Last Call – A prime-time read of what’s going down in Florida politics.
First Shot
The Florida Chamber Foundation’s 2025 Florida Technology & Innovation Solution Summit kicks off tomorrow at the Grand Hyatt Tampa Bay.
The full-day program, running from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., will bring together leaders from technology, advanced manufacturing, venture capital, and research sectors to discuss how Florida is positioning itself as a global innovation hub.
Speakers include FloridaCommerce COO and SelectFlorida Interim President Matt Swanson, ARK Invest CEO Cathie Wood, Tampa Bay Wave CEO Linda Olson, BioFlorida President Mark Glickman, and other industry and academic leaders. Topics range from artificial intelligence and biotechnology to advanced manufacturing, AgTech, BlueTech, and venture capital strategies.
Attendees can join in person or virtually, with sessions highlighting case studies, investment strategies, and cross-sector collaborations aimed at fueling Florida’s economic growth. Registration is available online.
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One of Florida’s longest-running guessing games is about to end.
After months without a Lieutenant Governor, Gov. Ron DeSantis is expected to tap Jay Collins for the job this week, elevating the Tampa Republican from Senate freshman to heartbeat-away status.
For Collins, the move caps a two-year arc that began with him elbowing former Rep. Shawn Harrison out of the race to flip a then-blue Senate district, courtesy of a DeSantis endorsement no less.
Half a term later and his name has been in the mix for multiple high-profile jobs (he was among the first wave of rumored Rhea Law successors at USF, for one) before becoming the presumptive selection to replace now-FIU President Jeannette Núñez.
While hardly a flashy job in and of itself, Collins’ appointment adds some spice to what has become a dull 2026 Governor race. Collins had previously flirted with running, and the odds of that coming to pass have only improved as First Lady Casey DeSantis remains hamstrung by the Hope Florida scandal.
In politics, timing is everything — and Collins is stepping into a statewide platform when rank-and-file Republicans are only just beginning to consider what Florida’s post-Trump, post-DeSantis future will look like.
An appointment isn’t a campaign launch, of course. Still, it’s the kind of move that can force even a frontrunner like the well-funded and Trump-backed U.S. Rep. Byron Donalds to double-check the playbook.
Evening Reads
—“Donald Trump orders federal takeover of D.C. police, deploys National Guard” via Michael Birnbaum and Perry Stein of The Washington Post
—”Inflation up or down? What about jobs? The agency that should know is on the rocks” via Matt Grossman, Brian Schwartz and Rachel Louise Ensign of The Wall Street Journal
—”The government is literally telling firefighters ‘help is not on the way’” via Kylie Mohr of Vox
—”Pete Hegseth promotes repealing women’s right to vote” via Judd Legum of Popular Information
—”What does Palantir actually do?” via Caroline Haskins of WIRED
—“Florida DOGE audit of Orlando is underway, with at least 27,000 files turned over” via Ryan Gillespie of the Orlando Sentinel
—“Florida DOGE finding ‘egregious’ government waste, fraud, abuse, CFO says” via Lizzy Alspach of the Tampa Bay Times
—”Florida leading agency for immigration arrests doesn’t use body cameras.” via Ana Goñi-Lessan and Stephany Matat of USA Today Network-Florida
—“It’s the last day to register to vote for the Tampa City Council Special Election” via Janelle Irwin Taylor of Florida Politics
—“He announced his intention to die. The dinner invitations rolled in.” via David Segal of The New York Times
Quote of the Day
“Steps must be taken now to right these wrongs.”
— Attorney General James Uthmeier, urging the federal government to reallocate congressional seats based on data available now.
Put it on the Tab
Look to your left, then look to your right. If you see one of these people at your happy hour haunt, flag down the bartender and put one of these on your tab. Recipes included, just in case the Cocktail Codex fell into the well.
Collins is due for a Commodore No. 2 once he officially gets the nod to become DeSantis’ next Lieutenant Governor.
Attorney General Uthmeier gets an Uno Más for making the case to the feds that Florida deserves an extra seat in the U.S. House.
Stir up a Fourth Regiment for Marcus Herman, who is joining three other Republicans in vying for the seat currently held by term-limited Rep. Tyler Sirois.
Breakthrough Insights
Tune In
Rays open series in Sacramento
The Tampa Bay Rays continue a West Coast road trip with the first of three straight games in Sacramento against the Athletics (10:05 p.m. ET, FanDuel Sports Network Sun).
The Rays are in the midst of 12 straight games in the Pacific Time Zone. They opened the journey with two wins in three games at the Angels before being swept by the Mariners in Seattle over the weekend.
Tampa Bay sits in fourth place in the American League East, 12 games behind the division-leading Toronto Blue Jays and five and a half games out of the final wild card spot in the American League.
Tonight’s game marks the start of the second series of the season between two teams playing home games in unfamiliar surroundings. The Rays dropped two of three to the Athletics in June at Steinbrenner Field, Tampa Bay’s temporary home as Tropicana Field is repaired after Hurricane Milton damaged the stadium last year.
The Athletics are in a state of transition, moving from Oakland to Las Vegas. The stadium in Las Vegas is under construction, leaving the A’s to play in Sacramento until it is completed. The new stadium is scheduled to be ready in time for the 2028 season.
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Last Call is published by Peter Schorsch, assembled and edited by Phil Ammann and Drew Wilson, with contributions from the staff of Florida Politics.
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