Unfuckingbelievable, but it’s done. I don’t think this has ever been done before, but there is now a Democratic candidate running in every state legislative race in Florida!!
That’s thanks to Fergie Reid of 90for90; haranguing, nagging, pushing, prodding, cajoling, and maybe even cursing, I don’t know for sure.
He did it with the help of Janelle Christianson, John Capece, Margie Stein, Peter Hoffman, Mike Coleman, Bob Lynch, our own Bethesda1971 and probably more.
Why did Fergie Reid have to be so...insistent? Well, because when he asked the simple question,
Why wouldn’t you run a Democratic candidate in every race?
he got some crazy answers from members of the FL Democratic Party.
Answers like:
But, that’s a Republican district!
Does it have to stay that way?
No Democrat can win this district.
Especially if they don’t run.
Oh, no, we’re not running Democrats here, that’s just going to make the Republicans mad.
And that’s a bad thing?
They’re not going to win.
That’s ok, at least they’ll have a chance, they have no chance of winning if they don’t run.
Running a candidate there will waste our donors money on a district they can’t win.
You don’t fund all races equally. (How is it that I know this and the Party officials don’t?)
That will just activate the Republicans to come out to vote.
That’s why this is called politics and not beanbags. But let’s say beanbags was a major league team sport; before a beanbag tournament, the coach doesn’t say, “You know, we shouldn’t play this game because it will activate the other team to play. It will activate their fans.” You don’t think that way, you go out and play, damn it!
We have the model, we have the data, we don’t need outsiders coming in telling us how to run our campaigns!
What campaigns? No candidate = no campaign.
Where is the money going to come from to fund all these campaigns?
Not to go off on major league sports again, but, if you run candidates, the money will come.
And the top really dumb answer to the simple question of why wouldn’t you run a Democratic candidate in every race…
Why do you think it’s a smart idea to run a Democratic candidate in every race?
Bless their hearts! Here are some reasons:
~to build the Democratic Party
~to bring out voters up and down the ballot
~because you never know when the Republican candidate may have to drop out of the race
~because it’s practicing Democracy
~because (ht to libera nos) it makes the Republicans pay attention to every race — or at least a lot more races. Spend time, money, defocus media attention, spread outside visits around, make sure every candidate has to pay attention to their own race instead of exclusively helping others.
~because it will activate Democratic voters to come out and vote and there are more of them out there than you think.
Dr. William Ferguson Reid Sr. of 90for90 told me once that when he was out registering voters, he would sign up a Democrat only to hear “I’m the only Democrat on this block, I keep to myself”. And then he would register 2 more Democrats on the same block.
They are out there and they want to vote. Thanks to 90for90 and friends, they now have a Democratic candidate to vote for. A Democrat in every race!
This was not an easy task, especially due to the Coronavirus. Finding a Democrat willing to run and then finding funding for the filing fee because you can’t really gather signatures during a pandemic. There was a mad scramble to the finish line for candidates to turn in their paperwork and file on time.
The incomplete list of candidates is below. The FL Party still isn’t helping out so please spread the word and feel free to donate to...anyone you choose!
Florida State Candidates… (I’ll update this list as info comes in)
SD-39- Daniel Horton-Diaz — Donate
*****************
HD3-Adam Christianson — Donate
HD7- Ryan Terrell — Donate
HD11- Joshua Hicks — Donate
HD12- Spyros "Speed" Chialtas — Donate
HD14- Angie Nixon — Donate
HD16- Ben Marcus — Donate
HD20- Yvonne Hayes Hinson — Donate
HD21- Dr. Kayser Enneking — Donate
HD 26- Patrick Henry — Donate
HD27- Dolores Guzman — Donate
HD29- Tracey Kagan — Donate
HD31- Debra Kaplan — Donate
HD32- Ryan Morales — Donate
HD41- Jared West — Donate
HD50- Nina Yoakum — Donate
HD51- Joan Majid — Donate
HD52- Lloyd Dabbs — Donate
HD53- Phil Moore — Donate
HD57- Scott Hottenstein — Donate
HD58 Townsend, Jr. — Donate
HD59- Andrew Learned — Donate
HD60-Julie Jenkins — Donate
HD64- Jessica Harrington — Donate
HD75-David Jones — Donate
HD77-Joshua Lopez — Donate
HD78-Shawn WIlliams — Donate
HD83- Edgar "EJ" Bernier — Donate
HD85-Jim Carroll — Donate
HD89-James Bonfiglio — Donate
HD106-Sara McFadden — Donate
HD116- Bob Lynch — Donate
HD118-Ricky Junquera — Donate
HD120-Clint Barras — Donate
There are two races to pay attention NOW. Two races where Republicans don’t run (as Republicans at least, they call themselves Democrats and run).
These two races will be decided August 18th and will send a strong message to the Republicans “Democrats are running...Democrats are winning...get used to it.”
Oh, and one more reason to run a Democrat in every race in Florida?
29 Electoral College votes!!!