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Kimberly Leonard's must-read briefing on what's hot, crazy or shady about politics in the Sunshine State | | | | |  | | By Kimberly Leonard | |  The Supreme Court will take up a Florida law that regulates social media companies. | Francis Chung/E&E News |
Good morning and welcome to Monday.
The Supreme Court’s new term starts today and the justices will, at some point, take up a major Florida law, signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis in 2021, that punishes social media companies who deplatform political candidates. The eventual outcome could pave the way for new state or federal laws regulating technology companies — or stop the effort. The Florida law in question isn’t currently in effect because lower courts blocked it. Under the law, large tech companies such as Facebook, Google and X (formerly known as Twitter) would face Florida Elections Commission fines of $250,000 a day if they remove a statewide candidate from their sites, and of $25,000 a day for axing other candidates. Non-political users would also be allowed to sue the companies when they’re taken offline. The first-of-its-kind law came about after DeSantis complained that tech companies tried to censor conservative viewpoints in the wake of former President Donald Trump losing his social media platforms following the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. YouTube also removed a roundtable DeSantis shot in which panelists questioned whether masks worked to mitigate the spread of Covid-19. A lot has changed since DeSantis gave the bill his signature. The governor authorized the bill exactly two years to the day from when he launched his bid to challenge Trump for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination. It’s yet another example of how DeSantis tries to balance wanting to take Trump’s place while appealing to his base. DeSantis also signed the bill before Elon Musk bought the website formerly known as Twitter, and before DeSantis would go on to use the platform to announce his glitchy presidential bid. The law has a notable carve out, that’s hard to imagine today, for a company "that owns and operates a theme park or entertainment complex" (translation: Disney). The case likely won’t get heard until next year. But in the meantime, DeSantis will surely continue railing against “Big Tech,” an industry that traditionally gives far more generously to Democrats. DeSantis hasn’t rolled out new ideas to go after tech companies during Florida’s forthcoming session, but did sign another bill into law this year giving Floridians more control over how tech companies use their data. He also, however, has embraced tech companies such as Rumble, a video platform alternative to YouTube favored by many conservatives, and has agreed to fundraise with leaders of smaller tech companies. Defenders of banning users or removing posts say that social media companies have the right to limit speech that spreads lies, hate and conspiracy theories. NetChoice and the Computer & Communications Industry Association, which represents Google and Facebook, challenged the laws in court on the basis of free speech. — WHERE'S RON? Nothing official yet announced for Gov. DeSantis. Have a tip, story, suggestion, birthday, anniversary, new job, or any other nugget for Playbook? Get in touch at: kleonard@politico.com |  | ... DATELINE TALLAHASSEE ... | |
REDISTRICTING TRIAL — The trial that started a week ago, over the DeSantis-drawn maps, is resuming at 8:30 a.m. Florida House Minority Leader Fentrice Driskell is expected to take the stand.
LAWSUIT OVER LGBTQ RIGHTS — Florida’s transgender ‘bathroom ban’ challenged in new lawsuit, by POLITICO’s Andrew Atterbury: The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Orlando, targets different state and local officials tasked with carrying out the policy — from the state transportation head appointed by DeSantis to a city code enforcement manager — contending the law is part of a campaign orchestrated by Florida Republicans to "erase” the LGBTQ community. The group alleges that Florida’s law violates their constitutional rights such as viewpoint discrimination protections and is asking a judge to block and eventually overturn it. | | PENINSULA AND BEYOND | |
ESCALATION IN STATE COURT — Disney is demanding texts, emails and other communications in a notice sent over the weekend, writes Mike Schneider of The Associated Press. A notice of subpoena stated that the governor’s office will be required to provide the documents by October 27.
SCHOOL BOARD RACE — “Senator’s wife seeks Hillsborough school board seat,” by Tampa Bay Times’ William March: “One of the candidates challenging Hillsborough School Board Chairman Nadia Combs is Layla Collins, the wife of freshman state Sen. Jay Collins, R-Tampa, a DeSantis protégé. If the 2022 election that brought Jay Collins into office is any indication, Layla Collins could get huge backing from Republican Party coffers and from DeSantis, who has vowed to remake Florida school boards.” THROWN OUT — Judge tosses lawsuit that challenged state takeover of Gainesville utilities, by POLITICO’s Gary Fineout: The lawsuit tried to block a law that shifts control of Gainesville’s municipal utility away from elected city officials to a new board handpicked by DeSantis. | | | DATELINE D.C. | | |
|  Rep. Byron Donalds (R-Fla.) speaks with reporters outside the U.S. Capitol Sept. 29, 2023. (Francis Chung/POLITICO via AP Images) | Francis Chung/POLITICO |
A government shutdown has been averted for another 45 days. Congress passed a spending extension, which President Joe Biden signed into law, that also included $16 billion in disaster relief funding pushed by Florida Republican Sens. Rick Scott and Marco Rubio.
