The Florida Roundup - Legislators consider 6-week abortion ban; both parties have new leaders

Episode Date: March 10, 2023

Florida’s 2023 legislative session kicked off this week, and the first measures include bills to further restrict the state’s abortion ban from 15 weeks after pregnancy to 6. We also talked with the new Democratic and Republican party chairs.

Welcome to the Florida Roundup. I'm Danny Rivero in Miami. My co-host Melissa Ross is out this week, but she'll be back again next Friday. Florida's 2023 legislative session kicked off this week, and among some of the first measures filed include parallel bills that would further restrict the state's abortion ban from 15 weeks down to six weeks for the ban. The bills have been teed up for weeks, as many Republican lawmakers are seeking to capitalize on the anti-abortion momentum following the U.S. Supreme Court's overturning of Roe v. Wade last summer. Despite that ruling and the state's 15-week ban that went into effect last year, more people got abortions in Florida last year compared to the year before. And more patients from out of state are coming to Florida for abortions, as other states in the region have enacted near-total bans on the procedure. That's according to recent reporting from Stephanie Colombini, the health care reporter

for WUSF and for Health News Florida. And she joins us now to talk about this proposed legislation. Stephanie, thanks so much for coming on. And we also want to hear your thoughts on abortion access and reproductive care in Florida. You can give us a call to join us for the segment at 305-995-1800. Again, that's 305-995-1800. Again, that's 305-995-1800. And you can tweet us at the Florida Roundup. And just before we begin, WLRN News spoke with the executive director of the Florida Alliance of Planned Parenthood Affiliates, Laura Goodhue. We talked

to her this week about this proposed legislation. Let's take a listen. It's really going to be devastating. Abortion is a deeply private personal decision, and this puts politicians in the exam room. So, Stephanie, can you tell us more about these measures that are being proposed and how, if they're enacted, would they further restrict access to abortion for Floridians? Yeah, they would drastically restrict access for Floridians. We know from CDC data, the majority of abortions happen before 15 weeks, which is where the state's current limit is.

So going down to six weeks, that's going to affect significantly more people and effectively be a near total ban on abortions. Many people don't even know they're pregnant by six weeks. So this gives them almost no time to act. Florida also has a mandatory 24-hour waiting period. So if you're seeking an abortion, first you have to see a physician in person for an appointment to consult about that. Then you have to come back physician in person for an appointment to consult about that. Then you have to come back to actually get the procedure. There's no guarantee that, you know, they can get you in the next day. Clinics are busy. So this really would limit anybody's chance to get an abortion if they need one. And I mean, thinking about Florida in the region, right, like in what we call the South.

And I want our listeners to try to picture it in their heads right now, the map. And Georgia, just to the north of us, has six-week ban. Alabama, just to the west of us, has a six-week ban. Most of the South at this point is down to the six weeks. And Florida, even though it was restricted last year down to 15 weeks, has kind of been the exception in the South up to this point. I mean, how would this change regionally if Florida goes ahead and passes this? This would affect everybody in the southeast, because, yeah, there would be no place for people to go. I think North Carolina, it would be one of the only options left in this region. So that means people that have been

relying on Florida this past year who live in states like Georgia, like Alabama, with those stricter bans, who've at least been able to travel a few hours over the border to access safe abortions. Now everybody, including Floridians, are looking at getting on a plane probably or sitting in a car for nine, ten hours at least, paying for hotels, taking more time off work, getting child care. It becomes a much more significant operation in terms of the cost, in terms of the time it's going to take. If you're in a situation where you don't have a lot of family support for this, how do you explain, you know, if you were trying to do this privately, that you're going to disappear for a few days to get this procedure? It's going to make it very difficult for people

in this entire region to access care. And one thing I want to bring up, it's something that was reported in the South Florida Sun Sentinel that a lot of people probably don't think about. But one of the abortion providers in Broward County actually said a lot of their out-of-state abortion seekers actually come from the Bahamas because there's regular boats coming in from the Bahamas. And this could, I mean, in that sense, have an international impact. Yeah. But Stephanie, I did want to ask you about some of the numbers that you recently reported about the increase in abortions happening in Florida, despite the 15 week ban that's

now in effect. Can you tell us a little bit about that? Sure. So we saw last year in 2022, more than 82,000 people got abortions in Florida. That was up from just under 80,000 in 2021. And of those, 6,800 came from out of state. So we saw a close to 40 percent increase in out of state residents seeking abortions than the year before. And of course, you know, we just talked about all these states after Roe versus Wade was overturned, enacted stricter abortion bans, and people, you know, had to come to Florida because they had nowhere else to go close by. And what are the chances that if this does pass

through the legislature that the governor signs it? And I want to ask that because previously, the governor said he wasn't sure that the state would go down to six weeks or that it should go down to six weeks because there is a pending lawsuit on the 15 weeks ban that went into effect last year. Yeah, he's kind of taking a turn, right? And that the bills to do this six week ban are dependent on that lawsuit with the 15 week ban. So that is one thing I want to know. And we can discuss that more further. But in terms of the governor, you know, he was pretty quiet about abortion during his reelection campaign. There's a lot of talk that he might be, you know, considering a run for president.

