Mary Ellen Klas

Politics and policy columnist for Bloomberg Opinion. Former Miami Herald Capitol Bureau Chief. Mary Ellen has covered six governors and the political dynamics of one of the most pivotal, diverse, and economically-divided states in the nation. She was awarded a 2023 Polk Award for political reporting for team coverage uncovering the secrecy, cost and documenting the political impact of the migrant relocation flights of Gov. Ron DeSantis. She was among the Miami Herald newsroom team that won the 2022 Pulitzer Prize for breaking news. In 2018-19, Mary Ellen was awarded a Nieman Fellowship to study at Harvard for the 2018-19 academic year. She examined the relationship between declining journalism resources and corruption in state and local government. Scroll through these pages to see her work:

Florida, the nation's bellwether

In my years of covering Florida government and politics, I had been struck by the extent to which everything that happens in Florida was a precursor to what happens in the nation. In 2010, the state elected a businessman with a shaky past who had never held public office as governor. Rick Scott's campaign appealed to xenophobic fears and economic insecurity eight years before those themes would elevate Donald Trump into office. All that ended in 2022, when the predicted red wave only happened in Florida but was repeated again in 2024. Florida remains a state in transition, as is the nation. Here is a look at where we've been and where we may be going.

Bloomberg.com • 6th April 2025

This Marco Rubio Is Unrecognizable

El Salvador President Nayib Bukele may have found the best description for Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s new approach to dictatorial regimes: a laughing emoji.

Bloomberg.com • 2nd April 2025

Democrats Wasted Donors' Money in Florida

Tuesday marked the most consequential political report card yet in President Donald Trump’s second term. Voters in Florida gave him lower than expected — but passing — grades. It was Democrats who failed the test.

Bloomberg.com • 27th March 2025

Forget Polls. Watch the Florida Special Election Results.

Florida holds two special congressional elections on Tuesday in districts where President Donald Trump won more than 60% of the votes. They’ll be closely watched to see if that margin — which months ago seemed effortless for Republicans to sustain in the president’s home state — has melted away.

Bloomberg.com • 7th March 2025

Florida Deserves Better Candidates for Governor

For nearly half a century, Florida has been America’s ultimate political bellwether. Now, the race to replace Governor Ron DeSantis in 2026 is flashing a warning sign about the influential state’s shallow leadership pool.DeSantis can’t run again because of term limits, but he wants to run for president again so he’s looking for a way to stay relevant. He’s propping up his wife Casey and President Donald Trump endorsed Congressman Byron Donalds. Florida can do better, and it should.

Bloomberg.com • 6th December 2024

Marco Rubio May Be Trump’s Most Promising Cabinet Pick

Marco Rubio is Trump's most promising Cabinet pick. If he can navigate a chaotic administration and its role on the global stage, he could be a source of generational change in the Americas.

Bloomberg.com • 13th November 2024

Rick Scott’s Myriad Failures Make Him Unfit to Lead the Senate

Florida Senator Rick Scott has emerged as the MAGA favorite in the race to succeed Mitch McConnell as majority leader. But anyone who looks at Scott’s record will conclude that President-elect Donald Trump and his supporters ought to be wary. Scott could do more harm to the Trump agenda than even Susie Wiles could handle.

Miami Herald • 27th May 2016

There’s no fun these days in Florida’s political parties

This summer may be remembered not only for a blue moon and the welcome end to a bitter presidential primary, it may also mark the time America’s century-old political parties went on life support. The year of 2016 laid waste to durable traditions as Florida and the nation showed that their allegiance to political parties was over.

Miami Herald • 16th October 2020

Will rejected mail-in ballots be Florida’s hanging chads of Election 2020?

Florida’s decentralized voting system, the unprecedented spike in mail-in ballots and another uncomfortably close election could make uncounted vote-by-mail ballots the issue that draws lawsuits in the 2020 presidential election.

Miami Herald • 11th October 2020

Florida’s seniors, the state’s most reliable voters, are shifting away from Trump

Florida’s seniors who traditionally vote at higher rates than any other age group, shifted in significant numbers away from President Donald Trump to former Vice President Joe Biden. The trend was happening as more of Florida's Hispanic voters shifted away from Democrats.

Miami Herald • 1st December 2018

Infighting is turning Florida GOP into a house divided

The 2018 midterms revealed how the GOP had to backtrack on its opposition to Obamacare to save their candidates. Florida foreshadowed that debate in 2015. The one-party breakdown was linked to the influence of special interests, increasing polarization of the parties and term limits.

Tampa Bay Times • 9th November 2014

Gov. Rick Scott's weak win leaves power with Republican Legislature

Florida re-elected Gov. Rick Scott with more people voting against him than for him, a reminder that Florida remains a deeply divided state with a majority that swings right during the midterm elections and, until 2016, swung left in presidential years.

Bradenton Herald • 1st December 2018

Florida immigration feud reflects GOP divide

Florida's Republican presiding officers for 2012-14 were a reflection of the generational and ideological differences that divide the Republican Party. In 2016, those differences were manifest in Florida in the debate over immigration, particularly whether to extend in-state tuition to the children of undocumented immigrants.

Florida's favorite paper, Tampa Bay's favorite local news site • 9th February 2013

Cashing in on state of Florida contracts is growth industry

Florida, like the federal government, has become so dependent on outside vendors to taxpayer-supported work that it has transformed government into a contract brokering service, with more attention paid to who wins the deal than how well the service is performed. In an exclusive interview, this former contract manager walks us through how the private sector lobbyists outwit and outman the state at the negotiating table.

Miami Herald • 1st December 2018

Senator calls for replacing transparency program

After one Senate president snuck a $5 million item into the budget to create a new budget transparency tool created by a friend of his chief of staff, his successor pulled the plug. The powerful search tool threatened to expose the budgeting tricks used by legislative leaders and budget staffers.

Tampa Bay Times • 1st September 2013

Top Florida Senate aide gets $400,000 as moonlighting political consultant

Former Senate President Don Gaetz, the lawmaker who authored the latest constitutional amendment on ethics, has a history of ethical contradictions. Here we reveal how his chief of staff ran his own political consulting firm while working for Gaetz and earned more than $400,000 from some of the same special interests that had a stake in influencing legislation.

Miami Herald • 1st December 2018

Courtroom clash pits Democrats, Republicans in epic redistricting battle

The redistricting reform fight that is playing out across the country came early to Florida, where for four years the party in control worked behind the scenes to defy the new rules and tilt the outcome in their favor. It worked, until they got caught and, in 2015, the courts drew the Senate and congressional maps.