2020 legislative elections

Lake County is in central Florida, north of Orlando, or, as Ryan Morales explained it to me on the phone yesterday, it's a "hidden gem, just north west of Disney World, sitting on top of the Green Swamp which feeds the Florida Aquifer... better known as our drinking water...

Charlotte County, is in southwest Florida. There's one city, Punta Gorda, which has a population of about 20,000. In 2016 the county went strongly for Trump, 60,196 (62.5%) to 33,421 (34.7%). In 2018, the county went for Ron DeSantis 54,102 (62.3%) to 31,248 (36.0%) and helped elect Rick Scott senator and Greg Steube congressman (FL-17).

Often, in politics victories are far and in between. Here at Blue America, we don't pick candidates because we assess them as having the best chance to win. We pick them because we think they'll do the best job in office if they do win.

Anselm Weber and Rachel Brown are a progressive couple in Southwest Florida who have organized for voter registration and around issues of sensible drug policy, voter rights restoration, $15 minimum wage, Medicaid expansion, and climate action. Rachel Brown is running for the Florida Senate District 27 and Anselm Weber is running for Florida House District 76.

You may know me from Twitter as "Politidope" or at least you know someone who does. If you lived in Downtown Richmond, VA around 2012, you remember me as the tall black guy with braces asking folks, "are you registered to vote at your current address" non-stop. Every year, I take it upon myself to adopt a campaign to knock thousands of doors during the summer and until Election Day. In 2017, it was to help Democrats hold on to the Executive Mansion.

In an off-the-record talk with a top Florida elected official, I was informed that Debbie Wasserman Schultz no longer has any power inside the Florida Democratic Party. "She has zero influence. The consultants who make money loosing elections have all the influence... The current chair's career experience (Terrie Rizzo) is that she’s a yoga instructor.

Nationally, Republicans have, by and large but with a few exceptions, fought against Democratic governors trying to protect their states' residents from the worst of the pandemic. But no Republican-dominated state legislature has been more pro-COVID than Wisconsin's. They have worked hard-- and effectively-- to prevent Gov. Tony Evers, a very moderate Democrat, from instituting rules to keep the state safe. The Republicans have given Wisconsin 36,448 cases of the disease-- 6,260 cases per Wisconsinite. On Saturday there were 926 new cases reported (and 7 new deaths).

COVID-Don with COVID-RonOn Friday, Governor Ron DeSantis and the Republican-dominated state legislature gave Florida 11,433 new corfimed COVID cases. Yesterday it was 10,360 more, bringing the ghastly total to 254,511 (11,850 per million Floridians). Also on Friday Governor Greg Abbott and his Republican-dominated state legislature gave Texas 10,063 new cases.

Back in May when Blue America endorsed Angie Nixon for a Jacksonville-based state legislative seat, much of our decision was based on the wretched incumbent, arguably the worst member of the Florida legislature. Since then, we have gotten to know Angie better.

And it all depends on...Sure, the GOP stole the racism issue from Democrats long ago and there is no longer any doubt which is the party of bigotry and hatred. But no one supposed to talk about it outlaid the way Trump does. And he's making other Republicans nervous-- not that minorities aren't going to vote for them-- they're not-- but that educated white people who don't like overt racism won't.