The Florida Chamber political team continuously analyzes new voter registration trends, changes to House and Senate districts, and voter behavior as we work to recruit and elect pro-jobs candidates to secure Florida's future. Please share this report with your management team and send us a note if you have questions, perspectives, or recommendations. Florida is at a crossroads and we invite you to help us continue on the right path forward. | | |
In This Issue:
Florida Political Update • Florida's Political Insights, Analysis and Highlights • Tools for Your Company's Political Strategy • Tuesday's Primaries Bring Trio of Wins for Chamber-Backed Candidates • Florida Voter Registration Analysis • Tweets You Can Retweet • Upcoming Events
| | Special Election Results From Across Florida; Patronis and Fine Elected to Congress, Republicans Choose Nominees in 3 Legislative Races | | |
In this month's political edition of Florida By the Numbers, the Florida Chamber's Director of Data and Analytics Alex Coelho looks at this past Tuesday's slate of special elections across Florida. Voters elected two new members of Congress in Congressional Districts 1 and 6, and Republican primary voters chose their legislative candidates in Senate District 19 and House Districts 3 & 32. Click HERE for the full analysis of these election results from the Florida Chamber's Political Operations.
This month's video highlighted several developments from Tuesday, including:
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Patronis and Fine hold Congressional seats for Republicans. Former CFO Jimmy Patronis and former State Senator Randy Fine each became Congressmen-elect on Tuesday with double-digit wins over their Democratic challengers. Fine's win in particular drew considerable national attention following his Democratic opponent, Josh Weil, raising nearly 10 million dollars for his campaign to represent the 6th Congressional district.
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Florida Chamber-backed candidates go 3 for 3 in legislative primaries. A trio of special legislative primaries took place in Brevard and Okaloosa/Santa Rosa counties Tuesday. Current Representative and former Senator Debbie Mayfield, a lifetime A-rated legislator on the Florida Chamber's Legislative Report Card, easily triumphed over three opponents in her bid to once again represent the people of Senate District 19. In House primaries, Nathan Boyles came out on top of an 8-person Republican field in HD-3 while Brian Hodgers won in a tight 3-way battle for HD-32's Republican nomination. All 3 now advance to June 10th general election contests against Democratic opponents.
For more information on any subject covered in this video, or to find out more about the latest developments of Florida's political landscape, contact Alex Coelho.
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Florida's Political Insights, Analysis
and Highlights
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The latest edition of the Florida Chamber Political Operations' monthly version of By the Numbers was released. This month's video recaps Tuesday's special general elections for US Congress and special primary elections for the Florida Senate and House. To find out more about these latest developments of the Florida political landscape, click HERE to watch this month's analysis from Florida Chamber Director of Data & Analytics Alex Coelho.
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Florida Chamber-endorsed candidates went 3 for 3 in Tuesday's legislative primaries. Current Representative Debbie Mayfield won a 4-candidate primary to be the Republican nominee in the 19th Senate District that she previously represented as its Senator, while local businessmen Nathan Boyles and Brian Hodgers won primary nomination contests in the 3rd and 32nd House Districts. To learn more about the Florida Chamber's Political Operations, contact Executive Vice President Frank Walker.
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Republicans continue to increase their lead over Democrats among all active registered voters. As of February 28, 2025, Florida had 1,198,567 more Republicans than Democrats amongst the 14,193,826 total registered voters in Florida. This lead continues to steadily expand month over month, fueled in no small part by the surge in Republican registrations within Florida's Hispanic communities.
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Florida Chamber Political Institute Begins Preparations for 2026 Elections: The Florida Chamber Political Institute (FCPI), the Florida Chamber's nonpartisan research arm of political operations conducted nearly 100 interviews of candidates across 5 different locations across Florida during the 2024 election cycle, with more than 300 political institute members in attendance across the 5 sites. For more information on these events or the Political Institute in general contact Executive Director Marian Johnson.
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Interested in a Corporate Political Briefing?: Contact Frank Walker to schedule your customized corporate political briefing so your management team can better understand Florida's political landscape - an exclusive benefit for Florida Chamber Board of Governor members.
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Exclusive Member Benefit: Be the first to know of changes to districts and counties through the Florida Partisan Performance Index. Discuss with Alex Coelho today.
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Florida Free Enterprise Fund, a Florida Chamber initiative aimed at recruiting and electing pro-jobs candidates and advancing pro-Florida issues, invites your company to join to help Secure Florida's Future. E-mail Frank Walker to get involved today.
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The Florida Institute for Political Leadership (FIPL) is partnering with local chambers of commerce and hosting virtual candidate schools on how to run a winning local political campaign. With over 6,200 local elections in the coming years, we're working with local chambers of commerce to help educate local business leaders about local opportunities to serve. Click here to register and learn more.
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Learn about legislative candidates and make decisions on how your company can strategically make political contributions by joining the Florida Chamber Political Institute (FCPI). Learn more here.
Chamber Members can access exclusive political intel here:
| | Tools for Your Company's Political Strategy | |
Florida's preeminent non-partisan local campaign training school to recruit better candidates.
Host a Candidate Training School in your community by contacting Andrew Wiggins.
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ChamberHub is the Florida Chamber's exclusive, interactive, and customizable voter file.
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The Free Enterprise Fund is Florida's leading political committee helping job creators secure Florida's future. To join, please contact
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Learn about legislative candidates and make decisions on how your company can strategically make political contributions by joining the FCPI. Learn more by contacting Marian Johnson.
| | | Tuesday's Primaries Bring Trio of Wins for Chamber-Backed Candidates | | |
The Florida Chamber's Political Operations team has for many years worked to unite the business community behind candidates for state offices who will continue to promote and advance a pro-growth governing principle for Florida. This work continued on Tuesday night, as Chamber-endorsed candidates went 3 for 3 in special primary campaigns for the Florida Senate and House Tuesday, adding new pro-growth voices to the 101 candidates who won election last November after receiving the Florida Chamber's endorsement.
