Ah, Florida. The ultimate battleground state. How much would you like to see the state flip blue this November?
I sure would. But today, I want to talk about the fact that Florida has been under Republican control for 20 years. That’s 20 years of Republican governors and Republican control of the state House and State. It’s high time the good people of Florida don’t have to suffer under their anti-democratic rule anymore.
Quick background
There’s not much we can do about the governor, as he isn’t up for re-election this year, but Democrats have a shot at flipping the state Senate, which is currently 23-17 in the Republicans’ favor.
Four flips may not seem like a ton, but remember that in any given election year, only half of the Senate is up for re-election. Cook Political Report currently considers the fight to control the Florida Senate as a “Lean Republican,” i.e. it is very competitive, but the Republicans have a slight advantage.
What’s at stake
Splitting control of the the state legislature would mean that the two chambers would have to compromise to get any bills passed. The governor won’t be able to sign any bill into law without the two sides working together.
And since this is a census year, the most immediate issue is the redrawing of district maps. If the Republicans have full control, they get to (once again) draw the district maps for both the congressional and state districts without any pushback. But if the Democrats have the majority in even just one chamber, they’ll have to compromise on drawing the districts. This would be a big win for the citizens of Florida.
How we can help
One bright spot is that the Democrats are running candidates in EVERY single district. You can see the full list of candidates running at Ballotpedia HERE.
The first thing any of us can do, no matter where we live, is to adopt one of the candidates running to flip a seat. What do I mean by adopt? Sign up for their campaign updates, make a donation, follow them on social media, and then share their posts.
Vote Forward has multiple letter writing campaigns to turn out Democratic voters in Florida HERE.
Postcards to Swing States includes Florida on their list of targets. Get signed up with them HERE.
If you have any suggestions to add, please let me know in the comments.
Thank you for taking action!
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Categories: Take Action
Postcards to Voters has written to millions of Democrats in Florida to get them to register to vote by mail. Went through the list once and now we have started over. If anyone wants to join, just google Postcards to Voters and all the info is on the website. We write for campaigns across the country as well.
I’m glad to know they’ll be restarting the Florida list. I didn’t include them as I saw they were nearing the end of the campaign. I’ll make that update once I have a link to include. Thanks, Marsha!
Is it just me, or does the written postcard content for Postcards to Swing States seem a little odd to you? Love their concept, but their text kind of gives me a “big brother is watching you” vibe. Would love to get past this impression though and send some cards for them.
When I signed up with them, I had the opportunity to choose between two messages, one of which is the message you refer to. Research does show that if people think their voting record is being looked at, they’re more likely to vote. That said, I can understand why some would be uncomfortable with that message. If you don’t see the option to write the second message, I’d suggest doing the Big Send letter writing campaign instead.