On June 14, after the qualifying deadline for the Florida state legislature passed. State Chair Nikki Fried said:
“Democrats made history today” by contesting “every seat in both chambers of the legislature”
What she should have added is this would not have been possible without the grassroots support of the people below and you on Daily Kos.
Repeating the incredible effort they made in 2020 to run a Democrat in every single Florida State House and Senate race, 90for90.org, led by Dr. Fergie Reid, and Blue Florida PC, led by Margie Stein and Judy Freiberg, combined forces with members of the Democratic Environmental Caucus of Florida (DECF) this election cycle to recruit, support, and help fund candidates running in seats across Florida. The group helped recruit 48 FL House candidates and 8 FLSenate candidates in 2024.
The group funded a total of 36 Democrats who needed financial support to be on the ballot. The group raised a whopping $51,900 to support their fundraising toward the $1,781.82 each needed to qualify.
Of the $51,900 total, nearly half — about $23,000 was raised in response to stories by Bethesda 1971 and others on this site from May 2 to June 12. So thank you for recommending the stories and contributing!
The Florida media has noticed. The Tampa Bay Times:
But the fact that Democrats fielded a candidate in every race means no Republican will coast to reelection without facing voters. In comparison, Democrats automatically won nine seats in the House and two in the Senate this week after facing no opposition.
The Tampa Bay Times article focused on control of the legislature itself, where Democrats’ best shot is to break out of their superminority status. But the implications of running in every district go way beyond the state legislature:
- This year in FL there are two statewide elections (Senate and President), 28 US House Elections, and about 120 state legislature elections. Every vote cast for a Dem candidate for the state legislature is also a vote for Biden, Mucaserel and U.S. House candidates. Remember, in 2018, Rick Scott won by only 10,000 votes. If 40 candidates had been added in uncontested districts, 250 votes per district would have re-elected Bill Nelson..
- Running candidates in every district works over time. VA Dems swept the Governor and legislature in 2019 when almost all districts were contested, then lost offices in 2021 when they weren’t.
- 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 States and Districts.
- Having a candidate energizes Democrats in the district to participate and donate on state, congressional and Presidential levels. In the words of David Pepper, author of Saving Democracy:
The local neighbor who taught for 20 years—who’s running for a state House seat that we haven’t contested for decades or for years—that person is also here for democracy. They are bringing accountability to bear against an extremist. They’re raising awareness of what that state House has been doing, what it could be doing differently, and I’m going to get excited about that role as well, because I understand that it’s institutions like state Houses and school boards that right now are the front lines in this battle over democracy.
And candidates recruited helped by 140Blue, 90 for 90 and the DECF are standing side by side with Chair Nikki Fried:
So give yourselves a hand, Kossacks, for your groundbreaking support for140 Blue Florida ActBlue.