Sun Sentinel contributed to GOP resurgence in Florida

While celebrating Joe Biden and Kamala Harris’ win, I’m simultaneously mourning the loss of Democratic seats in South Florida. We all know Donna Shalala and Debbie Mucarsel-Powell lost in MiamiDate, bad news for Florida Democrats.

What many may not knowis that Democrat Linda Thompson Gonzalez lost a seat in Broward that she should have won. Shewas trying to flip the last Republican seat in the statehouse in overwhelmingly Democratic Broward County, a tossup House district that she lost to Republican incumbent Chip LaMarca.

Shewas a stellar candidate, but a red wave abetted by a misguided endorsement for La Marca by the Sun Sentinel sunk her candidacy.

Local papers are a huge factor in local politics. A free press is the great equalizer for a candidate without money. Gonzalez, a first-time candidate, was a virtual unknown, without LaMarca’s big budget. The endorsement of the paper of record in Broward County could have made all the difference to her campaign.

Itwas especially galling to see La Marca’s supporters— all off-duty firefighters — using the Sun Sentinel’s endorsement as a talking point for LaMarca at an early voting site where Iwas volunteering for Gonzalez.

The Sun Sentinel Editorial Board’s decision is particularly shameful considering Gonzalez’s passion for a cause that is close to the heart of the Sun Sentinel’s readers— the environment, specifically flooding in Broward County. Why not support the candidate whowas named by ClimateCabinet.org as running one of the 40 most important pro-environment state legislative races in the country?

Why, instead of supporting Gonzalez, did the paper endorse the Republican candidate who is favoring developers over the environment?

The Sun Sentinel’s rationale was that La Marca would represent the interests of Broward in the Republican-dominated Legislature. Unfortunately, the Sun Sentinel was as uninterested in La Marca’s actual voting record as theywere in Gonzalez’s environmental platform. He voted with the Republican majority 99% of the time (43 out of 44 contested floor votes), including against measures like raising Florida’s unemployment insurance premiums. And then, he pretended he didn’t. Sound like anyone else you know?

Donald Trump also provided the blueprint to La Marca’s campaign against Gonzalez. He ran attack ads that look like the cover of the National Enquirer via QA non. LaMarca’s string of falsehoods include insinuations of theft and treason: aiding and abetting socialist governments, using her position to become a millionaire, violating U.S. interests. His ads try to link Gonzalez to criticisms of “hard-line socialists, communists and ex-guerillas,” foreign government actions during years shewas not even in these countries. I’m surprised he didn’t throwin that she drinks the blood of babies like Hillary Clinton.

Taking a page fromthe Trump playbook, he obviously felt free to just make stuff up, knowing that she didn’t have the budget to fight back with her own ads and that no one would factcheck.

Slinging dirt at awoman who had a 30-year, honorable career as a public servant in the federal government, including almost 20 years in the U.S. Foreign Service is shameful. Gonzalez could have provided a bridge to the Republicans in the statehouse. Her extensive experience in diplomacy makes her uniquely qualified to cross the aisle.

I volunteered for Gonzalez’s campaign because, as a senior myself, Iwas inspired by awoman her age, 71, running for office for the first time. I knew she was the underdog, running a grassroots campaign, but I didn’t know how much it was fueled by woman-power.

When I attended her thank-you party for volunteers at Fishtales in Fort Lauderdale on election night, I found out that her candidacy emerged froma Tuesday night group of girlfriends. They had been meeting at Fishtales in Fort Lauderdale every Tuesday for four years for what they called “therapy” in 2016 after Clinton lost. For this cross-section of Florida women— Latina, African American and white, ranging in age from 40s to 60s— therapy eventually gaveway to political activism.

At 71, Gonzalez had never run for office. However, as a recently retired widow, shewas casting about for away to reinvent herself and make a difference. Shewas passionate about the environment, especially sea-level rise and Florida’s lack of a plan to address it.

Nowthat the election is over, Gonzalez told me she’d like to reacquaint herself with her grandkids. But she says there won’t be any economic recovery in Florida unless we do something about sea-level rise. You can’t revive an economy that’s literally underwater. So, she’s going to stay active in environmental groups.

If Joe Biden can run for president at 78, Gonzalez can run again in Broward at 73. I certainly hope she does. And I hope the Sun Sentinel gets another chance to do the right thing and endorse her.