and stuff to give them all the money. So, we need to be strategic. We need to focus on a few seats and build this brick by brick. Frankly, that’s what the Republicans did when they built up power and took over control in Tallahassee.”

Leader Driskell also informed us that Governor DeSantis just vetoed all State funding for all public media. That is a loss to WMNF and all public radio stations of approximately $100,000, which we will have to make up in our fundraising from listeners.  Indeed, if the U.S. Congress also passes its budget which will de-fund public media and claw back grants already funded, then WMNF stands to lose another $137,000 this year, and we will get no additional funding in years to come.

While she ponders her next move in politics, Fentrice Driskell is back practicing law with the firm of Swope, Rodante, and listening closely to the citizens of Florida. She can still be reached at https://fentriceforflorida.com/

You can listen to our complete interview with her at your convenience, here, (Let it play on. We had a brief, little tech problem,) on the WMNF app, or as a WMNF MidPoint podcast on Spotify or Apple Music.

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Over 30 years ago, Florida voters amended the state’s constitution to limit legislators’ terms to eight years.

At the Tampa Tiger Bay Club Friday, political leaders favored overturning term limits. 

Former state legislators Bob Henriquez and Tom Lee, current State Senator Darryl Rouson, and lobbyist Ron Pierce spoke at the forum.

All were in favor of abolishing term limits – including Rouson, who’s served for the last 17 years in Tallahassee. 

“Big issues like transportation, like housing, don’t lend themselves to an eight-year time frame, so when you come in, you’ve got to hit the ground running and try to get big policy stuff done in very short order,” Rouson said.

But panelists like Henriquez, who is the Hillsborough County Property Appraiser, say it might be a hard sell to voters. 

“That’s a hard discussion – trying to explain to the general public, if you’re already unsatisfied with what is happening, potentially at the local level or the state level, trying to explain to them ‘we’re going to change it so the people you already maybe have questions about” can serve longer,” Henriquez said.

Panelists also said the most likely way for term limits to be dismantled would be through a citizen-led ballot initiative- something Ron DeSantis has made harder through a new law signed this year.

The post Should Florida change term limits? Tuesday Cafe appeared first on WMNF 88.5 FM.

On Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Mark Walker imposed a preliminary injunction on a major provision of HB 1205, according to a press release from Florida Decides Healthcare, a non-profit trying to get Medicaid expansion on the ballot next year.

ORIGINAL:

The League of Women Voters of Florida and the League of United Latin American Citizens took legal action Tuesday. 

The organizations are seeking an injunction against a state law that makes getting amendments on ballots in Florida harder. 

 The law, House Bill 1205, places heavy restrictions on the citizen-led amendment process. 

Among other things, the law requires many petition collectors to disclose detailed personal information to the state, and puts harsh criminal penalties on those who make mistakes in the process.

Cecile Scoon, Co-president of the League of Women Voters, said the law is an attempt to silence voters. 

“This pathway for a citizen-led initiative amendment process is our saving grace. And now they’re trying to take that away, also,” Scoon told WMNF.

Cecile Scoon, Co-president of the League of Women Voters of Florida, said in May that the new law has caused worry in petition collectors. 

“They’re upset, they don’t want to be fined, they don’t want to get a felony. They don’t want to cause any trouble for the sponsors of these petitions,” Scoon said in an interview with WMNF in May.

Last year, both recreational marijuana and abortion were placed on the ballot through the petition-gathering process. 

The two groups’ preliminary injunction motion argues the law violates the First and Fourteenth Amendments by infringing on free speech, freedom of association, and due process rights. 

Supporters of the law say the law protects the amendment process from outsiders.

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