General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: What the hell happened to Florida [View all]csziggy
(34,136 posts)Retirees moving to Florida because we have no income tax, just sales and property taxes - and the property taxes have nice homestead exemptions plus the state tries to limit what the counties can charge.
Before 1970, Florida had so few Republicans that we didn't even have Republican primaries. For most races, if you wanted to have a say, you had to be registered Democratic since they were decided in the primaries. Between the backlash to the Civil Rights Act and Republicans moving into the state, in 1966 we had our first Republican governor since Reconstruction, Claude Kirk, and the number of Republicans has increased ever since.
Once Jeb Bush was elected in 1999, gerrymandering in 2000 and 2010, the legislature being controlled by Republicans, Florida has not had a fair election for over twenty years. And the Florida Democratic Party just doesn't seem to be very effective at fighting them.