Florida Governor Announces Workforce Development Funding at Polk State College

Thank you for being here. I'm going to get into some of today's announcements, but I do want to just make a couple comments. I said some stuff earlier today about yesterday's elections. Florida was able to do something that no other state A really significant state was able to do, and that's be able to win all the statewide offices, Senate, as well as governor and cabinet, in the face of what was really a hundred year type political earthquake. This was not like 2018. This was not like 2006. This was much, much more severe. And when you look at our sister state, who we always compete with, Texas, and see not only did they lose the U.S. Senate race, which they haven't lost one of those in I think like 30 years, but lost it by double digits. Then they lose the governor's race overwhelmingly against a longtime incumbent who had done a lot. They lost every statewide office, including four Supreme Court justices and the House of Representatives. In the state of Texas, that is not just a normal kind of bad off-election. That is a massive, massive sweep, and we saw that in other parts of the country. Kansas has not elected a United States senator from the Democrat Party since the 1930s, and yet they elected one overwhelmingly yesterday. Iowa had won similar to Florida four years ago. Big victories in governor's races, they did good in the Senate races in the past or in more recent history, presidential victories, and yet they got swept with both House or with the governor and losing the United States Senate seat there in Iowa. And then you also have some states that are kind of more purple, sometimes Dems, sometimes Republican that went bad, including Michigan. where they elected Abdul Syed to the United States Senate. Very, very caustic guy, has a lot of views that I think a lot of Americans wouldn't support, but yet he was able to win and even win comfortably. Ohio wiped out entirely. So I've never seen in a year that was worse for Republicans across the board in a midterm. Since I've been on God's green earth, and that's just the reality of it. So I told people leading into this election, I told candidates, what's in the atmosphere. And what the voters were telling us they were going to do, if you talk to them, if you had a focus group, if you did any of this stuff, that atmosphere would not be limited to other states. Like, Florida would have to contend with that. We are not immune from these trends. I think sometimes people look back to my reelection four years ago, and it was like, oh, well, you know, we had a massive wave, and the rest of the country didn't. Florida did all this. We were kind of our own entity. Yes and no. I mean, there were unique factors in that race. Obviously, we did very well and swept in a lot of people into office, but it's not like when things are negative in the atmosphere that we're just somehow hermetically sealed from that. So I told people, you are going to see some headwinds. Prepare for that. I talked to Jimmy Boyd in the Senate, and he did a really good job. Maintaining a very strong majority. You know, they lost one senator, but in the worst wave in arguably 100 years, to only lose one, that was really good. And we lost Broder, who was a really good senator. And it wasn't his fault. He's down ballot. People are coming out. It's a wave. They're voting down ballot to send a message. That's why these waves are tough, because there's really nothing Broder could have done that he didn't do to do it. It's just the circumstances that were presented. So, but I remember I told Jim that, and they did a good job. I told the congressional candidates, I said, you look at the 2024 results, look at what president got in your district, and then subtract at least 10, because that's where the line of scrimmage is in the 2026 election. And I was kind of right about that, because if you look, the state was 13-point Trump margin. Senator Moody by three, all the way down to the governor by about 1%. So it was at least a 13, or it was at least a 10-point swing, maybe in some respects even more than 13 points because we've gained a lot of registration advantage since November 2024. People forget we had 1.2 million advantage then. Now Republicans have 1.5 million advantage. So to say it was a 13-point win, that was a little bit different electorate. The electorate supposedly had gotten better for us. And yet you saw that. So that was a change in the line of scrimmage. But I would say these other states, if you look at what happened in 2024, you're seeing 20-point shifts from red to blue in Ohio, in Texas, in some of these places. This was, those were monumental shifts. So in Florida, those shifts were half. Of what they were in the rest of the country, particularly in those states where Republicans suffered such significant losses. And I think part of the reason we're able to do that is because we have created a lot of support over the years. We've obviously added a lot in the registration. We had the Amendment 3, the property tax, which I know a lot of people were really looking forward to voting for. And some of the people that voted for our candidates may not have even voted this election had that property tax not been on the ballot. So all of that led, if we had had the 20-point swing that Texas did, everything would have been lost. Everything. But it wasn't. We were able to mitigate and batten down the hatches and survive probably the most difficult electoral environment that Republicans will face in quite some time, I would imagine. I don't know. Sometimes you dig the hole and you just