Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) is almost certain to be a presidential candidate.  In the U.S. Senate, Rick Scott (R-FL) has challenged Mitch McConnell (D-Ky) for the minority chair.   Former Gov. Jeb Bush (R-FL) undoubtedly will make his presence felt.  In short, Florida likely will the reddest state in the union by 2024.

The Democratic party is in total disarray.  De facto Jim Crow has never left the state north of South Florida, and the latter landscape is dotted with enclaves of fanatic anti-Communist communities established by refugees from Cuba, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Venezuela, and lack of unity between the black and Puerto Rican populations there.

Turning Florida blue would guarantee the return to democracy which has been jeopardized since the GOP deniers questioned the legitimacy after the 2020 election.  

The absence of a coherent statewide Democratic party has opened the door to new faces for present and future leadership.  By now, this audience certainly knows of the ascendancy of U.S. Rep,-elect Malcolm Frost, the Afro-Cuban who at 25 is the youngest member of Congress.  However, State Rep-elect. Gallop Franklin (D-FL), 34 years old, a clinical pharmacist, and an assistant professor in pharmacy practice at Florida A&M University  (FAMU) makes his first appearance here.  He won a landslide victory in the Tallahassee state capital area. 

Frost’s potential as a leader was recognized this week by the Andrew Goodman Foundation, which is named for one of the tgree martyrs who was killed by racists early in the Mississippi Freedom Summer of1964.  The Foundation supports college “ambassadors” on the ground primarily it seems on college campuses to organize grassroots groups on the now familiar issues of  racial and ethnic discrimination, abortion rights, gun control, fossil fuel divestment, student loan forgiveness.  The Foundation appears to be able to provide trainers and certainly a training program for volunteers in 2024.  Volunteers including the martyred Andrew Goodman, 20, of Queens, N.Y. were trained in non-violence tactics at Oberlin College, before going on location in and around Mississippi.

Also with regard to potential leaders, another black, Andrew Gillum, former Tallahassee mayor, is back in the news.  Gillum lost to Ron DeSantis (R-FL) four years ago, in a tight race.  Gillum was discredited during the campaign.  Now his lawyers have asked for a hearing in federal court in Tallahassee, based on new evidence that their client was targeted by the FBI during that election process.  

Gillum and his longtime advisor, Sharon Lettman-Hicks, were indicted in June 2022 on charges that they schemed to solicit and ultimately pocket donations to his 2018 campaign. Both were charged with one count of conspiracy and 19 counts of wire fraud, with Gillum facing an additional charge of lying to the government.  His lawyers argued that the FBI had similar evidence against white candidates but did not pursue those charges.  Donald J. Trump has boasted that he “fixed” DeSantis’ win in 2018.

So for a central location for the Florida Freedom Summer of 2024 both Orlando at the University of Central Florida (UCF) in the Orlando area, and FAMU are possibilities.  In 1964, by hindsight, a central location for strategizing might have been helpful in coordinating the Mississippi Freedom Summer.  Toogalo College in Jackson, MS, did offer some opportunity for central planning but leadership generally was spread out across the state.

Also to be considered as a central location is Gainesville, FL, the home of the University of Florida (UF), and its 55,000 plus students, and Santa Fe Community College (SFCC) with a few thousand more. The site is desirable precisely because of its current disarray in city and county governments, and the selection of a controversial president, U.S. Sen. Benjamin Sasse (R-Neb) to head UF starting in February 2023.  Dissatisfied students and black residents fearful of gentrification in their neighborhoods make the young population ripe for organizers seeking to register and enable voters, and to provide training and orientation about the failure of state and local governments and UF in Florida to respond politically to many of its people, despite the landslide victories for Republicans. 

Sasse already has prompted the displeasure of both the faculty and the students.  Each of their leadership organizations expressed no confidence in Sasse, and decried the selection process.  To this day, despite public record requests from the faculty union, and from me, UF has refused to release the names of any of the 700 candidates, especially the 11 others said to be finalists.

