With both the primaries and nonpartisan races on the ballot, if you haven’t already voted early or by mail-in ballot, it’s time to make a plan!

You don’t need to be a political wonk to vote in this election. This is a chance for all voters to influence local politics, which is where a lot of important decisions are made.

This post will provide a simple explainer on what state primary elections actually are, and what will be at stake.

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Why This Election Is Important

This isn’t the general election, which happens in November, but this election does have a couple important categories of races: primary elections and nonpartisan races.

If you’re a registered voter, you can vote in this election. If you have no party affiliation, you can vote in the nonpartisan races, and if you’re a registered Democrat, you can vote in the nonpartisan races and in the primaries.

Primary Elections

In a primary election, voters choose who they want to see as their party’s candidate in the upcoming general election. Florida is a closed-primary state, meaning that only registered Democrats can vote in the Democratic primary (and only registered Republicans can vote in the Republican primary). This is a state law, not a rule set by political parties.

If a candidate is running unopposed within the party, they are considered to have won their primary, and they will appear on the ballot in the general election in November.

If you’re a registered Democrat, voting in the primaries is how you can help move the Democratic Party where you want it to go. Maybe you want the party to go more to the left or more to the center, or maybe you’re looking for a candidate who’s as passionate about a certain issue as you are.

Whatever you care about—and think the party should care too—research the candidates, and choose whoever is likeliest to take the Democratic Party in that direction.

The Power of State and Local Offices

The offices at stake in the August 18 primary impact your life as a resident of Florida and of the district you reside in.

For instance, the governor is responsible for carrying out state laws. In Florida, the governor is enabled to use military force to promote peace and can enact emergency powers to quell violence.

This much power is clearly meant to be wielded responsibly and with the best interests of Floridians in mind. But let’s look at how Ron DeSantis, Florida’s current Republican governor, handles the power of keeping Floridians safe while we’re exercising our free speech rights.

In 2017, after James Alex Fields Jr. murdered Heather Heyer by driving his car into a group of protesters, a court found that this was not an act of self-defense. Ron DeSantis’s response to such white nationalist violence was to sign into law a measure that would reduce civil liability for such drivers.

He then described the law as, “If you’re driving on one of those streets and a mob comes and surrounds your vehicle and threatens you, you have a right to flee for your safety. And so if you drive off and you hit one of these people, that’s their fault for impinging on you.”

An attorney with relevant legal experience who was interviewed for the article above said that this reflects a misunderstanding of the law, which “does not give blanket criminal immunity for injuring or killing protesters. It also risks sending a dangerous message that civil unrest justifies indiscriminate harm.”

DeSantis also gave $1.2 billion of Florida taxpayers’ money to Alligator Alcatraz. While this boondoggle of an abusive nightmare has closed, as of July 1 of this year, only about 5% of that money had been reimbursed by the federal government.

Florida deserves a governor who respects the people and defends our rights. Would Rep. Byron Donalds, the current GOP frontrunner for governor and who has Trump’s endorsement, be such a governor?

Donalds has cosponsored a bill that would keep the Secretary of Labor from protecting American workers from extreme heat, a phenomenon we in Florida understand all too well.

Donalds also wants to bring AI data centers to Florida. Although seven in ten Americans don’t want these data centers built in their communities, Donalds has said, “Let’s just end the suspense. Yes, some are going to be built.”

We don’t think that sounds like someone who respects Floridians or values our wellbeing.

If you want a governor who can stand up for us, vote in the primaries—and in the general election this November.

Other offices also have power to fight for the people—if officeholders choose to wield that power on our behalf.

Donald Trump has made it clear he fears a third impeachment if Democrats win the House this year. It would also explain the tantrums he’s thrown over the Senate’s not passing the voter suppression bill known as the SAVE America Act.

And if Democrats win the Senate and the House, Trump could be not only impeached but removed from office.

Victories in the Florida House and Senate also impact our quality of life in the Sunshine State. With Republicans in the majority in both houses, Floridians have seen the passage of the “Don’t Say Gay” law, the enactment of blatant gerrymandering, and the “right” of healthcare professionals to deny care based on their own personal beliefs.

And in the case of our state senator, we have the chance to oust Jason Brodeur, who directly opposed the wishes of 82% of Seminole County voters by attempting to destroy the rural boundary. Such a move was a slap in the face to Brodeur’s constituents, who deserve a representative who actually represents them.

And it’s not just the race for governor and congressional offices that matter.

Nonpartisan Races

Whether you’re a registered Democrat or not, if you’re an eligible voter, you can vote in this election’s nonpartisan races. These include judges and the school board.

Because of rules overseeing what judicial candidates can discuss as they compete for your vote, it can be challenging to find solid information on which to base your decision, but it’s out there! If you’d like to learn more about the candidates running in the judicial elections, check out the recent forum hosted by the League of Women Voters of Seminole County.

The school board makes decisions impacting Seminole County Public Schools, directing the school system’s vision, goals, and standards. The board is the community’s voice in public education, and its job is to ensure educational excellence for all its students.

During the past five years, Moms for Liberty has used school board races to advance right-wing ideology that opposes the dignity and equality of LGBTQ+ folks and people of color—including the students these school boards are meant to serve. The Southern Poverty Law Center has designated Moms for Liberty as an extremist organization.

But liberal groups are fighting back, and more voters are paying attention to these races. With Moms for Liberty’s power waning, this election is a clear opportunity for us to ensure Seminole County students get the quality education our county is known for.

Seminole County is ranked as the number-one school district in the Orlando area this year and was the top school district in Florida in 2025. We can continue our students’ success by ensuring our teachers are allowed to teach, curate classroom libraries based on their informed assessment of their students’ educational needs, and use their expertise to guide students to new ideas so they can think critically about them.

Remember, this is the school board election. It will not be on the ballot in November. Now is the time to vote.

For the August 18 school board election, the SemDems endorse Kristine Kraus, Holton Mills, and Autumn Garick. Use these links to learn more about these candidates.

And remember the importance of researching candidates and how to cast your ballot before you vote.

Research the Candidates and Make a Plan

To learn more about the candidates on the ballot for the August 18 election, visit the SemDems Official Voter Guide. You can use it as a hub to find links to the candidates and information about when and where you can vote.

From there, you can plan which voting option best fits your schedule.

· Vote by Mail: If you have requested a vote-by-mail (VBM) ballot, make sure it’s returned to the Supervisor of Elections by 7:00 p.m. on Election Day, August 18. Don’t wait too long to mail it and risk it not arriving on time! You can drop it off at an early voting location (see the SemDems voter guide, linked above) or at the Supervisor of Elections Office.

· Early Voting: If you want to vote early, plan a time and location that works with your schedule. This link includes addresses, open days and times, and what you’ll need to bring for a photo and signature ID.

· Election Day: To vote on Election Day, show up to your polling place on August 18 between 7:00 a.m. and 7:00 p.m. with your photo and signature ID. On Election Day, you have to show up to your assigned polling place, so if you’re not sure where your polling place is, you can find it here.

Seminole County, this is just one of the moments we’ve been waiting for. In these times, a primary election and a school board election present us with opportunities to turn the right-wing tide in America and Florida.

It’s time to hold elected officials accountable.

It’s time to say who we think will stand up for We the People.

It’s time to vote.

July is Disability Pride Month, a time to reflect on the importance of accessible environments in our quality of life—all of us, disabled and nondisabled alike.

We can also learn the role that activists of all backgrounds played in America’s disability rights movement—and the role we can all take on if we come together to ensure dignity and security for all.

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Disability Is Common

Worldwide, about 1.3 billion people (16% of the population) are disabled. In America, over a quarter of us—28.7%—have a disability.

But researchers note that surveys undercount disabled Americans—which means there are likely way more disabled people than we recognize.

For example, one study noted that, while 28% of its participants were disabled two years before death, 56% were disabled in their last month of life. This indicates that over half of us will be disabled for at least some of our lives—yet even 56% is an undercount.

The study defined “disability” “as need for help with one of following activities of daily living: dressing, bathing, eating, transferring, walking across the room, and toileting.”

Let’s say you were dyslexic, or D/deaf or hard of hearing, but could engage in these activities of daily living without assistance. In those cases, the study would not count you as disabled.

It raises the question of just how much we underestimate how common disability is.

And that number of disabled people, whatever it truly is, is always changing. As disabled activists have long pointed out, disability is the only minority group anyone can join suddenly, without warning, and without their consent.

And when we design communities, services, and public spaces to be accessible to disabled people, everyone benefits. (Think about curb cuts, how useful they are for navigating from street to sidewalk with wheelchairs, strollers, and rolling bags.)

This means it’s in our best interest—every one of us, regardless of disability status—to support the rights and wellbeing of disabled people. A great place to start is by knowing and upholding the law.

Disability Rights Are Human Rights

Many Americans know the importance of the ADA: the Americans with Disabilities Act, which was signed into law in 1990. But the story really takes off decades before.

In 1951, Camp Jened opened. Designed for young people with disabilities, the camp operated on the idea that the campers deserved the same agency and freedom they would have if they were nondisabled. Many of those campers were inspired to continue living the lives they wanted—and go on to become champions of disability rights.

For example, Judy Heumann, known as the mother of the disability rights movement, was a camper and then a counselor at Camp Jened. Heumann’s work included the 504 sit-in, which still holds the record as the longest peaceful sit-in at a federal building in the United States.

The fight for the 504 is a masterclass in building a diverse coalition and defending each other.

Before the Americans with Disabilities Act, there was Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. This act ensured that people with disabilities would not be discriminated against by organizations receiving federal funding.

At least, that was the intent. But government officials delayed in implementing regulations that would allow Section 504 to be enforced. Without those regulations, Section 504 could not have a positive impact on the lives of disabled people in America.

When disabled activists recognized the stalling tactics for what they were, they protested—and the most sustained protest was the sit-in at San Francisco’s Health, Education, and Welfare Federal Building.

The sit-in lasted nearly a month, thanks to a wide range of allies. The Black Panthers, for instance, provided meals and supplies that allowed the sit-in to continue. Glide Memorial Church, through fundraising and supplying food, also supported the cause. From the United Farm Workers to gay and lesbian activists, people pitched in to ensure the sit-in was a success.

And it was. President Jimmy Carter’s Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare, Joseph Califano, agreed to uphold Section 504 in April 1977.

There had been a gap of three and a half years between when Section 504 became law and when the government began to enforce it. The major victory of Section 504—and a valuable lesson for us now, in 2026—happened not when the law was written down but when it became useful for the protection of actual human beings.

And this victory didn’t just uphold disabled Americans’ basic civil rights. It called attention to their struggle for equality and justice under the law.

And that struggle would continue before President H. W. Bush signed the Americans with Disabilities Act into law.

In the beginning of 1990, the ADA’s passage was anything but a sure thing. Business interests opposed the costs of implementing necessary accommodations, and the ADA was stalled in subcommittees.

Then ADAPT organized the Capitol Crawl.

On March 12, 1990, wheelchair users, including eight-year-old Jennifer Keelan, traveled to the steps of the United States Capitol, left their chairs behind, and pulled themselves up the eighty-three steps that led to the inside of the building.

With them they carried copies of the Declaration of Independence as a reminder to Congress that all Americans deserve freedom and equality.

Months later, on July 26, 1990, the Americans with Disabilities Act became the law of the land.

Disabled activists and allies have fought for so much—and are still fighting, not only to break new ground but to protect hard-won victories from the ravages of the Trump administration.

GOP Threatens People with Disabilities

George H. W. Bush supported the rights and liberties of disabled Americans. Donald Trump and his administration are trying to take those rights away.

In Trump’s first term, he waged war on the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Disabled activists knew the value of the ACA for Americans with disabilities—and that without the ACA, the quality of their lives would crumble.

Activists protesting at then-Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s office were arrested and forcibly removed. With the healthcare coverage of 23 million Americans on the line, one ADAPT protest organizer said, “Our lives and liberty shouldn’t be stolen to give a tax break to the wealthy.”

Nor should they be stolen today, in Trump’s second term. Yet the threats abound. Here are just a few:

· Last year’s budget reconciliation brought massive cuts to Medicaid, which many disabled Americans rely on. Its work requirements give them more bureaucratic hoops to jump through in accessing benefits for which they’re eligible. And the act threatens the viability of living at home instead of in institutions.

· Just last month, the Department of Justice issued a memo contradicting the Supreme Court’s ruling in Olmstead v. L. C., 527 U.S. 581 (1999). Olmstead clarifies that disabled people have the right to live, work, and receive services in their communities, without being institutionalized. Trump’s DOJ insists that states are not required to respect that right.

· RFK Jr., the Secretary of Health and Human Services, has famously insulted autistic people by calling autism a disease that destroys families and children. He has spread misinformation about vaccines, and as rates of measles vaccinations have dropped and cases have risen, he has, against the advice of public health experts, touted vitamin A as a treatment. And just last month, the Trump administration announced that the part of the Department of Education charged with implementing the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) is being transferred to the control of this man whose judgment has moved far beyond questionable and into dangerous territory.

· A proposed change to Supplemental Security Income (SSI) rules would threaten the benefits of 400,000 disabled adults—for living with their families.

These are far from the days when President H. W. Bush signed the ADA into law—and when President George Bush signed into law the ADA Amendments Act.

Under the second Trump administration, disabled Americans, their loved ones, and allies monitor the news for threats that today’s Republican Party is churning out.

