Politics
BREAKING NEWS: Long-Serving California Democrat and Senator Dianne Feinstein Dies Age 90
Published
3 years agoon
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California, a centrist Democrat who was elected to the Senate in 1992 in the “Year of the Woman” and broke gender barriers throughout her long career in local and national politics, has died. She was 90.
Three people familiar with the situation confirmed her death to The Associated Press on Friday.
Feinstein, the oldest sitting U.S. senator, was a passionate advocate for liberal priorities important to her state — including environmental protection, reproductive rights and gun control — but was also known as a pragmatic lawmaker who reached out to Republicans and sought middle ground.
She was elected to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors in 1969 and became its first female president in 1978, the same year Mayor George Moscone was gunned down alongside Supervisor Harvey Milk at City Hall by Dan White, a disgruntled former supervisor. Feinstein found Milk’s body.
After Moscone’s death, Feinstein became San Francisco’s first female mayor. In the Senate, she was one of California’s first two female senators, the first woman to head the Senate Intelligence Committee and the first woman to serve as the Judiciary committee’s top Democrat.
Although Feinstein was not always embraced by the feminist movement, her experiences colored her outlook through her five decades in politics.
“I recognize that women have had to fight for everything they have gotten, every right,” she told The Associated Press in 2005, as the Judiciary Committee prepared to hold hearings on President George W. Bush’s nomination of John Roberts to replace Sandra Day O’Connor on the Supreme Court.
“So I must tell you, I try to look out for women’s rights. I also try to solve problems as I perceive them, with legislation, and reaching out where I can, and working across the aisle,” she said.
Her tendency for bipartisanship helped her notch legislative wins throughout her career. But it also proved to be a liability in her later years in Congress, as her state became more liberal and as the Senate and the electorate became increasingly polarized.
A fierce debater who did not suffer fools, the California senator was long known for her verbal zingers and sharp comebacks when challenged on the issues about which she was most fervent. But she lost that edge in her later years in the Senate, as her health visibly declined and she often became confused when answering questions or speaking publicly. In February 2023, she said she would not run for a sixth term the next year. And within weeks of that announcement, she was absent for the Senate for more than two months as she recovered from a bout of shingles.
Amid the concerns about her health, Feinstein stepped down as the top Democrat on the Judiciary panel after the 2020 elections, just as her party was about to take the majority. In 2023, she said she would not serve as the Senate president pro tempore, or the most senior member of the majority party, even though she was in line to do so. The president pro tempore opens the Senate every day and holds other ceremonial duties.
One of Feinstein’s most significant legislative accomplishments was early in her career, when the Senate approved her amendment to ban manufacturing and sales of certain types of assault weapons as part of a crime bill that President Bill Clinton signed into law in 1994. Though the assault weapons ban expired 10 years later and was never renewed or replaced, it was a poignant win after her career had been significantly shaped by gun violence.
Feinstein remembered finding Milk’s body, her finger slipping into a bullet hole as she felt for a pulse. It was a story she would retell often in the years ahead as she pushed for stricter gun control measures.
She had little patience for Republicans and others who opposed her on that issue, though she was often challenged. In 1993, during debate on the assault weapons ban, Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho, accused her of having an insufficient knowledge of guns and the gun control issue.
Feinstein spoke fiercely of the violence she’d lived through in San Francisco and retorted: ”Senator, I know something about what firearms can do.”
Two decades later, after 20 children and six educators were killed in a horrific school shooting in Newtown, Connecticut, first-term Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas similarly challenged Feinstein during debate on legislation that would have permanently banned the weapons.
“I’m not a sixth grader,” Feinstein snapped back at the much younger Cruz — a moment that later went viral. She added: “It’s fine you want to lecture me on the Constitution. I appreciate it. Just know I’ve been here a long time.”
Feinstein became mayor of San Francisco after the 1978 slayings of Moscone and Milk, leading the city during one of the most turbulent periods in its history. Even her critics credited Feinstein with a calming influence, and she won reelection on her own to two four-year terms.
With her success and growing recognition statewide came visibility on the national political stage.
In 1984, Feinstein was viewed as a vice presidential possibility for Walter Mondale but faced questions about the business dealings of her husband, Richard Blum. In 1990, she used news footage of her announcement of the assassinations of Moscone and Milk in a television ad that helped her win the Democratic nomination for California governor, making her the first female major-party gubernatorial nominee in the state’s history.
