Democrats Canceled Their Florida Primary To Help Biden. It Backfired And Helped Republicans Flip Local Seats

The Federalists ^ | 3/20/24 | BRIANNA LYMAN

[CFW]

Florida Democrats chose to award President Joe Biden the state’s delegates in November instead of holding a presidential primary vote, presumably to protect the unpopular incumbent. But it appears the move backfired and led to a wipeout of Democrats in local races.

Florida Democrat Party leaders awarded Biden the state’s 224 delegates months ago and cancelled the primary, in a move Biden’s Democrat challengers called “intentional disenfranchisement” and said was “done obviously in secret, obviously to help the incumbent Joe Biden.” The lack of a statewide Democrat primary meant registered Democrats had less reason to turn out on Tuesday than Republicans, who decisively voted for former President Donald Trump in Tuesday’s Republican primary.

Based on the several key wins by Republicans, Democratic turnout appears to have been hampered by the party’s decision. Republicans and Republican-supported candidates managed to flip several seats in their favor.

Republican-backed Bruce Rector won Clearwater’s nonpartisan race for mayor, while Michael Mannino flipped City Council Seat 3 and Ryan Cotton flipped Seat 2 — defeating incumbent Democrat Mark Bunker who was endorsed by the Florida Democratic Party. Biden narrowly won Pinellas County in 2020.

[snip]

In Delray Beach, former mayor and commissioner Tom Carney flipped the mayor seat and beat Shirley Johnson and Ryan Boylston by more than 10 percentage points each. Johnson had “said she [would] strive for diversity, equity and inclusion,” a favorite Democrat talking point. Biden won the district by nearly 30 points in 2020.

[CFW]

The Democrats made a mistake in not having a reason for their Florida voters to go to the polls on Tuesday.

[PGalt]

The D emons are EVIL. They show it often.

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

Maybe they thought not having a reason to go to the polls was better for them than having one.

[Justa]

Oh, so now it’s Ds have “low voter turnout” in FL? How ‘bout FL’s use of Real ID for registration and voting removed 1/3 of the D voters.

[COBOL2Java]

Oh, so now it’s Ds have “low voter turnout” in FL? How ‘bout FL’s use of Real ID for registration and voting removed 1/3 of the D voters.

[Eleutheria5]

All politics is local.

[metmom]

Dear Lord.

Please confuse the democrat’s counsels and cause them to make more stupid decisions that backfire on them.

[xp38]

They outsmarted themselves!

[Bernard]

That, and Leap Year added a day so the dems may have just shown up on the wrong day. Apparently intent does not count.

Yet.

[Steven Tyler]

Not surprised

The Dem cannot steal races, Republicans win on the true vote outcome

[nagant]

How can low turnout at a state party primary race hand a seat to the opposition party? I thought only general elections were capable of doing this. Democrat nominees have yet to face Republican nominees.

[FlingWingFlyer]

The Zero Gs aren’t as seedy and quick as the millennials.

[Betty Jane]

Some states also hold their local elections for ‘non-partisan’ positions on the same day as well as referendums on primary day.

[ExSES]

I was a pollworker for the Florida election on Tuesday. There were quite a few Dims who showed up and were told there was nothing for them to vote for. Some wanted to be allowed to vote anyway but were again told that only registered Republicans could vote. Some Independents showed up as well and were informed that Florida is a "Closed Primary" State and they could not just choose to vote for a party on election day.

Unlike past elections, we did not have to deal with any belligerents (though one fella was very drunk and spoiled the first ballot we gave him..., he was very careful with the replacement!

[Eleutheria5]

Now there’s one-party rule. That’s undermining democracy. Who do they think they are? California?