Democratic chief Perez: Florida ‘ground zero’ to win U.S. House

Democratic National Committee chair Tom Perez heard impassioned pleas from party officials about issues ranging from housing to health care at a roundtable in Orlando on Wednesday. But he stressed one thing over and over — turnout.

“All the issues you care about, the most important thing we can do is get out there and vote,” he said, pointing out that less than a quarter of Hispanic Democrats voted in Florida in the last midterm election in 2014. “When our communities stay home, we lose. … There’s no such thing as an off year. Every vote counts; every election counts. And when we invest and organize, that’s how we do it. That’s how we take back our nation.”

Perez said the national party would provide an “innovation grant” to the state party of at least $100,000 for additional Hispanic outreach, “to make sure that we are listening to Puerto Ricans and we are organizing in the Puerto Rican community. And it’s not simply asking people to vote. … It’s also asking the existential of how can we help.”

The meeting at the Carpenters Regional Council building in south Orlando was chaired by U.S. Rep. Darren Soto, D-Kissimmee, who sat next to Perez and was praised by him several times. But Perez stressed afterward that the DNC would not endorse candidates in competitive primaries, including Soto’s race with the firebrand former U.S. Rep. Alan Grayson.

The Florida Democratic Party, often outmaneuvered and almost always outspent, has been the most underperforming in special elections despite several key victories in state Senate and House seats. In 2017, Florida was the only state, other than already deep-blue New England and Pacific Northwest states, where Democrats got fewer votes in special elections than Hillary Clinton did in those same districts in 2016.

Nevertheless, Perez was confident the party would hold all its competitive U.S. House seats, including that of U.S. Rep. Stephanie Murphy, D-Winter Park, and could pick up to five additional seats including the one in District 6, which includes question Mount Dora, now held by U.S. Rep. Ron DeSantis, who’s running for governor.

“Florida is our ground zero in our efforts to take back the House,’’ Perez said. “You take up to five seats, that’s roughly 20 percent of what we need.”

Trade unionist Jose La Luz, however, warned Perez, “I have yet to see a compelling narrative that appeals to the heart, to increase turnout by the 1.5 to 2 percent we need to turn Florida blue. I’m sorry, I don’t want to offend anybody, but I have yet to see [that] message.”

La Luz said Puerto Ricans in Florida he’s spoken to list health care, housing, jobs and climate change as the most important issues. “And I’m going to be honest, they don’t see either of the parties doing much for that,” he said. “This is both a challenge and opportunity.”

Florida GOP spokeswoman Taryn Fenske, who said Perez has “failed to follow through on many promises” since taking over the DNC, added that while Republicans were “working to ensure the Puerto Rican community in Florida has all the resources they need after Maria, Tom Perez is showing up right on time to support Bill Nelson and congressional Democrats with more empty rhetoric in a tough campaign year.”

Perez, asked about Gov. Rick Scott’s outreach to Puerto Ricans, said Scott has been taking credit for money invested and work being done through the Federal Emergency Management Agency, not the state.

“Activities speak louder than words,” he said.

Later, Perez met with Puerto Rican families living in hotels in Kissimmee, who shared stories ranging from being wrongly profiled as undocumented immigrants to experiencing discrimination when looking for housing.

One woman pointed at Soto, saying, “You have been the only one who has been down here. And I won’t forget.”

Perez responded, “I am very sorry for what the government didn’t do.”