Q&A of the Day – Florida’s voter ballots – Governor DeSantis’s role in Democrats suing – Part 1
Each day I’ll feature a listener question that’s been submitted by one of these methods.
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Today’s entry...
Federal judge Mark Walker is legislating from the bench. Why would the Dem's sue now? What happened in the elections since the late 60's? No problem with all of those in Florida. Could it be because Pres. TRUMP is in the WHITE HOUSE?
Bottom Line: The topic of Florida’s voter ballots continues to be a hot topic based on questions and feedback I’ve been receiving (2nd only to impeachment). If you’ve not caught my previous reporting on this topic. Here’s a quick recap. Florida’s Democrats sued to attempt to end Florida’s current candidate balloting order process. Candidates are ranked in order of the governor’s party in partisan races. Last Friday federal judge Mark Walker ruled in favor of the Democrats striking down our law and leaving Florida in limbo as the state appeals the ruling. Now to address today’s note...
Given that Democrats passed Florida’s current ballot order into law and now have sued to end it, your question is on point. They certainly were for it while Democrats controlled the state house. It also didn’t prevent Republicans from winning Florida in Presidential elections during that time just as it didn’t prevent Democrats from winning our state during times when we’ve had Republican governors. That most recently includes President Obama winning Florida twice. It’s worth nothing that Judge Mark Walker is an Obama appointee, siding with the Democrats to strike down the law Democrats passed. Lots going on there. Anyway, yes – there's no question that Democrats are now pursuing this for political reasons, however no – I don’t believe this has anything to do with President Trump. I think it has everything to do with Governor DeSantis.
If Andrew Gillum were governor of course the Democrats aren’t suing to end Florida’s law. Their candidates would be first! That Democrats brought this lawsuit now is based clearly on DeSantis being governor but also, in my educated opinion, his incredible early success and popularity in our state. This is an admission that they don’t anticipate taking back the governor’s mansion for the foreseeable future. That would account for the timing. While Florida has had Republican governors for twenty consecutive years, only Jeb Bush enjoyed such broad-based support. Based on Morning Consult data, Governor DeSantis currently enjoys a net positive approval rating of a remarkable +36%.
As for the actual advantage of being first... I’ll pick up on those points in the second part of today’s Q&A. Here's the link to continue: https://wjno.iheart.com/featured/brian-mudd/content/2019-11-21-qa-are-floridas-voter-ballots-biased-governor-desantiss-role-part-2/