From 2016 through 2020, the U.S. was a hotbed of women warriors fighting the good fight. Caught off guard by that traumatic 2016 loss, there was an awakening of women's political consciousness. We worked hard over the next few years to ensure Trump only had one term, and to elect a new generation of progressive leaders. Florida was no exception. Women (and men, too, of course) spent heroic amounts of time involved in political actions. It was a beautiful thing.
In 2018, it seemed we might flip Florida "blue" (i.e., Democrat). Andrew Gillum was a progressive leader. Honestly, it really seemed like we were going to win the 2018 governor election. We only lost by 1/2 of 1% of the votes cast, about 32,400 votes of the 8.1 million votes cast.
In 2022, the Florida Democrats ran a former Republican governor, Charlie Crist, who had switched sides to run in 2014, although he lost then. For obvious reasons he seemed like a safer candidate, a moderate who might be able to win in Florida. But he didn't, he lost to Desantis by 19.4%, or 1,507,897 votes of the 7.8 million votes cast.
Many women warriors have left Florida since 2022. Some moved their families to states where the educational system wasn't threatened. I watch them go, reading their hopeful posts on Facebook. I get it, especially for those who have school aged children, trans children, or children of color. I wish them the best.
When I first moved here there were more registered Democrats than Republicans. Here's how it stands now. Keep in mind that research tells us that the NPA votes are pretty evenly split between liberal and conservative.
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| https://dos.myflorida.com/elections/data-statistics/voter-registration-statistics/voter-registration-reports/voter-registration-by-party-affiliation/ |
Interesting statistics. Both parties seem to be losing registered voters but the other categories don't seem to be gaining large amounts. Are there fewer voters?.
ReplyDeleteSometimes I read the news about Florida and wonder if what is happening there is a harbinger of our future in the rest of the country. The right-wing craziness seems to be so strong and relentless these days. I am worried.
ReplyDeleteIt's very troubling. Ron Desantis' 2024 campaign pitch is Make America Florida
DeleteI think we have no one left to rally behind, male or female.
ReplyDeleteI agree.
DeleteI'm mystified by why people would choose no party affiliation. In Florida, that just ensures you can't participate in primary elections, and that's an essential step.
ReplyDeleteI think the development of vast parts of rural Florida for retirement in recent decades (The Villages, for example) has transformed the electorate. When I grew up in Florida it was mostly Democrat, though it was always conservative and from the 1980s we pretty consistently elected Republican governors. (Lawton Chiles being the exception, and he'd been in Washington long before that.)
I also don't understand why people won't choose a side, and register as Independent. There's something so self-serving about it.
DeleteSorry to hear that a lot of campaigning women have left Florida or become less politically engaged. There's clearly a need for a strong opposition to Trump or DeSantis getting the Republican nomination.
ReplyDeleteAs I've said before, when I moved to the USA I found the shared language was misleading and the USA (so familiar, it seemed, from movies and telly) was just as "foreign" as, say, Guatemala. I asked for explanations and residents were hard pressed to explain the oddities of their country, fondly imagining that what they experienced was worldwide normalcy.
ReplyDeleteNot least when it came to "registering" to vote.
RR: Tell me again - when you register to vote you're required to give your political affiliation?
Old Fred (Born in Austria; knew a thing or two about politics): That's true.
RR: But what about the secrecy of the ballot-box? One of the pillars of democracy.
Old Fred (Shrugging his shoulders, Viennese style): Registering, say, Democrat doesn't mean you have to vote Democrat.
RR (Bouleversé as the French would say.): So what on earth's the point...?
Old Fred (Eyes gleaming; recalling the pre-Anschluss days in The Old Country): You can register the opposite of what you intend to vote. It foxes the statistics, fools the opposition.
Old Fred's dead by now, this was in 1960. Pity, Perhaps he'd have been able to explain the Trump phenomenon.