Black-Led FL Voting Rights Org Equal Ground Launches Statewide Tour to Call Out Florida’s Legislative Failures

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

PRESS RELEASE

Contact: Feldman Strategies, team@feldmanstrategies.com

Black-Led FL Voting Rights Org Equal Ground Launches Statewide Tour to Call Out Florida’s Legislative Failures 

The tour will review the legislative session and educate communities on how to stay engaged in the fight against attacks on freedoms.

FLORIDA — Equal Ground – the preeminent Black-led, non-partisan, non-profit working to build Black political power in Florida – is launching a statewide legislative debrief tour in partnership with Florida legislators and community leaders to review the recent legislative session and how the continued incompetence of the state’s government will impact Florida’s communities. 

The 2025 Legislative Session was one of the least productive and most chaotic legislative sessions, with lawmakers failing to fulfill their basic responsibility of passing a budget in time, forcing an extension of the deadline. Not only are Floridians paying the price for an extended session, but they are also experiencing the real costs of lawmakers who perpetuated constant in-fighting instead of passing substantive legislation addressing the real issues facing Floridians. 

“Florida lawmakers have once again failed to address the pressing needs of Floridians, instead allowing in-fighting to derail the 2025 Legislative Session and using their power to silence Florida voters by attacking the citizen-led ballot initiative process,” said Equal Ground Executive Director Genesis Robinson. “We are ensuring that all Floridians understand what happened this year as lawmakers not only attacked our rights, but also failed to meet their most basic constitutional obligation – passing a budget – on time.”

During the tour stops, community leaders and elected officials will educate Floridians about the wide-reaching attacks on communities of color by the state legislature during the recent session – most notably the legislation directly silencing the majority of Floridians by restricting the ballot initiative process – and share ways to stay engaged in the fight for the issues and legislation that matter to Florida’s communities. 

Leaders will also inform community members of the many attacks on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), and efforts to restrict voting rights, undermine public education, and silence the voices of everyday Floridians, that may have failed due to infighting but remain at the forefront of extreme lawmakers policy priorities in the future.

“Floridians are not being represented by or advocated for by those in power in our Florida State Legislature, and we will do everything in our power to educate voters, ensure they can make their voices heard, and know how to show their dismay with this egregious failure at the ballot box,” continued Robinson.

The statewide tour will kick off in Hillsborough County on Saturday, June 7th, and stop in several counties over the next two months, including Orange County on June 13th and Miami-Dade County on August 9th. Additional partnerships with elected leaders and other community organizations to educate Black Floridians will be announced. 

The full list of locations for the stops on the tour are as follows:

• Hillsborough County (Tampa) - Saturday, June 7th, 2025 

• Volusia County (Daytona) -  Monday, June 9th, 2025 

• Volusia County (DeLand) -  Tuesday, June 10th, 2025

• Orange County (Orlando) -  Friday, June 13th, 2025

• Palm Beach -  Tuesday, June 17th, 2025

• Lake County (Leesburg) -  Wednesday, June 18th, 2025

• Osceola County (Kissimmee) -  Sunday, June 22nd, 2025

• Lee County (Ft Myers) -  Saturday, June 28th, 2025

• Pinellas County (St Petersburg) -  Saturday, July 19th, 2025

• Marion County (Ocala) -  Sunday, July 20th, 2025

• Hillsborough (Tampa) -  Saturday, July 26th, 2025

• Bay County (Panama City) -  Sunday, July 27th, 2025 

• Duval County (Jacksonville) -  Tuesday, July 29th, 2025

• Miami-Dade County (Miami) -  Saturday, August 9th, 2025

• Okaloosa County (Panhandle) - Saturday, August 16th, 2025 

*Tour stops are subject to change.

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