These are some of the key takeaways from around the state after the 2020 election cycle. Florida’s a huge story but not the story today. What a difference it makes to have the right people in the right places. I’m specifically talking about the Supervisors of Elections in Broward and Palm Beach County. Florida bucked the national trends. In a Presidential election in which President Trump generally performed slightly below his 2016 levels nationally, he more than doubled his margin of victory in Florida over four years ago. Additionally, Republicans gained two seats in the US House by flipping South Florida’s 26th amd 27th Congressional districts. Republicans easily retained control of Florida’s state legislature. This is a significant dynamic for Florida’s elections over the next decade. Florida will gain Congressional representation based on Census changes. The Republican-led legislature will be the body drawing the new districts.
President Trump’s performance among Miami-Dade's Hispanic voters was the single biggest reason President Trump’s margin of victory expanded this cycle. Additionally, they were key to flipping Florida’s 26th and 27th districts back to Republicans. But then there’s Miami-Dade's mayoral race. While it’s non-partisan, it's was clearly a left vs. right battle and in the end, the county flipped from Republican Carlos Gimenez, who flipped Florida’s 26th Congressional District, to Democrat Daniella Levine-Cava.
Let's take a look at the amendments. Once again, simply getting on the ballot was generally met with success. With the passage of Florida’s 1st, 2nd, 5th, and 6th Constitutional Amendments, we’re only going to continue to see more emphasis placed on using Amendments to enact policy going forward.
Florida proved to be the ultimate screw you to outsider money, with Texas not too far behind. A record of $300+ million was spent in Florida, approximately a quarter of all political spending nationally. Over 80% of the money came from outside of the state led by Michael Bloomberg’s $100 million and huge contributions from Silicon Valley technology players and Hollywood celebrities. By a near 3-1 margin, Florida political advertising favored Democrats. All of that outsider money bought Democrats a larger loss in the Presidential race and a loss of two Congressional seats.
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