'There is no plan. There's nothing': Florida Democrats in despair over future

[RandySF]

More than two months after enduring humbling midterm losses, Democrats in Florida are in a state of disorder, with no clear leader, infrastructure, or consensus for rebuilding, according to interviews with more than a dozen organizers, former lawmakers, donors and other leaders.

These factors have compounded their worries about Democrats outside Florida all but writing off the nation’s third most populous state, which was once seen as a marquee battleground. Democrats have struggled there in recent elections, hitting a new low last fall when Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis won a second term by nearly 20 points and carried majority-Hispanic Miami-Dade County, which a GOP gubernatorial nominee hadn’t done in 20 years. Republicans also secured a supermajority in the state legislature.

Now, as Democrats look to 2024, there are few early signs that Florida will be a top priority for President Biden, who has said he intends to run for reelection. A Biden adviser, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe strategy, said decisions about whether a reelection campaign would invest in Florida would be based in part on the Republican nominee. Some Democrats see little hope of contesting Florida’s 30 electoral votes — only Texas and California are allotted more — in 2024 if DeSantis is the nominee, while there’s a greater opportunity if former president Donald Trump wins the GOP nod.

“The thing about Florida Democrats is we keep learning with every passing year that just when you thought you had hit bottom, you discover that there are new abysses to fall deeper and deeper into,” said Fernand Amandi, a veteran Democratic operative in the state. “There is no plan. There’s nothing. It’s just a state of suspended animation and chaos — and, more than anything, it’s the mournful regret and acceptance that Florida has been cast aside for the long, foreseeable future.”




https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/01/22/florida-democrats-losses/

[dalton99a]

1. Kick

https://archive.ph/GRg2u

As they grapple with their political future, Democrats are also reckoning with policy costs their losses have exacted. DeSantis has made Florida a laboratory for conservative policies that have been lauded and adopted by Republicans elsewhere in the country, including banning certain textbooks in schools and barring transgender minors from receiving certain health-care treatments. He has positioned himself as a top potential presidential contender for 2024, and polls have shown that a majority of voters in the state support his handling of the pandemic and other challenges facing Floridians.

Former congresswoman Debbie Mucarsel-Powell (D) said a lack of investment from Democratic donors helped pave the way for DeSantis to achieve national prominence and has given him “a clear path … to be able to make a case for himself.” Mucarsel-Powell predicted a long road to recovery for Democrats: “There’s going to be a lot of difficult work to rebuild trust in the party.”

The GOP’s gains came even as the state’s electorate in recent elections has become younger and more diverse — trends that Democrats long felt were on their side. Republicans overtook Democrats in voter registration in 2021, figures that only widened in the lead-up to the midterm election. The state has more than 5.3 million registered Republicans and just under 5 million registered Democrats, according to state figures. And in the months since the election, pollsters and operatives have found that the state saw depressed turnout among Democrats.

Christian Ziegler, vice chairman of the Florida Republican Party, touted DeSantis’s victory as a product of him being a “relentless fighter” willing to take on tough issues and delivering wins for Floridians. “Under Governor DeSantis, freedom has overtaken sunshine as the No. 1 driver of tourism and relocation,” Ziegler said.

[brooklynite]

16. "a lack of investment from Democratic donors"

Democratic donors need a compelling argument that the Florida Democratic Party and its candidates are prepared to compete. Don't blame gerrymandering, or the media, or Citizens United or "corporate Dems"; the playing field is what it is, and if you can't play on that field, my cash will be going to other States.

[at140]

2. At the risk of sounding pessimistic,

it will be best to not waste many resources in Florida for presidential contest in 2024.

[SoCalDavidS]

3. I Agree

Texas either. Those states are a money pit, and the resources are better used elsewhere, to secure states that are Purple.

[Buckeyeblue]

12. Yes. Let's stop falling into the Texas trap

Georgia is a better place to spend money. Arizona too. Nevada. I think we need to keep Virginia.

Is North Carolina the next state we could pick up?

[PortTack]

5. Agree

[JohnSJ]

15. We need to focus on the blue wall, that gave us victory in 2020 and 2024.

[Tetrachloride]

4. National leaders can step forward.

Unless they are leading from the back.