But just as Americans from a variety of backgrounds came together to support the 504 sit-in, we can band together to protect disabled Americans.

“Nothing About Us Without Us”

It’s a saying foundational to the disability rights movement. With a history roaming the globe from sixteenth-century Poland to apartheid South Africa, “Nothing about us without us” is a reminder that actual disabled people need and deserve agency over their own lives.

It’s what we all want for ourselves. And no matter our disability status in this moment, it’s important to remember that it’s possible that we will experience disability at some point in our lives.

Today is the anniversary of the signing of the Americans with Disabilities Act into law. It’s an important day for anyone in this country with a body—which is all of us.

If you want to help advance the rights and dignity of people with disabilities, there’s a lot we can all do:

· See ourselves in American history. People of all backgrounds—LGBTQ+ activists, Black Panthers, members of religious organizations—came together with disabled activists. Together they fought for the rights that so many in America benefit from today. No matter our diverse backgrounds and how those backgrounds have informed our understanding of disability, we can all join in this fight.

· Learn what you can do to make your creations more accessible. Make your online images accessible to blind and low-vision users by including alt text. Include accurate captions for your videos. Look up Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) for what you make, and build some time into your content creation process to make sure people with disabilities can experience what you’re putting out into the world.

· Watch Crip Camp. Produced by Barack and Michelle Obama, the documentary is available on Netflix and provides a fascinating examination of disability rights in America.

· Read about the disability rights movement. A good starting point is Judy Heumann’s memoir, Being Heumann, which details the 504 sit-in.

· Follow disability rights organizations led by and for disabled people. ADAPT and the Autistic Self-Advocacy Network (ASAN) are good places to start.

· Make sure you and the disabled voters you know have a solid plan for voting in the August 18 and November 3 elections this year.

Pick one thing from this list, and get started! Resolve to take action to defend the civil rights of disabled people in this country. Celebrate Disability Pride Month by insisting on freedom, equality, and dignity for everyone.

With Donald Trump’s continuing unpopularity, it’s no surprise that gerrymandering and attempts at voter suppression are rearing their ugly heads this election year. And, with Republicans running the State of Florida, we’ve got to contend with both.

And we can.

Pay attention to changes, make a plan for how you’ll vote, and spread the word about the importance and details of voting to ensure Floridians’ voices are heard at the polls.

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One Gerrymander Wasn’t Enough for DeSantis

When you look at the party affiliations of Florida voters, you can see that Florida is actually a purple state.

Sure, our governor has tried to turn this state redder. Many of his flagship policies are explicitly designed to do this.

For example, he rejected evidence-based, scientifically sound guidelines during the pandemic. Even when tens of thousands of people had died of COVID-19 in Florida, he touted his ban on mask mandates and vaccine mandates and boasted, “We’re not doing any restrictions.”

This drew more Republicans to Florida.

Yet Republicans are actually a minority of active registered voters in this state—less than 42 percent. Even with our governor’s constant pandering to his base, the majority of Florida voters are wiser than to throw in their lot with MAGA—and with a man whose response when Donald Trump called him “Ron DeSanctimonious” was to say, “I kinda like it.”

Floridians deserve elected officials with a backbone. But the GOP stranglehold on our government just got tighter.

In 2022, Florida redrew its districts, and Princeton gave the new map an F for partisan fairness. Take a guess which party the map significantly favored: Republicans—who, remember, are a minority of active Florida voters.

In Florida, it’s illegal for maps to be drawn to advantage a political party. That’s a violation of the Fair Districts Amendments, which Florida voters ourselves spearheaded.

And when DeSantis insisted on a rare mid-decade redistricting, without a recent census to justify an update, his own staff admitted that partisan data were used to create the new map’s lines.

The new map is forecast to give the GOP four more seats—for a total of 24 out of 28—in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Remember: This is a party with less than 42% of the active registered voters in this state. And their map is projected to give them over 85% of Florida’s seats in the House of Representatives.

As if this weren’t enough, this further gerrymandering in an election year could confuse voters about where to cast their ballot. Local elections offices may not have the time and resources to educate all voters about where to go and why.

But under DeSantis’s gerrymandered map, there may be a dummymander effect, which happens when the party in power shuffles so many voters to different voting districts that they put more of their own seats at risk.

That means there are only so many solid-Republican votes to go around. Florida has plenty of blue votes—and potential blue votes, if we get the word out about how important our elections are in defending democracy and ensuring our communities are places where we can thrive.

But as Elena Kagan put it, dummymanders are less likely to happen in today’s world because “mapmakers now have access to more granular data about party preference and voting behavior than ever before.”

That means every vote counts.

None of us can afford to sit out an election—a general, a primary, a midterm, a vote for county commissioner. If the second Trump term has taught us anything, it’s the power of state and local officials to uphold the law when a foolish bully is trying to throw his weight around. We need to show up and make sure we elect responsible officeholders who are accountable to their constituents and respect our rights.

Another reason we all need to show up? Gerrymandering isn’t the only trick in the Republican playbook this election season.

Another GOP Hurdle for Voters—in 2027

You would think Florida Republicans would fear the blowback from two consecutive gerrymanders. Instead, they dodge accountability by passing their own version of the SAVE America Act—the anti-voter bill Donald Trump has thrown a tantrum trying to pass.

Here’s the thing: this law will not impact you in the 2026 elections. It takes effect in January 2027. It’s important to know that so we can have informed conversations with voters about their rights and about the voter registration process.

But it’s also important to know what this law contains.

The Florida SAVES Act bars several forms of ID that are currently—in 2026—enough for a person to vote. It also requires proof of citizenship in order to register to vote or to complete a name change.

This act creates barriers to the voting process:

· Married women who’ve recently changed their last names will need to provide proof of citizenship.

· Some Black Americans born during the Jim Crow era lack birth certificates because they were never issued one.

· Students and unhoused people may not have access to their documentation.

These obstacles make it harder for already vulnerable people to vote. These are the very voting blocs harmed by Republican policies. These are who Republicans are trying to keep from the polls.

According to Florida’s own Office of Election Crimes and Security, less than 0.0015% of Florida’s population is “likely noncitizens who illegally registered and/or voted in Florida.” Our state government risks our disenfranchisement over a problem that our current laws are already handling very well—safeguarding our elections and our votes.

Here’s the thing: life happens regardless of paperwork. People are born. People get married. People move.

You’re not stuck in your mother’s womb until she gets your papers in order. That doesn’t make you a problem. It makes you a human.

The Florida SAVES Act is based on a lie: that life happens from the top down. That only documentation makes your existence valid. That everyone can easily access that documentation—and if you can’t, you must have done something wrong.

That’s not how life works—and definitely not life in a free society. In a free society, you have rights, and those rights are respected and upheld.

But our own state has become a MAGA experiment. And the question being tested—on us—is how much the Republican Party can get away with.

Vote Out the GOP

We can give a decisive answer to that question: “No more.”

We don’t have to live at the whims of our current Republican overlords. We can vote them out.

Republicans and their capitalist cronies spend millions of dollars on Florida elections, all in an attempt to buy your vote.

What the Republican Party is doing is extraction, plain and simple. Extraction is designed to get as much out of a resource as is possible, while investing as little as possible in return. And right now, the resource they’re extracting from is Florida—and Floridians.

It’s straight out of Donald Trump’s playbook: run scams, stiff contractors, skip out on the bill. And Florida Republicans keep saying yes to Trump and passing the costs along to us.

But even though Republicans keep putting up hurdles, if enough of us voters show up to vote, we can clear these hurdles.

GOP voters are outnumbered—in Florida, active registered voters outside the Republican Party outnumber those inside.

Their Florida SAVES Act won’t go into effect till January 2027—giving us time to gather our documentation, educate others about this act, and file lawsuits on behalf of eligible voters who would be disenfranchised.

We also have two elections coming up before the Florida SAVES Act is in effect: the primary (August 18) and the midterm general election (November 3). We can oust the GOP officeholders who fall in line behind Donald Trump and Ron DeSantis. We can support Democrats instead.

If you’re excited to oust Florida’s right-wing cowards from power, volunteer with the SemDems. Sign up to canvass for a Florida where the rich can’t extract all they want from us because we won’t let them. Support candidates who respect Floridians and play by the rules, who win our votes and don’t rig maps, who care about affordability and the rule of law.

And vote for a Florida that understands the math—that knows that 42% of the voting population is not the majority.

In Part I of this blog post, we examined how the GOP, at the federal and state levels, has laid the groundwork for Florida’s current unaffordability.

In Part II, we look at Republicans’ plans for Seminole County and the entire state of Florida, how those plans would deepen the affordability crisis, and how we can oppose them.

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Local Republicans Promote Sprawl

Let’s take a look at the Republican Party in Seminole County, where just months ago, State Senator Jason Brodeur voted to attack our rural boundary.

Seminole County residents voted to protect the rural boundary in 2024. We voted to keep that area from being overrun by developers.

Then Jason Brodeur tried to override the will of his constituents as expressed in that very recent election—an election in which 82% of Seminole County voters said we should keep the rural boundary.

And look at how he chose to launch this attack on our rural spaces and the will of the voters: the amendment he supported“would have enabled any landowner on the ‘rural’ side of the boundary to sue the county — and by extension, county taxpayers — for damages, even if they had no plans to develop the land.”

That’s right: in a time of rampant unaffordability, our very own state senator wanted to give people an incentive to take more of your taxpayer dollars.

Not even the rest of the Florida GOP went along with that plan. The rural boundary held.

And if we in Seminole County want it to stay that way—if we want our environment, our tax dollars, and our will as the voters respected—we will remove Brodeur from office when he is up for reelection.

GOP Lets Companies Take From Us

The Republican Party has also enabled Florida Power and Light to run roughshod over Florida residents.

Instead of insisting on commonsense regulations for utility companies, Florida Republicans allowed FPL to rake in possibly the “highest profit margin nationwide” last year. This was after FPL lobbied against a proposed requirement to balance rate hikes with affordability and gave “tens of millions of dollars to Florida politicians.”

Florida Power and Light has already donated half a million dollars to Byron Donalds, the frontrunner for the Republican primary for governor. Can we afford another politician that FPL has already paid so much?

If you’re working in Florida in the twenty-first century, probably not.

In 2002, when Republican Governor Jeb Bush was in charge, he abolished the Department of Labor and Employment Security.

This was Florida’s state labor department. It ensured employers paid employees their agreed-upon wages.

When Governor Bush ended the department, that responsibility fell by the wayside, even as other DLES programs were reassigned. Bush evidently cared about those programs—but workers struggling under the burden of wage theft? Not so much.

Now, if an employer withholds some of your paycheck, who’s going to help? The federal government, helmed by Donald Trump and tasked with enforcing only the federal minimum wage anyway? Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier, who was found in contempt of court last year and is nagging the NFL about interviewing diverse job candidates?

The state government under Republicans has made it clear: it’s not here for you if you just live here, work, and pay taxes. If you’re subjected to wage theft—a costlier crime to Americans than robberies, burglaries, and motor vehicle thefts all put together—the State of Florida doesn’t consider that a big deal.

The Republican Party is soft on crime if the criminal stealing from you is rich.

Republicans Cosplay Law and Order at Our Expense

Maybe the Florida GOP’s careless attitude toward the crimes of the rich (Epstein, anyone?) is why they overspend to enforce laws that aren’t theirs to enforce.

We’ve already seen how Florida has spent hundreds of millions of our taxpayer dollars on Alligator Alcatraz alone. That’s money the federal government promised to reimburse—and then refused to pay.

As the Orlando Sentinel put it, “Florida, amid its leaders’ zeal to lead the nation in immigration enforcement, is throwing a lot of state taxpayer money at what was long considered a federal issue.”

Does the Florida GOP insist that the tax burden be distributed evenly across the nation to enforce national policies? Does it stand up for you and me when it comes time to pay the bill for their cruel and foolish treatment of immigrants?

Nope. Instead, you and I are on the hook for millions of dollars so Ron DeSantis can pretend he’s tough. That’s way more than whatever he paid for those boots he insists don’t have lifts built into them.

There’s also the GOP obsession with making our crosswalks less safe—and arresting people for drawing with sidewalk chalk. Repainting our crosswalks to make them less safe cost $31,000 of Seminole County taxpayers’ money. The arrests diverted Florida Highway Patrol troopers from protecting and serving Floridians and took over 100 hours of prosecutors’ time—after which the charges were dropped.

Republicans’ Position on Healthcare: You Don’t Need It

Even with Donald Trump heading the Republican Party nationally, Florida doesn’t have to be this bad off.

Let’s look at healthcare. Forty-one states have implemented Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act. Medicaid expansion would extend healthcare coverage to more of our most vulnerable citizens.

Florida is not one of these states.

And no wonder: both our current governor and also the GOP frontrunner in this year’s race for governor think we don’t need so much healthcare coverage. DeSantis says most people should not have the high-quality plan he has. And Byron Donalds referred to comprehensive health care plans as “gold plated.”

We have a sitting president who trashed the East Wing of the White House—the People’s House—to build himself a ballroom. But the only gold plating Byron Donalds is worried about is, apparently, on the healthcare plans of Americans.

Most states are using the Affordable Care Act on behalf of their most vulnerable constituents. Instead, Florida Republicans worry about spending money on us.

And they’re planning to take even more from Floridians.

