Polk County: Influx of Puerto Rican Voters Provides Opportunity for Democrats

In what has been known to be a very red area in Florida in the past, there is some great news from The Ledger this week:

 Are you fluent in both English and Spanish? Then Polk County Supervisor of Elections Lori Edwards has a job for you – for maybe two or three days a year.

The Polk elections office is making an all-out effort to locate bilingual poll workers because of the increased Hispanic population in the county and the increase in the number of Hispanic voters.

The U.S. Census Bureau has estimated that there are 81,646 Hispanics in Polk, 14.5 percent of the total county population. Polk has gone from the 27th-largest Hispanic voting population among the 67 counties in Florida to the 11th-largest.

An influx of Puerto Ricans, who are U.S. citizens and have the right to vote, is contributing to the increase in Spanish-speaking voters, Edwards said.

That last little bit there is the gem. Many Puerto Ricans, all of whom are US citizens, have been moving into central Florida by the thousands in the past few years. This could have a huge impact on elections for many years to come in the area and I’m glad to see that Lori Edwards is playing it very smart here by reaching out to them and trying to give them a fair opportunity to vote.

Just the fact though that bilingual workers are now needed even in Polk County should give confidence to Democrats in the 12th and surrounding districts that what were once solid Republican areas could be ripe territory for pickups in the future. If Democrats make a strong effort and actively campaign for the Hispanic vote, then we will make continual gains and be able to engage in strong competitive campaigns in the area for years to come. What’s at stake here just in Polk County are five state house seats and 2 state senate states.

Remember in 2006, Hispanics favored Democrats at the top of the ballot for the first time in 30 years and this is including the Cuban vote (See: Florida Hispanics Abandoning GOP) and just last Spring in a special election, Democrat Darren Soto, a Puerto Rican, picked up the central Florida seat for State House District 49, previously held by a Republican. Democrats are already making waves in the central Florida area and we have the opportunity to make more waves in the years to come. Let’s start with 2008.

Our first goal must be to find candidates for many of the legislative districts in the area. These include:

HD-63: No Democrats, Republican Incumbent (Seth McKeel)

HD-64 (Open): No Democrats, Three Republican Candidates (English, Stargel, Walker)

HD-65 (Open): No Democrats, One Republican Candidate (John Wood)

HD-66: No Democrats, Republican Incumbent (Baxter Troutman)

HD-79 (Open): No Democrats, One Republican Candidate (Mike Horner)

SD-15: No Democrats, Republican Incumbent (Paula Dockery)

SD-17: No Democrats, Republican Incumbent (J.D. Alexander)

Yes, unfortunately the Democratic roster is completely blank right now in all of these districts. If we’re not competing it is going to be very difficult to make gains, so let’s get some candidates running.

Let’s keep an eye on these districts. I’ll be profiling them later on.

Relaunch

I also wanted to mention that this site is being relaunched after a hiatus due to me being away for the past six months. If you would like to join the effort to Turn Florida Blue as a writer, please email me at magic_star40 (at) yahoo (dot) com.

Florida Hispanics Abandoning GOP

Take a look at this for another sign Florida Republicans are in for some trouble with the Hispanic vote in 2008.

According to the latest Florida International University poll of Cuban Americans in Miami-Dade, 65 percent support a dialogue with the Cuban government, up from 40 percent in 1991. In another recent survey conducted for Democrats of two heavily Cuban-American congressional districts in Miami-Dade — represented by Republicans Lincoln Díaz-Balart and his brother Mario — voters rated getting rid of Castro sixth among their concerns. Their top priority for Congress: getting out of Iraq. President Bush’s approval rating was 39 percent, only a handful of points higher than in national polls.

It sounds like to me these districts’ constituents would be better served by Democrats than the pro-Iraq war Diaz-Balart brothers. It’s time we begin testing the waters in these districts. While Republicans have relied on these districts for years simply based on anti-Cuba rhetoric, it’s not going to work anymore.

The article continues on about the loss of Hispanics in the GOP:

Hispanic voters in Miami-Dade County, regarded for years as a solidly Republican catch for statewide and national candidates stumping in Florida, are increasingly becoming free agents.

Less than half of the county’s Hispanic voters are registered Republicans, down from 59 percent less than a decade ago, The Miami Herald found. Like newer voters elsewhere in the state and the nation, more Hispanic voters are rebuffing political parties: One out of four in Miami-Dade are registered as nonpartisan. In Broward County, one in three Hispanic registered voters are unaffiliated with either party.

”It’s a trend that I’ve seen happening, and obviously it concerns me,” said Jose ”Pepe” Riesco, vice chairman of the Miami-Dade Republican Party. “It’s a problem we can’t run away from.”

Even the Republicans are admitting it, they are beginning to lose the Cuban-American vote and more largely the Hispanic vote all together. It doesn’t take much thought to figure out why. When the Republican Party’s top nominees all refuse to attend one of the largest Hispanic conferences in Florida, while all of the major Democrats show up, the Republican Party begins to look, shall we say, a little less appealing. In the past, Republicans have been able to rely on their platform solely of smearing Cuba to win the Cuban-American vote, however now young Cuban-American voters are demanding much more than that.

Those independent voters tend to be younger Cuban Americans or naturalized citizens from Central America and South America, many of whom worry more about securing healthcare than toppling Fidel Castro, according to more than two dozen interviews with voters and Hispanic leaders.

Health care, Iraq, education, jobs? Don’t expect Republicans to talk to Cubans about any real issues any time soon. Republicans have used Cuban voters for many years and have given them nothing in return. They have made Cuba a wedge issue, trying to divide voters rather than unite.

