Dear ,
Yesterday, Central Florida made it happen.
In 2020, Florida’s House District 35 went to DeSantis by twelve points. But yesterday, we just beat the GOP there with a candidate running on a people first agenda.
Florida Rising members endorsed Tom Keen in the primary and saw to his victory to go on to the general because we know that candidates who put people’s issues first have the best chance of motivating the broad coalition we need to win. In the special election, we knocked 7,500 doors, hit social media, made phone calls, sent texts, and made sure every voter knew about what was at stake. And what happened? We won by 590 votes.
When someone tells you that Florida is “deep red” or “not on the map” or whatever the pundit class in the Beltway say about our state, show them the math in District 35.
Coming out of yesterday’s victory, one pollster said the race “should be concerning for the GOP because it indicates a voter anger that maybe they have not understood.” As a power-building membership organization, you already know we know. People registered with no party affiliation and registered Democrats turned out to put the candidate running on scare tactics in their place.
Florida Rising has a plan to repeat this victory across the state and break the GOP supermajority in the Statehouse by flipping at least seven races this November.
More than 900,000 Floridians have signed to put abortion rights on the ballot this year so that Florida can follow Ohio and Kentucky and Kansas’ examples of defending reproductive rights and keeping crucial medical decisions between pregnant parents and their doctors. Last year we flipped Jacksonville’s mayoral seat for the first time since the 1970s. And we continue to build the largest and farthest reaching voter turnout operation in the state alongside our partners at Florida for All.
Our victory in District 35 yesterday wasn’t just one safe and predictable outcome on the map. It was an upset and a sign of how we absolutely can shift the balance of power in the state that DeSantis, Trump, Roger Stone, and their band of neo-fascists call home. It is the first step to turning the tide in Florida toward a government that serves Floridians instead of corporate interests and racist ideologies. It’s absolutely doable, if we all get involved.
