I'm as bearish on the nation's cesspool as anybody, but without a doubt there is no way it votes to Ohio's right. It is likely R while Ohio is safe R.
Look, I know the past couple cycles have been very disappointing for Democrats in Florida. Yes, DeSantis and Rubio are clearly favored for reelection next year. But from the way people talk about it on here, you'd think it's as red as Oklahoma. Trump only won it by 3 points. It's not some impenetrable Titanium R stronghold.
Two more things to consider:
-A Republican-held Senate seat will be up in 2024, and will be one of the few targets in a year when Democrats will be playing heavy defense.
-Florida is gaining an electoral vote, while the big blue states of California, Illinois and New York will each lose one.
Look at Florida. You now have Democrats saying Florida is a lost cause. Really? In 2018 in Florida, giving felons the right to vote got 64 percent. In 2020, a $15 minimum wage, which we have no chance of passing [federally], got 67 percent. Has anyone in the Democratic Party said maybe there’s nothing wrong with the state of Florida? Maybe the problem is the kind of campaigns we’re running?
If you gave me an environment in which the majority of voters wanted to expand the franchise to felons and raise the minimum wage, I should be able to win that. It’s certainly not a political environment I’m destined to lose in.
This is an apples-and-oranges argument. I do agree that Americans on most issues are favorable to center-left to left wing policies, the issue is that those only see action in the form of referendums. We're a republic and that means that our elections involve people physically running to act on those policy ideas, and in certain states, like Florida or even Missouri where progressive initiatives have passed, Democratic candidates are near-universally rejected as other, less practical, objections get in the way of those popular agendas.
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