A devastating blow to Florida’s disenfranchised Democrats
We knew the races for Florida governor and U.S. Senate would be nail-biters, but our hearts were in our throats watching Tuesday night’s rollercoaster election results for Florida governor and the U.S. Senate.
History tells us statewide races are often decided by about 1 percent of the vote, and this will be no different. (The race had not been called at press time for the opinion page.)
Going into Election Day, it appeared Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum, the Democratic nominee, had the edge and that his momentum might help sweep incumbent Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson back into office. Most polls had shown him ahead, though within the margin of error. And the Democratic turnout during Early Voting and Vote by Mail had surpassed that of Republicans.
But as the night wore on, the numbers fell toward U.S. Rep. Ron DeSantis, and even moreso toward Gov. Rick Scott for his campaign for the U.S. Senate.
And it felt like 2016 all over again, when, after leading in the polls, Hillary Clinton lost to Republican Donald Trump.
We knew, of course, that Gillum started out with a deficit, having won only 34 percent of the Democratic vote in the five-way August primary. DeSantis, by contrast, began with a stronger base, having secured 56 percent of the votes in his party’s primary.
We were concerned that during the primary, Gillum had avoided scrutiny over the FBI investigation in Tallahassee because he had largely polled in the single digits. As you’d expect, DeSantis placed the issue front-and-center during the general election, though Gillum said he’s been told he’s not a target of the investigation.
We also feared that race would be an issue, with Gillum being Florida’s first African-American major party gubernatorial candidate. We had to question whether voters statewide — more than two-thirds of whom are older whites, many of them conservative — would be willing to elect a black man as governor.
Sure enough, race became an issue the day after the primary, when DeSantis warned voters not to “monkey this up” by electing his opponent. It remained an issue throughout, with a lot of talk about dog whistles and other “cotton-pickin” remarks. Republican insiders tell us Gillum turned off a lot of white Democrats, especially in North Florida, who thought he played the race card too often.
But those of us who believe Tallahassee needs a course correction were buoyed by the optimism we saw in Gillum’s campaign. Rather than today’s forced march toward privatizing education, prisons and safety net services, Gillum ran as an unapologetic progressive, ready to stand up for the environment, raise the minimum wage, legalize marijuana, repeal Stand Your Ground, ban military-style assault weapons and push health care as a basic human right.
It was risky for him to talk about raising taxes on 3 percent of corporations to better fund education. And his talk of abolishing ICE in its present form didn’t set well with those concerned about immigration and an open border.
DeSantis’ challenge was that he was running to continue what Gov. Scott has done, and maintaining the status quo is not as sexy a message as one of change. But the economy seems always the defining factor in politics. And right now, business is good for a lot of people and they want to keep it that way.
So DeSantis went negative, labeling Gillum as a socialist for his views on universal health care and corrupt for taking Hamilton tickets from someone later identified as an FBI Agent. He also said, wrongly so, that Gillum wanted to impose a state income tax.
And fear is a stronger motivator than the message of a happy warrior.
It was an improbable night, watching a far-left Democratic and a far-right Republican — two very different candidates with vastly different philosophies on governance — go down to the wire. It shows just how purple Florida is.
If the outcome stands, it represents a devastating blow to Florida’s backbench Democratic party, which needed a win. It doesn’t bode well for Democrats in 2020, either, when President Trump plans to run for re-election.
President Trump’s impact on this race cannot be overstated. He is the reason the then-unknown DeSantis won the Republican primary and his recent rallies clearly helped boost DeSantis’ showing.
There will be more to say about races and ballot questions in coming days.
But for now, it appears Florida’s leadership will remain solidly in Republican hands.
And nearly half of Floridians will continue to feel disenfranchised.
Editorials are the opinion of the Sun Sentinel Editorial Board and written by one of its members or a designee. The Editorial Board consists of Editorial Page Editor Rosemary O’Hara, David Lyons and Editor-in-Chief Julie Anderson.