Flagler County Commissioner Greg Hansen had somewhat of a surprise for his colleagues and the public at the end of the commission meeting Monday evening: he announced that he will not run again. His term ends in 15 months, and he intends to fulfill it “with a bang.” Then-Gov. Rick Scott appointed him the seat in January 2017 following the death of Commissioner Frank Meeker the previous July. As the local political atmosphere got more polarized, Hansen over the years became more pragmatic and moderate.
Elections 2024
Jeani Duarte, a Council Candidate, Says Palm Coast’s Utility Plants Will Make Cannibals of Residents
Jeani Duarte, a candidate for the Palm Coast City Council in the 2026 election, on Tuesday evening accused the city of planning a sewer infrastructure that will turn residents into cannibals. Duarte often addresses the council at its workshops and meetings, often several times a meeting, often to make statements that are either inaccurate or “nonsensical,” as Circuit Judge Chris France twice termed a civil action she attempted against the city, before France tossed it.
Flagler County School Board’s Will Furry Says God Is Calling Him to Run for Congress Against Randy Fine
Will Furry, a Realtor in his first term on the Flagler County School Board, said he is running for the congressional seat held by Randy Fine. Furry will continue serving on the School Board until the end of his term in November. He cannot run for both seats. His fate will be decided in the Aug. 18, 2026 primary, when he would be one of a slew of Republicans challenging Fine.
Zohran Mamdani and the Upton Sinclair Effect
Mamdani’s win surprised nearly everyone. Not just because he beat the heavily favored former governor Andrew Cuomo, but because he did so by a large margin. Because he did so with a unique coalition, and because his Muslim identity and membership in the Democratic Socialists of America should have, in conventional political thinking, made victory impossible. Upton Sinclair, the famous author and a socialist for most of his life, ran for governor in California in 1934 and won the Democratic primary election with a radical plan that he called End Poverty in California, or EPIC. He lost.
How GOP’s Gerrymandering Power Grab May Backfire
There are a few factors that make redistricting more complicated than just grabbing a few House seats. They may even make Republicans regret their hardball gerrymandering tactics, if the party ends up with districts that political scientists call “dummymandered.”
Florida House Prepares to Gerrymander a Few More Seats in Hopes of Padding GOP’s Congressional Majority
The Florida Legislature appears to be on board with Gov. Ron DeSantis stated desire to convene a mid-decade redistricting process this year. The gerrymandering effort is intended to mirror that of Texas, where redistricting is under way in an effort to add to the Republican Party’s congressional House numbers in hopes of keeping control of the chamber after the 2026 elections.
Back from the Brink, Ray Stevens Is Running Again for the Palm Coast City Council Seat He Resigned
The former Palm Coast City Council member is going to run in the 2026 election to reclaim the seat he resigned when he took severely ill just weeks into his term, after winning the District 3 seat runoff with 58 percent of the vote (and making past the primary by two votes). Stevens resigned in late February, when he was in the hospital, in critical condition, and told to get his affairs in order. He plans to run to complete the two years that would remain in his term, then not run again in 2028.
Slew of Groups Are Filing Appeals of Florida’s New Law Restricting Ballot Initiatives
The League of Women Voters of Florida, the League of United Latin American Citizens and two individual plaintiffs filed a notice Friday that was a first step in appealing to the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The Florida Decides Healthcare and FloridaRighttoCleanWater.org political committees, which are trying to put proposals on the 2026 ballot, and individual plaintiffs filed similar notices July 25.
Vance 46 Points Ahead of DeSantis in Early 2026 Presidential Poll
Florida’s Governor continues to struggle in early surveys of what could be the 2028 Republican race to replace Donald Trump. Per a survey from Emerson College, Ron DeSantis has 7% support in North Carolina, well behind Vice President JD Vance’s 53%.
