Higher mortgage rates weighed on the housing market during the third quarter of 2026, according to the latest data released Friday.

The Q3 report by Florida Realtors showed sales for existing single-family homes inching up 0.2% and condo-townhouse sales rising 3.1% year-over-year. It also painted a picture of tighter housing inventory compared to a year ago.

“The fluctuation in rates over the last two years has not been significant by historical standards but given that the home sales growth we experienced over the past 12 to 14 months was rather modest, the rise in interest rates that’s occurred so far this year has been enough to put a halt to this growth,” said Florida Realtors chief economist Brad O’Connor. “So, we now find ourselves with a second straight month of declining year-over-year sales. It’s not a major shift in the sales trend by any stretch, but whenever you go from positive to negative growth, there is a potential psychological impact.”

The median price in Florida for a single-family existing home during the month of September was $415,000 – a 1.2% increase from a year ago. The median price for condo-townhouse units was $293,500, down 1.8%.

While high mortgage rates dampened sales specifically in the single-family market, O’Connor said inventory and prices remain “relatively stable” and that the higher end of the market continues to perform “quite well.”

“It’s important to consider that the overall trend for home sales is not overwhelmingly different from what it was earlier this year. Still, the gap between where mortgage rates are right now and where they were a year ago is not doing the housing market any favors,” O’Connor said.

Closed sales of existing single-family homes were down by 3.5% last month and condo-townhouse sales were down 0.1%. September saw a total of 20,537 closed sales of existing single-family homes and 7,179 closed sales of condo-townhouses.

“Florida’s housing market continues to move at a more measured pace, with encouraging signs of stability heading into the final months of the year,” said Florida Realtors President Chuck Bonfiglio.

Throughout the third quarter of the year, Florida saw 65,904 single-family home sales, up by 0.2% and 22,664 condo-townhouse sales, up by 3.1% year-over-year, the report found.

A positive note for sellers is homes moved through the market faster in Q3 than they did a year ago.

“As we head into the final quarter of 2026, the story remains one of a housing market that has lost some momentum, but certainly hasn’t fallen apart,” O’Connor said.

With the state set to update its unemployment numbers on Friday, a federal estimate of first-time jobless claims from Floridians was up last week compared to prior weeks.

The U.S. Department of Labor on Thursday estimated 5,793 initial unemployment applications were filed in Florida last week, up from a revised count of 5,312 the week ending Oct. 3. The total for last week is also the most for a single week in the state since 5,797 were filed the week ending Aug. 8.

Nationally, the department estimated 199,000 claims were filed last week, up 1,000 from the revised count for the prior week.

The national unemployment rate was 4.2 percent for September.

As of August, Florida’s unemployment rate was 4.5 percent, with 502,000 unemployed from a workforce of 11.1 million.

Florida’s law banning minors under 14 from getting their own social media accounts is likely constitutional, a federal appeals court ruled Wednesday, throwing out a lower court’s preliminary injunction against the law.

The 11^th Circuit Court of Appeals had previously stayed the lower court’s ruling blocking the law, pending the appeal by the state of Florida. In its ruling, the appellate court held the law to be within constitutional bounds.

“Yes, (the law) implicates the First Amendment and thus triggers constitutional scrutiny,” the opinion of the unanimous three-judge panel states. “But it likely does so in a content-neutral manner, and it likely survives intermediate scrutiny because it doesn’t burden substantially more speech than necessary to advance the important interest in protecting minors from social-media addiction.”

In response, Paul Taske, director of the litigation center for NetChoice, a trade group of technology and social media companies that challenged the law, said the group is considering their next steps. The group also warned social media sites could be forced to verify the ages and the parental status of all users as a result of the ruling.

“We are disappointed in the Eleventh Circuit’s ruling, which allows Florida to enforce its law imposing digital ID requirements as a condition for accessing lawful speech,” Taske said in a released statement. “We are currently evaluating all of our options as we continue the fight to ensure Floridians’ rights to free expression online are protected, and parents remain in the driver’s seat when it comes to making decisions for their families.”

