Democrats need women voting Nov. 8 | Bill Cotterell
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With most of the usual political trends running against it, the Florida Democratic Party is making a strong pitch to women voters in hopes of salvaging what’s left of the party’s power in the state Senate.
A new advertisement launched by the party last week is obviously keyed toward mobilizing voter resentment over the U.S. Supreme Court’s Dobbs ruling, which reversed 49 years of abortion rights and turned the issue back to the states. The script of the ad doesn’t use the A-word, which probably doesn’t poll well in focus groups, but hits hard on the more appealing term “choice” and emphasizes that Republicans are trying to curtail women’s rights.
Two senators up for re-election, Loranne Ausley of Tallahassee, and Janet Cruz of Tampa, are featured in the campaign pitch, along with state Rep. Joy Goff-Marcil, who’s running for the Senate in an Orlando-area district. Newcomers Raquel Pacheco and Janelle Perez, both running in Miami, also get a little screen time to hammer home the Democratic Party message that Gov. Ron DeSantis and the Republican Legislative leadership are harmful for education, our economy and the future of Florida.
Ausley starts the appeal by warning that “Republicans continue to rip away our individual liberties and freedoms” in the Capitol. Cruz follows by reassuring voters, “We are resilient, and we are tough — we really are tough.”
Then Goff-Marcil alludes to the abortion controversy with a pledge that female Democrats will “fight for public schools, a woman’s right to make her own health care decisions and to protect the integrity of our elections.”
There’s also a quick splicing of news headlines and TV screen captures, citing DeSantis and GOP actions, including his signing of the abortion law forbidding the procedure after 15 weeks gestation.
It’s a good spot — negative enough to show toughness but upbeat enough to show what these candidates hope to accomplish in the Senate, while motivating Democratic voter turnout. And it gives some exposure to a couple of lesser-known newcomers.
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It’s interesting to see how candidates are handling the Supreme Court’s abortion bombshell, which burst onto the political landscape June 24. The Republicans are pretty much stuck with the “pro-life” position that’s been a staple of their platforms for 50 years, while the Democrats are almost unanimously “pro-choice.”
Ausley’s campaign in a Big Bend district hits hard on abortion in a TV spot linking Republican Corey Simon to the most extreme anti-abortion positions. In the U.S. Senate race, Val Demings similarly slams Marco Rubio, who made the risky decision to join South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham’s call for a nationwide 15-week abortion prohibition.
The issue is a clear loser for the GOP. Preserving abortion choice is on the ballot in at least five states. In a recent referendum, conservative Kansas voters overwhelmingly rejected new restrictions on the procedure.
The Democrats face some stiff political headwinds this year. Mid-term elections almost always go badly for the president’s party and although President Biden’s approval ratings have been edging upward, he remains underwater. Republicans have been steadily out-registering Democrats and now have an advantage of about 300,000 in Florida.
And that’s not to mention how incumbency works for both DeSantis and Rubio.
While the Dobbs decision sparked an uptick in female voter registration, The Orlando Sentinel last week reported that Florida has not kept up with some other states in that regard. Citing a New York Times analysis, the paper said Kansas had a 16% jump in female voter registration right after the Supreme Court’s abortion ruling, while Pennsylvania and Ohio each posted a 6% increase.
In Florida, the registration increase has been only 2% since the Dobbs ruling.
Bill Cotterell is a retired Tallahassee Democrat capitol reporter who writes a twice-weekly column. He can be reached at bcotterell@tallahassee.com.
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This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Florida Democratic Party need women voting November 8 | Column