Although she narrowly lost the general election to Republican Pete Wilson, the stage was set for her election to the Senate two years later to fill the Senate seat Wilson had vacated to run for governor.
Feinstein campaigned jointly with Barbara Boxer, who was running for the state’s other U.S. Senate seat, and both won, benefiting from positive news coverage and excitement over their historic race. California had never had a female U.S. senator, and female candidates and voters had been galvanized by the Supreme Court hearings in which the all-male Senate Judiciary Committee questioned Anita Hill about her sexual harassment allegations against nominee Clarence Thomas.
Feinstein was appointed to the Judiciary panel and eventually the Senate Intelligence Committee, becoming the chairperson in 2009. She was the first woman to lead the intelligence panel, a high-profile perch that gave her a central oversight role over U.S. intelligence controversies, setbacks and triumphs, from the killing of Osama bin Laden to leaks about National Security Agency surveillance.
Under Feinstein’s leadership, the intelligence committee conducted a wide-ranging, five-year investigation into CIA interrogation techniques during President George W. Bush’s administration, including waterboarding of terrorism suspects at secret overseas prisons. The resulting 6,300-page “torture report” concluded among other things that waterboarding and other “enhanced interrogation techniques” did not provide key evidence in the hunt for bin Laden. A 525-page executive summary was released in late 2014, but the rest of the report has remained classified.
The Senate investigation was full of intrigue at the time, including documents that mysteriously disappeared and accusations traded between the Senate and the CIA that the other was stealing information. The drama was captured in a 2019 movie about the investigation called “The Report,” and actor Annette Bening was nominated for a Golden Globe for her portrayal of Feinstein.
In the years since, Feinstein has continued to push aggressively for eventual declassification of the report.
“It’s my very strong belief that one day this report should be declassified,” Feinstein said. “This must be a lesson learned: that torture doesn’t work.”
Feinstein sometimes frustrated liberals by adopting moderate or hawkish positions that put her at odds with the left wing of the Democratic Party, as well as with the more liberal Boxer, who retired from the Senate in 2017. Feinstein defended the Obama administration’s expansive collection of Americans’ phone and email records as necessary for protecting the country, for example, even as other Democratic senators voiced protests. “It’s called protecting America,” Feinstein said then.
That tension escalated during Donald Trump’s presidency, when many Democrats had little appetite for compromise. Feinstein become the top Democrat on the Judiciary panel in 2016 and led her party’s messaging through three Supreme Court nominations — a role that angered liberal advocacy groups that wanted to see a more aggressive partisan in charge.
Feinstein closed out confirmation hearings for Justice Amy Coney Barrett with an embrace of Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., and a public thanks to him for a job well done. “This has been one of the best set of hearings that I’ve participated in,” Feinstein said at the end of the hearing.
Liberal advocacy groups that had fiercely opposed Barrett’s nomination to replace the late liberal icon Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg were furious and called for her to step down from the committee leadership.
A month later, Feinstein announced she would remain on the committee but step down as the top Democrat. The senator, then 87 years old, did not say why. In a statement, she said she would “continue to do my utmost to bring about positive change in the coming years.”
Feinstein was born on June 22, 1933. Her father, Leon Goldman, was a prominent surgeon and medical school professor in San Francisco, but her mother was an abusive woman with a violent temper that was often directed at Feinstein and her two younger sisters.
Feinstein graduated from Stanford University in 1955, with a bachelor’s degree in history. She married young and was a divorced single mother of her daughter, Katherine, in 1960, at a time when such a status was still unusual.
In 1961, Feinstein was appointed by then-Gov. Pat Brown to the women’s parole board, on which she served before running for the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. Typical of the era, much of the early coverage of her entrance into public life focused on her appearance, and she was invariably described as stunning, tall, slender and raven-haired.
Feinstein’s second husband, Bert Feinstein, was 19 years older than she, but she described the marriage as “a 10″ and kept his name even after his death from cancer in 1978. In 1980, she married investment banker Richard Blum, and thanks to his wealth, she was one of the richest members of the Senate. He died in February 2022.
In addition to her daughter, Feinstein has a granddaughter, Eileen, and three stepchildren.
