Leonard Leo group gave $2 million to Florida GOP amid abortion battle

Florida in Five: Five stories to read from the past week in Florida politics.

Photo illustration credit: Nate Sweitzer for ProPublica

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Welcome to another installment of Florida in Five: Five* stories you need to read from the past week in Florida politics.

Three weeks before Election Day, an organization connected to conservative dark-money financier Leonard Leo gave $2 million to the Republican Party of Florida, records show.

The eleventh-hour gift from The Concord Fund — part of an opaque network of groups linked to Leo, the conservative legal scholar who helped orchestrate the overturn of Roe v. Wade — came as the state Republican Party was paying for ads attacking Amendment 4, the ballot initiative that would have overturned Florida’s near-total abortion ban.

Because the $2 million was routed through the state GOP, there’s no way to say for sure that the donation was specifically for the campaign to keep abortion banned in Florida. The Republican Party was simultaneously funding ads opposing another measure on the ballot: Amendment 3, which would have legalized marijuana in Florida.

But the donation came around the same time that Leo’s Concord Fund put $1 million in last-minute money into a campaign opposing a similar abortion-rights ballot measure in Missouri, according to the Missouri Independent.

And The Concord Fund, which was formerly known as the Judicial Crisis Network, also spent at least $18 million financing the opposition to a 2023 ballot initiative in Ohio to enshrine abortion protections into the state constitution.

Missouri’s ballot measure passed, winning 52 percent of the vote. So did Ohio’s, which won 57 percent of the vote.

But Florida’s abortion-rights initiative — which won more than 57 percent of the vote, more than Donald Trump — failed.

Why?

Because of a few big corporations like Publix, Florida Crystals and Blue Cross, which spent millions of dollars on another ballot measure years ago that required all future amendments to the Florida constitution to receive at least 60 percent support.

That Big Business-backed ballot measure passed even though it failed to get 60 percent of the vote itself.

*To paraphrase Barbossa, five is more what you’d call a guideline than an actual rule.

None of this should be normal

Orange County SOE creates scholarship with tax dollars, naming it after himself (WFTV)

See also: Florida agency stalled revelation on Rep. Amesty’s family school until after election (Orlando Sentinel)

See also: Another Florida college taps a former state lawmaker to be its next president (The Tributary)

Fallout from state parks fiasco

Head of Florida environmental agency to step down (Tampa Bay Times)

Florida heads north

Trump could be looking very close to home to fill his next administration (Politico)

See also: Trump’s new chief of staff is an unassuming figure in his brash inner circle. She’s also one of its most effective operators. (CNN)

See also: Florida Republicans are thrilled about Susie Wiles — with one big exception (Politico)

See also: Lobbying firm promotes Katie Wiles as her mother becomes Trump's chief of staff (Florida Times-Union)

Abortion aftermath

What’s next for abortion access in Florida (South Florida Sun-Sentinel)

See also: Most voters supported marijuana, abortion. Will Florida lawmakers make any changes? (Miami Herald)

See also: Florida abortion funds have faced a surge in requests for help since May, but their job is about to get even harder (Orlando Weekly)

See also: Can Direct Democracy Save Abortion Rights? (New Yorker)

Local election roundup

Florida may be red. But on schools, voters put partisanship aside (Tampa Bay Times)

See also: Miami-Dade’s Democratic mayor saw all her candidates lose to Republicans. What’s next? (Miami Herald)

See also: In a night of conservative wins, Orange County elects progressive women (VoxPopuli)

See also: Could Rays stadium plans fall through after Pinellas County Commission shakeup? (Tampa Bay Times)

See also: Democrats regained county commission majority. Will that come into play? (Palm Beach Post)

See also: In wake of GRU referendum, authority to continue 'good work' unless judge rules otherwise(Gainesville Sun)

Perspectives

Florida women, it’s time to get our IUDs (Tampa Bay Times)

DeSantis breaks the rules to kill two amendments (South Florida Sun-Sentinel)

Congratulations America, with Trump's victory, you're all Floridians now (Florida Times-Union)