keep digging. I would advise Republicans, stop digging and let's try to get out of the hole that you're in. But I want to give credit to the folks who were out there running in this environment. I ran in 18 and I would always tell people the wind was in your face. Remember, Democrats took the House, and it was tough. This was way tougher. I mean, not even close. This was a tough environment. So to be able to win, sweep statewide like we did, we still have a commanding majority in the Florida Senate. Now, I didn't get involved with the Florida House races. You know, we've just had differences of opinion over the last two years. It is what it is. You know, they had a little bit harder time on it. You know, those are just choices people make. So, but on the Senate side that are statewide and then the Amendment 3, you know, we swept, effectively swept, because if you have a once in a hundred year negative wave to only lose one state Senate seat, that's a win in that situation, it just is. So they did a good job with that. So I'm proud of everyone that was in the fight on all this. I know it's not easy, but there was a lot that could have been squandered, I wonder, because what happens is, When these waves happen, you'll have voters come out of the woodwork, okay, let's stop this, sorry, You'll have voters come out of the woodwork who just want to send a message to D.C. So they'll vote down ballot for the same party that's out of power. So that ends up affecting county commission races. It ends up affecting legislative races. And in Texas, it affected the governor's race. It affected the cabinet races and all the statewide. And they lost everything. And that could have happened in Florida, and it didn't. Now you look forward, we're the only state amongst the top 10 states that's under Republican control. We are the only state, I think, that was able to get through this with having all of our statewides intact. That's something that you're only going to keep that if you continue to deliver results for people. It wasn't just clever marketing. I mean, people had seen us deliver over the years. So I was... I was glad to see where we were doing. I was also glad to see that Amendment 1 went down. You know, I said it was a scam, and that was the worst performance of any amendment I've ever seen. In the history of my time following Florida elections, you know, it got 41%. If you have the power to write the amendment, you should be able to use words that are fancy enough to get at least half the vote on something like that, and it did, and it got 41%. So I really appreciate all the Republicans, you know, who joined with my advice against, quite frankly, the state party to reject that. It would not have been good in the Constitution. So that's where Florida is. But then look forward, what do we have federally? You have probably 56. Democrat senators, at least 54, probably 56, you're going to have maybe 258 members of the U.S. House of Representatives will be Democrat. Right now we have 220 Republican and like 217 Democrat, something like that, 215. So this is a massive sea change. And just in the 2010 wave, When we won a huge wave, we got to like 245 seats or 247. So this is way more than Republicans have had our entire lives in any election, what they have right now. So that is a huge, huge majority. And so they're going to go in, and you're going to see a sea change of some of the things that are happening. You forget about confirming any Supreme Court justices. Forget about confirming anybody to the president's cabinet that is strong. That ends on January 3rd. They are not going to play ball on any of that. You also look at what you're going to see on oversight. I think every committee is going to be doing some type of investigation into a whole wide range of things involving the administration and its allies. So buckle up. It's going to be a lot different. The balance of power has shifted significantly because of this election, and it's not just for two years. I know we're going to have another election in two years, another after that. I get some senators will be up, some won't. But when you get to a number like 56 in the Senate, you can't unring that in one election, a normal election. It may not even be able to do two. It may take until like 2032 before Republicans ever have majority in the U.S. Senate again. You probably can't take the House back. in 2028 just mathematically it's going to be very difficult given the whole so this is an immense hole I think the whole is the damage is reverberating throughout the country not just in Washington but in local levels where they're going to be exercising significant power in a liberal direction even in very conservative states so if you're in Florida and you appreciate what we've You should be thankful that we were able to withstand and our candidates were able to withstand this because it would have led to a lot of changes potentially that no one was really voting for. They were voting to send a message to DC, but you may have had things reverberate at the state and local level that you didn't want. We're going to continue doing our thing here. I've got the property tax implementation legislation we'll have to do with the legislature. We're going to talk about that at the appropriate time, but that has to be done by January 1st. We will do it by January 1st. All the stuff you heard, everything's going to be fine. We're going to work it out. We've got a lot of resources. We want to make sure all of our local communities do very, very good. So with that being said, the work continues. And we are here at Polk State to talk about and give an