Florida gets bumpy makeover in map
State contains strange bulge in image released to announce Sanders’ candidacy
Outside Florida, people love to look at Florida as something funny — and on Monday presidential candidate Bernie Sanders actually made Florida look funny.
The map he distributed along with the announcement of his 2020 presidential candidacy shows Florida with a strange bulge emanating from the Tampa Bay area, protruding into the Gulf of Mexico.
“Who drew this [lousy] map,” political data analyst Matt Isbell wondered on Twitter.
Isbell, who tweets under the name @mcimaps, knows maps. And he really didn’t like the Sanders team’s shape for Florida, describing it with a much
more earthy term on Twitter.
“What the heck is going on with my state in this image?” wondered another Democratic strategist, Steve Schale, writing on Twitter that “The Tampa area is not an irregular growth.”
Other commenters suggested the bulge looked like a tumor, a shelf bracket, or a foot dipping itself into the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico.
@anitalynns from Bloomington, Minn., who likened the shape to the water-dipping foot, said she’s “seen better state shapes out of toddler puzzles.”
Eric Jotkoff, a consultant with extensive Florida ties, raised another criticism of the map, which was part of a message in which Sanders proclaimed support in all 50 states — but shows only
the lower 48.
“Is it just me or is it odd that @BernieSanders campaign is bragging about having supporters in all 50 states — then uses a graphic which leaves two states off?” Jotkoff tweeted.
Sanders and his campaign isn’t all that familiar with Florida — at least not in 2016, the when the Vermont senator also sought the Democratic presidential nomination.
Though he had a dedicated base of followers among Sunshine State progressives, Sanders held just one rally in Florida before the 2016 presidential primary, and it was the day before he had to be in the state anyway for a nationally televised debate.
He didn’t perform especially well in the Florida primary, receiving just 33 percent of the vote.