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<\/a><\/p>\nNo. 1: A not-so-lame-duck Ron DeSantis<\/p>\n
If anyone is expecting DeSantis to quietly wind down the clock, they haven\u2019t been paying attention. The Governor is likely to exercise his authority right up until 11:59 p.m. on his final day, and there\u2019s a non-zero chance of multiple Special Sessions in the months leading up to his exit.<\/p>\n
But unlike his predecessor Scott, whose final hours were marked by a blitz of consequential judicial appointments<\/a> designed to lock in long-term influence, DeSantis\u2019 endgame figures to be less traditional \u2014 and far more idiosyncratic.<\/p>\n Case in point: the appointment<\/a> of Urban Meyer to the Board of Trustees at New College of Florida. It\u2019s high-profile, polarizing, and guaranteed to keep critics and allies arguing long after the term expires.<\/p>\n The Governor has always been far more defiant than deferential. All of which is to say: if you\u2019re angling for a late-stage DeSantis appointment, polishing your r\u00e9sum\u00e9 may matter less than your footwork on a sports bar dance floor.<\/p>\n No. 2: @RonDeSantis<\/p>\n Like too many men of his generation, @RonDeSantis lives way too online. Having followed DeSantis since well before his first run for Congress, it feels fair to put him on the couch for a moment. He emerged from the isolation of the pandemic and young fatherhood into a personal world with few genuine confidants \u2014 and an army of digital acolytes eager to amplify every thought.<\/p>\n DeSantis isn\u2019t Donald Trump, but he is increasingly governing via social media. Policy declarations land on X alongside baseball musings and constitutional soliloquies, all delivered with the confidence of someone convinced the feed is the forum.<\/p>\n His fixation on the evils of artificial intelligence, in particular, reads less like a niche concern and more like early positioning as a possible 2028 foil to JD Vance, pitting Florida\u2019s most affectless culture warrior against Silicon Valley\u2019s favorite venture-backed tribune in a race to see who can sound more alarmed while offering less humanity.<\/p>\n No. 3: The property tax debate<\/p>\n Were it not so dangerously revolutionary, the idea of dramatically scaling back \u2014 or outright eliminating \u2014 property taxes in a state without an income tax would be the most ridiculous policy debate in modern Florida history.<\/p>\n As multiple analyses have made clear<\/a>, property taxes are not some optional nuisance; they are load bearing<\/a>. Strip them away and the ability of cities and counties to provide basic services collapses.<\/p>\n Still, DeSantis and many of his allies are determined to get something on the ballot. The push increasingly resembles a Florida-flavored version of California\u2019s infamous Proposition 13 \u2014 a voter-friendly promise that capped property taxes, froze assessments, and permanently kneecapped local government capacity. The aftermath there was not relief but retrenchment.<\/p>\n Even if the idea had merit (and that\u2019s a generous assumption) there is no reasonable way to upend the architecture of Florida government through a single ballot initiative. But that\u2019s precisely what DeSantis wants. Before that happens, though, the Legislature will have its say. And when it inevitably refuses to give him exactly what he\u2019s asking for \u2014 he\u2019s particularly incensed by the House\u2019s hodgepodge approach<\/a> to the debate \u2014 the real fight begins.<\/p>\n What follows would pit the full DeSantis political machine against almost every county and city government in Florida. All that\u2019s at stake is the very nature of government.<\/p>\n No. 4: The DeSantis-Uthmeier war on weed<\/p>\n As they demonstrated in 2024, DeSantis and James Uthmeier really, truly hate the sticky icky.<\/p>\n Last time around, the Governor and his then-Chief of Staff went to extraordinary lengths to stop a marijuana legalization amendment, including diverting millions of dollars meant to support child welfare and health care into a political effort designed to kill it.<\/p>\n The details<\/a> of the Hope Florida scandal are well documented<\/a>. The takeaway is simpler<\/a>: no line was too close to cross if the goal was defeating the amendment.<\/p>\n Two years later, the legalization crowd is back \u2014 just as well funded, better organized, and fully aware this is a bare-knuckle brawl.<\/p>\n They also have something they didn\u2019t last time: a powerful ally in the White House. With Kim Rivers, the head of Trulieve, now having Trump\u2019s ear<\/a>, the biggest marijuana company in the business is no longer playing defense. One suspects it may have event picked up a few new tricks.