We know that the majority of Americans and the majority of Floridians support access to abortion. They're not supportive of these restrictions that have come about since the Supreme Court overturned Roe versus Wade. So I guess there is a chance he could veto this if he's, you know, seeking to do what the general public wants. But he has said so far that that he does support this. He called the bill sensible pro-life legislation. He said weeks before these bills were even introduced that if some sort of abortion restriction were to end up on his desk, he would sign it. So I think we can expect that if these make it through the legislature with a super majority of Republicans, that seems there's a good chance that the governor will sign it.

I want to bring up a tweet we got from Terry via Twitter. Terry said, Republicans will pay deeply if they outlaw abortion to the extreme. Ignoring the people does not work in the long run. Women at all will rise up. And I do want to point out there was a public opinion poll released this week by the University of North Florida. And that shows that this kind of six week abortion ban proposal is extremely unpopular in Florida. 62% of Floridians strongly oppose that kind of ban, only 13% strongly support. The overall opposition goes up to 75 percent of people who strongly and somewhat oppose it. And that in 61 percent of Republicans

either strongly or somewhat oppose that that ban. So that's just speaking to the public opinion numbers that we have here. Yeah. Stephanie, who's sponsoring these bills that are that are going through the legislature right now? So both Republican lawmakers, we have House Representative Jenna Persons-Mulica from Fort Myers and Senator Aaron Grawl from Vero Beach. And what are they saying about why they're pushing it now instead of waiting for this lawsuit to play out as what was the previous position? I think they want to take action as soon as possible. I think the language is I think if the Supreme Court, the state Supreme Court does rule that the current 15 week ban isn't in violation of a privacy clause in the state constitution that previous courts have said did protect access to

abortion. If the Florida Supreme Court strikes that down and says this 15 week ban could be in place, I think it's a month later that a six week ban would then be triggered. So I think they want to take action as soon as possible to appease their base, who I guess does support this kind of legislation, even though, as you mentioned, even Republicans in the state oppose these kind of things. And just quickly, we don't have to get too much into it, but where is that lawsuit standing right now about the 15-week ban? Sure. So last month, the plaintiffs, which include Planned Parenthood, they filed an initial brief last month. Now the state, we're expecting to file its brief later this month. There's time for the plaintiffs to respond. So we're thinking at least late April before that kind of paperwork and everything has been filed.

So it could be, you know, May, probably after the legislative session wraps up, that the Florida Supreme Court has a ruling to give. And I want to go to the phones now. We have Mark calling from Jacksonville. Mark, thanks for calling. You're Mark calling from Jacksonville. Mark, thanks for calling. You're on the Florida Roundup. Hey, thanks for taking my call. So I just want to point out, you know, the only poll that actually matters in a democracy is the one on election day. So using your own numbers, those 62 percent that support abortion rights, where were they last November when Ron DeSantis was overwhelmingly reelected as our governor? So my question really is, like, why wasn't this particular topic, abortion, a motivating

factor for the left in the last election? Instead, we just wait till Rhonda Santos passes this bill and then just complain about it every day. Thanks for the call, Mark. I think that's a little bit above our pay grade to directly answer. Stephanie, you have anything to add there? You know, I know Democrats have been talking about, you know, their own failures in terms of communication, getting messaging right. I know, you know, pushing abortion issues was important. But at the end of the day, you know, pushing abortion issues was important. But at the end of the day, you know, who you vote for on Election Day, there's a lot of factors that come into play. I did some coverage on this ahead of the election and saw some polls suggest

that even though I think it was like, you know, well over half of Floridians were opposed to Roe versus Wade being overturned, abortion wasn't their top issue. So not everybody voted on their top issue. You know, inflation, the economy, education. There's a lot of things that play into people's decisions on Election Day. So you can't really, you know, you can be opposed to abortion restrictions, but have something else motivating who you turn to at the ballot box. Right. It's not always a one party issue thing. And I will just mention to our listeners, we are having the new head of the Florida Democratic Party, Nikki Friedan, in the next segment where we'll be talking about what happened in that last election.

