Sunburn — The morning read of what’s hot in Florida politics — 3.1.22 (Video)

By Peter Schorsch

Good Tuesday morning.

With a 15-week abortion ban one vote away from Gov. Ron DeSantis’ desk, Planned Parenthood Action Fund is taking to the airwaves.

The organization has rolled out a 30-second ad that features news coverage labeling the proposal (HB 5) as “Florida’s strictest abortion bill in history” and includes a clip of DeSantis saying the proposal is “something that we will be able to sign.”

The ad closes with a narrator urging viewers to tell DeSantis to “stop attacking our rights.”

Planned Parenthood said it staked the campaign with $100,000 and that the ad buy will put it in front of 200,000 Floridians, including districts represented by anti-abortion lawmakers.

“Floridians should decide what happens to their bodies, their lives, and their futures — not politicians. What we’re seeing in Florida demonstrates legislators’ complete disregard for individual liberty and the will of their constituents, who support abortion access and do not want abortion banned in their state,” said Sarah Standiford, Planned Parenthood Action Fund’s national campaign director.

“Throughout the Legislative Session, student activists have been silenced and even were kicked out of the HB 5 floor vote by Capitol police. With this advertisement, Planned Parenthood Action Fund is reminding Gov. DeSantis, his allies, and anti-abortion rights legislators in Florida and around the country that we are watching them — and we will hold them accountable for attacking our rights.”

To watch the ad, click on the image below:

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Beth Sweeny wins St. Augustine Beach Commission seat — The better half of the St. Augustine Beach Sweeny family was elected by the SAB Commission to fill the remainder of the term of former Commissioner Ernesto Torres, who resigned in January. She will run for a full term in November.

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Two candidates are launching campaigns Tuesday for what are expected to be competitive seats in the state House.

Tiffany Hughes, a Democrat from Orlando, is entering the race for the new House District 39, which includes parts of Orange and Seminole counties.

Hughes is a first-time candidate who currently serves as president of the Orange County branch of the NAACP and is a member of the Orange County Community Development Advisory Board and the City of Orlando’s Certification Appeals Board. She and her husband manage staffing firm KBI Staffing Solutions.

“Central Floridians deserve an advocate in Tallahassee who will prioritize the issues that keep us up at night — economic opportunity, ensuring a strong public education system, access to affordable housing and health care, and more,” Hughes said.

Meanwhile, Tampa Democrat and small-business owner Jen McDonald filed to run in the new House District 65, which covers part of Hillsborough County and closely mirrors the current House District 60, held by third-term Republican Rep. Jackie Toledo.

McDonald is the founder and owner of Liberty Bella Enterprises and vice president at Merchant Insurance Solutions. She has also chaired the Hillsborough County Citizens Advisory Committee and the Hillsborough Community College Business Advisory Board.

“As an entrepreneur who founded and built my business right here in Tampa Bay, I’m all too aware of our need for a representative in Tallahassee who will deliver for our community. I will bring bold leadership and a fresh perspective to service on behalf of all District 65 residents,” McDonald said.

Ruth’s List, an organization that works to elect pro-choice Democratic women to public office, recruited both candidates.

“Ruth’s List Florida is excited to have played an integral role in actively recruiting these two incredible women candidates to run for newly created seats in the state House,” said Ruth’s List vice president Kayla vanWieringen. “In our entire history, we’ve never issued endorsements this early in non-incumbent legislative races, but we know our early support is critical to ensuring victory in November.

— SITUATIONAL AWARENESS —

Tweet, tweet:

—@MarcoRubio: DANGER (Vladimir) #Putin’s legitimacy built on image as the strong leader who restored #Russia to superpower after the disasters of the ’90s. Now the economy is in shambles & the military is being humiliated & his only tools to reestablish power balance with the West is cyber & nukes

—@ProjectLincoln: Hey @MarcoRubio, where was all this energy when (Donald) Trump was withholding aid from Ukraine?

Tweet, tweet:

—@DKThomp: The sudden smothering and suffocation of the Russian economy is without modern precedent. This is terra incognito, and I have no idea what happens next.

—@IanKearns_: Second, creative thinking about something that could serve as a face-saving way out for Putin while not giving anything of fundamental importance to Ukraine or the West away. In the Cuban missile crisis in 1962, this was a secret deal to remove some U.S. missiles from Turkey.

—@Salisbot: BREAKING: every woman in your life now has at least a small crush on Volodymyr Zelenskiy, and there’s absolutely nothing you can do about it

—@CWarzel: also, as with the earliest days of COVID, new and nuanced information is super important, but it’s also basically impossible for the news to give people what they want, which is any kind of certainty/definitive relief

—@MikePompeo: Associating with anti-Semitic neo-Nazis is not consistent with the conservative values I’ve defended for decades. Representative Taylor-Greene playing footsie with Nick Fuentes and his splinter movement is shameful.

—@GovRonDeSantis: Last week, the (Joe) Biden Administration requested the assistance of State National Guards to deploy to Washington D.C. I have rejected this request — there will be no @FLGuard sent to D.C. for Biden’s State of the Union.

—@SteveSchale: I see the Listener Group poll has filled the space once occupied by Gravis Poll as the leading challenger to Quinnipiac University for most bizzaro world polling in ye here ole Florida.