Florida
FNN ANALYSIS: After 2024 Defections, Florida Democrats Face 2026 Election Test: Can They Rebuild as Republicans Expand Their Advantage?
Published
2 days agoon
September 12, 2026
Republicans built a legislative supermajority through elections before two House Democrats switched parties and the Senate Democratic leader became unaffiliated. Now Democrats are trying to rebuild amid a GOP voter-registration advantage exceeding 1.54 million — and signs that some Republican-held districts remain competitive.
By Florida National News
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (FNN) — Six years ago, Florida Democrats held enough seats in the state House to prevent Republicans from reaching a two-thirds supermajority.
Today, the political landscape looks dramatically different.
Republicans emerged from the 2020 election with 78 of the Florida House’s 120 seats, two short of the 80 required for a two-thirds majority. Democrats held 42.
By the end of the 2024 election, Republicans had 85 seats and Democrats 35. Then two newly reelected Democratic representatives — Susan Valdés of Tampa and Hillary Cassel of Broward County — switched to the Republican Party, expanding the GOP advantage to 87-33.
Four months later, another high-profile departure came in the Senate. Democratic Leader Jason Pizzo left his party and became unaffiliated.
Those defections attracted significant attention, but they can obscure the larger story of Florida’s political transformation.
Party switching did not create Republican control of Tallahassee. Elections did.
The subsequent defections widened an advantage Republicans had already established at the ballot box.
Now, with the Nov. 3, 2026, general election approaching, Democrats face a more complicated test than simply winning several competitive races. They are attempting to rebuild legislative representation while confronting a Republican voter-registration advantage of more than 1.54 million active voters.
At the same time, Democratic victories in several 2026 legislative contests suggest the statewide numbers do not necessarily determine what happens district by district.
That creates three questions heading into November: Can Democrats win back legislative seats? Can Republicans protect the districts underlying their supermajority? And can both parties retain the lawmakers voters elect under their banners?
From 42 House Democrats to Republican Supermajority
The clearest starting point is 2020.
Republicans won 78 House seats, compared with 42 for Democrats. With 80 seats needed for a two-thirds majority, Democrats retained enough representation to keep Republicans below that threshold.
Former Democratic Reps. Daisy Morales of Orange County and James Bush III of Miami-Dade County were among the lawmakers elected as part of that 42-member Democratic delegation.
The balance changed decisively two years later.
Republicans expanded their House majority to 85 seats in the 2022 election, crossing the two-thirds threshold. The 2024 election again produced an 85-35 Republican advantage.
That chronology is important because it separates two different political developments.
Republicans gained the supermajority through elections. The Democratic defections came afterward.
The distinction also provides a clearer measurement of Democratic decline: from 42 House seats after the 2020 election to 35 after the 2024 election — a net reduction of seven seats before either Valdés or Cassel changed parties.
Two House Democrats Switch Parties
The first post-election departure came quickly.
On Dec. 9, 2024, Valdés announced she was leaving the Democratic Party and joining the Republican Party, just weeks after voters reelected her as a Democrat.
Her switch moved the House from 85 Republicans and 35 Democrats to 86-34.
Less than three weeks later, Cassel followed.
On Dec. 27, Cassel announced she also was leaving the Democratic Party for the GOP.
The House moved to 87 Republicans and 33 Democrats.
Florida Democratic Party Chair Nikki Fried criticized Cassel’s decision at the time while acknowledging the difficult political environment facing Democrats.
The significance went beyond losing two caucus members.
A direct switch from Democrat to Republican changes the partisan margin by two: Democrats lose one seat while Republicans simultaneously gain one.
The two defections therefore transformed an 85-35 House into an 87-33 chamber without another general election being held.
Senate Democratic Leader Becomes Unaffiliated
The next departure was politically significant but fundamentally different.
On April 24, 2025, Pizzo announced he was leaving the Democratic Party while serving as Senate Democratic leader. His voter registration became No Party Affiliation the following day.
He did not become a Republican.
That distinction matters when measuring party switching. Valdés and Cassel directly increased the Republican House caucus. Pizzo’s departure did not add a Republican senator.
It nevertheless cost Democrats a sitting senator and their caucus leader. Sen. Lori Berman subsequently became Senate Democratic leader.
