Broward GOP: Eleven Years Of Losing Voters; Less Today Than 2002

BY BUDDY NEVINS

 

Cuban-Amercans moving into Broward from Miami were supposed to be the salvation of the local GOP.

Forget it!

A backlash against Barack Obama was predicted to pump up Republican registration.

Never happened!

Entrepreneurs including wealthy Jews, Caribbean blacks and Latin business types were expected to register Republican in big numbers.

Didn’t help!

Republicans have spent the last decade losing strength in Broward.

The total number of voters in Broward has climbed over 221,000 since February 2002.

In the same period, Republicans have lost roughly 15,000 voters.

This downward drift by the local GOP should be especially vexing to the party since:

  • Broward Democrats continue to gain voters.  They  have about 124,000 more voters today than in 2002.
  • Broward independent voters increased by almost 112,000.

Long-time Broward Democratic leader Mitch Ceasar said his party’s success could be attributed to their grass-roots registration efforts and a progressive view of personal rights.

Republican Chair Tom Truex did not return a call for comment.

Whatever the reason, Republicans clearly continue to have the wrong message for Broward voters.

Democratic Party news release distributed this week:

 

FROM: Tamara Ayon Executive Director        

DEMOCRATS REACH MILESTONE

       Democrats have now surpassed a registration milestone. Over 600,000 voters are now registered Democrats in Broward County, Florida. “Broward has been the most Democratic county in Florida. However, we have become one of the most significant counties in the United States,” said Broward Democratic Chairman and DNC Member, Mitch Ceasar. A recent news article indicated that three counties in the nation were pivotal to an Obama victory. Broward was the only location in Florida.

Broward has been a Democratic county, for a number of decades. The “flip” began in the late 1970’s. Each year Democratic representation has increased. This has occurred while Broward remained the second largest Republican county in Florida.

The rise has been due to increased grassroots registration efforts, and a progressive view of personal rights.

 

For more information, please contact Mitch Ceasar at (954) 475-2500.



18 Responses to “Broward GOP: Eleven Years Of Losing Voters; Less Today Than 2002”

  1. Memories says:

    It was solid Democrat in the South for many years. Segragation, Jim Crow Laws… Old times there are NOT forgotten, just concealed.

  2. Ha Ha Ha says:

    GOP lemmings marching blindly off the cliff…
    ~~~~~
    http://swampland.time.com/2013/04/12/republican-party-says-no-to-same-sex-marriage/

    Republican Party Says No to Same-Sex Marriage
    By Zeke J Miller
    April 12, 2013

    The Republican National Committee voted unanimously Friday to reaffirm the party’s commitment to upholding the definition of marriage as between one man and one woman, upending party efforts to grow support among younger voters.

    A resolution introduced Wednesday by Michigan committeeman Dave Agema, who came under fire last month for posting an article describing gays as “filthy” on his Facebook page, passed the full RNC by a voice vote and without debate. A second resolution reaffirming “core values” of the party — including opposition to same-sex marriage — was also passed. […]

    “You’ve got to be kidding me,” said one young Republican operative. […]

  3. Independent says:

    Is that true? Broward has the second largest numbers of Republicans than any other county?

    Well, considering how the rest of the state treats Broward, and its second largest contingent of Republicans, it doesn’t surprise me.

    They way Republicans in Tallahassee treat Broward I had the strong opinion that Broward Republicans were not even a consideration. Basically ignored/couldn’t care less.

    If Republicans in Tallahassee really cared about Broward Republicans then Tallahassee would show some respect and consideration to Broward. They essentially get nothing now, and hasn’t for years.

  4. What Would Reagan Do? says:

    @2 Here is a sincere question.Is this effort to redefine the definition of marriage designed to accomplish that or to drive a wedge between the GOP and voters by labeling anyone who desires to preserve the defiition as a homophobe? I admit, it’s a highly effective tactic, though a cheap one. The civil rights equation does not involve the act of marriage. There is no right I have as a heterosexual that homosexuals do not share if neither of us is permitted to marry a partner of the same sex. It is the benefit of marriage that should be open to anyone in a committed loving relationship, regardless of sexual orientation and regardless of what we name that union. I believe most Americans, and likely a lot of Republicans share this view. Calling it marriage has no real benefit to the homosexual community if all of the advantages of marriage are achieved. Or is it simply an issue of legitimacy? I don’t dismiss that concern, though that does not give you the right to dismiss the concerns of others. The moronic hateful misguided statements of a vocal minority, and it is a minority, does not discredit a platform that seeks to preserve the definition of marriage. There is more to be gained by an honest debate instead of bomb throwing insults. Ironically, in a very real way, the GOP platform reaches farther than the Dems in protecting the rights of homosexuals and all human beings because it extends to the womb. Just think about all those potential Democrat voters your party is forfeiting.

