RandySF
RandySF's JournalFL-07: Cory Mills' (R) GOP Primary opponent endorses Democrat Jennifer Adams
A Republican who launched a Primary challenge to U.S. Rep. Cory Mills will now support Mills’ Democratic opponent.
Mike Johnson, a conservative activist, said he will vote for Jennifer Adams this November in Florida’s 7th Congressional District.
“This Congressional seat is not about party affiliation. It’s about our local values: honor, integrity, trust, and doing what’s right for our community,” Johnson said.
“It’s about having a Representative who lives here full time. A Representative who cares about local issues and families. I choose to endorse Jennifer Adams as my Representative because she holds many of the American values that we all share together.”
Johnson this year challenged Mills, a New Smyrna Beach Republican. Mills first won election in 2022, flipping a seat controlled by Democrats before a controversial redistricting plan by Gov. Ron DeSantis was enacted.
https://floridapolitics.com/archives/695944-cory-mills-gop-primary-opponent-endorses-democrat-jennifer-adams/
Ron DeSantis claims recreational pot measure creates 'Big Weed cartel' with legal immunity
Gov. Ron DeSantis alleged a recreational pot measure won’t actually decriminalize all marijuana. Instead, he said Amendment 3 will leave the entire cannabis market in the hands of a “Big Weed cartel.”
“The media will refer to it as marijuana, recreational legalization. That’s not entirely true,” DeSantis said at an Orlando news conference. “It’s a partial legalization because this has been put in by basically one big weed company that spent $75-$80 million.”
That was an apparent swipe at Trulieve, the state’s largest medical cannabis company, which has now put nearly $87.3 million behind the Smart & Safe Florida campaign promoting Amendment 3. The proposed constitutional amendment, if passed, would legalize recreational marijuana.
Of note, the amendment doesn’t address how the sale and distribution of marijuana would be regulated. The state’s medical marijuana program, governed by statutes passed by the Republican-controlled Florida Legislature after a constitutional amendment passed in 2016, has a limited number of licenses. Vertical integration requirements say companies can only sell the marijuana that the same business grows.
https://floridapolitics.com/archives/696162-ron-desantis-claims-recreational-pot-measure-creates-big-weed-cartel-with-legal-immunity/
Ron DeSantis appeals to pro-choice voters to reject Amendment 4 over vagueness
Gov. Ron DeSantis is making his case to pro-choice voters to reject Amendment 4, as he argues the abortion rights initiative is written vaguely.
DeSantis spoke at an Orlando press conference and addressed the upcoming constitutional amendment that seeks to enshrine abortion rights — a regular conversation topic for the Governor ahead of the November election.
“Look if you’re pro-life, obviously you’re going to vote against this once you figure out what’s in it,” DeSantis said. “But there’s other people, maybe they’re not pro-life, but their view is like, ‘OK, let the mother talk to the physician.’ … The physician doesn’t have to be a part of it under this amendment, how crazy is that?”
“The whole thing is built on fraud,” he add. “If you read that amendment, they don’t define any of the terms that are in the amendment.”
It’s become a war of words — as well as lawsuits and criminal complaints, too — between DeSantis and Floridians Protecting Freedom, the political committee behind Amendment 4.
https://floridapolitics.com/archives/696175-ron-desantis-appeals-to-pro-choice-voters-to-reject-amendment-4-over-vagueness/
Ron DeSantis-tied committee spends big on Georgia Ritz-Carlton retreat as it fights pot, abortion initiatives in Florida
Will a six-figure campaign event at a Georgia resort help defeat two Florida constitutional amendments this Fall?
The Florida Freedom Fund, a committee opposing initiatives to legalize recreational marijuana and restore abortion access, blew through nearly $116,000 between Aug. 31 and Sept. 6, even though it raised just over $41,000 in the same time.
Nearly all of that spending covered lodging and event space at The Ritz-Carlton Reynolds, Lake Oconee, in Greensboro, Georgia. That spend, reported on Sept. 5, constitutes nearly $115,000 in campaign expenditures, more than a third of the total campaign expenses since the committee launched in May.
That most recent fundraising report marks the second time since launch that the campaign’s expenditures exceeded its intake, and the first time the difference was more than $1,000.
https://floridapolitics.com/archives/696216-ron-desantis-tied-committee-spends-big-on-georgia-ritz-carlton-retreat-as-it-fights-pot-abortion-initiatives-in-florida/
'Wake up': Dave Portnoy backs Florida's recreational pot measure, riling conservatives online
It’s about freedom.’
Dave Portnoy likes football, pizza and pot. One of those things is largely illegal in the Sunshine State, but shouldn’t be, he said.
Portnoy took to X over the weekend to voice support for Amendment 3. If approved by 60% of Florida voters in November, the measure will essentially legalize recreational pot in the state for people 21 and older.
He laid out his case in a roughly one-minute video Sunday, which by Monday afternoon had close to 16 million views, 73,000 likes, 5,800 shares and 5,400 comments.
“Listen, it’s Sunday afternoon, football on TV, pizza on the way in Massachusetts — smoking a little weed, just enjoying my day. Florida, you can’t do this. In my Miami house, you can’t do this. Why?” Portnoy said while repeatedly blowing smoke from a joint into the camera.
https://floridapolitics.com/archives/696152-wake-up-dave-portnoy-backs-floridas-recreational-pot-measure-riling-conservatives-online/
Door knocking, TV ads, websites: The abortion battle heats up in Florida and it's getting ugly
When Lucy Rodriguez knocks on a front door in West Palm Beach, she connects with the Hispanic resident about Florida’s proposed abortion protections in a way they can relate.
