This week’s biggest Winners & Losers

These veteran Republican lawmakers, both now in the Senate, are behind some of the more conservative legislation moving in the state Legislature. Dennis Baxley has long championed “newborn infant safety devices,” or “baby boxes,” at fire departments, hospitals and EMS stations. And Clay Yarborough is carrying the measure to ban bringing kids to drag shows. Both look on track to pass. It’s good to be on the winning team.

The last Democrat standing in the Jacksonville mayoral race, Donna Deegan got a win when the city reversed a previous stance blocking her foundation’s Mother’s Day charity 5K run. Recent polling also has her leading Republican Daniel Davis by a eight points. It ain’t over till it’s over in the May runoff election, but Deegan is already one of the few shining hopes left for Democrats in Florida.

It’s nice to get new digs. Take the Fort Lauderdale Police Department. It will be getting a new police headquarters, replacing an older, outdated headquarters built in 1958. Construction will begin this summer and work on the new HQ should be done by late 2024. The new building “is long overdue,” city officials said, with planning going on since before the COVID-19 pandemic. Police Chief Patrick Lynn can count this as a win.

Just another day in the Florida Legislature! In popular lingo, GOP state Rep. Webster Barnaby said the “quiet part out loud” as he commented on a bill that makes it a crime for transgender people to use the bathroom of the gender they identify with. He called trans folks “demons” and “mutants,” saying he felt like he was “watching an X-Men movie.” He has since issued a one-sentence apology. At least we know he’s a Marvel fan?

As chair of the Sarasota County Democratic Party, Daniel Kuether has watched his party trend down over the past few election cycles. It’s getting even worse: His party’s local voter registration is being outpaced by no party and minor party voters in his county, further shrinking the influence it has against the growing superstars in the conservative parental rights movement who call Sarasota County home. And there’s no cavalry to call.

It’s gotta be tough to work for the Florida Immigrant Coalition when the governor of your state is pushing “the toughest crackdown on undocumented immigration by any state in more than a decade.” So this can’t be a good time for Tessa Petit, executive director of the advocacy organization, which aims “to strengthen pro-immigrant power in Florida so we may envision a Florida that is a true home for immigrants and all.”