Bad sign for state Democrats: Lincoln Project 'beatable 18' list skips Florida

Antonio Fins, Palm Beach Post
·2 min read
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The Lincoln Project said MAGA Republicans are in charge of the U.S. House. But its plan to change that omits Florida.
The Lincoln Project said MAGA Republicans are in charge of the U.S. House. But its plan to change that omits Florida.
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Another sign of how deeply red Florida has become emerged Friday when the anti-Trump Lincoln Project's list of 18 targeted congressional Republicans omitted any from the Sunshine State.

What we know: Why Florida's GOP congressional delegation has mushroomed

· Florida gained a new congressional district thanks to the 2020 Census.

∙ In the post-Census redrawing of congressional boundaries last year, Republican state lawmakers gave their party's candidates an edge.

∙ Gov. Ron DeSantis broke precedent and tradition by aggressively redrawing a Northeast Florida congressional district to create another GOP-friendly seat while forcing incumbent Democrat U.S. Rep. Al Lawson to compete in a district that is now Republican-leaning.

Previous story:How GOP’s path to majority in U.S. House got an assist from Florida — and Gov. Ron DeSantis

∙ Republican voters cast ballots in droves, and GOP candidates appeared to win over large swaths of independent voters in a November landslide that flipped two seats, including the one formerly held by U.S. Rep. Charlie Crist, from blue to red.

∙ The pickup of four seats total in Florida increased the GOP congressional delegation to 20 seats versus eight for Democrats. That's up from a slimmer GOP advantage of 16 seats to 11 for the Dems.

What we know: Why is Lincoln Project targeting 18 Republican members of Congress?

Prior coverage:Lincoln Project to air one last ding at Trump before he leaves Mar-a-Lago for New Jersey

The Lincoln Project, which was started in late 2019, tormented former President Trump with online and social media videos during the 2020 election.

In a statement Friday, the organization said to "counteract this extremist — and wildly out-of-touch agenda — The Lincoln Project will focus its efforts in 2023 and 2024 in 18 Congressional districts that voted for both a GOP Congressional candidate and President Joe Biden. In these districts, voters explicitly voted against Donald Trump’s mayhem but still consider themselves traditional GOP voters."

Those districts, though, are in Arizona, California, Nebraska, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania and Virginia.

None are in Florida, suggesting the GOP supermajority in the state's congressional delegation is pretty safe in Red Florida.

But the Lincoln Project notes that this is an initial list. And it is based solely on 18 districts that Biden won but are represented by GOP lawmakers and that the group's 2024 election cycle work will simply start with these districts.

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Lincoln Project list of targeted Congress members skips red Florida