  5. westdavieresident says:

    I thought this was a discussion about the future of the Republican party in Broward? Why is that ha ha ha brings up gay rights which despite his/her concern is a minor issue on most voters’ minds.

    But as long as she/he brings up the issue, let me congratulate the left on the success of their 30 year plan to indoctrinate our society on that plight. There has been an organized effort in the media and schools since the early 1980’s to push and push and push the gay agenda.

    From what we see in TV shows today and in the electronic and printed media, one would think that gays make up 50% of our population although I believe a recent Pew survey put it at 7%?

    I personally have believed for many years in providing the same civil rights protections to homosexual couples as to heterosexual couples. I believe that a legal civil union is appropriate and needed to ensure that both loved ones in a gay long-term relationship are provided with typical estate rights, healthcare management oversight, and the like.

    But to me, marriage is a Biblical issue and best left to religious leaders to define. I was brought up to believe in a biblical nuclear family of a man and his wife and still believe in such today. If my religious leaders make a majority decision to alter that belief, then perhaps I would consider gay marriages.

    As for the growth of the Democratic Party in Broward, most of that growth is thanks to Clinton-era motor voter bill and Obama’s use of it to provide voter registration opportunities when conducting many types of federal and state transactions.

    And what we have received in return has been a massive growth of illiterate voters who have no clue as to the proper constitutional role of government, of how our economy really works, and who base decisions on popular culture as defined by the media rather than what our founders intended. The fact that more of those new voters are Democrats does not surprise me. But our laws encourage all eligible citizens to become voters and we get what we get.

    If the Republican Party is to grow again in Broward, in Florida, and around the country, it will have to battle the overly liberal control of our educational and media systems to ensure that our kids and fellow citizens gain the knowledge to cast educated votes for our government leaders.

    Until then, our country will continue down the same path that has failed so many times before in world history when the masses expect their government to do more and pay for more than is practically possible.

    We are just a few elections away from possibly having a Venezuelan government structure and a European style economy.

    Time will tell the future of our country.

  6. too funny says:

    Wow! Talk about trying to quash the loss of votes! Could BrowardBeat.com and posted comments have anything to do with Lamarca change or heart? Job retention attempt after the Nov. 2014 comm. election when he goes back to selling emergency generators full time?

    http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/opinion/fl-readers-view-911-lamarca-20130414,0,2502995.story

    “”A great deal of time and energy by many city leaders around the county has gone into this effort. In fact, efforts continue toward a system that will accomplish closest-unit-response regardless of where the call originates but without the estimated cost savings of the proposed system passed by the Board.
    The action taken by the County Commission encourages shared responsibility in the system and accountability to you. Help encourage your city leaders to be good stewards of your tax dollars so that you can be free to live in a safer community. Ask them to approve the Inter-Local Agreement for 911 Regional Communications.””

  7. Tommy2Tone says:

    @Westdavieresident…Thank you! Someone who finally gets it right! Wow, refreshing! Wish there were more of us here!

  8. West Davie Resident says:

    @Tommy. Thanks for your kind words.

    I am sure that a lot more Dems than we think believe as we do but have been shut down by the Obama/Wasserperson/Ritter assault on free speech which does not adhere to their goal of a dominant one party system.

    Pendulums always swing both ways and I believe a bi-partisan majority of voters will flip the US Senate to the Reps once the reality of Obamacare, higher fees and taxes pushed by Obama and Harry Reid, and unacceptable job stagnation take their toll.

    As to Republican gains in Broward, white flight to Palm Beach and Martin counties will be tough to overcome. But Reps and Independents in Weston/Davie/Southwest Ranches and in northeastern Ft Lauderdale will keep up the good fight for a few more election cycles!

  9. Jack Shifrel says:

    I love people like westdavieresident, who doesn’t have the courage to use his or her real name. The arrogance of claiming knowledge others don’t have, while incorrectly stating fiction as fact would be laughable if it weren’t shared by so many others of his/her ilk.

    To begin with, there is no “Gay Agenda”. There certainly has been more awareness of the unjust treatment & downright bigotry suffered by the LGBT community and there are many who believe those injustices must end, in much the same way the Civil Rights movement of the ’50s & ’60’s started changing how African Americans & other minorities are treated. The genesis, so to speak, of this awareness and the efforts to effect change go back to the 1960’s & Stonewall, not the ’80s. And by the way, most studies have the Gay population in the U.S. as approximately 10%. Regardless of the percentages, I believe, and I’m confident many agree, discrimination against any of us is discrimination against all of us and should not be tolerated.