The law (HB 3) was passed by the Legislature and signed into law by Gov. Ron DeSantis in 2024. Then-House Speaker Paul Renner, R-Palm Coast, championed the measure, which garnered large bipartisan support in the final votes – 30-5 in the Senate and 109-4 in the House.

In addition to banning minors under 14 from creating their own personal social media accounts, it requires 15- and 16-year-olds to get parental permission to get their own accounts.

Moreover, the law targets social media platforms with “addictive features.” That means only platforms with “unlimited scrolling” and the use of algorithms to keep content likely to attract users’ attention on their screens.

Those parameters were important, the court noted, in helping the law stay within the bounds of the Constitution without broadly violating First Amendment rights.

The law “doesn’t ‘burden substantially more speech than necessary’ because it calibrates its restrictions by age, regulates minors’ creation of social-media accounts, not necessarily their access to the platforms themselves, covers only those platforms that have been determined to induce heavy use by children, and applies only to platforms that use both algorithms and one of several addictive features,” the ruling states.

More than a half million ballots in Florida have been cast for the November 3 General Election.

The Division of Elections Tuesday morning reported just over 226,000 vote-by-mail ballots submitted by registered Democrats and nearly 190,000 from registered Republicans.

Florida voters registered without any political affiliation accounted for nearly 98,000 returned ballots as of Tuesday morning, with more than 13,000 cast by individuals registered to what are considered minor parties.

Another 1.77 million requested vote-by-mail ballots have also been sent out from county supervisors of elections. Of that total, nearly 760,000 were sent to Democrats and 600,000 to registered Republicans.

Republicans typically make up the difference with in-person early voting, which is mandated from Oct. 24 to Oct. 31. Some counties will open early voting cites prior to and after those dates.

In prior midterm elections, 7.8 million Floridians voted in 2022 and 8.3 million in 2018.

Undecided Black voters, David Jolly says, may decide who becomes Florida’s next governor. 

Appearing in Tallahassee Monday, Jolly and running mate Gwen Graham were flanked by U.S. Rep. James Clyburn, a South Carolina Democrat, and former Democratic U.S. Rep. Al Lawson of Tallahassee, both prominent Black political figures. 

About 10% of Black voters are undecided, Jolly said, with about 80% of siding with him. An NBC 6 poll shows Jolly with 76% of Black voters’ support and U.S. Rep. Byron Donalds, a Black Republican, with 10%.

“I think there are two final fronts in this race,” Jolly said, one being “the disaffected Republican.” 

Donalds is “trying to scare a lot of Republicans to come back home,” Jolly continued. 

“But I would say the most important front that this entire race could come down to is the 10% of undecided Black voters in Florida right now. We are around just north of 80 [percent], which historically three weeks out is about where we should be as a Democrat. Byron’s at about 9 or 10 [percent]. And the final front and the voters that might decide this race are the currently undecided Black voters in the state of Florida.”

If elected governor, Donalds would be the first Black governor in Florida’s history. Yet, per polls, Black voters seem to be siding with the Democratic candidate, who is white. 

“Someone said to me, ‘Are you concerned, Jolly as a Democrat, you’re only getting about 80-81% of the Black voters,’ and I said, ‘Not as concerned as Byron should be that he’s only getting 9% of his own community. But that last 10% is where I think this race could get decided,” Jolly said. 

Jolly on Monday met with the Florida State University Black Student Union and Divine Nine sorority and fraternity chapter leaders at FSU and Florida A&M University.

Angie Nixon, a Black Florida House member from Jacksonville, as the Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate “helps a lot,” Jolly said.

Monday evening, Jolly will appear at FAMU for a town hall. Donalds participated in a town hall on FAMU’s campus last month.

