Florida voters overwhelmingly embrace Republicans from DeSantis on down the ballot, granting him extreme constitutional powers
November 10, 2022
As you have surely seen, on November 8, 2022, Republicans won a historic landslide throughout the state of Florida, with Governor Ron DeSantis winning re-election by a 19.4% margin (compared with only 0.4% in 2018). Republicans won in excess of a two-thirds supermajority in both houses of the Florida legislature for the first time since 2010, captured all of the statewide elected offices, and won in Miami-Dade and Palm Beach counties for the first time in decades.
Although voter turnout was low even for a midterm election, those who voted have heavily repudiated Democrats throughout Florida, and DeSantis is now well-positioned for his presidential campaign. He now has carte blanche to do whatever he wants in Florida, as even items that require a two-thirds super-majority in one or both houses of the legislature are now fully within his reach with no Democratic cooperation required.
I loaded the Florida Constitution and used the Ctrl + F function of my web browser to search for "two-thirds"; I found that the unilateral powers that DeSantis and his buddies in the Florida legislature now hold are quite frightening. They include:
Exemptions to public access to records and meetings
Taking up new business during extensions of regular or special legislative sessions (such as new culture war priorities)
Punishing and expelling Democratic members of the legislature
Waiving the requirement to read bills in each house on three separate days
Impeachment, conviction, and removal from office of all state judges and justices (requires a "misdemeanor in office," though)
Repealing rules of court
Expanding or shrinking the number of judges and the number of judicial circuits and appellate districts
Reassignment of excess state revenues for potentially unusual purposes (e.g., flying more migrants from Texas to the northeast, featherbedding, etc.)
Limiting the authority of local governments to raise revenue and reducing the percentage of state revenues sent back to local governments
Imposition of new or increased taxes and fees
Based on what we have already seen in the first 4 years of DeSantis' reign, we can only expect that the upcoming years will be far more egregious.
The only upside may be that the fact that such a high number of Republicans have flocked to Florida under DeSantis' reign, along with many Democrats feeling ostracized and leaving, may have contributed to Democratic victories in other states. The "red wave" that many were expecting in the midterm elections did not materialize, although Democrats' retention of the United States Senate may be contingent on winning another special run-off election in Georgia. At this time, it remains to be seen whether Democrats hold their majority in the United States House of Representatives. If Republicans capture the majority, Governor DeSantis' heavy-handed, extreme gerrymander of Florida's congressional districts will likely have been decisive in accomplishing this. We can anticipate that he will be campaigning on this and other accomplishments in the upcoming Republican presidential primaries.
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Notes:
https://www.flsenate.gov/Laws/Constitution
There may soon come a time when Floridians will have to choose between Disney and DeSantis. Fortunately, we are citizens of a โfree countryโ and are given choices. Disney is also โAmericanโ with a right to choose whether to relocate or to stay in state where the majority of voters seem to prefer โbullyingโ policies against those least able to defend themselves: transsexuals, gay, colored, etc. Has Florida abandoned the spirit of aiming for a diverse, tolerant, free America? Floridians seem on a path towards โConform, or else...โ reminiscent of the fearful Germans of the 1930โs who voted overwhelmingly and freely for a tyrant. We all know where that led--Zyklon B, massive piles of ashes and used clothing, and the historical taint of evil for all posterity. Very few Germans of that time were truly evil, of course; but the majority acquiesced even good Christian Germans... Very few Floridians of this time are ....
When I first moved here, this State wasn't so Red, it actually had a Democrat for a Governor. I'm sick from this last election. Val Demings, I thought for sure was going to win, more help was needed for her.