Oh, Say Can You See, Florida’s DEM Prospects & Pot Politics - Top 3 Takeaways January 28th, 2026
Takeaway #1: He lives here?
So yesterday, I received a spam text looking to raise money for Alexander Vindman’s Senate campaign. I saw the name Vindman, I saw that he was running for Senate, and thought – well that’s no surprise – if ever there was someone who was looking to parlay military service into an opportunity to social and career climb it would be him. It was also at about that moment that I heard the late Great Rush Limbaugh singing...”O Say Can You See”, as was customary during the first Trump impeachment trial when Traitor Vindman served as a “star witness” during the Democrat’s sham TDS trial based on a call from President Trump to Ukrainian President Zelenskyy. I was in the process of using the handy dandy “stop and block” feature – which is one of the few things I like about the latest iPhone update - when I saw the name Ashley Moody in the spam solicitation message. That caused me to do a double take. Did you know that the Democrat’s favorite Soviet-born son had been living in Florida? I certainly didn’t. But like any born communist likely would – if you’re going to relocate to Florida, Broward would be your go to. As it turns out in 2023, the Communist-born Vindman moved to Broward and now he’s seeking the senate seat occupied by Ashley Moody by running in the Democrat primary. So, there you go...Comrad Vindman wants your vote. And it’s likely that that he’ll get quite a few votes. Who else in Florida has more TDS cred than he? Plus, you’ve got the Ukrainian flag people. If you know someone who has a Ukrainian flag on their social media profiles, you know that’s a Vindman vote. But as much as anything...
Takeaway #2: It shows just how thin the DEMs bench is
The biggest problem in Republican politics in the state of Florida is having enough offices for all of the GOP’s star talent. That’s true even after the President of the United States, Secretary of State and U.S. Attorney General all came from our state. Ashley Moody, while not the biggest or flashiest name in GOP politics is no exception. Moody won her first statewide election in 2018 by eight points – in an election Governor DeSantis and Senator Scott won by less than a half point. She won reelection to her post by over twenty points. She’s an understated force to be reckoned with. Meanwhile the Democrat’s bench in the state of Florida is so thin, that in a special senate election during what should be a cycle that favors Democrats given typical midterm election trends, this is who’s in: Joey Atkins, Paul Cruz, Frank DiMola, Charles Gould, Alan Grayson, Jennifer Jenkins, Tamika Lyles, Evelyn McBride, Hector Mujica, Dennis Stevens and now Conrad Vindman. The only thing this field is missing is yet another attempt from Florida’s favorite political chameleon, Charlie Crist. This is a byproduct of the remarkable Republican success in establishing the Free State of Florida and reshaping the state’s politics since the impact of the pandemic. 2025’s off-election year marked another year of massive wins for Republicans in Florida. The Republican advantage over Democrats now stands at a record 1,464,964 voters making Florida an R+11 state. By way of comparison consider this. Four years ago, on this date in the year Moody won her reelection bid by twenty points, Florida was an R+0.3% state. Nothing should be taken for granted, it’s certainly not a guarantee that Republicans will just automatically win elections this year or in future cycles in Florida. But the growing GOP dominance has left the DEMs with a supper thin bench that has now brought the Soviet-born carpetbagger Alexander Vindman to the forefront of the party’s politics in what theoretically should be their best shot to win a statewide race this year.
Takeaway #3: Pot Politics
A few months ago, based on the purported number of signatures that had been collected by the Smart & Safe Florida PAC, it looked likely that your November ballot would include a proposed amendment for recreational marijuana. But then the state began to dig into many of the signatures that were collected and submitted to election supervisors for approval, and what they found was a lot of smoke. Specifically, Secretary of State Cord Byrd’s Office uncovered 41,894 submitted signatures from former voters who were no longer active voters within the state. Then came the finding of 28,752 signatures from full-time residents of other states. The state removed those signatures, the PAC sued, but Florida’s 1st District Court of Appeal had sided with the state in the removal of those signatures. By the time the smoke cleared on the signatures, as of yesterday, the state shows 760,002 valid signatures or just over 120,000 short of the 880,062 needed by February 1st for potential consideration before the Florida Supreme Court. With under a week of signature collections to go it's still possible for pot to be on this year’s ballot but given that it took the PAC just over a year to collect the signatures they’ve collected to date – it looks like the court’s decision to side with the state will likely keep recreational pot politics out of our state for at least another cycle.