Florida
Kamala Harris campaign suggests Florida is in play: What polls say
Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign is staying hopeful in its push to score an upset victory in Florida and capture the state’s 30 electoral votes in the November presidential election.
During a fundraiser in New York City on Wednesday, second gentleman Doug Emhoff told donors that Harris’ team is “going to see what we can do” in the Sunshine State, where Democrats lost to former President Donald Trump in 2016 and 2020.
“The map is wide-open, and we need the money to compete in seven and possibly eight states,” Emhoff said at the event in Brooklyn, per a report from ABC News correspondent Will McDuffie.
“I was just in Florida at the Villages and it was wild,” Emhoff added, referring to his campaign stop in Alachua County over the weekend. “It was way more people than we thought, and there was a lot of excitement, and we’re going to see what we can do down in Florida.”
Joe Raedle/Getty Images
Newsweek reached out to Harris’ campaign for further comment Wednesday night.
Florida has been regarded as a reliable state for Republicans in recent years under Governor Ron DeSantis’ administration. Democrats have won only five presidential elections in Florida since 1952—former President Barack Obama won the state in 2008 and 2012.
But with issues like abortion on the ballot this year in Florida, Democrats have kicked it up a notch. Democratic National Committee Chairman Jamie Harrison previously said that the party believes it “has a shot” at taking Florida and its 30 electoral votes, telling reporters this month, “I keep saying folks, they’re going to be surprised on election night about what happens in the state, that you can’t give up on Florida.”
According to polls, however, it is likely an uphill battle for Harris. Per FiveThirtyEight’s polling averages, Harris is down 3.6 percentage points to Trump (49.3 percent to 45.6 percent). President Joe Biden lost by 3.3 percentage points in Florida to Trump in 2020 despite winning the White House.
RealClearPolling gives the former president an even bigger lead, finding Trump up by 6 percentage points (49 percent to 43 percent). Pollster Nate Silver’s election forecast predicts that Trump has an 85.2 percent chance of winning Florida as of Wednesday.
There are signs that Republicans could slip, however. In a USA Today/Suffolk University/WSVN-TV survey conducted from August 7 to August 11, Trump was found to be ahead by just 5 percentage points (47 percent to 42 percent), his smallest lead in a month. Florida Republican Party Chairman Evan Power later called the poll “extremely alarming.”
“Fellow Conservative, it is our job to ensure Florida, Donald Trump’s home state, is LANDSLIDE for him in November,” Power wrote in a fundraising email in August.
Trump is also slipping among Florida women, a key voter bloc ahead of November that the former president has struggled to rally nationwide. In a Florida Atlantic University Political Communication and Public Opinion Research Lab poll last month, Harris held a 10-point lead over Trump among female voters in Florida.
In a statement to Newsweek this month, Rachel Reisner, the GOP’s director of regional communications, dismissed any concerns over Florida flipping blue in the fall, saying, “Florida is Trump country.”
“In November, Florida voters will send a clear and resounding message: President Donald J. Trump is the only leader with a proven track record of making our nation prosperous and affordable,” Reisner said. “The movement to Make America Great Again is alive and growing, and it starts here in Florida.”
Florida
Man convicted of 1991 fatal shooting of police officer is set to be executed in Florida
STARKE, Fla. (AP) — A man convicted of fatally shooting a police officer with his own service weapon during a traffic stop is set to be executed Tuesday evening in Florida.
Billy Leon Kearse, 53, is scheduled to receive a three-drug injection starting at 6 p.m. at Florida State Prison near Starke. Kearse was initially sentenced to death in 1991 after being convicted of first-degree murder and robbery with a firearm.
The Florida Supreme Court found that the trial court failed to give jurors certain information about aggravating circumstances and ordered a new sentencing. Kearse was resentenced to death in 1997.
This is Florida’s third execution scheduled for 2026, following a record 19 executions last year. Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis oversaw more executions in a single year in 2025 than any other Florida governor since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976. The highest number before then was eight executions in both 1984 and 2014, under former governors Bob Graham and Rick Scott, respectively.
According to court records, Fort Pierce Police Officer Danny Parrish pulled over Kearse for driving the wrong way on a one-way street in January 1991. When Kearse couldn’t produce a valid driver’s license, Parrish ordered Kearse out of his vehicle and attempted to handcuff him.
A struggle ensued, and Kearse grabbed Parrish’s firearm, prosecutors said. Kearse fired 14 times, striking the officer nine times in the body and four times in his body armor. A nearby taxi driver heard the shots and used Parrish’s radio to call for help.
Parrish was rushed to a nearby hospital, where he died from the gunshot wounds, officials said. Meanwhile, police used license plate information that Parrish had called in before approaching Kearse to identify the attacker’s vehicle and home address, where Kearse was arrested.
Last week, the Florida Supreme Court denied appeals filed by Kearse. His attorneys had argued that he was unconstitutionally deprived of a fair penalty phase and that his intellectual disability makes his execution unconstitutional.
Final appeals were pending Tuesday before the U.S. Supreme Court.
A total of 47 people were executed in the U.S. in 2025. Florida led the way with a flurry of death warrants signed by DeSantis, far outpacing Alabama, South Carolina and Texas which each held five executions.
Besides the two Florida executions this year, Texas and Oklahoma have each executed one person so far.
Two more Florida executions have already been scheduled for this month. Michael Lee King, 54, is scheduled to die on March 17, and the execution of James Aren Duckett, 68, is set for March 31.
All Florida executions are carried out via lethal injection using a sedative, a paralytic and a drug that stops the heart, according to the Department of Corrections.
Florida
Florida High School Boys Basketball 2026 Playoff Brackets, Schedule (FHSAA) – March 2, 2026
Gray Reid has spent most of his career in basketball and sports media. He began as a student manager for the Nevada men’s basketball team, then went on to coach overseas in China and later joined the LC State men’s basketball program as a graduate assistant. After coaching, Gray joined SBLive Sports as a videographer and video editor, eventually moving into his current role as Regional Marketing Director.
Florida
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