Home FloridaPolitics.com "Sunburn" Sunburn — The morning read of what’s hot in Florida politics —...

Sunburn — The morning read of what’s hot in Florida politics — 11.1.22

 Good Tuesday morning. We hope everyone had a happy and safe Halloween.

Spotted at the Governor’s Mansion Friday night for the Halloween Celebration, Esther Byrd and Secretary Cord Byrd, Secretary Dane Eagle, Secretary Shevaun Harris, Reps. Joe Harding, Randy Maggard, John Snyder, Bob Asztalos, Brendan Blais, Jordan and Ben Gibson, Taylor Hatch, Alyssa Howk, Stephanie Kopelousos, Alberto Garcia Marrero, Tara and Trey Price, Ashley and Scott Ross, Gina and Chris Spencer, Ray Treadwell, Marnie Villanueva, Lindsey and Skylar Zander.

A good time was had by all.

___

After a raucous election cycle, it’s time for the endgame. U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio and U.S. Rep. Val Demings are planning after-parties.

Faith Based Events

For one, it’ll be a victory bash; for the other, it’ll be the venue for a short speech and a couple of drinks to drown their sorrows.

So, where will they be?

Rubio will watch the results come in from his hometown of Miami at the Hilton Miami Airport Blue Lagoon, found at 5101 Blue Lagoon Drive. The doors open for guests at 6:30 p.m.

Endgame: Celebrations are in the works; one will be happier than the other.

Demings is holding her election night watch party in Orlando, with the address reserved only for guests who RSVP. Doors open at 6 p.m.

A week out from Election Day it looks like Rubio will have a cheerier party. He has consistently led in the polls with Demings coming close at points but struggling with low name ID. Recent polls have seen the incumbent Republican up double digits over Demings.

Election prognosticators are likewise high on Rubio. Sabato’s Crystal Ball has listed Florida’s U.S. Senate race as “Likely Republican” all cycle, The Cook Political Report recently shifted the race from “Lean Republican” to “Likely Republican,” and FiveThirtyEight’s model shows Rubio is “clearly favored” to win re-election.

___

The Florida Bar has relaunched its voter education initiative, The Vote’s in Your Court, for 2022.

The program informs voters about merit retention elections and judges’ crucial role in the state’s justice system. The initiative features The Guide for Florida Voters, a nonpartisan resource to aid voters in understanding judges and judicial elections.

“Many Floridians don’t understand how our merit retention system works,” said Florida Bar President Gary Lesser. “This is an incredibly important part of our democracy and ensuring that everyday Floridians have a say in our judicial system is incredibly important. This is why civic education and creating resources is so important to us — there is a great deal of power in our voters’ hands, so it’s important to be well-informed on these issues.”

In Florida, county and circuit judges are elected directly by the voters in nonpartisan, head-to-head elections. However, state appeals court judges and Supreme Court justices appear on the ballot for merit retention, with voters asked whether individual judges should keep their seats for another term. If not retained, the Governor would appoint their replacement.

The Florida Bar has posted additional voter resources ahead of the General Election, including posting judicial candidate voluntary self-disclosure statements and merit retention biographies.

___

With reapportionment, many voters have found themselves living in a new House, Senate or Congressional district. Adding to the confusion, recent updates to voting laws have changed the procedures for mail-in and early voting.

Meta, the parent company of Facebook and other social media networks, aims to prep voters for the Midterm Election with reliable information ahead of Election Day.

The company’s Voting Information Center (VIC) features authoritative local information, including posts from verified local election authorities, with announcements and changes to the voting process as well as information regarding early voting, Election Day voting, and military or overseas voting.

VIC also includes contact information for election offices and links for users to check their voter registration or register to vote, although in Florida the deadline has passed for new registrants to take part in the 2022 election.

Users can find the information by navigating to the VIC page, and they can also choose to receive notifications for any election announcements.

___

Google is bringing on Taylor Ferguson as its new government affairs and public policy manager for the Southeast region.

In his new role, Ferguson will monitor and influence policy important to Google, build relationships with elected officials, develop strategies to communicate Google’s policy positions with elected officials, and work to strengthen the company’s local community engagement.

Ferguson most recently worked as the senior director for Florida government & regulatory affairs for Parallel, one of the largest privately held, vertically integrated, multistate cannabis companies in the world with a footprint in Florida, Texas, Massachusetts and Nevada.

He previously held a number of legislative staff positions, building up more than a decade of experience in the Florida government.

Congrats to Taylor Ferguson, the new regional rep for Google.

His past roles include serving as a senior legislative aide to former Rep. Jake Raburn and holding the same position under former Sen. Rob Bradley during his term as Senate Budget Chief, which required him to function as the liaison between the Senator’s office, the appropriations suite, and citizens inquiring about appropriations projects.

In the 2018 election cycle, Ferguson served as campaign manager to Sen. Ed Hooper in the 2018 election cycle, when the Clearwater Republican won a battleground race to return to the Legislature.

