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Retain Carlos G. Muñiz

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Research as of Oct. 24, 2026. Early voting runs through Nov. 1; Election Day is Nov. 3. Check your voter info at votehillsborough.gov

Retain Carlos G. Muñiz

Judicial Retention

Retain Carlos G. Muñiz

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Listen: this contest in 1:25

Research as of Oct. 23, 2026

Read by a synthetic voice from this page’s research. A summary, not a recommendation.

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Florida voters are deciding whether Justice Carlos Muñiz keeps his seat on the state Supreme Court. It's a yes-or-no retention vote. If a majority votes Yes, he stays. Florida voters have never removed an appellate judge. Governor Ron DeSantis appointed Muñiz in 2019, and he served as chief justice until July of this year. Before joining the court, he was general counsel of the U.S. Department of Education and chief of staff to Attorney General Pam Bondi. He wrote the 2025 majority opinion upholding Florida's redrawn congressional map. He also joined the 2024 ruling that let the six-week abortion ban take effect. The Republican Party of Florida and the Hillsborough County Republican Party recommend a Yes vote. The Florida LGBTQ-plus Democratic Caucus recommends No, and progressive critics object to the abortion and map rulings. If a justice were removed, the governor would appoint the replacement. The Florida Bar ended its poll of lawyers on judges in 2023. In 2020, 71 percent of lawyers who answered favored keeping Muñiz. Creative Loafing Tampa Bay's guide says No. An op-ed the paper ran October 13 argues he has not respected settled precedent, pointing to the abortion ruling. The research found no recommendation from the Tampa Bay Times. Research as of October 23, 2026. Sources and the full picture are on this page.

Official sample ballot wording

Supreme Court

Shall Justice Carlos G. Muñiz of the Supreme Court be retained in office?

Yes · No

Mark your ballot: Retain Carlos G. Muñiz
EditorialWhy Creative Loafing picks No
  • A retention vote asks whether a justice has done the job as it should be done, not whether you like his politics. Here, CL says, the answer turns on respect for settled precedent (stare decisis).
  • In 2020, soon after joining the court with no prior judicial experience, Muñiz joined a majority that dropped Florida's test for overruling precedent, so that reliance and stability no longer count on their own.
  • In April 2024 he joined the ruling that the state constitution's privacy clause never protected abortion, overturning 35 years of precedent and triggering the six-week ban. Nothing in the constitution had changed, only the court's membership.
  • He also joined the 2020 rewrite of Florida's summary-judgment rule, which CL argues takes disputed cases away from juries. Justice Jorge Labarga, a Republican appointee, dissented both times.
  • No Florida justice has ever lost a retention vote; CL argues a No is how this check is meant to work, whatever you think of abortion.

The guide lists No without a write-up; the reasons are from an op-ed CL published Oct. 13.

Creative Loafing op-ed (posted by Ray Roa), Op-ed: Vote 'No' on retaining Florida Supreme Court Justice Carlos Muñiz

Where it stands

FactJudicial · Judicial retention, 5 votes (Muñiz; 2nd DCA: Atkinson, Silberman, Sleet, Teves Smith)

No poll. No appellate judge ever removed

No polls found in the research. This row covers all five retention votes. Research as of Oct. 24, 2026.

Lead recommendationEditorialCreative Loafing Tampa Bay, Oct. 13, 2026

Creative Loafing’s pick

No

Why, as they argue it (our summary of their write-up)

  • A retention vote asks whether a justice has done the job as it should be done, not whether you like his politics. Here, CL says, the answer turns on respect for settled precedent (stare decisis).
  • In 2020, soon after joining the court with no prior judicial experience, Muñiz joined a majority that dropped Florida's test for overruling precedent, so that reliance and stability no longer count on their own.
  • In April 2024 he joined the ruling that the state constitution's privacy clause never protected abortion, overturning 35 years of precedent and triggering the six-week ban. Nothing in the constitution had changed, only the court's membership.
  • He also joined the 2020 rewrite of Florida's summary-judgment rule, which CL argues takes disputed cases away from juries. Justice Jorge Labarga, a Republican appointee, dissented both times.
  • No Florida justice has ever lost a retention vote; CL argues a No is how this check is meant to work, whatever you think of abortion.

The guide lists No without a write-up; the reasons are from an op-ed CL published Oct. 13.

Creative Loafing op-ed (posted by Ray Roa) · Op-ed: Vote 'No' on retaining Florida Supreme Court Justice Carlos Muñiz · every pick: the full guide

Why this leads: The site owner's choice (Oct. 24): the recommendation that best matches the owner's values, shown first on every contest. Still an editorial: one outlet's opinion, not this site's.

The money gap

Fact

Retention votes have no campaign money in the research.

What the research holds

Counts from every page and file
Polls
0
Money-map edges
0
Network edges
2
Progressive support
1
Progressive oppose
0
Right-leaning support
2
Right-leaning oppose
0
Sources
6
People & groups
4

Tampa Bay Times

EditorialMoney map

Not found in the research.

EditorialAs recorded in each guide

Progressive guide
No recommendation found
Right-leaning guide
No recommendation found

Other editorial pages

Opinion columns, not endorsements

No other editorial page in the research has made a pick here.

Endorsements, both lenses

Neither lens is this site's voice

Progressive lens

LensOpen the guide

Appointed by Gov. DeSantis (2019); Chief Justice 2022–2026

Bar poll

2020 Florida Bar poll: 71% for retention (no 2026 poll)

Yes (retain)0 support · 0 oppose

No listings found in this guide.

No (remove)1 support · 0 oppose

SupportEndorsement

LGBTQ+

Notes

  • Why progressives object: he joined the 6–1 majority in Planned Parenthood v. State (2024), which let the 6-week abortion ban take effect, and wrote the 2025 majority in Black Voters Matter v. Byrd upholding the congressional map that eliminated a North Florida Black-performing district (Florida Phoenix).
  • Creative Loafing Tampa's editor-in-chief Ray Roa wrote a personal op-ed urging NO (Oct 13) (CL Tampa).
  • Hillsborough County Democratic Party's guide makes no retention recommendation.

Conservative side, as noted in this guide

No organized campaign either way.

Searched, nothing found

Florida Democratic Party, Hillsborough County Democratic Party, Floridians Protecting Freedom, Florida Decides Healthcare, ACLU of Florida, Equality Florida, Florida Rising, Florida AFL-CIO.

Right-leaning lens

LensOpen the guide

Appointed by Gov. DeSantis (2019)

Bar poll

2020 Florida Bar poll: 71% for retention (no 2026 poll)

Yes (retain)2 support · 0 oppose

SupportEndorsement

Republican Party & officials
No (remove)0 support · 0 oppose

No listings found in this guide.

Progressive side, as noted in this guide

Florida LGBTQ+ Democratic Caucus recommends NO, citing his abortion and redistricting votes.

Searched, nothing found

Federalist Society statements (membership is an affiliation, not an endorsement), Florida Right to Life.

Terms

Definition

Sources

6 in the registry, official records first · All sources

Where sources disagree

All conflicts

No conflicts recorded for this contest.

Matched from the research's conflict list by contest, candidate, judge or measure name.

Where to vote