award for workforce education, which has been something that we've worked very, very hard on since I've been governor. And now it's kind of a little bit more in vogue. When I became governor eight years ago, it was still a college focus. Not that there's anything wrong with going to a university, but we really believe that vocational skills, technical education could provide a pathway to prosperity for a lot of young people without having to take on mountainous amounts of debt. Now, Four-year universities throughout the country, if you look in the last 30, 40 years, how many students have gone to these things and ended up very deep in debt? Only to end up having a degree that puts them right back in a job they could have had at a high school. A lot of them don't even get the degree. And that $100,000, $120,000 in debt is a millstone around their neck. It makes it harder for them to realize their dreams. We don't want to do that. So in Florida, even though we're saying correctly that a four-year brick and ivy university isn't the only way you can succeed, we're also making it so that our in-state residents Do not go, not only into punishing debt, but really don't go into any debt at all. So since I've been governor, the in-state tuition rate is exactly the same today as it was in January of 2019. It's not gone up one cent. We have the lowest in-state tuition in the United States of America, and it's not even close. That said, we have Bright Futures scholarships. If you're good enough to get into University of Florida nowadays, it is likely that you qualify for Bright Futures. And so the kids that do get full tuition or 75% tuition, depending on the test scores and the grades and all the criteria. So then they end up basically just paying to live room and board for that. Even the ones that don't get bright future, 75% of our in-state students do not have any debt when they graduate from a Florida university here in the state. That's incredible. And of the 25% of in-state students that do, the average debt that they end up taking out is about $6,300. Not that you want to be in $6,300, but that gets you like a meal plan at places like NYU and all this stuff. So let's just put that in perspective. So I'm proud that we've made university education affordable. I think it's been a tragedy how deep in debt so many of these students have gone in over the years. They were sold the bill of goods by some of these universities that somehow these degrees were magical. You had to mortgage your whole future just to get that degree in zombie studies and then you know what? You get it and the seas don't part and you're left holding the bag. That has been a problem, no doubt about it. I think people are wising up to it more. You're not going to have that problem in Florida and universities, but. It also raised the question, and we laid the marker down when I first became governor, there are other pathways where you can be successful, education, training pathways, and you're not lesser of a young person because you choose those pathways other than going to a traditional four-year brick-and-ivy university. I mean, the academics at University of Florida have gone up. It's very rigorous now from what it would have been maybe 40 years ago. I don't know if the football's gone up as it would have been, certainly not under Spurrier, as someone who was there for the Florida-Georgia game. That was quite a shellacking. And so it is what it is, right? But it's great. But even with that. These pathways are meaningful. These pathways have made a difference. So no state has done more than we have. Since I've been governor, we set the goal to be number one in workforce education by 2030. We achieved that by 2026. So four years ahead of schedule, Florida is the number one state in America for workforce education. And the amount of resources that we've put into this have been extraordinary. It's extraordinary. has matched our dedication and our ingenuity and creativity when it comes to that. And let's just look at the results. We have a 70% increase in apprenticeships in Florida since I've been governor. We have a 46% increase in registered apprenticeship programs. Which are obviously can have more than one apprentice in them 112% increase in registered pre-apprenticeship programs You know, we've got kids in like middle and high school who are going through all this stuff and getting skills. It's really incredible That's incredible. 57% increase in total apprenticeship and pre apprenticeship program Combined and then a massive increase of one hundred and fifty three percent in apprenticeship occupations So that's meaningful, that's providing very important skills. So that brings us here today. Polk State College is going to receive a grant through our Workforce Development Capitalization Incentive Grant Program to support its small, unarmed aircraft systems and applications program. So unarmed aircraft, so these are unmanned aircraft. Systems, commonly known as drones, are changing how industries operate. And so what they're going to be doing is using the drone technology to support operations in agriculture. And Estaci will talk about some of the stuff they get into like soil and this and that. And it's a way, you know, agriculture is tough because you're at the mercy of elements and there's ups and there's downs to it as we've seen in Florida certainly over the years. So this is going to be value-added, and Polk State's really going to be leading the charge on it. And it's a great part of the state to have this, and I'm really excited that we're able to get that done. So he's going to talk about the program that