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<\/a><\/p>\nNow, it\u2019s onto our weekly game of winners and losers.<\/p>\n
Winners<\/p>\n
Honorable mention: Tourism. Florida\u2019s tourism sector heads into the holidays with the swagger of an industry that keeps beating its own benchmarks.<\/p>\n
The latest statewide report shows Florida drew more visitors in 2024<\/a> than in any previous year on record. Domestic travel remains the backbone of the industry, but international tourism \u2014 which lagged behind for years \u2014 finally roared back, helping push total visitation into uncharted territory.<\/p>\n Local indicators back up the statewide spike. Orange County\u2019s tourist development tax reports continue climbing<\/a>, with October\u2019s haul marking yet another year-over-year increase. The stronger the tourist development tax numbers, the more room Orange County has to invest.<\/p>\n For tourism executives, the trajectory validates years of capital investment, marketing overhauls, and infrastructure upgrades. And for political leaders, particularly those who have staked their credibility on Florida\u2019s economic climate, the industry\u2019s performance provides a powerful proof point.<\/p>\n Plenty of sectors nationwide are wobbling as 2026 approaches. Florida tourism isn\u2019t one of them.<\/p>\n Almost (but not quite) the biggest winner: Alex Andrade. For months, the Pensacola Republican has argued that the Gov. Ron DeSantis administration improperly siphoned $10 million in Medicaid settlement funds into the Hope Florida Foundation \u2014 money that was then routed into political efforts aligned with the Governor and now-Attorney General James Uthmeier.<\/p>\n The administration pushed back hard, insisting the diverted money wasn\u2019t actually Medicaid-related and therefore wasn\u2019t subject to federal pass-through requirements. But a new repayment<\/a> from the state to the federal government shows Andrade had it right from the beginning<\/a>.<\/p>\n Fresh financial records reveal the Agency for Health Care Administration (AHCA) calculated its federal repayment using the full $67 million Centene settlement \u2014 including the disputed $10 million the state insisted wasn\u2019t Medicaid money at all. Florida has now paid back 57% of the entire settlement, amounting to $38 million, exactly what it would owe if every dime belonged to Medicaid.<\/p>\n That directly undermines the state\u2019s original defense and aligns precisely with what Andrade\u2019s investigation uncovered: the $10 million that went to Hope Florida should have stayed in the Medicaid program.<\/p>\n The repayment also adds a striking new twist to a scandal that has already damaged the Governor\u2019s Office, fueled a grand jury probe, raised red flags about political interference in Medicaid dollars, and helped derail Casey DeSantis\u2019 once-serious positioning for 2026.<\/p>\n For Andrade, who repeatedly pressed AHCA for answers and was stonewalled at every turn, this is a confirmation that his instincts, his oversight work and his insistence on accountability were justified.<\/p>\n The biggest winner: Rick Scott. Scott is riding high after a policy summit<\/a> that managed to seize the spotlight as Washington still grapples with several issues before the close of 2025.<\/p>\n The event showcased ideological discipline, message testing and a reminder of Scott\u2019s continued push to establish himself as one of the most effective architects of the GOP\u2019s internal conversations.<\/p>\n The agenda ranged widely \u2014 health care, space, finance, foreign policy, party identity \u2014 but the through line was Scott\u2019s effort to present himself as a central bridge between Senate Republicans, national conservatives and Florida\u2019s rising stars.<\/p>\n The summit generated a steady drip<\/a> of headlines<\/a>. A pollster told attendees<\/a> that Americans have soured on the Affordable Care Act, giving Scott and his allies fresh fodder for long-standing arguments about the law\u2019s durability. Members of Congress used the forum to sketch out what an alternative might look like<\/a>, offering a substantive policy moment at a time when the party often struggles to define next steps.<\/p>\n There were also unmistakably political flashes. Byron Donalds used the gathering to continue Republicans\u2019 critiques<\/a> against Cory Mills\u2019 scandals. Randy Fine issued stern warnings<\/a> about rising antisemitism. And members of the House Freedom Caucus<\/a> emphasized the value of having Scott as their conduit to the upper chamber.