January 5, 2026 • 7 mins
Publisher of Southeast Politics, Janelle Irwin-Taylor, talks about the Top Florida Politics storylines for 2026 and how uncertainty in Venezuela could impact the state.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
No, let's go to the hotline and bring in the
publisher of Southeast Politics, Janelle Irwin Taylor. You can check
out all over working a whole lot more at Southeast
politics dot com and you can follow her on x
at Janelle irwinfl So Janelle, new year already starting off
with a lot of news, news that really has a
(00:22):
big impact on Florida. Let me start here, how much
do you think what's happened in Venezuela could impact Florida
politics this year?
Speaker 2 (00:33):
So it's actually because Florida is so unique, especially South Florida,
with its population of you know, Latino nationals on people,
a lot of people from Cuba who have escaped the
same type of situations that we saw in Venezuela. There's
(00:55):
a lot of rejoicing in South Florida right now about
what has happened in Venezuela about Maduro being removed from power.
So what'll be interesting to see is whether or not
this kind of shift that we've been sort of seeing,
we haven't seen it really tested yet. We'll see that
in the midterms at the end of the year. But
(01:17):
to see if the pendulum swing that it looks like
is happening among Hispanic voters. If this maybe swings that
back a little bit, It's too early to tell, but
you know, just anecdotally, a lot of people I've spoken
to have said that, you know, even though people are
a little trepidacious about the methodology between Maduro's capture, they're
(01:41):
just happy that there was a capture. So, you know,
it'll be it'll be interesting to see how that plays
out electorally.
Speaker 1 (01:47):
Yeah, it could be a little wrinkle in the midterm
elections here in Florida. So one of the other big
storylines that we're talking about, I think all year long
Governor DeSantis' final year in office, and it's really setting
up another big battle in Tallahassee during the legislative session.
Speaker 2 (02:06):
Oh yeah, we've got just about a week until the
next legislative session officially kicks off. Committee weeks have already
been going on for quite some time now, so we've
already seen some glimpse of some glimpses of what to
expect in the sixty day session, assuming that it is
indeed sixty days. You know, I think DeSantis is a
lame duck, and he's an unpopular lame duck. People within
(02:30):
his own party have even you know, shown that there's
some strikes there.
Speaker 1 (02:34):
So in Tallahassee, and he can be an unpopular figure
among his own part he's still very broadly liked across
the state among the electorate.
Speaker 2 (02:44):
Yes, I am talking about rank and file and GP
leadership and things like that. You know, voters that that's
a whole that's a whole different story. He has plenty
of unpopularity among voters too, but that's more that more
falls along partisan lines. So but anyways, in Tallahassee, this
is an important thing because for years we saw the
(03:06):
legislature basically be a rubber stamp on the desantus agenda.
And now they're saying, you know, now we threw the
rubber stamp out. We're going to do things our way.
They've exerted their independence as a coequal branch of government. So,
you know, I expect that this legislative session is going
to have, you know, at least some fireworks. Maybe not
(03:26):
quite as many as last legislative session because nobody wants
to be there for a record number of days again,
but it should be it should be a very entertaining
session to watch, even if it's not necessarily as productive
as some would like in the areas that they would
like it to be productive.
Speaker 1 (03:43):
We're joined by the publisher of Southeast Politics, Janelle Irwin Taylor.
Property tax. That's going to be the big issue during
the session.
Speaker 2 (03:52):
Correct, Yeah, it really is. And you know, you are
going to see a lot of pushback from Democrats, going
to see a lot of pushback from local governments. This
is something that could have a huge impact on budgets
for cities and counties because they derived a lot of
their revenue from property tax. So you know, depending on
(04:15):
what happens there, that's going to cause some scrambling at
the local level among voters. Though this is a pretty
popular concepts people. You know, you offer people a tax
break that's going to save them, you know, a couple
thousand dollars a year or more, of course they're going
to be excited about that. And it's also worth noting
that the propositions that are being floated right now are
(04:38):
for home steaded properties, So these aren't on things like
vacation home, second home things like that. They're only on
people's primary residences. That does little to quell concerns among
local governments, but it is an important point of distinction.