There are choices.

[RandySF]

6. Not when Florida Dems seem unwilling to help themselves.

[Tetrachloride]

10. I disagree. Especially when Florida leaders fall down,

others can step forward. Otherwise they aren’t leaders and i don’t need to vote.

[Skittles]

7. freedom has overtaken sunshine?

FREEDOM FOR WHO?

[Yavin4]

8. My advice. Go young.

Recruit young people to run. What's the point of keep trotting out old candidates who've been rejected by the voters like Charlie Crist? Go young.

[In It to Win It]

9. Voters don't vote. Voter outreach is needed, desperately. Can't reach out to voters with little

resources.

It's becomes a catch-22, chicken and egg problem. Can't win if we don't try.

[calguy]

11. Pro Tip: Next time, don't run re-tread Charlie Crist for Governor.

[iemanja]

13. Open access version

https://archive.is/GRg2u

I think Florida is a lost cause at the federal level. Hopefully the state party can rebuild.

[mcar]

14. Florida is a red state

and will be for some time to come, IMO. And that's speaking as someone who works with local Democratic clubs and caucuses.

Beyond the very real fact that the state party has been ineffective for some time, consider that the FL Republican party is the most well-funded party in the country - DeSantis had a $100 million war chest.

Other factors:

Republican retirees are flocking into the state and younger people are not. It's creating a huge demographic crisis - young working people cannot afford to live in the state. Even in my little rural county, rents are ridiculously high vis a vis the job opportunities.

For reasons I cannot figure out, young and Black and Hispanic Democrats simply did not come out and vote in November. After Dobbs and all the authoritarian, racist, sexist, and homophobic legislation passed by the FL state leg, it blows my mind that people didn't vote. Not being in love with a candidate is no excuse.

[In It to Win It]

20. I think that

Last edited Sun Jan 22, 2023, 06:03 PM - Edit history (1)

that is an excellent summary of what's going on here in Florida.

I'm dumbfounded at the amount of would-be Democratic voters that just didn't bother to turn out in 2022. That's a problem that is on top of right-leaning reliable Republican voters moving here.

I just can't wrap my brain around that each statewide Democratic only got around 3 million votes compared to 4 million in 2018, with around 4.7 (or 4.8) million registered Democrats.

There is room for growth in Florida if people are willing to invest and get people engaged. There are 14 million registered voters, and only about half of them actually turned out. Specifically, the turn out for Democrats was piss poor for reasons I also cannot figure out, but I wish I knew.

[mcar]

21. I'm proud to say our little red county

was in the top 3 in the state for Democratic voter turnout. That helped propel a lovely young woman into a surprise win for city council (she beat a RWNJ by 30 votes).

[In It to Win It]

24. I'm sadden to say that my blue county

sucks.

I'm in Broward. Broward is always blue but it wasn't as blue as it should have been.

[bahboo]

17. pathetic...

when I lived there in the 80's, the Dems had a vibrant party....

[Biophilic]

18. Last fall was my first election in Florida. It was very frustrating and very disappointing.

I couldn't find information even on line about the people running. I never, and I repeat that, never saw a Democratic election sign anywhere where I live. I had to hunt on line to find even some information and it was scant and poorly offered. It was very disappointing. Yes, I live in Sarasota county, but jeeze, you would think there would be at least online information about school boards, etc as well as state wide elections. As far as I was concerned the Florida Democratic party didn't even try to help people vote.

[czarjak]

19. Hispanics For DeSantis? Totally insane. Period.

[mercuryblues]

22. They need Howard Dean

or someone like him to show them how to go forward. He did it for a whole country, he can certainly do it for FL.

[pecosbob]

23. DeSantis will hang himself with the rope he's woven,

but that won't help Dems until they find better people than Crist and Wasserman Schultz.

[edhopper]

25. Any State that re-elects DeSantis

by that wide a margin, and continues to support his bigoted, fascistic regime is not a State we can win anytime soon. Florida will soon be Alabama or Mississippi.
I just want to see the faces of all those Red voting seniors when he becomes President and takes their Social Security and Medicare.