Don Gaetz easily won his old Florida Senate seat by 30 percentage points.
“Republicans have to understand now at the federal level, at the state level with significant majorities in both houses of the legislature, with the governor’s office, with the agency heads appointed by the governor, there’s nobody to blame. We as Republicans have to take ownership now of the critical, as you pointed out, kitchen table issues that affect ordinary working-class, middle-class Floridians every day, and we’ve got to take action.”
Jennifer Brahier won the District 1 council seat by three votes four years ago. This year, she won a second term by 1,197 votes.
“I was told that there’s a lot of angst associated with that first reelection, but I really could not have known how much there is because you’ve spent four years working, building relationships, trying to show that you’re there to do exactly what you said you’re there to do. And then you go out there for everybody to assess whether this has been true or not,” she said.
“And then with my opponent, one of his strongest and most continued comes at me was that I really hadn’t won by a mandate, just by accident almost. You do wonder whether you have won over the people and whether you have shown them that what you say is what you do kind of thing. And so, it is very, very reassuring and exciting to win by a large margin.”
Port Director Clark Merritt touted the balance at the Port.
“We can be a deepwater cargo port, one of Florida’s 10 deepwater ports that move cargo in the state, and the state needs ports, right? We learned that when the fuel was shut down to the port of Tampa Bay during the hurricanes, you couldn’t get fuel or anything in there,” he said. “Ports play a critical role in moving cargo and keeping the economy going. But you’re right, we’ve got the more social aspects that are occurring – American Magic, the redevelopment of the pickleball facility by Portside Pickle that’s going to activate that side of the port with the ferry landing and tie all that in together.”
Merritt added, “Our vessel traffic is up from in the twenties a few years ago to averaging almost 50 a year. And we are predicting the same for this fiscal year. So yes, niche or harmony or a nice balance, regardless. We’re very pleased with where we are.”
The University of West Florida football team puts its five-game win streak on the line this weekend when they play North Greenville at home. The streak began after the Argos lost to Grand Valley State in late September.
“This team has come back, regrouped, put their head down, and just continue to win. And that’s what Coach Caleb Nobles told us that week (after the loss to Grand Valley State), and they’ve continued to do that. So now with two games left, if you can win ’em both, you’re in the playoffs.”
The Pensacola Ice Flyers have two games:
Full Show: Rick talks with Sena Maddison, Eric Gilmore, Karen Travers, Will Kennedy, Clark Merritt, Don Gaetz, Greg Harris, Ray Palmer, and Jennifer Brahier.
Photo by Alphacolor on Unsplash