Palm Coast Council’s Charles Gambaro Announces Congressional Run Against ‘Outrageous’ Randy Fine
Palm Coast City Council member Charles Gambaro late Thursday announced he will challenge U.S. Rep. Randy Fine in the 2026 primary for the 6th Congressional District seat Fine won in a special election last April. With Council member Dave Sullivan’s plan not to run in the 2026 election, Gambaro’s decision creates the second open seat on the council–an opening that gives the embattled mayor a chance to make a play for a majority aligned with him.
Committee’s 15-13 Vote Sends School Board’s Derek Barrs Nomination for Transportation Post to Full Senate
Flagler County School Board member Derek Barrs is a step closer to resigning the seat and leaving Flagler County to become the administrator of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration in Washington, D.C. The U.S. Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee on Wednesday voted 15-13, strictly along party lines, to send the nomination to the full Senate, where Barrs is expected to be confirmed.
At Mike Norris ‘Mayoral Town Hall,’ an Impressive Crowd Starring Cast of Familiar Faces, Fictions and Grievances
Palm Coast Mayor Norris’s self-vaunted, well-attended and uneventful “Mayoral Town Hall” at the VFW hall on Old Kings Road Monday evening was almost identical to a grousing public comment segment at a City Council meeting, but stretched to two hours, and with a larger audience primed by pizza, beer and wine on the mayor’s personal generosity. The two-hour event drew 154 people, based on a head count just before the halfway mark.
Mayor Norris Files for Rehearing in Lawsuit He Lost Over Gambaro Appointment and Distorts Ethics Decision
Palm Coast Mayor Mike Norris through his attorney filed a motion for rehearing of his lawsuit against the city and Council member Charles Gambaro, who Norris still claims was illegally appointed despite a court order to the contrary. Separately, Norris, in a truculent social media posting replete with errors and mischaracterizations late Friday, claimed that the Florida Commission on Ethics “has officially dismissed” the complaint the City Council filed against him, and did so “due to insufficient legal standing.”
Sen. Rick Scott Trolls New York’s Mamdani with Florida-Baiting Campaign
With New York City on the brink of electing a democratic socialist Mayor, U.S. Sen. Rick Scott wants New Yorkers escaping to Florida. The Naples Republican launched an ad campaign in the Big Apple encouraging just that, as first reported by the New York Post. The messaging will include a banner flown over New York City that reads: “Hate Socialism? Us too! Move 2 FL.”
Flagler Beach Will Consider Moving Its Elections to Even Years to Save Money, and Alter Commissioners’ Terms
Flagler Beach will consider moving its elections from March every year to November, coinciding with general and presidential election cycles. Commissioners’ three-year terms would have to revert to two years, as had been the case two decades ago, or go to four-year terms. The change, suggested as a discussion point by City Clerk Penny Overstreet Thursday evening, would potentially save the city $18,000 per election.
DeSantis Wants Redistricting to Help Save GOP’s House Majority
With President Trump fearful that congressional Republicans could lose their slim majority in the House of Representatives in the 2026 midterm election, he has urged the state of Texas to redraw their congressional map to add as many as five GOP seats to Congress, and that he’d like other states to follow suit. Gov. Ron DeSantis says that Florida can be one of those states.
Justice Department Demanding to See States’ Voter Lists in Latest Intrusion
The U.S. Department of Justice is seeking the voter registration lists of several states — representing data on millions of Americans — and other election information ahead of the 2026 midterms, raising fears about how the Trump administration plans to use the information. The DOJ is also demanding Colorado turn over all records related to the 2024 election, a massive trove of documents that could include ballots and even voting equipment. The Colorado inquiry, the most sweeping publicly known request, underscores the extent of the administration’s attention on state election activities.
Palm Coast Council’s Five Charter Review Picks Reflect Politics and Experience, Not Diversity
The Palm Coast City Council today appointed five residents–five men, four white, one Hispanic–to the Charter Review Committee, along with five alternate members, out of 27 applicants. The council’s choices reflect some appointments with an eye to politics and some to experience. The appointments include former two-term County Commissioner Donald O’Brien and current East Mosquito Control District board member Michael Martin. O’Brien especially has deep familiarity both with governance and parliamentary procedures, as well as the difference between charters and ordinances.