Local county and city governments here also are in turmoil for vastly different reasons.  Each has long ignored the student population in favor of so-called permanent home owning residents and small businesses owned by whites.  Both also have failed the concentrated black poor population.  Alachua County Commissioners now will be elected from single-member districts after a referendum passed on Nov. 8.  Progressives especially blacks argued against the change, though usually single-member districts are favored over at-large races.  The Democratic party fears losing total domination of future county elections, but it may be an opportunity for new leadership to emerge.

The city has a new mayor and three new commissioners on a seven member legislative body.  But two factors will make it very difficult for the Commission to get much done in 2023-24, though there will be no further local election until a primary in August 2024. 

Gainesville since 1927 supposedly is governed primarily by its charter officers who are in charge of administration of the City.  Theoretically they can only be removed for cause.   However since 2015, under Tea Party Republican Mayor Ed Braddy, the commissioners have eroded the power of the charter officers.  

Five of the six charter offices are or will be held by interim managers, because of resignations and terminations.  The city auditor has tendered her resignation; her predecessor was fired in 2019.  The last permanent city manager was fired; the Equal Opportunity (Equity and Inclusion)  director resigned; the director of utilities was fired.  The city attorney resigned to take a post in Levy County.  The sixth, the city clerk, also resigned, but later rescinded that action.  Two assistant manager posts and a chief of staff no longer exist.

A commissioner barred by term limits claimed that the turmoil arose because Gainesville has too many charter offices.  The city originally had only a manager and city attorney.  The other four posts were added subsequently, the last being the EO director. That office was created to assure at least one charter officer would be black.

However, in fact, for nine years under two Democratic mayors, change of commissioners was rare between 2004 when the EO operation went into effect, and 2015.  Under Braddy, the charter officers were undermined, especially after an unqualified visionary was made city manager.

Compounding all of the city’s problems was Pegeen’s Folly, the creation of a biomass plant, first under a 30-year lease agreement, and then by purchase from a first time developer.     The City had erred in anticipating that biomass materials would be the wave of the future, but instead lower natural gas prices have diminished interest in the product.  Further, biomass has not been shown to be an environmental asset.  No one was interested in purchasing biomass from Gainesville.  The result directly or indirectly has been maintenance of a utility service which has proven to be the most expensive in the state.     The city is dependent on the utility for revenue.  Lower utility rates and the city loses income.  The city supervises the utility company personnel and fired its director. 

The chaos has resulted in the utility operation being the second highest in rates in the State.  With Republicans and Sasse in power, the little hope that UF would contract with the City for provision of utilities has vanished.

Finally before November 8, three term-limited city commissioners joined a fourth to end the exclusionary zoning plan which had protected single-family home ownership from the incursion of multi-family units.   Commissioner Harvey Ward (D-FL), Gainesville mayor elect, opposed the removal of exclusionary zoning, but did not commit to restoring the home owner protection  if he were elected to the vacant position.

Gainesville’s state senator and one of two representatives are DeSantis white men.  Our U.S. representative is a Republican 2020 election denier.  The lone Democrat elected at either the state or federal level as a State Rep is in her 80s.

The Gannett-owned Gainesville Sun this month abandoned its editorial page entirely.  No columns are published.  So far in more than a week including a Sunday no letter to the editor has been published.  On some days, there is no local news whatsoever.   A media vacuum has been created.

However, there is the campus daily, the Independent UF Alligator, which has come into its own, this year.  In sum, any of three locations—Gainesville, Orlando, and Tallahassee—would be ripe for selection of a central location for Florida Freedom Summer of 2024.  If Gainesville were chosen, the leadership likely would have to come from outside, which would be my preference.

By Gabriel Hillel, for Florida Freedom Summer of 2024.

*These daily posts were started on 711 2022.  Today is the 118^th day since the beginning.  Somehow, I became confused among the dates and erroneously believed that we had completed more.  The numbering system was thrown off.  We should be on track now.