There is an upcoming “bloodbath", as the media is describing it, to Legislative and Congressional races in Florida this November. And that is a very good thing!
We have had past presidential elections in Florida where NOT ONE Legislative or Congressional candidate in Florida lost their seat. Not one. All that changed last year. Finally, the Supreme Court threw out the Florida GOP’s blatantly gerrymandered districts. Florida is going to have the most competitive election in DECADES.
Besides fairer districts, our good fortune continues for our Congressional chances: surprising retirements, GOPers leaving to run for Senate, and the Orange Menace at the top of the ticket—which has spawned hundreds of thousands of new voter registrations.
Whether you are a Bernie Booster or Hill Raiser, you have to admit things won’t change much no matter who wins unless he or she is given a new Congress to work with. This was unthinkable even a few months ago, but so were many things.
I urge everyone who posts on this site to find ONE local candidate you can get behind. Write about him or her. Volunteer a few hours. Send a few bucks their way. If they could get 1% of the enthusiasm in our presidential race, we could lock this thing up.
If you wondering a good place to start, might I recommend http://www.90for90.org It’s a one stop shop that gives the website and social media feeds for every progressive candidate who has promised to fight voter suppression. (The owner of the site got commitments from every campaign he lists.) Find your state, find your candidate… and get busy.
Meanwhile, here in the Sunshine State, our well-deserved good fortune has led to 10 good pickup opportunities, if we don’t blow them. I’m listing in order of best chance to least. I’m linking the candidates websites. Take a gander:
SEATS WE CAN FLIP FROM RED TO BLUE, IN ORDER:
CD 10: This is ranked as one of our top pickup opportunities. The incumbent conservative, Dan Webster, decided not to run and actually whined in a legislative hearing that fair districts would cost him his job! There are many top Democrats fighting for the top slot. Val Demings, the former Orlando police chief, and popular State Senator Geri Thompson are running. Either one would do a great job, but my favorite is a longtime leader in our community named Bob Poe. Why him? BECAUSE THIS. Talk about walking the walk!
CD 13: The Dem primary is between Charlie Crist, Don Hackett and Kimberly Walker. Crist is heavily favored to win both the primary and the seat. This is one rare instance of the GOP not having its act together by not fielding any strong candidates.
CD 26: Another one that will likely flip. Incumbent Republican and payday loan backer Carlos Curbelo has a ton of money being poured in, but redistricting coupled with two strong Dem candidates should put him out of a job. The first is Annette Taddeo. She is a sharp, accessible candidate who has come out swinging. The underdog in the Dem primary is former Congressman Joe Garcia, who has put up a formidable campaign of his own.
CD 6: When Democrat Jason Kendall was told not to bother to run against the juggernaut of conservative John Mica, who enjoyed a gerrymandered district of 28K more republicans than Dems, Jason ignored the naysayers and secured 42% of the votes. Kendall is now running for the open House seat in CD-6. His opponent in the primary is popular, former state representative Dwayne Taylor. The incumbent, GOPer Ron DeSantis, decided to not run for Congress again and try his luck with a Senate seat. Although this district still tilts right, the FL GOP has admitted they are nervous it will flip if there is enough Dem support. (Which is why I’m writing this whole damn diary!)
CD27: This seat was heavily GOP before redistricting, but is now only R+2. The incumbent has been sucking at the government teat for over 27 years, but this year, she finally has a legitimate, progressive challenger: Iraqi War veteran and union worker Frank Perez.
CD 11: After three terms in Congress, Rich Nugent decided the year of the bloodbath was his time to quit. Dan Webster specifically moved here from CD10 because it is more redder and really wants to keep his cushy job. Team Blue has a true progressive named Dave Koller who I have personally met and can verify his awesomeness.
CD 25: This one will be a tough nut to crack even with a much fairer district. Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart is pretty entrenched, but he has a real opponent with Dr. Alina Valdes. She is the American dream: immigrating from Cuba to grow up to become a medical doctor who served the underprivileged. She worked for years treating patients in the South Bronx before coming to Florida. She has been active in local politics for years and should at least give Mario a run for his (Koch) money.
CD 7: The Hill named this district the top pickup seat in Florida because of Trump’s presumptive status. The district now has 21% MORE Latinos and 11% MORE African-Americans. Mica is an old has-been, Trump supporter, who said not nice things about immigrants last year. We should win this one---except our lone candidate dropped out! For this competitive district, we have NO candidate. DCCC? WTF? C’MON!! DWS—you have ONE job! Let’s not blow our best shot at taking this seat in decades, OK? I was told that they are looking, but the deadline to get on the ballot with signatures passed on May 23. If you are a Floridian, and have 10K lying around, the deadline to register as a candidate here is June 24.
CD 3: Although the GOP is favored here, their benefactors are fighting harder this year in CD 3 because of A) the advantages I mentioned earlier and B) their incumbent is Ted Yoho. Yoho really is a Ya-hoo: he not only supports government shutdowns, he literally said that defaulting on our debt would "bring stability to world markets". He is the personification of white privilege, even comparing himself to Rosa Parks for denying people healthcare. His opponent is Democrat Ed Emery, who is running a pretty solid campaign. This is the kind of race that makes people hate Congress: the incumbent is a moron and his opponent is sharp—but it's not a level-playing field so the opponent has quite the uphill battle. It’s worth the fight, though.
CD 4: will be the hardest to flip on this list, although the incumbent’s surprise announcement that he was retiring makes it an open seat. Currently, there is no Democrat who has declared.
BLUE TO BLUE
FL18: This is a huge battleground district we have to fight keep. It has Randy Perkins, a self-funding candidate who seems to have the establishment backing, and attorney Johnathan Chane, who highlights his charitable work, such as working pro bono for foster kids. There is also a scientist named Juan Xuna running. There are a ton of GOPers fighting for the chance to reclaim this seat. Don’t let them.
FL9: Susannah Randolph and Darren Soto are running for Alan Grayson’s old seat. Both are good candidates, but Susannah is definitely the more progressive in the race.
BLUE TO BLUER BLUE
FL-23: Tim F-ing Canova has raised a record amount (close to $1million) against the God-awful Debbie Wasserman Schultz. If he wins the primary, we don’t have to even have this fight over whether or not she should be DNC chair. He’s a real Democrat and very competent to boot. Unlike DWS, he won’t fight for payday lending scams and he won’t fight against medical marijuana. He’s someone to get behind.
Then maybe we’ll have someone competent enough to field candidates and actually get behind progressive Democrats in a competitive election.