My mortgage just went up for the new year because
my property taxes went up.
Speaker 1 (04:53):
I got that little note over the break. Yet, and
last thing I wanted to touch on, Janelle, is there
another issue outside of the property tax fight that you
think is going to be a big one during the session.
Speaker 2 (05:13):
Yeah, I mean Schools of Hope is going to be
a big battle. Senator Darrel Roussan has filed a repeal bill.
We're expecting probably, you know, more than one reform bill
to come out. This was I think it's safe to
classify it as a well intentioned piece of public policy
(05:37):
to utilize underutilized space in struggling schools to help them,
you know, sort of improve student outcomes options.
Speaker 1 (05:48):
Until they told the schools, you've got to pay for everything.
Speaker 2 (05:53):
Unfunded. It's an unfunded mandate for sure for schools. And
it was extended to the point where it was no
longer a situation where this is going to be applying
only to schools that were struggling academically, but that it's
now available to any school basically in the whole entire state,
based on changes to language and the law that previously passed.
(06:16):
So that's what sun lawmakers, particularly Democrats, are looking to
roll back this legislative session. And of course you're still
going to have your defenders of the program who are
just saying, you know, this is good policy. Governor Desantus,
for example, has said that, you know that we're moving forward,
full steam ahead. This is not a flawed program. And
you know, he even insinuated that because it's going to
(06:37):
be happening among you know what, he what he views
as lower income schools and areas that people won't even notice,
which seems a little degrading, But I'll let your listeners
decide that for themselves.
Speaker 1 (06:49):
Let's South These Politics publisher Janelle or Win Taylor with
us this morning. You can find Olliver work in a
whole lot more at Southeast politics dot com and you
can follow her on x at janail or win fl Janelle,
great to talk to you, Thanks so much.
Speaker 2 (07:02):
Thanks for having me.
Speaker 1 (07:03):
It's the Ryan Gorman Show five to nine every weekday
morning on news radio WFLA.
No, let's go to the hotline and bring in the
publisher of Southeast Politics, Janelle Irwin Taylor. You can check
out all over working a whole lot more at Southeast
politics dot com and you can follow her on x
at Janelle irwinfl So Janelle, new year already starting off
with a lot of news, news that really has a
(00:22):
big impact on Florida. Let me start here, how much
do you think what's happened in Venezuela could impact Florida
politics this year?
Speaker 2 (00:33):
So it's actually because Florida is so unique, especially South Florida,
with its population of you know, Latino nationals on people,
a lot of people from Cuba who have escaped the
same type of situations that we saw in Venezuela. There's
(00:55):
a lot of rejoicing in South Florida right now about
what has happened in Venezuela about Maduro being removed from power.
So what'll be interesting to see is whether or not
this kind of shift that we've been sort of seeing,
we haven't seen it really tested yet. We'll see that
in the midterms at the end of the year. But
(01:17):
to see if the pendulum swing that it looks like
is happening among Hispanic voters. If this maybe swings that
back a little bit, It's too early to tell, but
you know, just anecdotally, a lot of people I've spoken
to have said that, you know, even though people are
a little trepidacious about the methodology between Maduro's capture, they're
(01:41):
just happy that there was a capture. So, you know,
it'll be it'll be interesting to see how that plays
out electorally.
Speaker 1 (01:47):
Yeah, it could be a little wrinkle in the midterm
elections here in Florida. So one of the other big
storylines that we're talking about, I think all year long
Governor DeSantis' final year in office, and it's really setting
up another big battle in Tallahassee during the legislative session.
Speaker 2 (02:06):
Oh yeah, we've got just about a week until the
next legislative session officially kicks off. Committee weeks have already
been going on for quite some time now, so we've
already seen some glimpse of some glimpses of what to
expect in the sixty day session, assuming that it is
indeed sixty days. You know, I think DeSantis is a
lame duck, and he's an unpopular lame duck. People within
(02:30):
his own party have even you know, shown that there's
some strikes there.
