JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Florida is known for making headlines across the country, and 2025 was no exception.
According to the real-time and historical analytics tool used by News4JAX, our Florida news stories on News4JAX.com received 742,910 pageviews.
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While many interesting stories came out of Florida — including stories about very bizarre events — politics was one of the hottest topics this year.
Let’s go over the Florida headlines, specifically political stories, that gained the most traction on News4JAX.com and sparked mixed opinions across the board.
New laws, amendments
Florida saw hundreds of laws take effect this year, with the majority of new laws taking effect on July 1 and Oct. 1.
Some of the new laws that went into effect this year include “Trenton’s Law," which was named after Trenton Stewart, a St. Johns County teen who was struck and killed by an impaired driver in 2023. This new law increases penalties for repeat offenders convicted of DUI and BUI manslaughter, and vehicular and vessel homicide.
Another new law, dubbed “Trooper’s Law,” makes it a felony to abandon an animal while leaving it chained up during a natural disaster.
Other new laws include one that recognizes gold and silver as “proper legal tender,” and a new law targeting “super speeders.”
MORE: 25 Florida laws that went into effect on July 1 | 30 new Florida laws that took effect on Oct. 1 | All the new Florida laws taking effect New Year’s Day
Illegal immigration crackdown
Florida played a big role in helping the federal government with its crackdown on illegal immigration.
Gov. Ron DeSantis has always been vocal about his stance on illegal immigration, but this year, he ramped up his efforts to end it.
Some of those efforts included the opening of new detention centers across the state, including the controversial facility in the Florida Everglades dubbed “Alligator Alcatraz” and another one in Baker County dubbed “Deportation Depot.”
Moreover, in early February, DeSantis signed a sweeping package of immigration laws aimed at carrying out President Donald Trump’s mass deportation agenda.
Open Carry ban overturned
Open carry of a firearm is now legal in the state of Florida after a Florida appeals court earlier this year declared unconstitutional a state law banning the open carrying of firearms.
The court called the law incompatible with the Second Amendment right to bear arms.
The appeals court ruling led to some confusion early on because it was unclear if the state of Florida would appeal the ruling and ask the state Supreme Court to restore the ban.
Clay County Sheriff Michelle Cook was among the first sheriffs in our area to address the issue, saying shortly after the ruling that she had instructed her deputies not to enforce the state’s open carry ban.
Once the Florida Attorney General weighed in, it became clear that Florida is now an open carry state.
DOGE efforts
In February, DeSantis announced the creation of the Florida State Department of Governmental Efficiency (DOGE) task force, which has the goal to “further eliminate waste within state government, save taxpayers money, and ensure accountability in Florida.”
Fast forward to October, the governor and Chief Financial Officer Blaise Ingoglia highlighted some of the results of these DOGE audits. Jacksonville was one of the 12 jurisdictions that were audited and was heavily criticized by Ingoglia.
According to Ingoglia, the city has overtaxed its residents by more than $200 million over the past five years.
But Mayor Donna Deegan responded to the findings and emphasized the city’s fiscal responsibility, saying Ingoglia failed to show how he calculated the data.
High-profile cyberstalking case
A restraining order was approved in October against Central Florida Congressman Cory Mills, who was accused earlier this year of threatening his former girlfriend, Lindsey Langston.
Mills, who represents parts of Orange, Seminole, Volusia and Flagler counties, was accused of cyberstalking Langston, his ex-girlfriend and reigning Miss United States, as well as a Columbia County Republican state committeewoman.
Since their breakup, Langston claimed Mills has threatened to release nude images and videos of her, including recordings of them engaging in sexual acts.
The judge sided with Langston, issuing an injunction against Mills.
Record executions
Florida set a new record for executions in 2025, driving the nationwide execution rate to nearly double.
As of mid-December, Florida had executed 19 inmates this year. The previous modern-era record for a year was eight in 1984 and 2014.
Before this year, the most executions carried out since DeSantis took office were six in 2023.
Two of the 19 men executed in Florida this year committed their crimes in Northeast Florida.
Michael Bell was executed in July for the double murder of 18-year-old Tamecka Smith and 23-year-old Jimmy West outside the Moncrief Liquors and Lounge in Jacksonville.
In November, Richard Barry Randolph, 63, was executed for murder, armed robbery, sexual battery and grand theft in the 1988 slaying of Minnie Ruth McCollum, his former manager at a Palatka convenience store.
Property tax debate
Since the beginning of the year, DeSantis has expressed his desire to eliminate property taxes in Florida — a proposal that has drawn mixed reactions among elected officials, homeowners and mortgage experts.
DeSantis outlined the concept during an appearance on Fox & Friends, saying the plan would apply only to homesteaded properties. Families’ second homes, investment properties and vacation rentals would continue to be taxed.
One of the key concerns raised by critics is how counties would continue to fund core services — including law enforcement, fire departments and public schools — without property tax revenue, which is currently the largest source of income for local governments.
Several proposals moving through the House focus on reducing or eliminating non-school property taxes for homesteaded properties. Options range from full elimination to gradual phase-outs and targeted exemptions, with most intended for the 2026 ballot.
Push to eliminate school vaccine requirements
Florida officials are plowing ahead with a proposal to roll back certain vaccine mandates for the state’s schoolchildren, after DeSantis called for the state to become the first in the nation to eliminate all school vaccination requirements.
Pediatricians, infectious disease physicians and teachers have decried the push to undermine vaccines.
Experts have warned that doing away with the mandates could allow for a dangerous resurgence of preventable childhood diseases and deaths, amounting to a reversal of one of the greatest advancements in public health history.
But Florida Surgeon General Dr. Joseph Ladapo, who has long clashed with the medical establishment, has cast current requirements in schools and elsewhere as “immoral” intrusions on people’s rights that hamper parents’ ability to make health decisions for their children.
Hope Florida controversy
Hope Florida, an initiative spearheaded by Gov. DeSantis’ wife, Casey DeSantis, was under scrutiny this year over a $10 million donation. The donation, linked to a major Medicaid managed-care plan, raised questions about the program’s funding and transparency.
Hope Florida received a $10 million donation from Centene, the state’s largest Medicaid managed care operator, a contribution that was part of a $67 million out-of-court settlement concerning Centene’s pharmacy benefit manager.
The settlement, finalized in September 2024, required Centene to transfer the $10 million directly to the Hope Florida Foundation within seven days, with the obligation fulfilled upon deposit.
According to reports from Politico and the Tampa Bay Times, the Hope Florida Foundation later sent $5 million each to two organizations that waged an anti-marijuana campaign championed by the governor ahead of Amendment 3 voting.
The allegations sparked an investigation and mixed opinions across the state. Meanwhile, the governor has dismissed the investigation of Hope Florida as a “politically-motivated” smear against his wife.
In October, News Service of Florida reported that Leon County prosecutors had convened a grand jury to explore possible wrongdoing associated with Hope Florida, according to a report by the Tampa Bay Times/Miami Herald Tallahassee bureau.