I was so dejected by the results in my home state of Florida on Tuesday night that I failed to notice until the next day that overall, Democrats nationwide performed relatively well and, more crucially, MAGA Republicans, those endorsed by former President Donald Trump, did not do so well in regions outside of the solidly Republican South.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But as to Florida, well, I have lived in the Sunshine State long enough to remember when it was solidly Blue throughout the 1980’s and early 1990’s. Other than Gov. Bob Martinez’s term from 1986-90, Florida’s governors were Democrats, the state legislature was dominated by Democrats, and Democratic dogma was the order of the day. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
But since the mid-90’s, first with the Republican Revolution of 1994 (which was a rebuke of Clintonian democracy nationwide) until today, Florida slowly but surely started to bleed purple (blue and red) and now, finally, bright red.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In fact, the Florida legislature is a red rubber stamp for soon to be two-term governor Ron Desantis; the judiciary is dominated by conservatives appointed by former governor turned Sen. Rick Scott and Desantis; the cabinet, which includes the elected Attorney General (Ashley Moody), CFO (Jimmy Patronis), and Agriculture Commissioner (Wilton Simpson), are all solidly in Republican hands. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Just 10 years ago, Florida went for Obama in the presidential election but since then, the state has gone to Donald Trump twice\u2014and will likely go to the Republican nominee in ’24, be that Trump or Desantis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Still, as a Florida native and political pundit, there’s something perverse in knowing that Florida’s red hue is due, in large measure, to gerrymandering following the last few Census counts. That and the so-called \u201cElection Integrity Squads\u201d that are arresting Black former felons who are now eligible voters or were TOLD by local election supervisors that they were eligible voters, scared some Blacks from attempting to exercise their rights to vote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The very fact that the venerable U.S. Rep. Al Lawson (D) lost his majority Black district\u2014and was forced to run in a Republican dominated district in North Florida\u2014was because of Gov. Ron Desantis’s decision to place himself squarely in the middle of map drawing\u2014a role that’s designated for the legislature. Yes, there’s a legal challenge that very well could have Desantis’s drawn districts thrown out due to the Voting Rights Act of 1965, but by the time that decision is rendered next year, Lawson would have already been back in private citizen mode for several months.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Indeed, that Lawson is a longtime family friend, mentor, and Fraternity\/Masonic Brother only made my anger at his being deposed more palpable\u2014but the fight will continue anew in federal courtrooms in Tallahassee and Atlanta!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Again, stay tuned!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Stacey Abrams loses to Brian Kemp<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Stacey Abrams, the Spelman College and Yale Law educated lawyer who has become a political power broker in Georgia, fell short in her bid to defeat incumbent Gov. Brian Kemp (R) this week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Abrams was always fighting an uphill battle in Georgia, a state that has not had a Democratic governor in over two decades, but hope continued to spring that with Kemp drawing the ire of Donald Trump for not supporting his election denial efforts in 2020, that perhaps legions of Trump followers would stay home, thus giving Abrams some numerical relief. Well, that didn’t happen, as the numbers show below attest. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Still, kudos to Sister Abrams on her indefatigable efforts to expand democracy across Georgia even in the face of right wing lies, vitriol, and rank misogyny that continues to vex some women candidates for chief executive positions across America. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Not all Bad for Democrats<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n So, once I stopped sulking yesterday, I quickly realized that Democrats nationwide did rather well, including:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Stay tuned\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n Conservative elites angry with Trump<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n I have written “MAGA Republicans” several times in today\u2019s blog to denote those candidates endorsed or inspired by Donald Trump, the man who coined the phrase “Make America Great Again” during his 2016 victory over Hillary Clinton. The important distinction is that not all Republicans are MAGAs, or Trump supporters, so the internal battle between those who are\u2014and aren\u2019t\u2014is somewhat compelling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Now, while Trump loves to boast about his political potency, the evidence is clear that nationwide, his endorsements did not fare all that well this past Tuesday. This reality has a number of news sites and pundits openly questioning whether Trump’s vise grip on the GOP is loosening; check out a few headlines:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Well, when you consider races outside of the South, there’s some truth to this postulate that Trump\u2019s influence is waning. Meaning, while Trump backed his former Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders in her gubernatorial race against my Morehouse Brother and friend, Democrat Chris Jones (below), Arkansas is such a solidly Republican state that Trump’s backing was not really needed for Sanders to prevail.