they have with this. The money is being sent to them, so they'll have that for that. And then, obviously, we wanted to make sure since we were here that we would do these great signs, and so we've done that. So, Stassi, do you want to come up and talk a little bit more about it? Well, thank you, Governor. Good afternoon, Polk County. It's great to be here. Clearly, God gave me four beautiful little girls and a very sweet wife because when I come home every day, they're often roasting me. And it was to prepare me for these press conferences where the governor does it to me as well at times, like he did at the opening today. But that is a sign. that he likes you. I've gotten to get to know him over the years and it's actually a good thing and in fact my dear friend Commissioner Henry Mack who's here today as well had the opportunity to roast me behind closed doors over there so it's clearly a lot of love in the room today. I'm very grateful to be here. When we talk about what we're doing here at Polk State College we were very intentional to teach our students hands-on learning. That is what's going to be the game changer, not just teaching out of a textbook theory, but making sure that they have the ability to put hands-on equipment so that when they are learning through our programs it takes it to the next level. And so these drones are going to do that for our dual enrollment students who are going to be here at the Lake Wales campus named after JD Alexander and why I'm going to get to his vision here when we talk about access to this location and what it's going to do For this community, it truly is going to be a gift. It's a game changer. I do want to congratulate those who won yesterday. I'll start at the top of the ticket with Governor Byron Donalds. And for us at Polk State College, we know that During a very busy campaign season, he took the time to come speak to our students on our Constitution Day and make sure that they had an opportunity. The room was packed with over 300 students who got to interact with him and other elected officials. I can't tell you the feedback that we received from our students and that civics lesson that they learned for the day, how it will always resonate with them. So we are extremely excited that he was selected to be the next governor. We are looking forward to working with him. Obviously, Attorney General James Uthmeyer is a dear friend that I greatly respect. He was the Chief of Staff to the Governor when I was the Deputy Chief. We did a lot of great work together under this Governor's leadership, and I know that there is no one who is more fierce when it comes to protecting the safety of our children than Attorney General James Uthmeyer, so I'm looking forward to that. And Blaise Ngole as the CFO, we actually have an announcement today related to the CFO. He will be the commencement speaker for Polk State College this December, so we're excited to be able to host him on our campus. And then, you know, this announcement is actually in alignment with the Ag Commissioner, Wilton Simpson, who is actually from Lakeland. And I know we're going to be able to get him to our campus at some point. So congratulations to all of them. Congratulations to our incredible delegation. These folks, I say it all the time, they don't just go up to Tallahassee during session and secure dollars for our community, they go to our events, they go to our buildings, they look at our facilities, they interact with our students, and they make sure that the needs of our college are being met. So thank you for everything that you all do, particularly Representative Kennedy, who's here today, and I know Representative John Albert, we are here in your district today, so thank you for having us and for all that you do for the college. Thank you to the Board of Trustees, Kyle Davis and Cindy Ross. I appreciate you being here and giving us the ability and the vision to get after it and make sure that we are expanding our programs for our students. And one last announcement before I get into today's announcement. We have here today... Dr. Orlando Gutierrez Borronat, who was my professor when I went to Florida International University. He is our keynote speaker tomorrow for Polk State College's inaugural Victims of Communism Day. And so I am so excited to be able to have him present to our students on his experience having lived in communist Cuba. So thank you for being here, my friend. But today's announcement is something that was near and dear to my heart because we were We were intentional when we met with members of this community to hear what What were the needs? And some of the folks that I met with were JD Alexander, former Senate president, Victor Story, who's very involved in the agriculture community. And he told me there needs to be a heavier emphasis on agri-tech. That is where the industry is going. That is where the need is. And so we were intentional to apply for a workforce capitalization development grant as part of our Agri-Polk initiative. Here specifically in Lake Wales because we know that there's a significant demand in this community with that industry and so these drones are going to allow our students to have that hands-on experience. They're going to be able to utilize them and see. How they can measure the temperature of soil and how that impacts the crop that will be reaped at the end of the season. Significant trends across the country. You see it at higher education institutions that are utilizing this technology. This is the direction of the industry and so we are so happy to be able to announce this today. I know we have Vitor who's one of