Opinion Columnists

In this undated photo released by the James Fishback 2026 Campaign, James Fishback, an investor who formally announced on Nov. 24, 2025 that he’s running for Florida governor as a Republican, poses for a portrait. (James Fishback 2026 Campaign via AP)

Sadly, it’s not too early to discuss the 2026 governor’s race | Pat Beall

By Pat Beall

January 2, 2026 at 9:56 a.m.

What a country! Anybody can run for governor of Florida, writes columnist Pat Beall —...

Sen. Geraldine Thompson waves from a car during the Ocoee 16th Annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Unity Parade on Monday, January 15, 2024. (Rich Pope, Orlando Sentinel)

They all said goodbye in the year 2025 | Steve Bousquet

By Steve Bousquet

December 27, 2025 at 12:52 p.m.

Columnist Steve Bousquet reflects on some of those who left us in 2025.

Happy New Year, and goodbye to all that | Pat Beall

By Pat Beall

December 26, 2025 at 7:00 a.m.

Columnist Pat Beall says goodbye to 2025, a year when the rapacious greed, fat-injected lips...

State Rep. Chip LaMarca, R-Lighthouse Point, at the Broward Legislative Delegation on Tuesday, Nov. 12, 2024, at the Memorial Regional Hospital Conference Center in Hollywood. (Anthony Man/South Florida Sun Sentinel)

‘Chip!’ peeks over the political horizon | Steve Bousquet

By Steve Bousquet

December 20, 2025 at 11:45 a.m.

Columnist Steve Bousquet takes the measure of Rep. Chip LaMarca's political career in Broward, and...

Who’s getting coal in the stockings this year? All of us | Pat Beall

By Pat Beall

December 19, 2025 at 10:06 a.m.

Columnist Pat Beall runs down the naughty list and finds it is very long indeed....

FAU trustee Tina Vidal-Duart narrowly won a key confirmation vote in a state Senate committee on Dec. 10, 2025.

Her ties to ‘Alcatraz’ are no problem after all | Steve Bousquet

By Steve Bousquet

December 13, 2025 at 12:40 p.m.

Columnist Steve Bousquet explores the Florida Senate's narrow support for a high-level state appointee who's...

President Donald Trump dances to music after speaking at the Mount Airy Casino Resort in Mount Pocono, Pa., Tuesday, Dec. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

Affordability is whatever Trump says it is | Pat Beall

By Pat Beall

December 12, 2025 at 10:51 a.m.

Like Biden before him, writes columnist Pat Beall, Trump has journeyed to the Valley of...

Florida Commissioner of Education Anastasios Kamoutsas discusses the state’s 2026–27 budget proposal during a news conference held by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis at the Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts in Orlando on Wednesday, Dec. 10, 2025. (Rich Pope/Orlando Sentinel)

Maxwell: Florida education chief trashes public schools, ignores voucher school disasters

By Scott Maxwell

December 11, 2025 at 6:47 a.m.

Florida's new education chief got booed after trashing public schools while ignoring failures and even...

Tina Vidal-Duart testified remotely on Wednesday and declined to answer a question posed by the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Higher Education.

A DeSantis political appointee starts to squirm | Steve Bousquet

By Steve Bousquet

December 6, 2025 at 10:29 a.m.

Columnist Steve Bousquet takes us to Tallahassee, where a well-connected appointee to the Florida Atlantic...

Mar-a-Lago, President Donald Trump's private club and home, in Palm Beach, Fla., Feb. 18, 2025. (Al Drago/The New York Times)

For Palm Beachers, flight plans have been permanently altered | Pat Beall

By Pat Beall

December 5, 2025 at 1:50 p.m.

No airplane may now fly over Mar-a-Lago, home to the town of Palm Beach's main...

Though Lt. Gov. Jay Collins has dark-money groups spending millions of dollars on TV ads that promote him, Collins insists he doesn’t know who his backers are or if he’s even running for governor. Such is the bonkers state of the 2026 race where 31 candidates say they want to run.
(Stephen M. Dowell/Orlando Sentinel)

Maxwell: The wild race for Florida governor with 30-plus candidates

By Scott Maxwell

December 3, 2025 at 9:48 p.m.

More than 30 people say they want to be Florida's next governor, including 10 Republicans,...

President Donald Trump and New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani after their meeting in the Oval Office of the White House, in Washington, Friday, Nov. 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Finding gratitude in the Year of the Piggy | Pat Beall

By Pat Beall

November 28, 2025 at 7:00 a.m.

Taking stock of a year of one-party rule, columnist Pat Beall lists reasons to be...

The county's rebuttal to Sheriff Gregory Tony's budget appeal shows the many ways he has used taxpayer money to promote himself.

County holding free-spending sheriff accountable | Steve Bousquet

By Steve Bousquet

November 22, 2025 at 11:38 a.m.

Columnist Steve Bousquet dissects the simmering dispute between Broward's sheriff and the county commission over...