I want to go to the phones again. We have Courtney calling from Jacksonville. Courtney, thanks for calling the Florida Roundup. You're on. Hi. Thanks for taking my call. I think as a woman in Florida, I'm so frustrated with Florida and the United States in general with our lack of understanding of women's menstruation. You know, we talk about six weeks, but those first two weeks, you haven't even ovulated yet. We're going off of your last

menstrual cycle. So, you know, you're talking to a woman who you're making this decision for her. She has four weeks to make that decision. She might not even know she's pregnant. You know, she might not be regular. She might have inconsistent periods and she might not know when she last ovulated. you're you're making these broad statements assuming that everybody has a four you know a four-week cycle that they are all having the same you know menstruation and that's just not accurate and it's so frustrating to see bill after bill proposed and men commenting on it who have no idea what they're talking about half the time and you know you talk about the a lot of other things with, you know, why people are getting it because they're lazy.

And it's like that's not the big issue. Like this is a decision to be made between a woman and her doctor. A lot of women probably didn't vote on the abortion issue because we thought we were safe with the way the Florida Constitution was phrased. So to like point the finger at us, like, where were you on Election Day is so irresponsible and just, you know, out of left field. Like, that's not the issue. The issue is whatever decision a woman makes needs to be with the doctor for whatever is right for her. Thank you so much for the for the call, Courtney. Thank you so much for the call, Courtney. Stephanie, kind of jumping off of what Courtney was talking about, about what a woman can know within the first six weeks of a pregnancy. I mean, can you walk us through a little bit about just would a woman know necessarily at six weeks that they are pregnant or not? Certainly not. She makes great points. A lot of women and transgender men and non-binary people who menstruate have irregular cycles.

So you might not get a period exactly every four weeks. So you might not realize that you're pregnant. Also, you know, if you're not showing, if you're not having morning sickness you might not get those signals um and you don't really know much this early on in the pregnancy at all a lot of the tests that are done to detect birth defects or genetic abnormalities things that could put the the life of the child you're expecting at risk or of the parent that that takes 10 weeks. Some are like even later, past 16 weeks. So you really don't know much at six weeks. And that's one of the concerns. And Stephanie, unlike the 15 week ban, the new proposal does have some exceptions for victims of rape or incest. But those exceptions would only be available to someone up to 15 weeks of pregnancy and only with documentation of the rape. Is it clear through what's been filed what kind of documentation would be needed to prove that to someone to have access to an abortion?

The lawmakers do make it pretty clear. You know, it could be a police report, a restraining order, a medical record. I think a court order was also named in the bill text. The problem is that that is not always easy to get. Many people who survive rape or incest feel like they can't report it. Their safety might be a huge concern, especially if they're trapped in an abusive relationship or it's apparent. They might not feel that they're safe enough to report something like that to the police. There could be economic factors in play. There could be trust issues, all sorts of things.

Also, if it happened and you wanted to just kind of forget about it, you might not even know. And then you realize you're pregnant a month or two later. How can you get that proof? So it's a lot more difficult when you're adding that caveat for people. They've already gone through a traumatic event. It might re-traumatize them to have to secure some of this proof. And so many people might not have it and will still end up having to travel out of state in order to get a safe legal abortion. And I do want to go to the phones again. We have Peggy calling from Gainesville.

Peggy, thank you for calling. You're on the Florida Roundup. Hi. Yeah, thanks. I'm trying to find out if anybody has any information about any kind of an organized protest where people are going to show up outside the Capitol and say enough is enough. I do not yet, but I'm sure they are forming and I will be keeping an eye on that. I know that abortion funds who help support people who need either financial assistance or transportation, child care, whatever help they need, they're fundraising like crazy right now. They are ramping up volunteers because their operations are going to be drastically impacted. It's one thing to help give somebody a ride to a clinic in Florida. It's another thing to help put them up in a hotel and fly them out of state for three days. So I know, you know, people are organizing, trying to respond and

prepare for this as quickly as possible. And I think we can definitely expect some rallies to be held in the near future. And Stephanie, under the new proposal, would funding travel for having a procedure done in another state? Would that kind of thing be impacted by this proposal? public funding for the actual procedure. But we saw here in St. Petersburg, in the Tampa Bay area, the city council was considering this year allocating some funds in their budget. I believe it was $50,000. Don't quote me on that, but they were thinking about allocating funds to help with the travel element. And this bill, if that passes, that would shut down any local governments, universities seeking to do that kind of care. They would not be able to help in that way. And, you know, just briefly, because we're coming up on time, but like, where is this in the legislature now? Is it going through committees?

It was just introduced this week. I'm sure that will be the next step. I have to check the schedule to see when it would be seen by the health committee. But it will be making its way in the coming weeks and we'll see what happens. Stephanie Columbini is the health care reporter for WSF and Health News Florida. Been talking about abortion and a proposal to bring Florida down to a six week state. Stephanie, thank you so much for coming on. We appreciate it. Thank you.