“One of the comments I have made and I’ve continued to make, look, there will be voters who decide to reach for history in this race. Some will reach for history because they want to elect the first Black governor. I don’t argue with that; if that is what is informing a voter, it’s not my place to argue with them,” Jolly said.

“I don’t squabble with the reach for history. That’s not my place to do. I do squabble with the agenda and the platform, and I think Byron has a hard time justifying his candidacy to a lot of communities, including the Black community.”

He pointed to those advising his campaign. Rev. Dr. R.B. Holmes, a Black minister in Tallahassee is chair of a coalition of pastors from historically Black congregations supporting Jolly, and various Black state legislators are part of his leadership team.

The former representative Lawson — who lost his seat when Florida’s Republican governor and Legislature dismantled his minority-opportunity district — insisted Jolly would make Florida history, too. 

“A vote for Jolly is a vote to change the course of Florida,” Lawson said.

 Gov. Ron DeSantis on Thursday called a state appellate court’s decision to expunge the Hope Florida grand jury report “death by firing squad” and demanded those responsible for leak of the report be held accountable.

DeSantis praised the 19-page ruling by the 1st District Court of Appeal, which asserted a $10 million settlement arrangement from Medicaid provider Centene to the Hope Florida Foundation was legal. The ruling was also critical of the leak of the grand jury report to the press.

“It was more of a political exercise. I think the intent was always to leak something,” he said, blaming members of the Legislature for creating the “phony narrative.”

“The leaking of the grand jury report was a crime that did irreparable harm to innocent people,” DeSantis posted on X. “This was adult supervision by the Court — and yet another example of politically-contrived narratives falling apart under proper scrutiny.”

The governor would not answer whether he would suspend State Attorney Jack Campbell, who oversaw the grand jury proceedings in Tallahassee, but did say he wanted to find out who was responsible for the leak and have charges brought against them.

He said an investigation was ongoing.

The grand jury report found the money was misappropriated because state law bars executive agencies from entering into settlements that pay out third parties. The 2024 settlement agreement, which resolved alleged overpayments by Centene in multiple states, sent $57 million to state coffers and $10 million to the Hope Florida Foundation.

The Hope Florida Foundation is a nonprofit, part of an initiative started by First Lady Casey DeSantis to connect those on welfare with private sector charities. The foundation funneled the money to two other nonprofits, which in turn gave the money to a political committee headed by James Uthmeier, who at the time was DeSantis’ chief of staff.

The committee opposed measures on the 2024 ballot to legalize recreational marijuana and install a right to an abortion in the state constitution. DeSantis vehemently opposed both measures, and each fell short of the 60 percent needed to pass. DeSantis later appointed Uthmeier as attorney general.

But the appellate ruling states that because no “civil action” had been filed in court, the law doesn’t apply to the settlement. And because the $10 million was paid directly to Hope Florida and not the state, the money wasn’t “diverted” as the grand jury report indicated.

The ruling also criticized Campbell for the leak of the grand jury report to the press. Under state law, grand jury reports that don’t lead to indictments are supposed to be sealed until those named in the report are given a copy and the opportunity to suppress and expunge the record.

The ruling was written by Judge Lance Neff, who was appointed to the court by DeSantis in March, two months after the grand jury report was finalized.

Supporters of the governor and Uthmeier declared “victory” over the “hoax” after the ruling was released Wednesday afternoon.

But Democrats said the findings of the appeals court didn’t deny that the settlement money was used for political purposes.

“The court opinion doesn’t change the fact that millions of taxpayer dollars wound up in coffers controlled by Uthmeier and, ultimately, the Republican Party of Florida,” said House Democratic Leader Fentrice Driskell, D-Tampa. “The Governor still believes the only crime committed was that the report was released and the people found out what they were up to. Floridians deserve better.”

Florida Democratic Party Chair Nikki Fried said questions remain about the $10 million to Hope Florida.

“This is what unchecked power looks like after decades of one-party rule in Tallahassee: the people in charge protect their own, bury the evidence and call it vindication,” she said in a statement. “Voters will have the final say this November.”