our students in the agri program that's here with us today. So we are so proud of the students and the work that they're doing as they go off into the industry. But we're also excited to announce that we We have a Precision Ag Tech AS program that we're going to be launching in the near future at the college, and as a result of that, our students will be able to articulate from our college and go to the University of Florida pursuing a bachelor's degree in that area when they leave our institution. But this is what education is supposed to be about, not this one-size-fits-all approach. You're going to hear Commissioner Mack I'm sure get up here and talk about the college for all model is not, it's a way of the past. It's no longer how we view education. We are intentional at Polk State College that every student that walks through our doors is given value through opportunity. Many of them are Pell eligible, which means they have significant financial restrictions and we want to make sure we work with them. We tell them here's an opportunity for you to make money. We are the most affordable game in town. Governor's right. He's held the line on tuition with Florida universities, and it is about $6,300 before a state college, it's about $3,000 annually. So for even one of our four-year programs, you're talking $12,000 in debt at best, but the reality is most of our students qualify for our financial aid, most of our students are able to get scholarships, and when they're leaving our program, they're making upwards of $60,000, $70,000, $80,000, and $90,000. Right here in our community to uplift our community and ensure that we're giving back. That is why we tout the health sciences and nursing program so much, not just because we have the Haines City Davenport campus that's about to open in the spring, but there is a real need in this community. And that is why you're seeing hospitals that are popping up everywhere. And it is our college that is stepping up and meeting the demand of the workforce needs so that our community... Feels satisfied when they're meeting with the representative in the health care industry. We took a tour with the delegation of the facility recently with our dean who worked in the hospital for decades, Beth Luckett. And she says the same thing to the students she told us that day. She wants to feel confident that if she's the patient on the other side, that she knows that if this is a Polk State College graduate, they are going to get the highest quality of health care. And they do an incredible job of doing that. 100% licensure passage rate. 100% employment rate upon completion, there is no program like that and we are so proud of our students and our faculty and our trustees that make that magic happen. And so the last thing that we're announcing today, which is very important, is increasing visibility to this campus and so that is why these signs are so important because oftentimes students will tell us, well we didn't know that there was a Lake Wales Center, we didn't know that there was an area where we can have this opportunity. formed a partnership with the local charter schools that we can develop a talent pipeline so we can have those students coming through these doors so they can have that hands-on experience with the equipment. And the truth of the matter is, the individual that I was very intentional on, I know he hates that I'm doing this, but I am very intentional about honoring his legacy is former Senate President J.D. Alexander because this was his vision. Making sure that students in this community, a very remote part of Polk County, have access to high quality education and it is these kinds of programs that we will continue to replicate especially here at this center so that our students in Lake Wales know that number one they are valued and number two they have the same access to opportunity as students in Lakeland and Winter Haven and Bartow and so thank you for your vision. Thank you for allowing us to work so closely with your incredible daughter, Keaton, who's here with you today. We are so appreciative of your family and the legacy and impact that you have had here in Polk County. So thank you so much for having me here today. May God bless you all. Thank you very much, Governor, President Kamoutsis. It's a great honor to be here and certainly to follow in your footsteps as commissioner. I'm Henry Mack, 30th Commissioner of Education for this great state of Florida. Can't really add to much of what you said. It's quite remarkable to realize and to see that Polk State College is driving workforce education and innovation and bridging the gap between industry and the classroom. We no longer want to live in a world where universities or colleges are doing things in isolation from industry. We no longer want to live in a world where the ivory tower is the ivory tower and they're removed from being attentive to the community and to the industry and the employer needs. And that's what this grant represents. That's what our investments represent. That's what the Department of Education now is all about, is breaking down silos between labor and education in ways to drive mobility, as the governor said, to realize prosperity for all residents. No matter the zip code, no matter the economic background, no matter the race, no matter the ethnicity, this governor has led on mobility and affordability and workforce education. For everyone. And so in point of fact, I think I want to just emphasize Stacey, you're right, and Governor, to your credit, certainly you've been leading on this ever since 2018, when we were trying to dismantle the College