Gillum is going to use his organization to help turn Florida blue in 2020. The new organization is called: Bring It Home Florida.
After losing his bid for Florida’s governorship by less than one half of a percentage point, Mr. Gillum, the former Tallahassee mayor, is now carefully planning his next steps amid speculation that he would run for president. On Wednesday, he announced he will not join the Democratic field seeking to oppose President Trump, but instead return to political organizing. He said he aims to build a voter mobilization network in Florida that will help whoever becomes the Democratic Party’s nominee to capture the state’s all-important 29 electoral votes.
Mr. Gillum spoke with The New York Times about why he’s confident Democrats can wrest Florida from Mr. Trump in 2020, what he hopes to see from the primary field, and how he grades the performance of the Republican who beat him last year, Gov. Ron DeSantis. — www.nytimes.com/...
Better yet, it sounds like he’s going to use the funds he raised during his gubernatorial run to do this, as is Bloomberg. That’s good, because Trump’s campaign is heavily focused on winning Florida.
Gillum, whose political committee Forward Florida still has nearly $3.9 million available, hinted at his plans earlier in the year.
“In this period of time, whatever resources that I raise and time and energy I spend in this state is going to be around voter registration and deep-level engagement, so that when we have a nominee, we have an apparatus we can turn on,” Gillum said in January. [...]
Former New York Mayor and billionaire Michael Bloomberg announced last month that rather than seek the presidency as a Democrat, he would fund a voter registration, persuasion and turnout effort in Florida, Wisconsin, Ohio, Michigan and Pennsylvania.
— www.politico.com/...
If you can, please help Gillum Bring It Home Florida. These efforts are sorely needed, because Republicans are trying their best to suppress votes:
A Florida House committee approved a bill addressing the rollout of Amendment 4 despite concerns that it would limit the number of former felons who could have their voting rights restored.
Voting along party lines, Republicans advanced the measure, which would require felons pay back all court fees and costs before being eligible to vote, even if those costs are not handed down by a judge as part of the person’s sentence.
That standard goes beyond the old system, which only required someone pay back restitution to a victim before applying to have their civil rights restored. And Democratic representatives and others blasted it. — www.tampabay.com/...
Note how outrageous this attempt at voter suppression is. They are asking for court costs, even when the judge didn’t. Even if this measure is defeated, or ruled unconstitutional by the courts, some damage will have been done because many voters will wonder whether it’s worth risking another encounter with the legal system.
18% of potential black voters in Florida are currently disenfranchised. Floridians voted by an enormous 65-35 margin to pass Amendment 4 in 2018. It restored the right to vote to felons who had served their sentence.
This is nothing short of an undemocratic power grab by a party that knows it cannot win without voter suppression and gerrymandering. And it may be illegal…
— @subirgrewal | Cross-posted to TheProgressiveWing.com