SARASOTA, Fla. (SNN TV) – Florida was a reliably Democratic state in the mid 20th century. But the Democratic Party was a hodgepodge of different factions then, and cracks began to emerge.
In part 2 of our series “Red, Purple, & Blue: A Sea Change in Florida Politics,” we look at the conservative Democrat who switched parties to challenge the Democratic governor who supported racial justice, and we dive into 80s-era Florida being led by the man who may have picked fruit for your parents.
In Democratic Governor Reubin Askew’s reelection bid in 1974, Republicans ran Jerry Thomas, a former Democrat and Senate President. Thomas said he left the party due to Askew’s pro-busing, anti-business, and radical environmentalist leadership. At this point, Republicans attacked Democrats as being liberal to tie them to excessive government and the perceived moral decay of the 1960s.
It didn’t work in 1974. Askew was easily reelected with 61 percent of the vote. He then nominated to the Florida Supreme Court the first black justice, Joseph Woodrow Hatchett.
By the time Askew left office, he built a national profile with Arkansas governor Dale Bumpers and Georgia governor Jimmy Carter for racial reform, modernization, and integrity in government, according to From Yellow Dog. Democrats had supermajorities by the time he left – 31 Democrats and nine Republicans in the state Senate, and 92 Democrats and 28 Republicans in the state House.
However, Republicans were building their own infrastructure.
“The Republican Party really started working on candidates,” said Jack Brill, the current chairman of the Sarasota County GOP. “The base of it started in Pinellas and Hillsborough County. As that effort expanded, it came down to Sarasota, Charlotte, Collier, Lee. They called it the Golden Horseshoe because it went from Collier up over to Orlando and down. That was the Republican base for the whole state.”
This was part of a long-term effort for them because they wouldn’t even sniff the governor’s mansion in 1978.
Bob Graham was a state senator and became well-known for his “Workdays” program. He started it in 1974 to introduce himself to voters – he would spend a day working as a bellboy in Orlando, a ring announcer in Tampa, a waiter in Jacksonville, a tomato picker in Naples, a factory worker in Bradenton, or Santa Claus visiting Coral Gables. People who worked with him praised his grit and said they’d vote for him. And the results spoke for themselves: he won the 1978 gubernatorial election by more than 11 points.
Graham had the “E’s agenda” – economic development, education, and the environment. On economic development, he traveled to Europe, South America, and the Far East to recruit high-tech manufacturing, for tourist investment, and new markets for Florida agriculture. For the environment, he brought more environmentally endangered lands into public ownership than any other state. He also worked on community care for the elderly. Less than 2 percent of the elderly were in nursing homes in Florida compared to 5% nationally.
In 1982, he was reelected in a landslide, 65 to 35 percent. The only big county the Republican won? Sarasota.
At this point in time, plenty of elderly Floridians voted Democrats partly because of their life back up north before moving to Florida.
“They grew up in the unions. People that were retired-age in the 80s and 90s, a lot of them worked in middle class union shops and they were able to build themselves to that middle class-plus socioeconomic status,” said Dr. Michael Binder, a professor and Director of the Public Opinion Research Laboratory at the University of North Florida. “Having been in a union shop, connections to Democrats, all those sorts of things.”
Despite four straight Democratic wins, rising crime, property taxes, and deteriorating schools were driving Floridians to the suburbs. They began looking to Republicans for answers.
“You take all aspects of conservative good government and that got more and more people to go, ‘Hey, the Republicans know what they’re doing,’” Brill said.
Ronald Reagan’s presidential election in 1980 ushered the “Reagan Revolution” with huge tax breaks for the rich and a strong anti-communist message. He was more supportive of blockades against Cuban president Fidel Castro than Reagan’s predecessor, Jimmy Carter. That position appealed to many Cuban Floridians. In Florida, Reagan pulled together Cubans, Blue Dog Democrats, suburban middle-class folks, and military retirees.
“We saw the influx coming from Cuba, the Latin Americas,” said Nikki Fried, state chair of the Florida Democratic Party, “We saw more people coming to our state to retire. We were losing the Blue Dog Democrats. Democrats thought these were outliers and thought we were in pretty good shape. Our tent was decreasing due to demographics and the next generation of Blue Dogs were becoming Republicans.”
“Conservative Democrats for years had elected sort of Southern conservative Democrat-type governors in Florida or people who at least had some appeal to those folks, and then maybe they were voting Reagan for president,” said Zac Anderson, political reporter for the Sarasota Herald-Tribune.
And with so many people moving to Florida, there was no cultural identity in the state. You would identify yourself from where in Florida you were – you were on the Suncoast, the Nature Coast, north Florida, the Panhandle, South Florida, Central Florida. Transplants subscribed to hometown newspapers in their old state, there were no union company BBQs and labor rallies as Midwesterners enjoyed up north, and many went home for Christmas.
Because of all this, newcomers turned to churches for community. A strong vibrant Jewish community grew in Florida, especially southeast Florida. However, megachurches became big, and abortion politics united megachurches with the Catholic Church.
After Bob Graham left office and became Florida’s U.S. Senator, Democrats faltered. There was little support and structure for new Democratic politicians, no party organization, and Democrats had their own individual ambitions.
Republican Bob Martinez ran for governor in 1986. He was Tampa’s mayor and a Democrat before 1983. Not only was he a former Democrat, but he got the endorsement of James Smith, who lost his Democratic gubernatorial primary in 1986, switched parties, and ran as a Republican for Florida Secretary of State that same year.
1986 was shaping up to be a rough year for Florida Democrats.
One crucial issue would derail the next governor’s term. And a future presidential candidate moved to Florida and gave the Democrats one of their most competitive races post World War II. That’s in next week’s edition of “Red Purple Blue, a Sea Change in Florida Politics.” Catch this special every Sunday at 6 p.m. and 10 p.m. on the SNN Weekend Edition.
