How Florida became the center of the Republican universe

Vox ^ | Sep 18, 2023 | Nicole Narea

[MinorityRepublican]

Carlos Campos came to Miami from Venezuela in 1979, before dictator Hugo Chávez’s socialist revolution brought about the unraveling of the oil-rich country. But it wasn’t until 2016 that Campos became actively engaged in US politics. Donald Trump’s “America First” message stirred something in him.

Sitting down at a Cuban restaurant just minutes from the Trump National Doral golf resort — one of the former president’s major Miami-area properties aside from his Mar-a-Lago estate — Campos described how he came to the realization that his values aligned more closely with Republicans than Democrats.

He attends Alpha & Omega, a Spanish-language evangelical church in Miami, and is anti-abortion. He wants stricter border policy, believing that the US isn’t doing enough to keep out criminals and that everyone should enter the country legally — despite the difficulties that even his fellow Venezuelans have recently experienced trying to immigrate.

[Joe Brower]

Good article. Very thorough, and surprisingly balanced. Thanks for posting this, MinorityRepublican.

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[Rockingham]

The article is superficial in many respects. I worked for two decades for the Florida GOP as the foundations for its dominance were being laid. Three things deserve mention:

(1) A highly effective Republican chairman, Tom Slade, who recruited and supported a dedicated team of experienced GOP HQs staff who created one of the most effective state GOP operations in the country.

(2) A strategy that secured and built GOP control of the legislature so as to shut out Democrats from having state legislators who could fundraise and support the Democratic party at the state level.

(3) An effective effort to get new resident from out of state to register and vote Republican.

[Joe Brower]

All of this has been decades in the making. A shame that many other states haven't followed this example.

What is your opinion of the work that Christian Ziegler is currently doing as Florida GOP chairman?

[LuxAerterna]

It wasn’t the typical Vox partisan rant. But I wouldn’t go so far as to say it’s “surprisingly balanced.”

Ron DeSantis has been an effective governor on a variety of issues, and this is what so suddenly moved the needle. People don’t want crime, riots, endless quarantines, pornography and grooming in public schools, open borders, and high taxes to pay for massive welfare and bureaucracy. He’s also been good on Emergency Response, which is always important in Florida.

Good governance has burnished the Republican brand in Florida, and encouraged Republican migration from hell holes in New York, Illinois and California.

[Rockingham]

I am not in the game at present, but Ziegler seems good, and has the insight that the GOP needs to go after urban areas and displace Democratic control. I am not sure though that he has an integrated and realistic plan for doing so.

[Taxman]

ping

[Joe Brower]

"It wasn’t the typical Vox partisan rant. But I wouldn’t go so far as to say it’s “surprisingly balanced.”

It's all a relative measure, for sure.

This article conveys, to me at least, a sense of grudging admiration for what Florida has managed to achieve. That alone is somewhat remarkable. It must have been painful for Vox to publish this, poor dears.