And next up on the Florida Roundup, we're going to talk to the new leaders of the Republican Party and the Democratic Party of Florida. Got a lot coming. Stay tuned. Terima kasih telah menonton Thank you. Welcome back to the Florida Roundup. I'm Danny Rivero in Miami. In Florida politics, there are two new party leaders in town. As we mentioned on the Roundup last week, Florida Republicans recently elected Sarasota County State Committeeman Christian Ziegler as state chair. Meanwhile, Democrats picked the state's former agriculture commissioner, Nikki Freed, to lead their party.

We hear from both of them now. First, WLRN's director of live programming, Katie Munoz, spoke with Nikki Freed earlier this week about how the Florida Democrats are looking to rebuild the party after recent losses. Let's listen to that conversation now. We know that the Democrats suffered in the midterm elections and that Governor DeSantis won his reelection by a wide margin. So where do you start to turn the Democratic Party around in Florida? The first thing we have to do is a self-evaluation and recognition that I don't say that Ron DeSantis won by 19 points. The Democrats lost by 19 points. There was a complete breakdown of communication, of organizing, of voter registration, of our candidates, of training. And so on day one of my administration, we're coming in and we're doing that self-evaluation and starting to kind of turn the tide

of a couple of things. Of one, we've lost the support and the trust of so many Floridians across the state, not just Democrats, but independents and those Republicans that believe that their party has left them, that we didn't create a home for them. And so we start looking at some

of those bridge building exercises, making sure that we are going back to the basics. That's everything from organizing on the ground to talking with and speaking with voters across our state, going and making sure that people know that we are going to be in the trenches every single day fighting for them. You mentioned it, but what are the steps you plan to take to address the discontentment among Democrats who have left the party in recent years to become NPA or even switching parties? You know, the first is communication, both internal and external communication. You know, things that I saw as our only statewide elected Democrat did not receive a lot of support from the party apparatus when I was the one on the ground doing

so much of the work against Governor DeSantis. And we're feeling that same way from electors all over the state. People don't know what we are doing. You know, certainly President Biden has done a tremendous amount to bring infrastructure dollars to the state of Florida, broadband to so many of our rural communities, and making sure that we are stepping up to the plate. And so the first part is the rebranding of our party. I making sure that we are stepping up to the plate. And so the first part is the rebranding of our party. I think that'll be a relief to a lot of Democrats to hear. You lost to Charlie Crist in the Democratic primary.

And so I'm wondering how you win over Democrats who supported Crist or back to your opponent, Annette Taddeo, in the competition for party leadership. I mean, that's actually a really easy one. Annette Taddeo in the competition for party leadership. I mean, that's actually a really easy one. My speech both before the election and after the election is unity, that we've got to come together, that how can we expect people across our state to want to support the Democrats when they see so much internal fighting amongst ourselves? That stops my administration. The arrows being pointed at one another stops. And so that's how we start regaining the trust, is making sure that people see it's okay to sometimes have internal battles.

But at the end of the day, we ought to come together and unify our party and to recognize that our party is large, that we've got a seat at the table for all the diverse voices of our state, from those that are more progressive leaning to moderates, to our NPAs, to again, those Republicans who fundamentally believe that their party hasn't left them and are truly no longer the small government party, which is true. And so it's going to be a combination of, you know, a unity building, making sure people know that we're going to continue to fight for them regardless of their party affiliation, and make sure that we're talking about the issues that are important to the people. So Republicans in past years have found a lot of success focusing on those nonpartisan races on school board elections. Is that a sign that the Democratic Party in Florida could be getting more involved at that local, hyperlocal level of race as well?

Yes, without a doubt. I have been saying this for years since I was elected in 2018 and was told on a consistent basis that don't worry about your race at the top of the ticket win, so do you. And we know that that is not what happened in 2018. I am a firm believer in supporting our local electeds, everything from the soil and water districts to the U.S. Senate races and everything in between. And that is absolutely where we're going to spend a significant amount of time is going back to the basics. If we can't hit a single, we certainly aren't going to hit it grand slam. Republicans have also made a lot of progress in areas recently that have been traditionally Democratic strongholds, like Miami-Dade County, for example. How do you win that back?

