- [Narrator] This is a production of WEDU PBS.

Tampa, St. Petersburg, Sarasota.

- [Narrator 1] Right now on WEDU, there's a huge surge in volunteer support in Florida for Democratic candidate Kamala Harris.

The Rays Stadium gets the final okay from the Pinellas County Commission.

Sarasota State Senator Joe Gruters breaks with his party on the issue of legalizing small amounts of marijuana.

And Democrats try again to paint Rick Scott as an opponent of Social Security and Medicare.

All this and more, next, on "Florida This Week."

(upbeat music) (upbeat music continues) Welcome back.

Joining us on the panel this week, Robin Lockett is the regional director in Tampa Bay for Florida Rising and a Democrat.

Janelle Irwin Taylor is a journalist and publisher for Southeast Politics.

Mitch Perry is a political reporter for the Florida Phoenix.

And Natalie King is the Vice President and COO for RSA Consulting and a Republican.

Nice to see all of you.

Thank you for coming to the show.

Well, since Vice President Kamala Harris began her run for the White House, her campaign says that there have been 14,500 new volunteer registrations in Florida, the most of any state.

- [Narrator 2] Nationally, the Harris for President campaign has had more than 170,000 new volunteer signups since President Joe Biden exited the race.

Before Biden dropped out, volunteers for the Democrats here were sparse.

Now that Harris has been tapped by Biden, Democrats in Florida and around the country are energized.

Still, Republicans have a giant one million registered voter advantage in Florida.

And Governor Ron DeSantis said this week on social media, Kamala has no chance in the Sunshine State.

Still, there was one unusual indication of how Harris has affected the race.

In The Villages last weekend, which is a traditional Conservative stronghold about a 90-minute drive northeast of Tampa, there was a golf cart rally with hundreds of Harris supporters flooding a parking lot and driving in parade formation to show their support for the Democratic nominee.

- So The Village is, who knew, Robin?

- I was very, very surprised.

- All right, so what does it say when she gets 14,500 new people signing up to volunteer?

That was as of last week.

Who knows what's gonna happen next?

- Everyone's excited.

It's an energizing time for the Democrats, and we're gonna push it to the end to get her elected.

- Let me ask you what President Trump said.

He's questioning whether or not Kamala Harris is Black.

Former President Trump said, "She was always of Indian heritage.

And she was only promoting Indian heritage.

I don't know that she was Black until a number of years ago, or I didn't know she was Black until a number of years ago when she happened to turn Black and now she wants to be known as Black.

So I don't know, is she Indian or is she Black?"

- Who cares?

- [Rob] What say you?

- I mean, as she would say, "That's weird."

I mean, she's Black and something, so she's Black and of Indian heritage, it doesn't matter.

She's the nominee, hopefully, as of August 19th, and we're gonna go with it.

- So Natalie, there is a lot of excitement around Harris, but in Florida, we are a red state.

So is there any chance that we change from red to a more purple state?

Or even a blue state as a result of the Harris nomination?

- I don't believe that we have any chance of swinging back into purple or blue.

But what we do need to be mindful about is that because there's new energy, because there was no energy prior, right, under with Biden as the candidate, there was nowhere but up to go.

And so with that, I think that the energy is whether or not it can be sustained is gonna be the question.

And so as long as there is a good ground game, which to their credit, so far, outta the gate, the campaign staff has done a phenomenal job across the nation, not just in Florida, but here in Florida, we are a red state.

And whether it's 14,000 or 40,000, I don't think that that's necessarily gonna change.

- Tell me about the energy level on the Republican side for former President Trump.

- I think you can see at any given rally that there is significant energy around him, behind him, in front of him.

So I think that that's gonna persist.

And I think that the thing that has shifted is that in years past, for those that have supported Trump, they've been quiet.

And I think that that has stopped.

And I think that you're gonna start to see more vocalization and more kind of out front conversation and energy there too.

- Mitch, the Democrats have set up campaign offices around the state.

I think there's 12 offices right now.

And they've hired a bunch of staff, more than 35 staff.

- Yeah, in fact, there's more.

I got a number last night, Rob.

It's now 16,452 volunteers as of last night.

Look, this is like a near death experience for the Democrats.

I mean, it was dead party walking with Joe Biden.

So there's a lot of pent-up energy.

What I think Natalie's correct in terms of like, it's not gonna change who's gonna win this election at the state level.

But the down ballot candidates, I saw Sean Shaw last weekend, who's running for County Commission in Hillsborough County, and if he wins his primary, he'll be on the ballot in November.

this is gonna be close election for all Democrats in Hillsborough County.

