TALLAHASSEE, FL, Nov. 4, 2026 — Gov. Ron DeSantis said Wednesday he'll call the Legislature back for a special session to carry out Amendment 3, the property tax cut voters approved Tuesday, and that he'll let lawmakers propose the dates.
DeSantis spoke at a morning news conference in the Large Conference Room of the Florida Capitol, WWSB reported. His office streamed it on X under the title "Governor DeSantis Reviews Statewide Election Victories and Property Tax Relief in Florida."
He said the amendment has to be in effect by Jan. 1, and that Miami-Dade County, the state's largest, voted for it 65% to 35%, WWSB reported.
What he wants from the special session
DeSantis said he's "flexible" about when the session happens during his final weeks in office, Florida Politics reported. He named two priorities: setting a "schedule for further homestead expansion" and "limiting local governments from doing an end run around the amendment."
According to WWSB and Florida Politics, he also said:
- Grants for local governments. He'll work with lawmakers on a "pool of funding" for local governments' core needs, including rural sheriff's offices. WWSB reported he said the grants would total tens of millions of dollars and include a transition period.
- A taxpayers' bill of rights could also be on the table, Florida Politics reported.
- Schools aren't affected. The amendment applies to every taxing authority except school districts, and the implementing bill won't change anything for schools, he said. A committee starting next year is expected to look at the Florida Education Finance Program, the state's school funding formula, WWSB reported.
"The more we can get the homestead tax-free, the better," DeSantis said, FOX 13 Tampa Bay reported. FOX 13 said he'd give lawmakers time to settle in and set the schedule.
What Amendment 3 does
Amendment 3 raises the homestead exemption for non-school property taxes to $150,000 in 2027 and $250,000 in 2028, then adjusts it for inflation starting in 2029, according to Ballotpedia's summary. School taxes keep the existing $25,000 exemption. It also limits what counties and cities can spend property tax money on. Launchpad's morning story on the amendment results has the full breakdown.
Supporters and critics
DeSantis credited the amendment with helping Republicans Tuesday. "Had Amendment 3 not been on the ballot, I don't know that we turn out the voters that we ended up turning out," he said, as quoted by Florida Politics and FOX 13. "People wanted to vote 'yes' on that, and then many of them ended up voting Republican later on down the ballot."
The Republican Party of Florida and Florida Realtors backed the measure, NBC 6 South Florida reported.
Opponents included groups of firefighters, police officers and emergency medical technicians, along with local government officials, who said rural counties couldn't absorb the cut without hurting essential services, NBC 6 reported. Senate President Ben Albritton, R-Wauchula, and former Senate President Kathleen Passidomo, R-Naples, also opposed it. "My concern is that the amendment is a one-size-fits-all amendment, and every community is different," Passidomo told the News Service of Florida last month, according to NBC 6.
The governor's grant fund and transition period are aimed at that worry. How big the fund will be, and which counties qualify, is up to the Legislature.
DeSantis on the national results
DeSantis spent much of the news conference on Tuesday's national results, in which Democrats won both chambers of Congress, according to AP projections. He called it "close to an extinction-level event for Republicans as anything we've seen in the last 100 years" and "the political equivalent of a meteor strike," Florida Politics reported.
"This is probably the political worst-case scenario for a midterm election," he said, according to WWSB. He said Democratic control of the Senate would affect confirmations of Supreme Court justices and Cabinet officials, and he expects investigations in both chambers.
He said Florida held the line. "You know, we had 20 Republicans going into the election. We have 20 Republicans in our congressional delegation now. So it is what it is," he said, according to Florida Politics. Five Florida U.S. House races were still uncalled by AP as of 12:28 p.m. Wednesday, so that count isn't final. (See the Florida House races update.)
DeSantis said Democrats had their best midterm turnout in modern Florida history, 68% of registered Democrats, and that turnout among voters with no party affiliation also rose. "The only thing that saved us is we just have so many more Republicans than they do," he said, according to Florida Politics. He said Democrats "did not earn a mandate," calling the results "a rejection of Republicans in Washington," WWSB reported.
On the Florida House, where Democrats gained seats, he said the chamber's behavior over the last two years "was not acceptable," WWSB reported, and some losses could have been limited with better governance.
What Florida Democrats say
Florida Democratic Party Chair Nikki Fried credited the party's ground game. "Since the August primary, our coordinated campaign has knocked on more than 1.2 million doors and made 5.25 million calls to voters across Florida," she said Tuesday, the Florida Phoenix reported. "That work helped drive a nearly 20-point swing toward Democrats statewide compared to the 2022 midterms."
Democrats won 49 Florida House seats as of Tuesday night, 15 more than they held before the election, with six seats still to be called, the Phoenix reported. That's enough to end the Republican supermajority, which takes 80 seats. "We did all of this without major national investment in Florida," Fried said.
Other issues he raised
DeSantis also mentioned an added auto insurance rebate and said he expects another rate cut from Citizens Property Insurance in South Florida by the end of the year or early next year, WWSB reported. He said the Legislature will need to address Flock license-plate cameras, noted the Senate passed an AI Bill of Rights 38-1 last session that the House didn't take up, and said Congress should ban stock trading by its members.
Byron Donalds, a Republican, was elected governor Tuesday, AP projects, and takes office in January. DeSantis said there's "more work to do until the lights are out," FOX 13 reported.
The special session dates haven't been announced. Launchpad will update this story when legislative leaders set them.
Sources: WWSB (mysuncoast.com); Florida Politics; FOX 13 Tampa Bay; Office of Gov. Ron DeSantis on X; Ballotpedia; NBC 6 South Florida; Florida Phoenix; AP election results.
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