You know, we have not done a good enough job talking and listening, that we hear complaints on a consistent basis that people only show up right before an election and asking for their votes. That stops. That stopped day one that I was elected. It's year-round organizing. It's year-round communications, making sure that we're going to where the voters are, making sure that we are talking in our Spanish media outlets and in our Black media outlets and our Haitian media outlets and our Asian Pacific outlets. And so we can get their voters back once we go meet them to where they are. Make sure that we're talking about the issues that are important to them. And how are you

planning to recruit Democratic candidates to run for elections? Because that seems to have been a problem in recent elections. You know, having been statewide, I have a pretty good grasp of most of our communities across the state, leaning in on those leaders in those communities for ideas, suggestions. But I'll be making personal phone calls. I know what it's like to be on the ballot. I know the personal sacrifices, especially as a female, the personal sacrifices, the 24 hours a day and coming from social media, the attacks, the sacrifices that come with running for office and be able to really try to not only utilize my experiences, but also putting together a kind of a mentor program where we've got so many of our past elected officers across our state, including those that have run for office,

that become mentors for a lot of these new candidates to help on recruitment and help to retain them. Because unfortunately, if they don't feel that they are part of a greater cause, that they're part of a bigger party apparatus, they get disenfranchised. And if they get disenfranchised, they certainly have friends and family members and community members that they're going to go and complain to. It makes it much more difficult to recruit for the next election cycle. Republicans have noted that in the past you have backed Republicans, even campaigned for the likes of Manny Diaz. What do you say to those who doubt your commitment to the Democratic Party? You know, first of all, I have explained very clearly, this is what's wrong with politics of today, that we need to make sure that we are not drawing lines in the sand and not

talking to one another. I have personal relationships that I've known my entire life and people that I have supported in the years past. However, the party of today of the Republican Party is not the party that I grew up with. My father is a diehard Republican. The party that he always taught me was about small government, less taxes, free market, and true conservatism. The party that Christian Ziegler is chairing right now is not that party. And so those relationships are unfortunately severed. I think regardless if you're a Republican or a Democrat, the fundamental core of who we are as Americans is a belief in democracy. And the only way democracy works is when you have two strong parties. And that is

my commitment to build up a strong Democratic Party, because that's the only way that we are going to truly keep democracy here in the state of Florida. And thinking about the Florida legislature in session now, given the dynamics of power at the state level at the moment, when you think ahead to the next election, how do you plan to increase voter turnout? You know what? Voters turn out because they believe in the mission. They believe in their candidates.

They believe in what the Democrats will do for them if elected. And look, the Democratic Party hasn't had power for 30 years in our state. We've had in those 30 years, three statewide electeds, myself, Senator Nelson, and CFO Alex Sink. And so in 30 years, if there's a problem that's happening in your backyard, whether it is infrastructure, whether it's access to food, whether it is access to health care, that is not on the Democratic Party. But we've got to make sure that we show the people of our state what happens when Democrats lead, that we start working on these economic issues, that we lift people out of poverty, that we help getting a better health care system in our state

and making sure that this is a place where both seniors and young families can survive and thrive. We've got to give a reason for people to vote for us, and that is going to be my mission the next two years, to make sure that people understand who the Democratic Party is, what we stand for, and that we are the fighters for the people. That was my colleague, WLRN's Katie Munoz, speaking with Nikki Freed about her recent election to chair of the Florida Democrats. Next, we'll hear from the new leadership

of Florida Republicans. I spoke with Christian Ziegler earlier this morning about his leadership vision for the Florida GOP and what comes next. Christian, thanks so much for coming on. Yeah, no, I appreciate you having me on. Look forward to chatting with your listeners today. So you're taking leadership of the Republican Party at a moment of incredible success for the party. You have super majorities in both chambers of the legislature. Governor DeSantis just won reelection in a landslide victory. And Republicans have a big and growing advantage of registered voters compared to Democrats after Democrats led in that measure for years. So my question to you is, is this a high watermark for the party or can it go up even higher at this point?

Look, Florida, we can continue to improve and that's what we're going to focus on doing. We're going to continue to do our voter registration, which, as you mentioned, the Republicans have really dominated Democrats in. We're going to continue to do our get out the vote operation when Election Day comes a little bit closer. We're going to make sure our voters show up to the polls and vote. And it's important for us to do that because we need to continue to keep Florida free. And what I'll share with you is we're going to actually now expand our efforts, our successful efforts. And we're going to be focused at the local level. We're going to be going after school board races.

our successful efforts, and we're going to be focused at the local level. We're going to be going after school board races. We're going to be going after county and city commission races. When really the state party has not engaged in those as aggressively as we should have in the past, we are going to do that this cycle. So you're going to see us take our efforts, continue to do those, continue to be successful statewide, but now expand our efforts into the local races. And I think we're going to have a lot of success because of it. And you mentioned going after seats that up to now have been nonpartisan. There are proposals right now in the legislature to put political parties next to school board races or even a proposal now to eliminate nonpartisan races across the state. So, you know, a tiny town mayor who spends most of his time managing things like waste management and maintaining roads could now run as a Republican or Democrat.