The margin of the advantage of Democrats that were Republicans has narrowed dramatically since four years ago.

So any county like race is not an automatic given for the Democrats.

So I think this is gonna boost somebody like him, especially with young and Black voters specifically.

- Well, that's what I'm wondering.

Who's most energized by Kamala Harris announcement?

Or the selection of Kamala Harris, in Florida?

And does that help in Florida?

Janelle.

- I think what we need to look at here is, like Mitch said, the down ballot in the immediate future.

But even looking beyond the 2024 election to see if this newfound motivation among the Democratic party translates into bridging some of the gains that the GOP has had in the last several months and several years.

Are they going to be able to chip away at that one million voter registration advantage?

Are they able to invigorate some energy into legislative races and chip away at that super majority and eventually maybe even get it closer to a 50-50 split?

That's what I'm watching.

I don't think that this is going to be something where Florida all of a sudden goes blue.

I don't think we will see an R plus 20 election again like we did in 2022.

- Robin, what's your take?

Is Florida a solid red state?

- No, it's not.

I think turnout is very, very important.

And I think the number of volunteers that everyone is counting is just with the Democratic party.

But I work for an organization, Florida Rising, where we pulled our members together to solidify that we're gonna support Kamala Harris.

So it's a lot of grassroot organizations also that are not being counted, that are on the ground, to mobilize around this election.

And just because the Republicans have a, what, 100?

I mean, - [Rob] A million.

- A million or more.

Every Republican is not gonna vote for Donald Trump.

That's a fact.

And we have a groundswell of everyone, and it's gonna take everyone, right?

Just like it took everyone for President Obama.

It's gonna take everyone to get Kamala over the finish line.

But there's a lot of grassroots organizations throughout the state, people coming into the state, to work on this election.

So Florida is not lost.

- I mean that optimism is certainly prudent when you're looking at it, this from a strategic perspective, if you're supporting Democrats right?

So everything you've said, spot on.

But I will add to that though, that Republicans are historically more likely to show up.

So that one million advantage is actually more when you consider the disparities in who actually shows up on election day to vote or - - And also, you mentioned, Janelle, the double digit victories for Ron DeSantis, Marco Rubio a couple years ago.

It was never gonna be like that this year.

Democrats really did not vote at all in 2022.

They were totally uninspired.

So the margins right now, Donald Trump is winning by six to eight points.

That, we'll see if that changes much there.

But again, I think it's more, again, a lower level, where we'll see any maybe change yet.

- And although Trump may not get all of the Republican votes, neither will VP Harris, right?

When she's in the presidential candidate.

Not all of Democrats are gonna support her either.

And I think that her VP pick is going to be a big determinant on how that plays out.

- Okay, well the effort for a new Tampa Bay Rays Stadium cleared its final political hurdle this week as Pinellas County Commissioners approved funding for a new ballpark and a mixed use development that could transform downtown St. Petersburg.

As the Tampa Bay Times reported, commissioners voted five to two to put $312.5 million dollars toward the design and building of a new ballpark.

The money will come from tourist development tax dollars, which the county can legally spend on a narrow range of projects meant to induce tourism, including sports venues.

Commissioners, Kathleen Peters, Brian Scott, Janet Long, Rene Flowers and Charlie Justice voted in favor of the deal.

Dave Eggers and Chris Latvala voted against it.

So Natalie, the opposition on that commission came from the Republicans.

Some Republicans in St. Pete said we shouldn't subsidize a public stadium.

And some left-wing Democrats said the same thing.

What's your take?

Is this a good idea?

Is it a good plan for Pinellas?

- I think that ultimately the decision was, and a majority did believe that it was a good decision for them.

And I think that we've seen this discussion and debate at the state level.

Whether or not there was going to be funding for stadiums has been a hearty debate.

Chris Latvala had been a big part of that when he was a House member.

So I'm not surprised at some of the discussion that's been had locally.

And this has been an interesting, bedfellows have been a little surprising at times on this issue.

But I think this is gonna ultimately be very valuable for the community that it's gonna be serving.

- Mitch, the Sierra Club was one of the big opponents of this plan because they said, "Look, there's no guarantee.

Even though they raised a promise, but there's no guarantee that there's gonna be an energy-efficient component to the stadium that it's not gonna generate solar energy guaranteed."

- Yeah, they had a lot of issues.

They were wanting to improve the deal.

They were not against it totally.

And the same thing in regards to the affordable housing concept to this.

Look, there's a lot of, I think our long local nightmare is over.

This has been going on for 17 years, going back to 2007.

I was reading an old story last night about the Al Lang ballpark home.

