Despised by Gov. Ron DeSantis, Florida's two hotly-contested ballot initiatives have both failed in a massive victory for the Republican Party, keeping weed illegal and the state's six-week abortion ban in place.
The razor-thin fails follow Gov. DeSantis and First Lady Casey DeSantis' 16 campaign events against Amendment 3, which would have legalized recreational marijuana, and Amendment 4, which would have enshrined abortion until viability in the state constitution.
Both fell short of the necessary 60% threshold: the marijuana initiative gained 55.7% and the abortion measure 57.1%, as of 8:30 p.m.
"With polls now closed in Florida—Amendment 3 has failed. Amendment 4 has failed," DeSantis posted Tuesday night, three minutes after the last polls in Northwest Florida closed. He was busy before the election, directing state agencies to engage in an ad blitz worth at least $19 million of taxpayer money to fund campaigns against the amendments, in addition to over $7.2 million raised by the governor's PAC solely to defeat the measures.
And it paid off.
The failed measures are a far cry from the massive support enjoyed by both amendments mere months ago, when both hovered far above 60%. Of note, Florida didn't require constitutional amendments to have voters' supermajority support until 2006, when voters passed a measure raising the pass threshold from 50% to 60%.
That ballot measure passed by 58%, speaking to the steeply high bar needed to pass a constitutional amendment.
Amendment 3, endorsed by Trump and hated by DeSantis, would have allowed Floridians 21 and over to buy or use up to 3 ounces of marijuana—which DeSantis called everything from a "monstrosity" to a "trainwreck" to straight-up "BS" at these events, concerned that the measure's main donor, Trulieve, was attempting to write itself into the state constitution to create a monopolized industry.
Amendment 4, opposed by all major Florida Republicans, would have overturned the state's much-criticized six-week abortion ban by allowing women to get abortions until viability (around 24 weeks). Opponents argued the measure would have allowed for "abortion on demand" and removed parental consent for minors seeking abortions.
This was not an easy journey for Amendment 4, which has been the subject of litigation since its inception when DeSantis asked the state Supreme Court to keep it off the ballot due to allegedly "vague" language. There have since been at least nine other legal cases or threats of litigation involving the measure.