In Stinging Defeat for Mayor Norris, Judge Rules on All Counts in Favor of City’s Gambaro Appointment
Circuit Judge Chris France today handed Palm Coast Mayor Mike Norris a stinging defeat in his lawsuit against his own city, challenging the legality of the council’s appointment of Charles Gambaro to a vacated seat last summer. In a hearing lasting less than an hour, and in a courtroom with more than two dozen Norris supporters filling the gallery, France ruled against Norris both on standing–he had none–and on the merits.
Democrat Josh Weil Running for Senate in Bid to Unseat Ashley Moody
After boosting his profile during an unsuccessful campaign for the U.S. House, Democrat Josh Weil announced Wednesday that he will try to unseat U.S. Sen. Ashley Moody, R-Fla., in 2026.
David Jolly Makes It Official: He’s Running for Governor as Newly-Minted Centrist Democrat
Former Republican Congressman David Jolly on Thursday became the first prominent Democrat to enter the 2026 gubernatorial race, saying he can attract middle-ground voters who want leaders to address issues such as rising housing and property-insurance costs. Jolly, 52, represented a Pinellas County district in Congress for nearly three years and more recently has been a cable-news political commentator. He hopes to become the first Democrat elected governor since Lawton Chiles won in 1994. Gov. Ron DeSantis cannot run again next year because of term limits.
Florida Law Restricting Ballot Initiatives Survives Court Challenge
A federal judge Wednesday refused to block parts of a new Florida law that placed additional restrictions on the state’s ballot-initiative process, turning down arguments by groups seeking to take issues to voters in 2026. As an example of the controversial parts of the law, it would shorten from 30 to 10 days the length of time to submit signed petitions to supervisors of elections. The judge agreed that the law makes it harder to get proposed amendments on the ballot, but disagreed tha it has severely burdened voters’ speech.
Answering Lawsuit, Palm Coast Accuses Mayor Norris of Frivolously Weaponizing Court Against Gambaro’s Legitimacy
Palm Coast has mordantly and vigorously answered Mayor Mike Norris’s claim that Charles Gambaro should be booted off the council and a special election held to replace him. Attorney Rachael Crews, who represents the city, is giving Circuit Judge Chris France a buffet of arguments to find Norris’ claim “frivolous,” falsely urgent, legally groundless, injurious to the city charter, and not least, without standing. Norris sued Palm Coast and Gambaro on May 5, claiming that Gambaro’s appointment last fall should have ended in November.
Judge Allows Florida Republican Party to Defend Law Restricting Citizens’ Ballot Measures
A federal judge Wednesday approved a request by the Republican Party of Florida to help defend a new law that places additional restrictions on the state’s ballot-initiative process. The law is one in a series of steps that Republican leaders have taken to make it harder to pass constitutional amendments — and came after fierce fights in 2024 about ballot proposals on recreational marijuana and abortion. Supporters of the law’s restrictions have contended that they are needed to prevent fraud, particularly in the petition-gathering process for initiatives.
By Law, $10 Million Hope Florida Deal Should Have Been Audited. It Wasn’t.
The Florida statute that governs money owed to the state requires the CFO to audit the “accounts of all the officers of the state” in regard to transactions like last year’s controversial settlement with Medicaid contractor Centene Corp. that saw $10 million in public proceeds funneled through the Casey DeSantis-affiliated Hope Florida Foundation to attack a referendum staunchly opposed by her husband, Gov. Ron DeSantis, to legalize cannabis. No such review or audit was conducted.
Democracy’s Sunset: There’s a 70% Chance the Constitution Will Be Suspended Before 2028
The democratic moment is over. There’s a 70 percent chance that the Constitution will be suspended before the legal end of the current administration. The chance of a suspension grows to 110 percent in case of an actual emergency, like a 9/11-style attack. But a majority of Americans aren’t interested in democracy anymore. They want their strongman. Nothing else explains the country’s surrender to the degradation of the country’s institutions since Jan. 20.