That was the first concept back in 2007.

It was supposed to open in 2011.

- [Rob] A waterfront stadium.

- Yeah, the waterfront stadium.

There's gonna be a ballot measure.

Let's be honest also.

Stu Sternberg, until a few years ago, never wanted to put this ballpark where it's gonna be landing at.

Now, supposedly, it's much more dynamic St. Petersburg.

I think there's a lot of questions that we won't know for about five years from now.

It's gonna take three years to build the stadium.

Look, the Rays right now have the third worst attendance in baseball.

The Miami Marlins had the second worst.

You could argue that Major League Baseball has not worked in the 25 to 30 years it's been in Florida.

This ballpark, once it's up and it'll be looking beautiful, maybe get sell out crowds for a year or two.

But what happens after that?

Chris Latvala said, we talked about, "When all was said and done, this will be a $1 billion publicly funded subsidy to a billionaire.

I'm not willing to put my name on that."

I get why the community vote, the legislators voted for it.

It'd be a big deal not to do it.

But there's still so many questions going forward.

- And Janelle, what do you think about the vote?

- I think this is one of those issues where yes, there is some very vocal opposition.

But I think that vocal opposition is actually in the minority.

And one of the biggest things to look at here is the impact on the Black community that was originally displaced when that stadium was originally built in the 80s.

And the Black community has come out vehemently in favor of this.

And I think that it's prudent to listen to them in this situation.

So a vote against it, I think might have been politically disadvantageous.

- And Robin, there's still questions about whether or not a Black History museum will be guaranteed and will be built under this new deal.

- Yeah, there was a hard fought fight in regards to that stadium.

And there was some community people in the Black community that were against it.

Not totally against it, but they wanted something more.

They wanted affordable housing.

They wanted something other than a marker of their existence there.

They felt like that the stadium, they were owed something, because they were displaced through the other process.

But I don't know, it's gonna be interesting.

And things that they've promised, it appears that it's been, it's coming in later, like years later.

- Yeah.

- So I'm not sure.

- And again, it's one of those things where look, fast forward 20 years and see where we're at then.

Maybe not even 20.

This could potentially be a bellwether for projects in other places in the future that similarly, we looked at projects in Oakland, for example, kind of to test where we were gonna be at with our project.

And I think people will look at this to say, "Did they deliver on their promises?

Was this worth the investment?"

- Major League Baseball did not want them to leave.

This is like the 13th or 12th biggest media market in the country.

So you don't want to, they talk about expansion.

They haven't expanded since the race in 1998.

Baseball's a little different than it used to be in terms of how the public perceives it and the like.

Race fans are always, or their supporters have always said like, "Well we get great TV ratings.

Like, there is support here."

But you really gotta go to the games.

I mean, that's what really we look at.

And it's been a debate for years, decades about whether Ybor City would've been more appropriate, what have you.

They were talking about playing half their games in Montreal just a few years ago.

So again, a lot of questions here.

- Yeah, it's so hard to get to the games too, if you're in Polk or Pinellas County or Hillsborough.

- Oh yes.

- Well, Conservative state Senator Joe Gruters is a former chair of the state Republican Party, has endorsed the recreational marijuana ballot measure despite the efforts of Governor Ron DeSantis and the Republican Party of Florida to tank it.

The Tallahassee Democrat reports the Sarasota lawmaker who has served a combined eight years in the Florida House and Senate said in a press release that his support is a common sense decision that prioritizes individual freedom, health, safety, and economic growth.

"By legalizing recreational marijuana for adults, we can give Floridians access to safe products, generate significant revenue for critical public services, and create new job opportunities for Floridians."

If Amendment Three gets at least 60% of the vote, non-medical marijuana possession of up to three ounces would be legalized, with no more than five grams in concentrated form for people who are 21 years and older.

Gruters' support represents a notable opposition to the governor, who has taken a hard stance against the measure, saying it will reduce quality of life and cause Florida to reek of weed.

So Janelle, why is Gruters breaking with the governor and the Republican Party?

- I don't think there's much surprise in the political world about Joe Gruters breaking from A, Ron DeSantis, and B, the GOP.

He has a long record of kind of being almost a pioneer, if you will, in terms of who and what he supports.

He was one of the earliest supporters of President Trump when he was first running for president in 2016.

And he stuck with it.

So I think that loyalty kind of signals something to watch.

Are we going to see a President Trump come out and endorse this thing?

I mean, that's a big what if.

It's a huge question mark.

But it could be politically advantageous for him to do that, in a state where he went from an absolute shoo-in to winning to Democrats viewing Florida's back in play.

