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- Coming up next, the red wave might have missed the rest of the country on Tuesday, but it did hit here in Florida.

We'll analyze the results statewide and in some local races.

The governor moves closer to a presidential run.

And what will it take to make Democrats competitive again statewide?

All this and more right now on "Florida This Week."

(upbeat music) Welcome back.

Joining us on the panel this week, Steve Bousquet is opinion editor and a columnist for the South Florida Sun Sentinel.

April Schiff is the Hillsborough Republican State Committee Woman and Strategist for Strategic Solutions of Florida.

Rosemary Goudreau O'Hara is the Former Editorial Page Editor for the South Florida Sun Sentinel.

And Rabbi Barry Silver is an attorney, a former state representative, and a Democrat.

Nice to see all of you.

Thank you for coming to the program.

- Thank you.

- Well, it was a good week for Republicans in Florida.

Governor Ron DeSantis easily coasted to reelection and did better than almost anyone had expected.

His margin of victory was 19%, much higher than the 10 to 15% pre-election polls had forecast.

Senator Marco Rubio handily defeated his Democratic opponent, Val Demings by 16 points.

Republicans also won every race for the Florida cabinet.

On election night, DeSantis took aim at one of his favorite targets.

- We have embraced freedom.

We have maintained law and order.

We have protected the rights of parents.

We have respected our taxpayers, and we reject woke ideology.

(audience cheering) We fight the woke in the legislature.

We fight the woke in the schools.

We fight the woke in the corporations.

We will never, ever surrender to the woke mob, Florida is where woke goes to die.

(audience cheering) - So Steve there the governor is kind of using Churchill as his plate for that speech.

But why did the Republicans do so well and why did the Democrats do so poorly?

- Well, there's several reasons, Rob, and I probably won't cover them all.

But first of all, say what you want about his policies and we can talk about that.

But Ron DeSantis is a brilliant tactician, very disciplined with the message.

People responded favorably to this puristic, fighting, fighting, always fighting; fighting for you, fighting for freedom, everything's a fight.

When you have a $100 million, that'll carry you a long way.

The Republican advantage in money was just unbelievable.

It was so lopsided.

Democrats were discouraged.

I think from the very beginning every news story, every prognostication had it that the Republicans were favored to win.

That sinks in, that's the let down for Democrats.

I don't think Charlie Crist was a particularly inspiring candidate.

He did what he could with what he had to work with.

And I'd say that we found out in this election that Hispanic voters responded favorably to the social conservative message that DeSantis offered, especially on LGBTQ issues, public education, stuff like that.

- All right, so April, I wanna put up some bullet points on the screen.

Get your response.

Pollster Matt Isbell says, "Republican surpassed Democrats across the board.

Every major urban county saw a larger percentage of registered Republicans show up versus registered Democrats.

In counties like Miami Dade and Osceola, the gap was over 15 points.

DeSantis 57% of the Hispanic vote compared with 42% for Democrat, Charlie Crist, and he won not only the traditionally GOP-Leaning Cuban American vote, but the Puerto Ricans, who historically tend to vote Democratic.

And Manny Diaz, the Chair of the Florida Democratic Party pointed out that national democratic groups had spent just 1.35 million in the state during this year's elections compared to nearly 59 million back in 2018."

So it was money, it was the Hispanic vote.

I mean, there were some tremendous things that helped the Republicans this time.

- There were a lot of things combined that helped the Republicans.

Money obviously, money matters, but also does message.

And the Democrats came out with a message that nobody was ready to hear because they decided that this election was gonna be about the abortion issue.

And it wasn't about the abortion issue, it was about the economy.

And so people really, really vote on the economy, particularly when they're going to the gas station and the grocery store, and facing the price increases that they've seen in the economy recently.

So part of that was the Biden administration that caused some of this reaction for the voters.

The Republican party nationally also worked very hard in the Hispanic community over the last year.

They've been in the community getting to know the voters and working those voters.

It wasn't that it just happened overnight.

It was definitely something that was worked on completely throughout the last year and a half, almost two years.

