By Mac Stipanovich, Floridapolitics.com, June 13, 2021 The much-anticipated U.S. Senate race in Florida between the Republican incumbent Marco Rubio and the Democratic challenger U.S. Rep. Val Demings is on. And it bids fair to be the highest-profile contest in the country in the struggle for control of the Senate. One of the more interesting aspects of this matchup…
By John Kennedy, Capital Bureau, USA TODAY NETWORK-FLORIDA, June 13, 2021 TALLAHASSEE – While Gov. Ron DeSantis is drawing praise from conservatives and pulling in campaign cash from across the nation, he also is attracting a crush of lawsuits spurred by the polarizing legislation he signed into law. Opponents say the outcome of the courtroom challenges will be pivotal not just…
Just one week after Governor Ron DeSantis signed the Florida Budget that slashed Orlando’s LGBTQ Community Center and an organization that houses homeless LGBTQ youth, the US Senate unanimously passed legislation designating the site of the gay club a national memorial. The bill was introduced to the US House of Representatives by Reps. Val Demings, Darren Soto,…
By Phyllis Wojcik, Charlotte County Environmental Caucus, June 14, 2021 Betty Staugler, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Harmful Algae Bloom liaison, Florida Sea Grant University of Florida and Nicole Iadevaia, Coastal & Heartland National Estuary Partnership (CHNEP) presented “Seagrass Trends in Charlotte Harbor: Current Findings and Ongoing Efforts” to the Charlotte County Commissioners at…
By Emily Bloch, Florida Times-Union, June 11, 2021 A new rule in Florida that will place tougher guidelines on how teachers deliver U.S. history lessons was approved Thursday. Public officials have touted the law as a way to get critical race theory — a movement that examines the intersections of race, law and equity — out of…
Editor’s note: At our June 7th monthly meeting, Teresa Jenkins delivered the following update to our members, guests and all committed Democrats. I want to continue our conversation about the impact of the Florida legislative session from last month’s meeting and the importance of volunteering. What we saw in this legislative session was a clear…
By Jonathan Capehart, Washington Post Columnist, June 10, 2021 Rep. Val Demings (D-Fla.), one of the House managers during the first impeachment trial of President Donald Trump, made it official on Wednesday. She’s going after the Senate seat now held by Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.). Her slick announcement video declares that she’ll “Never tire.” Demings, who for a time…
Juneteenth — a blending of the words June and nineteenth — is a celebration marking an end to slavery in the United States. Though President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863, very few people were immediately freed. Two and a half years later the enslaved African Americans in Texas were pronounced…
By Bill Welsch, Charlotte Dems contributing writer Michael Cohen, former lawyer for ex-President Trump, describes in his book “Disloyal: A Memoir,” chilling details of the lies and deceit he and other people around Trump employed to keep “the boss” happy. The book is a wakeup call to those of us who fear for our democracy.…
Opinion by Greg Sargent, Washington Post Columnist, June 3, 2021 Last month, when the GOP purge of critics of Donald Trump was at its frenzied peak, the party hit on a clever way to put a positive gloss on it. This was necessary, Republicans insisted, to maintain the GOP’s new status as a “working-class party,” by…
By Teresa Jenkins, Chair, Charlotte County Democratic Executive Committee Pride is a demand for full equality and a vibrant celebration of the LGBTQ+ community. Pride is not limited to a single month; it is a year-round, years-long movement. This Pride, there is much to celebrate. For the first time in four years the LGBTQ+ community…
Opinion by FABIOLA SANTIAGO, The Miami Herald, May 28, 2021 For a nanosecond in Florida, many of us exhaled at the return of class, decency and civility to the White House with the election of centrist Democrat Joe Biden. Please God, let the next four years be boring, very, very boring, I prayed. This, I…
Editor’s note: just a coincidence? I don’t buy it! By John Kennedy, Capital Bureau, USA TODAY NETWORK-FLORIDA TALLAHASSEE – Gov. Ron DeSantis signed into law Tuesday a controversial ban on transgender athletes participating in women’s sports at the high school and college levels, seizing on a trend coursing through conservative states. The Republican governor enacted the measure on…
By Zac Anderson and John Kennedy, Sarasota Herald-Tribune, June 1, 2021 After a surprise 2018 win that made her a leading Democratic voice in Florida and a pandemic spent as Gov. Ron DeSantis’ chief antagonist, Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried filed Tuesday to try to unseat the governor in 2022. Fried’s candidate filing was posted on the Florida Division of Elections website…
By John Kennedy, Capital Bureau, USA TODAY NETWORK-FLORIDA, May 28, 2021 TALLAHASSEE – Gov. Ron DeSantis is poised to declare victory on another front in what critics call a culture war – with his administration expected to approve new limits on how racial history is taught in Florida schools. The Republican governor has spent weeks ridiculing “critical race theory,”…
The Monday, June 7th meeting of the Charlotte County Democratic Executive Committee will kick off at 5:30 pm with a very special guest speaker, Stacey Peters of Levy County. In addition to being the newly elected Chair of the Democratic Small County Coalition of Florida, of which Charlotte County is a member, she also serves…
Opinion by Jonathan Capehart, Washington Post Columnist, May 29, 2021 Throughout her political career, Vice President Harris has never shied away from issues of race. In fact, the former senator from California, state attorney general and San Francisco district attorney has been very intentional about taking on problems that have their roots in our nation’s…
The president’s budget envisions a redistribution of wealth that will allow more Americans to enjoy prosperity, buoyed by investments in education, infrastructure and climate-related initiatives.
Opinion by Dana Milbank, Washington Post Columnist, May 26, 2021 It has long been obvious that Mitch McConnell puts party before country, but this week he actually admitted it. The Senate minority leader told Republican colleagues that they should oppose the creation of a Jan. 6 commission, no matter how it is structured, because it “could…
By Larry Kuranowicz, Vice Chair Charlotte County Democrats Author and historian Nancy MacLean visited Charlotte County Dems virtually on May 20th to discuss her latest book, Democracy in Chains. The book explores the history of the radical libertarian movement and the threat it poses to our democratic society. Ms. MacLean’s work sheds light on the…