Who is the Democratic Desantis?

[SaneDemocrat]

Someone who can be loved by the base with some crossover appeal.This is a small thing but every Desantis YouTube has like 1k likes & 50 dislikes.

1.Desantis
2.Abbott
3.Noem seem to be the 3 favorites.

[TiltsAreUnderrated]

The best answer isn’t a Governor. It’s Sherrod Brown.

[Xing]

It would be Andrew Cuomo if the Democratic base actually liked him more and there weren’t sexual assault allegations.

[MargieCat]

It would be Andrew Cuomo if the Democratic base actually liked him more and there weren’t sexual assault allegations.

Exactly what I was thinking.

They both covered up COVID data.

Both are corrupt.

Both are pompous.

Both are bullies.

[Non Swing Voter]

Abbott has zero crossover appeal. 

[SaneDemocrat]

Abbott has zero crossover appeal. 

Not true.Look at how well he did in 2018

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

Abbott has zero crossover appeal. 

Not true.Look at how well he did in 2018

The Abbott campaign shied away from activating some voters because they would vote for him but against Cruz. Let that sink in for a moment.

[Tartarus Sauce]

Abbott has zero crossover appeal. 

Not true.Look at how well he did in 2018

His crossover appeal is weird too, because he's heavily partisan in his behavior.

These kinds of anomalies aren't going to last too much longer in our hypercharged polarized environment.

[Buffalo Mayor Young Kim]

Sherrod goddamned Brown

[Utah Neolib]

Carney. I just don’t know why. Carney

[Buffalo Mayor Young Kim]

Abbott has zero crossover appeal. 

Not true.Look at how well he did in 2018

His crossover appeal is weird too, because he's heavily partisan in his behavior.

These kinds of anomalies aren't going to last too much longer in our hypercharged polarized environment.

There is one dispositive factor in how people vote, how the answer the question ‘X Cares About People Like Me’, if they Agree or especially Strongly Agree, they will overwhelmingly vote for you.
Sherrod Brown (and for that matter Tammy Baldwin and formerly Tom Harkin) is very good at this and made it very clear he works for working people.
If more Democrats took this rhetorical line and didn’t get lost in the weeds of ‘don’t worry I’m not too much of a Democrat’ and trying to rebrand yourself as youthful and forward looking with meaningless genstures on the other, Democrats would be wiping the floor with GOP across the board.

[Chips]

Depending on how 2023 goes, I think it could be Beshear.

[Statilius the Epicurean]

Cuomo pre-sex assault reveal.

[TheDeadFlagBlues]

If you're looking for someone who was reasonable about the pandemic, Jared Polis is the best choice.

It's hard to imagine him becoming a national figure though, which is the real thrust of this question. Gretchen Whitmer is the only person on this list who has any sense of promise about her. Almost everyone else on this list is some combination of unpopular, corrupt, hamstrung, and inept. Very unimpressive when considered collectively.

Jay Inslee could be considered unpopular but I don't think that he's corrupt, hamstrung or inept. The worst thing that could be said about him is that he's a competent Governor who isn't very inspiring. Quarantining sick nursing home residents in hotels isn't inspiring but it saved thousands of lives. 

[The Undefeatable Debbie Stabenow]

I agree that Cuomo is the most comparable if we're talking about demeanor and style of governance.

But if we take a different approach, my first thought was Whitmer. DeSantis is a governor of a large Tilt/Lean R state who is extremely popular among Republicans but became a national lightning rod for Democratic criticism during COVID. With regard to his personality and his ideology, he's a pretty good representation of what the GOP seems to favor these days; he has Trump-like characteristics but is a little more restrained, and he loves capitalizing on flavor-of-the-month culture war issues and playing to right-wing media. Whitmer is a governor of a large Tilt/Lean D state who is extremely popular among Democrats but became a national lightning rod for Republican criticism during COVID. With regard to her personality and ideology, she's a pretty good representation of what the Democratic Party seems to favor these days; she governs very much like a run-of-the-mill center-left politician (not unlike, say, Biden) and really plays up her "relatable suburban mom" persona, reflecting the party's increasing reliance on suburban women.

And, of course, both would presumably be viable national candidates in the future, although I'm not sure I see Whitmer wanting to make the jump.

(I know the original post is asking for a politician who is popular with the base and has crossover appeal, but I don't really know why that's being deemed the "Democratic DeSantis." I'm not convinced he's capable of outrunning the Republican baseline in FL by more than a few points.)

[SaneDemocrat]

I agree that Cuomo is the most comparable if we're talking about demeanor and style of governance.

