Florida Ignored the Latino Community in 2020. It’s Time To Do Better in 2022.
While Florida may seem like a state that trends Republican in recent years, it’s still considered a swing state even as 2022 approaches. In the 2020 election, there were Democrats in Congress that could have easily won another term. It was also believed that Biden would secure Florida as part of his victory. So why didn’t some win in Florida and why did some just barely hold on? Here’s the key to learning from the biggest mistake of the 2020 election: Don’t ignore the Latino community until last minute.
Throughout the entire election, the focus was heavily on winning back blue collar voters in Michigan, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania. These were only three of the swing states that the Democrats needed to win back to repair the so called “blue wall” to ensure a win to the White House. While this was undoubtedly an important area of the country to win, the Democratic Party unfortunately overlooked the importance of Latinos. Latinos cannot just be an election year voting block. They want to be seen and they want to know that their voice matters. According to PewResearch, Latinos made up 17% of Florida’s registered voters in 2020. That’s just over 2.5 million people. This is an all time high for the Sunshine State. That’s a 1% increase from the 2016 election when there were just shy of 2 million registered Latino voters.