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ditto for Desantis in Florida, as it is clear that relations between the two men is strained due to Desantis’s star ascending among conservative elites\u2014to Trump’s chagrin. <\/p>\n\n\n\n But when you consider that Trump’s core group of election conspiracy candidates got worn out on Tuesday, it does give pause as to whether the Trumpian “thrill is gone” among his base? Seriously, 12 Republican “Biden election deniers” lost gubernatorial races this week\u2014as did six Republicans running for secretary of state who were similarly skull dragged at the polls. Those losses, coupled with Republican Brian Kemp’s victory in Georgia (despite Trump’s constant disrespect towards Kemp for not falling for the stolen election lie), does lead one to wonder whether the GOP will look elsewhere in 2024 for a presidential nominee?<\/p>\n\n\n\n As it stands, the man that the conservative pundit and donor classes LOVE is Ron Desantis. As I have heard numerous times over the past 48 hours, “Desantis brings all of Trump’s combative nature with none of the criminal investigation and civil case baggage.” That’s a fair assessment, but I will caution those who are ready to crown Desantis right now with the reminder that in 2016, there were numerous conservatives who lacked Trump’s baggage who lost BIGLY because they did not move the rank-and-file Republican voter\u2014the ones who were awed or amused by Trump’s celebrity status and court jester commentary during debates and town halls. Those voters will be the primary deciders–not the right wing media or big money donors who are intrigued by Florida’s governor’s combative politics. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Black Voters Matter<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n In my final segment, I noticed yesterday that a number of my Black social media friends were quick to conclude that Democratic losses in Florida, Georgia, and elsewhere were “not our fault.” While true in some respects, that’s false in others, particularly in local races where a higher Black turnout could have proven the difference in mayoral, commission, and even state legislative races. <\/p>\n\n\n\n As I posted on my Facebook page yesterday, let’s say you have a predominantly Black precinct with 1,000 registered Democrats eligible to vote–but only 100 show up to vote. Now, of those 100 who show up, 90 voters, or 90 percent, vote for Democratic candidates. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Yay! <\/p>\n\n\n\n Still, those 100 Black voters that showed up to vote in that precinct, including the 90 who voted for Democrats, doesn’t address the fact that 900 eligible Black Democrats stayed home\u2014and did NOT vote! <\/p>\n\n\n\n As such, percentages are great but can be misleading in that 90 percent of only a handful of Democratic voters can equal Republicans or conservative leaning non-partisan candidates winning local and statewide races.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Indeed, turnout is crucial, and Democrats must ask themselves what will it take to get the numbers up in any precinct where registered Democrats comprise the majority of voters\u2014or 2024 and beyond could become VERY bleak. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Separately, speaking of political messaging, while I can understand from an intellectual sense when some Black voters argue that the Democratic Party does not adress many of their core concerns about the economy, crime justice, and police violence, what I don’t understand is how these ones see voting for Republican candidates that support unbridled capitalism (meaning no strictures on controlling prices for food, gas, and medicine), “tough-on-crime” mandatory sentencings (the ones placing Blacks in prison forever and a day), and “Back the Blue” (police) cries each time an unarmed Black is killed by a law enforcement officer, as the viable alternative? <\/p>\n\n\n\n If anyone is willing to hazard a guess as to why so many Blacks, especially Black male pastors and business leaders, have aligned themselves with MAGA Republicans whose policies do not benefit the Black masses, feel free to drop a response or shoot me an e-mail because it makes little sense to me\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n Chuck Hobbs is a freelance journalist who won the 2010 Florida Bar Media Award and has been twice nominated for the Pulitzer Prize for Commentary.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I was so dejected by the results in my home state of Florida on Tuesday night that I failed to notice until the next day that overall, Democrats nationwide performed relatively well and, more crucially, MAGA Republicans, those endorsed by former President Donald Trump, did not do so well in regions outside of the solidly […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"off","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[396,65,480],"class_list":["post-1570","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-opinion","tag-florida","tag-maga","tag-ron-desantis","et-doesnt-have-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1570","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1570"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1570\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1571,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1570\/revisions\/1571"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1570"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1570"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1570"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}