Florida wins after Trump takeover leave Democrats feeling brighter about Sunshine State

Florida has been widely seen as a red state, particularly since the emergence of Donald Trump in 2016 as a presidential winner. 

Trump won Florida in 2016, in 2020 and in 2024, and over that time period saw the Sunshine State become a center of the MAGA-universe.

But a series of recent Democratic wins — from a high profile flip this week in the district home to Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate to a recent upset in the Miami mayoral race — are forcing both parties to confront the reality that the political ground may not be as settled as it seemed.

“It doesn’t mean everything but it means something,” said Steve Schale, the Democratic strategist who ran former President Barack Obama’s operation in the state. “I still think Florida is very hard at the statewide level but we have a more motivated electorate than we had in 2024. 

“I do think more places are going to be in play,” Schale added. “More voters are open to us making our argument to them.” 

The reason Floridians are more open to hearing from Democrats, argue Schale and other Democratic strategists in the state, is unhappiness with Trump’s handling of the economy and his administration’s policies more broadly. 

Democrats had been feeling bullish about the shift since Eileen Higgins won the mayoral race, becoming the first Democrat to win that office in decades.

Tuesday’s victory by Emily Gregory in the Mar-a-Lago district, and Brian Nathan’s upset in another district in the state, they argue, provides the latest evidence. 

Fernand Amandi, the Democratic strategist who serves as an adviser to David Jolly, the former GOP congressman running for governor as a Democrat, and Eliott Rodriguez, the longtime South Florida........

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