General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsAs Trump Gained Latino Support in Florida, Biden's Campaign Ignored Warnings
On October 29th, Chris Wills, the Hispanic vote director for Joe Biden in South Florida, sent an e-mail to the campaigns leadership, with the subject line WE ARE ON TRACK TO LOSE FLORIDA. In Miami-Dade County, a liberal stronghold, Republicans were ahead of Democrats in turnout by six per cent among early voters and held a lead among Latinos of eight per cent. If immediate action was not taken, Wills warned, Biden would fail to gain the level of support that Hillary Clinton had won, in 2016, in the states most populous county. There is still time to get our vote out, Wills wrote. If the response continues to be excuses, the statement made in my subject line will become a reality. His direct supervisors, members of the campaigns national leadership and the state director, Jackie Lee, were copied on the e-mail. No one responded. Two days later, with less than forty-eight hours of early voting left, Wills followed up with a second message. The Republicans wiped out another 40,594 votes from our lead, he wrote. Nothing different is being done in our state to change our trajectory towards a loss. It, too, went unanswered.
On November 3rd, Donald Trump carried Florida by nearly four hundred thousand votes, more than twice the margin that he received in 2016. Four years after Clinton won Miami-Dade by thirty percentage points, Biden performed dismallybeating Trump by only seven per cent. Democrats lost two House seats, along with key races at the county and state levels. To the shock of many Democrats, Trump improved his standing in Miami-Dade in majority Latino, Black, and white precincts alike. Exit polls showed that he won roughly fifty-five per cent of the Cuban-American vote, thirty per cent of the Puerto Rican vote, and forty-eight per cent among myriad other Latino diasporas. Wills was shattered by the results but not surprised. For months, he had been pleading for help. Wills and his fiancée, Daniela Ferrera, a campaign volunteer, have blamed the campaigns state leadership for contributing to Bidens disastrous performance in Florida.
https://www.newyorker.com/news/campaign-chronicles/as-trump-gained-latino-support-in-florida-bidens-campaign-ignored-warnings
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Election is over now, and lessons do need to be learned as we move forward. I posted articles with similar warnings back in the summer about problems with voters of color and was met with the usual derision, of "thanks for your concern" or even worse being called a troll. I'm glad Biden pulled this out, but we could have certainly done better especially down-ballot. I hope we can all learn things from this campaign and do better in the future as a community.
onecaliberal
(32,816 posts)Im sorry to say I dont want bigoted, hating anti immigrant, fake Christian policy positions in our party.
Thekaspervote
(32,754 posts)brush
(53,764 posts)and Venezuelan communities abhor socialism so the repugs used the fact that our party has two nationally prominent and outspoken democratic socialists in our midst in their attack ads, and. game over.
It's good we didn't need Florida this cycle to win the presidency, but down-ticket races like for the Senate and House we suck.
It's a problem. How do we fix our messaging?
BainsBane
(53,029 posts)and Trump in 2020. That's not about immigrant hating. It was about ginned up fears of socialism toward immigrants who fled socialist states. Your broad brush doesn't work in this situation, and it ignores the relevant population.
onecaliberal
(32,816 posts)That socialism?
BainsBane
(53,029 posts)That would be the way to go.
onecaliberal
(32,816 posts)250,000 dead. 600 children who cant be reunited with their parents. NOTHING done about a pandemic almost a year in. Yeah, I dont give a fuck about any trump voter.
Marius25
(3,213 posts)Their rationality makes absolutely zero sense.
BainsBane
(53,029 posts)so the GOP couldn't convince them that someone they already knew was a socialist.
greenjar_01
(6,477 posts)They seem like they made the right stands in the right places.
Because they won.
Bleacher Creature
(11,256 posts)I listened to the pre-election day briefing with Jen O'Malley Dillion, and it was noticeable how many times she mentioned that they had many paths to 270 without Florida.
That being said, it is incredibly disturbing that the number of Latinos who voted for Trump, despite his record. Hopefully the party figures out a way to do better in 2022, and ultimately 2024.
Thekaspervote
(32,754 posts)Deathsantis did other things to cheat. It was NOT a fair election..far from it
LAS14
(13,781 posts)DeminPennswoods
(15,278 posts)re-establishing relations with Cuba, but I'm more vindictive than him.
yellowcanine
(35,699 posts)With the degree of voter suppression going on in Florida not sure it was winnable this cycle. Need to start working on that now for 2022 and 2024.
LisaL
(44,973 posts)NT
JCMach1
(27,555 posts)Miami-Dade used the easily hackable ES&S
BGBD
(3,282 posts)and Ohio for that matter. There's no reason to run in those places anymore. Ohio is basically Kentucky with more black folks and Florida is on meth.
We'd be much better off to focus our efforts on Georgia, North Carolina, Arizona, and Texas.
We took two of the four above this time, and Obama took NC in 08 and it's been close there ever since. Biden barely lost there this time. Texas is still red, but clearly getting bluer. You can look at my map from the other day to see how large our gains in East Texas were.
JI7
(89,246 posts)We put a lot into the state but there is only so much you can do.
I do think a ground campaign could have helped but it was understandable why they avoided it.
Yes, Trump's campaign ignored the pandemic and acted as if there was no virus.
But is that a good thing as the article seems to suggest? Somehow I doubt it. Author should look at what is going on with covid infections going through the roof, and then tell us how ignoring the virus is a good thing.
LiberalFighter
(50,866 posts)liskddksil
(2,753 posts)"For months, he had been pleading for help. Wills and his fiancée, Daniela Ferrera, a campaign volunteer, have blamed the campaigns state leadership for contributing to Bidens disastrous performance in Florida."
LiberalFighter
(50,866 posts)My Pet Orangutan
(9,234 posts)Some men, (not just latinos) equated catching Covid with machismo. Others looked at Biden and saw Castro. Talk about a 'lost cause'.
Phoenix61
(17,000 posts)Its going to be a long time before Florida is ready to turn blue. Its an incredibly diverse state and until the DNC recognizes that and campaigns that way its going to stay red.
GemDigger
(4,305 posts)not a damn thing could have been done about it.