Florida emergency management officials are bracing for life-threatening storm surge and damaging winds across the Panhandle from Hurricane Isaias.

Utility companies and the state are staging across the region for Isaias, the first hurricane of the season, which is expected to strengthen and become a major hurricane when it approaches the northern Gulf Coast on Friday.

Having already declared a state of emergency for 25 counties across the Panhandle and Big Bend, Gov. Ron DeSantis said preparations are underway for a Category 3 landfall, which on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale has sustained winds of 111 mph to 129 mph.

“The way this is tracking, we’re looking at impacts in terms of the eye of the storm,” DeSantis said at the state Emergency Operations Center on Thursday.

Storm surge is expected across the state’s Gulf coast, with an increased risk of tornadoes to the east side of the system.

DeSantis and Emergency Management Director Jared Perdue said they are overpreparing.

“I hope it weakens,” DeSantis said. “But our assumption is that it’s going to hit strong, as probably a lower-end Category 3.”

Tolls have been lifted on the Garcon Point Bridge in Santa Rosa County, the Mid-Bay Bridge in Okaloosa County and Spence Parkway in Destin.

Counties across the western Panhandle were opening shelters, announcing school closures for Friday, and canceling weekend activities, while Okaloosa County issued a mandatory evacuation on Thursday for residents on Okaloosa Island and coastal portions of Fort Walton Beach, Destin, Mary Esther and Niceville.

The state has activated 175 members of the Florida State Guard and around 5,000 members of the Florida National Guard, including former state Sen. Bryan Avila, the Republican candidate for lieutenant governor. About 6,000 utility workers are also being stationed in the region.

Florida Power & Light President and CEO Scott Bores said the company is coordinating with local officials, securing restoration personnel from other utilities and electrical contracting companies, and positioning its own crews and resources to quickly restore power for customers.

“We’re prepared and ready to respond,” Bores said in a statement. “We urge our customers to prepare, too. Please take this time to review your emergency plans, closely monitor the storm and follow guidance from local and state officials.”

A storm surge warning is in effect from the mouth of the Mississippi River to Suwannee River, with hurricane force-winds expected over portions of the Florida Panhandle from the Bay and Gulf County line west.

As of Thursday afternoon, Isaias was carrying 80 mph maximum sustained winds while located about 350 miles from the Louisiana coast. The system was moving to the east-northeast at 10 mph.

“The east side of the storm is the dirty side of the storm,” DeSantis said in Miami on Thursday. “So, if it hits Mobile Bay, you know, we’re going to get a lot of storm surge in Pensacola, Santa Rosa, probably like even Okaloosa, maybe bring some storm surge in Panama City.”

The state hasn’t been directly hit by a named storm since Hurricane Milton landed at Siesta Key on Oct. 9, 2024 as a Category 3 system after it had rapidly intensified up to a Category 5 hurricane with sustained winds of 180 mph.

The meteorological company AccuWeather noted that Isaias is now the latest first-forming hurricane in the Atlantic Basin among seasons that produced at least one hurricane. Isaias reached hurricane strength about 3.5 hours earlier than the prior record that had been in place since 1905.

“We’ve gone from a historic stretch without a hurricane to a potentially destructive storm threatening the Gulf Coast in a matter of days,” said AccuWeather expert meteorologist Dan Pydynowski. “El Niño has helped suppress hurricane activity across the Atlantic this season, but it hasn’t eliminated the threat. Even in an unusually quiet season, it only takes one hurricane to have devastating consequences for communities in its path.”

A state appellate court on Wednesday ordered a grand jury report alleging $10 million from a Medicaid settlement was “misappropriated” to be expunged.

The grand jury report, though, has already been leaked and extensively reported on in the press.

The 19-page ruling from the 1^st District Court of Appeal was critical of the report and of its leak to the press. Under state law, grand jury reports that don’t lead to indictments are supposed to be sealed until those named in the report are given a copy and the opportunity to suppress and expunge the record.