<\/p>\n What remains unclear is just how deep DeSantis and Uthmeier are willing to go this time to keep the initiative off the ballot \u2014 or, failing that, to defeat it. But if past is prologue, this fight is headed to the Mariana Trench. They proved last time that there is very little they won\u2019t do to get their way.<\/p>\n No. 5: The 2026 Legislative Session<\/p>\n If you thought the 2025 Legislative Session \u2014 with its extended budget fight<\/a> and all the late-night brinkmanship \u2014 was a car wreck, 2026 is shaping up to be a demolition derby where every driver has a lead foot and a chip on their shoulder.<\/p>\n The bad blood between the House and Senate is unprecedented in the modern, GOP-dominated era. I\u2019ve spoken directly with leaders in both chambers, and there\u2019s no dressing it up. They don\u2019t just distrust each other; they genuinely despise each other. That\u2019s not a vibe. That\u2019s a governing condition.<\/p>\n Yes, they\u2019ll pass a budget. They must. But expect it to come only after several rounds of deliberate pain-infliction \u2014 weaponized calendars, stalled priorities, and a whole lot of \u201coh, that was your thing? Interesting.\u201d<\/p>\n You could already see the outlines of it last year. The budget gap was massive, the tax-cut philosophies shared no DNA, and even the Senate President\u2019s signature \u201cRural Renaissance\u201d package was fed to the House\u2019s paper shredder and taped back together across multiple bills<\/a>.<\/p>\n That wasn\u2019t an \u201coops.\u201d It was intentional. Which is the point. With so many big-ticket fights on the card, expect the next 60 days (\u2026 yeah, right \u2026) to be a prolonged exercise in mutually assured irritation.<\/p>\n No. 6: The Florida Men and Women retreating from D.C.<\/p>\n Dan Bongino stepping down<\/a> as Deputy FBI Director after less than a year is the latest data point in a trend that\u2019s only going to accelerate in 2026: the quiet retreat of Florida Men and Women who flooded Washington during the opening stretch of Trump 2.0.<\/p>\n And yes, it\u2019s fair to pause for a moment and reflect on whether Bongino even qualifies as a Florida Man. He\u2019s a New Yorker by birth who ran for office in Maryland before reinventing himself politically in Florida. Still, he fit the archetype well enough \u2014 loud, online, ideologically rigid \u2014 and his exit underscores a larger reality: governing the federal bureaucracy is not as fun as owning libs from a studio.<\/p>\n Inside the West Wing, Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, herself a Florida Woman, is likely coming to terms with the downside of importing half the Sunshine State political class into Washington. The administration\u2019s Florida footprint is unmistakable: Marco Rubio as Secretary of State, Pam Bondi as Attorney General, Mike Waltz as Ambassador to the United Nations after a stint as National Security Adviser, and a constellation of former Florida operatives sprinkled throughout the executive branch.<\/p>\n But Florida Man is not especially well-suited to managing sprawling federal agencies and dense bureaucracies. Florida Man isn\u2019t built for rulemaking. He\u2019s built for content. Washington, it turns out, has a way of sorting that out quickly.<\/p>\n No. 7: Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick<\/p>\n If you\u2019re being described \u2014 even quietly \u2014 as the Democratic version of George Santos, it\u2019s already over. The only question is how much collateral damage gets done on the way out.<\/p>\n U.S. Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick enters 2026 under the weight of a federal indictment alleging she funneled $5 million in disaster relief funds<\/a> into her 2021 congressional campaign through a maze of family accounts and straw donors. It\u2019s not a paperwork SNAFU or an ambiguous ethics gray zone. It\u2019s the kind of accusation that freezes leadership posts, invites expulsion chatter, and turns a once-safe seat into an open audition.<\/p>\n Her response so far has been to dig in \u2014 denouncing the charges as a sham, fundraising off the indictment itself, and daring the system to blink first. But Washington already has. Democratic leadership pulled her ranking-member gavel, and colleagues are treating the situation like a biohazard: don\u2019t touch, don\u2019t defend, don\u2019t linger.<\/p>\n Back home, the sharks are circling. Her Primary opponents are openly campaigning<\/a> on the premise that the district deserves a reset, not a soap opera. Even in a D+22 seat, that matters. Voters may tolerate ideology they disagree with, but they have little patience Representatives working around a court schedule.<\/p>\n No. 8: Cory Mills<\/p>\n If noted shoe polish connoisseur and notorious former state Rep. Anthony Sabatini is dogging you, it\u2019s a sign that things have gone spectacularly off the rails.