By J.C. Bruce
The top two Democrats in Florida’s midterm election are drawing supporters from around the country to boost their candidacies.
Bernie Sanders is among a gaggle of Dems descending on the Sunshine State to support Angie Nixon, the Jacksonville state representative trying to unseat U.S. Sen. Ashley Moody.
Other well-known Democrats stumping for Nixon include Sen. Ruben Gallego of Arizona, Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut, Rep. Ro Khanna of California, and Florida’s own Rep. Maxwell Frost. Many of the stops are at college campuses.
As Kimberly Leonard of Politico noted:
It’s clear from many of the events that Nixon is continuing to make a deliberate play for young voters. They’ve been shown to be the least reliable voting bloc, but Nixon — whose own children span Gen Z and Alpha — is hoping to motivate them not just to go to the polls but to help with phone banking and canvassing.
Sanders will be in Florida this weekend, making four stops with Nixon in Tampa, Melbourne, Tallahassee, and Gainesville.
In a guest commentary by Sanders published here on Tropic Press, you can find links with information on each of his stops.
Sanders is going all-in for Nixon. His arguments for why she needs to replace Moody—appointed to the Senate by Gov. Ron DeSantis and entangled in the Hope Florida scandal—include:
Donald Trump is a menace, and Democrats MUST gain control of the Senate. Florida could be the key.
Nixon is aligned with Sanders on issues such as reforming healthcare, raising the minimum wage, eliminating tax breaks for billionaires, stopping “endless wars,” and fixing our broken campaign finance system.
While Nixon approaches the election from the left, the Democratic Party’s nominee for governor, David Jolly, is anchoring his campaign in the middle, an easy fit for a former Republican who bailed on the G.O.P. when Trump was elected.
He, too, is garnering endorsements and support from national Democrats, encouraging crossover votes from Republicans, and pitching Black voters in Florida, a charged issue since his opponent, U.S. Rep. Byron Donalds of Naples, would become Florida’s first Black governor if elected.
This week, U.S. Rep. James Clyburn of South Carolina and former Democratic U.S. Rep. Al Lawson of Tallahassee joined Jolly and his running mate, Gwenn Graham, on the campaign trail.
Clyburn, one of Congress’s most powerful and long-serving members, is widely regarded as having cemented Joe Biden’s 2020 presidential nomination by rallying crucial Southern Black voters, so his endorsement of Jolly matters.
Black voters are the cornerstone of Jolly’s victory, Clyburn told a luncheon audience in Tallahassee.
Jolly echoed that sentiment:
“Someone said to me, ‘Are you concerned, Jolly, as a Democrat, you’re only getting about 80-81% of the Black voters,’ and I said, ‘Not as concerned as Byron should be that he’s only getting 9% of his own community. But that last 10% is where I think this race could get decided.”
Donalds has been endorsed by Donald Trump, though that could be an albatross around his neck as Trump’s approval rating swirls down the drain. Depending on which polls you believe, Jolly and Donalds are either tied or Donalds has a six-point lead.
But polling reliability has become questionable, especially regarding voter turnout.
As the Washington Post recently wrote:
“… predicting who will vote has always been hard in lower turnout elections. It’s become more challenging over time, and 2026 has a swirl of unknowns compounding the challenge — a perfect storm ripe for confusion.”
In other election news
Former President Bill Clinton will make his first public campaign appearance of the 2026 midterms next week, traveling to Florida to stump for Democrat David Jolly in the state’s closely watched governor’s race.
Clinton is scheduled to join Jolly at an evening interfaith event in Hollywood, Florida, on Tuesday, Oct. 20.
Democrats are leading Republicans in mail-in voting
The Nov. 3 midterm election is less than three weeks out, but mail-in voting is underway, and Democrats lead in both the number of ballots requested and those returned.
So far, 264,381 Democrats have voted out of the 728,885 ballots that were distributed.
Republicans have returned 224,062 of their 571,453 ballots.
Interestingly, there is another huge block of voters whose decisions could decide the election—voters who have declared No Party Affiliation.
Among these independents, 114,782 have returned their 354,808 mail-in ballots.
The Florida Division of Elections is keeping a running tally as ballots are entered into the local Election Office systems, including county-by-county totals. You can see how your county is performing by clicking this link:
And just as a personal aside, I turned in my ballot today:
Florida removes Trump’s personal info from voter files unnecessarily
Florida election officials removed President Donald Trump’s personal information from public voter registration records after Trump cited a new state privacy law that doesn't apply to him as president.
The Palm Beach County Office of the Supervisor of Elections said it approved Trump’s request earlier this year but never checked its legality. The move shields from disclosure Trump’s home and mailing addresses, birth date, party affiliation and email address. The change separately makes it harder to identify when Trump votes by mail versus in person.
—Fresh Take Florida
What’s Amendment 3 all about?
Florida Tax Watch is hosting a one-hour Zoom meeting TONIGHT at 7 p.m. to explain the ballot proposal's implications. If you are interested, here’s a link to sign up:
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