Over in the House, Florida Republicans were divided. Only eight voted for the spending extension — Reps. Neal Dunn, John Rutherford, Gus Bilirakis, Laurel Lee, Vern Buchanan, Mario Diaz Balart, Maria Salazar and Carlos Gimenez. Ten other Florida Republicans joined 81 fellow GOP members in opposing the bill. Rep. Matt Gaetz was one of the group’s most vocal members, who led Reps. Kat Cammack, Aaron Bean, Michael Waltz, Bill Posey, Cory Mills, Daniel Webster, Greg Steube, Brian Mast and Scott Franklin in voting against it. Two members missed the vote — Reps. Anna Paulina Luna and Reps. Byron Donalds — who both said they would have voted no. Donalds said the vote closed before he arrived. “Having a clean continuing resolution that doesn't secure our border, does not cut any spending, really puts us in a bad spot in my view,” Donalds told POLITICO leaving the Capitol on Saturday. “We had a real opportunity yesterday to do something major and that was a missed opportunity.” All eight Florida Democrats voted in favor. “We were getting disaster aid,” Rep. Jared Moskowitz said. “I’m getting 90% of what I want, I'm not gonna let the perfect become the enemy of the good.” — Mia McCarthy THE SPENDING BILL MIGHT COST KEVIN MCCARTHY HIS JOB — Gaetz is reaching out to Dems about ousting McCarthy, and a motion to vacate could come as soon as this week, POLITICO’s Congress team reported: “I do intend to file a motion to vacate against Speaker McCarthy this week. I think we need to rip off the Band-Aid. I think we need to move on with new leadership that can be trustworthy,” Gaetz told CNN host Jake Tapper. VAX EXEMPTION LAWSUIT — “U.S. sues Pensacola furniture store, insurance company, over vaccine mandates,” by Florida Phoenix’s Michael Moline: One of the lawsuits involves an assistant manager at Hank’s furniture in Pensacola, Fla., who was fired and denied a religious exemption. | | | DESANTISLAND | | |
STERMON INVESTIGATION — “Prominent GOP donor, now dead, accused of using Taylor Swift tickets to coerce young woman,” by the Jacksonville Florida Times-Union’s Nate Monroe: Kent Stermon, a "Northeast Florida powerbroker who nurtured friendships with a slew of local and state officials, was under investigation at the time he killed himself this past December for a ‘bizarre and fraudulent scheme’ in which he tried to trick a significantly younger woman into sending him topless pictures in exchange for VIP access to a Taylor Swift concert in Tampa, state prosecutors disclosed Friday in a report detailing their 10-month investigation.”
RUFO'S PANEL — “‘No enemies to the right’: DeSantis ally hosts debate hedging white nationalism,” by The Guardian’s Jason Wilson: “Conservative activist Christopher Rufo, who is a close ally of DeSantis, hosted a social media debate in which one participant argued that conservatives should cooperate with a hypothetical white nationalist dictator ‘in order to destroy the power of the left.’” | | CAMPAIGN MODE | |
NO TO VEEP — DeSantis wouldn’t be interested in becoming Trump’s running mate, he told Fox News Business' "Sunday Morning Futures."
WHODUNIT — Trump and DeSantis are now sparring over who turned Florida red, writes POLITICO’s Olivia Alafriz: “I just wish if he was the one that turned Florida red, that he wouldn’t have turned Georgia and Arizona blue,” DeSantis said at the California GOP convention, shortly after Trump delivered a speech claiming credit for Florida’s political transformation. AUDITIONS TO IMPRESS MEGADONORS — “Major GOP donors eye Nikki Haley and Ron DeSantis as the top Trump alternatives,” by NBC News: “A collective of major Republican donors, known as the American Opportunity Alliance, is summoning representatives from both the DeSantis and Haley campaigns to Dallas on Oct. 13 to make presentations about why the deep-pocketed donor group should back them as the main Trump alternative in the GOP race.” PIVOTING — “DeSantis super PAC cuts back Iowa, New Hampshire TV ads in shift,” by Bloomberg’s Gregory Korte: It’s part of a transition from broadcast television into streaming and online ads. ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION HARDLINERS — “With unrealistic immigration proposals, DeSantis and Trump try to outdo each other,” by NYT’s Nicholas Nehamas and Eileen Sullivan: Deporting millions of immigrants who entered the country illegally since Biden took office, as DeSantis has promised, would require hiring more “Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers, authorize widespread raids into immigrant communities, significantly expand immigration detention space to meet national standards and substantially grow the fleet of airplanes used for deportations. Billions more dollars would need to be spent on bolstering immigration courts to adjudicate cases within months instead of years.” | | ODDS, ENDS AND FLORIDA MEN | |
TO BEE OR NOT TO BEE — “‘Oh, honey!’: More than 8,000 bees found outside Florida sheriff’s office,” by WFLA’s Kaycee Sloan: The Charlotte County Sheriff’s office relocated the bees and assured Facebook followers that they had a “great house-swarming party.”
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