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2026 in Florida

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The following is a list of events of the year 2026 in the U.S. state of Florida, as well as predicted and scheduled events that have not yet occurred.

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This year marked Florida's 181st anniversary as a state in the Union on March 3, 1845, and 205 years since Spain ceded Florida to the United States on February 22, 1821. This year also marked the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence of the United States from the British Empire on July 4, 1776. Florida announced special events and exhibits, representing Florida as the 14th colony.[1]

The Florida Legislature convened for its 2026 regular session between January 13 and March 13 amid a Republican trifecta, and passed around 235 bills. A special legislative session between April 28 and May 1 resulted in a redistricted congressional map ahead of the 2026 United States House of Representatives elections in Florida to give Republicans 4 more seats, leading to a 24-4 Republican-Democratic split. Another special legislative session between May 12 and 29 passed a $117.6 billion state budget for the 2026-2027 fiscal year. This was the second year in a row that the Florida Legislature had failed to pass the state budget within the regular session.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is term-limited. On August 18, U.S. Representative Bryon Donalds won the Republican primary after being the frontrunner in a field consisting of Lieutenant Governor Jay Collins, hedge fund investor James Fishback, and former Florida house speaker Paul Renner; and former U.S. Representative David Jolly won the Democratic primary after being the presumptive nominee following the withdrawal of Orange County mayor Jerry Demings.

Incumbents

State Government

Chairs of Major Political Parties

Events

January

February

March

  • March 3 – Billy Leon Kearse, a man convicted of killing a Fort Pierce police officer during a traffic stop in 1991, is executed via lethal injection at Florida State Prison; he is Florida's third execution of the year.[35]
  • March 4 – The Miami-Dade County Republican Party secretary is revealed to have started a group chat with Florida International University student conservative leaders which contained multiple instances of antisemitism and anti-Black racism.[36][37] FIU students sue the university over their disciplinary investigation on free speech grounds.[38]
  • March 7 – Trump hosts the inaugural Shield of the Americas summit at Trump National in Doral.[39]
  • March 10
  • March 13 – Boca Raton council member Andy Thomson wins the 2026 Boca Raton mayoral election by five votes (7,572 votes), defeating his Republican opponents, energy executive Mike Liebelson (7,567 votes) and Boca Raton Vice Mayor Fran Nachlas (3,967 votes). Thomson is the first Democrat elected as Boca Raton mayor in over 30 years.[42]
  • March 14 – The University of Florida deactivate their chapter of College Republicans following a screenshot showing two students performing a Nazi salute.[43] The UF College Republicans sue the university on free speech grounds.[44]
  • March 16 – A 19-year-old Mexican man dies while in ICE custody at the Glades County Detention Center in Moore Haven. ICE reports his death as a suicide.[45]
  • March 17
  • March 18 – Crews demolish the Pulse nightclub in Orlando to make way for a memorial to the victims of the 2016 shooting.[48]
  • March 19 – DeSantis signs his first laws in 2026, two environmental bills: SB 302, streamlining the permit process for nature-based methods aimed at improving coastal resiliency, and HB 1417, abolishing the Environmental Regulation Commission within the Florida Department of Environmental Protection. The laws take effect on July 1, 2026.[49]
  • March 23
    • DeSantis signs SB 290 (Florida's Farm Bill) into law as sweeping agricultural reform: preventing local restrictions on gas-powered equipment, restricting high-density development on agricultural land, limiting emergency recovery loans to citizens, making permanent a statewide food bank program for farmers, and establishing loan repayment for veterinarians who specialize in livestock and equine care. The law takes effect on July 1, 2026.[50]
    • ICE agents are deployed to 14 airports nationwide, including Southwest Florida International Airport, amid a partial federal shutdown affecting funding for TSA.[51]
  • March 24 – Democrats flip two state legislative seats in special elections. Emily Gregory defeats financial planner Jon Maples in HD87, a district covering part of Palm Beach County which includes Mar-a-Lago. Brian Nathan defeats state representative Josie Tomkow in SD14, a district covering parts of Brevard County and Volusia County.[52][53]
  • March 26 – The Florida Board of Governors removes sociology as a core general education requirement at all public universities, effective for the 2026-2027 academic year. However, sociology may still be offered as an elective.[54]
  • March 27 – Golfer Tiger Woods is charged with driving under the influence following a car crash on Jupiter Island; it is the fourth publicized car crash involving Woods.[55]
  • March 30
  • March 31 – DeSantis signs HB 445 (Missy's Law) into law, prohibiting the release of convicted dangerous criminals awaiting sentencing. The bill is named after a 5-year-old girl who was murdered in Tallahassee by a sex offender released on bail while waiting sentencing. The law takes effect on July 1, 2026.[58]

