GOP Losing Ground in Florida

[book_worm]

Tampa Bay Times: “Of the 534,000 new voters added to the rolls this year, Democrats say more than 180,000 are Democrats and nearly 156,000 are Republicans. Less than 4 percent of the nearly 63,000 new African-American voters are Republican, and just 16 percent of the new Hispanic voters are Republican.”

https://politicalwire.com/2016/09/01/gop-losing-ground-in-florida/

[forest444]

1. "No problem," says Reptilian Rick

"That's why we have electronic voting."

[CanonRay]

9. They can register all they want

we'll just purge 'em later!

[forest444]

11. That's the spirit!

He's so excited, he could eat a fly.

[Native]

13. As I type he's probably working with the Russians on an assist with a hack. And if not him, there's

always Pam Bondi.

[forest444]

17. They probably wish they hadn't been so rash with Mike Connell right about now.

He was reliable and cheap-ish. And good help is just so hard to find these days.

[Tommy_Carcetti]

3. "Clean up" how? Nt

[SCliberal91294]

4. Many of those..

I assume are Puerto Rican, so even better news.

[Demsrule86]

6. and the there is no more gerrymander...we should pick up at least three Congressional seats.

I hope Murphy can beat Rubio.

[csziggy]

8. These figures show the problem in Florida

Carlos Beruff REP 264,338 18.49%
Ernie Rivera REP 45,128 3.16%
Marco Rubio REP 1,029,374 71.99%
Dwight Mark Anthony Young REP 91,029 6.37%
Republican total votes: 1,429,869

Roque "Rocky" De La Fuente DEM 60,730 5.38%
Alan Grayson DEM 199,781 17.7%
Pam Keith DEM 173,762 15.39%
Reginald Luster DEM 29,122 2.58%
Patrick Murphy DEM 665,403 58.95%
Democratic total votes: 1,128,798

Augustus Invictus LPF 1,063 26.52%
Paul Stanton LPF 2,945 73.48%
Libertarian total votes: 4,008

It may not be as bad as it looks - I know of at least three solid Democrats who switched their registration to Republican to vote for the Republican they thought easiest to beat in the primaries. But even if a lot of Republicans vote for Murphy, we may end up with Rubio anyway.

Murphy needs to do more advertising and hit Rubio over and over. Rubio is so lazy he's never done his job, doesn't show up for votes - even important ones - and has again threatened to not finish a term so he can run for another office (presumably he's thinking of running for President again. )

[CanonRay]

10. It's amazing they will vote for a guy who didn't like or want the job

and was never there, and now basically says he's going to do the same thing again.

[Demsrule86]

12. I think Rubio will be tough

But we have a shot at three congressional seats Val Demings, Charlie Crist (yes the former governor) and Joe Garcia. There may be more opportunities, but these are the ones I know about.

[csziggy]

14. I think Al Lawson, who beat Corrine Brown in the primary, has a good chance to win

US Rep in District 5. There was no primary for the Republicans in that district. Glo Smith (R) is running again - Corrine Brown beat her handily in 2014. Al Lawson is very well known here in Tallahassee and has been in state government for a good while. While he is not perfect, he is solid in his support for state workers and for most Democratic policies.

For US Rep District 2, the seat that Gwen Graham had, it will be Neal Dunn - who barely beat Mary Thomas in the Republican primary - against Walter Dartland (50.1% - 30,090) or Steve Crapps (49.9% - 29,982) who are in a recount and might end up with a run off for the Democratic slot. That might be good since neither of the Democrats have much name recognition and a runoff would get their names out more.

[oasis]

7. Retire Rubio. nt

[csziggy]

15. Murphy needs to pound Rubio on being a part time Senator

Who keeps stepping out to run for higher office rather than doing the job he is running for.

The problem I see is that Rubio and cameras get along very well and he looks plausible. But he'd rather play senator than be one.

[book_worm]

16. And point out that Rubio has said he will not pledge to serve out his term

if elected--meaning he will spend the next four years campaigning for 2020.

[csziggy]

19. Yes! I can't believe that comment hasn't already been part of the campaign

But then, Murphy was concentrating on the primary. Hopefully he will now move into the general. I don't particularly like Murphy, but I detest Rubio.

[tinrobot]

18. Shades of California under Pete Wilson

Wilson went all-in on a draconian immigration bill in the 1990's. Because of that, he lost a generation of Latino voters.

The shift was so dramatic, that California now has a 2/3 Democratic majority in the State Legislature and the GOP is completely shut out of this year's Senate race. The GOP is very close to being a dead party in this state, mostly because of immigration.

I suspect Florida could easily go the same way. Texas might be next.