FLORIDA (SNN TV) – The Florida Democratic Party tries to rebuild after a substantial loss statewide in the 2022 elections. A big reason they lost — Democrats didn’t show up to vote.
The Herald-Tribune reports 49% of registered Democrats cast ballots in 2022 compared with 64 percent of Republicans. That 49% to 64% gap was much bigger than 2018, when 61.5% of Democrats and 68% of Republicans voted.
Black and Hispanic Democrats had the worst turnout — 42% for black Democrats and a paltry 35% for Hispanic Democrats.
Democratic Black Caucus of Florida president Trevor Mallory says he liked candidate Charlie Crist but heard some Black Floridians call him “Chain Gang Charlie.” As a Republican in the 1990s, he supported bringing back chained prison gangs. Some Democrats interviewed said they either didn’t trust Crist or thought their vote wouldn’t matter since DeSantis polled so well.
The new chair of the Florida Democratic Party Nikki Fried says this is the result of over 30 years of party issues.
Both in an interview posted by the Herald-Tribune and an interview I conducted, she said Florida Democrats haven’t been registering Democrats year-round, knocking on doors to increase turnout, getting involved in local races, and boosting the messages from Democratic candidates and officials in social media and news media.
That was echoed by former Republican Rick Wilson, a Florida native who co-founded the anti-Trump Lincoln Project, in a recent visit to the Longboat Key Democratic Club. He said Florida Democrats don’t have the nuts and bolts working of simply registering voters. He says Democrats need to strengthen their positions in smaller races, which will pay dividends to make the state more competitive again.
