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Presented by Alibaba: Kimberly Leonard's must-read briefing on what's hot, crazy or shady about politics in the Sunshine State | | | | |  | | By Kimberly Leonard | | | Good morning and welcome to Thursday. | 
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg visited Florida last week. | Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images |
Florida is getting an unusually high amount of foot traffic from national Democrats.
Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff, who will be in Miami Friday, is just the latest member of President Joe Biden’s inner circle to make the rounds here. Others who’ve dropped in recently include Vice President Kamala Harris, First Lady Jill Biden, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, Veteran Affairs Secretary Denis McDonough and Attorney General Merrick Garland. Asked whether they were trying to send a message, the Democratic National Committee told Playbook it considered Florida to be “ground zero” for the MAGA “extreme agenda” and would use “every opportunity” to highlight policies it found problematic. DNC spokesperson Rhyan Lake singled out Florida’s abortion ban and the high cost of housing and health care. According to the Florida Democratic Party, Harris visited Florida 10 times since she was elected. FDP Chair Nikki Fried praised the Biden administration for showing up. Emhoff’s visit will focus on how men can help defend abortion rights, McClatchy’s Michael Wilner was first to report. Buttigieg was in Miami last week highlighting Biden’s bipartisan infrastructure law and FLOTUS on Oct. 16 pushed for cancer treatments in South Florida. Yet while national Dems descend on the Sunshine State, it’s hard to ignore how much outsized influence Florida Republicans have nationally. Former President Donald Trump is the frontrunner for the GOP nomination for president, and Gov. Ron DeSantis is still in second place, even from a distance. U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz ousted the House speaker and Florida is still one of the top places for Republicans and Democrats alike to come and raise money. At the state level, Republicans also still vastly outnumber Democrats in voter registration numbers, 5.1 million to Democrats' 4.5 million. “The DNC is so out of touch that they believe attacking the No. 1 state when it comes to domestic migration is a winning strategy,” said Christian Ziegler, chair of the Republican Party of Florida, highlighting one of the areas DeSantis has hit the White House. — WHERE'S RON? Gov. DeSantis will appear on CNN’s The Source with Kaitlan Collins in the 9 p.m. hour. Have a tip, story, suggestion, birthday, anniversary, new job, or any other nugget for Playbook? Get in touch at: kleonard@politico.com | | A message from Alibaba: U.S. companies sold $66 billion worth of goods last year through Alibaba’s global online marketplace, including Florida-based companies DS Laboratories and Timberwolf Pet Foods. These sales are helping local businesses grow and having a major economic impact – adding $1.7 billion to Florida’s economy, supporting 15,000 local jobs and $936 million in wages. Learn more about how Alibaba is positively impacting Florida’s economy. | | | |  | ... DATELINE TALLAHASSEE ... | | |  Rep. Randy Fine, R-Palm Bay, answers a question about his House Bill 3-C: Independent Special Districts in the House of Representatives on April 20, 2022, at the Capitol in Tallahassee, Fla. | Phil Sears/AP Photo | BOCA RATON BLUES — State Rep. Randy Fine is opening up about his bid for the Florida Atlantic University presidency. And does he have some things to say. The Brevard County Republican’s name first surfaced as a candidate months ago, along with a DeSantis endorsement. But the FAU search took an unusual turn amid allegations of improper procedures and questions that triggered a probe by the inspector general for the state university system. Fine was not named as a finalist for the job as all this was unwinding. But this week, after Fine flipped his endorsement for president from DeSantis to Trump, the governor suggested to reporters that Fine’s rejection by FAU’s search committee may have contributed to his displeasure. (Fine insisted his endorsement was because DeSantis has not done enough to confront antisemitism in the state.) Fine, never one to avoid a dustup, responded by saying that, yes, he applied for the FAU job but only after the DeSantis administration asked him to. And even then, he said he was reluctant and waited a month before agreeing to it. “I’m angry that I stupidly said I would do it," he said. "I’m not angry it didn’t work out. It dragged out and there was a lot of publicity around it. The governor couldn’t get his own board of trustees to do what he wanted. Good luck with the Mullahs of Iran." A senior official close to the governor disputed this. "Randy and multiple intermediaries went to the governor’s office begging to get him the FAU job. They agreed to help but it’s no secret that the Board of Trustees wouldn’t even consider him. Leadership and everyone was eager to be rid of him in the Legislature,” the official, who was granted anonymity because they were not authorized to speak, said. Andrew Romeo, the communications director for DeSantis’ presidential campaign, said in response to Fine’s comments that “just a few months ago he was tweeting how Ron DeSantis was the most pro-Israel governor in Florida history, so I think that tell you all need to know about the truth and motivation of his current statements.” Asked why he didn’t express his sentiments earlier, Fine replied: “I was just a good soldier. I’m generally a loyal guy. Today gives me no joy. I’m not someone who thinks I got revenge.” — Gary Fineout, Andrew Atterbury, Kimberly Leonard NOT OVER YET — The U.S. Supreme Court is giving a green light to a $2.5 billion gambling deal between Florida and the state’s Seminole Tribe, reports POLITICO’s Gary Fineout. In a two-page decision released on Wednesday, the court stated that it had denied the stay request and vacated the administrative hold put in place by Chief Justice John Roberts. But the ruling also included a statement by Justice Brett Kavanaugh, who raised questions about whether the 2021 gambling legislation pushed by DeSantis “raises serious equal protection issues.” STILL WAITING — The Food and Drug Administration is unlikely to issue a decision this month on whether Florida will be authorized to import cheaper prescription drugs from Canada, reports News Service of Florida’s Jim Saunders. “A court document filed this week said a back-and-forth between state and federal officials about details of the proposal