An FNN review of these high-profile departures from 2020 through 2026 therefore identifies three sitting Democratic state lawmakers leaving the party:
Valdés: Democrat → Republican
Cassel: Democrat → Republican
Pizzo: Democrat → No Party Affiliation
FNN’s review did not identify a comparable sitting Republican Florida legislator who switched directly to the Democratic Party during the same period.
But the numbers reinforce the larger point: the movement of individual lawmakers accelerated a political shift that had already occurred through elections.
The Bigger Transformation Is Outside the Capitol
The change in Florida’s voter-registration balance has been even more dramatic than the movement inside the Legislature.
In 2020, Florida reported 5,315,954 active registered Democrats and 5,218,739 Republicans.
Democrats held an advantage of 97,215 voters.
As of July 31, 2026, Florida reported:
| Party affiliation | Active voters |
|---|---|
| Republican | 5,607,836 |
| Democratic | 4,066,503 |
| No Party Affiliation | 3,327,656 |
| Minor parties | 497,679 |
| Total | 13,499,674 |
Republicans now lead Democrats by 1,541,333 active registered voters, according to the Florida Division of Elections.
Measured from the Democratic advantage in 2020 to the Republican advantage in July 2026, the Republican-Democratic registration margin shifted by approximately 1.64 million voters.
That is one of the most important numbers for understanding Florida politics entering the 2026 general election.
But it also requires careful interpretation.
A decline in active Democratic registration cannot automatically be described as more than a million Democrats becoming Republicans.
Voter rolls change for multiple reasons, including deaths, people moving into or out of Florida, new registrations, inactive classifications, list maintenance and voters changing party affiliation.
The more defensible conclusion is narrower but still consequential:
Florida moved from a slight Democratic registration advantage in 2020 to a Republican advantage exceeding 1.5 million active voters by mid-2026.
That is a structural change extending far beyond a handful of lawmakers changing parties.
More Than 3.3 Million Voters Belong to Neither Major Party
There is another number that complicates any attempt to translate registration totals directly into election outcomes.
Florida had more than 3.32 million active voters registered with no party affiliation as of July 31.
That electorate is larger than the population of many states.
Those voters do not form a single ideological bloc, and their existence does not erase the GOP registration advantage. But they reinforce why statewide party registration alone cannot determine the outcome of individual legislative races.
Florida legislative elections are decided district by district.
Candidate quality, fundraising, turnout, district boundaries, local demographics, campaign organization and voter enthusiasm can produce outcomes that differ from statewide trends.
That distinction has become especially relevant in 2026.
Democrats Have Shown They Can Still Flip Republican-Held Seats
For Democrats, the strongest counterargument to the state’s broader Republican trend has come from actual election results.
Democrat Emily Gregory flipped House District 87 in a March 2026 special election, defeating Republican Jon Maples.
The result drew attention because Republican Mike Caruso had carried the district by roughly 19 percentage points in 2024.
Democrat Brian Nathan also flipped Senate District 14, defeating Republican Josie Tomkow by just over 400 votes.
Those results demonstrated that at least some Republican-held legislative districts remain competitive under the right electoral conditions.
Florida Democrats have also expanded year-round organizing and made breaking the Republican legislative supermajority a central objective of the 2026 cycle.
But special elections come with an important warning.
They typically involve smaller and sometimes substantially different electorates than November general elections.
Republicans have pointed to House District 35 as evidence of that difference. Democrat Tom Keen won the Orlando-area seat in a January 2024 special election, only for Republicans to reclaim it during the November general election.
The 2026 Democratic flips therefore provide evidence of competitiveness, not proof of a statewide reversal.
November will provide the larger test.
Republicans Have a Structural Advantage — But Still Must Defend It
The challenge facing Republicans is different.
They do not need to rebuild a legislative majority. They already possess one.
They enter the election with a House supermajority and a statewide registration advantage that would have been difficult to envision when Democrats still led voter registration in 2020.
The question is whether those structural advantages continue translating into legislative victories across Florida.
A statewide registration lead does not make every Republican-held district equally secure.
The Gregory and Nathan victories demonstrate that Democrats can still win Republican-held territory, particularly when turnout, candidate performance and district conditions align.
For Republicans, November therefore becomes a test of durability.