GOP Tax Scam Would Leave Florida Residents Holding the Bill

During a special legislative session of just two days, Florida’s legislature put on the ballot an amendment that, if passed, is projected to wipe out almost a quarter of Seminole County’s budget.

Championed by DeSantis, the plan would phase in increasing homestead exemptions for property owners, reducing the revenue to local governments.

Last October, when this amendment was still just talk from the governor, our SemDems blog noted that there was no plan for what will make up that shortage. And there still isn’t.

To make matters worse, since this is an amendment to the Florida Constitution, if this amendment passes, there is no sunset provision. It’s sticking around. The amendment doesn’t just vanish along with any surplus revenue that’s poured into the gap where our property taxes used to be.

A quarter of our county’s budget is a lot to make up, year after year, decade after decade.

Did the Florida GOP forget about that? In rushing to get this amendment onto the ballot, they almost forgot our schools need funding. And they removed a trust fund that would help financially strapped areas of our state get the money they need to keep functioning.

There is no clear plan for how Florida counties and cities will make up the loss. But the party that has allowed Florida’s affordability crisis to reach unconscionable levels seems to have realized we have elections in August and November this year.

They seem to be hoping we won’t notice all the things that money was buying. Things that benefit all of us, like libraries and mosquito control services. Services that benefit our most vulnerable, like senior citizens and children.

The amendment “fails to include expenses cities and counties are supposed to pay for by state law”—things as basic as garbage collection, court services, and hospitals.

Perhaps they think we won’t notice the regressive taxes local governments may turn to. Without property taxes, cities and counties could choose to make up the difference in sales taxes. That would mean an increase in our grocery bills, gas prices, and other basic necessities.

Those increases hit every shopper regardless of income. We all need to eat, whether we’re homeowners or renters, CEOs or small business owners.

Renters and small business owners already would not benefit from this tax shift—and they’d be paying more in sales taxes to make up for what homestead property owners would not be paying.

And think of two people at a company: the CEO and the janitor. Each has to buy groceries. This amendment would make both of them pay the same tax rate at the register.

But suppose a sales tax increase doesn’t come—or suppose it doesn’t raise enough money. Your city or county would have to go begging to the State of Florida for funding, despite its lack of a trust fund for this easily anticipated problem.

This proposed tax scam would just make it easier for the GOP at the helm of our state government to control how we spend our own money.

Seminole County residents want Seminole County services to be there for us. Why would Tallahassee care about Seminole County when it has sixty-six other counties to worry about?

That’s the problem with power moving further up the hierarchy, further away from the people it’s supposed to serve: it becomes less responsive to our needs.

But the Florida GOP wants that power shift away from us and toward the state capitol.

Property taxes fund things most of us can’t simply buy private options for on our own. I can’t go buy my own sheriff, my own roads, my own library stocked with thousands of books. Can you?

I certainly don’t have $14 million sitting around so I can buy off some Florida lawmakers.

What I do have is a vote this August—and this November.

Florida’s People Deserve Better

There’s never a good time for politicians to treat us like a cash cow when it comes to their pet projects and culture-war obsessions—and then threatening funding for parks, libraries, garbage collection, and other services they don’t consider “core.”

And in this time of tariffs and inflation, we definitely can’t afford these shenanigans.

Among large metropolitan areas, Central Florida has one of the lowest median wages in the country. Almost half of households above the poverty line—yes, above—struggle to cover basic expenses.

When so many of us can’t afford groceries, utilities, housing, and transportation, none of us can afford politicians who, year after year, seem unconcerned about such a common struggle.

And we have a choice.

If we look up and realize we don’t like how our 100%-Republican county commission raised property taxes last year, we don’t have to keep electing Republicans.

If we recognize that taking a wrecking ball to property taxes isn’t the answer because it would wreck the stability of our services, same thing—we don’t have to keep electing Republicans.

If we know we need real relief from ballooning costs, we don’t have to pretend this property tax feud between Republican-controlled Tallahassee and the Republican-controlled Seminole County Commission is the only option available to us.

We can insist on better. We can demand taxes that distribute the burden evenly and ensure our important services are funded. We can insist our elected officials must manage our tax dollars well on our behalf.

We do this by paying attention.

By talking with each other about the impact this GOP-led tax scam will have on our communities.

By voting in August and November.

Make it a priority to learn about the candidates and the issues that will be on our ballots. Learn and discuss what’s at stake if we allow the Tallahassee GOP to control what we fund in Seminole County. And get out there and vote!

Every day, Seminole County Democrats give their time and effort to strengthen our communities in the fight for freedom, justice, and equality.

Today, we’re going to look at a few who’ve been recognized as top volunteers. All are Volunteers of the Month, with the exception of our last volunteer, who recently won the Dr. Jeff Wilkinson Volunteer of the Year Award.

Their stories can tell us about what volunteering with the SemDems is like.

If you’re thinking of getting involved with us too, see what resonates here, what sparks your interest, and where you might join us.

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“Basic Human Rights Are Not Immutable”

Three days after the 2024 election, a boy told Claudio Ibarra’s daughter, “Your body, my choice.”

She was seven years old.

“Having to explain [to her] what that meant broke something in me,” Claudio told me. “I haven’t felt the same since.”

That moment changed Claudio’s involvement in politics. Before, he’d always voted for Democrats but considered himself simply “not Republican.” But when his wife told him about Seminole County’s first Hands Off protest last year, he knew he had to go.

He made a sign: “It’s so bad, even the introverts are here.”

At the protest, he met a SemDems volunteer and decided to join in. He attended meetings and got his activism started.

“The biggest challenges are balancing activism with work and home life,” Claudio says, mentioning that he doesn’t want his daughter overhearing and worrying when he makes calls to his congressman. With so much of his time spent with his wife and daughter, balance is crucial for Claudio. “Everything I do is FOR them, but sometimes comes at the cost of spending time WITH them.”

Claudio has especially enjoyed helping to organize protests. He has also joined the Resistance Rangers, canvassed, made protest signs, and helped at voter registration events.

“I hope we take back the seventh district,” Claudio says of his hopes for the Democratic Party in our county. “We need representation that’s based on reality and aimed at helping people.”

When asked what he’d say to someone who’s considering volunteering with the SemDems, Claudio said he wished he had volunteered earlier. “I never missed a chance to vote,” he told me, “but that’s not enough. Basic human rights are not immutable. They’re not laws like math or physics. People will take them away for profit or power if we don’t stop them. Every little bit helps.”

“The Right Fit Might Surprise You”

Shortly after Judy Wall-Townsend retired, her husband’s health became a critical issue. So, for the past seven years, she has been her husband’s full-time caregiver. And in her volunteer work, Judy has found the SemDems to be understanding of her situation and her capacity.

“I found a need that I felt I could do,” she says. While her caregiving duties put regular shift work out of reach, she could fit volunteer work at the SemDems’ General Meetings into her schedule. “With planning, and help with managing my husband’s medical needs, I already had made the once-a-month commitment to attend General Meetings, so this new task just meant having to come an hour or so earlier.”

Judy has mostly worked with the hospitality team, greeting guests at General Meetings, organizing badges, supplying food, documenting donations, and “whatever else is needed.”

Still, she says, “I was shocked when I heard my name called [for Volunteer of the Month], both by the surprise and by the outpouring of hugs and congratulations.”

Years before Judy retired, she had joined a few SemDems volunteer efforts, only to realize that her husband’s needs required her to step away. But when she was ready to come back, she found other volunteers eager to help her learn the ropes and become part of the team. “If you try a volunteer job that is not the right fit, keep looking” she advises. “The right fit might surprise you.”

“I want Seminole County to turn blue for local, state, and national elections,” she says. For anyone considering volunteering, she recommends reviewing the SemDems’ committees and activities, talking to other volunteers about their experiences, and trying different roles that fit your talents and sound interesting.

Judy’s favorite task with the SemDems has been our successful Trivia and Tacos fundraiser last September. And her favorite aspect of volunteering has been “the people you meet that have similar beliefs and are willing to promote those beliefs.”

“It All Starts at the Local Level”

When Mike ODell went to last year’s Hands Off protest in Sanford, he wasn’t even a Democrat but an Independent—and he wouldn’t describe himself as a joiner.

“I was independent my whole life politically and kind of that way in life,” he says. “But I felt we all faced an existential threat that required us all to put our differences aside and work for the common good.”

After the protest, Mike started signing up for volunteer opportunities. He did a lot of canvassing and got involved with the Resistance team.

And he had a lot of questions. “I didn’t know what I was doing,” he says, “but I was doing it.” Mike’s take is that he became Volunteer of the Month for being visible, making noise, and asking questions everywhere. He doesn’t see himself as doing anything particularly better than anyone.

“People have to just do something. Even if it’s not your passion, just start doing something. You can always segue to something else.”

“I’ve learned a lot about how important local politics is,” Mike says. “I used to not care about local politics, and I’ve learned it all starts at the local level.”

He notes that a lot of people don’t know about party politics, and explaining it “in a way that doesn’t make eyes glaze over” is a tough thing to figure out. “I didn’t know anything about the Democratic Party,” Mike says, “other than it was a D when you go to vote. I had no idea about the running of a party, all the committees. There’s a lot.”

That’s changed for Mike. Now, “as a precinct captain, I’m the first person that votes on something, the bottom tier, at the very start.”

Precinct Captains, as Mike describes, are granted a vote at our monthly general meetings on major matters of party business, including who becomes an elected member of our executive board and state committee. Since different people have different priorities and strategies, precinct captains’ votes impact the direction the local party takes.

Mike has had a lot of favorite moments with the SemDems—protesting being one highlight—but at the forefront is the connections he makes with other people. “I’ve increased my friend count tremendously,” he says. “So many good people involved.”

“We Can All Be Ambassadors”

Cathy McCook knows that starting over and being brand-new is a challenge. “I didn’t know anybody,” she says. “I’d moved back into the county after being gone for twenty years.”

With that newness in front of her, Cathy found opportunities that were communicated well, but what she needed was to find people to help her get acclimated. “It takes personal contact and guidance to really continue to help someone be more familiar and move forward. I think there’s good support, but we can always use more volunteers.”

And if you’re out and about in Seminole County, there’s a chance you’ll run into Cathy as she mans a SemDems table at a local event. “Every person we’re talking to out in the public, it’s an opportunity to let people ask questions, let them know about SemDems,” she says. “You have the time and opportunity to connect.”

Cathy is especially passionate about voter registration. Her goal is to ensure that every SemDems table at an event has voter registration, with volunteers trained in the registration process.

Cathy had always wanted to work on voter registration. So, when it came time to put together a team to work on this crucial part of our democracy, she joined. “I had a lot to learn,” she says, noting that she started with no experience in voter registration.

Since then, she has trained other volunteers in the process of voter registration. And her recognition as Volunteer of the Month is in honor of all the work she has done to learn about the voter registration process, putting together training sessions, and beginning to implement the trainings.

Cathy wants every Democrat to recognize our opportunities to provide accurate, up-to-date information on voting, whether we’re speaking to our friends or neighbors or the public. “We can all be ambassadors for having people ready to vote,” she says.

Cathy also loves to plan and run protests. When she first got involved with the SemDems, she’d gone to a protest. After attending more protests, she started helping to organize them. And at protests, she spreads the message of voter registration.

For Democrats in Seminole County who are interested in getting more involved, Cathy has two pieces of advice: go to meetings, and just sign up.

“Try it,” she says. “There are different volunteer opportunities.” If something doesn’t work out, you can try something else. Even if it takes time, you’ll find a place where you fit.

And in addition to the monthly General Meeting, there are always the smaller meetings spread throughout the county. Cathy recommends finding your local meeting for your area of Seminole County, where “other activities are talked about too. They often look for volunteers for different things going on.”

Cathy looks to provide the SemDems’ presence at community events. “It takes some time to be part of the community and present in the community and perceived as a community partner as well,” she says. “Because we become a place where people can feel comfortable or think of when they have questions, about politics or candidates or voting.”

For Cathy, her goal was to join the SemDems, to find a voice here and participate. Her goal for the Democratic Party in Seminole County is to protect our democracy and win elections.

“It makes sense,” she says, “that you find a place and have a role to do that participation.”

“Volunteering and Service Come in Many Forms”

Sara Knudson has been with the SemDems for the past ten years, volunteering and attending meetings occasionally. She increased her volunteer service during Biden’s and then Harris’s runs for president. “Now,” she says, “I’ve pretty much taken it on as a full-time job.”

Sara describes service as a big part of her own personal growth. She has been a precinct captain and is now a precinct area lead. She started the Southwest Seminole Democrats, for which she became Volunteer of the Month. She also canvasses, sets up for the General Meeting, and hosts the monthly SemDems small business meetups.

But her biggest passion as a volunteer is gardening. Sara started the initiative to beautify Sanford’s Westside Community Center, maintaining their garden. “I’m proud to see something that I’ve initiated grow and be able to be a resource for the community,” she says.

Sara has found the SemDems to be a welcoming group who are easy to volunteer with. Her hope for the SemDems is “for us to continue to grow and continue to bridge the gaps between different race, religions, and backgrounds.” She would also love for our BIPOC community to grow and for us to keep strengthening our community resource effort.

Of her feelings on learning she was Volunteer of the Month, Sara says, “It felt great to be able to give what I could.”

And, she continues, “Volunteering and service come in many forms. You don’t necessarily have to knock on doors or give money. You can organize ways for your community to grow, and community education and growth turns into voting for great like-minded candidates.”