April

May

  • May 1 – Former Republican U.S. Representative David Rivera and his associate Esther Nuhfer are convicted of failing to register as foreign agents for lobbying on behalf of the Venezuelan government during the first Trump administration.[80]
  • May 3 – The 2026 Miami Grand Prix is held at the Miami International Autodrome in Miami Gardens. Kimi Antonelli of Mercedes wins.[81]
  • May 4 – DeSantis signs HB 1-D into law, authorizing a new congressional map of Florida which gives Republicans 4 more seats ahead of the 2026 midterm election.[82]
  • May 5 – DeSantis signs two bills into law affecting teachers: SB 1296 requires at least 50% participation in union certification elections for public workers unions and penalizes strikes, and HB 1279 provides immediate pay incentives to high-performing teachers at lower-performing schools without collective bargaining. Critics say the bills are intended to weaken teachers unions who criticize the government. The laws take effect on July 1, 2026.[83][84][85]
  • May 6 – Google seeks approval from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to release millions of male mosquitos carrying Wolbachia into Florida to reduce the population of mosquitos that carry dengue, Zika and chikungunya.[86]
  • May 7 – DeSantis signs SB 484 into law, allowing local governments to plan the development of data centers used in artificial intelligence and protecting consumers from paying public utilities for data centers. However, the bill does not restrict non-disclosure agreements between governments and data center companies. The bill is a watered down version the "AI Bill of Rights" that DeSantis proposed for heavier regulations on AI. The law takes effect on July 1, 2026.[87][88]
  • May 9 – Eleven people are injured after a boat explosion near North Miami Beach.[89]
  • May 10 – A wildfire is sparked in the Everglades, leading to road closures and the closure of Everglades Holiday Park.[90]
  • May 12 – The New York Times reports that DeSantis plans to shut down Alligator Alcatraz due to lack of funding.[91]
  • May 15 – DeSantis signs HB 757 into law as a sweeping school safety package. The bill mandates training to help faculty detect mental health issues, mandates that public colleges and universities create plans for active shooter responses, and allows trained public college and university faculty to carry firearms. Critics warn that arming faculty will not increase school safety. The law takes effect immediately.[92]
  • May 19 – Joe Trippi, Howard Dean's former presidential campaign manager, joins David Jolly's gubernatorial campaign team.[93]
  • May 21 – Richard Andrew Knight Jr., a man convicted of murdering a mother and her daughter in Coral Springs in 2002, is executed via lethal injection at Florida State Prison; he is Florida's seventh execution of the year.[94]
  • May 22
    • DeSantis signs SB 538 and SB 178 into law, allowing high school coaches to receive additional funding from support organization and spend up to $15,000 of their own money per year on their players. SB 178 is named after Teddy Bridgewater, an NFL quarterback who was suspended from coaching high schoolers in July 2025 for spending money on his players' meals and transportation. The laws take effect July 1, 2026.[95]
    • DeSantis signs SB296 (Helping Abuse Victims Escape Now (HAVEN) Act) into law, formally defining “dating violence” in law and extending existing domestic violence safeguards. Additionally, Florida will adopt a silent alert system for victims unable to safely call 911, a first in the country.[96]
  • May 26
  • May 28 – Blue Origin's New Glenn rocket explodes during a hot-fire test at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. The rocket was scheduled to carry Amazon satellites into space.[99]
  • May 29 – The Florida Supreme Court authorizes judges to sanction lawyers and pro-se litigants who file court documents with AI hallucinations.[100]