We discussed that a moment ago.

Is it really?

But he could really pad that if he were to, 'cause this is an issue that is popular across party lines.

Like while Republicans are more likely to be opposed to Amendment Three, there's a lot of them that do want this to happen.

So I think that's an interesting thing to keep an eye out for.

- Natalie, I gotta ask you, the hemp industry is against recreational marijuana.

And has given $5 million to the Florida Republican Party.

Why is the hemp industry opposed to recreational marijuana?

- Well, if you look at the landscape right now, whether it is alcohol, whether it is medical marijuana, hemp, and then potentially recreational marijuana, there is a marketplace that all of them are gonna be competing in.

Obviously how that manifests and the regulatory piece of that is really essential.

And that's what I would like to make sure that everybody is thinking about and focused on.

Whereas you have a three-tier system that's regulated and is very robustly enforced within the state for all of our alcoholic beverages.

Right now, hemp does not have that same regulatory.

There has been attempts the last two legislative sessions to impose that.

A bill was passed, it was vetoed by the governor with some very strong directives on where he wants to see that go.

So for those of us who support it, and you go and vote yes on election day, those of it that don't, you vote no.

But if it passes, what we should all be worried about is the regulation.

- Hemp is largely drinks and clothing and creams and things like that.

Why is it afraid of recreational marijuana?

- So the hemp products, again, you have the non-consumables.

But the consumables, whether that be infused beverages, alcoholic beverages, alike, right?

They're gonna be in that same marketplace in the store.

If you have, and then you've got CBD, and you've got different kind of lotions and creams.

But from a consumption, if some, a consumer has the ability to go into a convenience store, go into a grocery store, go into a bar, and they have the option to purchase a beer, standardized, craft, a liquor, a spirit, now they have the option for that hemp product.

That is gonna compete in that marketplace.

But moreover, if medical marijuana is not the only game in town for flour and you have recreational marijuana, will people opt to not go and purchase those products and use that instead?

Again, it's a marketplace issue.

- Okay.

It's all about fighting for the market.

- Yeah, I mean this has been a huge issue.

The hemp bill the last couple years in Tallahassee.

And the hemp industry is elated that Governor DeSantis vetoed Colleen Burton's bill a couple months ago.

And this is a legal payback, if you will.

They're very gratified that he did that.

They wanna help him out because of these THC-infused products.

But the hemp people thought that truly they blamed truly for the bill the last couple years, whether that was true or not.

Going back to, you mentioned the governor, and saying the the state is gonna reek of weed.

There's a lot of maybe solid arguments you can make against this amendment.

Governor DeSantis' one, is kind of a tired one, as far as I'm concerned.

And I talked to Joe Gruters on Wednesday.

Joe sponsored the legislation that allowed cities to ban smoking on public beaches a couple years ago that finally passed.

He says he is absolutely against any type of smoking, many time, any kind out there.

So when this bill, if it does get passed, obviously there's gonna be an implementing bill behind that.

That's gonna be very interesting to see how the legislature does this.

When they pass the medical marijuana, they didn't allow flour for a couple years.

DeSantis did change that.

So some of the hysteria, if you will, DeSantis says you can smoke 80 joints and you can go into schools.

That is not gonna happen.

That's good scare tactics.

And anyway.

- Robin, I just wondered, does this issue on the ballot drive turn out, and does it encourage young people especially or people under 40 to come out and vote?

- I think so.

I think that Amendment Three is an opportunity for wanting to be decriminalized.

A lot of people are in jail because of it.

I don't think as they have indicated, I've heard that it's gonna drive people to smoke more weed or people that haven't smoked marijuana, they're gonna now smoke it and go to heavier drugs.

But it is a factor in regards to a turnout.

So I think that it will be a turnout mechanism.

It is a turnout mechanism.

- Okay.

Well our guest, Mitch Perry, reported this week, that the Florida Democratic Party criticized Florida Republican Senator Rick Scott's 2022 declaration that he intended to sunset all federal programs every five years, including Medicare, even though Scott later reversed that stance.

- [Narrator 2] On the 59th anniversary of the day that President Lyndon Johnson signed into law the legislation establishing the Medicare and Medicaid programs, Democrats, hoping to defeat Scott in November, referenced his Rescue America agenda initially proposed in 2022.

It originally called for ending all federal programs after five years unless Congress voted to reauthorize them, including Social Security and Medicare.

But after enduring mounting criticism from Democrats and fellow Republicans like Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, Scott revised his plan the next year, excluding those two popular entitlement programs.