    Regarding your belief that marriage is a Biblical issue and best left to religious leaders to define, that has to be among the most ignorant statements I’ve ever come across, particularly from someone who claims to be so much more knowledgeable & holier than though than the masses you denigrate as ignorant voters.

    First, if marriage is a Biblical issue, why is it then that for a marriage to be legal in this country, the couple must have a Civil marriage? Regardless of their religious belief, or the lack of any, a religious ceremony is exactly that; a ceremony, with no legal standing. That has not been the case since the 1980’s or ’60’s. It has always been the law in America. Now, I respect your religious beliefs, whatever they may be. That however, doesn’t mean you or your religious leaders have it right. It simply means you have and are entitled to your beliefs. Your beliefs are not, nor should they ever be, the law.

    The arrogant statement that we now have masses of ignorant voters who, unlike yourself I suppose, don’t understand the constitution or how the economy of this country works. Well let me clue you in. Because they disagree with your conclusions, doesn’t mean they don’t understand that they have the right to vote & every other right afforded by the Constitution. They understand that the economy of this country is a deck stacked against many of them & probably favoring you & your peers. They may not have the advantages of your education, as it is, but they know right from wrong. And Right from Left.

    I’ll skip the rest, except to point out that Venezuela has never been a Super Power where all the riches & advantages of a democracy such as ours exist. We cannot slip back to a place we’ve never been. As to a “European style economy”, I wouldn’t be surprised to learn you drive a BMW & that you take pains to point out that our educational system doesn’t match up to those of European countries. You know, the ones you put down when it suits your purposes. Our economy is still and will be for at least the foreseeable future, the greatest in the world. Actually, the greatest the world has ever known. And that is still true as we have enjoyed the presidencies of Bill Clinton & Barack Obama, along with both presidents Bush & Reagan before that. It’s the system that is great. A system, by the way, that includes the separation of church & state & the right to vote, regardless of what level of education you have achieved.

  10. just one vote says:

    browardsoe.org

    Registered Voters as of 04/14/2013

    Democrat: 601,400

    Republican: 260,659

    Other: 295,807

    Florida is not an ‘open party’ state so unless ‘registered’ you do not vote in primary
    Wonder how many registered voters know this?

    Total: 1,157,866

  11. No vote change says:

    I read the op ed, I didn’t get the impression LaMarca changed his vote but he was encouraging residents of the cities to pressure their electeds to vote his way.

  12. excompassionateconservative says:

    The GOP lost me years ago as they became more crazy. I was one of those you could call a “Compassionate Conservative” . I recognised a balance between the private and gov sector whle the GOP just recognised war.

    As an immigrant, someone raised by a single mother, attendee of both public, Catholic and private education who worked in health care and saw how our system was not working, the GOP seemed to increase the hate as they declare love for Jesus.

    I was for the removal of Saddam Hussein and quick exit, but not a perpetual 100 year war and view that evey Muslim should be dead.

    I did not wish the gov to order my Church to marry gays if it was opposed to that, but I certainly viewed the persuit of happiness to include two same sex people getting married.

    The final straw for me was the never ending flow of crazy, racist and filthy emails from my GOP friends whgo assumed that because I have white skin, I would love their messagees. At the State of the Union address I also saw how the GOP sat on their asses with disgust when Obama announced that a child health care bill passed and more AMERICAN children were now covered with health insurance. WTF!

    Instead of fighting socialism in public fiunding of sports teams and tax giveaways, the Tea Party decided that funding public schools was socialism. I would have gladly supported a Tea Party that acted as watchdogs on public spending instead of wanting to destroy the public.

    Now it is pretty easy to see that if you are a minority, gay, learned about evolution and science, support education and not making it a luxury item, a student, lower class, middle class ,want to breath clean air and drink clean water among other things, that the GOP is no place for you. I kinda like how the election of Obama finally made the heads of crank old white guys who are looking for black helicopters explode and get them to say outloud what they really think.

    One of my hidden pleaseure is hearing Brian Craig on the Steve Kane show for a few minutes each morning on Cheap AM radio drill deeeper and deeper into crazy talk. If 8 years of Obama was not enough, he may have 8 years of Hillary to remain angry and hatefull as long as the GOP continues .

    Today’s GOP wants a Theocracy and I am not going to give it to them.

  13. westdavieresident says:

    @Jack, perhaps you did not fully read my post that got you so defensive.

    I said our election laws encourage all eligible citizens to vote and we get what we get. I was not advocating a civics test in order to register to vote although having worked as a poll watcher for many years in both heavily Republican and heavy Democratic precincts, it was very apparent to me who was fully engaged in the election and issues and who was just showing up to punch or darken a ballot with no understanding of the issues as they referred to their palm cards. But that is our system and we have to respect the results.