Is that something you all see to your advantage, that Republicans will win if that happens? Because that's a big change. Well, look, that small town mayor isn't just doing roads and wastewater. What they're also doing is voting to try to shut down communities. We saw that during COVID, try to take away people's freedoms with curfews, try to impose mask mandates at the local level. So I would argue some of these local races, especially in the school board level, are some of the most partisan positions in the entire country. These are very telling positions that liberals are pushing. And I think when you have a partisan race, what you're doing is you are informing people where they stand ideologically.

I think this is actually a transparency issue. Nonpartisan races are a sham. People run in nonpartisan races to hide what their ideology is. And all we're saying is let's inform the voters more. Republicans undoubtedly won a strong mandate last November. But I want to talk about a couple ideas being prioritized in the legislative session that, according to public opinion polling, are not popular at all. And, you know, the things that I'm referring to specifically are the six week abortion ban that there's a bill for and constitutional carry.

I mean, public opinion polling shows these are strongly opposed by a lot of people. I mean, these do not have majority support. My question to you is, are Republicans risking overplaying their hand here? No. Look, public polling would not have shown Governor Ron DeSantis winning by 19.4% last year. I can't say that the polling is really accurate when you look at the state of Florida and where Floridians stand. When you talk about life and you talk about six weeks or 12 weeks or 20 weeks or whatever people throw out there, let's have an honest discussion about life. You want to talk about abortion and life, I'll talk about it. And the reality is, is there is two differences between the Republican Party and the Democrat Party. The Republican Party, we believe in protecting innocent life. That's

our position, period, end of story. The Democrats are very extreme on this issue, actually. When we start talking about abortion, it's not just about six weeks. These are, I've seen Democrats having, you know, insane celebrations about abortion, you know, instead of baby showers, abortion showers. You've seen people do, you know, abortion celebration cakes. These are this is a Democrat party that pushes for late term abortion, abortion until the moment of birth. And sometimes they've suggested after birth, which is insane. So they're extreme on this issue. I'm not sure anyone's suggested abortion after birth

that's contradictory and i think there was a governor of virginia mentioned that um and which is insane it's an insane position um and that's the past governor of virginia by the way so i think these are important issues that need to be discussed and debated and that's what we're going to see during session so some down the middle voters, self-described independents and obviously a lot of Democrats critique the Republican Party in Florida, which has held all the levers of power since 1998, of spending a lot of time and energy on so-called cultural war issues and for not doing things to improve the runaway cost of housing, getting more people access to health care, things like that. How do you combat the perception that does exist in some parts of the state? You know, not the reddest parts of the state, but if you're trying to win more support, how do you combat that perception that the party is not addressing the real issues facing Floridians? Well, I think that's a pretty rich accusation, considering the fact that we just won the state by 19.4 percent.

You know, you say in the reddest areas, actually, if you look across the entire state, that's the margin of victory. I believe the focus of our leaders here, our conservative leaders across the state, has been on point. And I think the Florida voters have actually gone to the polls to make that case known. Winning in Florida by 1% to 3%, 3% is a landslide victory. And again, we just won by 19.4%. So when you look at the state of Florida, it's very difficult for anyone in this state to say that Floridians disagree with the priorities and the execution being done in Tallahassee and the focus being put out and the vision being put out by our governor. We can have all these polls and all these debates and hypothetical discussions.

Really, the truest, most pure poll are Election Day results, and we just got that back. So I think our priorities are right in line. We need to continue to have bold, conservative, aggressive leadership. And that's what you're going to see in Florida. It absolutely was a landslide, Victor. I don't think anyone's questioning that. I do want to ask you a question. A lot of Governor DeSantis's time as governor can be characterized as centralizing a lot of power into the state government and away from individuals, city, county commissions, locally elected school boards. And some people might look at that, including some longtime conservatives, and ask, what happened to the party of small government? Can you explain the party's position on using the power of government to push its agenda on top of local governments, for example?

I would spin it and tell you basically this way and have you look at it this way is I think all of his time is how can we protect freedom in Florida? And sometimes you do have these local governments. I mean, I was a local county commissioner, one of our neighboring counties, put in a curfew. That's insane. If these individuals are out of line and they're pushing in a liberal agenda, I think it's good to have some accountability from the state. So the only time you're seeing the state act is when the local governments are running out of control and they're attacking freedom of Floridians. And, yes, I would say that the governor and our legislature have a vested interest in ensuring freedom is protected in the state of Florida. And it's hard, again,

to dispute the success of that. Christian Ziegler is the chair of the Republican Party of Florida. Christian, I want to thank you once again very much for coming on. We appreciate it. No, I appreciate it. Thank you for having me on. Coming up next on the Florida Roundup, we're going to be taking a 30,000 foot view of the state, 30,000 feet and rising. We'll be talking about a brand new experiment in space with 3D printers. Yes, that is 3D printers. We'll be back in a few minutes talking. Thank you. Thank you. Welcome back to the Florida Roundup. I'm Danny Rivero in Miami.