Can the party maintain the legislative gains it accumulated over multiple election cycles while defending districts Democrats now view as opportunities?
The Democratic Challenge Is Now Twofold: Win Seats and Keep Them
For Democrats, the experience following the 2024 election introduces another issue that cannot be measured solely on election night.
Political parties invest substantial resources recruiting candidates, raising money, organizing voters and winning legislative seats.
But caucus strength ultimately depends on keeping those lawmakers after they take office.
The Valdés and Cassel switches demonstrated how quickly that calculation can change.
Democrats won 35 House seats in November 2024. Weeks later, they had 33 members because two lawmakers elected as Democrats joined Republicans.
Pizzo’s departure presented a different version of the same organizational problem: Democrats lost their Senate leader even though he did not join the Republican Party.
That creates two separate measurements for Democratic rebuilding:
Electoral growth: Can Democrats increase the number of legislative seats they win?
Caucus stability: Can they retain the lawmakers elected as Democrats?
Winning without retention can limit rebuilding. Retention without winning additional districts leaves the party’s minority position largely unchanged.
Democrats need both if their objective is to reduce Republican legislative dominance.
Former Lawmakers Add Another Dimension to the Rebuilding Debate
The 2026 cycle also raises questions about how a minority party decides where to invest limited political resources.
Morales and Bush were members of the 42-seat Democratic House delegation elected in 2020. Both later left the Legislature and subsequently sought returns through Democratic primaries.
Their races, districts and political circumstances are different and should be evaluated separately.
But their candidacies illustrate a broader strategic issue facing any party attempting to rebuild:
How should resources be divided among defending incumbents, supporting challengers in opposition-held districts, recruiting newcomers and considering former lawmakers seeking a return to office?
There is no single formula.
A former legislator may bring name recognition, fundraising relationships and legislative experience. A newcomer may offer stronger district appeal or represent a changing electorate. An incumbent may require significant resources simply to prevent the party from losing another seat.
The effectiveness of those decisions ultimately can be measured by outcomes.
Does the party gain seats?
Does it protect vulnerable seats?
Does it expand into territory previously controlled by the opposition?
And does it retain the lawmakers it helped elect?
Those questions become particularly important when one party is operating from a substantial numerical disadvantage.
What Has Actually Changed Since 2024?
For Democrats, there are identifiable changes since the immediate aftermath of the 2024 election.
The Florida Democratic Party retained Nikki Fried as chair in 2025, expanded its year-round organizing operation and increased regional staffing ahead of the 2026 cycle.
The party has continued its Take Back Local initiative aimed at municipal and local races while placing greater emphasis on legislative contests.
And Democrats have produced tangible 2026 victories, including Republican-held legislative seats.
Those developments provide evidence of organizational activity and some electoral progress.
They have not, however, erased the larger structural imbalance.
Republicans still hold the legislative supermajority.
Republicans still lead statewide active voter registration by more than 1.54 million.
Democrats still must gain substantially more legislative ground before control of either chamber becomes competitive.
The most accurate description of the Democratic position heading toward November is therefore neither collapse nor comeback.
It is a rebuilding test whose results remain unresolved.
Why It Matters to Florida Voters
The significance extends beyond the internal fortunes of either political party.
A legislative supermajority can affect the balance of power in Tallahassee because it gives the majority party sufficient numbers to take actions that require more than a simple majority.
The size of the minority caucus also affects committee representation, legislative negotiations, the ability to sustain or challenge certain procedural actions and the overall political leverage available to the opposition.
That makes legislative competition relevant even when control of a chamber is not immediately in doubt.
For Democratic voters, 2026 provides a measurable test of whether the party can translate organizing and special-election victories into broader legislative gains.
For Republican voters, it tests whether the political coalition that produced the GOP’s current advantage remains durable in a general election.
For NPA and minor-party voters, it underscores the potential importance of voters outside either major party in competitive districts.
And for Florida voters generally, it provides a way to distinguish political narratives from measurable results.
The Numbers to Watch on Nov. 3
The 2026 general election is scheduled for Nov. 3. Florida’s voter-registration deadline is Oct. 5, with mandatory statewide early voting scheduled for Oct. 24-31.
Rather than judging Florida’s political direction from one race, three measurements will provide a clearer picture.
First: Legislative seats.
