If I was a Democrat in SO. FL I'd be stocking up on brown pants.
MIAMI — Florida Democrats are fretting over Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis’ popularity among Latinos, saying they are boosting his chances of becoming the first Republican governor in 20 years to win traditionally blue Miami-Dade County and therefore propelling his chances of a successful presidential run in 2024.
Miami-Dade, the state's most populous county, is 70% Hispanic. The last time a Republican governor won Miami-Dade County was Jeb Bush in 2002. Unlike DeSantis, Bush held press conferences in fluent Spanish and his wife is Mexican-born.
DeSantis is an “outlier” among Republican governors, said Fernand Amandi, a Democratic consultant and pollster in Miami.
“DeSantis overperforms here in a way that you don’t tend to see Republican candidates perform elsewhere with Hispanics,” he said.
Cause for concern
DeSantis has raised over $100 million for his re-election campaign, a staggering number for any gubernatorial candidate. Many of the donors are eyeing DeSantis as a potential 2024 presidential candidate.
The governor is being challenged by former Democratic congressman — and previous Republican governor —Charlie Crist, who is behind in the polls.
Faced with this, Florida Democrats have expressed frustration and anger over their limited resources and money from national donor groups. Some feel that Democrats have ceded Florida to Republicans after their defeat in the 2020 election.
“If Ron DeSantis wins the Latino vote in Florida, which has been a GOP project now for the past decade," said Democrat Devon Murphy Anderson, co-founder of the voter registration organization Mi Vecino, "Ron DeSantis is going to go directly to his donors and say, 'I can win the presidential nomination and I can beat the Democratic nominee in 2024 because I can win the Latino vote.'"
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/latino/desantis-popularity-latinos-boosting-chances-first-republican-20-years-rcna53427?cid=sm_npd_nn_tw_ma