“I’m from the Dominican Republic and I fled for freedom,” she says. “I don’t want my freedoms taken away from me by the government.”
The Dominican Republic is not the only Latin American country where abortion is a crime or where oppressive governments have triggered residents to flee to South Florida, and that’s what Rodriguez hopes to tap into as she rallies support for Florida’s abortion rights amendment.
Campaigns for and against an amendment enshrining abortion rights in Florida’s constitution are heating up, with election day less than two months away. Organizations are holding news conferences, volunteers are going door-to-door, church leaders are denouncing the amendment from their pulpits, groups are slamming the airwaves with advertisements, and phone banks are reaching out to voters.
The intensity of the battle reflects what’s at stake in Florida, where a six-week abortion ban went into effect May 1. In November, Florida voters will either vote yes on Amendment 4 to allow abortion up to the time of viability through a change to the state constitution or no to keep Florida’s six-week abortion ban passed by the state Legislature and signed into law by Gov. Ron DeSantis. Abortion protections have become one of the most hotly contested and controversial issues in this year’s elections, with several states, including Florida, voting on similar constitutional amendments.
https://www.orlandosentinel.com/2024/09/16/door-knocking-tv-ads-websites-the-abortion-battle-heats-up-in-florida-and-its-getting-ugly/
Judge: Orange County's growth-control measures can go on November ballot
A pair of growth-control measures set to face Orange County voters in November can remain on the ballot, surviving an effort by a landowner to have them tossed out.
Chief Judge Lisa Munyon denied a request for a temporary injunction filed by Lake Pickett North LLC, which owns property in rural east Orange. County leaders have rejected various development proposals on those ranchlands over the years, and one of the ballot measures enacts even stricter rules to develop.
Lake Pickett North, which most recently proposed the “Sustanee” project of 1,800 homes, alleged the county hadn’t prepared a business-impact statement prior to adopting the initiatives as required by state law, thus making the referendum null and void.
The suit challenged two separate county charter amendments: One would place further protections for rural areas within a so-called “rural boundary,” while the other would require a super-majority vote from county commissioners to approve voluntary annexations of unincorporated land into cities.
https://www.orlandosentinel.com/2024/09/16/judge-orange-countys-growth-control-measures-can-go-on-november-ballot/
Pa.'s richest man, Jeff Yass, is spending millions to elect the Republican AG candidate in November
A political action committee primarily funded by Pennsylvania’s richest man has put its thumb on the scale of the race for the state’s next attorney general, in hopes of electing the Republican candidate.
Almost half of Republicans’ expected ad buys — totaling approximately $6 million — in the state are from the Commonwealth Leaders Fund, a PAC primarily funded by Jeff Yass, to support Republican nominee Dave Sunday, the York County district attorney, against Democrat Eugene DePasquale, a former state auditor general.
As of last week, Republicans were set to more than double Democrats’ spending on TV and streaming advertisements, with GOP political action committees reserving more than $13 million through November to Democrats’ $5 million in reservations.
Yass, of Lower Merion Township, is a billionaire school choice advocate who often gives to Republican candidates. The cofounder of Susquehanna International Group, one of Wall Street’s biggest trading firms, Yass has an estimated net worth of $49.6 billion, according to Forbes.
https://www.inquirer.com/politics/election/attorney-general-election-spending-jeff-yass-20240912.html
Pa. counties can start printing mail ballots after state Supreme Court rules Cornel West can't join ballot
Pennsylvania counties can begin printing and distributing mail ballots after the Pennsylvania Department of State finalized the list of candidates who will appear on the ballot Monday.
Under state law, Monday was the first day counties could send ballots to voters but that work couldn’t start Monday morning as Cornel West’s attempt to be included on the ballot was still pending before the state Supreme Court.
Monday afternoon the state Supreme Court upheld a lower court decision that West, who had sought to run for president as a member of the “Justice for All” party, could not be included on November’s ballot.
The Pennsylvania Department of State rejected his candidacy because of missing paperwork, a decision the court affirmed.
https://www.inquirer.com/politics/election/pennsylvania-mail-ballot-distribution-delay-20240916.html
PA-07: Wild, Mackenzie each claim the center in Carbon County debate
FRANKLIN TWP., CARBON COUNTY, Pa. — In an hourlong debate Sunday, Democratic U.S. Rep. Susan Wild and her general election Republican opponent, state Rep. Ryan Mackenzie, each cast themselves as a moderate running against a radical, meeting attacks with attacks.
In making her case for a fourth term representing the 7th District, Wild, D-Lehigh Valley, largely leaned on her record in Congress while attacking her opponent as “an extremist on women’s rights… on worker’s rights, on education.”
Mackenzie, while highlighting his record as a Republican representing the state House's 187th District, worked to tie Wild to President Joe Biden’s handling of the economy, immigration and foreign policy, repeatedly referring to “failed policies of Joe Biden and Susan Wild.”
Given the debate’s setting at Blue Ridge Communications' TV studio, Mackenzie was eager to remind voters of a leaked video in which Wild said she was “dismayed” that Carbon County became part of her district because residents “drank the Trump Kool-Aid.”
https://www.lehighvalleynews.com/elections/wild-mackenzie-each-claim-the-center-in-carbon-county-debate
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