will prevent a decision this month. The document, filed Monday by attorneys for the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration, said the state submitted a revised proposal Friday to try to address additional questions raised by the FDA.” STUDY — 90 percent of Floridians believe climate change is happening, reports the South Florida Sun Sentinel’s Bill Kearney. The total is higher than when the issue is polled nationally, probably because of Floridians’ experiences with hurricanes, concludes one of the study’s authors. The polling also found most Floridians want the state and federal government to help, though they're more split on the extent to which they think humans cause climate change. MANAGED CARE — A dozen companies are vying for billions of dollars in Florida Medicaid contracts, which pay for care for 3.8 million Floridians, reports Florida Politics’ Christine Jordan Sexton. | | PENINSULA AND BEYOND | | | | | | GO INSIDE THE CAPITOL DOME: From the outset, POLITICO has been your eyes and ears on Capitol Hill, providing the most thorough Congress coverage — from political characters and emerging leaders to leadership squabbles and policy nuggets during committee markups and hearings. We're stepping up our game to ensure you’re fully informed on every key detail inside the Capitol Dome, all day, every day. Start your day with Playbook AM, refuel at midday with our Playbook PM halftime report and enrich your evening discussions with Huddle. Plus, stay updated with real-time buzz all day through our brand new Inside Congress Live feature. Learn more and subscribe here. | | | | | JACKSONVILLE — “Mayor Donna Deegan approves no-bid contract for a firm that backed her campaign,” by Jacksonville Florida Times-Union’s David Bauerlein. The Professional Services Evaluation Committee unanimously approved the contract to Langton Consulting after the mayor's office said its research showed the firm was the only one “in the county that could provide all the services in the same contract — a justification that City Council member Nick Howland said ‘just smells odd to me’ … Langton Consulting contributed $2,500 to the Donna for Duval political committee in April. Company President Mike Langton and his wife, Laura, also hosted a campaign event for Deegan at their home in January.” BACKING DESANTIS — The Florida Sheriffs Association wants to file a friend-of-the-court brief in support of DeSantis’ suspension of state attorney Monique Worrell, reports News Service of Florida. Worrell speaks on the suspension: “This is not about state attorneys and how they use their discretion,” Worrell said at an event this week, per the Sarasota Herald-Tribune’s Melissa Pérez-Carrillo. “This is about state attorneys who are elected Democrats and ensuring that the governor can't take over the politics throughout the entire state by removing anyone who is not politically aligned with him."
| | | | A message from Alibaba:   | | | | | DATELINE D.C. | |
END OF AN ERA — Mike Johnson of Louisiana is the U.S. House’s next speaker. After weeks of disunity, Florida Republicans joined the rest of the GOP conference in backing him.
So who is the new speaker from Louisiana? Florida Republicans called the former attorney “kind” and a “constitutional conservative.” Johnson had been serving as vice chair of the conference — a now-vacant role that Florida Rep. Brian Mast is reportedly considering, per POLITICO's Olivia Beavers — and before that was a constitutional lawyer. “Everybody up here thinks they’re a constitutional scholar. He is.” Rep. Neal Dunn (R-Fla.) said of Johnson. “It's a new era. He hit on all of the things that I really have felt are broken in this place,” Rep. Kat Cammack said after the vote. “A lot of the broken elements that have brought us to this point, and he's laid out a plan to fix them.”
|  Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., talks with reporters on Capitol Hill, Friday, Oct. 20, 2023, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mariam Zuhaib) | AP | Even Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), who led the ouster of former Speaker Kevin McCarthy, was taking a victory lap and said he was “thrilled” that Johnson was speaker instead of McCarthy. “We took a little longer than expected because Kevin McCarthy was actively sabotaging our speaker selection process,” Gaetz said. “But we ended up with the right man.” Meanwhile, Florida Democrats are wary of a House led by Johnson, especially for his stance on abortion, LGBTQ+ rights and his role in trying to prevent certifying the 2020 election results. “The people I’ve spoken to about him have indicated to me that he's a decent man, however, he does have some ideological differences with me,” Rep. Federica Wilson (D-Fla.) said. “I guess I have my fingers crossed.” Rep. Jared Moskowitz said the new speaker made no difference. “It's gonna be the same thing we've been doing here for the last nine months," he concluded. INCOMING — The federal government is sending $106 million to Florida to help low-income people reduce their home energy bills, reports WUSF’s Gabriella Paul.
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PHOTO CAPTURES CIRCLE OF LIFE — Photographer George Stinson snapped an action-packed shot of a long snake caught in a heron’s month while it coiled around his neck, and it was published in the Tallahassee Democrat. How it ended: The animals let go of each other and each went their own way.
BIRTHDAYS: Monica Russell with KPMG US | | A message from Alibaba: Florida businesses, like DS Laboratories, are taking their businesses global by selling to consumers on Alibaba’s online marketplace.
Dr. Fernando Tamez, CEO of DS Laboratories, who partnered with Alibaba to expand its international business, said, “Today, China is on track to become the brand’s second-largest market. At first, Alibaba seemed too good to be true. Now we’re jumping into every program they offer.”
American companies sold $66 billion worth of products globally last year by partnering with Alibaba. The impact of these sales reaches far beyond Main Street.
In Florida, sales of American products on Alibaba added $1.7 billion to the state economy in a single year, supporting 15,000 local jobs and $936 million in wages for local workers. Learn more about Alibaba’s positive impact on Florida’s economy. | | | | | | | Follow us on Twitter | | | | Subscribe to the POLITICO Playbook family Playbook | Playbook PM | California Playbook | Florida Playbook | Illinois Playbook | Massachusetts Playbook | New Jersey Playbook | New York Playbook | Ottawa Playbook | Brussels Playbook | London Playbook View all our political and policy newsletters | | Follow us | | | | |  |