Despite the finding that the funds from the settlement, which were funneled to a political committee that opposed measures on the 2024 ballot, were misappropriated, the report didn’t indict anyone, citing insufficient evidence.

But the ruling Wednesday asserted the settlement arrangement, in which Medicaid provider Centene gave $57 million to the state and $10 million to the Hope Florida Foundation, was legal. The settlement resolved alleged overpayments made to Centene. The Hope Florida Foundation gave the $10 million to two nonprofit groups, which in turn donated the money to a political committee headed by James Uthmeier.

At the time, Uthmeier was Gov. Ron DeSantis’ chief of staff and has since been appointed attorney general. The political committee opposed measures that would have legalized recreational marijuana and installed a right to an abortion in the state constitution. Both measures failed to get the 60 percent needed to pass that year.

The grand jury report found the money was misappropriated because state law bars executive agencies from entering into settlements that pay out third parties. But the appellate ruling states that because no “civil action” had been filed in court, the law doesn’t apply to the settlement. And because the $10 million was paid directly to Hope Florida and not the state, the money wasn’t “diverted” as the grand jury report indicated.

“This matter settled before any civil action was filed. Because no ‘civil action’ had been commenced in court … no ‘court settlement’ had been reached,” the ruling states.

The ruling also criticizes State Attorney Jack Campbell, who oversaw the grand jury proceedings, for distributing the final report to unauthorized people in January.

“The State Attorney’s error was not a failure to notify those individuals,” the ruling states. “It was an over-broad handling of a confidential document that breached the statute’s confidentiality requirement before the impugned individuals could be heard. The violation lies in the disclosure itself.”

The ruling was written by Judge Lance Neff, who was appointed to the court by DeSantis in March, two months after the grand jury report was finalized.

State law also requires executive agencies to notify the Legislature when settlement negotiations begin, but lawmakers weren’t told of the Centene settlement and the Hope Florida provision until it was reported in the press.

The ruling doesn’t mention Uthmeier’s role in the settlement or in how the money was eventually used. But aides for DeSantis and Uthmeier declared “victory” over the “hoax.”

“COMPLETE AND TOTAL VICTORY! The Hope Florida Hoax grand jury presentment was completely expunged by Florida’s 1st DCA,” Jeremy Redfern, Uthmeier’s deputy chief of staff, posted on X.

The state House investigated the settlement in 2025, with a panel chaired by Rep. Alex Andrade uncovering the lax processes at the Hope Florida Foundation, which approved sending the money to the nonprofit groups. It was Andrade’s probe that led to the Leon County grand jury investigation.

Andrade declined to comment on the appellate ruling.

U.S. Rep. Byron Donalds’ gubernatorial campaign is hitting the airwaves with a spate of new ads amid a tightening race, as he seeks to maintain the GOP’s hold over Florida.

The Naples Republican is facing a fierce test from Democrat David Jolly, a former congressman who is hoping to make inroads with Republican voters over frustrations with inflation and the war in Iran.

Donalds’ campaign released two ads Tuesday that highlight his endorsements from Gov. Ron DeSantis and President Donald Trump. They come on the heels of another ad released Monday featuring his wife, Erika, touting her husband’s record.

One ad, “Fighter,” shows Trump praising Donalds and the other, “Never,” attacks Jolly on affordability issues. The 30-second spot highlights Donalds’ vote for the One Big Beautiful Bill Act that temporarily cut taxes on overtime, tips and Social Security, and asserts Jolly would raise taxes and insurance costs.

“Byron Donalds will continue Governor DeSantis’ leadership and work to cut taxes, lower insurance bills, and make Florida more affordable,” Donalds’ chief campaign strategist Ryan Smith said in a released statement. “Byron Donalds is proud to have the endorsement of President Trump and Governor DeSantis, and he will fight side by side with them to keep the Left’s radical and costly agenda out of Florida.”