Other good news:

Amid the nationwide backlash against the GOP in 2006, Hispanics in Florida favored the Democratic candidates at the top of the ballot for the first time in 30 years, exit polls show. Hoping to build on that success, the state Democratic Party has tapped Luis Garcia, the only Cuban-American Democrat representing Miami-Dade in the Legislature, to serve as vice chairman.

When thousands of Hispanic leaders convened at conferences in Orlando and Miami this summer, the Democratic presidential candidates were there to court them. At the Orlando event, Democratic front-runner Sen. Hillary Clinton seized on remarks by potential GOP rival Fred Thompson that seemed to suggest that Cuban immigrants posed a terrorist threat. (He was actually referring to spies.)

”Democrats have resolved that we are not going to make the mistakes of 2000 and 2004, when for all practical purposes, the Hispanic vote was written off,” said Miami pollster and paid Clinton advisor Sergio Bendixen.

In 2008, we can build on our past successes from 2006, further expand our Hispanic majorities, particularly into the Cuban-American community, and finally push for changes in our state that will help all Floridians. We have an opportunity to pick up those Miami House districts, as well as seats in the Florida House and Florida Senate.

9/11 Commission Bill Passed

Playing a little catch up here now, we also want to discuss the 9/11 Commission vote. This is the bill that would enforce all of the recommendations of the 9/11 Commission. These recommendations are meant to keep our country safe in the future. But despite that, over the last several years, Republicans have refused to put the recommendations before a vote of Congress anyways. Now with Democrats in control, finally the recommendations of the bipartisan commission were put before a vote.

Not surprisingly it passed on a vote of 299 – 128, with not just 231 Democrats voting Yes, but also with the support of 68 Republicans.

Despite the Yes vote on the bill, some Republicans still voted No against the recommendations of the bipartisan commission. These Republicans voted with an extreme partisan view. Here are the Florida Republicans who voted No against securing the country:

Miller (1st), Crenshaw (4th), Stearns (6th), Mica (7th), Young (10th), Putnam (12th), Weldon (15th), Feeney (24th) 

Of note here is Dave Weldon, who seems determined to vote down almsot every bipartisan bill of the 100 Hours agenda.

 Again, here was his last election:

Dave Weldon: 56%     Bob Bowman: 44%

We need to keep on him and put up a funded challenge in 2008. His votes have been out of the mainstream and voters in the 15th District are not going to like that.

Medicare Prescription Negotiation Bill Passed: Fourteen Florida Republicans Vote No

As we continue our coverage of the Florida Republicans who are voting against the 100 Hours Plan, we will now take a look at the vote on the recently passed Medicare Prescription Negotiation Act, which will allow the government to negotiate the price of prescription drugs with corporations and thus lower the prices for people.

The US House passed the bill 255 – 170, with many Republican votes included. However, once again the Florida Republicans voted against the interests of people and seniors, in particular. The Florida delegation voted 14 – 11 against helping to lower the price of prescripton drugs. They voted against the bipartisan bill and instead voted in the favor of corporations and the elite.

Crenshaw (4th), Brown-Waite (5th), Stearns (6th), Mica (7th), Keller (8th), Bilirakis (9th), Young (10th), Putnam (12th), Mack (14th), Weldon (15th), Ros-Lehtinen (18th), Diaz-Balart L. (21st), Feeney (24th), Diaz-Balart M. (25th)

Let’s take a look again at some of these representatives. Brown-Waite represents many seniors and she voted against their interests right here in this vote. She sold out to pharmaceutical companies and did not serve the desire of her constituents. Keller and Weldon again have voted against a bipartisan bill to help the middle class in America. These two Congressmen won narrow reelections in 2006 and votes like this will not impress in 2008. Bilirakis registered a vote for helping the corporate and elite in our country and against the middle class and seniors of his district.

These are the representatives of our state. I am sure many people in these districts do not know that their representatives are voting against their wishes right now. But the representatives should keep in mind that there will be elections again in 2008 and if they continue to vote in favor of corporations and the powerful and against the middle class, voters will not be happy. If they continue to vote a long the lines of the far right-wing of their party and against bipartisan bills, they are going face more tough elections.

Turning Florida Blue

Over the next two years, we will be working to Turn Florida Blue. Together we can turn the Florida House, the Florida Senate, and our US Congress representation Democratic. In 2006, Democrats picked up two US House seats and seats in the Florida House and Senate, as well as the CFO position with Alex Sink. In 2008 we want to continue that trend and do even better. To do that, we must build a state-wide movement to Turn Florida Blue.

This is where we stand now:

• The Florida House has 78 Republicans and 41 Democrats.
• The Florida Senate has 26 Republicans and 14 Democrats.
• Our US House of Representatives Delegation – 16 Republicans and 9 Democrats

We all know this representation does not accurately reflect Florida. We must work to change that. Together we can put Democrats in office and take back the House and Senate and send more Democrats to Washington. This will take effort but in the end we all know it will be well worth it to have Democrats representing us.

We must take several actions to build this campaign.

1. First we must find Democrats to challenge every single Republican in the US House and in our Florida delegations.

2. Next we must choose which districts we should target and build a strategy to take those seats.

3. Finally, we will carry out that strategy.

Personally I already have an opinion of some districts in the US House we should target. Districts 08 and 13 (Stolen this time) stick out right away. But with work, we could also win Districts 15, 21, and 25, as well as many others. We must find the right candidates and build grassroots campaigns that will win on election night.

If you would like to be a blogger here, please email me at pointblankpolitics@yahoo.com

We will need many contributors to help make this work!

Thanks,

Shane