Speaker 1 (02:34):
So in Tallahassee, and he can be an unpopular figure
among his own part he's still very broadly liked across
the state among the electorate.
Speaker 2 (02:44):
Yes, I am talking about rank and file and GP
leadership and things like that. You know, voters that that's
a whole that's a whole different story. He has plenty
of unpopularity among voters too, but that's more that more
falls along partisan lines. So but anyways, in Tallahassee, this
is an important thing because for years we saw the
(03:06):
legislature basically be a rubber stamp on the desantus agenda.
And now they're saying, you know, now we threw the
rubber stamp out. We're going to do things our way.
They've exerted their independence as a coequal branch of government. So,
you know, I expect that this legislative session is going
to have, you know, at least some fireworks. Maybe not
(03:26):
quite as many as last legislative session because nobody wants
to be there for a record number of days again,
but it should be it should be a very entertaining
session to watch, even if it's not necessarily as productive
as some would like in the areas that they would
like it to be productive.
Speaker 1 (03:43):
We're joined by the publisher of Southeast Politics, Janelle Irwin Taylor.
Property tax. That's going to be the big issue during
the session.
Speaker 2 (03:52):
Correct, Yeah, it really is. And you know, you are
going to see a lot of pushback from Democrats, going
to see a lot of pushback from local governments. This
is something that could have a huge impact on budgets
for cities and counties because they derived a lot of
their revenue from property tax. So you know, depending on
(04:15):
what happens there, that's going to cause some scrambling at
the local level among voters. Though this is a pretty
popular concepts people. You know, you offer people a tax
break that's going to save them, you know, a couple
thousand dollars a year or more, of course they're going
to be excited about that. And it's also worth noting
that the propositions that are being floated right now are
(04:38):
for home steaded properties, So these aren't on things like
vacation home, second home things like that. They're only on
people's primary residences. That does little to quell concerns among
local governments, but it is an important point of distinction.
My mortgage just went up for the new year because
my property taxes went up.
Speaker 1 (04:53):
I got that little note over the break. Yet, and
last thing I wanted to touch on, Janelle, is there
another issue outside of the property tax fight that you
think is going to be a big one during the session.
Speaker 2 (05:13):
Yeah, I mean Schools of Hope is going to be
a big battle. Senator Darrel Roussan has filed a repeal bill.
We're expecting probably, you know, more than one reform bill
to come out. This was I think it's safe to
classify it as a well intentioned piece of public policy
(05:37):
to utilize underutilized space in struggling schools to help them,
you know, sort of improve student outcomes options.
Speaker 1 (05:48):
Until they told the schools, you've got to pay for everything.
Speaker 2 (05:53):
Unfunded. It's an unfunded mandate for sure for schools. And
it was extended to the point where it was no
longer a situation where this is going to be applying
only to schools that were struggling academically, but that it's
now available to any school basically in the whole entire state,
based on changes to language and the law that previously passed.
(06:16):
So that's what sun lawmakers, particularly Democrats, are looking to
roll back this legislative session. And of course you're still
going to have your defenders of the program who are
just saying, you know, this is good policy. Governor Desantus,
for example, has said that, you know that we're moving forward,
full steam ahead. This is not a flawed program. And
you know, he even insinuated that because it's going to
(06:37):
be happening among you know what, he what he views
as lower income schools and areas that people won't even notice,
which seems a little degrading, But I'll let your listeners
decide that for themselves.
Speaker 1 (06:49):
Let's South These Politics publisher Janelle or Win Taylor with
us this morning. You can find Olliver work in a
whole lot more at Southeast politics dot com and you
can follow her on x at janail or win fl Janelle,
great to talk to you, Thanks so much.
Speaker 2 (07:02):
Thanks for having me.
Speaker 1 (07:03):
It's the Ryan Gorman Show five to nine every weekday
morning on news radio WFLA.
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