Danko No Longer District Director for Randy Fine; Congressman Calls for Nuking Gaza’s 2 Million Palestinians
Ed Danko and U.S. Rep. Randy Fine have parted ways a week after the former Palm Coast City Council member was named Fine’s district director in Flagler, Volusia and St. Johns Counties. On Thursday, Fine called for the nuking of Gaza, the small enclave of 2 million Palestinians. Fine will be a featured speaker at Palm Coast’s Memorial Day commemoration, and at the county’s commemoration later on Monday.
Federal Judge Hears Challenge to Florida’s Law Sharply Restricting Ballot Initiatives
Chief U.S. District Judge Mark Walker listened to about three hours of testimony on Florida Decides Healthcare’s and Smart & Safe Florida’s request that he block certain provisions of the law while the legal challenge moves ahead — including a requirement that sponsors turn in completed petitions within 10 days after the voter signs the petition, as well as stepped up fines and criminal penalties.
Palm Coast Council’s Charles Gambaro Calls Norris Lawsuit Against Him ‘Frivolous’ and Mayor’s Conduct an ‘Abdication’
In a letter to the community, Palm Coast Council member Charles Gambaro on Sunday said Mayor Mike Norris’s conduct, from suing to get Gambaro off the council to conspiracy theories to evading City Hall deeply concerning, and the mayor’s refusal to fulfill numerous responsibilities “a troubling and unprecedented abdication of the fundamental duties he swore to uphold when taking office and deprive our citizens of full representation in their government.” Gambaro, for his part, intends to continue to serve.
In Palm Coast Town Hall, David Jolly Gives Local Democrats Something to Cheer About as He Readies Run for Governor
David Jolly gave a crowd of a couple of hundred Democrats something to cheer about in a town hall-style appearance Wednesday evening at Palm Coast United Methodist Church. Two weeks ago he also launched an electoral committee, Florida 2026, and now says he’s “actively considering running for governor.” Based on his polished, carefully calibrated and stump-like appearance in Palm Coast–and based on the rousing response he received–his announcement appears to be a matter of when, not if.
Court Sets Arguments for July 3 on Legitimacy of Charles Gambaro’s Palm Coast Council Seat
A July 3 hearing is set before Flagler County Circuit Judge Chris France to determine the validity of Palm Coast Mayor Norris’s lawsuit claiming that Council member Charles Gambaro was appointed to fill out a two-year term last October in violation of the city charter. Norris contends the council should have held a special election for the District 4 seat, and Gambaro should not have continued past Election Day in November.
Palm Coast Council Launches Review of City Charter, This Time Seeking an Actual Advisory Committee
The Palm Coast City Council is launching a review of the city charter. The year-long process will include the appointment of a five-member committee and public hearings. Any proposed amendments will appear on the Nov. 3, 2026 general election ballot, should the council vote to place them there. Theoretically, the council could vote down any amendment recommended by the charter review committee, which, like all other council committees, sits only in an advisory capacity.
Mayor Mike Norris’s Lawsuit Against Palm Coast Has Merit. And Limits.
It is one of the mocking ironies of the Palm Coast reality show known as America’s Next Top Mayor that the same man found to have violated the city charter is now invoking it to boot fellow Councilman Charles Gambaro off the island. Yet the lawsuit Norris filed against the city this week, arguing that the council violated the charter when it appointed Gambaro last October, has merit. The strict wording of the charter, poorly written though it is, is on Norris’s side. But a less fundamentalist interpretation of the charter is not.
U.S. Rep. Randy Fine Picks Ex-Palm Coast Councilman Ed Danko as District Director in Flagler, St. Johns and Volusia
U.S. Rep. Randy Fine, the unfiltered provocateur and former member of the Florida Senate who won a special election in April to claim the Flagler County-centered congressional seat vacated by Mike Waltz, has chosen the like-minded former member of the Palm Coast City Council to be his regional director in Flagler, Volusia and St Johns County: Ed Danko. Danko begins his job on the federal payroll Friday.
