Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings — the former Orlando police chief turned local executive who is now running for governor of Florida — joins the Chuck Toddcast for a candid conversation about the challenges of being a Democrat in modern Florida and the lessons his unusual career path (accountant, then cop, then mayor) brings to executive leadership. Demings reveals that Governor Ron DeSantis personally threatened to remove him from office over his opposition to ICE operations in Orange County, and uses that experience as the entry point to a broader discussion about what's gone wrong with American law enforcement. He argues you cannot solve police shortages by lowering recruiting standards — exactly what he says ICE did when it ramped up so quickly that screening and training went out the window, with the predictable consequence that ICE has now begun poaching trained officers from state and local departments. Demings makes the case that we have to get criminals off the streets but it has to be done lawfully, that state law enforcement should not be doing immigration work, and that being elected sheriff as a partisan position creates real tensions because the actual responsibilities of the job aren't partisan at all. He pushes back on the idea that he's running to be a "performance politician" and frames his candidacy as wanting to bring competent local-government experience to a state level that he says is suffering from leaders chasing viral moments rather than delivering services.

The conversation turns to the structural challenges facing Florida and the deeper question of why Democrats can't win statewide in a state that's growing more diverse by the year. Demings argues Florida's underpaid state legislators simply don't attract quality talent, that many longtime Florida Democrats have left the party out of pure frustration, and that the party's central task is to restore basic public belief in government's capacity to function. He's willing to give DeSantis credit for diversifying and growing Florida's economy, but argues the state needs to find efficiencies rather than continually burdening local governments with expenses it should be covering itself — and points to slashed state mental health funding as a direct driver of the violent crime he sees in his community. Demings is sharp on Florida's climate exposure, arguing the state is building in places it absolutely should not be building, and that hurricane-hardened construction standards need a major overhaul, He flags the NAACP's call for athletes to avoid schools in remapping states as the kind of extreme response that extreme government actions inevitably provoke, and warns that the politics of division are starting to genuinely threaten Florida's tourism economy — meaning the state's longtime economic engine may finally be running into the consequences of the culture wars its leaders have spent the past decade fueling.

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Timeline:

(Timestamps may vary based on advertisements)

00:00 Jerry Demings joins the Chuck ToddCast

01:00 How did you go from accountant to police to mayor?

02:15 Accounting background helped with managing the city budget

03:30 How has Orlando changed since the time you were a police officer in the 80s?

05:00 Working on police reform both locally and nationally

06:15 Should the focus for police be better recruiting or better training?

07:00 Lowering recruiting standards can’t be the answer to police shortages

07:45 ICE was forced to ramp up so fast they didn’t screen or train recruits properly

09:15 We have to get criminals off the street, but it has be done lawfully

10:00 What were the unintended consequences of ICE’s questionable recruitment?

11:15 ICE began poaching state and local police officers

13:15 Should county sheriff be an elected position?

14:30 Political considerations do enter the equation when you’re elected

16:00 Size of jurisdiction does matter when it comes to appointed vs. elected

17:00 Sheriff is elected as a partisan position, but the responsibilities aren’t partisan

18:00 Why did you want to run for governor?

20:30 Want to take experience at local level government to a larger level

21:15 Ron DeSantis threatened to remove him over opposition to ICE

24:00 How would you work with the Republican dominated legislature?

26:00 Republicans have a large voter registration advantage in Florida

27:15 Not interested in being a performance politician

28:30 Why have Democrats been unable to elect a governor in Florida?

29:00 Florida’s legislators are underpaid, don’t attract quality talent

30:45 Many Florida Democrats left the party due to their frustration

32:30 Democrats need to restore belief in government

34:00 What has Ron DeSantis done right? Diversified & grown the economy

36:15 Does Florida need more tax revenue and how do you acquire it?

38:00 Government should always look to find inefficiencies & fix them

39:00 The state keeps burdening local governments with expenses

40:30 State has slashed funding for mental health, leading to violent crime

43:30 There is a lot of fraudulent claims made in Florida, state bad at investigating

44:30 State law enforcement shouldn’t be doing immigration enforcement

45:15 Florida is building in places they shouldn’t be, not factoring climate change

46:15 Florida should be hardening their building and infrastructure

47:30 Should Florida ban manufactured housing?

48:45 Florida needs housing construction standards that make sense

50:00 NAACP calling on athletes to not attend schools in remapping states

51:00 Extreme actions by the government elicit extreme responses

53:00 Tourism in Florida is being threatened by politics

55:15 Politics is dividing people by racial lines