Democrats Caught Off Guard: Headaches Intensify For Florida Democrats

The headaches are intensifying for Florida Democrats as retirements, candidate recruitment challenges and a burgeoning redistricting fight add to the party’s troubles in an already difficult midterm election year.

The party’s hopes of winning approval of new political maps proposed by the Republican-controlled state Senate — with which Democrats were largely satisfied — are now mired in uncertainty after Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) took the unusual step of submitting his own redistricting plan that would drastically claw back the number of Democratic districts.

At the same time, Democrats are contending with the retirement of Rep. Stephanie Murphy (D-Fla.) as well as the losses of Reps. Charlie Crist (D-Fla.) and Val Demings (D-Fla.), who are forgoing reelection this year to run for governor and Senate, respectively.
There are also questions about who will challenge Reps. Maria E. Salazar (R-Fla.) and Carlos Gimenez (R-Fla.) for two South Florida House seats that are among the most competitive in the state and flipped into Republican hands in 2020.

Taken together, the challenges are daunting for Democrats, who are already facing historical and political headwinds in their bid to hold on to a razor-thin majority in the House this year. Republicans need to pick up just five seats in November to recapture the lower chamber.