3D printing technologies could be the key to inexpensive space travel. That's why all eyes were on the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on Wednesday to watch a rocket made almost entirely of 3D printed parts take flight. entirely of 3D printed parts take flight. That launch was delayed but hope remains as plans are remain to try to get there in the next few weeks. We're joined by WMFE's resident space reporter Brandon Burn to tell us more about that launch and how 3D printed rockets are changing the industry. And we want to bring you into it. What do you know about 3D printed rockets? Share your questions or comments with us

by giving us a call at 305-995-1800. Again, that's 305-995-1800. Brendan, thanks for coming on. Thanks for having me, Danny. Good to be here. Of course. So Brendan, can you tell us a little bit about Relativity Space, the company behind this 3D rocket, which just sounds wild on its face? Tell us about the

company and what they're doing here. Sure, Danny. They're relatively new, actually. Pardon the pun there. This company's only been around for about seven years now, and it was started by two really young engineers. They were in their mid to early 20s. They came from SpaceX and Blue Origin and really wanted to change the way that rockets were built and developed. And so they came up with this plan for the rocket Terran 1 that we've seen at the launch pad. the launch pad. They built these new metal 3D printing heads in their Long Beach, California headquarters and started rapidly developing this rocket that we see at the launch pad at Cape Canaveral. And really the draw of 3D printing to relativity space is that you can rapidly iterate

and change your design as you go through testing. We've seen companies like SpaceX that have designed their Falcon 9 rockets, you know, very transparently as they were building it, blowing it up and changing the design. Well, if something happens with the design of this rocket, they can actually change the design and print a new part relatively quickly. So really, that is the draw of this. And we'll see if it holds up with the aerodynamic stresses of space travel when this thing finally leaves the ground, possibly tomorrow. Right. And I mean, where are they actually doing the printing? Is this a new Florida manufacturing industry that we're seeing here? So the printing is being done in their headquarters in Long Beach, California.

The really launches is what's happening here in Florida. And they also have a facility in Stennis Space Flight Center to test these these rockets. So really, it's happening here in Florida. But relativity is thinking beyond this planet when it comes to these um 3d printers um there are talks to actually put one of them on the moon or mars um because it's very difficult to get infrastructure to off this planet and where you need to go so why not build it where you are so yes the printers are in long beach california but they could one day be on the surface of mars and and what exactly are these 3D rockets made of? Like what material

are they actually built with? Yeah, so it's a proprietary material that this company really hasn't disclosed too much, but it is a metal alloy of sorts. And I actually had the chance to feel this thing. And I mean, it feels like something that you would 3D print, right? It's got these ridges and almost a blown-up version of a vinyl record. It's really interesting to see what it is. But it's gone through testing, and even the engines themselves, which go through some really difficult and very warm and hot thermodynamics are 3D printed as well. So it's really interesting to see that all of this just came out of a little bead out of a 3D printing head in a factory in California. Right. And what kind of fuel is it running on? Do we know? We do. So actually, there's quite a few firsts for this Terran 1 launch, right?

We mentioned that this is the first 3D printed rocket to reach orbit. It would be the first time they actually reached orbit if they successfully launch it on Saturday for the first time. But it's using a mix of methane and oxygen. So methyl ox is what it's called in the rocket industry. And, you know, I spoke with Tim Ellis about this. He's the company's founder and CEO. And, you know, they think that this is the future. Methane is easier to obtain than some other fuels that other companies use, like SpaceX uses rocket grade kerosene. NASA's SLS rocket uses hydrogen. If anybody was following the SLS launch, we know that hydrogen

is a very difficult material to work with. It's very leaky and they had a tough time containing it. So methane, this company says, is going to be the future of it. But it was also that methane and liquid oxygen that led to the scrub attempt earlier this week. And can you tell us a little bit about that scrub attempt? What exactly went wrong or what conditions were not quite right that made them delay it? Yeah, so everything looked great. They were proceeding through the count.