“We Have Each Other’s Back”

Nick Berg became a block captain during the 2024 election when he recognized the risk of fascism in the United States. As a boy, he’d learned about the Holocaust in Sunday school. Of this time in his life, he recalls, “I wondered what I would do when faced with fascism.”

Now, Nick says, “I have committed myself to nonviolent resistance and organizing a loving community of like-minded people.”

Nick helped plan the Hands Off protest in Sanford last year. Inspired by Rachel Maddow, he told Andrew Lisa, the SemDems chair, “Let’s just stand on the sidewalk and hold signs.” That was what happened—and Nick was hooked.

Now Nick is a co-precinct captain. He is also the co-leader of the resistance volunteers and the founder of the Resistance Rangers, and he has also helped with the food at the Democracy Society. “I see myself as a utility player,” he says, “and I do what I am asked or if I see a need.”

When asked if he has a favorite project or task with the SemDems, Nick says, “That is like asking who my favorite child is.” Yet he adds, “I like bringing people together and healing divisions.”

Nick has always felt valued, respected, and supported in the SemDems. As a Resistance Ranger, he speaks of the safety vest “for Christmas with patches on it that have special meaning. That was the best Christmas present I ever got!”

“We are like a band of brothers bonded by war,” Nick says. “I am very grateful for it.”

“It has been an adjustment” for his family, Nick says, “and it is not always easy.” But he finds ways to let his family know they are also important to him.

And Nick has found that volunteering has changed him in profound ways. “I was introverted, pessimistic, and terrified of public speaking. I don’t recognize myself, and you never know what you can do. I used to be so afraid of failure. I am failing all the time and learning from it.”

Nick emphasizes that he is very grateful for the support and recognition of the Dr. Jeff Wilkinson Volunteer of the Year Award, saying he was so surprised upon hearing the news that it took time for it to sink in.

The reason for the award?

“My commitment to fight fascism as if my life depends on it.”

Nick hopes that Seminole County Democrats continue to organize a loving community of volunteers and participate in a local government that serves the people. He points out that the resistance has brought in many volunteers who have gone on to larger roles: committee chairs, precinct captains, area leads, and state committee people.

“There is something for everyone,” he says. “Don’t underestimate yourself.”

Join the Resistance

Seminole County has a primary election on August 18 this year. The midterms are held on November 3.

Both dates are important. Both can help us oppose the overreach we’ve seen from the Trump and DeSantis administrations.

They can also help Democrats build power locally. On August 18, in addition to the Democratic primaries, we vote in school board and city elections.

Since Trump’s swearing in, the entire nation has seen the importance of who fills these seats. This determines how much our local governments stand up for us, protecting our rights and freedoms.

More and more Americans are paying attention to the actions of the Trump administration and not liking what they see. As Nick Berg put it, “The tide is turning against the regime, but they are going to push back hard before the midterms. We need everyone to step up now to protect the vote.”

If you haven’t volunteered yet with the SemDems, take a moment and fill out our volunteer form. If you can’t volunteer, make a donation. You can also follow us on Facebook and Instagram.

Join the fight for our democracy. There is a lot of work to be done, especially in Florida, but when people pitch in, we really do find that many hands make light work.

The Republican Party wrings its hands over waste, fraud, and abuse while doing all these things itself. It’s the party that takes as much as it can from its constituents while giving back as little as it can get away with.

And with the GOP in power in Florida, the Sunshine State has been the party’s testing ground for its national politics. We can all see the damage that does to our wallets.

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How Florida Got Here

Back in 2011, Rick Scott was the Republican governor of FL. He made sweeping changes to rules overseeing new development: developers no longer had to ensure adequate infrastructure before they could build.

The results have been disastrous for the environment and for Floridians. As environmental writer Craig Pittman put it in the Florida Phoenix, “Because new growth isn’t being made to pay for the roads, sewers, water plants, schools and other infrastructure that the new residents need, all the taxpayers get stuck with the bill.”

And consider the gerrymandering the GOP has done to our state to keep the Republicans in power. When Princeton University gives you an F for your map’s partisan fairness, it sure looks like you know you can’t rely on the popularity of your policies to win elections. That gerrymandered map from 2022 makes it harder to vote out elected officials the people don’t want.

That’s how we’ve gotten here—and how we’re stuck with higher and higher bills due to Republican policies.

And none of this is happening in a vacuum. Currently, it’s happening under the second Trump administration.

Trump Makes America Less Affordable

There’s a lot to be said for how the cost of living has gone up under the second Trump administration. The economy has been hard on workers and the middle class.

With Trump’s ban on reasonable regulations, artificial intelligence threatens to upend the lives of working professionals who have played by the rules. It also runs up the cost of water and energy in the areas where data centers are being built.

Job numbers are down, with “almost no hiring since last April.”

And we all remember how, following Trump’s lead, Republicans in Congress pitted healthcare against food for the most vulnerable Americans.

Then there’s what he’s done just since 2026 began.

Trump started a war of choice against Iran. One immediate consequence came for Americans overseas who were forced to make the dangerous and expensive trip home because their own president couldn’t be bothered to think of them.

The war has also raised the cost of gas and consumer goods. In fact, as the Bureau of Labor statistics reported, “The gasoline index increased 21.2 percent over the month, the largest monthly increase since the series was first published in 1967.” And with the Strait of Hormuz blocked, much of the world’s fertilizer cannot be shipped, endangering food supplies around the world—including here in America.

Trump also mocks Americans’ need for affordable healthcare. He says it isn’t of interest to him. This billionaire who gets top-notch healthcare on the taxpayers’ dime seems to have just one concern about health and the American public: ensuring we learn as little as possible about our president’s physical and mental decline.

Then there’s his take on the housing crisis: according to multiple sources, Trump told Speaker of the House Mike Johnson that “no one gives a [bleep] about housing.” Millions of people experience homelessness in one of the wealthiest nations on the planet. Our country has a shortage of over 4.7 million homes. That’s a lot of people who care much more about housing than our president does.

And, predictably, the Florida GOP falls in line behind their callous, incapable leader.

GOP Cruelty In Florida Harms People and Pocketbooks

Alligator Alcatraz has been a terrible idea from the start. It’s appalling to warehouse people, denying them access to sufficient medical care and food, refusing to protect them from insects, and allowing fecal matter to overflow from toilets and into sleeping areas.

And our tax dollars are operating it—$1.2 million per day. The State of Florida, in the clutches of the GOP, has wasted massive amounts of taxpayer money on abusing our neighbors at this detention center.

DeSantis eagerly gave the federal government funding for this illegal, immoral boondoggle—money that was yours and mine. Now it looks like we’re not going to get it back.

That’s $608 million the Trump administration promised to reimburse us for its cruelty. Now Florida has not only allowed this administration to run rampant through the state: it has also handed the bill to its own residents.

We’ve become enablers and suckers in this whole scam.

Florida Republicans have also allowed the insurance industry to run amok. Home insurance companies claimed heavy losses from hurricanes while still raking in hefty profits.

Florida homeowners can’t afford to subsidize corporations while we struggle with a changing climate brought about by pro-billionaire policies. But this is the kind of waste, fraud, and abuse that our Republican government has brought us.

And let’s look at Florida’s housing crisis. The Republicans in charge have allowed increases in homelessness and in struggles for low-income renters to afford housing.

The picture for homeowners isn’t much better. After an influx of out-of-state residents, Florida’s housing market has gotten competitive. Whether you’re buying now or staying put in your current home, the house’s price itself and related costs make homeownership a financial burden—if it’s in reach at all.

Help Us Vote Out the GOP

In Part II of “Republicans’ Wasteful Spending Harms Floridians,” we’ll look at the GOP’s plans for Florida and what their impact would be if those plans are allowed to happen. We’ll also look at how we can stand up for ourselves.

If you’re sick of seeing the Republican Party treat Florida like a guinea pig, experimenting on us to see how much we’ll tolerate, it’s time to hold it accountable. Don’t let Republicans walk all over you, no matter where they are on the ballot—in federal, state, and local elections.

Florida’s special election results show how valuable your vote is. Just last month, Emily Gregory and Brian Nathan won special elections, with Gregory set to join the Florida House and Nathan the Florida Senate.

Gregory’s district includes Mar-a-Lago. Even Trump’s home can be flipped blue.

A lot of you came out to the recent No Kings III protests. You made it clear you won’t put up with a wannabe dictator who thinks he’s got way more power than he actually has.

Let’s show him and his GOP cronies otherwise. Volunteer with us when and where you’re able. Vote in every election.

Together, let’s ensure Florida is affordable for Floridians.

Trump’s Department of Justice continues to stonewall on the Epstein Files.

Despite the Epstein Files Transparency Act and calls from Americans across the political spectrum for transparency and justice, the administration is dragging its feet. Thus far, they have refused to uphold the law and hold pedophiles and their accomplices accountable.

An important note: Because of the subject matter of this post, some readers may find the content to be deeply disturbing and distressing. Discretion is advised.

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The History

Survivors of Epstein’s abuse want justice. They have spoken with the FBI, filed lawsuits, and gone public with their stories.

They have waited long enough. More than long enough.

In his 2024 presidential campaign, Donald Trump ran on a promise to release the Epstein files if he was elected. Now he holds the highest office in the land.

And instead of releasing the files as promised, he backpedaled. He insisted there was nothing there to see, even when the news leaked that Attorney General Pam Bondi had informed Trump that he was named in the files.

(Of course, that’s putting it mildly. According to the New York Times, Trump is mentioned more than 38,000 times in the Epstein files—what the American public has seen of them, that is.)

Even Trump’s base was starting to suspect Donald Trump was lying about his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein. It didn’t help Trump’s case when he insulted his own supporters for insisting on the files’ release.

Finally, after many attempts to distract the public from the files—attempts the Trump administration is still making—the Epstein Files Transparency Act was passed. Congress had acted.

I wish I could say the survivors were about to see justice and the American people were about to see the truth. But sadly, this was not the case.

DOJ Botches the Files’ Release

Instead, the Department of Justice blew the deadline for releasing the files in accordance with the law.

They had one month to redact the identifying information of everyone Epstein abused and any information that could compromise ongoing investigations. The files’ eventual release was riddled with problems:

• · Not all files were released—and it’s not clear why, though Trump’s appearance in the files has raised suspicions that some information is being redacted only in order to protect him.

• · Recent subpoenas for the Clintons and not for the current President and First Lady suggest the Trump administration is using the files to punish its political opponents while protecting its own.

• · Perhaps the most galling: some survivors’ identifying information was not redacted, yet the names of people communicating with Epstein—and saying things that suggest they knew about his crimes and did nothing—were blacked out.

The Department of Justice has been redacting the survivors’ information. Yet in the time that information was needlessly online, some survivors received death threats. Trump’s so-called Department of Justice put these people through even more harm through its extreme carelessness.

Then the department said it will not release any more files. This flies in the face of the Epstein Files Transparency Act—in the face of Congress, which passed the law, and thus in the face of our democracy.

Now, Pam Bondi has been subpoenaed by the House Oversight Committee. The head of Trump’s Department of Justice has to be compelled to testify under oath—with congressional representatives of both major political parties showing they’ve had enough of the stonewalling.

After the subpoena, the Department of Justice said it has more files to release. But they are still not all available in accordance with the Epstein Files Transparency Act.

What Isn’t the Trump Administration Telling Us?

These selective and illegal redactions are what you do when you have something to hide.

If you care about justice, about law and order, about the wellbeing of survivors of abuse, and about accountability for everyone regardless of how wealthy they are, your actions show it.

You don’t blast those survivors’ names all over the Internet while shielding those who harmed them or knew about the harm and did nothing. You don’t conduct show trials while refusing to put Epstein’s close friend Donald Trump under oath.

As Hilary Clinton put it in her opening statement to the House panel, “If this Committee is serious about learning the truth about Epstein’s trafficking crimes, it would not rely on press gaggles to get answers from our current president on his involvement; it would ask him directly under oath about the tens of thousands of times he shows up in the Epstein files.”

But this administration is not doing that.

We have to ask why they aren’t giving us the full truth. What are they hiding?

Allegations Against Trump Are Coming to Light

We do have some suggestions. NPR recently reported on a woman who said Trump assaulted her when she was thirteen years old.

In its investigation of the issue, NPR found that the Department of Justice redacted the notes from three out of four interviews this woman had with the FBI. Only after this was reported did the Department of Justice release the other three files.

And Ted Lieu has spoken out. After viewing more of the files than the American public has access to, Rep. Lieu stated, “In those files, there’s highly disturbing allegations of Donald Trump raping children, of Donald Trump threatening to kill children.”

The fact that the FBI conducted four interviews with this woman clearly shows they took her account seriously. And a current Member of Congress has gone on the record saying that President Donald Trump is alleged in the Epstein files to have raped and threatened to kill children.

Here’s the thing: If Trump is not guilty of these accusations, releasing the files in accordance with the law will not harm him. If anything, it will provide more context and answers. He should want those files released.

But if he is guilty?

Then whatever he does, whatever his administration does, whatever the billionaire class does, accountability is called for.

Everyone Epstein abused deserves justice.

And we, the American people, still deserve answers. It is literally the law, thanks to the Epstein Files Transparency Act.

Epstein Survivors Have Fought for Justice—and We Must Fight with Them

We need to keep asking why we are not seeing as many of the files as the law says should be released. No matter how long it takes. Until justice is done.