Do Democrats finish the election with more House and Senate seats than they entered with, or do Republicans maintain or expand their advantage?
Second: Republican registration advantage versus district results.
Does the GOP’s statewide registration lead translate consistently into legislative victories, or do Democrats continue outperforming the statewide environment in selected districts?
Third: Caucus stability.
After voters choose their lawmakers, do the members remain with the parties under whose banners they were elected?
Together, those measurements will provide a better indication of Florida’s direction than any isolated special election, party switch or registration statistic.
A Six-Year Transformation
The numbers tell the story clearly.
In 2020, Democrats held 42 Florida House seats, and Republicans were two seats short of a supermajority.
Democrats also held a 97,215-voter statewide registration advantage.
By 2024, Republicans had won 85 House seats, already exceeding the supermajority threshold.
Two Democratic defections subsequently increased the Republican House caucus to 87 while reducing Democrats to 33.
And by July 2026, Republicans held a statewide registration advantage of 1,541,333 active voters.
Those developments represent a profound shift in Florida politics.
But elections are snapshots, not permanent guarantees.
Democrats’ 2026 legislative flips show that Republican-held districts can still change hands. Republicans’ statewide numbers show the scale of the challenge Democrats face in turning isolated victories into sustained gains.
That is why Nov. 3 matters.
The central question is no longer simply whether Florida has moved toward Republicans. The electoral and registration numbers already establish that Republicans have gained substantial ground since 2020.
The unanswered question is whether that movement has reached a durable plateau — or whether Democrats have begun rebuilding enough support to reverse some of those losses.
The first meaningful statewide answer comes in November.
NEXT FNN ANALYSIS: Where Is the Money Going?
Election results are only one measure of rebuilding. Political investment is another.
FNN’s next examination should follow the money behind Florida House races: where Democratic political organizations are spending, which candidates receive institutional support, how much is directed toward Democratic primaries and how those expenditures compare with resources devoted to defending Democratic seats or challenging Republican-held districts.
That examination can include the Florida House Democratic Campaign Committee, campaign committees and related political spending while carefully distinguishing verified campaign-finance transactions from allegations or disputed claims involving individual campaigns.
The central question is measurable:
At a time when Democrats say they are trying to break the Republican supermajority, are Democratic political resources being deployed in ways that expand, protect or reduce the party’s representation in the Florida House?
That is a separate story — and one best answered through campaign-finance records rather than political rhetoric.
Politics
Jim Boyd, Jay Trumbull Endorse Alex Rizo for Florida Senate District 39
Published
2 days agoon
September 12, 2026
Republican legislative leaders back Rizo as race develops to replace former Sen. Bryan Avila in Miami-Dade County
MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, Fla. (FNN)— Florida Senate President-Designate Jim Boyd and Sen. Jay Trumbull have endorsed state Rep. Alex Rizo in the developing race for Florida Senate District 39, according to a press release announcing their support.
The endorsements add two prominent Republican senators to Rizo’s campaign as candidates position themselves to succeed former state Sen. Bryan Avila, who resigned from the Senate in August.
Florida Senate records show Avila, a Republican, resigned from District 39 on Aug. 25, leaving the Miami-Dade County seat vacant.
Boyd, Trumbull Praise Rizo’s Legislative Record
In a joint statement provided in the press release, Boyd and Trumbull pointed to Rizo’s record on education, taxes, public safety and parental rights as reasons for their endorsement.
“Alex Rizo is a leader who has championed parental rights, historic school choice expansion, tax cuts for hard working Floridians and business owners, increased funding for public schools and teacher pay, workforce and technical education, public safety, and efforts to educate future generations about the horrors and failures of communism,” Boyd and Trumbull said.
The senators said they believe Rizo would work alongside them in the Florida Senate on their shared policy priorities.
“We are proud to endorse Alex Rizo for Senate District 39 because we know he will stand with us to protect freedom and deliver common sense solutions for hard working Floridians,” they said.
Rizo Running for Open Senate Seat
Rizo, a Republican from Hialeah, announced his candidacy for the open Senate seat following Avila’s resignation. Rizo has served in the Florida House since 2020 and has represented House District 112 during the current legislative term.
The Senate District 39 race is developing following Avila’s departure from the Legislature to run for lieutenant governor.