In Senate District 19 a longstanding friend of Florida's business community was nominated, as Representative Debbie Mayfield is one step closer to again representing the people of this Brevard County Senate district following her win in Tuesday's Republican primary. Mayfield's a lifetime A-rated legislator on the Florida Chamber's Legislative Report Card, and her track record of promoting job creation and economic opportunity for Floridians earned her the Chamber's endorsement.
Tuesday's House primaries saw Nathan Boyles and Brian Hodgers win their respective primaries in districts 3 and 32. Both Boyles and Hodgers are small business owners in their communities, and bring with them the knowledge of signing the front of a paycheck as well as the back. Each candidate earned the Florida Chamber's endorsement following a thorough vetting that included interviewing with the members of the Florida Chamber Political Institute, the non-partisan research arm of the Chamber's Political Operations.
While the Florida Chamber typically does not endorse in federal elections and Tuesday's pair of special Congressional races were no exception, one would be amiss in not noting that Congressmen-elect Patronis and Fine both head to Washington with a long tradition of supporting pro-growth policies for Florida during their time in state government as well. Both were consistent A-rated legislators on the Florida Chamber's Legislative Report Card during their tenures in the Florida Legislature, and Patronis' time as Florida's Chief Financial Officer was similarly highlighted by efforts to support local businesses across Florida while ensuring fiscal accountability and protecting the public against fradulent activity.
Tuesday was another good election night for ensuring Florida remains the best place to live, learn, work and do business, and this mission continues as we look ahead to June's general elections for SD-19, HD-3 and HD-32, as well as elections next year. With a full ballot of over 2,000 races at all levels of government plus potential constitutional amendment proposals on tap for Floridians in the 2026 general election, the Florida Chamber's Political Operations team is already hard at work to help continue uniting Florida's busines community for good to secure Florida's future. For more information on the Chamber's political operations, contact our Executive Vice President Frank Walker.
| | Florida Voter Registration Analysis | | VOTER DATA BY CHAMBERHUB | The Florida Chamber's Exclusive Voter File | | Republicans Near 1.2 Million Voter Lead at End of February, New Registrations at Nadir Following 2024 General Election | | Republicans neared the 1.2 million mark in their voter registration advantage over Democrats as the month of February came to a close. This latest voter file release from the Florida Division of Elections detailed active voter registration across Florida as of February 28, 2025, and showed Republicans leading Democrats by 1,198,567 active registrants statewide. This lead now reflects a still-growing plurality for Republicans of more than 8% of all active voters over Democrats, a lead built entirely over the past three years. | | While election season brings with it high levels of registration activity as potential voters race to register before bookclosing to ensure their voices can be heard, the winter following a major election year is the exact opposite of this. The lowest monthly registration totals are often found in the months right after a Presidential election takes place, as those who needed to register did so before the previous election while new movers and those still not registered find little if any urgency in becoming a registered voter. While 2024 saw an average of roughly 70,000 Floridians registering to vote each month, the first two months of 2025 combined have yet to hit this 70,000 total. February saw just 33,479 Floridians register to vote, very slightly down from January though a higher number of registrations per day when accounting for the 3-day difference in the pair of months' lengths. As 2025 progresses, these low registration totals can be expected to slowly increase month over month for most of the year. | | |
March 24th marked the two-year anniversary of Florida Chamber-led HB 837 being signed into law to restore balance to our bottom-five legal climate. The good news is, the lawsuit abuse reforms are working as intended.
Since HB 837 was signed into law:
Insurance related lawsuit abuse has decreased 30% from its peak
Auto and Homeowners premiums have stabilized or decreased
11 new insurers in Florida’s property insurance marketplace
Now is not the time to reverse course – unite with us to defend HB 837 which is providing relief to consumers and local businesses.
Watch Mark Wilson’s 2023 remarks prior to passage of HB 837: https://youtu.be/seUzoNAyyl4 and contact Carolyn Johnson at cjohnson@flchamber.com to get engage in our efforts.
The Florida Chamber endorses #BrianHodgers for the Florida House. As a local business owner, Hodgers is committed to keeping taxes low and insurance affordable. Making the right things happen in Florida is how we’ll become the 10th largest global economy by #2030.
Just two years ago, the Florida Legislature ended sham litigation practices that made billboard lawyers rich at our expense. Auto insurance premiums are now going down for the first time in memory, saving Florida drivers millions. Billboard lawyers want those savings back in their pockets, and a vote today in the Florida House (HB 947) will give them exactly what they want. Very simply, a vote for this bill is a total giveaway to personal injury lawyers and will cost every Floridian money. This defining vote should be an easy “NO” for Republican members who supported our 2023 reforms and new members who want to take a principled stand for their constituents. Our reforms are working, and we must stay the course. #FlaPol #Sayfie
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What's Next:
Upcoming Calls, Webinars, and Events
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To learn more, run for office, or help the Florida Chamber, please contact:
Frank Walker, Executive Vice President of Government & Political Relations
O: 850-521-1211 | E: fwalker@flchamber.com
Marian Johnson, Executive Director, Florida Chamber Political Institute
C: 850-212-7073 | E: marianjohnson@flchamber.com
Andrew Wiggins, Senior Director of Political Affairs and Coalition Advocacy
O: 850-521-1240 | E: awiggins@flchamber.com
Alex Coelho, Director of Data & Analytics
O: 850-521-1250 | E: acoelho@flchamber.com
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