So all of that combined with message turnout was, I know locally in Hillsborough County, turnout was basically lower than 2018.

Republicans came out pretty much the same as they did in 2018, while Democrats all stayed home.

And that was motivated by message.

The candidate at the top of the ticket, Charlie Crist, and just the organization behind it.

The whole thing just decreased the Democratic turnout completely.

- Barry, I wanna ask you about South Florida, especially the Hispanic vote.

Democrats traditionally win in places like Miami-Dade.

They didn't do that this time.

This time they lost in Palm Beach, if I'm correct.

And so why did the Democrats lose in some of those really important Democratic counties in South Florida?

- I think the Democratic Party is trying to be like Republican light.

They're trying to raise money instead of raising issues.

If the Democrats stuck to the issues about guns, and religious freedom, and helping others, that would be good.

But DeSantis is literally the anti-Crist.

And if you read your New Testament, you'll see that the anti-Christ does very well.

He's very good at fooling people and very popular.

So he ran on a platform of religious nonsense and captivated people.

He decided that he is going to now criminalize Jewish law.

So by me being on this show and indicating that Jews believe in abortion rights, if somebody were to go out and get an abortion based on my recommendation, I can be tossed into jail and fined.

And the Democratic Party failed to emphasize that.

I do agree, it's not just abortion.

They're trying to impose a white Christian nationalism upon the rest of the country.

And the Democrats failed to alert the people to that very real danger.

- I wanna ask Jim and Spencer in our control room right now, if we could jump ahead to a bit of video that we have.

And this is Governor DeSantis, one of the last ads that he had before the Tuesday election.

This is based on a Paul Harvey's speech, or op-ed that Paul Harvey put out years ago.

This is the ad that ran just before election day.

- And Spencer, can you turn... - [Paul] And on the eighth day, God looked down on his planned paradise and said, "I need a protector."

So God made a fighter.

God said, "I need somebody willing to get up before dawn, kiss his family goodbye, travel thousands of miles for no other reason than to serve the people, to save their jobs, their livelihoods, their liberty, their happiness."

So God made a fighter.

- So Barry, what do you think of that ad?

- It's absolutely amazing that Governor DeSantis said that at a meeting that I infiltrated.

He said, "Our rights don't come from the Constitution, they come from God."

He's trying to impose a religious tyranny upon us.

That's what the founding fathers erected the wall of separation to prevent.

He demolished the wall.

When as the head of state, he walked into a church and announced anti-abortion laws.

If our laws are coming from God, my question is, who's God?

The Jewish God, the Hindu God, or is it the Christian God?

And if it's the Christian God, which rights is he going to interpret?

If he has a pipeline to God, let him tell us what those rights are so that we know.

'Cause right now, my rights as a Jew are criminalized.

- Rosemary, it's no secret that conservative Christians make up an important part of the base of the Republican Party.

And if Ron DeSantis wants to run for president, he's got appeal to those folks.

Was that ad designed to do that?

- Oh, I absolutely, I think so.

I mean, and one of the questions I've always had is how can evangelicals, how could they support President Trump given his history?

And the answer is because they knew who he would appoint as judges, and that translates into abortion.

And I believe that the evangelical or congregation is a one issue constituency.

And they are solidly in the Republican camp.

- But April, you said that abortion was a losing issue for the Democrats.

What would you say to Barry Backenbarn?

- Well, I truly believe that the voters voted on one issue and one issue only, and that was the economy.

So the other issues were out there, they're peripheral.

Those issues always appeal to the evangelical Republicans.

And that's a base.

It is what it is.

So you're not gonna change those people no matter what your message is.

- I would say the difference though is that across the country, abortion was a big issue in those states that had it on the ballot, the Democrats won.

I think Florida was a bit of an yes in inflation and the economy was a big issue.

But abortion is a big issue too.

It's just that the Democrats really didn't have the ability to get their message out.

- Steve, let let me ask you, why was there this red wave across Florida yet in much of the other country, there was not a red wave?

What's your take on why that happened?

- My initial answer is, better candidates, stronger Democratic message, a lot more Democratic resources.

