Grassroots efforts could provide victory margin in Florida midterms
News and commentary from Florida for all Americans
“We cannot win unless we have something like Project 140 come to fruition: Where there are local candidates competing, fighting their fights, scoring wins at their levels, or, frankly, just improving the margins. It is truly the grassroots component that is currently missing and languishing in the state of Florida. And if we could do that one thing—good folks run hard races, show up, do the door knocking—that could be the margin of victory.”
— Alex Vindman
By J.C. Bruce
I caught up with Alex Vindman on the campaign trail this week where he was making a multi-city tour of Southwest Florida—all in one day—in his race to become the Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate in the midterm election.
His first stop was in Naples at Democratic Party headquarters where he was joined by local candidates for Congress and the state House and Senate.
During his remarks and his answers to questions from the audience, he acknowledged his fellow candidates, talking about how important it is that Democrats break up the supermajorities that Republicans currently enjoy in the Legislature, and how much more effective he could be as our next U.S. Senator if he had a more cooperative state government to work with.
All of which reminded me of the volunteer efforts that I have written about before in this newsletter to ensure that Republican legislative candidates on the fall ballot can’t just sleepwalk through the election, that they face Democratic opponents and are forced to explain themselves to the public.
And there’s good news on that front.
According to Margie Stein, who spearheads the Project 140 initiative, she and others have now rounded up candidates to fill all but seven ballot spots. They have another few weeks to fill the roster completely.
The argument that Stein and others make for why this is important is twofold:
Republicans currently enjoy supermajorities in both the state House and Senate. A few Democratic wins could break that up. That can’t happen, of course, unless Democrats file to run.
Democrats on the ballot result in larger voter turnout because of the efforts of volunteers helping the campaigns. Even in ruby red legislative districts where Democrats’ odds of winning are daunting, those extra votes roll up to statewide races, like for governor and Senate.
Which is where Vindman weighed in during a brief conversation following his remarks in Naples.
How important are these grassroots efforts to get Democrats’ names on the ballots, I asked him.
“From the top, we are building a powerful grassroots campaign,” he said. “It is an honor for me to leverage my career of service to be able to draw attention to this race.
“But we cannot win unless we have something like Project 140 come to fruition. Where there are local candidates competing, fighting their fights, scoring wins at their levels, or, frankly, just improving the margins. It is truly the grassroots component that is currently missing and languishing in the state of Florida. And if we could do that one thing—good folks run hard races, show up, do the door knocking—that could be the margin of victory.”
Project 140 derives its name from the number of seats up for grabs in the state Legislature this election—20 in the Senate and 120 in the House. Members of the House of Representatives in Florida are elected every two years. The term for Florida state senators is four years, so any given election only half the seats are on the ballot.
Congressional seats are also, of course, two-year terms, and U.S. senators serve for six years. However, the U.S. Senate seat Vindman is running for will only be for two years because it is a special election to fill the vacancy left when Sen. Marco Rubio resigned to become Donald Trump’s Secretary of State. Gov. Ron DeSantis appointed Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody to fill in for Rubio until this coming election.
Both Vindman and his Democratic primary opponent, State Rep. Angie Nixon are, as you would expect, highly critical of Moody calling her a “rubber stamp” for Trump. Vindman and Nixon will square off in the August 18 Democratic primary to see who will take the fight to Moody in November. The winner will be joined by all the candidates for legislative seats that have been recruited by Project 140 and others over the past several months.
Finding Democrats to run for the Legislature has been challenging enough, but now the big push is to raise enough money to help these candidates cover their filing fees.
“We need about $30,000 fast,” Stein told me. Absent funding, some candidates who have committed to run may be forced to drop out. The qualifying fee is $1,782. State law limits political committees, such as Project 140, to donating no more than $1,000 per legislative candidate.
Here’s a link on how you can pitch in:
Resources:
Democrats Take the Lead in Florida Senate and Governor Races—Poll
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J.C. Bruce
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I saw Vindman speak yesterday evening in Sarasota. He has integrity and courage—both things we need in government now.
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