8/6/2023 0 Comments Florida midterm results 2018It earned DeSantis the support of reactionary Cuban exile organizations like the Inspire America Foundation and the Bay of Pigs memorial society, Brigade 2506. How did he do it? From the minute DeSantis clenched the Republican nomination, the former congressman sought to label Gillum a ‘socialist.’ Scott and the GOP joined in, sending out mailers and running TV ads comparing Gillum to Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro and the late Fidel Castro. ![]() Remarkably, DeSantis improved on Trump’s 2016 vote totals among Cuban-Americans and picked up 78,000 more votes than his master. Elections analyst Giancarlo Sopo estimates that DeSantis won 66% of Cuban-American voters in South Florida to Gillum’s 33%, accounting for a 160,000-vote difference. The far more decisive factor in DeSantis’ performance in South Florida was blatantly pandering to the right-wing Cuban exile community, along with wealthy Venezuelan and Colombian expatriates. Neither Gillum nor his running mate, Chris King – nor Bill Nelson, for that matter – speak Spanish, precluding them from direct appeals to many Latino voters. ![]() Some have pointed out that DeSantis’ better-than-expected performance in Miami-Dade and Broward came from his Cuban-American, Spanish-speaking running mate, Representative Jeanette Nunez. ![]() He won, but he needed to win bigger to overcome DeSantis’ mega-margins in rural Florida. It’s notable that Gillum saw narrower margins of victory in the three largest counties in South Florida, which typically go big for Democrats. The specter of socialism in South Florida
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