The spree of ads – and the money needed to air them in a state with several expensive media markets such as Florida – show the huge advantage Donalds has over Jolly in campaign resources.

As of Sept. 25, Donalds had raised $134.4 million and spent $91.7 million in his campaign account and political committee combined. Jolly, meanwhile, has raised $16.7 million and spent $11.2 million.

Despite the wide gap in resources, some recent polls have showed a tightening race. A survey from Change Research last month showed Jolly ahead, and one from St. Pete Polls showed an essential tie. But Stetson University released a poll two weeks ago showing Donalds with a 51-39 lead on Jolly.

In 2022, DeSantis won reelection by 20 points over former U.S. Rep. Charlie Crist, a massive victory after his initial 2018 win over Andrew Gillum was so close it required a recount.

Jolly has tried to combat Donalds by coming out with his own ad calling him a “liar,” and refuting the claims he would raise taxes, support socialism or oil drilling off Florida’s coast. Donalds’ campaign has previously highlighted Jolly’s work as a lobbyist backing oil drilling plans in the wake of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in 2010, but Jolly has noted as a U.S. House member he supported bills to ban offshore drilling.

“I don’t support a hurricane tax, taxes on your Social Security, oil drilling or socialism,” Jolly said in the ad released last week. “Byron Donalds lies for the special interests that control him. I’ll fight for you.”

But Donalds kept up the attacks Tuesday, calling Jolly a “fraud” during a press conference to announce the endorsement of the Everglades Trust, and called him out for not debating him.

“He doesn’t have the courage of his convictions to stand on a podium next to me and explain his positions and his views to the people of Florida,” Donalds said.

Gov. Ron DeSantis said the state is monitoring a growing disturbance off Mexico’s eastern coastline that has a 70 percent chance of forming into a named system within a week and bringing large rains to Florida.

“There’s something in the Gulf, but they think the (wind) sheer is going to get it, right?” DeSantis said during an event on infrastructure improvements in Indian River County on Monday.

“We’re monitoring all that. But I think it would be great for state to have two years in a row with no impacts from tropical weather,” DeSantis added.

Early Monday afternoon, the National Hurricane Center was monitoring a trough of low pressure producing disorganized showers and thunderstorms in the Gulf that had a low chance of forming over the next two days but a 70 percent chance of becoming a named system over the next seven days.

“Although environmental conditions appear to be marginally conducive, gradual development is becoming more likely, and a tropical depression is likely to form during the middle or latter portion of the week,” an advisory from the center stated. “This system is expected to drift eastward over the next few days, before it turns northward.”

If the system reaches sustained winds of 39 mph, moving from a tropical depression to a tropical storm, it would be named Isaias.

First-time jobless claims in Florida dipped last week.

The U.S. Department of Labor on Thursday estimated 4,955 initial unemployment applications were filed in Florida last week, down from a revised count of 5,284 the week ending Sept. 19.

The state has reported fewer than 6,000 claims weekly since the end of August.

Nationally, Labor estimated 197,000 claims were filed last week, a decrease of 1,000 from the revised count for the prior week.

Florida’s unemployment rate stands at 4.5 percent, representing 502,000 unemployed Floridians in mid-August from a workforce of 11.1 million.

The national unemployment rate stands at 4.1 percent.

Rep. Gallop Franklin, D-Tallahassee, is in line to become House Democratic Leader for the 2028-2030 legislative term.

Until then, he wants the Democratic Party’s platform to focus on one important issue: the economy.

“We’ve always had a messaging challenge promoting and talking about our economic wins,” he said.  

Franklin spoke to the News Service of Florida about the upcoming midterm elections, his view on the importance of live debates and the role pharmacies play in public health.

Q: What are the major challenges the Democratic Party faces in these midterm elections?

FRANKLIN: I would say our messaging is always a challenge. If you look historically at how well the economy does when Democrats are governing, on average, the economy’s doing better.