I heard April Schiff make the point that the economy, that people vote their pocketbooks and the economy was the big issue in Florida, not abortion rights.

The results would suggest that that's the case.

But you know what?

Gas is just as expensive in Pennsylvania as it is in Florida, and so is a bottle of milk.

How come Democrats had such a great night in Pennsylvania, they elected a democratic governor, a democratic US senator who had suffered a stroke, and it looks like the Democrats are gonna take over the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, which is not an easy thing to do.

So it's definitely traceable to an epic failure by Democrats in Florida.

- Barry, I wanna ask you about the Democratic Party here in Florida.

There are calls for Manny Diaz, who's the Chair of the Democratic Party to be replaced.

A couple things happened.

Democratic turnout was down statewide.

They didn't raise much money and they were surpassed within the last year by almost 300,000 voters by Republicans.

Republicans have now more than 300 hundred thousand voters than do Democrats signed up.

Do you think that this calls for a change at the top of the Democratic Party in Florida.

- The Democratic Party is in really sad shape.

If you can't defeat a climate denier, you can't defeat a party that's recommending that we have the best armed mass murderers, there's something seriously wrong.

The Democratic Party failed to win because you're right, the economy was the issue because the Democrats failed to properly identify what the real issue is.

The real issue is that the Republican Party has become the Republican not see party.

They pretend to not see the fascism, to not see the belligerence, to not see the posthumous identity theft of Jesus and not see what their party is doing.

And the Democratic Party failed to bring that out.

I offered to speak on behalf of the Democratic Party.

I got no acceptance from that.

All I got was fundraising appeals.

This is just not right.

- All right, so I wanna ask you about the controversy emerge at the end of the week, former President Trump released a statement on Thursday attacking Florida Governor Ron DeSantis for being an average governor and playing games.

Trump said, "News Corp, which is Fox, the Wall Street Journal, and the no longer great New York Post is all in for Governor Ron Desanctimonious, and average Republican governor with great public relations."

Trump added, "Fox News fought me to the end until I won.

And then they couldn't have been nicer or more supportive.

The Wall Street Journal loved low energy, Jeb Bush and a succession of other people as they rapidly disappeared from site finally falling in line with me after I easily knocked them out one-by-one."

He said, "We're in exactly the same position now.

They will keep coming after us, maga, but ultimately we will win.

Put America first to make America great again."

Those were tough words, April, against Ron DeSantis.

We're expecting an announcement on Tuesday from former President Trump that he may run for president.

What do you think?

- I think you will hear on Tuesday that he is running for president.

It's pretty obvious with his messages that he sees Ron DeSantis as one of his biggest competitors in the primary race.

So he's beginning his campaign already by slapping Ron DeSantis every chance he gets.

And it's unfortunate that he did that right in the middle of this election cycle.

He could have waited until January or something to kick off his campaign to get started, but he's chosen to do that now.

And so he's gonna go full force forward and be Trump as we know Trump, and he will be attacking his opponents.

That's what he did before, and that's what he'll do again.

And DeSantis hasn't even come out and said that he's running for president yet.

So I think these are preemptive strikes and we'll see what happens.

But DeSantis can take it.

He's strong and he's got a wonderful record to run on.

And if he chooses to do that, I think he'll be a formidable opponent for Trump.

- Is there Trump fatigue in the Republican Party?

- Some, but there's also those who still have a lot of Trump energy.

So it's kind of a mixed bag, I would say.

- All right.

Well, the red wave continued in the battle for Congressional seats with the Republicans winning 20 of the 28 contests around the state.

This means Florida will now send four more GOP-House members to Washington next year.

Among the winners Republican Anna Paulina Luna, who replaces Charlie Crist representing the west half of Pinellas County.

And in newly drawn District 15, which includes portions of Polk and Hillsborough counties, Republican Laura Lee, Florida's former Secretary of State was the winner.

And Congresswoman Val Deming's old seat in the Orlando area, Maxwell Frost, a 25 year old Democrat, became the first member of Generation Z ever elected to Congress.

So Rosemary, what does it mean now that Florida is gonna send 20 house members up to Washington and eight Democrats?