June

  • June 1
  • June 2 – Andrew Richard Lukehart, a man convicted of the murder of his girlfriend's child in Jacksonville in 1996, is executed via lethal injection at Florida State Prison; he is Florida's eighth execution of the year.[103]
  • June 4 – Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton opens an investigation into Boca Raton based Celsius, an energy drink company, over marketing dangerously high caffeine levels to children.[104] Uthmeier later responds on X with "come and take it."[105]
  • June 5 – Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings suspends his gubernatorial campaign after a prostate cancer diagnosis, leaving David Jolly as the presumptive Democratic nominee .[106]
  • June 8 – A 6.1 magnitude earthquake off the coast of Cuba, the region’s strongest tremor in 150 years, is felt in Florida.[107]
  • June 10
  • June 11 – In Perlmutter v. Federal Insurance Company, the Florida Supreme Court unanimously rules that plaintiffs only need to show a reasonable evidentiary basis, a low burden of proof, to plead for punitive damages under Florida law.[110] The underlying case regards former Marvel Entertainment CEO Issac Perlmutter seeking punitive damages in a defamation lawsuit filed against his neighbor in Palm Beach.[111][112]
  • June 11–July 19 – The United States hosts the 2026 FIFA World Cup, with a number of matches being held in Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens.[113]
  • June 12
    • The Republican Party of Florida states cancels gubernatorial primary debates as Bryon Donalds is the only candidate who meets internal qualification criteria. DeSantis criticizes the decision as "engineering the outcome."[114]
    • Republican James Uthmeier, the incumbent Attorney General, and Democrat José Javier Rodríguez, a former Assistant Secretary of Labor and state senator, become the main party nominees for the 2026 Florida Attorney General election by default as they were the only candidates to qualify for their respective primaries.[115][116]
  • June 15
  • June 16 – DeSantis signs SB 432 (Meg's Law) into law, prohibiting tobacco or nicotine dealers from selling nitrous oxide. The bill is named after a woman who died of nitrous oxide use outside of a smoke shop. The law takes effect on October 1, 2026.[120]
  • June 25
    • DeSantis announces that the immigration detention center Alligator Auschwitz has closed.[121]
    • Dusty Ray Spencer, a man convicted of the murder of his wife in 1992, is executed via lethal injection at Florida State Prison; he is Florida's ninth execution of the year.[122]
  • June 26
    • DeSantis vetoes SB 382, setting speed limits of 10 mph on sidewalks for electric bikes and electric scooters, on grounds that it is government overreach. The Florida Legislature had unanimously passed the bill.[123]
    • DeSantis vetoes HB 461, allowing high school students to get credit for volunteering as assistant poll workers, on grounds that the Southern Poverty Law Center would use the law to staff polling places with only their supporters. The Florida Legislature had unanimously passed the bill.[123]
  • June 28
    • DeSantis vetoes HB 325, allowing inmates to earn commercial drivers' licenses, on grounds that it will burden the Department of Corrections. The Florida Legislature had unanimously passed the bill.[124]
    • DeSantis vetoes SB 688, creating a healthcare license and regulatory Board for naturopathic doctors, on grounds that healthcare practitioners can already provide alternative treatments and the bill would've required applicants to receive an N.D. degree from accredited schools which were all outside of the state.[124]
  • June 29 – DeSantis signs HB 5011-E, the state budget of $117.6 billion for the 2026-2027 fiscal year, but issues a line-item veto against $1.6 billion.[125]

July

August

September

  • September 1 – The Republican Party of Florida Leadership Forum is held at T. Pepin's Hospitality Center in Tampa, with DeSantis interviewing the Republican primary winners for executive office positions. DeSantis endorses Bryon Donalds to succeed him as governor after staying neutral during the primaries.[171][172]
  • September 3 – The Florida Board of Governors prohibits undocumented students from enrolling at any state university.[173]
  • September 5 – Two guards at the closed Alligator Alcatraz are charged with assaulting a detainee in January.[174]
  • September 6 – Amazon cargo plane 21 Air Flight 7598 overshoots the runway and strikes a van at Miami International Airport, killing five people, all cleaning company employees in the van.[175][176]
  • September 14 – Four people are injured when a crane collapses in Miami, hitting a passing car. The injured include three construction workers and the car's owner.[177]

Scheduled events

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