A new poll by the University of North Florida’s Public Opinion Research Lab takes the political pulse of Florida residents on issues from vax mandates to tax rollbacks. In hypothetical matchups for governor, Republicans Casey DeSantis and Byron Donalds lead their Democratic opponents, David Jolly and Jerry Demings, by more than 10 points. We ask the lab's director what the results tell us about next year’s gubernatorial race, institutional trust and the state’s contests for attorney general and Senate.

Guest:

• Michael Binder, political science professor at UNF, faculty director at the Public Opinion Research Lab.

Then, an attempted assassination of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. in St. Augustine that had not been previously reported. Though MLK was known to be a target of Klan violence (a famous photo captures him pointing to a bullet hole in the home where he was believed to be staying), the city’s leading civil rights historian recently shared a more direct confrontation, which occurred in front of two other icons of the movement, Kat Twine and Dr. Robert Hayling. We talk to the St. Augustine native and labor reporter who broke the remarkable story about the murder plot, the dramatic confrontation and the eventual victory of humanity over violence.

Guest:

• Hamilton Nolan, labor writer for In These Times; author of The Hammer: Power, Inequality, and the Struggle for the Soul of Labor; creator of the How Things Work Substack.

And, after losing a leg to an IED blast while serving in the U.S. Army in Afghanistan in 2012, Sean Karpf embarked on a new life marked by intense physical and mental health challenges. But more than a decade ago, the nonprofit Wounded Warrior Project helped him connect with college, therapy and eventually resources to open his own small business (fittingly named “A Leg Up Pressure Washing”). On Nov. 8, he joins the program’s Carry Forward 5K held at Wounded Warriors’ Jacksonville headquarters for a fundraiser to benefit former service members around the country.

Guest:

• Sean Karpf, former Army sergeant, owner, A Leg Up Pressure Washing.