New Puerto Rican voters in Central FL may have sealed it for pRick Scott (R) in Senate race

[Roland99]

https://www.wftv.com/news/local/puerto-ricans-helped-decide-florida-s-election-just-not-the-way-most-thought-it-would/876698084

In the U.S. Senate race, Republican Gov. Rick Scott courted Central Florida’s Hispanic population almost from day one, and it appears to have paid off. Data shows many Puerto Rican voters cast their ballot for Scott but may not have voted for Republicans in other races.

Scott pulled in about 9,800 more votes than fellow Republican Ron DeSantis, who ran for and won the governor’s race. That 9,800 difference between Republicans is key considering Scott defeated Democratic opponent Sen. Bill Nelson by only 10,000 statewide.

“He did a fantastic job of showing up in Central Florida but also showing up in Puerto Rico,” said Wadi Gaitan, who works for a conservative Hispanic outreach group called the Libre Initiative, which backed Scott.

[manor321]

1. That's asinine, given what the Republican party did

[muntrv]

2. Do they know that Scott supports Trump, the paper towel thrower?

[Sancho]

3. Which is more likely?

...that all those Hispanics jumped ship to vote for Scott but not DeSantis....

OR...that the repubs hacked the DREs and tabulators in selected districts to win by small margins?

I've been alleging for two decades that the GOP controlled the vote counting in Florida - and I've seen it first hand. Weird results, undervotes, and missing numbers.

[peekaloo]

36. You know what jumped out at me in the Governor's race

as results were coming in it seemed that if you added up the totals of the 4 (?) other candidates it seemed to match up to what Gillum was trailing by.

Coincidence?

It is true that Scott actively courted the votes of Puerto Ricans early and, for the most part, their voters are somewhat conservative so I'll give him that. (at least in my area)

Those under votes in Broward and a late start doomed Nelson.

[Crutchez_CuiBono]

37. +1

[violetpastille]

4. Democrats hoped that Puerto Rican voters would hand us the votes.

Last edited Thu Nov 22, 2018, 04:30 PM - Edit history (1)

I never thought it wouldn't take a lot of outreach.

First let's ditch "Hispanic" to describe actual people. Let's just trash that designation. It does us Democrats no favors to think that "Hispanic" is going to tell us anything.


Puerto Ricans are not Mexicans are not Cubans are not Dominicans are not Columbians are not Spanish for goodness sake.

[dweller]

6. I prefer Americans

of Latino origins

✌🏼️

[brush]

8. Latinx is emerging as the preferred, non-gender term.

I'm appalled that the repugs were able to extend their tentacles into the new voters from PR.

They had a grip on Latinx voters for decades since the Cuban influx after Castro's takeover. I thought the Puerto Ricans wouldn't get caught up in that.

Just shows we need to work harder so they understand repug policy is not in their best interests.

[lostnfound]

9. Is that pronounced Latin-Ex or La-tinks to rhyme with "lynx"?

[brush]

11. See below.

Latinx (la-teen-ex) (/ləˈtiːnɛks, læ-/) is a gender-neutral term sometimes used in lieu of Latino or Latina (referencing Latin American cultural or racial identity). The plural is Latinxs.

[Drahthaardogs]

18. I'm sorry, but that's just kinda stupid.

Romance languages have masculine and feminine nouns. Someone demanding a gender neutral term, it just....

I am of Italian heritage and speak decent Italian. I cannot imagine this. I know there is a movement to just drop the o vs a and just adopt the masculine by the younger people, but adding an x is just ridiculous.

[LeftInTX]

20. It's the newest fad

For some reason it is given to Millennials or LGBTQ....

I personally find Latino to be kinda stupid. Another American made-up word.

[brush]

21. It's not up to you to decide what Latinxs call themselves. It's their decision.

It's already being used and if they want to create a gender-neutral term more power to them.

[Drahthaardogs]

23. Well, technically I'M LATIN

So I guess that argument fails...

[brush]

25. Not really, since the term is already being used by the people who prefer to use it.

[Drahthaardogs]

26. I doubt it.

Probably just a few but rather vocal. I would hazard a guess the kind who probably don't speak the language,

[brush]

28. How old are you?

[Drahthaardogs]

30. Old enough to know bullshit

And this is PC bullshit. The kind of stuff we get more ked over

[brush]

31. It's arising out of the younger, progressive demographic. Why do you even care...

what people prefer to call themselves?

It's not really your business.

