Florida’s Election Top Takeaways – November 4th
- Florida’s a huge story but not the story today. What a difference it makes to have the right people in the right places. I’m speaking specifically of the Supervisors of Elections in Broward and Palm Beach County.
- Florida bucked the national trends. In a Presidential election in which President Trump generally performed slightly below his 2016 levels nationally, he will have more than doubled his margin of victory in Florida over four years ago. Additionally, Republicans gained two seats in the US House by flipping South Florida’s 26th & 27th Congressional districts.
- Amendments. Once again, simply getting on the ballot was generally met with success. With the passage of Florida’s 1st, 2nd, 5th & 6th Constitutional Amendments, we’re only going to continue to see more emphasis placed on using Amendments to enact policy going forward.
- Republicans easily retained control of Florida’s state legislature. This is a significant dynamic for Florida’s elections over the next decade. Florida will gain Congressional representation based on Census changes. The Republican led legislature will be the body drawing the new districts.
- The fluidity of South Florida’s Hispanic vote. President Trump’s performance among Miami-Dade's Hispanic voters was the single biggest reason President Trump’s margin of victory expanded this cycle. Additionally, they were key to flipping Florida’s 26th & 27th districts back to Republicans. But then there’s Miami-Dade's mayoral race. While it’s non-partisan – it's was clearly a left vs. right battle and in the end the county flipped from Republican Carlos Gimenez, who himself flipped Florida’s 26th Congressional District, to Democrat Daniella Levine-Cava.
- This is our state not yours! Florida proved to be the ultimate screw you to outsider money (with Texas not too far behind). A record $300+ million was spent in Florida – approximately a quarter of all political spending nationally. Over 80% of the money came from outside of the state led by Michael Bloomberg’s $100 million and huge contributions from Silicon Valley technology players and Hollywood celebrities. By a near 3-1 margin Florida political advertising favored Democrats. All of that outsider money bought Democrats a larger loss in the Presidential race and a loss of two Congressional seats. Bah-bye!
Photo Credit: CBS 12