<\/p>\n That\u2019s where U.S. Rep. Cory Mills finds himself heading into 2026. The New Smyrna Beach Republican spent much of the past year fending off a rolling series of scandals that culminated in a late-night House vote to ship yet another censure resolution<\/a> to the Ethics Committee. The list is long and familiar: Stolen Valor questions, allegations of profiting from federal contracts, dating violence claims, sexual misconduct allegations, and enough interpersonal drama to power a mid-budget streaming series.<\/p>\n Mills, for his part, insists he has \u201cthe evidence and receipts\u201d and that everything will be cleared up in due time. Maybe he does. But exhaustion is already setting in on both sides. Even some fellow members of the Florida delegation have publicly bristled at leadership\u2019s repeated efforts to shield him. Outside critics aren\u2019t backing off. And the drip-drip of new allegations ensures this story continues into the new year.<\/p>\n No. 9: Mar\u00eda Elvira Salazar <\/p>\n Mar\u00eda Elvira Salazar is discovering what happens when you enthusiastically help build the Face-Eating Leopards Party.<\/p>\n For years, Salazar was reliably pro-Trump on immigration, border security, and the broader enforcement-first posture that played well in Republican primaries and conservative media. Now she\u2019s recoiling as the Trump administration does exactly what it said it would do.<\/p>\n Suddenly, Salazar is heartbroken. She\u2019s issuing letters. She\u2019s posting videos. She\u2019s reintroducing her long-stalled \u201cDignity Act<\/a>.\u201d She\u2019s pleading for mercy<\/a> for Venezuelans, Cubans, Haitians and Nicaraguans who make up the backbone of her Miami-Dade district. And yet, when it mattered, she lined up with the very administration now torching the immigration framework she claims to defend.<\/p>\n The result is a politician who finds herself \u201centre la espada y la pared.\u201d Democrats accuse her of performative outrage. Immigration hardliners see weakness in apostasy. Hispanic voters, meanwhile, are watching friends and family members get swept up in enforcement actions.<\/p>\n Would it be shocking if she drew a serious Primary challenge from her right or found herself in a General Election dogfight fueled by collapsing Hispanic support? Do leopards eat faces?<\/p>\n No. 10: James Fishback<\/p>\n Has Florida ever seen a more bizarre \u2014 or less qualified \u2014 candidate for Governor attract this much attention? Possibly. But it\u2019s been a while.<\/p>\n James Fishback has earned the distinction of being described as the state\u2019s first openly Groyper<\/a> gubernatorial candidate, and he\u2019s leaning into it with a campaign designed to inflame, offend, and suck up oxygen. There\u2019s no governing r\u00e9sum\u00e9, no coalition and no plausible path to victory. In their place is a steady stream of racially charged rhetoric designed to keep his name circulating.<\/p>\n Calling a sitting Black Congressman a \u201cslave<\/a>\u201d and then lecturing him on whether he\u2019s allowed to be offended isn\u2019t edgy politics. It\u2019s grotesque. And yet, here we are.<\/p>\n A charitable interpretation is that Fishback is auditioning for a gig in right-wing radio. The less charitable one is that his candidacy reflects a corner of the electorate becoming increasingly comfortable with open bigotry so long as it\u2019s wrapped in internet-native grievance language.<\/p>\n Either way, it\u2019s an embarrassment that the state has to entertain this at all. The only real question is whether the campaign flames out quickly or whether voters are subjected to another eight long months of this circus.<\/p>\n No. 11: The GOP Primary for Chief Financial Officer<\/p>\n Including CFO Blaise Ingoglia and Rep. Kevin Steele in this list isn\u2019t an indictment of either candidate. By every measure, both are credible Republicans with real r\u00e9sum\u00e9s. The issue isn\u2019t quality \u2014 it\u2019s math.<\/p>\n Run this race 1,000 times in a simulator and Ingoglia, the de facto incumbent with the Governor\u2019s backing, wins 99% of them. He has the appointment, the DeSantis endorsement<\/a> and a steady drumbeat of law enforcement, firefighter, and elected-official endorsements<\/a>.<\/p>\n Which leaves Steele with a narrow set of options<\/a>. He has money \u2014 a lot of it \u2014 and that matters. But in a race where the normal levers are already spoken for, the only realistic way to shake things loose is to go negative. Deeply negative. As in nuclear.<\/p>\n So, if you\u2019re wondering why this otherwise low-drama Cabinet race made the list, look no further than your postbox. Because unless Steele is content with a respectable loss, Floridians should brace for a flood of ugly mail designed to soften Ingoglia up just enough to create doubt even if the odds remain stubbornly long.<\/p>\n No. 12: The Democratic Primary for Governor<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/teco-728x90-1.jpg\")
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