Brendan Farrington Remembered for Florida Reporting and Unusual Stories

Brendan Farrington, a longtime Florida political reporter, has died at 60. Steve Schale, a close family friend, said he passed away Friday at his home in Tallahassee after a brief illness. For more than 25 years, Farrington covered state politics, hurricanes, and unusual Florida events for The Associated Press. Colleagues remembered him as well connected, fair, kind, and funny. He was also a devoted sports fan who said he had visited every major league ballpark.

Reporters often described Farrington as both a mentor and a friend. Terry Spencer, a former Florida news editor for the AP, recalled that people from all levels of government regularly called him for background information. Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush also paid tribute, calling him a traditional journalist and a true professional. The respect crossed party lines, which helped Farrington explain politics while focusing on the people affected by hurricanes and other events.

Originally from Wilbraham, Massachusetts, Farrington began his career at The Patriot Ledger in Quincy in 1988. He joined the AP in Miami in the late 1990s, then moved to Tallahassee in 2001. One memorable assignment came on election night in 2014, when Charlie Crist used Farrington’s phone to concede the governor’s race to Rick Scott. Gary Fineout, a former AP colleague, said Farrington could write well across many subjects and was ready to cover hurricanes whenever the need arose.

He also collected odd local stories for an annual roundup about strange Florida news. One 1999 account involved a man who injured a finger in a fight, cut it off, prepared it with scrambled eggs, and ate it. Another involved a man who lost part of a finger while cutting a frozen pig and received leech treatment to preserve it. In 2021, a press secretary for Gov. Ron DeSantis was suspended from Twitter after criticizing Farrington’s reporting about a donor’s investment in the company producing the COVID-19 treatment Regeneron. Farrington later faced heavy online abuse. He left the AP in January 2025 after accepting a voluntary buyout.