for All mindset and model and increasing options in apprenticeships, increasing options in sub-baccalaureate programs, like precision agriculture. A recent stat just came out that showed that recent college bachelor degree graduates, Are finding jobs harder. It's harder to find jobs than ever before. They're taking longer than ever before to find jobs. And really, in a stunning reversal, they're almost at the same rate of trying to find a job as a peer who is without a degree. So in other words, degree holders are not as readily valued by employers as non-degree holders. If there's any labor market evidence to the fact that we are emphasizing workforce education and training, it's the signal that we're getting from employers that that's the case. The ironic thing is that's all true except for Florida. Florida is realizing post-completion outcome rates at higher rates than any other state in the nation. In other words, bachelor degree earners in Florida are the exception to the rule. And associate degree graduates, or apprentices, however, are often outperforming the bachelor degree earners. We have recent data from the Department of Education in Tallahassee that shows $70,000 on average earning potential for an apprentice. Coming out of a registered apprenticeship program that nearly mirrors the graduates are going to come out of the precision agriculture program that Polk State College is now creating, which is just exceptional. On the registered apprenticeship front, I think many of you know it's an earn and learn model. So they are simultaneously employed by an employer and they're learning or getting college credit while they're earning the wage. And if you're a registered apprenticeship in Florida here, there is a guaranteed wage progression built into the program. So by the end of the program, you're earning much more than when you began. And so not only is your earning potential greater than a bachelor degree earner, But you're earning, again, while you're going to school. And so it's a remarkable testament, certainly, to the governor's leadership for investing, as well as the legislature. Thank you, Representative Kennedy, for your leadership, too. And certainly, it's great to be with Senator Alexander to realize, again, your vision for access and quality workforce education and training for the residents of Polk County. And so in closing, I just want to again, I think, commend certainly my predecessor, Stacey Kamutzis, the governor, and elevate the value, again, of workforce education and career and technical education that has now taken root in Florida in ways that we do not see in other areas of the country. On Monday, I was with the Secretary of Labor, the United States Secretary of Labor, Keith Sonderling, announcing $40 million that the federal government is investing in registered apprenticeships. That application was submitted under the leadership of the governor, and that $40 million is going to go to drive workforce talent and critical reindustrialization agenda efforts in occupations related to maritime, shipbuilding, semiconductor. Semiconductor. critical occupations that are necessary, not only for the Florida economy, but frankly for the national security of the nation. And so if there's any, again, testament to the governor's leadership and sort of the history that we've built here in Florida, it's the continued investment, certainly from the federal government, in programs like this one. So Stacey, great to be with you. You certainly hit the ground running. And proud to stand by you, as always, in driving the kind of quality that you are certainly leading on here in Polk County for the residents of Polk County. Thank you very much. Appreciate it. Hi, folks. I'll be brief. It's always a pleasure to be here with such outstanding leadership, Governor DeSantis. I don't know where I would be without you. Thank you so much for all you do. President, Commissioner, thank you for your leadership and education. You know, coming from a little small town just down the road called Frostproof, you know, we didn't have lots of opportunities. Many, many in my class had to move somewhere else to get a job or to find a future. So when you talk to a lot of the students that you have or fellow citizens that are here, many of them are non-traditional students who started life, started a family, need to keep a job. So when it comes to driving across the county 20 or 30 minutes each way, even if they have a car, a lot of times they're sharing a car with other members of their family. It means so much when you can have real in-live instruction. right here that's quality, that helps them bridge the gap that they need to have to build a better life. So thanks so much for what you're doing here, this work for the board of trustees. Thank you very much for all you're doing and we'll try to continue to support you the best we can. All the best. Thanks. Take a picture at the signs. Do a picture at the signs? Okay. I think it's four of them that are going to be placed throughout. Yep. We do have folks from FDOT here. Do you guys get up? Whoever else wants to get in. I'm going to get in. Get in there. There's a lot going on there. They're better looking than I am. Thank you. Three, two. Well, I appreciate everything that folks have been doing. I mean, not only Polk State and what Stassi's been able to do. I mean, we had a lot of momentum even before that. But, you know, also Polytechnic, you know, has had some really, really positive momentum there as well. So I know you guys got a lot of, you know, you're involved in some of our stuff with Embry-Riddle and some of the things we're