So you look at Bill Clinton compared to his predecessor, George H. W. Bush. You look at Bill Clinton in comparison to the person who came after him, George W. Bush. Look at President Barack Obama, who came after George W. Bush. You even look at how well the economy was doing under President Joe Biden. And now you look at how it’s going under President Donald Trump. What polling used to tell us, even during the 2024 election cycle, was for some reason, people would equate a working economy under Republican leadership and governance. What that tells me is that we’ve always had a messaging challenge promoting and talking about our economic wins. 

Q: What issues do you see pulling people from the middle to the left? And why?

FRANKLIN: If you look at polling, they’re starting to now say they believe that Democrats are better with the economy than Republicans. As Republicans have been governing, we’ve been hit with inflation and lost wages. You see now, typically you’re watching Republican candidates really harping on culture war type of issues. If you notice most of the Democratic candidates are starting to message what we always should have been messaging, which is, we’re better at this economy thing than they are. I think, based on what we’ve done historically, that’s what’s bringing people to the left. What’s unfortunate is that the economy has to always get this bad for everyday citizens to wake up and listen to our economy talk. In 2024, we could talk about the economy until we were blue in the face, and it seemed like the electorate was more focused on culture issues. But once the party currently in power kind of gets us to where we are and people are feeling the squeeze of the economy, those issues are allowing people to start moving toward the left.

Q: It looks like we won’t see live, in-person debates between candidates at the top of the ticket in Florida this year. What’s your opinion on that? 

FRANKLIN: My personal opinion is that it doesn’t take a debate to understand where someone is on the issues. You can go to a town hall, you can ask questions, you look at their website, you can see what they’re talking about and what they’re always focused on. You can also look at their record. So I never thought that a debate was really about getting to know where a person stands in full transparency. The reason why I think the electorate typically wants a debate is because you almost get to turn politics into a boxing match. You get to say cool zingers to get back at someone. And I’m not saying that people should not debate, I’ve always debated. I’ve never turned down a debate. I’m not saying that it doesn’t give people a sense of your personality. It gives people a sense of executive presence. I think all those things are important, right? People like seeing how you respond under pressure, how you think on your feet. People like being able to understand what it’s like when you’re negotiating in real time with another world leader. What will that look like? What a debate kind of does is brings those skill sets to the front of the television so that people can kind of see if you can be the leader of the free world or the great state of Florida. 

Q: What are the Democratic priorities for the 2027 session?

FRANKLIN: Rep. Christine Hunschofsky is going to be the minority leader starting in January 2027, and she’s going to be leading us through that charge. So I can’t speak for her, but what I can say is, from the outside looking in, and seeing how Christine has been conducting the campaign cycle and how she’s been recruiting, I will say her focus has been on the economy. Ensuring that we can fight down property insurance costs, making sure we can address inflation, investing in educational opportunities to try to grow our economy, right? It looks like, without a doubt, it has to do with growing the economy, slowing inflation, and making sure we can drive down costs. 

Q: You’re a pharmacist. The Florida Department of Health just recently is allowing pharmacists to administer the vaccine for chikungunya, as the state has seen a spike in cases. Could you comment on local pharmacies’ role in public health?

FRANKLIN: Pharmacists are somewhere in everyone’s neighborhood, and so we’re normally the fastest access to health care services. Also, pharmacists undergo tons of training and tons of school that makes them capable of being able to provide vaccines at any level. Oftentimes, you might ask the question, why can’t pharmacists give all vaccines? And that really comes down to we have state statutes that limit the ability of what pharmacists can do. But I can say there’s tons of states out there that allow pharmacists to do much more than what they currently do here in Florida. You see these expansions, like the COVID vaccine or other vaccines for different outbreaks. When there’s a public health concern, they know for sure that pharmacists have the capability to do these things safely. And because pharmacists are oftentimes more accessible, as in, it’s easier to walk into a pharmacist and get a shot, than to have to get an appointment and then show up.