But if we take a different approach, my first thought was Whitmer. DeSantis is a governor of a large Tilt/Lean R state who is extremely popular among Republicans but became a national lightning rod for Democratic criticism during COVID. With regard to his personality and his ideology, he's a pretty good representation of what the GOP seems to favor these days; he has Trump-like characteristics but is a little more restrained, and he loves capitalizing on flavor-of-the-month culture war issues and playing to right-wing media. Whitmer is a governor of a large Tilt/Lean D state who is extremely popular among Democrats but became a national lightning rod for Republican criticism during COVID. With regard to her personality and ideology, she's a pretty good representation of what the Democratic Party seems to favor these days; she governs very much like a run-of-the-mill center-left politician (not unlike, say, Biden) and really plays up her "relatable suburban mom" persona, reflecting the party's increasing reliance on suburban women.

And, of course, both would presumably be viable national candidates in the future, although I'm not sure I see Whitmer wanting to make the jump.

(I know the original post is asking for a politician who is popular with the base and has crossover appeal, but I don't really know why that's being deemed the "Democratic DeSantis." I'm not convinced he's capable of outrunning the Republican baseline in FL by more than a few points.)

Outside of Trump obviously,he is second most liked R in the country pretty easily

[One Term Floridian]

Probably Nuisance Newsom. CA is very much the blue to FL’s red

[Secretary of State Liberal Hack]

Probably Nuisance Newsom. CA is very much the blue to FL’s red

CA Biden wins by 30 points, FL trump wins by 3 points. They aren't in the same political universe and realy wish people stop acting like atlas memes of Titanium R florida are real.

[SaneDemocrat]

People like Roy Cooper huh

[Hope For A New Era]

Andy Beshear could become very powerful if he plays his cards right over the next few years.

[Tekken_Guy]

If you're looking for someone who was reasonable about the pandemic, Jared Polis is the best choice.

It's hard to imagine him becoming a national figure though, which is the real thrust of this question. Gretchen Whitmer is the only person on this list who has any sense of promise about her. Almost everyone else on this list is some combination of unpopular, corrupt, hamstrung, and inept. Very unimpressive when considered collectively.

Polis is kind of like DeSantis in a few ways. Both were former congresspeople, they were elected in 2018, and their predecessors are now Senators.

[Progressive Pessimist]

I interpet this differently. The Democratic DeSantis would have to be a Democratic Governor who is well-liked and gaining a national profile for actually doing a good job with the pandemic, in direct opposite contrast to how Republicans perceive of DeSantis. Maybe Whitmer?

For awhile the answer was probably Andrew Cuomo until the revelations of the nursing home scandal. So in that sense, a Governor who is disliked for poorly handling the pandemic by Democrats would be a Republicans perceived as handling it well yet being disliked by Republicans due to their contrarian nature. So that would be Mike DeWine.

Therefore DeSantis is to Whitmer as Cuomo is to DeWine.

What a country we live in!

[Tekken_Guy]

I interpet this differently. The Democratic DeSantis would have to be a Democratic Governor who is well-liked and gaining a national profile for actually doing a good job with the pandemic, in direct opposite contrast to how Republicans perceive of DeSantis. Maybe Whitmer?

For awhile the answer was probably Andrew Cuomo until the revelations of the nursing home scandal. So in that sense, a Governor who is disliked for poorly handling the pandemic by Democrats would be a Republicans perceived as handling it well yet being disliked by Republicans due to their contrarian nature. So that would be Mike DeWine.

Therefore DeSantis is to Whitmer as Cuomo is to DeWine.

What a country we live in!

Except Cuomo is disliked by Republicans way more than DeWine is by Democrats.

[TodayJunior]

Oh lookie here! Another thread with everyone’s favorite Florida man in the title!!! 🙄🙄🙄

But I’ll play along. I voted Roy Cooper. He gets all the Dem partisans plus enough moderate crossovers, and getting re-elected in a swing state Trump won twice.

[Progressive Pessimist]

I interpet this differently. The Democratic DeSantis would have to be a Democratic Governor who is well-liked and gaining a national profile for actually doing a good job with the pandemic, in direct opposite contrast to how Republicans perceive of DeSantis. Maybe Whitmer?

For awhile the answer was probably Andrew Cuomo until the revelations of the nursing home scandal. So in that sense, a Governor who is disliked for poorly handling the pandemic by Democrats would be a Republicans perceived as handling it well yet being disliked by Republicans due to their contrarian nature. So that would be Mike DeWine.

Therefore DeSantis is to Whitmer as Cuomo is to DeWine.

What a country we live in!

Except Cuomo is disliked by Republicans way more than DeWine is by Democrats.

I know, but he's the closest thing I could think of. Democrats will always support Republicans more than Republicans will support Democrats (Trump excluded).