The survivors have been through way, way more than enough. If we cannot insist on accountability now, when are we going to do it? Is there some greater atrocity we’re holding out for?

I say absolutely not.

The Epstein class cannot get away with this because if they do, they can get away with anything.

If a person can so much as look the other way when they know that someone is sexually abusing children, that person has shown themselves capable of ignoring atrocities and injustices when it is their duty to speak up.

And if they participate in that abuse?

The rest of us have to question whether there is any depth to which that person won’t sink.

So, we stay in this fight. We follow the news of who is in the files and why. We demand accountability when prominent lawyers, academic leaders, and others with power are found to have prioritized their friend Jeffrey Epstein over those he abused.

We continue speaking out. We insist that this matters.

And we elect candidates who care about equality before the law, protection of the vulnerable, and the pursuit of justice.

And when this moment passes into history, we vow never to forget it. And we live up to that vow.

Through our vigilance, through our concern for the vulnerable, we can help create a better tomorrow, one in which America lives up to its own promise, that of liberty and justice for all.

The first year of the second Trump administration has given us plenty of disasters and chaos, from DOGE and tariffs to corruption, withheld funds, and ICE overreach. But the resistance to Trump’s abuses of power is growing—from the courts to members of Congress to ordinary Americans.

If you’re looking for ways to step up your opposition to the Trump administration, this is a great time to volunteer with the SemDems.

Hop on over and fill out our volunteer form if you’re already convinced—and if you want to hear why, let’s look at what makes this moment so crucial.

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Victories to Build On

The ICE surge in Minnesota has ended. Minnesotans banded together to protect one another and were joined by a public outcry across the nation. Operation Metro Surge didn’t just end on its own. Americans helped make that happen.

Greg Bovino is no longer the head of Border Patrol. As “commander at large,” he reveled in escalation tactics that terrorized Minneapolis and left two American citizens dead at the hands of federal agents. But his provocations and wild accusations were too much for even the Trump administration—because they were too much for the American people to stomach.

Kristi Noem, the head of the Department of Homeland Security, is in hot water too. After her flouting a court order to halt deportations to El Salvador, momentum is building for Kristi Noem’s impeachment. Her disrespect of Congress, opposition to the rule of law, and disdain for peaceful protest have shown representatives on both sides of the aisle that she has no place in American government.

And the Trump administration has withdrawn the National Guard from blue cities. They had to eat crow after the Supreme Court prohibited the National Guard from being deployed to Chicago. Not one to hold back on social media, Trump had hardly anything to say about this embarrassing turn of events.

These are all victories to celebrate. Yet we can’t rest on our laurels.

ICE still commands tens of billions of dollars, thanks to the budget reconciliation passed last summer. It’s up to us to keep the pressure on Congress to refuse further ICE funding whenever possible and insist on commonsense protections that uphold our constitutional rights.

And regardless of who is top dog in the Trump administration from one day to the next, none of them can be allowed to forget who they answer to: the American people. They do this by reporting to Congress. Refusing transparency according to the law cannot be tolerated.

Why 2026 Matters

This November, we have the midterm elections. This is our chance to win back the House and perhaps even the Senate.

If the Democratic Party wins control over even one chamber of Congress, we can do much more to oppose the excesses and abuses of the Trump administration. If the party wins control over both chambers, Trump could be impeached and removed from office—and he already fears a third impeachment.

And Seminole County can be part of a leftward swing in the House. Word is getting out about Cory Mills’s many scandals—in business, in his military record, and in his personal life. That seat is up for grabs.

Elections have value, even when the presidency isn’t on the ballot. It’s why Trump favorite Byron Donalds, the GOP frontrunner for Florida’s next governor, has raised over $40 million in his election bid. Would the Republican Party invest so much in Florida if the midterms weren’t important?

Democrats are fundraising hard for this year’s election too—because this election matters.

State and local officials run elections. It’s why Trump threw a big temper tantrum when he lost the 2020 election: because he couldn’t control the outcome, not when our elections are dispersed rather than centralized.

And it’s why the outcome of the 2026 midterms isn’t up to him. It’s up to us—to vote, to canvass, to get our friends and neighbors to the polls.

We’re already seeing districts across the nation trending blue. Seminole County can be one of them.

Join us this year and help us elect Democrats up and down the ballot. It’s time to hold the Trump administration accountable and elect officials who know they work for us.

As we saw in our last post on the deflections of the Trump administration, Trump’s incompetence shows his inability to actually run the country–and that includes our economy. Instead of making good on the throwaway promises he made on the campaign trail, he and his ultrawealthy friends are enriching themselves even further—at our expense.

When we last explored the subject of Trump’s escalating violence, we looked at it as a call for us to forget the Epstein files. It’s also meant to make us look away from what his administration is doing to affordability.

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How Trump Has Already Made America Less Affordable

Just a year into his second term as president, Trump’s policies have made American life more expensive for most while enriching those at the very top.

Remember the campaign promises? To bring prices down on Day 1? To reverse “the Biden economy”—which even the conservative publication The Economist called “the envy of the world”? Where, under Biden, inflation had cooled without triggering a recession?

Well, he did one of those things: he took the U.S. economy and wrecked it.

Not for his rich friends—the friends helping him build his ballroom, the friends he delayed the release of the Epstein files for so they wouldn’t be held accountable, or the friends who benefit from his corruption.

He wrecked it for us—for middle- and working-class Americans, who don’t have vast amounts of capital to fall back on when our incompetent president makes foolish decisions.

Last month, 61% of CNN poll respondents disapproved of Trump’s handling of the economy. With four in ten workers reporting their paychecks no longer cover the cost of living, we all need relief.

Instead, Trump has unleashed economic chaos.

His tariffs have been a disaster. Trump has announced tariffs unauthorized by Congress, unleashing them on even our allies. He has walked some back, allowing the wealthy to time the buying and selling of their stock.

They don’t call him TACO Trump for nothing.

We pay the cost of tariffs—we, the consumers. Businesses have to factor in the cost of tariffs when they must import products and parts when no comparable alternative is available from American companies. That makes our cost of living rise.

As if that weren’t enough, before he even took office, Trump walked back his promises to address the cost of living. Now, inflation is increasing again. This makes our paychecks worth even less as households struggle to cover expenses.

The Trump administration has also interfered in jobs reports. The unwillingness to take accountability for the shrinking number of new jobs shows a lack of leadership that’s become a hallmark of Trump 2.0.

Then there’s the mob-boss talk about Jerome Powell, the head of the Federal Reserve, in an attempt to make him manipulate the interest rates according to whatever Trump tells him. Powell refused, saying that lowering the interest rates would harm the economy. Trump then threatened to prosecute Powell over building renovations—which is laughable in the face of Trump’s tearing down the East Wing to build himself a ballroom with bribes.

Trump Mocks Americans’ Economic Struggles

The president has derailed his own attempts to address affordability.

First, there was his failed affordability tour at the end of last year. Instead of taking responsibility for his mishandling of the economy, Trump claimed that affordability is a hoax.

Americans are struggling to pay their bills—to afford groceries, shelter, healthcare. And our president throws that in our faces. He calls our increasing inability to pay for necessities a hoax.

Even this year, in yet another attempt to convince Americans not to blame him for his shameless disregard of our economic wellbeing, Trump repeated his lies about what his policies are doing to our pocketbooks.

And the people aren’t buying it.

In a poll released last month, seven out of ten of Americans said Trump’s economy is in bad shape. And according to the Pew Research Center, only 37% of Americans approve of Trump’s second-term job as president overall.

That’s a steep uphill climb Republicans face in the midterms—including in Seminole County.

Republican Policies Threaten Quality of Life in Seminole County

None of this helps with life in Florida increasingly expensive and about half of us considering moving due to the cost of living.

Seminole County has gotten expensive, too, with the living wage for a single adult with no children about twenty-five dollars an hour. With mounting costs from everything from groceries to healthcare, we clearly need relief.

But Republicans have ignored affordability for years.

And now the plan is to eliminate property taxes–which could actually make housing more expensive.

And without state tax revenue, local taxes would have to make up the difference. Or we would have to go without the much-needed services that make our civilization run.

Do you want to live in a county whose roads are littered with potholes? Whose schools are shuttered from lack of funding? Whose first responders leave because they can’t make ends meet?

I don’t. And I doubt most Seminole County residents want that.

The GOP Despises America

Let’s face it: the Republican Party in 2026 is Trump’s party. It’s the party of ICE rampaging violently through cities that Trump can’t admit he lost. It’s the party of executive overreach, of violating international law, of slashing the parts of our government that provide our services (remember DOGE—about a million disasters ago?).

The GOP is the party that pitted healthcare against food for those most in need.

It’s the party that dragged its feet on releasing the Epstein files—and is still stonewalling.

And it’s the party that hates American ideals.

The Republican Party under Trump spits on our freedom—our right to free speech, to peaceably assemble, to bear arms, to be safe within our homes, to receive due process.

And it disdains the vast majority of us who don’t have billion-dollar cushions to fall back on when times get tough.

So now, as Trump’s policies harm the value of the dollar, it’s time for us to put our energies toward voting out his cronies here in Seminole County and in the State of Florida this November.

If we can flip a seat in a ruby-red area of Texas, we can elect Democrats here too.

Make your plans—to vote, to get your friends and family to the polls, to canvass, to spread the word.

We can build a better America—one that respects our rights and freedoms, one where we can all afford to live.

Trump’s escalating violence abroad and at home indicates he’s trying to make us forget the Epstein files. Since his administration keeps refusing to release them in accordance with the law, Trump must view whatever is in them as politically worse than his disastrous attack on Venezuela and the murder of a civilian at the hands of ICE.

We’re seeing increasing chaos in this administration’s actions—against other nations (including our allies), against immigrants, and against American citizens. This is his pattern: lash out violently because he knows Americans’ insistence on seeing the files is closing in on him.

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Venezuela

On January 3, the administration launched a strike on Caracas and kidnapped the Venezuelan president and his wife. These strikes were not approved by Congress, nor were they legal according to international law.

The administration appears to have no plan for Venezuela. At first, Trump announced that the United States was going to “run” Venezuela. Rubio later said the U.S. would not run the country but would instead use “policy” and “leverage.” Trump later referred to himself as “Acting President of Venezuela” in a social media post.

It is unclear how many American lives and dollars will be wasted on this act of war that the American people do not want—and on the aftermath of occupying and rebuilding the country.

Trump quickly abandoned the excuses his administration made in the lead-up to the attack. He said the United States was going to take the oil from Venezuela, but then he said he himself was going to control the proceeds from the oil—and put that money not in the U.S. Treasury, but, according to reporting from PBS NewsHour, in bank accounts “similar [to] or decidedly ‘off-shore’ accounts.”

Indeed, the president has already begun stashing the profits in an account in Qatar, the same country from which he accepted an airplane last year.

And as he’s cozying up to a foreign government that appears to be trying to bribe him, his administration is increasing its violent attacks here at home.

ICE Murders an American Citizen

Millions of Americans have now seen the videos. On January 7th in Minneapolis, ICE agent Jonathan Ross shot Renee Good in the face after she said, “I’m not mad at you.”

She was an American citizen. He shot her anyway.

Ross’s own video recording indicates he kept his grip on his phone—something you do when you know you’re safe enough to keep your hands occupied. His words just after shooting Good show disdain, not fear: “Fucking bitch.”

She had rights under the U.S. Constitution. Despite all this, he murdered her.

The administration lied about what happened and about who Good was. The FBI will not allow Minnesota officials to access evidence—never an indication of transparency.

The Trump administration is seeing if it can execute an American citizen on the streets, without due process, and get away with it.

A Pattern of Corruption and Greed

It shouldn’t surprise us that this man who has bankrupted multiple casinos continues to press his luck. Not with his involvement in cryptocurrency and how his presidency benefits his family’s finances. And not with his attempted legal shakedowns, like his demand for $230 million from the Justice Department or his vendetta against Fulton County when Georgia did not manufacture Trump votes out of thin air in 2020.

Only this time, Trump’s greed threatens to upend the international order.

His insistence on seizing Greenland does the same. Such a move would put us squarely against our allies in NATO. His threats against Cuba and Colombia only sharpen the image of a desperate man.

So, with bungled foreign affairs, Trump’s disdain for our allies, and his disregard for Americans’ rights on full display, we have to ask what this escalation is really about.

Why Doesn’t He Want Americans to See the Epstein Files?

The deadline to release the Epstein files passed on December 19. The Epstein Files Transparency Act passed by Congress allows the Department of Justice to withhold little information, such as victims’ identities and materials that could compromise active investigations. It specifically does not allow for material to be withheld just because it could be compromising to politically powerful figures.

Yet the Department of Justice has released less than one percent of the information in the files. And when a worker at Ford called Trump a “pedophile protector” as the wannabe dictator toured the plant, Trump mouthed “fuck you” and flipped him off.

Hardly the actions of someone with nothing to hide.

And we can see the Trump administration working overtime to keep hiding those files.

We know Trump and Epstein were very close. Trump says he had no idea Epstein was a pedophile. Yet Epstein’s friends named in the released files show they all knew he was.

We also know Epstein asked Trump if a fourteen-year-old girl was “a good one”—to which he laughed and agreed—and that an unnamed victim said that Trump and Epstein raped her.

What else doesn’t Trump want us to see in those files?

If we get tunnel vision, home in on all the chaos and incompetence he creates, and feel powerless, we’re looking at everything but the Epstein files.

