The endorsement fight between Ron DeSantis and President Donald Trump took another turn last week. Most members in the Florida Legislature endorsed Gov. DeSantis for the 2024 presidential nomination. In total, 100 lawmakers in the Florida House and Senate cast lots with the Governor. That includes most of the Sarasota-Manatee legislative delegation.

I’m not sure a credible argument could be made the Republican nomination hinges upon who state lawmakers in Greater Sarasota support. On the other hand, these endorsements could hold major ramifications on regional elections in the future, most notably a congressional election that eventually will take place.

Only one local lawmaker has publicly backed Trump, namely state Sen. Joe Gruters. In fact, Gruters remains the only lawmaker in the Florida Legislature to go against the Governor in the 2024 race.

Meanwhile, state Sen. Jim Boyd and Reps. James Buchanan, Mike Grant, Tommy Gregory, Fiona McFarland and Will Robinson all endorsed DeSantis. Only state Rep. Mike Beltran remains neutral.

When the moment comes that U.S. Rep. Vern Buchanan retires, more a when than if question each passing day, four of five of these state pols will at least explore a run. A million unforeseeable factors will decide who wins. But make no mistake, politicos included this prospect in their calculus when deciding who to endorse this year.

Gruters feels good about his choice. But he also understands it comes with a risk. “The basic deal is if Donald Trump holds a bigger stick than DeSantis after this election cycle is over, I will get his support over anybody else in this race,” Gruters said. “If DeSantis holds a bigger stick, three people will be fighting for his support on the other side.”

Gruters, who also is considering a run for Chief Financial Officer, fully expects Trump to have the biggest stick of them all after 2024, confident the former president will win the GOP nomination and defeat President Joe Biden.

But that’s no guarantee. DeSantis could grow his political standing in the next year while Trump’s level of support, lofty as it is, may be frozen in place. 

McFarland brushed off any questions about a phantom congressional race. Indeed, many anticipate Vern Buchanan will seek at least one more term in Congress. James Buchanan didn’t respond to texts about his endorsement. One would expect he has better insight on when a congressional race may come as he’s Vern Buchanan’s son. But then, he endorsed DeSantis even as his father endorsed Trump.

Gregory, for his part, scoffs at the notion any calculation went into his own choice to back DeSantis. 

“For me personally, nobody had to ask me to do it,” he said. “I will tell you I’m not surprised the support was nearly unanimous from the people who work with him in state government. We have seen his intelligence and work ethic, and think he would be a great leader.”

Gregory, for his part, believes voters will largely respect the reasons politicians endorsed one candidate for president over the other, whether they support DeSantis or Trump. He’s heard from die-hard Trump supporters, but faced no outrage since announcing his endorsement. “I haven’t sensed any ill will,” he said.

Of course, if DeSantis becomes president, anyone who can prove a strong relationship with him should be able to leverage that to success in a congressional race. But there’s another possibility— and a very realistic one. Biden could win a second term against whoever wins the nomination.

DeSantis signed a bill this week amending Florida’s resign-to-law to guarantee he remains Governor if he loses the presidential race. That means he will have a job no matter what, but his political power would be significantly blunted after losing. Trump, meanwhile, would likely see the end of his days as a candidate if he loses in 2024. Either could maintain a political machine but it won’t be as potent.

The best chance local pols have of benefitting in the future from endorsements today is to do more than put their name on a list. They need to make sure their chosen candidate wins, then claim their share of the political spoils.

Jacob Ogles is contributing senior editor for SRQ MEDIA. 

It seems everywhere you look (or listen) these days, the world of Artificial Intelligence (AI) has the spotlight, front and center. And for good reason — this incredible technology is certainly here, and here to stay. As president of Ringling College of Art and Design, where we teach majors such as Illustration and Fine Arts, Creative Writing and Computer Animation, I have been getting this question a lot: What does AI mean for the future of art and design?

That’s a fairly loaded question. It’s one I don’t believe any of us can answer with absolute certainty. But here’s what I do know: CREATIVITY IS THE FUTURE. 

The creative economy comprises the arts, culture and technology industries and is one of the world’s most rapidly growing sectors, already contributing up to 10% of the global GDP according to the recent United Nations Conference on Trade and Development. These industries generate over $2.3 trillion annually and provide up to 8% of jobs worldwide. What’s more, the rate of these industries’ continued growth is astronomical. 

AI made remarkable strides in recent years and is already revolutionizing many enterprise industries such as retail, healthcare, banking and finance, sales, cybersecurity, manufacturing and even transportation. I’ve read in various articles that by 2030, one in every 10 cars will be self-driving, and ChatGPT — OpenAI’s language-processing chatbot — recorded 1 million users within the first five days of its public release.

