Florida Democrats hobbled their local candidates in Tuesday’s races by trying to protect President Joe Biden. The liberal party’s decision to cancel Florida’s presidential preference primary and preemptively award the delegates to Biden stifled voter turnout for local elections.
The Democratic party’s decision to award Florida’s delegates to the incumbent isn’t without precedent, but it is unusual. Whether for fears of another “uncommitted” vote, like the one that happened in Michigan, or because they just didn’t want to face how unpopular the president is, they decided to skip holding a primary.
https://twitter.com/FlaDems/status/1770232549920456811?s=20
Liberal opponents like Cenk Uygur, who is attempting to run against Biden for the nomination alongside Marianne Williamson and Dean Phillips, also oppose the ruling, suggesting that it disenfranchises voters.
“The number one problem with what the Florida Democratic Party is doing is not how it affects me, Marianne [Williamson] and Dean [Phillips]. It’s how it affects the Florida Democratic voters. They are robbing them of their voice. They’re saying the democracy is not important, that you should not participate in the process,” Uygur said in a statement.
Many local elections are held on the same day as the primaries, especially in the southern parts of Florida, but without a presidential primary to vote in, few Democrats showed up, with some counties reporting that upwards of three-quarters of the votes cast came from Republicans.
Because of this, the Republicans had an unusual number of victories Tuesday. Palm Beach County alone awarded three mayoral seats to Republicans.
3 victorious GOP Mayors in Palm Beach County: Well done to Wellington Mayor-elect Michael Napoleone, Juno Beach Mayor-elect Peggy Wheeler and newly re-elected Hypoluxo Mayor Michael Brown! #KeepFloridaWinning @PalmBeachGOP pic.twitter.com/SI0LTxQ4fX
— Florida GOP (@FloridaGOP) March 20, 2024
In the city of Clearwater, Republican-backed Bruce Rector won the mayoral race, and two city council seats were flipped in favor of Republicans.
Democrats also took losses in Apopka, Delray Beach, Oakland and Juno Beach, where Peggy Wheeler defeated incumbent Mayor Alexander Cooke.
Even the Democrats who did win won by much slimmer margins than expected. While Florida Democrats expected more participation in the local elections, the message they sent to Florida’s liberals was clear: Your votes don’t matter.