Palm Coast Mayor Norris Sues Palm Coast, Seeking Councilman Gambaro Booted and Special Election Held
Palm Coast Mayor Mike Norris today filed an emergency suit against Palm Coast government and Council member Charles Gambaro, charging that Gambaro’s appointment last fall violated the charter. The suit seeks to have Gambaro removed through “a judgment of ouster” and a special election declared for the District 4 seat. Norris has been claiming that Gambaro’s appointment was illegal since soon after he was sworn-in late last November. The lawsuit was filed days after Gambaro made an unsuccessful motion for the council to ask Gov. Ron DeSantis to remove Norris from the council.
Florida Lawmakers Raise New Barriers to Citizens’ Ballot Initiatives
With Democrats calling the changes an “assault on the very spirit of Florida’s democracy,” the Republican-controlled Legislature on Friday finalized a plan that will impose additional hurdles on the ballot-initiative process and heighten penalties for wrongdoing. Gov. Ron DeSantis pushed lawmakers to crack down on the process after highly contentious and expensive battles over proposals last year that sought to place abortion rights in the state Constitution and allow recreational marijuana for adults.
House Panel Drops Investigation of Casey DeSantis Charity That Funneled $10 Million to Political Committees
After weeks of investigation, a state House leader said Thursday his panel is halting a probe into a foundation linked to First Lady Casey DeSantis’ signature economic-assistance program, Hope Florida. Rep. Alex Andrade, a Pensacola Republican who chairs the House Health Care Budget Subcommittee, spent weeks scrutinizing the foundation’s receipt of $10 million as part of a $67 million legal settlement that Centene, Florida’s largest Medicaid managed-care company, reached last fall with the Agency for Health Care Administration, then redistributing the $10 million to two anti-pot political committees.
Bunnell Commission Bids Farewell to 5-Year Commissioner Tonya Gordon as New Members Are Sworn-In
The Bunnell City Commission bid farewell to Commissioner Tonya Gordon, who was elected in 2020 and chose not to run for re-election. Commissioners David Atkinson and Dean Sechrist were sworn-in, as was Mayor Catherine Robinson. John Rogers was named vice-mayor again. In Robinson and Rogers, the commission has the longest- and second-longest serving elected officials on major boards in the county.
Ex-County Commissioner Dave Sullivan Appointed to Palm Coast Council After Bruising Process
Dave Sullivan, the former county commission member, was appointed to the Palm Coast City Council’s District 3 seat vacated by an ailing Ray Stevens in late February. It’s a wonder Sullivan wasn’t himself ailing by the time he got the council’s vote: his appointment was not elegant. The council’s decision was on a 3-1 vote following several fractious, at times injurious and ageist public comments about Sullivan.
Eager for Experience, Palm Coast Council’s Top Two Choices for Appointment Are Dave Sullivan and Dave Ferguson
In Dave Sullivan and Dave Ferguson the Palm Coast City Council’s choices clearly point to its eagerness for a tested, knowledgeable colleague who won’t need much of a learning curve as the council readies to appoint a new city manager and start budgeting for the coming year. Ferguson and Sullivan also have close ties with the local business community. Neither is a firebrand. Neither is foreign to humor and a degree of self-deprecation that has been lacking on a council more high-strung than an unsecured trigger.
In Flagler, Voters Cast Half a Million Ballots in 8 years; 5 Were Non-Citizens. Where’s the ‘Fraud’?
An executive order requires that all votes be counted by the end of Election Day. It also requires proof of citizenship to vote in federal elections. The order relies on a lie: that fraud is corrupting American elections. Let’s not look far and take Flagler County’s recent elections to test the claim.
