* If Alex Vindman should prevail—and it wouldn’t be an upset now—in his statistically-even Senate bid against Ashley Moody, we could call it political karma. Moody was appointed by Gov. Ron DeSantis after Marco Rubio, the GOP incumbent, left his solid Senate seat for his Faustian deal as Trump’s secretary of state and his post-Trump, presidential ambitions.
When Vindman, a Purple Heart honoree with strong anti-Communist feelings, makes clear that he can be “critical of both parties when they fail” he also makes way for independent support. More than one campaign stop at The Villages underscores that he’s writing nobody off.
* It’s official. The November ballot will include a constitutional amendment that would raise the state’s homestead exemption by $250,000. What’s also looming: Months of scenario analysis in an arduous, voter-persuasion campaign. Game on for the final, fitting touches of the DeSantis legacy.
* “Labels don’t matter in this environment… We have big problems, and we need big solutions…It’s not whether we’re going left or right, but whether we’re going forward.”—David Jolly, Democratic gubernatorial candidate and a former Republican.
* The Capital Punishment State of Florida is off to another record-setting execution pace with 8 so far in 2026. Florida led all states with 19 last year, a modern-era record.
* UF president nominee Stuart Bell threaded a rhetorical-and-ideological needle to help enable his confirmation by increasingly conservative higher-ed overseers. “I’m certainly not coming to Florida to bring DEI or any form of woke back,” said Bell to an on-campus, open-forum audience that included students and faculty. The affable former president of the University of Alabama, was primarily targeting the State University System’s (now notoriously anti-DEI) Board of Governors, which will vote on his nomination later this month.
“I am going to build on Florida’s commitment to merit through excellence, to academic achievement, to equal opportunity and what I just call hard work of our students,” said Bell, 69, whose track record includes notable up-graded research status at Alabama. He’s also a strong college football advocate and had no hesitation about showcasing the Gator Chomp.
* BTW, it’s been estimated that a UF President-elect Bell could make more than $2 million in his first year. For contemporary collegiate context: Basketball forward Thomas Haugh is projected to make more than 3 times that amount in his (NIL) return for his senior Gators season.
* According to the latest State LGBTQ+ Business Climate Index from Out Leadership, Florida ranks 46th in friendliness. Massachusetts was 1st; Arkansas 50th.
* U.S. News & World Report’s “Best Beaches In the U.S. for 2026”: Sarasota’s Siesta Key, No. 1.