There is good news for Democrats in Florida. Republican Senator Rick Scott has none of Trump’s popularity in the Sunshine State. He is up for reelection in November. And his polling lead over likely Democratic challenger Debbie Mucarsel-Powell has shrunk to 2%. As the latest Florida Atlantic poll report put it,
Among likely voters, Scott narrowly leads 45 to 43, which is within the poll’s margin of error. Scott had led Mucarsel-Powell by 17 points in April.
If you do not know who Debbie Mucarsel-Powell is, you are not alone. Apparently, the ex-US Representative is not even a household name in Florida. However, Rick Scott is - which is not a boon for the cadaverous candidate. Floridians do not like him. And as more people get to know his opponent, her numbers improve.
Also helping Mucarsel-Powell is Amendment 4. This is a pro-choice, pro-abortion, pro-women’s rights measure that Floridians will vote on in November. It has attracted national attention and a whole lot of out-of-state money. Most of which has been spent to support it. This is how the Miami Herald put it:
“Donors — both in Florida and nationally — are putting tens of millions of dollars behind a proposed constitutional amendment that would legalize abortion up until fetal viability, generally understood to be around 24 weeks of pregnancy. Known as Amendment 4, the measure also includes exceptions past that mark for “the patient’s health, as determined by the patient’s healthcare provider.”
The amendment is widely popular. The paper further reports:
Amendment 4 has received broad support. A CBS News/YouGov survey released in May found support for the ballot measure hitting the 60% threshold it will need to pass in November. Another poll from the Florida Chamber of Commerce conducted around the same time clocked support for the amendment at 61%.
The state’s Republicans, led by their misogynist-in-chief, Ron DeSantis, are so unnerved by the potential electoral effect of the amendment, that they are lying like Ponzi scheme salesmen.
Resorting to the anti-choice playbook they say it’s an ill-defined and overly broad effort to ensure abortion access up until a child is born.
Only a sadist with a hateful agenda could think that a measure designed to keep women with terminally compromised pregnancies alive is “overly broad.”
In addition, DeSantis is expected to use a newly formed political committee, Florida Freedom Fund, to target Amendment 4, as well as another proposed amendment that would legalize recreational marijuana.
Note: how restricting people’s choice on reproduction and marijuana promotes “freedom” is anyone’s guess. But MAGAS are not critical thinkers, so this Orwellian hypocrisy is not going away anytime soon.
The opposition to Big Brother and his minions is well-funded. The pro-civil rights group, Floridians Protecting Freedom (an appropriate name) has already reported raising more than $38 million from donors across the country.
In November, Florida will also vote in 28 congressional elections. Despite gerrymandering - which has given the Republicans a 20 to 8 advantage - there are some districts close enough for the Democrat to have a reasonable chance of flipping the seat.
Amendment 4 will give them a powerful tool in getting people with empathy (i.e. Democratically inclined voters) to the polls.
The other side had also raised money. But theirs is not a popular position. One group, Florida Voters Against Extremism, has banked $250,000 — half of it from the Catholic Church. Who knew that dismal organization (I refer to church management, not the faithful) had any money left over after all the child rape settlements?
Confirming that Floridians want government kept out of women’s wombs, DeSantis’s Florida Freedom Fund has raised a mere $121,400, with $100,000 of that coming from POB Ventures LLC, an Apopka-based company that lists itself as working in the alternative pharmaceuticals industry. (What do they expect is a quid pro quo?)
The moral of the story is that even if the top of the ticket is lost, there is so much that Democrats must fight for - and can win - lower down the ballot.
#vote
Correction: a previous version of this diary started with a comment on the presidential race in Florida. It proved a distraction and had little bearing on the point of the diary. So I removed it. But for the sake of the historical record, here it is.
“There is good news and bad news for Democrats in Florida. And while I risk burying the lede, let’s get the bad news out of the way. The Democrats will not likely win the 2024 presidential election in the state.”