- Well, as April mentioned to me before the show started, it's the second largest state Republican congressional delegation after Texas.

Florida has clearly a left a red leaning state, even though the numbers still suggest that if you look at the Democrats and the independence that we still lean purple.

Before this election, there were 16 Republicans and 11 Democrats in the Congressional.

Now it's 20 and eight.

And one of the reasons that happened is because the governor throughout the congressional map and the court that clearly will violate the Constitution, and we have to count on our justices to be true constitutionalists and not allow districts that were packed.

But because there wasn't time to get this resolved, he got his map through.

The Republicans got four more members of the House elected, and those four more members are gonna change the dynamics in the US House.

- Steve is Florida now a solid red state?

Or are we sending so many Republicans to DC because the governor gerrymandered the districts?

How do you view this?

- Well, certainly gerrymandering played a role in those congressional races to have a redrawn district in Pinellas.

And I guess a little bit of Hillsborough that what used to be the Charlie Crist Congressional seat is now represented by a Trumper, that tells you all you need to know about what's happened to the rightward drift of politics in this state.

Are we a red state?

The answer is yes for now, but I don't see it changing because what happens in a situation like this is, this easily can become a downward spiral for Democrats.

I mean, we need a strong two-party system.

This is not good for democracy to have one party controlling everything.

And I'd say the same thing if the Democrats were in charge.

It's not representative of Florida.

Yes, Democrats, Republicans rather have a decided advantage.

A lot of things are going their way, but the Democrats have to find a way back to relevance here somehow.

- All right.

Well, Republicans won even greater control in the state legislature in Tuesday's elections.

They now have a super majority in both the Florida House and the Senate with an 85 to 35 advantage in the House.

And a 28 to 12 advantage in the state Senate.

The super majorities convey even greater control to Republicans over the legislative process and make it harder for Democrats to fundraise for elections.

Among the losers, Democratic state Senator Janet Cruz from Tampa, who lost a reelection bid to Republican Jay Collins.

In Tallahassee, incumbent Democratic Senator Lauren Ashley lost and state representative Carlos Smith who was running for reelection, and what was supposed to be a safe Democratic district near Orlando saw Republicans and their allies spend more than a million dollars to stop his reelection bid and they were successful.

So Barry, what does this mean if the legislature goes even further Republican?

I wanna say too that incoming Senate President Kathleen Passidomo told the Tampa Bay Times, Miami Herald in her interview, that she wants to see the 15 week ban approved last year by lawmakers on abortion reduced to 12 weeks.

What do you think is gonna happen in the legislature?

- I think it's more the same because I still see failed Democratic leadership trying...

It's incapable of waking up the people.

The governor spoke about woke, he needs to become awake about climate change.

The president is speaking of climate change, he's a climate denier and the Democratic Party has failed to hammer him on that.

But fortunately, what we also saw?

We saw a growing tide of young people who are voting in much larger numbers, who understand climate change, who understand the right of abortion.

And they're coming out in larger numbers.

I do not see that it's inevitable that this is a red state.

What I see is that if there was true leadership by the Democratic Party, this could be easily reversed.

And remember, in Nazi Germany, inflation was the big issue and they decided to elect a fascist to deal with that.

And the Democratic Party should point out, do we really wanna appoint fascists and demagogues or do we want Democrats to run this state?

I think we have the capability of taking back control for the Democrats when we raise issues, not money.

- April, what do you think it means when the legislature goes in this direction?

What does it mean for Floridians?

- There's a super majority in the legislature now, which gives them a lot of power to do things in a different manner.

Meaning that there's less input from the public that won't go through so many committees.

They can move bills through much faster, much quicker without going through all the processes that they would normally go through if they didn't have a super majority.

- [Rob] Including debate.

- Yes.

- And if I could just add, I mean, it strengthens the governor's hand by having...

The Florida Senate used to be the place of moderation.

The house was this upstart, rough and tumble, and would throw a lot of darts at the wall.

The Senate would be the place where those things would go and the good ones moved through and the bad ones.