Florida House Approves Draconian Restrictions on Citizen-Led Constitutional Amendments
The Republican controlled Florida House of Representatives has passed a measure that will make it prohibitively harder for a citizen-led constitutional amendment to get on the ballot. The vote was 76-31. Its passage comes just five months after two constitutional amendments that would have respectively enshrined abortion rights and legalized recreational cannabis for adults narrowly fell short of passage.
Interviews of 10 Candidates for Appointment to Palm Coast Council Give a Choice Between Experience and Ideals
A defining line sharpened as the interviews progressed. It was drawn between candidates who spoke the pragmatism of public-service experience on one side, and candidates who spoke of ideals and private-sector careers they hope to translate into public service. This council has limited time to make a limited appointment with specific aims ahead, in a term limited to less than two years, and for a position whose learning curve typically takes two years fully to scale.
It’s Randy Fine After All as Election Day Surge Helps Trump Pick Defeat Josh Weil and Democratic Hopes
Powered by an Election Day surge that helped erase early-voting advantages the Josh Weil campaign had built up, Randy Fine, the Melbourne Republican, Florida Senate member and Donald Trump pick, won the special election for the 6th Congressional District this evening–not handily at all, but he won it all the same, to his patron’s (and his own) relief.
Democrat Josh Weil Riles GOP Panic Over Special Election: ‘We Are Going to Have Our Own Surge’
Democrat Josh Weil, the Orlando teacher, and the GOP’s Sen. Randy Fine of Melbourne, are running so close in the special election for Waltz’s 6th Congressional District seat–which includes all of Flagler County–that even if Weil doesn’t win Tuesday, the race is sending seismic waves through a magaland.
Can Democrats Get Their Act Together Before Its Too Late?
For more than a century, Democrats were the party of slavery, states’ rights, and Jim Crow, but, gradually and imperfectly, became the party of civil rights, voting rights, and workers’ rights, switching places with Republicans, who once had a strong streak of social progressivism. For 30 years, Florida elected New South governors such as Reubin Askew, Bob Graham, and Lawton Chiles, leaders who believed in education, open government, protecting the environment — crazy stuff like that. Where are they now?
13 Applicants, Including Several Familiar Names, Apply to Fill Palm Coast Council Seat Vacated by Stevens
Thirteen candidates have filed for the District 3 seat on the Palm Coast City Council that Ray Stevens resigned at the end of February. The list includes several familiar names, among them Dave Ferguson, a former appointee to the council, Dave Sullivan, who just ended two terms on the County Commission, Cornelia Manfre, who has had three unsuccessful runs for a council seat or the mayorship, Mark Stancel, who lost a primary vote to Stevens by two votes, and Andrew Werner, who lost to Stevens.
After a Protest, Flagler Beach Again Changes Rule for Large Annexations, Requiring Supermajority Vote
A year after removing the requirement that annexations of 5 percent or more of its land mass would require a referendum, the Flagler Beach City Commission again changed the rule, now to require at least a supermajority of the commission before such annexations may be approved. The change is the result of a protest lodged about the original amendment by the attorney representing a non-profit group that has opposed Veranda Bay, the large development seeking annexation into the city.
Five Apply for Ray Stevens’s Palm Coast Council Seat Amid Mounting Turmoil; Window Closes March 19
Just five candidates have applied for the District 3 seat on the Palm Coast City Council that Ray Stevens resigned at the end of February, including Mark Stancel, who lost a primary vote to Stevens by two votes. Whoever the council appoints will be joining a county and a city in turmoil. The council will make its choice in early to mid-April.
Jane Mealy Exits Flagler Beach Dais After 19 Years, Cunningham Is Sworn-In and Sherman Named Chair
Jane Mealy for 19 years had been the Flagler Beach City Commission’s unrivaled workhorse and its sharpest study long before successive commissioners mostly modeled themselves after her, whether they knew it or not. Thursday evening, Mealy cast her final vote and exited after her defeat by John Cunningham, and the re-election of James Sherman, who was elected chair. Rick Belhumeur was elected vice-chair, to his recurring chagrin.