Buoyed by a win in a special election for a state Senate seat last month, Florida Democrats are using a three-day party conference to prepare plans for the critical 2018 election year when they hope to retain a U.S. Senate seat and reclaim the governor's mansion.
“Winning is so good. Let's get used to it,” Stephen Bittel, chairman of the state party, told delegates and activists in a Saturday afternoon meeting at Disney's Coronado Springs Resort.
Sen. Annette Taddeo's Sept. 26 victory in a special election for Miami-Dade County's Senate District 40, which was previously held by a Republican, is being taken as a sign by Democrats that they can compete in a non-presidential election year when Democratic turnout has historically lagged.
Former state Sen. Jeremy Ring, a Broward County Democrat who is running for state chief financial officer, said the Senate win has helped counter some of the traditional mid-term “apathy” the party has faced in past elections.
“The Taddeo race for the first time since I have been in Florida demonstrated enthusiasm in the midterms,” Ring said.
One of the factors in the race was the ability of Democrats to tie Taddeo's Republican opponent, former state Rep. Jose Felix Diaz, to President Donald Trump. And while cautioning the 2018 general election is still a year away, Democrats say Trump may be a motivating factor for their party.
“Trump, plus 20 years of Republican control of this state,” said former state Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink about what factors could make next year a “wave election” in favor of Democrats.
“We're not addressing transportation issues. We're not addressing public education issues. Look at where we are on environmental issues. Our state could be so much better off,” said Sink, who narrowly lost the 2010 governor's race to Republican Gov. Rick Scott.
Sink, who helped found the Ruth's List organization that recruits women to run for local and state offices in Florida, said she is finding more highly qualified candidates willing to challenge Republicans, pointing to candidates ready to run against GOP incumbents in congressional districts in the Daytona Beach and Sarasota areas.
“We're optimistic,” Sink said.
Ring, who is the most visible Democrat running for a state Cabinet seat, said it is too early to say if the majority of next year's electorate will tilt toward Democrats.
“We know the liberal Democratic base is engaged like never before. We know the Trump supporters aren't going to change their minds. So what is the other 80 percent going to do?” he said. “They're still disengaged.”
But he said if Republicans remain unable to pass major legislation in Washington, D.C., it could turn the election in the Democrats' favor. “But I'm not here to predict 12 months out,” he said.
U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, who addressed the conference in a luncheon speech, cautioned party activists that they have to do more than just oppose Trump's policies. Nelson is the only current statewide elected Democrat.
“It is our responsibility not just to criticize them, not just to criticize the president,” Nelson said. “It's our responsibility, not only as Democrats but as Americans, to do what we can to right the ship.”
Asked about a potential challenge from Scott for the U.S. Senate seat, Nelson said he is taking nothing for granted.
“I approach every race like it's going to be the toughest,” he said, adding that he is not ready to embrace the theory that an anti-Trump wave will help Democrats next year. “Anything can happen in that time.”
The defense of Nelson's seat is one of the many challenges facing the party next year.
The governor's race, which the Democrats have not won since 1994, remains muddled, with three major announced candidates but with more expected to join the race.
Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum was the most visible candidate for much of Saturday, talking to delegates and attending meetings. He was scheduled to be joined by former U.S. Rep. Gwen Graham of Tallahassee and Winter Park developer Chris King in an evening forum.
Miami Beach Mayor Philip Levine is expected to join the governor's race next week, while Orlando trial lawyer John Morgan remains another potential candidate who may not make a decision until next year.
Another challenge for the Democrats is a lack of prominent candidates, other than Ring, for the three open state Cabinet seats for attorney general, agriculture commissioner and chief financial officer.
“I think there is impatience, which there always is with that inside-baseball crowd. But we've got a year to go,” Ring said, noting recent talk about state Rep. Sean Shaw, D-Tampa, possibly running for attorney general.
The Taddeo victory was an indicator that Democrats could work to further reduce the Republican majority in the state Senate, where the GOP holds 24 of the 40 seats. But that effort hit a setback, at least temporarily, when the next leader of the Senate Democrats, Jeff Clemens of Lake Worth, abruptly resigned his seat Friday after apologizing for having an affair with a lobbyist.
Democrats had been talking about making a serious bid for a half-dozen Senate seats next year, along with defending Taddeo's seat. But former state Sen. Steve Geller, who is now a Broward County commissioner, said that is unrealistic without an influx of national money in the state races, where Republicans have a major financial edge.
“We're going to have to concentrate on two or three seats unless we get national money,” Geller said.
But state party leaders are working to draw national attention to even local contests and state legislative races, making the pitch it will help in future presidential campaigns.
“We have worked hard to make sure the races and the wins that we have here in our state are being recognized throughout the country,” Sally Boynton Brown, president of the Florida Democratic Party, told the delegates.
She said victories like Taddeo's Senate win help the party convince national donors that Florida is not “too big, too hard, too expensive” for the Democrats.
“We're proving them wrong,” she said.
