Q&A – Determining How Liberal Local Officials Are In South Florida Part 2
Bottom Line: Last year I illustrated in a series of stories that all of South Florida’s Democrats had voting records that were demonstrably to the left of House Speaker Nancy Pelsoi and remarkably AOC. Notably, two of those Democrats, Donna Shalala and Debbie Mucarsel-Powell were ousted by voters as they took notice. Guess what... the only thing that’s changed in the current Congress is that every Congressional Democrat in Florida has voted 100% of the time with Job Biden’s position – for the most liberal voting records in Congress in the country. For perspective, AOC has only voted with Biden’s position 91% of the time.
Many locally elected Democrats, even if elected in non-partisan elections, hold the same positions and travel in the same circles. If you find local officials identifying with the positions of Florida’s Democrat contingent in Congress, you’ll have an idea of where their true political barometer rests. It’s with these evaluations and observations that I based my statement suggesting that South Florida’s local officials have drifted as far left as the hardest left members of their parties nationally. It’s unclear if many local officials have moved so hard left out of political ambitions within the party, which likely accounts for at least some of it, or if the pandemic presented inflection point has brought out the true colors of many. When you evaluate state and local officials through this prism, you’ll find the pragmatists rather easily. One state-wide elected Democrat, Nikki Fried was making false claims about pay-for-play vaccines while another Democrat, then Florida Emergency Management Director Jared Moskowitz dispelled them. Jared is clearly not a leftist ideologue. The same could be said for Palm Beach County Mayor Dave Kerner. There are examples of Democrats in office who aren’t leftist ideologues. They’ve just become a rarer with time.