But more Americans are paying attention and demanding the files’ release.

And no wonder: more and more of us are feeling the strain of life in the Trump economy.

According to Marjorie Taylor Greene, Trump told her that discussing abusers connected to Epstein would harm Trump’s own rich and powerful friends. No wonder his mishandling of the U.S. economy shows concern only for billionaires.

Trump’s insistence on tariffs, abandonment of his promise to address inflation, and refusal to be transparent with jobs reports are just some of the ways he’s harmed the economy.

Next week, we’ll look at these economic failures. We’ll explore how Trump’s incompetence reveals this failing president’s inability to actually run the country.

And we’ll end with some takeaways to cut through the noise, see through the chaos, and put our energy toward voting out his cronies here in Seminole County and in the State of Florida in November.

Pressure is mounting against Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to clarify the terms of the call he made to ‘leave no survivors’ in the deadly Sept. 2 strikes on what are widely believed to have been civilian-passengered boats off the coast of Venezuela.

Much of the reporting on the matter has focused on the legality of the United States to act in such a way against non-combat vessels, with experts mostly agreeing that it points to a clear defiance of international and maritime law.

Being that the United States is not at war against Venezuela–Congress has the sole power to declare war, outlined in Section I, Article 8 of the Constitution, and they have not done so–we do not have a right to strike them.

Even still, there are cases in which war is not declared, but the President must acquire Congressional approval to use military powers in situations where the U.S. is attacked upon (not applicable in this case).

History has also proven that most of the time, presidents, when engaging in new hostilities, do not actually take the time to officially document a new hostility, making even conflicts like the Vietnam War ‘undeclared wars’.

These strikes aren’t quite that, either. That makes this not even a war crime, but likely straight-up murder.

Now, Hegseth, who heads what has dubiously been renamed the ‘Department of War’ has been shifting blame to Admiral Frank M. Bradley, second-in-command of the operation, after initially chalking up the controversy around his alleged order to ‘kill everybody’ as ‘fake news’.

Hegseth admitted last week that he ‘carried on with his day’ upon the understanding that the targets had been obliterated after the first strike. When the Seal 6 team in charge of the operation determined via drone livestream that there were in fact survivors of the initial strike, the second was ordered. This is said to have been called in effort to comply with the verbal command given by Hegseth to leave no survivors.

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Legal, Shmeagal

Under international wartime law, this could be a permissible act, but under maritime law, when coming across unarmed, unthreatening persons stranded at sea, the duty would be to help them, not kill them.

The justification behind the necessity of the second strike by the so-called ‘Department of War’ is that if the now-injured missile-attack survivors were left at sea, there was still a possibility for them to be rescued by another drug-trafficking vessel.

In their view, this would leave the exploded drugs available to be recovered from the high seas. In effect, the rationale is that their killing was essential in stopping the flow of drugs to the United States.

It is difficult to imagine, however, that the bombing of a seemingly random array of small vessels, now numbering up to 87 total persons killed across 23 strikes, is the most effective plan of attack for disrupting drug trafficking networks. A better approach, some argue, would be to focus on targeting grow or packaging operations to meet distributors directly at their source.

Moreover, Venezuela is not known to be a major source of drug trafficking routes neither for cocaine, which primarily comes from Ecuador or Colombia, nor fentanyl–the substance which Trump claims to be trying to stop from entering the U.S.

China, by way of Mexico, instead, is the most direct route for illegally manufactured versions of the drug, as outlined in this 2019 unclassified DEA report on the matter. Venezuela is not mentioned even once in the report.

Plus, the legality of the killings is hardly the issue if we are to expect the standing precedent that the United States acts as a global power and leader in fairness and democracy.

If the United States does not respect international norms of armed conflict, we cannot reasonably expect other nations to either. This puts our own troops at risk of unpredictable attacks from foreign enemies.

Morally: Indefensible

Simply put: bombing and murdering civilians aboard small passenger vessels in international waters does not protect American citizens from future fentanyl overdoses.

It puts us at risk from similar attacks from a man who routinely weaponizes law enforcement to act on his behalf, blatantly ignoring laws and denying people of due process — examples of which can be seen in the terrorizing I.C.E. raids across America this year.

He has also shown no hesitation in the indiscriminate use of military forces against American citizens this year, deploying them to cities nationwide, where, in many cases, locals report troops patrolling neighborhoods that ended up being more disrupted by their presence than they ever were in the first place.

As if proving the legality of these actions were to make this a case for retribution, even when found guilty of crimes, Trump and his cabinet do not respect the rule of law – they only weaponize it as a basis of their white-supremacist agenda.

A Murky Agenda

All signs point to Trump Administration’s desire to weaken Venezuelan Leader Nicolas Maduro’s leadership to eventually oust him, which Maduro claims is an aim to get to the oil-rich country.

Trump has positioned the military at striking distance — with warships in the Caribbean for the first time since the invasion of Panama in 1989 — after suggesting Maduro should leave Venezuela and his widely-contested position as President.

President Trump has stated he believes Maduro to be the head of a drug cartel, though Maduro denies this. The group in question, Cartel de los Soles, however, is thought to be more of an umbrella term for a group of corrupt politicians rather than an official narcotics trafficking gang.

Yet, while Trump touts this ‘war on drugs’ as reasoning enough for murdering civilians at sea, he simultaneously pardoned the ex-president of Honduras, who was sentenced to 45 years for conspiring in the dissemination of more than 400 tons of cocaine into the U.S.

Justifying the use of force against impoverished nations under the guise of self-defense when the President goes out of his way to rebrand the Department of Defense to the Department of War is hypocritical.

The writing is on the wall. The blood is staining their hands, and they must be held accountable.

Many ordinary people feel conflicted on how the shutdown ended. This just shows how much all of us—not just the Dems at the top—are needed in our fight for democracy.

The beginning of the end came when seven Democrats and one Independent met with Senate Majority Leader John Thune. With Schumer’s knowledge, they agreed to vote to end the filibuster, paving the way for the Senate to pass an end to the shutdown.

The House followed suit, Trump signed it into law, and the federal government has been reopened.

Republicans did not agree to continue the Affordable Care Act subsidies. They did not restore funding for Medicaid. And they certainly did not agree to stop enabling Trump’s abuses of power.

Meanwhile, Americans are suffering. Federal workers have gone without pay. SNAP recipients have waited anxiously to see if their benefits will ever come. Both groups have had to rely on food banks for survival.

It’s no wonder many are asking, “What was it all for?”

Yet there are wins for us here. And we can make more.

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Don’t get me wrong: the way the shutdown ended was terrible. The most vulnerable among us had no idea where their next meal was coming from. And those who depend on the ACA for healthcare are still going to see their healthcare costs spike.

Many have called out those eight senators for snatching defeat from the jaws of victory, especially with such massive election wins for the Democrats. But in the long run, we can still emerge victorious—if we organize.

But let’s face it: if we want Democrats in Congress who will stand up for us, more of us regular folks have to get involved at every level, in every way we can.

· Vote in state and local primary elections. This is how we get the Schumers out of leadership positions and keep the Fettermans from stabbing us in the back: by electing candidates who are committed to our democratic values and refuse to move to the center when the right keeps dragging that center ever rightward, into fascism, racism, and xenophobia. Florida state and local primaries are held every two years in August, before the Midterms or the General Election in November.

· Volunteer with the SemDems. You’ll quickly find the Democratic Party in Seminole County is a big tent—and you’ll run into plenty of folks who share your concerns. Real political change starts at the local level. The work needed to build a government that serves the people, not just the interests of the wealthy few, starts right in your home county.

· Become a precinct captain. Precinct captains reach out to registered Democrats in their election day voting precinct and encourage them to vote in local, state, and federal elections. This important work ensures that everyone knows when elections are, understands what’s at stake, and has a plan to vote.

· Once you become a precinct captain, exercise your voting power within the Florida Democratic Party. Precinct captains don’t just knock on doors and talk to neighbors. They vote for leadership within your local county party, who then go on to vote for leadership at the state party level. Don’t think the people in charge are taking threats to democracy and affordability seriously? You can help vote them out.

Make a plan to implement one of these suggestions. Remember that the more of us that are in this fight, the likelier we are to win.

And in 2026, we’ll need to come together at the ballot box to elect solid blue candidates who value our healthcare and food security because they know who they work for: the American people.

Democrats won a massive victory in this week’s elections. On Tuesday, America pushed back against the GOP shutdown and Donald Trump’s disregard of democratic norms.

This ongoing shutdown of the federal government is yet another example of the Trump administration’s greed. It’s now become the longest shutdown in United States history—beating the previous record-holder: Trump’s 2018-2019 shutdown.

It’s early November. By now, Americans are seeing the shutdown’s impacts to food assistance and to healthcare.

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Court Orders Reveal the GOP Is Holding SNAP Hostage

SNAP recipients are left constantly wondering, “Will we get full funding, partial funding, or no funding for this month’s groceries? If so, when?”

These questions should have been settled already. SNAP has always been funded during shutdowns.

But despite court rulings ordering SNAP to be funded for November, the Trump administration has not done so. First, the USDA argued it wasn’t sure it was permitted to use emergency funds—for this emergency created by congressional Republicans.

Then, when the judge provided options, Trump declared that SNAP recipients would get only fifty percent of the benefits to which they are legally entitled. Then he posted that he would not fund SNAP until the Democrats stop insisting on affordable healthcare. Then, contradicting the President’s own words, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt insisted that the administration would fully comply with the court order. And since then, a judge ordered the administration to provide full benefits in November—and the administration appealed.

All of this means it could take months for SNAP recipients to see their November payments. If they don’t get paid in months, who will feed them?

One in eight Americans gets SNAP benefits. In Seminole County, it’s 9.1% of households. Many of these Americans are senior citizens, veterans, children, and people with disabilities. Many cannot work, and even if they could, Trump’s economy is shedding jobs.

So where will they get food this month? Food banks are seeing a surge in demand, not only from SNAP recipients but also from federal workers going without pay during the shutdown.

Around the country, people are coming together to provide food for those in need. The SemDems assisted with local efforts, hosting a successful food drive for people who would otherwise go hungry.

But this level of demand isn’t something nonprofits were built to handle; SNAP can provide nine times the amount of food that food banks can.

And Governor Ron DeSantis has refused to declare a state of emergency in order to fund SNAP benefits.

The GOP Puts Healthcare at Risk

As if that wasn’t enough, Americans enrolled in healthcare coverage through the Affordable Care Act have learned just how much their costs will spike. If the premium tax credits expire, ACA enrollees will see their premiums, on average, more than double. This is just one way last summer’s budget reconciliation bill damages the middle and working classes: by making healthcare unaffordable.

The GOP controls the presidency, the House, and the Senate. Americans know this shutdown is happening because Republicans want to destroy popular programs put in place by Congress, but they don’t want the blowback for the harm they’re causing.

So, Republicans do an end run. Instead of repealing the ACA and creating something better, they skyrocket ordinary people’s premiums. Instead of repealing SNAP and making their own alternative, they simply refuse to fund it. Even when two courts have ordered the Trump administration to release SNAP recipients’ benefits using emergency funds, the GOP drags its feet.

Republican Actions During Shutdown Insult Democracy and the American People

It’s DOGE all over again, ignoring the rule of law and Congress’s role in government. And this time, they’re pitting food assistance for the most vulnerable against healthcare for those same groups.

And the shutdown just continues Republicans’ disrespect for the American system of government.

They refuse to meet with Democrats to negotiate an end to the shutdown that funds healthcare and food assistance. Speaker Mike Johnson won’t call the House into session, even though Adelita Grijalva is the duly elected representative of Arizona’s seventh district and must be sworn in.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem produced a video for American airports in which she blames Democrats for the shutdown; this video violates the Hatch Act, which prohibits federal funding from being used for partisan purposes. The website of the Department of Housing and Urban Development showed a similar message.

And then there’s Trump himself.

During the shutdown, he has been tearing down the East Wing of the White House to construct a ballroom—which raises questions about permits and even asbestos and its dangers. And he has asked the Department of Justice to give him $230 million dollars, boasted about a bathroom renovation, and thrown a Great Gatsby–themed party that shows just how corrupt, elitist, and out of touch he is.

And the GOP is enabling his extraction of wealth from ordinary Americans by threatening food security and healthcare. This is something we’d expect from a coward, a scammer, a con artist—something we should never accept from a major political party.

Last Tuesday’s election outcomes shouted that loud and clear.

How We’re Fighting Back

Zohran Mamdani, a democratic socialist, was elected mayor of New York City. Abigail Spanberger, a moderate, will become the first female governor of Virginia. And Democrat Tom Keen just took the last Republican-held seat on the Orlando City Commission.

These victories celebrate the big tent of the Democratic Party—a party that welcomes all so that we can create an America that works for everyone.

If you want this America as much as I do, cast your ballot in every single election, federal and state and local. Hold Republicans responsible for their shameful treatment of the hungry, disabled, and sick. Vote for a fair playing field that upholds the social contract, where the benefits of hard work go to the workers and their communities, not to corrupt oligarchs.

We must repeat Tuesday’s success at the polls in 2026. We need to wash away Republicans’ corruption in a growing blue wave.

Our democracy depends on it.

Floridians today are living under tighter and tighter budgets. So many of us are working harder and harder while wages stay stagnant and the cost of living keeps climbing.

It’s easy to see why drastic cuts to—or even the complete elimination of—property taxes might sound like an easy sell.