Scott wrote in an op-ed for the Washington Examiner, saying, "I believe that all federal legislation should sunset in five years, with specific exceptions for Social Security, Medicare, national security, veterans' benefits, and other essential services.

If a law is worth keeping, Congress can pass it again."

Despite that announcement, Florida Democrats warned that seniors should not trust anything Scott says about Social Security and Medicare.

- So Mitch, the Democrats tried to revive this issue this week.

Why did they try to revive it?

And does it have any legs?

- Well, a couple of things on that, Rob.

Yeah, well I'll tell you, I'll say this.

Rick Scott did rescind that over a year ago, right?

Joe Biden made an issue of it during the State of the Union address.

And my thing is, right, like the Democrats, Kamala Harris has already rescinded some of her positions from 2019, and she's probably gonna do some more as she goes along here.

So this is politics.

I mean, how much do you wanna emphasize what he used to say?

However, Rick Scott during the RNC, spoke on a Conservative podcast and he did say that, he hates the amount of federal spending going on and he'd like to cut it in half.

And I talked to a couple economists about that and they said, "You're gonna hit Social Security and Medicare if you do that."

Now, I mean, unless you raise taxes, which I know he doesn't wanna do.

So I think this is actually, he did reverse his statement on that, but he still kind of talks around that a little bit in a way that's kind of dangerous for him.

I think this is a better argument for them to go against than say abortion rights, which they really hammered him earlier on and that didn't seem to have a lot of movement.

- Natalie, you get the last word on this.

Is Rick Scott vulnerable on the question of whether or not he supports Social Security and Medicare?

- I don't think so.

I don't think that that is going to have any kind of validity that is gonna impact the outcome of that race.

And I think that, again, we are seeing a lot of our candidates where they evolve through the process as well and they do change their position, so.

And a sunset is not a complete elimination.

It gives them opportunity for another conversation.

So I don't know that that's always bad 'cause we're doing that often in the state level too.

- Okay, well before we go, what other news stories should we be paying attention to?

Let's start with Robin.

Your other big story of the week.

What else is going on out there?

- The VP chick, I mean the VP pick, I'm sorry, of Kamala Harris.

That's gonna be exciting.

- [Rob] Big news this week.

- Big news, big news.

- All right, Janelle, your other big story of the week?

- I'm watching the tropics.

Because I think people don't realize just how much natural disasters affect politics.

Hurricanes, there is a politics of hurricanes.

If we look at 2022, Ron DeSantis' margin of victory over Charlie Crist was largely driven by his response to Hurricane Ian that year.

So how this gets handled if we do end up getting hit by a hurricane in the coming days and, however, whenever that happens.

It'll be interesting to see what that response looks like and how it affects this very contentious political cycle.

- Yeah, it's how George Bush lost in 1992 to Bill Clinton.

- Yeah, yeah, Katrina.

- All right, Mitch, your other big story.

- Yeah, the Tampa City Council on Thursday was poised to kill their civilian review board, but they did not.

They delayed this vote back until November.

The legislature this year passed a bill that didn't kill those CRBs but did say they basically gave 'em less power.

I've talked to a lot of different cities that have those CRBs, many of 'em have suspended them for now, but they're gonna bring them back.

Tampa was, I think they learned about this.

Oh, we don't have to kill it yesterday.

Miami still has theirs, so.

Also St. Petersburg, I went, talked to the chief there.

He's very excited about the new board they have.

He says, "We want accountability, we want our community to be involved in this."

- Do they have subpoena power and things like that?

- No, no, they don't.

And they never did really in Florida.

- All right.

All right.

And Natalie, your other big story of the week.

- Well, I'm gonna piggyback on what Janelle said because I think that what happens with this storm and the response that our communities have for that is gonna be informative to additional stories.

We have seen this when it was Hurricane Michael, how the state responds.

Do we end up with a special session?

Is it gonna impact our insurance market?

We have had a volatile space there and everything that we understand as far as our citizens, insurance, our secondary insurances, this is gonna be a big deal depending on what happens.

- And there were worries this week that we could run out of reinsurance if we get hit by the big one.

- Correct.

- Yeah, here in Florida.

All right.

- And it doesn't have to be a big one.

- Yeah, and I have a story of the week this week.

According to the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, Florida collects more than $1 billion in taxes from undocumented immigrants.

And that money is likely to disappear if the immigrants are deported.

Hey, thank you all guests for a great show.

Thanks to our guest panel, Robin Lockett, Janelle Irwin Taylor, Natalie King, and Mitch Perry.

And if you have comments about this program, please send them to ftwwedu.org.

Our show is also available as a podcast and from all of us here at WEDU, have a great weekend.

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