doing with the Evital. You know we did this So we have SunTracks here in Polk County, and it kind of started, JD would know more than me, but it was, I think they were like testing tolls type of stuff. I came in and I was like, you know what? We've got potentially autonomous vehicles. Let's test that. Test different ways you can move traffic around so that if we're doing a project, we know it's going to work and we know how the flow goes and all these other things. So we've been doing that for a long time. We did a demonstration with, you had Waymo and then you had Tesla, RoboTaxi and CyberCab that are there and these things, they come up, like the CyberCab, it comes up. Doors open. Only two seats. You go in. No steering wheel. No pedals. It closes. It takes you. And then you get out. And purely self-drive. And I was like, well, why do you only have two seats? And they said, well, 87% of ride share is either one or two. So they have that. Then they have the RoboTaxi, which has more. It's a different version. It does have a steering wheel, but you're not allowed to sit there. And then Waymo has different things as well. So we do demonstrations. They're able to go through obstacle courses, all that. And it's a pretty neat thing. I told my staff, so we did that. So RoboTaxi and CyberCab or Tesla, Waymo is. ultimately owned by Google. When we were there last time, I had my son, Mason, eight years old. So they had their Tesla Model S Plaid speed, which is the fastest they have for that. So I was like, can you take Mason and gun it in this thing? We'll do that. So we get it in. He's in the front seat. And I mean, it has got some torque, man. He was like, he loved it, right? So let's do that. So we did. But then I told my staff, I'm like, well, we've got to go back to SunTrax and let them do the Tesla flying roadster and let that thing fly around the SunTrax. So we're working on that. If we could get a demonstration, that would be good. But so we did a lot of autonomous vehicles over the year. Then we did, made it approved for eVTOL transport and testing. So we have two vertiports through FDOT there. So these are, they're electric. And they lift almost like a helicopter, but then they kind of fly like a plane. And it's good for like an urban area because it's quiet and it doesn't disturb. So you don't even know it would be landing on a roof. You know, helicopters, loud as soon as, so you can go and do it. Go to Tampa, to Disney or something like that. Goes about, it can go 100, 150 miles. So this is something that may end up in a rideshare situation. Can be used for first responders. It could be used for a lot of different things. So they're doing testing. We did the first flight last week. To commemorate the first commercial flight, which I think was about like 1914, that went from St. Pete to Tampa. And they did, it was the first flight with two of these types of aircraft from different companies flying together. So you had one which is kind of like the more traditional, it kind of goes up and then it goes. Then you had another which is like a very small, almost like a fixed wing. It goes and takes off, but very quiet, very, very energy efficient. And there's, so there's a whole ecosystem that's feeding into this type of advances in transportation, so Polk State and Embry-Riddle are two institutions that are having programs so that students will be able to go potentially working in those areas. You know, we are gonna end up and we say they're flying cars if you looked at the one that the Joby that we had I mean, it's it's it's probably even smaller than a car like just where you would sit and I think you can fit like four passengers Probably maybe the same size, but then it's kind of got some wings and stuff like that. So it would be bigger than a traditional car. But, you know, I do think that we're going to end up having something like that, not too distant future. And then I also saw the cyber cabs and how it drives itself. My kids are six, eight, and nine. I don't know that they're even going to be driving cars like we traditionally. You know, it's like a huge deal when you're growing up to get your driver's license, you get the 15-year-old one where you can go with a parent, and then you get the 16-year-old one, and like driving's like a huge deal, but you know, teenagers are not the best drivers, and so to have this. Parents, it's going to be a big relief for parents because parents are going to have, because there's going to be years and years of safety and all this stuff that's demonstrated to where you're going to be able to go and you have teenagers and you don't have to worry as much about them getting into an accident. You'll end up seeing live saves amongst teens. There's no question in my mind about that. But the safety is pretty strong because I know if you do, like Tesla has insurance. And if you do their self-driving in your own car, they will reduce your insurance premium as a result of that. So that's putting their money where their mouth is. They have confidence that the self-driving technology is better than human drivers, such that if your premium was $200 a month, they'll knock it down. If you use the self-drive most of the time, they'll knock it down $50 or $100 a month because they think your chance of getting in an accident is much, much lower. as a result of using that. So these kids here, there's a huge opportunity in all this emerging transportation technology that I think is gonna be really, really interesting. And I'm just, I mean, we were the leader. We were the leader in autonomous. We were the leader in eVTOL. And no one was doing it the way we were