“Taylor is the best person to pioneer this new role at Google. His extensive knowledge from years spent working within the Legislature and as a top adviser on several campaigns, coupled with his political savvy, make him a strong asset to Google as they engage with leading policymakers in Florida and across the Southeast,” Hooper said.

Earlier in his career, Ferguson worked as the communications coordinator for the Foundation for Excellence in Education. He is a graduate of Florida Gulf Coast University, where he earned a degree in political communications.

— SITUATIONAL AWARENESS —

Tweet, tweet:

@CharlieCrist: In the spirit of Halloween, let’s all get out to vote. We can’t afford to have a Governor who’s going to ghost us halfway through his term for a presidential run.

Tweet, tweet:

@aedwardslevy: Halloween is essentially a 1-question survey (trick/treat/refused) conducted using address-based sampling and utilizing an innovative reverse-incentive structure; in this paper, I will

@ShiraOvide: I will read all the articles about Home Depot’s 12-foot tall, $300 Halloween skeletons. Thank you.

@JimSwiftDC: One way to keep your children safe from Rainbow Fentanyl this Halloween is to stop steeping yourself in paranoid right-wing propaganda.

@ChrisDunkerLJS: If you are a homeowner/drug dealer planning on passing out rainbow fentanyl to kids for free this Halloween, please shoot me a message for a story I’m working on for @JournalStarNews.

Tweet, tweet:

Tweet, tweet:

@jon_bois: October’s my least favorite month of the year. It’s just so far away from April fool’s day that it’s easy to get discouraged. But when the calendar flips over to November, that’s when it starts to feel a little more real

@StephenKing: $20 a month to keep my blue check? Fuck that, they should pay me. If that gets instituted, I’m gone like Enron.

— DAYS UNTIL —

2022 General Election — 7; ‘The Crown’ Season 5 returns — 8; ‘Black Panther: Wakanda Forever’ premieres — 10; FITCon 2022 begins — 16; ‘The Flash’ premieres — 16; The World Cup kicks off in Qatar — 20; The U.S. World Cup Soccer Team begins play — 23; Florida TaxWatch’s Annual Meeting begins — 32; ‘Willow’ premieres on Disney+ — 32; 2022 Florida Chamber Annual Insurance Summit — 34; Cormac McCarthy’s ‘Stella Maris’ releases — 35; ‘Avatar 2’ premieres — 45; final Broadway performance of ‘The Music Man’ with Hugh Jackman — 61; Bruce Springsteen launches his 2023 tour in Tampa — 92; ‘Ant Man and the Wasp: Quantumania’ premieres — 108; final performance of ‘Phantom of the Opera’ on Broadway — 109; 2023 Legislative Session convenes — 126; ‘John Wick: Chapter 4′ premieres — 144; American Association of Political Consultants Pollies ’23 conference begins — 168; 2023 Session Sine Die — 185; ‘Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3’ premieres — 185; ‘Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse’ premieres — 213; Christopher Nolan’s ‘Oppenheimer’ premieres — 262; ‘‘Captain Marvel 2′ premieres — 269; Dune: Part Two’ premieres — 367; ‘Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse’ Part 2 premieres — 514; ‘Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes’ premieres — 570; Opening Ceremony of the 2024 Olympic Games — 633; ‘Thunderbolts’ premieres — 633; ‘Blade’ reboot premieres — 675; ‘Deadpool 3’ premieres — 738; ‘Fantastic Four’ reboot premieres — 836; ‘Avengers: The Kang Dynasty’ premieres — 913. ‘Avengers: Secret Wars’ premieres — 1,102.


Sunburn is authored and assembled by Peter Schorsch, Phil Ammann, Daniel Dean, Renzo Downey, Jacob Ogles, and Drew Wilson.

The post Sunburn — The morning read of what’s hot in Florida politics — 11.1.22 appeared first on Florida Politics – Campaigns & Elections. Lobbying & Government..

[vc_btn title=”Continue politicking” color=”primary” link=”url:https%3A%2F%2Ffloridapolitics.com%2Farchives%2F567517-sunburn-the-morning-read-of-whats-hot-in-florida-politics-11-1-22%2F|target:_blank”][vc_message message_box_color=”blue”]FloridaPolitics, excerpt posted on  SouthFloridaReporter.com

Republished with permission  [/vc_message]


Disclaimer

The information contained in South Florida Reporter is for general information purposes only.
The South Florida Reporter assumes no responsibility for errors or omissions in the contents of the Service.
In no event shall the South Florida Reporter be liable for any special, direct, indirect, consequential, or incidental damages or any damages whatsoever, whether in an action of contract, negligence or other tort, arising out of or in connection with the use of the Service or the contents of the Service. The Company reserves the right to make additions, deletions, or modifications to the contents of the Service at any time without prior notice.
The Company does not warrant that the Service is free of viruses or other harmful components


This article originally appeared here and was republished with permission.