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In It to Win It

(8,143 posts)
Sat Jan 14, 2023, 12:41 AM Jan 2023

As their leader Manny Diaz resigns, Florida Democrats are an endangered species - Opinion

Miami Herald via Yahoo News

Sometimes it’s hard to remember that we live in Florida, once the nation’s largest battleground state, and not in South Dakota or some other solid red state where one party doesn’t even bother competing.

That’s a harsh assessment of the state of the Florida Democratic Party, but it’s rooted in recent history. A decade ago, Democrats carried the state in a presidential election for the second time. Then came the disastrous 2022 midterm elections and, now, the resignation this week of party Chair Manny Diaz, who had been under pressure to leave.

Florida, in fact is under one-party rule by Republicans. Money from national Democratic donors has dried up and redirected to states such as Arizona and Georgia. There are no Democrats elected statewide since Nikki Fried left the Department of Agriculture to challenge Charlie Crist in the Democratic primary for governor.

Diaz, a former Miami mayor, led the party during its most humiliating performance in recent years. Even before he became chair after another bad year for the party, the 2020 elections, Democrats had been warning that lackadaisical voter-registration efforts and community engagement would doom them in the Sunshine State.

It’s safe to assume that the GOP’s grip on the state — built over the past two decades — will be in place for years. In politics, as in life, you reap what you sow. That’s not to say, however, that Florida is completely out of reach for Democrats. They can, for example, improve their performance with Hispanic voters and regain Miami-Dade County, both of which the GOP flipped in 2022.

Democrats face a chicken-or-the-egg dilemma. Without cash, they cannot beef up party apparatus. Without showing they can achieve results, the cash won’t flow. There are no miracle workers who can save the Florida Democratic Party. Progress, if it can be achieved, will happen more slowly than many party faithful demand.
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As their leader Manny Diaz resigns, Florida Democrats are an endangered species - Opinion (Original Post) In It to Win It Jan 2023 OP
K&R UTUSN Jan 2023 #1
Demographics work against Dems in FLA Yavin4 Jan 2023 #2

Yavin4

(35,357 posts)
2. Demographics work against Dems in FLA
Sat Jan 14, 2023, 02:07 AM
Jan 2023

Key demos, age, ethnicity, new immigrants from Socialist countries, etc. all work against Dems in that state. And as more Boomers retire and move there, it's not really a hill worth dying on for the Democrats. Both GA and AZ work better for the Dems. Heck, TX is better for the Dems than FLA.

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