<\/p>\n All of it underscored the same point: Scott convened a room full of people who matter, and they showed up ready to continue pushing the conservative conversation forward.<\/p>\n Losers<\/p>\n Dishonorable mention: Trajector Medical. A recent investigative report<\/a> is painting the company as a predatory \u201cclaims-shark\u201d exploiting disabled veterans.<\/p>\n According to the latest reporting, Trajector Medical has been charging veterans as much as $20,000 for help with disability benefits \u2014 even though such assistance is legally supposed to be free.<\/p>\n The price tag comes tied to promises of help filing claims, but veterans who relied on the firm describe an entirely different reality: pre-filled application forms submitted on their behalf without their explicit involvement, vague \u201cmedical-evidence packets\u201d of questionable origin, and invoices that pop up only after the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) increases a veteran\u2019s disability rating.<\/p>\n The company uses a software tool \u2014 reportedly dubbed \u201cCallBot\u201d \u2014 to monitor clients\u2019 benefit status through the VA hotline. When the system detects a payment increase, it automatically bills the veteran. One veteran NPR interviewed said he was charged $17,400 after his VA rating rose, even though he\u2019d done much of the paperwork himself.<\/p>\n Federal law prohibits entities from charging for assistance in preparing or filing initial VA disability claims, which means Trajector\u2019s business model appears to run entirely contrary to that protection. The company, however, says those restrictions don\u2019t apply because it only does a limited amount of work during the process.<\/p>\n The VA had previously sent the company warning letters in 2017 and 2022 demanding it stop offering paid assistance \u2014 but Trajector apparently ignored those warnings and kept operating.<\/p>\n And it appears other companies like it are engaged in similar practices.<\/p>\n Disabled veterans, many of whom rely on VA benefits for basic medical care and financial stability, report feeling misled, exploited and trapped by aggressive billing practices. Former employees of Trajector also admit the firm drifted away from its original mission of helping vets and turned into a profit-driven debt-collection operation.<\/p>\n In a state like Florida \u2014 with a large veteran population \u2014 a company that claims to help veterans but instead levies steep, legally dubious fees is about as far from \u201cserving those who served\u201d as you can get.<\/p>\n Almost (but not quite) the biggest loser: Jay Collins. A few weeks ago<\/a>, Collins\u2019 issue was donor confidence due to Ken Griffin\u2019s refusal to buy into DeSantis\u2019 pitch to back Collins, showing he couldn\u2019t land the kind of marquee support a DeSantis-aligned Lieutenant Governor was supposed to lock down effortlessly.<\/p>\n Now Collins is grappling with a problem even more glaring: the Governor himself can\u2019t be counted on to show up for him.<\/p>\n Collins\u2019 latest telephone town hall was supposed to feature DeSantis \u2014 a show of strength for a candidate who needs one badly. Instead, Collins got stood up. Again. And this wasn\u2019t a minor scheduling hiccup. As Florida Politics reported<\/a>, DeSantis\u2019 schedule throughout the day Wednesday was plenty open during the time of the call.<\/p>\n It leaves one wondering how committed the Governor really is to lifting Collins in the 2026 field. Collins desperately needs a visible, unmistakable show of support from DeSantis to compensate for weak polling, slow fundraising and a late entry that already left him miles behind Byron Donalds. When your entire path to viability rests on the idea that the sitting Governor is clearing a lane for you (and we\u2019re not even sure that would be enough), getting publicly ghosted undercuts the whole premise.<\/p>\n You can survive donor skepticism. You can sometimes survive weak early numbers. But surviving your own patron repeatedly failing to show up? That\u2019s a much harder lift.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/FLPolitics-May-2025-728x90-1-scaled-e1748483753690.jpg\")
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