LWV Florida President Keynotes at Tampa Bay LWV Chapters All-Member Meeting

More than 80 LWV members from sister chapters in North Pinellas, Hillsborough, Pasco, and Manatee counties joined LWVSPA on October 23 at our Allendale UMC, St. Petersburg, headquarters to share updates and draw inspiration from an array of dynamic activities, creative initiatives, and productive community collaborations. 

Introduced by LWVSPA First Vice President Lindsay Polega, LWV Florida President Jessica Lowe-Minor shed light on the LWVUS Unite and Rise 8.5 initiative. She also spoke eloquently on issues including resisting the Florida legislature’s mid-decade redistricting push and the vital importance of a strong showing by the state  League presence at Lobby Days in Tallahassee on January 20 and 21.

Among many informative presentations, LWVSPA President Jackie Azis shared top-level takeaways from our chapter’s recent Advocacy Training Day (see below), including key goals and next steps.

Unite & Rise 8.5

Lowe-Minor opened her talk by referencing studies showing that non-violent resistance movements have a far better track record of success against repressive authoritarian regimes than violent ones. LWVUS’s Unite and Rise 8.5 initiative, she explained, is inspired by research showing that non-violent movements that engage more than 3 percent of a populace, from abolitionist efforts in the 19^th-century United States to the Indian independence movement let by Mahatma Gandhi, reach a tipping point toward success. The last No Kings rallies drew about 7 million Americans. 

Going forward, if 3.5 percent of the U.S. population—about 8.5 million people—is galvanized to participate in resistance activities, the tide of our nation’s politics has great potential to turn back to a free and fair democracy. 

Pushing Back Against Threats to Voter Rights

Lowe-Minor also discussed the passage of HB 1205, which makes it harder for volunteers to gather signatures for petitions, noting that the state League will be challenging this in court in 2026. She also rallied attendees to push back against the political gamesmanship of mid-decade redistricting push that is building in Tallahassee. Allowing politicians to pick their voters, she said, instead of the other way around, “leads to mutually assured civic destruction.”

Lowe-Minor urged members to attend the LWV Florida Lobby Days at the Florida Legislature in Tallahassee on January 20 and 21. At those events, “We see the lawmakers, and just as importantly, they see us,” she said. “We want them to see the light, not feel the heat.”

In other highlights, Tanya Landry, president, LWV North Pinellas County, shared her chapter’s efforts to meet struggling people for whom voting may not be a top priority where they are. Alice Newlon of LWV Manatee County described her group’s activities around Unite and Rise and efforts to build a strong relationship with their county’s Supervisor of Elections. And Teresa Potter, co-president of LWV Hillsborough/Pasco, described her group’s collaborative efforts with the Tampa Bay Voting Rights Coalition.