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Florida Democratic Party
August 19, 2020
For Immediate Release
Alexandra Caffrey

FLORIDA – Today, the Florida Democratic Party released its “Sunshine Slate” of Democrats on the ballot this November. With more than 400 Democrats running for state and local office across Florida, we are ready to flip Florida blue at every single level — from local offices all the way to the White House.

In 2019, the Florida Democratic Party launched the “Municipal Victory Program” and “Campaign Blueprint” and partnered with a dozen progressive partners to recruit and train candidates to run for local office. This June, in advance of the November election, FDP announced a $2 million investment into a newly formed Down Ballot Elections Department tasked with supporting the record number of Democrats running for state and local office in 2020.

“Today, the Florida Democratic Party announces our Sunshine Slate -- more than 400 candidates who will build long term power for Florida Democrats and help flip this state blue.  All politics is local and our candidates and our investments will put an end to out-of-touch Republican leadership— and replace it with elected leaders who will stand up for Florida families and core Democratic values of equality, the environment, affordable healthcare, and an economy that works for every single one of us,” said Rosy Gonzalez Speers, Senior Advisor for Down Ballot Elections at the Florida Democratic Party. 

The down ballot elections program includes continued investment in vote-by-mail, digital support, training, and advanced data and analytics, as well as communications, field, and campaign strategy resources for candidates. 

To introduce voters to the new Sunshine Slate, FDP will launch a “Meet the Candidate” series on Thursday’s at 6:30 PM where voters can get to know Democratic candidates running for office throughout Florida.   

As part of its $2 million investment, the Florida Democratic Party is launching a six figure digital ad buy focused solely on down ballot candidates and has purchased cutting edge data, digital and analytics tools to ensure campaigns make the most of their resources. 

“In 2019, the Florida Democratic Party partnered with dozens of progressive partners to recruit the largest and strongest class of Democratic down ballot candidates in decades. Yesterday’s record Democratic turnout is evidence that our candidates were able to turn out the vote, but our work is not yet done,” said Terrie Rizzo, Chair of the Florida Democratic Party. “From expanding Medicaid, to helping the unemployed, to safely re-opening schools, it is abundantly clear that local leaders have a profound impact on our lives. In addition to sending Joe Biden and Kamala Harris to the White House, Florida Democrats will work to elect every member of our Sunshine Slate! We need local leaders who will support Joe Biden as President right here in Florida.”

 You can find our current list of candidates here. This list will be updated as more election results become official.

August 18, 2020

Florida Democratic Party Chair: Democrats Are Fired Up

Florida Democratic Party Chair Terrie Rizzo released the following statement on the primary election:

"It's clear Democrats across Florida are fired up and committed to making a change in 2020. A record number of Democrats enrolled in vote-by-mail and voted early — casting their ballots safely from home and in-person.

"President Trump decided to spread dangerous disinformation about the effectiveness of voting by mail — clearly that has made an impression on Florida Republicans. No one should feel the need to choose between their health or their right to vote. That's why we will continue to emphasize that voting by mail is a safe and secure way to make your voice heard.

I'm so proud of the work every candidate, staffer, and volunteer did to energize and organize voters during this unprecedented time. Primaries make our party stronger and we're entering the final stretch of this election prepared to make history.

"As Joe Biden says, we're in the battle for the soul of our nation — and Florida Democrats will spend the next 76 days going pedal to the metal to get out the vote. Onward!"

• Made more than 3.8 million phone calls
• Texted 4.1 million voters
• Completed 19,404 volunteer shifts

HOW FLORIDA DEMOCRATS FLIPPED THE SCRIPT ON THE GOP IN VOTE-BY-MAIL

In early 2019, Florida Democrats began building a field team and a network of progressive coalitions to establish a statewide volunteer corps and develop a unified strategy to flip the state for Democrats in 2020. 

As of today, we have 241 staff who are building a winning statewide grassroots infrastructure and 19,876 active volunteers who have completed training and volunteer shifts with the Florida Democratic Party.   

For the first time in nearly a decade, in a state that is always won on the margins Florida Democrats have built a strong and well trained volunteer corps ready before the launch of the general election. Nearly 20,000 volunteers have completed more than 80,000 volunteer shifts -- and anyone with a voter file can see the fruits of their labor. Florida Democratic Party and Joe Biden volunteers are responsible for the increase in vote-by-mail and they will be responsible for turning out the vote for Joe Biden and Democrats in November.  

Furthermore, this level of volunteerism has not been seen this early in the cycle in this state since 2012. For comparison, in June 2016 the FDP had 1,500 volunteers who had completed fewer than 1,000 volunteer shifts. Last week alone, more than 4,000 volunteers and staff made one million calls and texts to Florida’s Democratic voters, and enrolled more than 15,000 Democrats into vote-by-mail. 

The massive field effort waged by Democrats to enroll Democrats into vote-by-mail has not been countered by the Florida GOP. Their failure to act, coupled with the President’s war on vote-by-mail, has had a chilling effect on Republican enrollment. Politico nodded to recent polling from Republican pollsters that confirmed Florida Republicans are moving away from vote-by-mail – and you don’t really have to look any further than the numbers to see that this is true. 

