Florida Politics 2025: Key Shifts to Watch

Estimated reading time: 5 minutes

Key takeaways

• Power politics dominated 2025, with high-impact appointments by the governor and a frontrunner emerging for the 2026 governor’s race.
• Immigration, property taxes, and gun rights became defining policy battlegrounds, setting the stage for the 2026 legislative session.
• Civic power is shifting as lawmakers tightened rules on citizen-led amendments and redrew political maps to favor incumbents.
• Local vs. state authority clashes intensified over land-use, growth management, and tax policy.
• Florida’s political future in 2026 will hinge on turnout, organizing, and how voters respond to these rapid changes.

Table of contents

• Trump’s endorsement and the rise of Byron Donalds
• The Hope Florida controversy and its ripple effects
• DeSantis’ appointments and long-term power play
• Immigration crackdowns and ‘Alligator Alcatraz’
• Making citizen amendments harder: HB 1205
• Florida Democrats’ identity crisis and 2026 stakes
• SB 180 and the backlash against growth-management rollbacks
• The push to slash or eliminate homestead property taxes
• Open carry ruling and Florida’s gun politics
• Redistricting redux and the race for House control
• How Florida voters can engage now

Trump’s endorsement and the rise of Byron Donalds

In a year without statewide elections, one move reshaped Florida’s 2026 landscape: Donald Trump’s early endorsement of Byron Donalds for governor. Before Donalds even formally jumped into the race, Trump’s “RUN, BYRON, RUN!” post catapulted him into frontrunner status.

Backed by more than $40 million raised and leading both Republican and Democratic rivals, Donalds has become the candidate to beat. For politically engaged readers, this is your early signal: the real governor’s race has already started in fundraising rooms and strategy calls, not just on ballots.

The Hope Florida controversy and its ripple effects

The Hope Florida Foundation, led by the governor’s wife, became the center of a major ethics and governance storm. Reporters revealed that $10 million from a Medicaid settlement moved through nonprofits and eventually into a PAC aimed at defeating recreational cannabis legalization.

This triggered House hearings and a Leon County grand jury investigation. While no indictments have emerged yet, the case highlights how charitable branding, public money, and political campaigns can blur together.

Action idea: If you care about transparency, follow future grand jury findings and track how candidates position themselves on political use of settlement and foundation funds.

DeSantis’ appointments and long-term power play

Even as a lame duck, the governor has been quietly building what you might think of as a post-2026 legacy network:

• Ashley Moody elevated to the U.S. Senate.
• Blaise Ingoglia appointed as Chief Financial Officer.
• Jay Collins named lieutenant governor, touted as the “Chuck Norris of Florida politics.”

These moves lock allies into high-impact roles that will influence policy on taxes, law enforcement, and regulation for years. For voters, it means that 2024–2026 appointments may matter as much as elections themselves.

Immigration crackdowns and ‘Alligator Alcatraz’

Florida doubled down on its role in national immigration fights. The governor pushed lawmakers into action with a January immigration call, leading to a law making it a misdemeanor for undocumented adults to re-enter Florida after avoiding federal inspection. A Miami federal judge quickly blocked that provision and later found Attorney General James Uthmeier in contempt for dismissing the court’s authority.

National attention spiked with the unveiling of a federal detention center in the Everglades nicknamed “Alligator Alcatraz”. A December Amnesty International report suggested conditions there and at Krome could amount to torture-level treatment under international standards.

If immigration policy directly affects your family or community, this is the moment to:

• Monitor federal court rulings on Florida’s enforcement laws.
• Track international human rights responses, which can pressure future reforms.

Making citizen amendments harder: HB 1205

For years, Floridians have used ballot amendments to do what legislators would not: expand medical marijuana, restore voting rights, and more. In 2025, that power narrowed sharply.

HB 1205, a top priority for the governor, significantly tightened rules around citizen-led constitutional amendments, justified by Republicans as a crackdown on alleged petition fraud in 2024 marijuana and abortion campaigns.

The impact has been immediate:

• Several groups have abandoned planned amendments due to higher hurdles.
• Even major players like Trulieve and allies are struggling to retool a cannabis amendment for 2026.

Practically, that means less direct democracy and more gatekeeping by the Legislature. If you’ve ever signed a petition at a grocery store or campus, your path to policy change just got steeper.