Trust me: as someone who just bought my first home this year, I get it. Any proposal to lower my monthly housing costs is bound to catch my attention too.

But of course, that’s the trick scammers and crooks have known for ages: the classic bait and switch. “Bait” some poor sucker into thinking they’re getting a great deal, then “switch” it out at the last minute for something hollow, costly, or completely different from what was promised.

And that’s exactly what Florida Republicans in Tallahassee are trying to do with their proposed property-tax “reforms.”

They’re dangling the promise of lower monthly housing costs ahead of the 2026 midterms, but what they’re really selling is an even more hollowed-out Florida than the one we have now—a Florida where local governments can’t fund essential services, and our public schools and public safety are sold off to greedy corporations and state politicians.

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If you want to see what such a scenario might actually mean, look no further than our neighbors in Orange County. Earlier this summer, Orange County Budget Director Kurt Petersen warned Mayor Jerry Demmings that eliminating homestead property taxes would reduce county tax revenue by 26%, or up to $271 million.

Petersen noted that these cuts would directly impact the county’s police and fire services. In an email to Demmings, he stated the following:

“A 26% reduction — or even a $25 million to $50 million loss in revenue — without an appropriate replacement would have significant implications for the county’s budget, directly affecting critical services, especially public safety, which depends heavily on property tax funding…Salaries and benefits make up over 80% of public safety expenses, so it is difficult to reduce expenses in public safety without reducing staff.”

In other words, without a plan to replace that lost revenue, local governments all over the state will be forced to make decisions that threaten our public safety.

Of course, one way to replace lost revenue might be to increase taxes elsewhere, such as sales taxes. But such a move doesn’t actually reduce the tax burden at all. It just shifts it somewhere else.

And that shift would place an even bigger burden on the millions of working people in Florida who do not own homes. Hardly a solution that actually puts money back into the pockets of everyday Floridians. Good luck seeking reelection on a lower tax platform after that.

But if other taxes can’t fill the gap, there’s an even more frightening option: sell off what’s left of our public safety needs to the private sector.

Now, this might sound a bit silly at first, but when I saw what Petersen told Mayor Demmings in Orange County, my special interest in late 20th century science fiction films couldn’t help but get in the way of my thoughts on this. My nerdy brain just had to ask this question: isn’t this the premise behind the movie RoboCop, which was released 38 years ago in 1987?

For those who’ve never had the privilege of seeing what I believe is one of the most brilliant political satires Hollywood has ever produced, or who have and our simply wondering why on Earth I’m bringing it up for a blog post on property taxes, here is why I find it relevant to my argument.

The film takes place in a futuristic Detroit where public services typically managed by the local government have become so underfunded that they have no choice but to hand over much of their control to greedy corporate entities, who care more about turning profits than actually solving the city’s exploding crime rates.

The police department, specifically, hands over control to Omni Consumer Products (OCP). Our protagonist, Alex Murphy, is horrifically executed by a group of murderous criminals—who are later revealed to be on the payroll of one of the senior executives of the same company-–and is brought back to life as the titular cyborg: RoboCop.

His programming puts him under the complete control of OCP, making him extremely efficient at arresting various criminals throughout the city with one glaring exception: any executive who works for OCP, even if that executive has an arrest warrant against them.

All of this makes for a couple of thrilling—and delightfully over-the-top—arrest sequences, which provide excellent branding for OCP in local news segments. But it does little to actually make Detroit safer, considering that OCP has a clear financial interest in making sure there is enough crime to keep their flagship cyborg product busy.

The local police, still dying at alarming rates, still underpaid, and still short-staffed by tight city budgets, end up with no choice but to go on strike by the end of the film. Detroit descends into near lawless anarchy as a result.

Obviously, I’m not seriously implying that Orlando is heading to that exact scenario portrayed in a clearly satirical, nearly four decades old science fiction film if property taxes are sharply reduced or eliminated by Republicans in the near future.

But like all great satire, there is a timeless, cautionary lesson behind the film that reminds us of why democratically elected local governments are crucial to keeping our communities safer and our quality of life secure.

And those local governments should not be put up for sale.

Don’t fall for this bait and switch property tax “freedom” scam proposed by Florida Republicans. Anybody who is serious about addressing the cost of living crisis in our state can come up with way better ideas than this.

Saturday’s No Kings protest in Casselberry was an inspiring success. And we want to keep that momentum going!

On Saturday, October 18th, 7 million people hit the streets, the street corners, and the steps of city halls in all 50 states to declare, “No Kings in America!”

It was a day for the record books, setting the record for the largest day of protest in American history. It also set the record for the SemDems’ largest protest to date, with more than 2400 people attending our roadside rally along 17-92 in Casselberry.

Despite Republicans’ lies about the No Kings II protests, true Americans showed up in force to prove them wrong. The vibe was nothing but peace, love, and fun at our protest in Casselberry. Everyone who came out to protest with us on Saturday loves America enough that they stood up to defend her!

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So many people dressed in fun, inflatable costumes to keep with the message that began in Portland, that these are regular, peaceful people taking to the streets in defense of our democracy. We had people wearing taco headbands and even a Plantain for Peace. We had a bubble machine, a group of drummers, someone on a horn, singing, dancing, and so much joy.

The media definitely took notice of this No Kings Day of protest, and we had at least 3 local stations covering our efforts on Saturday. Andrew Lisa, the Chair of the SemDems, gave an impassioned interview on WESH News 2. Our Communications Chair, Dylan Kelly, was covered live by Fox 35 News, which you can find a little after the 25 minute mark on YouTube.

And the most thorough coverage was from Community Correspondent Alex Cook from ClickOrlando (Channel 6 News). He spent a good deal of time combing through the crowds, and he collected truly heartfelt interviews from our Resistance Committee Chair, Breana Skiles, as well as several other protestors. It really showed the scale of our large local protest as well as the real, personal reasons people joined us.

The feedback we received after the protest from attendees was overwhelmingly positive. Over and over, they mentioned that it gave people hope. A few mentioned that they were overwhelmed with emotion by the event. Not only was it reassuring to see how many people came out to protest, but the response from the people driving by was overwhelming, too.

The message we both sent and received at our protest (and at all the protests across the country) is that we are not alone. The tide is turning, and standing up for the United States Constitution is becoming the obvious choice, just like it always should be.

Something else that we heard a lot in the feedback after the protest was gratitude for the amount of planning and preparation that must have gone into having the event go so smoothly. And that is absolutely true. We have so many dedicated people from different SemDems committees pooling their skills and resources behind the scenes to make this and all of our protests a success.

And we sure could use your help for the next one!

In a series of upcoming blog posts, we’ll be sharing with you the different roles that we need filled at each protest, such as our Resistance Rangers, Hospitality Team, and Chant Leaders. We’ll even be interviewing some of our very own SemDems who fill these roles for us to let you in on what they do, why they do it, and how they wound up getting involved with us in the first place.

Our hope is that you’ll discover a role within the movement that feels like a fit for you, and you’ll decide to step into that role by signing up to volunteer for the next event! The right role for you is one that utilizes your skills and talents, but also considers your boundaries and limitations so that you can avoid burnout.

This No Kings day wasn’t the first, and it won’t be the last. We’re working to build sustained action that doesn’t let up until we’ve succeeded in taking back our democracy, and everyone has something to offer.

Stay tuned for the start of this upcoming series on our different volunteer roles. If you’re ready to sign up to help now or want to take a look at some of the possible ways you can join the SemDems efforts, check out our website or complete our Volunteer Survey.

Although protesting is only one piece of our fight against Trump’s fascism, it’s a critical piece that can rapidly grow a movement and even help return power to the people, especially when it’s done sustainably over time.

And Sem Dems have been doing just that, month after month, since Trump took office.

Dozens of grassroots and civil rights organizations have been coming together to organize regular, national days of protest just about every month. The first No Kings Day protest on June 14, 2025, was the biggest yet for us. We had 1,800 people turn out in Casselberry that day.

It was a historical day of protest in America, and we’re about to do it again.

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Whether you’ve been to some of these protests, have wanted to go, or even think they’re a waste of time, this article will hopefully help you understand why protesting is an effective strategy in the fight against Trump 2.0, especially when coupled with other direct actions and mutual aid efforts.

Protesting is something that you can tell is working when you’re doing it. You can see the light in people’s eyes as they drive by and honk with glee, seeing that they’re not alone in how they’re feeling.

Pretty much all of us are overworked, underpaid, worn out, and fighting hopelessness. But you can feel the gratitude pouring out of fellow Americans who are so glad to see someone doing something.

Protesting is serving too many purposes to name, which is why we’ve seen them erupt not just all over the country, but all over the world. And not just right now, but all throughout history.

Although it may not be exhaustive, here is a list of some of the extremely important things we accomplish when we stand in protest against Trump, and the long list of fascist actions he’s taking:

• Keeps the actions of this administration from becoming normalized by keeping them in people’s faces. We are being bombarded by completely inhumane and undemocratic policies and scenes throughout our country, and the scariest proposition of all is us becoming used to this. This is not normal.

• Brings the community together and gets people plugged in for further support/aid coordinating, volunteering, and building of local support networks. All walks of life are at these protests, and it helps us remember what trust and community feel like. We don’t have to have everything in common to agree on caring for one another and fighting for our freedoms.

• Fills your hope cup! Seeing how many people are on your side, believe what you believe, and are willing to stand with you keeps you from feeling hopeless. No matter how much MAGA propaganda is out there, standing with your fellow Americans in protest reaffirms that we have power in our numbers. We often chant at these protests that “the people united will never be defeated.”

• Wakes people up who maybe haven’t been political and helps them to start having conversations about what’s going on in our country with their friends, family, and coworkers.

• Inspires people who see them to join the next protest or support the movement in other ways. Protests look so fun and empowering so they draw people in like a magnet!

• Gives a voice to marginalized communities who are being particularly harmed and attacked by this regime. Not everyone can safely protest or even live their truth, whether because of disabilities (including PTSD), minority status, the administration’s attacks on their group, or their location in a major city where protesting is riskier. It’s our job, all of us who can, to rise up and protect the vulnerable among us.

• Combats fascist propaganda. Over 5 million people took to the streets in over 2,100 protests all over the country for the first No Kings Day, showing that Trump is unpopular and unsupported by the majority. Where is MAGA, though? Where are the protests against our protests? It’s clear Trump and his cabinet are lying about how many support him and how the country is doing.

• Strikes fear into wannabe dictators who want us, their citizens, to be cowering in fear, not dancing and chanting in the streets and mocking them. Trump is afraid of us. That’s why he fortified D.C., why he’s trying to politicize our military, and why he’s aggressively attacking and trying to silence any opposition. By not complying in advance, by not willingly giving up our rights, by choosing faith over fear, joy over despair, we are psychologically battling Trump’s attempt to destroy our democracy.

• Provides a creative and emotional outlet for the very big feelings we’re all feeling, and in the company of others who so often prove to be safe and supportive new friends.

• Allows for the exchange of ideas and strategies to add to the overall battle against authoritarianism.

• Reminds others that their duty to preserve democracy goes beyond the ballot box!

Mainstream media hasn’t consistently been covering a lot of the protests, and social media seems to be suppressing the scale and persistence of our efforts, too, but people can’t help but see you in the flesh, holding your handmade sign in the brutal heat on the side of their streets.

They can’t deny it or call it “fake news” if it’s happening right there in front of them in their own town. It makes the current state of our democracy something that’s very real and on their doorstep, not just in other people’s neighborhoods. People who’ve been misled will begin to notice that Trump’s claims don’t match reality.

When you attend a protest, you can feel the significance, in the moment. Of standing up for yourself! Standing up for the people by your side! And standing up for those who can’t stand up for themselves!

It’s an incredibly powerful statement when only one person opposes fascism, but when the people join together for a common cause, people who often don’t know each other at all, it’s an energy so powerful you’d have to be an actual zombie not to feel it and get caught up in the power of the moment.

Join us on Saturday, October 18, for No Kings 2. Let’s stand in our united power and tell Donald Trump that we will not be handing our country over to him. Find the protest closest to you at mobilize.us or nokings.org.

The GOP could end this government shutdown at any time.

We’re almost two weeks into it—the third under a Trump administration. The lead-up came when the House passed a continuing resolution to fund the government at current levels.

But Trump’s anti-government party would rather take money from ordinary Americans for more tax breaks for billionaires than to fund the healthcare millions depend on to survive—or let us see any of those multiple mentions of Trump in the Epstein files.

In the current political climate, this is a joke. Trump and his lackeys have shown they will simply withhold funding whenever and wherever they want, for whatever reason they want, and Congress will let him.

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Allow me to explain how we got ourselves into this in the first place.

A resolution that would gut the funding of key Affordable Care Act subsidies came to the Senate earlier this month, and Senate Democrats pushed back. To pass the Senate, a continuing resolution needs sixty votes—more than the number of senators either party currently has. So, Dems proposed their own continuing resolution, S. 2882.

This resolution does two crucial things.

1. First, it would keep millions of Americans insured, by preventing the budget reconciliation’s Medicaid cuts and permanently extending the premium tax credits under the Affordable Care Act.

2. Second, it would prevent Trump from saying he doesn’t like something Congress has funded, and then illegally refusing to fund it.

Americans don’t like the budget reconciliation Trump signed into law, ironically on Independence Day. And Trump’s approval ratings have tanked. But instead of cutting their losses and negotiating with the opposition, which our system of checks and balances is designed to promote, Republicans decided to cut and run.