District 39 is located in Miami-Dade County and includes heavily Hispanic communities in the northwestern portion of the county.
Special Election Date Still to Be Formally Set
Florida’s 2026 general election is scheduled for Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2026. However, as of Sept. 11, the Florida Division of Elections had not listed a Senate District 39 special election among its scheduled 2026 special elections.
Under Florida law, a vacancy in the state Senate may require a special election. The governor, after consulting with the secretary of state, issues the order establishing the election date.
The timing of the District 39 election therefore remains subject to an official special-election order.
Florida
Nikki Fried Targets Donalds, Luna Over Affordability as Republicans Gather for Trump Convention
Published
4 days agoon
September 9, 2026
Florida Democratic Party chair criticizes Florida Republicans over rising costs as GOP leaders rally around President Donald Trump ahead of November midterms
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (FNN) — Florida Democratic Party Chair Nikki Fried criticized Republican U.S. Reps. Byron Donalds and Anna Paulina Luna on Wednesday, accusing them of supporting President Donald Trump’s economic agenda while Floridians face higher costs for gasoline, health care and other necessities.
Fried made the comments during a virtual press call as Republicans gathered in Dallas for an unusual two-day midterm convention centered heavily on Trump and his record in office. National reporting described the gathering as part convention, part campaign rally and fundraiser as Republicans seek to maintain congressional control in November.
FRIED TARGETS DONALDS AND LUNA
Fried accused Donalds and Luna of prioritizing their alliance with Trump over affordability concerns facing Florida families.
“Instead of fighting for a more affordable Florida, Luna and Donalds are jetting off to Texas to celebrate themselves and Trump,” Fried said, according to remarks released by the Florida Democratic Party.
Her comments were political criticism from the state Democratic Party and not an independent assessment of the lawmakers’ records.
Republicans at the Dallas convention, meanwhile, are promoting Trump’s record on taxes, border security, public safety and other issues while arguing that maintaining GOP control of Congress is necessary to advance the administration’s agenda. Trump told the convention that his administration is working to address affordability.
FLORIDA GAS PRICES ABOVE $4
Fried’s affordability argument comes as Florida motorists face substantially higher gasoline prices.
AAA reported Florida’s average price for regular gasoline at approximately $4.08 per gallon Wednesday, compared with about $3.06 a year earlier. The national average was about $4.22.
AAA has attributed recent national price pressure in part to crude-oil volatility and disruptions involving the Strait of Hormuz.
That broader context is important because gasoline prices are influenced by global oil markets, refining, supply and demand, taxes and geopolitical developments, rather than congressional votes alone.
HEALTH CARE ALSO EMERGES AS MIDTERM ISSUE
Fried also criticized Republicans over health care costs.
KFF data show substantial health insurance costs for Floridians purchasing coverage through the Affordable Care Act Marketplace. For 2026, KFF lists Florida’s average benchmark Marketplace premium at about $683 per month.
KFF has reported that many Marketplace consumers nationally experienced increased costs following the expiration at the end of 2025 of enhanced premium tax credits originally enacted under the American Rescue Plan and later extended through the Inflation Reduction Act.
The Florida Democratic Party release cited a $591 KFF figure as evidence of increased premiums. However, KFF’s underlying table identifies $591 in connection with Florida’s average advance premium tax credit, not simply as a $591 monthly increase in premiums. FNN therefore is not characterizing that figure as a $591 premium increase.
TRUMP TAKES CENTER STAGE IN DALLAS
The Democratic criticism comes as Trump puts himself at the center of Republican efforts ahead of the November midterms.
The Dallas gathering on Sept. 9-10 is an unusual midterm national convention rather than the presidential nominating conventions traditionally held every four years. Trump is playing a prominent role, with Republican leaders using the gathering to promote the administration’s record and mobilize voters.
Democrats are using the convention for their own counterprogramming, focusing heavily on affordability and the economy. Republicans, in turn, have used the event to attack Democratic positions and argue that Trump’s policies have strengthened the country.
For Florida, that national political fight has particular significance: Donalds is the Republican nominee for governor, while Luna is among Florida’s most prominent Trump-aligned members of Congress.
With the November election approaching, both parties are increasingly framing affordability, health care and the cost of living as central arguments to Florida voters.
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