THE TYPES OF DEMOCRATS ENROLLING IN VOTE-BY-MAIL IS TROUBLE FOR GOP

Since 2012, Florida Democrats have increased emphasis on vote-by-mail – recognizing it as an important tool to win the state. From 2012 to 2017, Florida Democrats were able to narrow the divide in enrollments by enrolling sporadic voters – voters who sometimes turn out, but often don’t – into vote-by-mail. But, turnout still lagged and the GOP were successful in winning vote-by-mail and as a result the top of the ticket elections in 2014, 2016 and 2018.  Democrats changed strategy in 2018.

Non-voters: In 2018, Florida Democrats widened their aperture of voters to enroll in vote-by-mail from just sporadic voters, to include voters who don’t turn-out and voters who are on inactive voting rolls for missing multiple elections.  

This is notable for two reasons: (1) this is a much larger pool of Democratic voters than sporadic voters; and (2) these voters have been largely ignored by campaigns for nearly a decade due to their non-voter status. 

In 2018, we enrolled 218,000 non-voters into vote-by-mail and more than 40% of them voted. In fact, 1 in 4 Democrats who voted by mail in 2018, voted for the first time in a midterm election– and more Democrats voted in 2018 than in 2016, due to the expansion of the electorate thanks to vote-by-mail.

Democrats are continuing our outreach to non-voting Democrats, ensuring a high Democratic turnout for Joe Biden this November. Of the voters we’ve enrolled in vote-by-mail since the 2020 primary, 103,000 are Democrats who definitely support Joe Biden, but according to voter trends, these voters are not likely to turn out unless they are approached by Democrats and the Biden campaign. By acting now to enroll them into vote-by-mail, we can ensure they will be reached through our outreach programs and persuade them to turn in their ballot.  

CHANGES IN VOTING PATTERNS ARE PROBLEMATIC FOR THE FLORIDA GOP

More voters are likely to cast their ballot when they are mailed a ballot in advance. Historically, the party that is able to harness the power of vote-by-mail has a major advantage. Additional time to research choices, remove deterrents like long lines and removing barriers like work and child care preventing people from making it to the polls, allows more voters to exercise their right to vote. 

Campaign “get out the vote” efforts are markedly improved when voters have ballots in hand a month in advance. In 2106 and 2018, Florida Republican campaigns have benefited from 30% of their voters voting by mail -- reducing the number of voters they need to turn out on election day by more than 1.04 million voters in 2018 and 1.01 million voters in 2018. If these voters eschew vote-by-mail and choose to vote on election day, get out the vote field efforts by GOP campaigns will be tested. Adding hundreds of thousands more voters to election day turnout efforts is a brand new challenge for GOP campaigns across the board. And with Democrats efforts to enroll more voters -- particularly low turnout voters -- into vote-by-mail the inverse is true for Democratic campaigns.

DOWN BALLOT DEMOCRATS BENEFIT FROM VOTE-BY-MAIL

In Florida, in down-ballot races Democrats have often had the turnout necessary to win majorities in the legislative and municipal level – if the voters who were voting at the top of the ticket, voted all the way down the ballot. But, Democrats don’t. Hundreds of thousands of Democrats vote top of the ticket and leave the rest of the ballot blank. 

In 2018, as a result of vote-by-mail enrollment, Florida Democrats were able to decrease drop-off voting in key elections across the state. And when races in Florida are decided by a tenth of a percent, these margins are the difference between victory and defeat.

DNC, Florida Democratic Party Team Up to Text 1 Million Floridians to Boost Vote-By-Mail Enrollment 

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December 20, 2019

Florida Democrats Announce New Director of Rapid Response 

Tallahassee, Fla. — Today, the Florida Democratic Party, with the Democratic National Committee, announced Frances Swanson has joined the team as the director of rapid response. Swanson will focus on holding Trump accountable for his broken promises to Floridians and the impacts of his cruel policies on the Sunshine State — from his mission to repeal the Affordable Care Act to his desire to sell off Florida’s coastline for offshore drilling. 

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ICYMI: Florida Democrats launch plan to boost vote-by-mail turnout in 2020

Key Points:

• “Florida Democrats, with a financial boost from former Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum, plan to spend nearly a half-million dollars on a campaign to urge Hispanic and African American voters to cast their ballots by mail in the 2020 presidential election.”

• “Gillum said he plans to raise $450,000 on behalf of the Florida Democratic Party to help cover the cost of the campaign, the latest in a string of commitments he's made in advance of 2020. He's raising money for an ambitious voter registration program, and last week said he was partnering with Democratic super PAC Forward Majority to flip Florida House seats.”

• “This latest effort is a way to “building real and lasting infrastructure", Gillum said, and he emphasized the importance of a surge in Democratic turnout in 2020. Florida will be key to President Donald Trump's reelection campaign, and Republicans will control the swing state's political redistricting in the coming decade unless Democrats can take control of one of the two legislative chambers.”

• “Juan Peñalosa, executive director of the Florida Democratic Party, stressed that this latest effort is not about signing up new voters but making it easier for those already registered.”

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