[Drahthaardogs]

32. Do you even speak?

Do most of those "preferring" gender neutral speak? I doubt it because anyone who speaks a Latin based language knows nouns have a gender. Are we going to add an "ix" now to every noun?

See how stupid this is?

[brush]

33. God! Get a clue. It's English, not Spanish or Italian. Language evolves.

[Drahthaardogs]

34. Lol!

Get a clue? Oh, so it's Valley Girls making the linguistic rules - got it!

But really, do you even speak it?

[brush]

35. Swoosh!

[Iggo]

16. Think of the word "Hispanic" as meaning "People Who Speak Spanish" and you'll be fine.

Because really that's all we have in common.

Other than the fact that the Economically Anxious hate our fucking guts.

[Cha]

17. Gracias, Iggo.

[violetpastille]

19. +1

That last sentence is everything.

[d_r]

29. I agree

Puerto Ricans should be referred to as "Puerto Ricans."

[Fuzzpope]

5. JFC

Just fucking shoot me.

Puerto Rico citizens should have known better.

Trump showed up and lobbed goddamn paper towels at them, they gonna vote for him too?!?

FML.

[world wide wally]

7. And the wise people of Kentucky voted to charge themselves more for healthcare

Go figure

[triron]

10. Why the republicans win almost all close races in Florida??

[Awsi Dooger]

12. Examples like this

Rick Scott started campaigning seriously for this race at least two years ago. He was blatantly camping out at tragedies like Pulse, desperate to change his image to the concerned governor. I was mentioning it here and elsewhere at the time.

Bill Nelson took far too much for granted, based on his prior races. You can't do that. I saw the opposite example with Harry Reid in Nevada. He knew darn well that 2010 would be problematic in a midterm with Republicans desperate to embarrass him at the end of his career, so Reid began fortifying the Clark County turnout operation four years earlier in 2006.

Nelson assumed incumbency in a favorable blue cycle would be plenty, so he essentially didn't start campaigning until late August. Go back and check threads from earlier this year and you'll see many Floridians here who were seeing it and incredibly frustrated by it.

Miami-Dade needs plenty of work. That's where I am. I have emphasized that the canvassing is basically non-existent, especially compared to my two Republican relatives who are contacted all the time. This past week I had another example that was somewhat laughable. My Republican sister has addiction problems and I tried to help her a few years ago. She lived with me until late June 2016. But she hasn't been back since. The GOP canvassers were initially confused and made contact at my house in spring and early summer 2017, looking for her. I had to chase them off the property, telling them my sister no longer lives here and I would never vote for a Republican in my life.

They finally got the hint and obviously updated their records. I didn't have any contact from them in 2018. However, just a few days ago the Florida Democratic Party sent a white flyer to my house, in my sister's name. I was shocked. There is zero chance she would ever switch registration or vote for a Democrat. I didn't know whether to be pleased that our party was reaching out, or maddened that they are using a database that is two and a half years out of date.

[LeftInTX]

13. SMH

Yep..it seems to be the case.

Our phone lists are horrible. Fortunately, the addresses are good. But gosh, when I make calls I get the feeling that Republicans have all the phone numbers. Door knocking is time consuming.

Your sister is probably still registered at the address. This is common in TX. We have kids who move out and use their parents' address.

But why did they wait til after the election?

[LeftInTX]

14. The SOS database needs to be updated.

Campaigns/parties don't share with SOS. And Republicans don't share with Democrats.

[JCMach1]

15. I don't believe that.. The real story? Scott outspent Nelson at least 3-1 check the records

and that's just the clean money

[Yosemito]

22. Someone tell puertoricans that senators pick SCOTUS judges

Jeez.

[malaise]

24. Red Tide Rick is very good at spreading

his loot

[Hortensis]

27. By far most conservatives vote conservative, and that

normally means for Republican candidates. LatinX cultures generally speaking average conservative. And at least half, perhaps more, are genetically wired to at least a tendency to conservative personality.

So no surprise here at all. Scott just gave these conservatives enough reason to justify, in their minds, voting for the conservative candidates, including officially slamming the national Republicans' family separation policy.

Although they know all too well that many non-Hispanic white conservatives choose to see no difference between them and undocumented immigrants (often determinedly refusing to see them as legitimate citizens), generally speaking they nevertheless share the same tribal attitudes toward undocumented Hispanic "outsiders" and want immigration strongly limited or stopped. Nothing new about that, either. I saw it often 40 years ago when we socialized with a lot of Hispanic families in L.A., among whom were always some who wanted an end to the influx, undocumented, beloved relatives notwithstanding.