Since Ron DeSantis became governor, Republicans have gained nearly two million registered voters on Democrats in the Sunshine State. It is an astonishing change in partisanship for the state that famously decided the 2000 presidential election by 537 votes. The outcome of the statewide races in Florida this November, such as those for governor and U.S. senator, are therefore not in much doubt.
Democrats might dream about making Florida competitive again, but they might as well believe in the tooth fairy. But if Florida isn’t much in play between the two parties, it’s definitely in play within the two parties. As Tuesday’s primaries indicate, the Sunshine State is the new ground zero for the roiling internal civil wars that have dominated both parties for years.
On the Democratic side, Tuesday’s results were a mixed bag. Centrist Democratic congressman Jared Moskowitz easily fended off a much-publicized challenge from a young Democratic Socialists of America-backed candidate, and long-time establishment leader Debbie Wasserman Schultz also easily won her primary race after switching districts due to recent redistricting. It was more interesting at the statewide level.
David Jolly, the former Republican congressman, won the Democratic gubernatorial nomination after switching parties. In an election night interview on MS NOW, Jolly explicitly rejected the DSA. That would be Angie Nixon, the obscure state representative who overcame a 16-to-1 fundraising disadvantage to defeat establishment pick Alex Vindman, the first-term anti-Trump “resistance” hero.
Nixon, who was arrested earlier this year for trespassing and resisting an officer (she called it a “protest”), is a DSA member who peddles all the radical group’s favorite tropes. Talk about a tense family dynamic for Florida Democrats. A triumphant Moskowitz told POLITICO after his primary victory that DSA members are “anti-American at their core” and shouldn’t get security clearances.
In a twist on DeSantis’s catchphrase that “Florida is where woke goes to die,” Moskowitz boasted that “Florida is where DSA goes to die.” The famous prophecy from J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series comes to mind: “Neither can live while the other survives.” The Democratic Party civil war is unfolding in real time in Florida. And what a soap opera it already is.
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