Those statistics aside, one thing we know is AI has a great weakness: it is not human. AI is only as good as its algorithms, programmed information and training data. Recent reports confirm that for now, not all of the information is reliable. Not being human also means AI is not creative. It does not have empathy or feelings. It relies entirely on content which already exists. And, it has no imagination. Therefore, AI cannot come up with something totally new and unique. 

All of this is not to say AI cannot immensely benefit creatives and creative industries. At Ringling College, we are not afraid of AI. We are embracing it. We view this technology as a new companion, not a competitor. Can you imagine how many mathematicians worried their jobs would be lost with the advent of the calculator and then the computer? The same is true here. AI is another tool for students to use, much like they use their computer as a digital paintbrush or their VR headset as a tool to bring immersive experiences to life.

From personalized learning experiences and administrative automation in higher education to enhanced creativity and content discovery, AI is revolutionizing the way we can work through tasks and assignments. Eventually, the more tedious and time-consuming work such as color correction, image processing and basic design creation can be automated. As a result, this frees up more time for the creatives to focus on more conceptual and blue-sky tasks such as even broader creative and design thinking, problem-solving and innovating.

In order to meet the needs of a changing world — and more specifically the world of art and design education — Ringling College established an internal Artificial Intelligence Task Group. Key faculty members will work alongside experts to research and understand how to best implement AI into our curricula, teaching practices and student learning outcomes. Just as the College was the first to establish a 3D Computer Animation program in the 1990s, to offer a business-focused program at an art school, and to create a Virtual Reality Development BFA, we want to ensure we remain a leading institution that is forever future-focused. 

As we enter this new and exciting era, the skills of imagination, innovation and authentic creativity will be paramount. I am proud to lead an institution like Ringling College where we prepare students for success in tomorrow’s world, positioning them to emerge as leaders in an economy that relies heavily on creative skills and thinking. Embracing AI in higher education and the creative industries is key to remaining at the forefront, harnessing the full potential of all types of technology for the benefit of students, artists and society as a whole.

So yes, AI is here to stay. But the future is still for the creatives. 

Dr. Larry R. Thompson is president of Ringling College of Art and Design. 

Growth is a hot topic in Sarasota social media these days. If you explore social media community groups, it is very common to find complaints about growth within the same or successive social media posts about infrastructure, traffic, affordable housing and other concerns. Many times posts will ask for the stoppage of growth until affordable housing, infrastructure, and traffic are fixed. In reality, growth is the answer to these problems.

I have lived in Sarasota long enough to remember when Ringling Bridge was a two-lane draw bridge, when Honore was non-existent in south county, when North Port was a desolate area you drove through to get to Murdock in Charlotte County to shop, and when the strip mall north of University at today’s UTC was a vacant eye sore. These things needed built, or rebuilt, to improve our quality of life.

It was due to growth that we have our icon of a bridge, a north-south connector reliever that parallels I-75, a promising southern city with destination shopping and restaurants and a wonderful northern shopping center full of restaurants, shopping and things to do on University. All of these projects increased our quality of life and occurred due to the catalyst of growth. 

Growth is necessary for a community to improve, provide opportunities for infrastructure and economic expansion and it is equally necessary for affordable housing. You cannot stop, or even slow, people from moving here without very bad consequences to our economy, and especially, housing. 

For those of you not here during the Great Recession, you missed experiencing the perils of a declining population and our economic deterioration. Unemployment was in the double digits for a sustained period, foreclosures proliferated due to lack of jobs, and legacy businesses shut down; it was terrible to experience and our quality of life suffered. We were begging people to move here and bring or start businesses. Growth was our way out and it has led to our quality of life today.   

Today, we haven’t developed enough housing product to meet demand and this has increased the cost of housing. This has been universally recognized across the country as the main obstacle to providing affordable housing. The biggest barrier to providing more product is NIMBYism, or “Not In My Backyard” sentiments, from those existing residents complaining about growth. 

NIMBYs are the existing residents, many of whom moved here, but don’t want anyone else here. They claim to want affordable housing but will suggest it is a better fit for somewhere else not near them so it doesn’t change the “character” of the area. This is code for not wanting “those” people here. Make no mistake, it is classist, and sometimes even worse than that, but not explicitly said aloud.

The Florida Legislature zeroed in on this problem and the local government paralysis that occurs when dozens, or even hundreds, of people show up in the same color shirts to oppose rental housing or more density. To avoid this, the legislature recently completely bypassed NIMBYism, and therefore local government, when affordable housing is going to be built. 

Florida’s Live Local Act provides for automatic approvals, administrative approvals, and height similar to other building within one mile of the development. This is the most significant affordable housing legislation in several decades and provides regulatory incentives and money to encourage development of housing, that combines affordable and market housing.

We are hopeful this is just the start of housing reforms in the legislature that combat NIMBYism. We are encouraged that the state understands the necessity of growth and housing to helping to solve important quality of life issues and therefore makes sure that “those” people are welcome here.

Christine Robinson is Executive Director of The Argus Foundation. 

Image courtesy Pixabay..