We should note that they have already completed what's called a static fire test of the rocket, which is basically strapping the rocket down to the launch pad and then firing the engines, much like you would do during a normal mission, except holding it down, not releasing the clamps. So they went through that, and that was a very successful test. But these propellants that they use, we mentioned methane and liquid oxygen, in order to store a lot of them in your rocket, you want the density to be just right. So you have to chill them. So these are called, you know, hyper chilled fuels. And if they're not the right temperature, we're talking like negative hundreds of degrees here. If they're not the right

temperatures, then they won't be optimal or they could even be dangerous when it comes to it. So from what we heard from relativity space, there was an issue with getting those fuels to the right temperatures and they were outside of the constraints. So they'd rather be safe than sorry, called a scrub and didn't have enough time to recycle it to get those fuels back to the right temperatures to try once again. And it sounded like you said the next attempt will be tomorrow on Saturday? Yeah, they just announced that they're going to try again tomorrow on Saturday from 1 to 4 p.m. will be their launch window. We haven't heard anything else that had gone wrong through the countdown, which is actually, you know, very optimistic for for a relatively new launch company and a brand new vehicle to not run into too many issues that first time around, really just an issue of conditioning

the propellant to the right temperatures. You're listening to the Florida Roundup from Florida Public Radio. You can call us at 305-995-1800. So, Brendan, thanks for filling us in on all this. I do want to ask just a little bit about, I don't know what to call it, the 3D printing industry. I mean, are there a lot of companies that are exploring this at this time? I mean, does that represent like a new, I guess I want to say space for a space?

Yeah, a new 3D printing space for space. Relativity Space is the one that is actually doing stuff when it comes to the rocket. But 3D printing is not a novel idea. There's a 3D printer on the International Space Station. It's actually a Florida company started that, and you can 3D print parts. So if you're missing a particular wrench or drill that you need to do something on the space station, they can actually print that part out.

So there's this thing called in-situ resource utilization when it comes to long-term um living in space so basically using the stuff that's around you to build the things that you need so instead of bringing up all of these things that you need from earth into space you just manufacture them while you're in orbit or while you're on another planet or another celestial body like the moon. So this idea of 3D printing is really, really important for our long-term sustainability living and working in space. And we're starting to see more and more of this technology come online. So the 3D printer in space, it's doing really well. It's doing some really cool things. There's also another bio 3D printer on the International Space Station that's actually using like tissue cells to print out things for transplanting onto astronauts should there be any problems in space.

And eventually you can 3D print a satellite right from orbit. So it's a new concept, but it really has a foundation in what we need if we want to live and work in space for a very long period of time. Right. The revolutionary kind of, I don't know, ability to do construction, say, on the surface of the moon that we can't even quite fathom right now, I guess. Exactly. Yeah. You don't want to bring that stuff up there with you. If you can build it while you're there, it's much easier, especially if you can build it from the stuff that you're around. Like if you can throw moon dust into a hopper and turn it into something that you could 3d print into a house, well that's way cheaper than actually bringing materials to the moon. And I mean, can you tell us like, this is not a manned flight, right? But like what, what are,

what is on the flight that they're going to try to launch tomorrow? Like are there sensors? What are they measuring? Yeah. So they're going to measure the performance of the rocket. So there are sensors, you know, hundreds of sensors all across the vehicle from within its fuel tank, measuring all these things. But they kind of have a symbolic piece that's going to be in the nose cone of this rocket. And it's the first 3D printed part that they messed up when they were designing these things. So essentially, they're sending their first mistake into space on hopefully the most recent success of the company. Eventually,

what they learn from this is going to drive the development of a larger rocket called Terran-R. That, they have $1.7 billion worth of contracts to launch other things into space, like satellites, even things for the U.S. military. But right now, they're just going to have that memento on the Terran 1 launch tomorrow. And it's a ridiculous question I'm going to ask, but how are these things permitted by NASA? Does NASA have a process where they permit 3D printing into space right now? Or what does that look like?

And so this actually goes through the FAA. So NASA has nothing to do with this mission here. They're launching from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. They get permission from the 45th Space Wing to launch and approval from the FAA for their launch licenses. But NASA is looking at companies like Relativity Space to get their things into orbit as well. That 3D printer that I've talked to you about on the International Space Station, that was commissioned by NASA. That's a NASA research project. So NASA, much like the private space industry, is very interested in 3D printing pretty much

anything that's going to go and leave the planet. Are you going to be watching tomorrow? Absolutely. Absolutely. Why wouldn't you? It's going to be cool. It's the first 3D printed rocket. You're going to watch it.

It's very true um wmfe's resident space reporter brendan burn uh thank you so much for talking to us about the next adventure in space uh 3d printing my pleasure danny my pleasure thank you and that'll do it for our program today the florida roundup is produced by WJCT Public Media in Jacksonville and WLRN Public Media in Miami. Kether Schatz, Bridget O'Brien and Natu Tue are producers. Brendan Rivers is the associate producer. WLRN's vice president of radio and our technical director is Peter Mayers. Engineering help from Doug Peterson, Charles Michaels and Isabella Da Silva. Richard Ives answers the phones.

Our theme music is provided by Miami jazz guitarist Aaron Libos at aaronlibos.com. And I'm Danny Rivero. Thanks for calling. Thanks for listening.