Florida Democrats’ identity crisis and 2026 stakes

Democrats spent 2025 wrestling with what one leader bluntly called a broken brand. With a 1.4 million voter registration gap, the party watched its Senate leader Jason Pizzo quit and declare the party “dead.”

State Chair Nikki Fried later told donors, “our message is s***,” underscoring the scale of the rebuild. Even bright spots, like Eileen Higgins becoming the first Democratic mayor of Miami since the 1990s, are set against structural disadvantages.

For voters looking ahead to 2026:

• Watch whether new statewide candidates like David Jolly or Jerry Demings can mobilize independents.
• Expect heavy focus on registration drives in Miami-Dade and Pinellas if Democrats want to narrow the gap.

SB 180 and the backlash against growth-management rollbacks

Senate Bill 180 started as a hurricane recovery measure but evolved into what local officials now call the largest hit to home rule since 1968. The law effectively freezes local land-development rules through October 2027, blocking cities and counties from adopting more restrictive regulations than what existed before recent or future hurricanes.

At least 25 local governments have gone to court to challenge the law. Residents in places like Manatee County openly accused their legislators of “betrayal” for siding with state-level preemption over neighborhood concerns.

In response to the backlash, Sen. Nick DiCeglie has filed SB 840 to scale back some of SB 180’s reach in 2026. If you care about traffic, sprawl, wetlands, and storm resilience, this quiet legal fight could shape your community far more than a single campaign ad.

The push to slash or eliminate homestead property taxes

Few proposals have as much kitchen-table impact as the governor’s ambition to dramatically reduce or even eliminate property taxes on homesteaded properties. Working closely with CFO Blaise Ingoglia, the administration spent 2025 building a narrative that local governments are flush with “waste” and can absorb cuts of around 15% without touching essential services.

Key dynamics to watch:

• Local vs. state tension: Cities and counties warn of deep hits to police, fire, libraries, and parks if property tax revenue collapses.
• Ballot power: Any major change must go to voters as a constitutional amendment.
• Competing blueprints: The House floated eight separate proposals, while the governor wants a single bold amendment and has blasted legislative ideas as “milquetoast.”

As a homeowner or renter, this debate touches both your monthly bills and local services. Watch for concrete amendment language in early 2026 and how it balances tax cuts with service guarantees.

Open carry ruling and Florida’s gun politics

In September, a First District Court of Appeal panel declared Florida’s 1987 ban on open carry unconstitutional, instantly shifting the state’s already permissive gun landscape.

The attorney general welcomed the ruling as a major Second Amendment victory, but even supporters admit the change will require legislative “cleanup” to clarify how open carry works in practice. Gun rights advocates are already warning lawmakers not to water down the court’s decision with new restrictions.

For residents, that means you may begin to see more visible firearms in public spaces, depending on how fast and how far lawmakers move in 2026.

Redistricting redux and the race for House control

After the 2020 Census, Florida’s map shifted from 16–11 to a 20–8 Republican advantage, heavily influenced by a governor-backed map that survived court scrutiny. Now, with President Trump urging states like Texas to redraw districts for more GOP seats, Florida is weighing another round of congressional redistricting ahead of 2026.

The House prefers to finish a new map by March, while the governor and Senate favor a special session later in the spring. For voters, this matters because:

• Your district lines could shift again before the next election.
• Competitive seats may become safer for incumbents, affecting how strongly they court your vote.

How Florida voters can engage now

If you live, work, or invest in Florida, 2025 has set the stage for one of the most consequential election cycles in years. To stay ahead of the curve:

• Track legislation: Follow upcoming bills on property taxes, open carry, and SB 180 rollbacks during the 2026 session.
• Watch the ballot: Pay special attention to any proposed constitutional amendments on taxes, guns, and citizen initiatives.
• Engage locally: City and county meetings on budgets, development, and growth rules will reveal how state-level decisions hit your neighborhood.
• Compare candidates beyond party labels: With internal splits in both parties, positions on immigration, tax policy, and home rule will tell you more than slogans.

For deeper context, consider pairing this overview with local reporting, legislative tracking tools, and election guides that break down how these policies translate into real-world impacts for your family, your business, and your community.

Source: https://floridaphoenix.com/2025/12/26/the-top-10-political-developments-in-florida-in-2025/