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For decades, Florida was a swing state that could turn an election. It played a pivotal role in 2000, delivering George W. Bush the White House (under questionable circumstances), and helped Barack Obama win in 2008 and 2012.
But over the past eight years, the state has taken a decidedly right-wing turn. Donald Trump won it in 2016 and 2020, the congressional delegation is dominated by Republicans — including both senators — and at the state level, Republicans are demonizing and attacking the LGBTQ community.
Not all is lost, however. According to Andrea Mercado, executive director of the group Florida Rising, the state is still very much in play. But in order to take advantage of the opportunity, progressive organizers and donors will have to think beyond just the next election. (See Blue Tent’s recent brief: Building Progressive Power and Winning Elections in Florida: Options for Donors.)
Long-term mobilization work
Formed on January 20, 2021 — President Joe Biden’s inauguration day — out of the existing groups Organize Florida and New Florida Majority, Florida Rising has a long-term strategy to shift the state’s politics by mobilizing new voters from historically marginalized communities — one that it’s been putting into action in recent elections. “We've registered over 200,000 people to vote since the 2016 election,” said Mercado. “In 2020, we turned out over 300,000 first-time voters to the polls.”
The stakes couldn’t be higher, and while Florida is currently GOP-dominated, the state isn’t as red as it seems. Gov. Ron DeSantis only won election in 2018 by 30,000 votes, and incumbent Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson lost in 2020 to Republican Rick Scott by just over 10,000 votes. In a state of 23 million people, those numbers aren’t insurmountable — it just takes work.
“Both political parties historically engage voters in our state with these massive political sand castles that are built two months before an election, and then they just wash away and leave nothing behind after the election,” Mercado said. “That leaves people feeling disrespected.”
Effective messaging
Part of the mission of continuing the relationship is to educate voters and develop a more effective messaging strategy. Florida Rising is taking that mission seriously, turning out volunteers to talk to voters about why their voice matters in state and federal elections alike, and letting the public know about what lawmakers are doing with their power.
“Organizers around the state are knocking on doors every day to talk about why, instead of dealing with the housing crisis or the climate emergency, we have legislators in Tallahassee who are focused on giving massive tax breaks to the largest corporations and are focused on attacking our schools and LGBTQ kids and families,” Mercado said.
In order to activate those voters, Florida Rising is targeting the 12 counties with large urban populations of Black, brown, and demotivated voters in order to shift the balance of power in the state. And how they approach those voters, Mercado said, should be a model for the rest of the country.
“Fifty percent of Latino voters in this country live in California, Texas and Florida,” she told Blue Tent. “So if we care about Latino voters in this really important growing segment of our country and our democracy, it's critical that we invest in voter engagement and grassroots organizing.”