doing it. So the kids that are gonna come through are gonna have some cool opportunities. Okay, do we have any questions back there? Yes. The election results last night, how confident are you that Congressman Byron Donald has the leadership experience to lead such a diverse and large state, and what is that transition of power going to look like between the two? So we will have a very smooth transition. I've told, I met with the congressman when he won the primary and I said, pick someone to lead your transition. Don't worry about it while you're running, but let them start putting the pieces together. We'll have contacts in our office. You work with them and let's do it. You know, this is just a fact. You know, eight years ago, I didn't have a cooperative transition. I mean, it is what it is. People are going to do. But we've already been working on that with them. We're prepared to do what we can do to be helpful. I think it's important that the governor hit the ground running and have everything in place that they need. We hit the ground running and I think made a big splash. But we kind of, because we were so, you know, bold in some things that people didn't know behind the scenes that, you know, we were really working to make sure it all held together for those first few weeks. But we did do it, and so I think he's going to have an opportunity to do something similar. And look, you never know when people go from a legislative role to an executive role. It's a different thing, right? And you're called upon to behave differently than you did in the Congress. You've got to make decisions in ways where it's just one of one, where not one of 435. And so some people take to it, some people don't. But I'll tell you, when he ran, what he was saying to voters is, My opponent wants to undo what the governor did. I'm going to build off what the governor did. And I think that was if, you know, if he had said the opposite, I don't think he would have won the race. So I think he understands why the people that came out to vote for him and the other Republicans did that, even in a very inhospitable environment where Republicans were roadkill all across these United States. And I think he's seen, having campaigned, the appreciation that many people have. for what's become the free state of Florida. And I think they want to make sure that we preserve it and make sure that we build off it. So I think that's gonna be his frame of mind and if that's kinda how he does, I think he's gonna have a chance to do quite well. It's interesting. This decade for the United States has been the most significant shuffling of the American population, maybe in all of American history, but one of the most significant. But it's the most significant for political shuffling, because you had people leaving in record numbers, California, Illinois, New York, who had similar policies, and then moving to Texas, Florida, some of these others. The issue is, is... You aren't going to find people that are fed up with how California's governed. They're not going to choose to move to Texas starting in January if that was their mindset. They have a Democrat government. It just is what it is. And you're going to see others. Businesses. You know, I just think about Elon Musk. You have a Democrat attorney general in Texas. They're going to go after Elon Musk. I guarantee you they will do that. Thank you for that. Having the Gigafactory and all that there. I think it's going to be problematic for him because I think the political hostility is very, very strong. So that is a massive sea change. What I think that does is we were the refuge of sanity. We were the leader this last decade. I said earlier this morning when we talked, you know, in my lifetime, Texas has been the most significant Republican state in the country. In the last, in this decade, we have been the most significant. I don't think it's even close. But they have been for most of my lifetime. And it was almost inconceivable that Texas wouldn't be, wouldn't have Republican leadership. And now, not only lose one race, I mean, you got stomped across the board. So that really is as important as Florida has been. In this decade, you know, we're competing with with Tennessee, Texas, some as other stuff. Now, the people that really need a place to look for for me, Florida is like it for inspiration, are certainly the biggest, the biggest pillar at this point. And, you know, it could have been nobody was left standing given how bad that election was. We're left standing, and I know not only Byron, but James and Blaze and Wilton, as well as Jim Boyd, who I know is going to do a great job, and Sam Garrison's a good man, he's going to be the Speaker of the House. You know, they've got a lot of responsibility to make sure that we're living up to the great success that we have, and I think they will. And, you know, it's interesting, you know, you look at this, and these elections are weird, I'm going through the results, and I look, and I'm like, okay. Look at the governor's race, attorney general, chief financial officer, and ag commissioner. And Stassi will appreciate this because he was in the administration with us when James was there. But James is the most popular man in state government. He got the most votes of everyone on the slate. And so, you know, who would have thought three or four years ago that he would end up winning a statewide race and get more votes than the other cabinet officials and even our governor candidate. But James did a great job, and he is going to continue to do a good job for the people of Florida. Okay, thanks everybody. We'll see you soon.