On Nov. 3, Democrats won in states they hadn’t won in several cycles, showing just how unpopular President Donald Trump has become. In the South, historic wins proved that Republicans are no longer a sure bet.
On the surface, the one obvious exception to this “blue tsunami” was Florida. There, Republican Byron Donalds
was elected to replace term-limited Gov. Ron DeSantis, while appointed Sen. Ashley Moody beat Democrat Angie Nixon.“It’s the political equivalent of a meteor strike that went all around the United States, blue states, red states, everything in between,” DeSantis said at a news conference Nov. 4. “And the one state that was able to hold the line and withstand that is right here in the free state of Florida.”
Florida held the line
for Republicans, but not before giving up a great deal of ground to Democrats, who can now learn from what happened in Texas and Georgia.
There were some wins for Democrats in Florida
Democrats broke the Republican supermajority in the Florida state House of Representatives, flipping 16 seats as well as one state Senate seat. They are on the way to winning four U.S. House seats in districts that state Republicans had gerrymandered for themselves earlier this year.
And in a state where transgender rights have been under attack for years, Orange County elected Quinnie Perez, a trans woman, to serve on the Soil and Water Conservation District, making her the first out trans person elected in the state.
Even the losses show reasons to celebrate.
In the governor’s race, Donalds beat Democratic candidate David Jolly by just 1.3 percentage points, with the electorate shifting 11.82 points toward Democrats when compared with the 2024 presidential election.
Nixon, who was counted out by many due to her affiliation with the Democratic Socialists of America, lost by under 3 percentage points, with voters shifting 10.23 points toward Democrats in this race compared with 2024.
All these factors suggest the fight for the Sunshine State is not over. If Democrats invest in Florida the way they have in Texas, Georgia and North Carolina, there’s a possibility that the state is in play in 2028.
Look to Georgia, Texas for signs that Florida can flip
Florida only became a Republican stronghold during the Trump years. This is a state former President Barack Obama won in 2008 and 2012, a state that was represented by Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson until the 2018 midterm elections.
It is the state of longtime Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, and was the first state to elect a Gen Z representative in Democratic Rep. Maxwell Frost.
Like every state in the South, Florida is worth fighting for. Nearly half of the state is living paycheck to paycheck. It’s home to more than 5 million people on Medicaid. Over 22% of Florida’s residents are immigrants, and the state has one of the largest LGBT+ populations in the country. These people deserve to be represented by politicians who are not going to scapegoat them or cut their resources. They deserve to be invested in.
Democrats can do this in a number of ways. If the Democratic National Committee sees the potential in Florida that I do, leaders would be smart to invest in it. According to a Politico analysis, Democrats were outspent 6-to-1 in the state, compared with 3-1 in Texas and 2.5-1 in Georgia.
If the party can reduce that margin even slightly, Democrats might have a better chance of winning.
The left must also prioritize running candidates down the ballot. Nearly 40% of Florida school board races were uncontested, down from 66% in 2024. It matters whether Floridians see Democrats in all areas of their state. It matters that the party exists beyond the top of the ticket.
But the biggest way Democrats can flip Florida is to keep fighting, keep organizing and not give up on a field program that prioritizes connecting with neighbors.
Democrats didn’t win Georgia because of a sudden interest in flipping the state. The groundwork for Gov.-elect Keisha Lance Bottoms’ win was laid by Stacey Abrams, who spent the near-decade after her first gubernatorial run organizing.
Texas, where a blue wave swept every statewide seat, is a similar story: Without Beto O’Rourke’s 2018 Senate run and the work that followed through his political action committee, we might not have seen James Talarico win this Nov. 3.
There is a very real possibility that Nixon becomes that person for Florida, and she seems up to the challenge.
“I'm an organizer, not a politician, and organizers don't quit on a mission because one option closes,” she told reporters on election night.
I hope to see more of Nixon in the coming years. She has proved that one doesn’t have to be moderate to move the needle in the South. If Democrats are smart, they will support her organizing endeavors ahead of 2028. If Texas taught us anything, it's that no state is untouchable.
Follow USA TODAY columnist Sara Pequeño on Bluesky: @sarapequeno.bsky.social
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Florida is worth fighting for. Democrats can win it | Opinion
