2025 tested us — politically, personally, and as a community. We faced painful losses, harmful policies, censorship, political violence, and economic uncertainty.
The Trump administration’s agenda hit close to home. We witnessed the targeting of immigrants and the separation of families. Threats to SNAP, health care access, and our social safety net. A housing and affordability crisis squeezing working families. The demonization and defunding of public education, science, arts, and cultural programs. Continued attempts to erase members of the trans community, including those who have served our country in the military. Corporate consolidation that kills competition and crushes small businesses. These weren’t abstract headlines for us. They were neighbors in our inbox, parents calling for help, workers struggling, students in fear, families seeking stability.
We also said goodbye to giants this year — Senator Geraldine F. Thompson, Harris Rosen, Commissioner Mable Butler, Mayor Eddie Cole, Chester Glover, Brenda March, and my friend Dave Plotkin, among many others. Each one left a mark on our community that will never be forgotten. Saying their names still brings tears, but it also fuels our purpose.
Because even in the hardest moments, Orlando showed its best. Generosity. Creativity. Resilience. Big-heartedness. People who refuse to look away or give up on one another.
As we pushed back against regressive policies, we also stepped up. We knocked doors and showed up in Tallahassee. We raised funds for people and organizations in need, collected food and toys, solved casework for families in crisis. We boosted small businesses, shopped local, and embraced our main street organizations. We won special and local elections, and built political infrastructure for the years to come. We fostered stray kittens at the office (and adopted two of them myself) and worked hand-in-hand with local nonprofits to help our neighbors in need.
We showed up on the ground demanding accountability and public records from federal and state officials, but didn’t stop there. In some cases, we took our battles to court, testifying in the witness box to protect our environment and defend due process. At the same time, we worked across the aisle when it meant real progress for our state, bringing funding back to our district. And we uplifted new leaders, because movements grow when we’re willing to teach others, build power collectively, and pass the torch.
This year proved what we already knew: people-powered movements can’t just survive in hard seasons. They must rise. We turned despair into hope, obstacles into action, grief into purpose, and moments into momentum.
And I won’t pretend it’s been easy. Balancing my day job with legislative work and constituent services, coupled with launching a new campaign for Orando Mayor and leading a statewide voter registration organization, has meant early mornings, late nights, and more than a few times waking up on the couch with my laptop still open. Sixteen-hour days have become the norm. No days off, no breaks. But I do it because I love this community, and because I believe we deserve leadership that leads with heart, grit, and joy.
And the truth is: we could not do this without you.
Your support — volunteering, attending events, donating when you can, sharing our work with family and friends — is what drives us forward. You give me hope. You keep me going. You remind me why we fight.
Together, we’re building something powerful: a city, state, and country where everyone belongs; where working families can thrive; where truth isn’t censored; where challenges are solved with compassion, not cruelty. We’re not just reacting to the moment — we’re shaping the future.
One day, one week, one month, and one year at a time.
Thank you for being part of this journey. For cheering us on, challenging us, and championing change. Thank you for believing in what we can achieve together. And thank you for helping turn another difficult year into the groundwork for progress.
2025 was hard, but so are we. And when the going gets tough, the tough get tougher.