A Citizens' Guide to Stopping Overdevelopment

It’s time to take the gloves off! Every developer-supported candidate for state and local elections must be thrown in the garbage dump of political history. Based on experience gained from Manatee County’s success in the 2024 local elections, the following guidelines are for activists and citizens across the state to follow as we race toward the 2026 Primary on August 18, 2026. Please feel free to improve, embellish, and share. If folks want help on local campaign strategy, we have a few veterans of Manatee’s 2024 election who would be glad to assist.

1. Put together a 5 to 10-member working group committed to bringing Florida’s unchecked growth under control. It will be helpful to have a mix of skills and party affiliation in the core working group. Experience in political campaigns, marketing, social media videos, and messaging will be a big plus. Availability of a drone and a skilled operator adds considerable strength in showing the ravages of overdevelopment in your area. Google Earth and Google Lights are worth considering. DO IT NOW! Next year’s Primary is eight months away, and many candidates are already announcing their candidacy for local office. You can be SURE that the developers are already well into candidate recruitment and election strategy.

2. With your working group as a core, recruit and vigorously support candidates for the 2026 election in your jurisdiction. Make sure to have a candidate for every available seat, especially against incumbents who have a pro-development record. A simple tool for incumbents, especially for state office, is to check their record on 2024’s SB180, which gutted a significant portion of local government control over development decisions. VET prospective candidates thoroughly. More than one candidate professing a slow/no-growth platform has not lived up to the advertised claims.

3. Establish a close working relationship with at least one, and ideally more, local media outlets that have been active in previous local elections. Make their job easier and help them do their difficult work as you accelerate into the election season.

 4. Set up a PAC for carrying out election activities. Follow the state guidelines carefully. You’ll need a chair and a secretary/treasurer who can devote significant time to directing the PAC's activities. You will need to raise funds for the PAC, and the financial reporting records must be accurate and up to date. If the PAC can afford it, it should purchase insurance for its officers. The PAC and its officers are likely to be sued by developers' interests.

5. IMPORTANT: Know your local community electoral demographics and use them to your advantage. In many of the state's 67 counties, elections are decided in the dominant local party's primary. For example, in Alachua County, with 49,000 registered Republicans, 77,000 registered Democrats, and 41,000 NPA’s, elections are likely decided in the Democratic primary. Broward County, with 280,000 Republicans, 522,000 Democrats, and 358,000 NPA‘s, again, the Democratic primary likely decides the election. In Collier, with 144,000 Republicans, 50,000 Democrats, and 58.000 NPA’s, the election will likely be decided in the Republican primary. In all cases, do not lose sight of the NPAs; their number is substantial and growing. You may need to get them to shift party affiliation.

 6. Using your local political demographic knowledge, it’s Imperative that you pull together a coalition of Republicans, Democrats, and NPA’s for the singular common cause of defeating developer candidates and electing candidates that are committed to stopping Florida’s runaway growth. This will mean that, in counties where the primary election historically determines the final outcome, voters in your coalition will need to change their party affiliation to vote in the primary under the political banner that ultimately decides the election. Voter registration must be changed 30 days before the primary. This step was critical to winning in 2024. In Manatee, the developers did not anticipate this and were unable to leverage their political consultants and superior resources to counter it.

7. With the PAC, working group, and community activists that are now part of your campaign, establish visual political campaign identifiers that are simple and can be easily shared online, yard signs, and concise campaign literature are a must.

 8. Have the working group, PAC officers, and campaign supporters assigned to monitor all candidates, especially their campaign contributions. Any candidate who accepts donations from developers, builders, and their affiliated organizations is a hard no. The same holds true for dark PAC funds 501(c)(4)or unexplained campaign largesse.

 9. It is ESSENTIAL that your voting community understands that local candidates with large campaign coffers that frequently send out direct mailers, party centric robo calls, direct texts or other expensive advertising are presumed to be developer funded unless proven otherwise A top goal is to make sure that ALL residents voters are aware that large campaign funding is indicative of big money, special interests, and not in the best interests of the local taxpayer

10. Cautions: Experience has shown that developers and their related interests will use experienced political consultants to help their candidates win, with no limit to the political dirty tricks that may be used during the campaign. Be prepared to get assaulted with political dirt from these political operatives and their puppet candidates.

As of the writing of this draft, you may have already received mailers from Jay Collins, our Lt. Governor, likely funded from a 501(c)(4) dark PAC. That should be instructive to you.

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