By Reginald J. Clyne, Esq., Miami Times
(Source: Miami Times)
Retired Army Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman was the darling of the political establishment. He raised approximately $17 million to Angie Nixon’s $1 million. On paper, he should have creamed her. In the real world, she won.
U.S. Senate candidate Angie Nixon will be the first Black woman senator from Florida if elected this November. She faces Ashley Moody, a former state attorney general appointed by Gov. Ron DeSantis to fill the seat after Marco Rubio accepted President Donald Trump’s appointment to become secretary of state.
Nixon said she ran a “shoe-leather campaign” by traveling all throughout Florida to meet and speak with residents. It worked.
Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz won in District 25, Alcee Hastings’ former congressional seat, and effectively helped further diminish Black representation in Congress. I liked Congresswoman Wasserman Schultz, up until she decided to switch out of her traditional seat in District 23 because it was redrawn to favor Republicans. If she had the guts to have stayed in her seat, she would have probably won, and Democrats would have three congressional seats instead of just two. The multiple Black candidates in the District 25 race divided the Black vote and allowed Wasserman Schultz to get a majority. Now, let’s see if she will take care of the Black residents in her district.
Oliver Gilbert won his election to Frederica Wilson’s seat in District 20. He is a seasoned politician and should do well in Congress. Gilbert faced serious attack ads funded by a cryptocurrency PAC. Why he drew their ire — or whether it was a Trump-backed plan to knock out a strong congressional candidate — remains a mystery. In any case, the attack ads failed and he won anyway.
Fortunately, Miami-Dade commissioners Daniella Cohen Higgins and Marleine Bastien kept their seats.
In the judicial races, it’s great to announce that Miami-Dade County has a new Black female judge, Renee Gordon, who won her election handily. Two future Black judges face run-offs: Bonita Jones-Peabody and Arthur McNeil. They can win if Black Miami turns out to vote.
President Trump, in his continuous attempts to make voting harder for Democrats, this week won a Supreme Court victory regarding mail-in ballots. The Supreme Court ruled 6-3 that President Trump can move forward with his executive order allowing the U.S. Postal Service to refrain from sending mail-in ballots to certain voters. This is not the final word, as the Supreme Court ruled that the lawsuit challenging his executive order was premature. Eventually, he will attempt to implement his plan, and then new lawsuits will be filed to block his actions.
Still, the Supreme Court ruling will sow confusion with mail-in ballots this close to Election Day. The court should not have ruled in such a manner this close to an election.
Trump and the Republicans have done everything in their power to steal this election. We need to have Democrats in the majority in the House and Senate, and this state desperately needs Democratic leadership in the governorship and other senior offices.
It would be great to see a Democratic majority in the State Legislature, but it would be foolish to dream so big so soon. For now, let’s hope we can get a U.S. senator out of Angie Nixon, a Democrat governor out of David Jolly, a state attorney general in Jose Javier Rodriguez, a chief financial officer in Annette Taddeo and a commissioner of agriculture in Joey Atkins. We can do it if we turn out and vote.