OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
Democrats just got some more bad news as they head into the 2022 midterms and 2024 presidential elections.
The Republican Party has now taken the edge and made Florida a solidly red state, which could have devastating consequences for Democrats.
“The Republican Party of Florida continued to extend its voter registration edge in August, holding a nearly 270,000-voter advantage over the state Democratic Party, according to data posted Wednesday on the state Division of Elections website,” the Tampa Bay Times reported.
The state had 5,233,366 registered Republicans on Aug. 31 and 4,963,722 registered Democrats. It also had 3,939,389 unaffiliated voters and 258,804 voters registered with third parties.
Steve Schale, a longtime Florida Democratic strategist, is telling Democrats that they could be in huge trouble going forward.
“Without a full-frontal, professional and accountable partisan effort to turn it around, sometime before the end of this year, there will be more Republicans registered in Florida than Democrats,” Schale wrote on his blog.
“That has NEVER happened before. And, given their voters have higher turnout scores — this isn’t a great place to start,” he added.
Republicans are also aware of their massive gains, and they do not plan to slow down.
“In a state like Florida, when you consider that you get 1,000 new residents a day, you really can’t stop. You have to keep going and you have to keep engaging,” said Helen Aguirre Ferré, Republican Party of Florida’s executive director.
Democrats in Florida are a minority and that minority is liable to grow once the GOP-controlled legislature begins its redistricting process later this year, leaving them further behind and making it even more difficult for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to keep her iron grip on the lower chamber.
Democrats fear that Republicans will use the state’s massive population growth as a means of eliminating some of their congressional seats.
That enormous growth, however, makes it much more likely that Republicans, who control 16 of the state legislature’s 27 seats, are going to be looking hard and fast at paring that down during redistricting in a way that will help lock in a GOP majority for years to come.
That’s not the only issue Democrats are facing.
Several Democrats are sounding the alarm about how “bleak” Florida is looking for them.
“It feels a little bit like we’re kind of set up to fail,” an unnamed Florida Democratic official told The Hill. “It’s not any one person’s fault. A lot of these problems have existed for years. But for a party that has been decimated in the last few elections and especially the last one, I’m not seeing a sense of urgency yet.”
Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis is one of the most popular governors in the nation and even has some Democrats endorsing him.
Democrat Florida Commissioner Dave Kerner, 39, who has been elected many times in Palm Beach County, a Democrat bastion, endorsed DeSantis and credited him for how successful Florida has been.
“’I’ve been a registered Democrat since I registered to vote at the age of 18. I don’t really see it as going against my party. I’m a Floridian, an American first. But there’s a confluence of reasons,” he said.
“The trajectory of our state, which I spoke about in my endorsement, his support for law enforcement, his management of the COVID-19 pandemic. There’s a host of reasons why I endorsed him,” he said.
“There has been a lot of that, what I call sort of shadow support for sure. Obviously, Gov. DeSantis is doing an incredible job in Florida. He’s America’s governor, but there is a lot of support out there,” the Democrat said.
“You know, it’s an act of courage, what you did and you should be proud. And it’s not about what I did. It’s about the governor’s record of service in the state of Florida. But ultimately, it should not be an act of courage and should not be seen as an act of courage,” he said.
“We are a state on the rise, and I give a lot of credit to our governor for the trajectory of our state,” the Democrat said.
