Broward Democrats confront perilous future

COCONUT CREEK — The first step, of course, is admitting you have a problem, and boy, do Florida Democrats have a problem.

The Broward Democratic Party’s Chris Byrnes delivered the grim reality to a grassroots gathering of older Democrats in Broward this week. He fired up his laptop and his PowerPoint flickered to life, starting with “New rules: Florida is not a target state.”

“We’re going to look at some things that are not going to be pretty — things that are going to make us a little bit uncomfortable, like how did we get here,” Byrnes began. “But I feel that’s the only way to get through to where we need to be.”

The bad news kept flowing, like decaf at a condo breakfast.

In Florida’s race for governor, Ron DeSantis outspent Charlie Crist, $192 million to less than $15 million. In the contest for U.S. Senate, national Democrats contributed $500,000 to Val Demings, one-tenth of what the party committee gave in the past. The state party sent far less help to Broward than in the past, and mail ballot requests dried up.

Democratic requests for mail ballots in Broward tanked from 50% during the pandemic in 2020 to 36% in 2022, and overall turnout was dismal.

“Democrats were destroyed in early voting and on election day,” Byrnes said. “That’s something we really need to focus on.”

In his plaid shorts and tennis shoes, Byrnes blended right in with his audience. He spoke to about 100 members of the Democratic club at Wynmoor, a gated, neatly manicured retirement village in Coconut Creek, one of the oldest and largest condo communities in Broward.

Byrnes praised Wynmoor residents for their diligence in cranking out handwritten postcards, urging Democrats to vote. But the results weren’t very impressive, even in Wynmoor. Democratic turnout there was 71% compared to 70% for Republicans, a reflection of changing demographics in retirement areas.

Countywide, Crist got 58% in Broward compared to 42% or DeSantis, almost the opposite of the statewide results. DeSantis over-performed in Broward, where Republicans make up one-fifth of the electorate, as he did most everywhere else.

Byrnes is an “outreach and organizing coordinator” for Broward Democrats. He noted the importance of the upcoming municipal elections in March. Seven Broward cities will hold them, including Coconut Creek. That’s how political parties build a deep bench for the future: from the bottom up, by winning city elections. Byrnes noted that Democratic candidates won in city elections in North Lauderdale, Plantation and Weston.

But it starts with voting, and that means requesting a vote-by-mail ballot. Broward Supervisor of Elections Joe Scott reminded voters this week that anyone who wants to keep voting by mail needs to send a new request to browardvotes.gov.

DeSantis and Republicans legislators changed the law in 2021 to force voters to work harder to keep voting.

“I hate that!” a woman shouted from the audience.

For decades, Wynmoor was a mandatory destination for any Democrat with serious political ambitions, just like Sunrise Lakes, Century Village, Hollybrook and all the others.

Entering the Wynmoor clubhouse on a Tuesday brought back memories of past visits. For example, in 2002, less than two years removed from the recount that put George W. Bush in the White House by 537 votes, Janet Reno ran for governor. Naturally she visited Wynmoor, where a few hundred retirees mobbed the former U.S. attorney general.

The quirky Reno, who drove a red pickup truck across the state, hoped to ride a wave of South Florida support all the way to the Governor’s Mansion. But it didn’t turn out that way, and it offered clues of what was to come. In an election tarnished by major election irregularities in Broward, Reno lost a close primary to Bill McBride, who dropped more clues about Florida’s political future.

He thought South Florida was highly overrated as a land of plenty for Democrats and that he could win the nomination by focusing on Democrats upstate — especially along the I-4 corridor.

The supposed experts scoffed at McBride’s strategy, but he beat Reno and won that primary, only to be trounced by Jeb Bush in November, as Democrats lost that race for governor and every one since — in 2006, 2010, 2014, 2018, and in November, when DeSantis cruised to victory.