And now with the Senate being super majority and the governor being able to tell the legislature what to do as he did with the redistricting maps, it's just unfortunate what we're gonna see happen in Tallahassee.

- Well, in some local races, Republicans had surprised victories.

For instance, in Hillsborough County where Democrats outnumber Republicans, Republicans turned out in greater numbers.

That resulted in losses by two incumbent Democrats on the County Commission.

Mariella Smith and former Commission Chair Kimberly Overman lost to their Republican challengers, Donna Cameron Cepeda and Joshua Wostal.

The Pinellas School Board will get two new members who have the backing of the governor and the well-connected conservative activist group, Moms for Liberty, they are Stephanie Meyer and Don Peters.

So far this year, Governor DeSantis has endorsed 30 candidates for school board across the state and all of one.

And April, you wanna correct me on that?

Not all 30 of one.

So tell me.

- There were a few that did not win in the primaries and at least one of those was in Hillsborough County.

So the majority of his endorsed candidates in the school board did have success, but there were a couple that didn't.

- So does this mean groups like Moms for Liberty are gonna have more control around the state when it comes to school board issues?

- I think that they are a great resource for school board members, particularly these conservative school board members.

They are feeding them issues, and answers, and information, and I think that's a good resource for some of them.

- So are you surprised by the Hillsborough County Commission results?

Republicans now control the Hillsborough County Commission.

- The County Commission in this.

And I think that's really a result of the Democrats not showing up to vote as well as the coattails of Ron DeSantis.

So yeah, I think it was a surprise for a lot of people, but I'm happy to see it 'cause we've got now a Republican Majority County Commission once again.

- All right, before we go, what other news, whether there's state election news from this week that was significant?

Should we be talking about?

Steve, what's the other big election news from this week?

- At Ron DeSantis's victory party in Tampa, they were chanting two more years.

Obviously it's a four year term.

We all know from the debate that Ron DeSantis wouldn't be pinned down as to whether he'd serve the full four year term.

But here's the question.

Does he have to resign as governor to run for president of the United States?

What's the answer?

The answer appears to be no.

I checked with election attorneys this week who've looked at cases where this has come up before a little bit.

A couple of local officials thought about throwing their hat into the ring for president, the way they resign to run law is worded, speaks to qualifying for another office.

You don't really qualify to run for president of the United States.

And so it's certainly gonna be probably litigated.

But at the moment, Rob, it looks like Ron DeSantis could run for president and still stay in office as Governor.

- Very interesting.

April, you got a big story?

- Well, not related to this election, but looking forward, we now have to look forward to the city of Tampa elections coming up in March of 2023.

So that should energize pretty quickly and we'll see what happens in those elections.

- Were Republicans put up a mayoral candidate?

- I would hope so, but I don't know who that would be yet.

- Okay.

Rosemary, you got a big story.

- The city of Clearwater.

Good news there.

Two-thirds of voters decided to support allowing the city to buy or to sell land by Coachman Park for a new development.

That'll be a shot in the arm for a city that is the third largest in our region.

And it's downtown is dead because scientology related organizations have bought up all these parcels and left them vacant.

So it's good news that Clearwater is gonna get a new spark of revitalization.

- All right, Barry, your other big story.

- Hey, in the schools of Florida, my wife's a teacher.

DeSantis wants it to say, "In God, we trust," how about, "In education and knowledge we trust," rather than supernatural beings?

And if DeSantis wants to pass anti-abortion laws he's now running away from defending it.

How about if he had the courage to defend the law that he says that he wants to pass?

And also, if he's not running for pastor in chief, if he's running for governor, he should listen to all the people of Florida not just to fundamentalist Christians.

He should not be seeking to impose a theological tyranny on the rest of us.

All Floridians have the right to be heard and to practice their own religion, not his.

- All right, Barry Rosemary, April, Steve, thanks a lot for a great interesting show.

And thank you for joining us.

Please send us your comments at FTW@wedu.org.

You can do this and past shows online at wedu.org or on the PBS app.

And "Florida This Week" is now available as a podcast, from all of us here at WEDU, have a great weekend and have a happy Veteran's Day.

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