Early voting has started, and election day is not far off, so here are some thoughts, in the first of three (!) parts, on the upcoming election. But some of them are not long.
Part 1: Federal and State non-judicial offices and state referendums
Part 2: Judicial elections and judicial retention elections (coming soon)
Part 3: Coral Gables Commission & Miami-Dade County referendums (coming soon)
A key feature of so much of the federal and state executive elections is the long shadow of the two men who are not on the ballot: Donald Trump and Ron DeSantis. It would not be wrong to see some of these elections as really being about them, and you probably have opinions on them, so in most cases below – other than the State AG election which is something special – I will be quite brief on the theory that I’m not likely to sway many people reading this.
Federal Offices
US Senator
Republican Ashley Moody was appointed to the seat by Ron DeSantis. Once in office she’s been a virtual non-entity, and has reliably voted the Trump line. Her campaign so far consists mostly of hiding from the public to avoid having to defend her record, part of which is being one of the people who signed off on the $10 million “misappropriation” of public money for DeSantis’s political purposes, now known as the Hope Florida scandal, while she was Florida’s Attorney General. I’m sure that endeared her to DeSantis, and didn’t hurt her chances of being appointed to replace Marco Rubio in the Senate.
Democrat Angie Nixon is a real populist. Unlike Moody, she’s a what-you-see-is-what-you get candidate. She’s not shy about what she stands for, and that’s for health care, child care, and union rights. I like it, but even if I didn’t I think Trump needs to be stopped. If you agree with that, Nixon will be a vote against the Trump agenda.
US Congress FL-27
First term Republican Congressperson Maria Salazar is also running away from her record. Having supported funds for ICE and most everything else Trump, she’s now trying to pivot. Her campaign mailers disguise that the she is the incumbent! It would be a pity to reward that. Democrat Elliott Rodriguez, like Salazar a former TV anchor, is a pretty conservative Democrat as things go these days, but he may be right for the district. Safe pair of hands if you worry about liberal Democrats: He won’t be one.
State Offices
Florida Governor
Republican Byron Donalds, currently the rep for the 19th Congressional district, is a surprisingly undistinguished candidate. His claims to fame include being an official Trump surrogate in the 2024 campaign, voting the Trump line in Congress, and enjoying the Trump endorsement in this campaign. The Miami Herald recently reported that Donalds and his wife Erika Donalds have made their large fortune by scoring tens of millions in state education funds for charter schools and online education. Ick.,
David Jolly is a former Republican who switched parties to run as a Democrat. I will vote for him a bit reluctantly, but Donalds is pretty awful.
Florida Attorney General
This is the race I’m most passionate about, both because I’m a law professor and because it features the biggest sleaze in the election, which this year is no mean feat. What’s more, the other candidate is a terrific, smart, guy who would do a great job.
The champion sleaze is James Uthmeier, the DeSantis-appointed incumbent. Like Moody, Uthmeier was involved in approving taking public money for partisan ends in the Hope Florida scandal. He supported a suit to overturn Biden’s election. Uthmeier’s other claim to fame is trampling the rule of law while Florida AG. In June 2025, U.S. District Judge Kathleen M. Williams held Uthmeier in contempt of court for continuing to enforce a Florida immigration law that the judge had blocked in a previous ruling. Uthmeier had directed state law enforcement to ignore the court and then bragged about it in media interviews.
Uthmeier was also involved in the illegal and massively expensive boondoggle that was Alligator Alcatraz, the Florida concentration camp featuring tiny cages to hold detainees—so small they couldn’t stand.
And he’s signed several briefs organized by republican attorney generals seeking changes in the law that had no defensible basis. An example is the attempt to end birthright citizenship, but there are many others. He’s been involved in manipulative and unsuccessful attempts to change the summaries of ballot initiatives, thus trying to undermine the democratic process.
We are very fortunate that the Democratic candidate, Jose Javier Rodriguez, is as good as Uthmeier is bad. JJR was a leading state rep and state senator. He was a leader in opposing excessive rate increase requests by FPL. He was defeated for his 2020 reelection by a dirty trick: the GOP ran a fake candidate also named Rodriguez who siphoned off votes. The fake candidate was organized and paid by a Republican operative who went to jail for it.
Rodriquez is a fine lawyer and a fine person with an admiral record scrutinizing public spending and jail conditions while in the legislature. Everyone who I know who knows him says he’s a great guy. This is one of the most important races on the ballot.
Chief Financial Officer
Much as I like Annette Taddeo as a person, I do get a bit tired of voting for her in campaigns that fizzle. Good person, can do the job. Hope the Nth time is the charm.
Commissioner of Agriculture
Haven’t focused much, but I guess I’ll vote for Joey Atkins.
State Senator District 38
A very uphill fight, but Richard Lamondin, Jr. is I am told a stand up candidate. Alexis Calatayud, the incumbent, has vastly outraised him, The only good thing I know about her is that she was the only Republican to vote against Florida’s six-week abortion ban. It would be good to deny Republicans a super-majority in our deeply gerrymandered state legislature.
Florida State Constitutional Amendments (vote NO on all especially Amendment 3)
The main even is Amendment 3, which will drastically cut homestead property taxes.
The consequences will be that police, fire, ambulance, and just about all other locally financed social services other than schools (which are spared) will face drastic cuts – or the money will have to come from somewhere else, be it higher millage rates, renter taxes, taxes on local businesses, fees for everything, and/or sales tax increases where allowed.
It’s hard to turn down a tax cut. But this one is a bludgeon to local revenues – and was originally designed to be DeSantis’s farewell calling card to help launch his Presidential campaign. Then he discovered it wasn’t as popular as he thought and partly backed away from it. It’s really important to vote No on this ill-conceived, poorly costed out idea – that would take effect January 1, long before localities would have a chance to figure out new revenue sources. Best case if it passes is way more power for the state government at the expense of local government; worst and most likely case: chaos.
Compared to Amendment 3, the other two amendments are much less major but still worth voting against. Amendment 1 increases the size of the state slush fund aka “budget stabilization” by 150% — up to 25% of annual revenues. The Governor would get to decide how to spend it without real accountability other than his declaration of “critical need”. Remember, these are the people who brought you Hope Florida. Vote NO.
Amendment 2 would create special property tax exemptions for agribusiness. Because Big Sugar needs more money. Like Amendment 3, but on a smaller scale, the outcome would be harming local government tax receipts, which are what fund government services. Vote NO.
Let it never be forgotten that 
People have been emailing and DMing me asking for the downballot recommendations already. I’m glad to see that people who are voting by mail are taking seriously the suggestion that, given all the hiccups with the Postal Service, this is the year to get those ballots in the mail as early as possible – or maybe take them personally to a dropbox at an early voting center when those open up in less than two weeks.