    With regards to the gay agenda and I believe there is one, I may not know its full history as you so claim, but I was in college in the early ’80s when AIDS became an important and serious issue and all of a sudden its prevalence in the gay community put a spot light on the gay community. From that moment on, the national media put more focus on gay rights and the school systems did the same. There is nothing wrong with either doing so but their efforts at such positioned and shamed those who did not share their position. I, for one, said in my earlier post I agree with providing and protecting the civil rights of homosexuals just as is done for heterosexuals.

    Lastly, I do not claim to be a religious scholar but being called ignorant is an insult to my upbringing and those who raised me. As was stated in post #4, it appears you are more concerned with winning the battle over the word marriage than winning the civil rights protections that most Republican believe gay couples should receive.

  14. Floridan says:

    “The final straw for me was the never ending flow of crazy, racist and filthy emails from my GOP friends who assumed that because I have white skin, I would love their messagees.”

    Ain’t that the truth — I even had a former State Senator send a picture of the White House with a watermelon patch on the south lawn. I’m sure that person would say that he/she just thought it was funny, not racist. That’s just one of the more benign emails.

    And the GOP wonders why blacks don’t support them . . .

  15. Jack Shifrel says:

    I’m not usually inclined to respond to people who don’t have the courage to use their real names, but I’ll make an exception for westdavieresident.

    On your first point, I never said you were advocating a civics test for voting. How typical of right wingers for you to try to twist another person’s words around. I was referring to your claim that there are masses of ignorant voters who don’t understand the constitution, an obvious reference to Black, Hispanic and other voters who have registered as Democrats since the 1990’s. Deny it all you want, but that was how I took your bigoted, arrogant comment. I further pointed out that you obviously believe that anyone who disagrees with your opinions, whether it be on political ideology or Gay Marriage, is not nearly as well informed as you are.

    For you to identify the AIDS epidemic with the advent of a so-called Gay Agenda is beyond ignorant. How you can say any group would use a deadly, tragic epidemic to gain acceptance for their lifestyle or sexual preference, boggles the mind. If anything, the Aids epidemic set back the efforts of leaders in & supporters of the GLBT community to secure the same rights as heterosexuals by years.

    Lastly, My point was that the fact that you may have been brought up with certain political & social beliefs doesn’t make you right. We are all entitled to our own beliefs & disagreeing with you & people who think like you doesn’t make us ignorant. It just means we have reached a different conclusion on the same issue. Great country America. Contrary to what you seem to think, we can do that.

    And by the way, just who is it that is so concerned with winning “the battle” over the word “marriage”? It seems to me that it is you & others who are so hung up on demanding that your biblical interpretation of the definition of marriage be the only acceptable definition are the ones hung up on, not just a word, but a civil right. If your religion only wants to accept marriages between men & women as valid, go ahead. That doesn’t mean a same sex couple should not be able to be legally married.

    And by the way, I am a straight, married father of 3 & grandfather of 7 who simply believes there is no reason 2 people who love each other should be prevented from enjoying the same rights I do, regardless of their gender. Marriage just happens to be one of those rights. Kind of like voting.

    FROM BUDDY:

    Thanks for this, Jack.

    For those who don’t know him, Jack Shifrel has been a dedicated Democratic activist in Broward for over three decades….maybe more. He has been involved in so more campaigns and issues than I can remember. His contributions are always welcome.

  16. westdavieresident says:

    @Jack, you have called me ignorant twice, bigoted, arrogant and even a right-winger despite me being supportive of full civil rights for homosexuals. This is why I choose to use the anonymity allowed on Buddy’s site so my strong community reputation cannot be cheapened by your rants.

    With regards to elections, I clearly stated that although I think a great many voters cast their ballots with little understanding of the ramifications of their vote, I still respect the results. Did you respect the results of the 2000 Presidential elections?

    You are not worthy of further rebuttal.

  17. What Would Reagan Do? says:

    To: WestDavieResident

    What Jack wrote: We are all entitled to our own beliefs

    What Jack means: as long as you agree with me

  18. Jack Shifrel says:

    westdavieresident, I’ll take your second paragraph first. I suggest you read your own first post again. You absolutely did not state that “although…a great many voters cast their ballots with little understanding…I still respect the results”. You referred to “illiterate voters”, saying they had no understanding of the constitution. Those were your words, denigrating voters who disagree with you. That, sir or madam, is arrogant. You may not like hearing this, but, at least to me, your views are very much consistent with right wing positions. I don’t expect you to agree with that, particularly if you still cling to the idea that saying civil unions are ok should be acceptable to the GLBT community and that they are engaged in a war of words. You obviously just don’t get it.

    Regarding anonymity, if you were secure in your views, you wouldn’t worry about what I or anyone else thought. What have you got to hide?

    The only point we agree on is that it isn’t worth continuing with this dialog.