This story brought to you by 140 Blue Florida, recruiting and funding candidates for every Congressional and State Legislature seat in 2024
Convicted Felon Donald Trump has no chance at the Presidency if he can’t win his home state of Florida. You’d think he’d take the state for granted given he won there in 2020 (by 3.3%) and DeSantis won for Governor in 2022 by 19 points. But let’s look at two facts inside 2022:
- In 2022, Democrats failed to field any candidate in:
- Three Congressional Districts
- 12 State Senate Districts
- 37 State. House Seats
The 140 Blue Florida project is already changing the first of these. Thanks to their efforts, Democratic Candidates have been recruited for every Congressional and State Legislative seat. Many of these candidates are ordinary citizens who never ran for office before. They don’t have substantial disposable income available to pay Florida’s steep filing fees ($1,718 per candidate), let alone a minimal amount for a basic campaign.
The money must be raised by the deadline of June 14, 2024.
That’s where we at Daily Kos come in. 140 Blue Florida’s contributions spiked on the days I wrote (and you recommended):
A total of about $14,000 can be attributed to your contributions and recommendations of these stories. So thank you!
As for the second bullet above, Democrats’ job is to make Trump spend as much or more in Florida than DeSantis did in 2022. Right now nationally, Biden has $84 million cash in hand, almost double Trump's $49 million. How much of Trump’s cash will go to FL? Trump claims to have raised $35 million post-conviction, but how much of that will be spent on this legal fees, and how much will be allocated to Florida?
Having a candidate in every FL district forces Trump to allocate more funds to Florida, just one of the factors compelling us to run in every district. Remember, Florida is a must for him and every dollar spent there is not spent in MI, WI, PA, AZ, NC or GA. Here is a review of all the factors from my April 28 story on this, D's are running in every FL-CD for the 1st time since 2018. Now let's do it for the FL Legislature:
- Every vote cast for a Dem candidate for the FL state legislature is also a vote for Biden, Mucaserel and U.S. House candidates.
- In 2000, when Al Gore “lost” FL by 537 votes, there were seven out of 23 CD’s uncontested by Dems.
- Running candidates in every district works over time, such as in VA in 2019.
- A candidate can get thousands of votes for Democrats without spending a dime. In VA in 2021, Dem candidate Natalie Short received over 11,000 votes without raising a penny:
- Having Democrats in “safe” R districts forces Republicans to spend money there, taking away resources from other Districts.
- Having a candidate energizes Democrats in the district to participate and donate on state, congressional and Presidential levels.
So please: (1) Recommend this story; and (2) Give what you can afford: $5, $10, $50, $100, $500. to:
*Thinking he was a sure bet for a non-Trump Republican nominee. Hah.