Democrat Rob Long is the newest member of the Florida House of Representatives, after winning an overwhelming victory Tuesday in a Palm Beach County special election.
Unofficial results Wednesday showed Long with 9,553 votes, or 63.2%. Republican Maria Zack finished far behind with 5,424 votes, or 35.9%.
Long is a loss control engineer, runs a political organizing firm, is a former member of the Palm Beach Soil and Water Conservation District board, and a former president of the Palm Beach County Young Democrats.
As a New Yorker, who is unfortunately stuck in Orlando, for the time being, this win and the Miami win are a huge hope for all Floridians that we can at least turn this state purple again, and maybe even blue in the next few years.
We all need to work hard and step up our advocacy. But I believe we can get there.
Exactly. If Trump has any lasting legacy, I hope that it’s he’s shown Americans the absolute worst that our government and country can be, which motivates people to come out and vote. We can do better. America and the world deserves better. Our kids deserve better.
That’s what I thought would happen in 2024.
That’s a nice sentiment and I do hope it’s true, but I don’t think I am capable of believing it’s possible for people to change their political opinions outside of early adulthood in a meaningful way anymore. I’ve seen too many people do insane things to avoid any kind of introspection.
I’m not in the US so have nothing to on but my own doom scroll. But does it feel like democrats are winning these elections only because republicans have been so bad?
Yep that’s what happens when the Democratic party gives up on rural areas, middle class voters, the breadbasket and rust belt, etc for decades. Having policies that are good for them is pointless unless they can take the bully pulpit like Trump can, they refuse, with some minor exceptions. So look how bad it has to be before people are willing to vote blue.
God what I’d do to see a billboard or commercial in my red state explaining how Republicans are fucking people over.
When things are bad for the average person, the average person will tend to vote against the incumbent. So it’s not because they’re Republicans, but because they’re in charge when things are going bad.
The populace will swing back to voting Republican when the Dems are back in power. It’s the way of things, since things appear to be going bad for everyone, and this looks like it will be the case for awhile.
This has been the liberal strategy employed by Dems for at least 30 years now - “vote for me because at least I’m not as terrible as my Republican opponent.” This has many downsides, including overall lack of messaging capability by Dems, no direction by Dems, and ratchet effect pulling the Overton window completely off the right side of the scale.
Now, we’re starting to see something new. I am not familiar with Long so can’t speak to his campaign specifically, however many young dems have been making significant inroads by embracing socialism, analyzing the vast shortcomings of American day to day material living conditions, and running on a platform specifically targeted to help working class people’s lives be better. This resonates with many voters and if more Dems catch on to this and pursue populist policies in earnest, there will be a massive reckoning coming as a political sea change in the next few years.
However, if it’s more campaigns of “orange man bad,” Dems will once again snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. We already know the guy is a rapist, a grifter, and a convicted felon. What are you going to do differently that is better? This is the question every reporter should be asking if they want to be considered an actual journalist.
Maga Republicans only really win in deep red areas unless trump is also on the ballot. Trumpers don’t show up to elections unless they can vote for him. I live in a deep red area and we get pretty close to closing the gap when trump isn’t on the ballot but when he is it’s a shutout.
If Dems want to win, they need more than ‘not Republicans… but essentially the same’. They need to be active and they need to be seen. Loud and visibly against this regime and everything that enabled it. They need small dollar donations, ditch the corporate donors. They need to get themselves arrested protesting ICE or, ideally, actively resisting them.
Show some fucking spine.
A democrat in Palm Beach? That’s super illegal.