They shut down the government. They left town, leaving Democrats who showed up without a way to work out a deal because Republicans ran away.

Most of us don’t get to run away from our jobs, especially during a crisis in which our job is crucial. We would be fired.

But who gets funded during a shutdown? Members of Congress.

And who’s threatening to illegally fire federal workers in massive numbers during the shutdown? Trump.

Republicans are abandoning their jobs at a critical moment, and they’re still getting paid.

And while all this is happening, Arizona’s new representative-elect is still waiting to be sworn in. The petition for the House to vote on a bill that would release the Epstein files needs just one more name. And Adelita Grijalva has said her first act as a member of the House will be to sign it.

House Speaker Mike Johnson has refused to swear her in, although members of Congress were sworn in during the last shutdown.

Johnson’s refusal is standing between Americans and the release of the Epstein files.

Republicans are delaying an end to the shutdown with the full knowledge that, once it ends, their vote on releasing the files will be public record. Their constituents will know whether they value justice for exploited women and girls or their rich and powerful abusers.

And once again, ordinary Americans are paying the price for Republicans’ loyalty to a man who is losing his grip on power, mental acuity, and the lies he told the American people to get elected.

But more and more Americans are beginning to see Trump for who he is: a reality show clown who was edited to look like a successful businessman. It distracted from his corruption, bankrupted businesses, and refusals to pay those he’s hired.

His voters looked to him for economic greatness and for victory over those they saw as standing in the way of their own prosperity.

Now we have tariffs wrecking the economy. We have a budget reconciliation that’s actually a ticking time bomb the GOP lobbed at our hospitals and healthcare. We have a shutdown preventing the federal government from using our tax dollars on behalf of the American people.

And we have a President of the United States, a man in clear cognitive decline and grasping for control, who refuses to be transparent about his connection to a man who ran a notorious sex trafficking operation.

Americans want answers. And we want a government that answers to us—a good government, not a government that guts itself on behalf of the rich and powerful.

That means we have to hold our elected officials accountable.

Call your senators and your congressional representative today. Yes, they’re all Republicans if you live in Seminole County, but they can still be reminded that our government was designed for Congress, not the President, to designate spending. Remind them affordable healthcare is a vital part of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. To that end, they must end the shutdown by voting for S. 2882 as soon as Congress is reconvened.

And once that happens, they’ll have to show where their loyalties lie: with wealthy abusers and their accomplices, or with those they harm.

Justice and transparency can’t be delayed forever. As we know in the Sunshine State itself, sunshine is the best disinfectant.

Deploying the American military against Americans, and in our own capital, is shameful. And it’s no surprise the Felon in Chief chose this as his latest—and failing—attempt at distracting America from the Epstein files.

On August 11, Donald Trump deployed the National Guard in Washington, DC. In his slander about the city’s crime rate, Trump denigrates our nation’s capital; the city is the safest it’s been in thirty years.

This latest abuse of power is yet another reminder that Trump serves himself and his billionaire pals while trying to keep everyone else under his boot.

Not to mention that this assault on freedom and democracy could cost us taxpayers millions of dollars. Our money is being used to oppress our fellow Americans on behalf of a man who loves to pretend the American military belongs to him, and not to our nation and our Constitution.

We in Seminole County may be far from Washington, DC, but its residents’ concerns are ours. We don’t want the federal government taking over our peaceful cities, and deploying American troops against us in our own backyards. Far from being a city of only politicians, DC is a place that a lot of folks who aren’t swimming in wealth and power call home.

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In Washington, 41% of the residents and over 80% of homeless people are Black. By targeting this peaceful city, Trump is once again putting his racism on full display. It’s a move he counts on as chum in the water: treat Black people as mere political pawns, watch his base eat it up, and move on to the next cycle of distraction and destruction.

He did it in 2020 with the protests after the murder of George Floyd. He did it in 2024 when he repeated lies about the Haitians in Springfield in his debate against Kamala Harris.

But this time, in 2025, not even MAGA is having it.

According to a University of Massachusetts Amherst poll published earlier this month, “just 69% of 2024 Trump voters agreed that they are ‘very confident that I made the right choice.’” Trump’s tanking economy, chaotic tariffs, and rising inflation have a lot to do with this downward shift—but so does the regime’s handling of the Epstein files. Thirty-three percent of Trump voters think his administration is hiding information.

MAGA is seeing that our wannabe emperor has no clothes. He’s not here to make anyone great. He’s in office to enrich himself at the expense of the American people.

But the ghost of Epstein just won’t go away. All of Trump’s attempted distractions and his cronies’ circling the wagons can’t make voters forget that Pam Bondi told him in May that his name appears in the Epstein files “multiple times.” This time, Trump’s pleas for the news cycle to move on are sticking about as well as ketchup to a White House wall after the 2020 election.

Seeing the National Guard deployed against Americans in our own capital is disgusting. But this is the cowardly move of a weak man. He knows the American people are turning against him like never before. More and more people are seeing him for who he is: an entitled elitist who cheats and rigs the system to get his way.

And more and more people are thinking about what we want our post-Trump future to look like. We’re thinking about what we want to bring back: freedom, love of democracy, respect for our communities. We’re thinking of what we want to leave behind: the fragility of systems that stopped serving the people after forty-plus years of Republican insistence on opposing effective government.

We need systems that respond to our needs. We need an America that truly values life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness for all.

These words are in our Declaration of Independence. It’s time we all lived by them, starting with our legislators.

If Donald Trump is so afraid of the safest Washington, DC that we’ve seen in thirty years, Congress needs to help the guy get out of there. It’s time to impeach and, at long last, actually remove this cowering, criminal president.

Instead of the voters picking their representatives, Florida Republicans are trying to pick their voters. That’s not only dodging accountability—it’s anti-freedom and anti-American.

Florida, which many of us have called home for decades or even an entire lifetime, has gone from being a purple state that’s up for grabs in an election to a so-called “red state”—safely in the back pocket of the Republican Party. This isn’t just because of demographic changes and shifting political preferences. It’s because the system is rigged.

Thanks to Governor Ron DeSantis, Florida is already a gerrymandered state. Back in 2022, DeSantis had Florida’s district lines drawn in a way that benefited his own party. This map-rigging resulted in a four-seat gain for Republicans—20 of 28 seats, up from 16.

But that’s still not enough for DeSantis, Trump, or Florida House Speaker Danny Perez. Now the Florida GOP wants to ensure Democratic voters have even less representation than before—this time through an abnormal attempt at changing the districts mid-decade.

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It’s no wonder DeSantis and his cronies are, once again, bending the knee to save Wannabe King Trump. The clown-in-chief is unpopular even on issues he was supposed to have in the bag: immigration and the economy. Right now, the tariffs that just kicked in are estimated to cost the average American household $2,400 a year.

How many of us in Seminole County are looking to shell out almost two and a half grand to cover for the bad decisions of a wealthy president whose policies economists warned us about while he was still a candidate?

This is a president who insisted that Georgia “find” a winning number of votes for him in the 2020 election. This is a president who is pressuring Texas to carve up its voting districts in a way that will give his party five additional seats in the House—five seats he says Republicans are “entitled to.”

This is a president whose vice president was booed in Indiana when he traveled there to pressure the Hoosier State into also drawing its district lines to benefit the Republican Party.

We don’t want our leaders acting like mob bosses. We don’t want to be stuck with elected officials who refuse to represent their constituents. And we don’t want the very people who are harming our county, our state, and our nation to never be booted out of office.

Do you want Rick Scott to be your senator for as long as he wants, after his involvement in the largest Medicare fraud case in history?

Do you want Ashley Moody, who was appointed and not elected to her current position, to be your senator for as long as she wants?

Do you want Cory Mills, who remains mired in scandal, unresponsive to his constituents, and who literally phoned in the only town hall he’s held this year to be your representative for as long as he wants?

I don’t.

I can’t afford their rubber-stamping of whatever floats through Donald Trump’s head. Nor can millions of Floridians already struggling with affordability in a state that’s been gerrymandered into one-party rule.

The Republicans rigging the game want their continual dumpster fire to burn us out. Instead, we can get fired up. We can refuse to let them destroy what is best about our country. We can organize, fight back, and hold them accountable—if we show up and refuse to give up.

Call your state legislators. Remind them that there’s a process in place for drawing district lines, and this is not it. Tell them the unnecessary expense of changing how we elect our leaders wastes taxpayer dollars that should go back to our communities—not to the security of their seats.

And tell your family, friends, and communities in Florida that this abnormal attempt to draw new districts makes a mockery of our say in our own government. It’s a slap in the face to every American, and our neighbors deserve to know what the Republican Party is trying to do to our ability to choose our own leaders.

And if the Republican-run Florida Congress does insist on drawing new maps that benefit them, we need to email them, call them, and get out in the streets to protest this treacherous act every step of the way.

And no matter where this ridiculous scheme ends up, we have to continue to be voters—in each and every election. We have to show up at the polls or vote by mail. No matter where the map puts each of us, we have to hold our government accountable.

And if enough of us do—if we commit to being voters no matter how the opposition tries to silence or intimidate us—we will succeed in creating a freer, fairer Florida that works for all of us.

And that’s always something worth working for.

Representative Cory Mills, whose Congressional House district includes the entirety of Seminole County, is in the news this week…again.

And just like all the other times he’s been in the news this year, it’s yet another scandal—this one a new allegation of abusive behavior towards a recent ex-girlfriend.

Lindsey Langston, the reigning winner of the Miss United States Beauty Pageant, filed a report on July 14th accusing the married Congressman of threatening to release nude “revenge porn” videos of her after the two broke off their intimate relationship in February.

Additionally, Langston also provided texts and Instagram messages of Mills threatening to do harm to any man she decides to date in the future.

Threatening somebody to publish their intimate photos without their consent, it should be noted, is illegal. In fact, Trump himself signed the “Take It Down Act” into law in May. These are very serious allegations of potentially criminal behavior on the part of our sitting Congressman that, if true, singlehandedly bring nothing but shame to the integrity of the office he holds.

What makes this even more outrageous is that this is just one of several serious allegations of corrupt, immoral, and incriminating behavior that have been brought against the Congressman just this year alone. Just one!

If this is the first Cory Mills scandal you’ve gotten word of this year, or you need a quick refresher on all the others, here’s a quick list.

1.) Alleged Assault of Sarah Raviani

In February 2025, Sarah Raviani, an influencer who had been romantically involved with Mills, told Washington, D.C. police that he assaulted her at his apartment. She claimed he grabbed her, shoved her, and pushed her out the door.

According to police reports, she called 911 and played a recording of a phone conversation in which Mills allegedly instructed her to lie about the source of her bruises.

An arrest warrant was prepared but never signed. Weeks later, Raviani withdrew her accusations and declined to press charges. Prosecutors closed the case without further action.

However, this abrupt reversal—especially in light of the recent allegations made by Langston—has only fueled further public skepticism of the Congressman’s actions.

2.) Alleged Misuse of Federal Contracts For Personal Gain

In March 2025, the House Ethics Committee opened an investigation into whether Mills enriched himself with federal contracts awarded to companies he owned. Lawmakers on the panel are examining whether those contracts violated conflict-of-interest rules or House disclosure requirements.

The inquiry centers on whether Mills failed to fully disclose his business relationships, and whether those companies gained favorable access to taxpayer-funded projects during his time in office.

Mills, like always, has denied any wrongdoing, and has refused to cooperate with the investigation. The investigation remains ongoing, with no formal findings released as of today.

3.) Accusations of Stolen Valor During Military Service

In May 2025, investigative outlet NOTUS reported that several veterans dispute the account that earned Mills a Bronze Star for actions in Iraq in 2003. The award recommendation claimed he saved multiple soldiers’ lives under intense enemy fire.

But the service members named in the citation told NOTUS they don’t recall Mills being present. Joe Heit, one of those soldiers, bluntly stated, “He didn’t save my life.” Other veterans quoted in the article also said they have no memory of him taking part in the incidents.

Mills, yet again, denied any wrongdoing. He claims that the “chaos” of the events that earned him his award may have led others involved to misremember what actually happened. But for the five soldiers named in his Bronze Star citation, his explanation could easily be read as an attempt to rewrite their own memories.

The allegations have been referred to the Office of Congressional Ethics.

4.) Unpaid Rent For His Washington, DC Apartment

In July 2025, the landlord of Representative Cory Mills’ Washington, D.C., penthouse sued to evict him, claiming he owed more than $85,000 in back rent. The suit alleged he hadn’t paid since March, with monthly rent exceeding $20,000.

Mills blamed a faulty online payment portal, saying every attempt returned an “Error 108” message. But property records show late payments stretching back to mid-2023, along with repeated warnings about overdue balances.

It was recently reported that Mills is no longer facing an eviction hearing, but for a congressman who regularly touts fiscal responsibility, the optics of an eviction fight over luxury housing don’t exactly look favorably on him.

If even only one of these allegations are true, one cannot doubt that Mills is unfit to serve in the US House of Representatives. And there may be even more that comes to light about his conduct and behavior in the coming days and months.

Both The Orlando Sentinel and the New York Times have published blistering op-eds against the Congressmen recently, with awareness of Mills’ controversies going well beyond his district.

This is no longer just a local embarrassment for Mills and the counties he represents. It’s swiftly becoming a national embarrassment, too.